Markus Andrews

Older workers in physically demanding jobs face unique retirement challenges.
Policy safeguards may help improve their financial security, report finds.

Turner worker working on drill bit in a workshop
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The Social Security retirement age is currently moving to age 67, and some lawmakers have called for pushing it even higher.
But that may be a problem for a certain cohort: older workers in physically demanding jobs, according to a recent task force report from the National Academy of Social Insurance.

“It would be deeply irresponsible to further raise the retirement age before we’ve even gotten a handle on the damage that has been done to this group, and to other groups of workers, by the increase in the retirement age that’s already happening,” Rebecca Vallas, senior fellow at The Century Foundation and a task force member, said during a presentation this week on the report’s findings.
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Social Security reforms passed in 1983 included gradual increases to the full retirement age, the point at which retirees may receive 100% of the benefits they earned. Today, people born in 1960 or later have a full retirement age of 67, which has been gradually phased in from age 65.

Workers in physically demanding jobs often claim early

When it comes to claiming Social Security retirement benefits, the advice is generally to delay as long as possible to get bigger benefits.
But workers who have physically demanding jobs may be unable to wait.

“There’s a lot of jobs that older workers are performing that you really can’t be expected to do well past the the early age of 62,” said Joel Eskovitz, director of Social Security and savings at the AARP Public Policy Institute and a task force member who worked on the report.
When those workers claim benefits early, they may find those reduced monthly checks fall short of the income they need. Moreover, those workers often do not have substantial retirement savings to fall back on due to low wages and a lack of access to retirement plans or pensions through their employers.

More than 10 million older workers face physical demands in their work, estimates the National Academy of Social Insurance’s task force report. That includes those who work in warehouses, restaurants or as home health aides, for example.
“The task force universally agreed that this would only further harm this already economically vulnerable group of workers,” Vallas said of raising the retirement age.
Instead, the group suggested a host of policy changes that may help. That includes four Social Security benefit changes that may help this vulnerable population as they age, according to the task force.

1. Create a bridge benefit

A bridge Social Security benefit could help workers who cannot work until their full retirement age, but who are unable to claim Social Security disability benefits.
The bridge benefit would start from age 62, when claimants are first eligible for retirement benefits, and last until age 67, or full retirement age. Claimants would receive half the difference between what they would receive at full retirement age versus age 62.
For example, if someone is eligible for $1,000 per month in Social Security benefits at full retirement age, and a $700 reduced benefit at age 62, they may instead receive $850 at 62 with the bridge benefit, according to Eskovitz. The bridge benefit would be recalculated each year until full retirement age, when the worker would start receiving their full benefits.
To qualify, workers would need to have performed physically challenging work. Those who served in the most physically demanding positions would qualify at 62, while those qualifications would gradually become easier as ages increase.

2. Raise the minimum benefit

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Long-term low-wage workers who have not earned adequate retirement benefits may qualify for what is known as a special minimum benefit.
However, those benefits have risen slower than regular benefits because they are adjusted differently. Raising the minimum benefit would help, according to the task force.
Lawmakers have also been eyeing the change. One Congressional proposal, the Social Security 2100 Act, would bring lift an estimated 5 million people out of poverty by bringing up the minimum benefit, Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., said during a recent AARP event.

3. Create partial early retirement benefits

Some older workers may continue to work but reduce their hours as they age.
Allowing those workers to claim partial early retirement benefits may help make up for any lost income while also limiting the penalties for claiming before full retirement age. Research has found partial early retirement benefits, combined with the ability to turn the checks on and off, may improve retirement security for millions of Americans, according to the report.

4. Change the earnings test

People who claim Social Security retirement benefits before their full retirement age and who continue to work may be subject to an earnings test.
In 2024, that will apply to earnings above $22,320 per year, up from $21,240 per year in 2023. For every $2 above that limit, $1 in benefits will be withheld. (Higher limits apply for the year someone reaches their full retirement age.)

Importantly, the benefits that are withheld while a beneficiary is working are later added to monthly checks once they reach their full retirement age.
The earnings test may be a disincentive to work and is often misunderstood, according to the report.
By revising the earnings test, that may help bring the U.S. in line with other countries that have smaller annual retirement income reductions for working, according to the report.

Other policy reforms may help

The National Academy of Social Insurance report also highlighted other policy changes that may help workers in physically challenging jobs, including Social Security disability benefit reform, enhancements to services from the Social Security Administration, as well as improvements to other programs and administration.
Notably, that includes the idea of eliminating the reconsideration stage of the appeals process for Social Security disability benefits.
“This was something that actually got a lot of attention at a Ways and Means hearing last week, and actually a lot of bipartisan attention, which was pretty wonderful to hear,” Vallas said.
Other changes suggested in the report include providing employment and training programs for older workers, as well as strengthening unemployment insurance coverage available to them. More

This month, more than 200,000 high school seniors will receive proactive college acceptance offers as part of a new direct admissions program.
The goal is to expand college access, particularly to first-generation and low-income applicants at a time when fewer are choosing to pursue a four-year degree.

More schools offer guaranteed admission

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling, colleges are looking for new strategies to recruit students from diverse backgrounds, according to Jenny Rickard, CEO of the Common App.
“It’s about removing barriers,” she said. “It’s about equity and access.”
Each year, more than 1 million students — one-third third of whom are first-generation — use the common application to apply to school, research financial aid and scholarships, and connect to college counseling resources, according to the nonprofit organization.

Individual schools and school systems have also rolled out similar initiatives to broaden their reach. Last spring, the State University of New York sent automatic acceptance letters to 125,000 graduating high school students.

College enrollment is falling

Photo: Bryan Y.W. Shin | Wikicommons

Nationwide, enrollment has noticeably lagged since the start of the pandemic, when a significant number of students decided against a four-year degree in favor of joining the workforce or completing a certificate program without the hefty price tag of the more advanced degree.
This fall, undergraduate enrollment grew for the first time since 2020, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center’s latest report.
But gains were not shared across the board. Community colleges notched the biggest increases year over year, the report found, accounting for almost 60% of the increase in undergraduates.
“Students are electing to pursue shorter-term programs,” said Doug Shapiro, executive director of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. “More 18- to 20-year-olds, especially at four-year institutions, are opting out.”

Tuition keeps rising

Not only are fewer students interested in pursuing a four-year degree after high school, but the population of college-age students is also shrinking, a trend referred to as the “enrollment cliff.”
In fact, undergraduate enrollment in the U.S. topped out at roughly 18 million students over a decade ago, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
These days, only about 62% of high school seniors in the U.S. immediately go on to college, down from 68% in 2010. Low-income students who feel priced out of a postsecondary education are often those who opt out.

Arrows pointing outwards

Recent data from the Common App found that that more than half, or 55%, of students who use the Common App’s online application are from the highest-income families.
Steadily, college is becoming a path for only those with the means to pay for it, other reports also show.
And costs are still rising. Tuition and fees at four-year private colleges rose 4% to $41,540 in the 2023-24 school year from $39,940 in 2022-23. At four-year, in-state public colleges, the cost increased 2.5% to $11,260 from $10,990 the prior school year, according to the College Board.

Financial aid is key

“Just because a school offers acceptance doesn’t mean the finances will line up,” cautioned Robert Franek, The Princeton Review’s editor-in-chief and author of “The Best 389 Colleges.”
“It’s important to ask critical questions,” he said. Students should consider how much aid is being awarded, as well as the academic fit, campus culture and career services offerings.
Further, even if acceptance is not guaranteed, there are many schools that accept the majority of those who apply, Franek said.
In fact, of The Princeton Review’s list of 389 best colleges, 254 schools admit at least half of all applicants. More than one-quarter admit at least 80% of those who apply. (On the flip side, only 8% of schools on the list of best colleges admit less than 10% of applicants.)
“We always think of the most competitive schools but there is a school, and likely many schools, out there to consider,” Franek said. More

In a U.S. Department of Education memo, senior officials detail the errors made by its servicers as tens of millions of borrowers resumed their payments in October.
The companies sent more than 21,000 people “very high” and “potentially incorrect” bills, according to the memo. One borrower was told she owed $108,895.19 for the month.

Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona answers questions during the daily briefing at the White House Aug. 5, 2021.
Win McNamee | Getty Images

As student loan bills restarted in October for tens of millions of Americans, the companies that service those loans made errors that potentially violate federal and state consumer protection laws.
In a memo quietly published Wednesday night on the U.S. Department of Education’s website, senior officials in the department’s office of Federal Student Aid detail how some of its servicers botched the return to repayment, and possibly put the government at “substantial reputational risk.”

“The restart of repayment has caused pure chaos for nearly 3 million borrowers,” said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz, who reviewed the memo at CNBC’s request.
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Education Department staff said in the memo that they had identified 78,000 borrowers who received incorrect monthly bills under the Biden Administration’s new Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, plan. That plan, which was touted as the “most affordable repayment plan ever,” was meant to ease the transition back to payments for borrowers. Federal student loan payments had been on pause for over three years until they resumed last month.
Yet one woman who signed up for the SAVE plan got a bill for $355, the memo notes, when she was only supposed to owe $58. Her bill before the pandemic was $130 per month.
More than 21,000 people were billed “very high” and “potentially incorrect” amounts, according to the memo. One borrower was told they owed $108,895.19 for the month. (That was their total balance, but their servicer had erroneously reduced their loan term to two months from 120 months.)

The Education Department pays the companies that service its federal student loans — including Mohela, Nelnet and EdFinancial — more than $1 billion a year to do so.
The memo also details the problems that resulted from Mohela’s failure to send timely billing statements to 2.5 million borrowers this fall, including some 830,000 people becoming delinquent. The department announced last month that it will withhold $7.2 million in payments to Mohela in October for those errors.
Student loan servicers have diminished their call center capacity by reducing their hours and hiring less experienced representatives, Education Department officials wrote. It described many people waiting an hour or more on the phone to reach someone, and half of borrowers failing to get through to anyone at their servicer.

Scott Buchanan, executive director of the Student Loan Servicing Alliance, a trade group for federal student loan servicers, said the government and insufficient funding was largely to blame for the mess.
“We have long warned these potential issues would arise with the government choosing to not pay for more staff and resources,” Buchanan said. More

The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at the end of its two-day policy meeting.
For consumers, it won’t get any less expensive to carry credit card debt, buy a house, purchase a car or tap into home equity.
Here’s a breakdown of how the Fed’s decision affects your money.

The Federal Reserve left its target federal funds rate unchanged for the second consecutive time Wednesday.
Even so, consumers likely will get no relief from current sky-high borrowing costs.

Altogether, Fed officials have raised rates 11 times in a year and a half, pushing the key interest rate to a target range of 5.25% to 5.5%, the highest level in more than 22 years. 

“Relief for households isn’t likely to come soon, at least not directly in the form of a cut in the fed funds rate,” said Brett House, economics professor at Columbia Business School.
The consensus among economists and central bankers is that interest rates will stay higher for longer, or until inflation moves closer to the central bank’s 2% target rate.

What the federal funds rate means for you

The federal funds rate, which is set by the central bank, is the interest rate at which banks borrow and lend to one another overnight. Although that’s not the rate consumers pay, the Fed’s moves still affect the borrowing and savings rates they see every day.
To a certain extent, many households have been shielded from the brunt of the Fed’s rate hikes so far, House said. “They locked in fixed-rate mortgages and auto financing before the hiking cycle began, in some cases at record-low rates during the pandemic.”

However, higher rates have a significant impact on anyone tapping a new loan for big-ticket items such as a home or a car, he added, and especially for credit card holders who carry a balance.
Here’s a breakdown of how it works.

Credit card rates are at all-time highs

Since most credit cards have a variable rate, there’s a direct connection to the Fed’s benchmark. As the federal funds rate rose, the prime rate did as well, and credit card rates followed suit.
Credit card annual percentage rates are now more than 20%, on average — an all-time high. Further, with most people feeling strained by higher prices, more cardholders carry debt from month to month.

“Rising debt is a problem,” said Sung Won Sohn, professor of finance and economics at Loyola Marymount University and chief economist at SS Economics.
“Consumers are using a lot of credit card debt and paying very high interest rates,” Sohn added. “That doesn’t bode well for the long-term economic outlook.”
For those borrowers, “interest rates staying higher for a longer period underscores the urgency to pay down and pay off costly credit card debt,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com.

Home loans: Deals slow to ‘standstill’

Although 15-year and 30-year mortgage rates are fixed and tied to Treasury yields and the economy, anyone shopping for a new home has lost considerable purchasing power, partly because of inflation and the Fed’s policy moves.
The average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage is up to 8%, the highest in 23 years, according to Bankrate.
“Purchase activity has slowed to a virtual standstill, affordability remains a significant hurdle for many and the only way to address it is lower rates and greater inventory,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

Prospective buyers attend an open house at a home for sale in Larchmont, New York, on Jan. 22, 2023.
Tiffany Hagler-Geard | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Other home loans are more closely tied to the Fed’s actions. Adjustable-rate mortgages and home equity lines of credit, or HELOCs, are pegged to the prime rate. Most ARMs adjust once a year after an initial fixed-rate period. But a HELOC rate adjusts right away. Now, the average rate for a HELOC is near 9%, the highest in over 20 years, according to Bankrate.
Still, Americans are sitting on more than $31.6 trillion worth of home equity, according to Jacob Channel, senior economist at LendingTree. “Owing to that, many homeowners could benefit from tapping into the equity they’ve built with a home equity loan or line of credit.”

Auto loan payments get bigger

Student loans: New borrowers take a hit

Federal student loan rates are also fixed, so most borrowers aren’t immediately affected by the Fed’s moves. But undergraduate students who take out new direct federal student loans are now paying 5.50% — up from 4.99% in the 2022-23 academic year and 3.73% in 2021-22.
The government sets the annual rates on those loans once a year, based on the 10-year Treasury.
If the 10-year yield stays near 5%, federal student loan interest rates could increase again when they reset in the spring, costing student borrowers even more in interest.

Savings account holders are earning more

“Borrowers are being squeezed, but the flipside is that savers are benefiting,” McBride said.
While the Fed has no direct influence on deposit rates, the yields tend to be correlated to changes in the target federal funds rate. The savings account rates at some of the largest retail banks, which were near rock bottom during most of the Covid pandemic, are currently up to 0.46%, on average, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
“Average rates have risen significantly in the last year, but they are still very low compared to online rates,” added Ken Tumin, founder and editor of DepositAccounts.com.
Some top-yielding online savings account rates are now paying more than 5%, according to Bankrate, which is the most savers have been able to earn in nearly two decades.
“Savings are now earning more than inflation, and we haven’t been able to say that in a long time,” McBride said.
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Year-end Planning

The IRS has increased the 401(k) plan contribution limits for 2024, allowing employees to defer up to $23,000 into workplace plans, up from $22,500 in 2023.
The agency also boosted contributions for individual retirement accounts to $7,000 for 2024, up from $6,500.

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The IRS has announced new 2024 investor contribution limits for 401(k) plans, individual retirement accounts and other retirement accounts.
The employee contribution limit for 401(k) plans is increasing to $23,000 in 2024, up from $22,500 in 2023, and catch-up contributions for savers age 50 and older will remain unchanged at $7,500. The new amounts also apply to 403(b) plans, most 457 plans and Thrift Savings Plans.

More from Year-End Planning

Here’s a look at more coverage on what to do finance-wise as the end of the year approaches:

The agency also boosted contribution limits for IRAs, allowing investors to save $7,000 in 2024, up from $6,500 in 2023. Catch-up contributions will remain unchanged at $1,000.
In 2024, more Americans may qualify for Roth IRA contributions, with the adjusted gross income phaseout range rising to between $146,000 and $161,000 for single individuals and heads of households, up from between $138,000 and $153,000 in 2023.

The Roth IRA contribution phaseout for married couples filing together will rise to between $230,000 and $240,000 in 2024, up from between $218,000 and $228,000.
The IRS also increased income ranges to qualify for the retirement savings contributions credit and the ability to deduct pretax IRA deposits with a workplace plan.Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

The Education Department says its loan servicers have made numerous mistakes as student loan bills resume.
These errors can be especially painful for borrowers who’ve signed up to have their monthly bills automatically deducted from their bank accounts each month.
Requesting a refund can be frustrating and time-consuming.

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Morgan Lindsay didn’t mind that student loan bills were resuming in the fall. She’d applied for a new repayment plan over the summer, and her calculated monthly bill came to $0.
But then, on Sept. 11, she found that her servicer, Mohela, or the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, had taken $2,074 from her bank account.

“I blamed my husband at first,” said Lindsay, who asked for her last name to be withheld for privacy reasons. “I said, ‘Why did you pay so much to my student loans?'”
When she realized the mistake had been her servicer’s, she panicked.
“I lost sleep over it,” Lindsay said. “That’s our nest egg, and if there was an emergency, it was gone.”
When she called Mohela, she was on the phone for an hour before she got someone on the phone. She learned that the company had billed her as if she were on the Standard Plan, which divides a borrower’s debt evenly over 10 years of payments. Her total student debt balance is over $170,000, and like for many other people, that plan is unaffordable for her.
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But under the income-driven repayment plan she’d signed up for, she didn’t owe anything. Those plans base a borrower’s monthly bill on their discretionary income, and Lindsay works in the public sector.
The customer service representative at Mohela promised her a full refund within seven to nine business days.
Still, she felt on edge.
“They weren’t sending me anything in writing,” she said. “What if I got an overdraft fee? What if I couldn’t pay my mortgage?”
Mohela did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Some borrowers got inaccurate bills topping $10,000

Similar to Lindsay, many student loan borrowers describe a nightmarish experience with the return to repayment.
The Biden administration resumed the bills for some 40 million Americans last month, after they’d been on pause for more than three years. The U.S. Department of Education has already withheld a large payment to Mohela for October for failing to send timely bills to some 2.5 million people — more than 800,000 of those borrowers became delinquent on their loans as a result. A memo obtained by the Washington Post shows that some student loan borrowers have received inaccurate bills for more than $10,000 a month — and some, $100,000.
Such mistakes can be especially painful for borrowers who’ve signed up to have their monthly bills automatically deducted from their account each month. Borrowers get a small discount on their interest rate for doing so, but getting a refund was a trying ordeal for Lindsay.

That’s our nest egg, and if there was an emergency, it was gone.

Morgan Lindsay
student loan borrower

When two weeks passed and she still hadn’t been refunded, she called Mohela back. This time, she was on the phone for nearly three hours.
Finally, she got a supervisor on the phone — but they had bad news for her.
Her first request for a refund had, for some reason, been canceled, and she was told it could take up to 90 days to get her money back.
At that point, she emailed senior leadership at Mohela, including the company’s CEO, Scott Giles.
Not long after, she heard from a customer service representative with the servicer. Her refund request was expedited, and she got her money back in mid-October.
“It still took a month,” Lindsay said.

Request a refund for wrong payments

Borrowers enrolled in autopay should watch their account “like a hawk,” said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.
If you’ve been billed for the wrong amount, you should immediately contact your loan servicer, Kantrowitz said.
Borrowers should demand an “immediate refund,” Kantrowitz said. They should also ask their servicer to cover any late fees from bounced checks or an overdraft.
“Put the demands in writing,” Kantrowitz said.

Borrowers probably shouldn’t opt out of autopay given the interest rate discount, he said. It’s more important that they get their servicer to bill them accurately.
If you run into a wall with your servicer, you can file a complaint with the Education Department’s feedback system at Studentaid.gov/feedback.
Problems can also be reported to the Federal Student Aid’s Ombudsman, Kantrowitz said.
Although Lindsay got her money back, she said the debacle will continue to cost her. Even though it leads to a lower interest rate, she’s no longer comfortable being enrolled in automatic payments.
“How can I trust anyone moving forward with access to my checking account?” she said.
Has your student loan servicer automatically charged you an incorrect amount? If you’re willing to talk about your experience for a story, please email annie.nova@nbcuni.com.Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

It will be key that job seekers spread out job applications as the labor market softens.
“It’s much more important to apply frequently to freshly posted jobs,” said Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter. 
Job openings changed very little, increasing slightly to 9.6 million in September, up from 9.5 million in August, according to the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary from the U.S. Department of Labor.

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Applying to multiple job openings can increase your chances of landing a new gig.
However, if you’re thinking of sending out what one economist called a “firehose of applications” all at once and then just waiting for responses, think again.

“The problem is that sometimes people take a college application approach to the job search,” said Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter. 
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Job seekers often make the mistake of blasting out as many as 100 applications and then thinking they’re done with their search, when in fact they are not, Pollak added.
“It’s much more important to apply frequently to freshly posted jobs,” she said.
Indeed, it will be key that job hunters also actively tailor their applications for those newly advertised positions, especially as the labor market continues to soften.

‘Not much has changed’

Job openings changed very little, increasing slightly to 9.6 million in September, up from 9.5 million in August, according to the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary from the U.S. Department of Labor.
“Not much has changed over the past few months, and the labor market appears to be stabilizing at a level consistent with a sustainable economy,” said Nick Bunker, chief economist at Indeed.com.
The number of quits and hires have plateaued to pre-pandemic levels while the layoff rate remains historically low, he added.
“I think it could bolster the narrative of a soft landing” for the U.S. economy — rather than a recession — said Pollak, as the labor market is cooling through a slowdown in openings and hires instead of increased job losses and layoffs.
“I think that’s exactly what the Fed was hoping to see,” she added.

‘Set a daily goal of a number of applications’

There are more strategic ways to go about the job search and application process instead of applying to jobs on mass, according to experts.
“Applying to about two to three jobs a day is ideal so candidates can focus on tailoring their resumes, including specific keywords and skills that connect to the job posting,” said Gabrielle Davis, a career trends expert at Indeed.
Job seekers should focus on relevant and recent openings. Employers may receive upward of 100 applications per vacancy, and if you only apply to older positions, you reduce the chances of employers seeing your application. 
“It’s important to keep at it,” Pollak said. “Set a daily goal of a number of applications per day.”
Upon applying for their current role, 89% of workers said they had received a response from their eventual employer within a week or less, according to the ZipRecruiter Survey of New Hires, which polled more than 2,000 currently employed adults in the U.S. 
This means companies that are recruiting are moving very quickly when they get a candidate they like and about half respond within 48 hours, Pollak said.

It’s important to keep at it. Set a daily goal of a number of applications per day.

Julia Pollak
chief economist at ZipRecruiter

“We’re seeing a big push towards speed,” she added. “Employers know that if they take too long in this environment with such a low employment rate to respond, it’ll be too late, and they’ve lost a candidate.”
Therefore, if you applied but don’t hear back within a week, move on and continue your search; applications submitted a month ago are often not serving you, she added.
Additionally, you may want to refrain from applying to multiple openings within a company. Stick to applying to positions relevant to your background and skills. Otherwise, it can hurt your overall chances. 
“It looks as though you’re not focused and rather that you’re just indiscriminately applying without regard for which job is the best fit,” Pollak said.

Make sure your resume gets “past the bots” by making sure the format is legible for computers: meaning, no “fancy formatting, fonts or images.”
You may also want to include certain key words from the job description into your resume, but don’t paste the entire job description in your resume. That is now detected and penalized in most systems, Pollak said.
“It needs to be an accurate reflection of you,” she added.Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More