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In a recent announcement, President Donald Trump said he wanted to “immediately” transfer the country’s $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio to the Small Business Administration.
Experts questioned the president’s authority to make such a move, and consumer advocates warned of the potential consequences.
In the meantime, there are steps borrowers can take to protect themselves.

People walk past the headquarters of the U.S. Small Business Administration in the Southwest Federal Center area on March 24, 2025 in Washington, DC. 
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President Donald Trump said last week that federal student loans would “immediately” be moved out of the U.S. Department of Education and will be managed by the Small Business Administration.
“They’ll be serviced much better than it has in the past,” Trump said of the debt. “It’s been a mess.”

Consumer advocates expressed worries that the mass transfer of accounts to the SBA could trigger errors, or compromise borrowers’ privacy. They also raised concerns about how a change in agency might affect protections, and programs such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
While details on the president’s decision remain thin, here’s what we know as of now.

It’s not clear Trump can move student loans

Trump said Friday that the SBA is “all set” to manage the country’s $1.6 trillion outstanding federal student loan debt. More than 40 million Americans hold student loans.
However, experts questioned the president’s authority to move student loans out of the U.S. Department of Education.
Financial aid expert Mark Kantrowitz pointed out that The Higher Education Act of 1965 is “very clear” that the Education Department’s Federal Student Aid office is “responsible for student loans.”

“It will require an act of Congress,” Kantrowitz said, to move the loans to the SBA.
Similarly, the president alone can’t abolish the Education Department. Only Congress can do so. Still, Trump signed an executive order earlier this month aimed at dismantling the agency.
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It’s likely the president’s student loan transfer effort will face legal challenges, along with his other moves to reduce the Education Department, said Persis Yu, deputy executive director and managing counsel at the Student Borrower Protection Center.
“Borrowers don’t know what to do” for now, Yu said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty.”

‘Every transition has gone very poorly for borrowers’

In the past, when federal student loan borrowers’ accounts were transferred from one servicing company to another, they experienced credit report errors or had their information lost, Yu said.
“Every transition has gone very poorly for borrowers,” she said. “These are very sensitive records and many of these loans go back decades.”
It is also worrisome that staff at the SBA with no prior federal student loan experience would be tasked with managing a complicated lending system with many different programs on which borrowers rely, including income-driven repayment plans, Yu said.

Adding to consumer advocates and borrowers’ concern about Trump’s proposed transfer was his administration’s announcement earlier this month that the SBA’s workforce would be reduced by 43% — leaving fewer people to manage this new responsibility.

Steps you can take now

One important thing for borrowers keep in mind: The terms and conditions of your federal student loans cannot change even if the agency overseeing them does, experts say. Your rights were guaranteed when you signed the master promissory note at the time your loans were originated.
In anticipation of the transfer to the SBA, borrowers should gather the latest information on their student loan balance now, and keep an updated record of it, Yu said.
At Studentaid.gov, you should be able to access data on your student loan balance and payment progress. If you don’t know which company services your student debt, you can find that information on that site, as well.

Borrowers should also request from their loan servicer a complete payment history of their student loans if their debt has been transferred between companies in the past, Yu said. All this documentation will come in handy if your loan balance or payment history is reported inaccurately in the future.
Those who are pursuing Public Service Loan Forgiveness should certify their work history with the Education Department now, to make sure all eligible periods of employment are confirmed.
PSLF offers debt erasure for certain public servants after 10 years of payments, and borrowers have already long complained of inaccurate payment counts.

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President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Social Security Administration, Fiserv CEO Frank Bisignano, was grilled by senators on Tuesday about the extent to which he has been involved with the Department of Government Efficiency.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, introduced a whistleblower statement from a “senior Social Security Administration employee who recently left the agency,” who said Bisignano had been briefed on “key SSA operations, personnel and management decisions.”
In his testimony, Bisignano affirmed that he will work to protect Americans’ personally identifiable information following concerns that such data had been exposed by DOGE.

Frank Bisignano testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on his nomination to be Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, March 25, 2025. 
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images

President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Social Security Administration, Frank Bisignano, faced senators’ questions on Tuesday as to how involved he has been with recent changes at the agency under the Department of Government Efficiency.
The unofficial government entity known as DOGE has been tasked by the White House to root out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government, including at the Social Security Administration, which provides benefit payments to millions of Americans each month.

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Following changes put in place by DOGE, including staff cuts and plans to close field offices, the Social Security Administration’s phone lines often go unanswered, the website is crashing and “seniors are getting lost in the system,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee.
The hearing, Wyden said, provides Bisignano, who is CEO of financial payments technology company Fiserv, to “tell the American people whose side he is on” — either the side of American workers or DOGE “bureaucracy.”
Fiserv processes 250 million payments per day valued at about $2.5 trillion, Bisignano said Tuesday. The Social Security Administration handles approximately 74 million payments per month, he said.
If confirmed, Bisignano will be responsible for the leading Social Security Administration, which has a “critical mission and numerous operational and customer service challenges,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho.

“I’m confident you’re up to the task,” Crapo told Bisignano at the hearing.

Whistleblower says nominee will be ‘bad for the agency’

At the hearing, Wyden introduced a statement from an unidentified “very high level official” at the Social Security Administration who said Bisignano insisted on approving several key DOGE hires at the agency and getting frequent briefings.
“This whistleblower has said that this is a nominee who will be bad for the agency, and has cited specifics,” said Wyden, who represented the unnamed person as “somebody who’s told the truth” in their career.
In response, Bisignano said he has never talked with Lee Dudek, who is currently the acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration. Bisignano said he knows Michael Russo, who is currently chief information officer at the Social Security Administration, through previous roles.
“I don’t know him as a DOGE person; I know him as a CIO,” Bisignano said.

When pressed by Wyden to confirm he would “lock DOGE out” of Social Security databases, Bisignano said he did not know what the term “lock DOGE out” specifically means.
“I’m going to do whatever is required to protect the information that is private information,” Bisignano said.
On March 20, federal judge Ellen Lipton Hollander issued a temporary restraining order that barred DOGE from accessing personally identifiable information at the Social Security Administration. She also told DOGE affiliates to delete any such info currently in their possession.
That includes Social Security numbers, medical provider information, medical and mental health treatment records, employer and employee payment records, employee earnings, addresses, bank records and tax information.
In a February CNBC interview, Bisignano said he “100%” plans to work with DOGE to identify potential waste, fraud and abuse at the agency.
“I am fundamentally a DOGE person,” Bisignano said during his CNBC appearance.
When asked to clarify that comment at the Tuesday Senate hearing, Bisignano said he has prioritized efficiency before there was such a word as DOGE.
Bisignano also said he would not knowingly allow personally identifiable information to be viewed by unauthorized personnel.

Whistleblower worries agency actions will ‘harm seniors’

In the written statement, the undisclosed whistleblower, who identifies as a “senior Social Security Administration employee who recently left the agency,” said they are concerned that recent actions at the agency will negatively impact millions of Americans.
Bisignano frequently spoke with senior SSA executives and was personally briefed on “key SSA operations, personnel and management decisions,” the whistleblower alleges.
As an unconfirmed nominee, Bisignano requested that senior agency executives not hire anyone without his approval, the whistleblower alleges.

Bisignano personally appointed Russo and has spoken to him frequently about the agency’s operations, the whistleblower alleges in their statement. He also was directly involved in the onboarding of attorney Mark Steffenson, Scott Coulter and DOGE engineer Akash Bobba, the whistleblower writes.
Bisignano was also aware of concerns regarding broad data access for DOGE employees that had been requested and that it did not follow privacy laws, disclosure policies and internal agency controls, the whistleblower states.
The whistleblower included a list of 19 individuals, including Dudek, Russo and former acting commissioner Michelle King, who they said can verify their statements.
“Frank Bisignano is not in the [Social Security] agency and is not involved in any decision making at the agency,” Arjun Mody, a Trump transition official, said via email.
The Social Security Administration did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. More

During your early retirement years, “sequence of returns risk” could harm your portfolio when withdrawals coincide with a market dip.
One solution, the bucketing strategy, divides your portfolio based on the timeline for spending the money, including a cash bucket for short-term expenses.
When the stock market drops, you can use the cash bucket to cover living expenses and preserve your nest egg, experts say.

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Protect from ‘sequence of returns risk’

Stock market dips can be most harmful to portfolios during the first five years of retirement, which is the “danger zone,” according to Arnott.

If you withdraw money when asset values have fallen, there are fewer funds available to capture growth when the market rebounds, she said. 
The phenomenon of poorly timed withdrawals paired with stock market losses is known as “sequence of returns risk,” and it could boost your chances of outliving retirement savings, Arnott said. 

Negative returns cause more damage to portfolios early in retirement than later, according to a 2024 report from Fidelity Investments.
However, if you don’t tap your nest egg when the market is down, “you’re clearly going to change the dynamics, and you have a better chance of recovering,” said David Peterson, head of advanced wealth solutions at Fidelity.

The ‘cash bucket’ can shield your portfolio 

Judy Brown, a certified financial planner, said the bucketing approach keeps clients “in their seat during market volatility” and offers the chance to discuss goals. Brown, who is also a certified public accountant, works at C&H Group in the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore area.
The bucket strategy divides a portfolio into short-, medium- and long-term spending goals, which requires maintenance from year to year to ensure the strategy remains effective and aligned with changing financial needs.
Typically, the first bucket should be “highly liquid,” like cash, and include one to two years of living expenses after subtracting guaranteed yearly income, such as Social Security or pension payments, recommends Christine Benz, director of personal finance and retirement planning for Morningstar.

“If you’re always spending from a cash bucket, then you don’t have to worry as much about making withdrawals when the market is down,” Arnott said.
The second bucket, which covers the next five years of spending, could be in short- to intermediate-term bonds or bond funds, and income distributions can replenish spending from the cash bucket, she said.   
After that, you’re investing long-term in the third bucket, focused on growth with primarily stock allocations, depending on risk tolerance and goals.   More

For the first time, the share of parents financially supporting a child older than 18 reached 50%, according to a new report.
Parents now spend about $1,474 a month, on average, on their adult children — a three-year high.  

Maskot | Digitalvision | Getty Images

To get by these days, more young adults turn to a likely source for help: their parents.
For the first time, 50% of parents with a child older than 18 provide them with at least some financial support, according to a new report by Savings.com. That’s up from 47% last year and 45% in 2023.

From buying food to paying for a cellphone plan or covering health and auto insurance or even rent, these parents are shelling out about $1,474 a month, on average, the report found — a three-year high.
“Adulting is expensive,” the report notes.
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Many experts contend it’s harder today for young adults to make it on their own.
In addition to soaring everyday expenses and housing costs, millennials and Generation Z face other financial challenges their parents did not at that age.

Not only are their wages lower than their parents’ earnings when they were in their 20s and 30s, after adjusting for inflation, but they are also carrying larger student loan balances, many reports show.

But by other measures, young adults are doing well.
Compared with their parents at this age, Gen Zers are more likely to have a college degree and work full time. Plus, many millennials have more saved for retirement than they did just a few years ago, after reaping the benefits of positive market conditions.   
Yet, roughly 1 in 3 adults ages 18 to 34 in the U.S. live in their parents’ home, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
“Housing is a big issue and parents are helping more and more with rent and home purchases,” said Carolyn McClanahan, a certified financial planner and founder of Life Planning Partners in Jacksonville, Florida.

60% of parents risk their own financial security

In addition to the monthly expense, supporting grown children can come with a long-term cost. 
More than 60% of parents said they have sacrificed their own financial security for the sake of their kids, also a jump from previous years, Savings.com found. The site polled more than 1,000 parents of adult children in February.
Further, about 18% of parents supporting adult children said those financial contributions could continue indefinitely.
“They don’t see an end in sight,” said Beth Klongpayabal, the study’s lead data analyst.
As a general rule, you should set aside money for your own retirement and emergency fund first, McClanahan said. She also suggests parents set parameters to help ensure children are using the money they gift wisely.
“We are careful to make sure parents don’t gift so much to put themselves in peril,” said McClanahan, who also is a member of CNBC’s Advisor Council.

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Equal Pay Day marks just how far into the new year full-time female workers have to keep working to make what their male counterparts made in just the previous year, also known as the gender pay gap.
Women in the U.S. who work full time are still typically paid 83 cents for every dollar paid to men.
At this rate, it could take 134 years to close the global gender pay gap, according to estimates by the World Economic Forum.

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For decades, women have faced an uphill battle in the workplace.
Even now, although women are achieving increasing levels of education and representation in senior leadership positions at work, there remains a stubborn pay gap and promotion gap.

Equal Pay Day — which this year falls on March 25 — is a reminder of the persistent income inequality between men and women. The date marks just how far into the new year full-time female workers have to keep working to make what their male counterparts typically made in just the previous year.
As it stands, women earn just 83 cents for every dollar earned by men, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by the National Women’s Law Center.
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Over time, the inequality is magnified. Based on today’s wage gap, a woman just starting out will lose up to $1 million over a 40-year career, according to the Center’s research.
“When you look at it by race and gender, that disparity is even wider,” said Jasmine Tucker, the National Women’s Law Center’s vice president of research. “This means that women are never, ever going to catch up.”

In fact, it could take roughly five generations to close the pay gap worldwide, according to 2024 estimates by the World Economic Forum.
“Based on current data, it will take 134 years to reach full parity,” the latest global gender gap report said.
In Northern America, despite achieving equality in educational attainment, there are still wide disparities in earned income and women’s representation in senior leadership positions, the report found.
“Where diversity, equity, and inclusion [DEI] efforts are longer lasting, the returns follow,” the World Economic Forum report also said. In the U.S., at least, many of those efforts are now being pared back or scrapped entirely to reflect a new political reality and the priorities of the Trump administration.

Why the pay gap persists

There is no single explanation for why progress toward narrowing the pay gap has mostly stalled, according to a separate 2023 report by the Pew Research Center.
Women are still more likely than men to pursue careers in lower-paying industries, and to take time out of the labor force or reduce the number of hours worked because of caretaking responsibilities — often referred to as the “motherhood penalty.” Systemic bias has also played a role, Pew found.

Long-term consequences of inequity

“The most important part is not just that [women] make less, it’s what that turns into — the wealth gap,” said Cary Carbonaro, a certified financial planner and managing wealth advisor at Scottsdale, Arizona-based Ashton Thomas.
Not only do women earn less than men, but women also save less each month and feel less optimistic about their long-term financial standing.

Heading into 2025, women were contributing $1,825.18 a month, on average, to their various savings accounts, while men contributed $2,352.34, according to New York Life’s 2025 Wealth Watch survey.
Over the course of the year, women aim to save $9,463.98, on average, compared to the $17,963.13 that their male counterparts aim to put away, the report found.  
They also tend to invest more conservatively, other research by Wells Fargo also shows.
Together, that contributes to a significant savings shortfall.
Although there is no immediate solution to achieving pay equity, there are some measures that can help women shore up their economic standing, Carbonaro said.
“Step one is a budget: what’s coming and what’s going out,” she said. “Spend less than you make. It’s so basic, but it’s the most important building block to securing your financial future.” More

Shares of satellite communications giant Viasat rose after receiving an upgrade at Deutsche Bank.
Analyst Edison Yu said there are “multiple paths” for the company to create equity value, saying its potential is “increasingly compelling.”
The endorsement comes as the stock has already seen massive gains this year.

Viasat offices are shown at the company’s headquarters in Carlsbad, California, on March 9, 2022.
Mike Blake | Reuters

Viasat’s stock soared on Monday after the Starlink competitor received an analyst endorsement from Deutsche Bank.
Shares of the satellite communications giant and competitor to Starlink — the satellite internet service owned and operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX — jumped 14.4% during the trading session after analyst Edison Yu upgraded the stock to buy from hold.

“We see multiple paths for the company to create equity value by materially deleveraging its balance sheet through asset monetization,” the analyst said in a note to clients Monday. “From a timing perspective, this may take 12-18 months to fully play out but we see the risk/reward profile at current levels being increasingly compelling.”

Stock chart icon

VSAT, 1-day

Yu noted that he still has concerns regarding pressure from Starlink on Viasat’s core communication services business in the longer term. Starlink has recently made moves over the past year to expand its presence in various countries.
Earlier this month, Musk secured deals with Indian telecommunications companies such as Reliance’s Jio and Bharti Airtel to roll out Starlink’s internet services across the country. Prior to that, Musk also launched Starlink satellite internet services in Indonesia in May 2024.
Yu’s bullish call comes as Viasat shares have already grown substantially in 2025. Year to date, the stock has risen roughly 30%, far outpacing the S&P 500, which is off more than 2% during that period. In this month alone, the stock has advanced more than 25%.
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An inherited individual retirement account rule change for 2025 could trigger a 25% tax penalty for certain heirs.
Since 2020, most non-spouse heirs must empty inherited IRA accounts by the 10th year after the original account owner’s death.
Starting in 2025, these heirs must start yearly required minimum distributions if the original account owner had reached their RMD age before death.

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There has been a change to inherited individual retirement account rules which mandates that certain heirs must take required withdrawals each year or face an IRS penalty.
Starting in 2025, certain beneficiaries must take annual required minimum distributions while depleting inherited IRAs over 10 years, according to final regulations released in July.

The “10-year rule” and RMD requirement applies to most non-spouse heirs — commonly, adult children — if the original IRA owner reached RMD age before their death.
Meanwhile, the average investor doesn’t know a great deal about these guidelines, said certified financial planner and enrolled agent Catherine Valega, founder of Green Bee Advisory in the Boston area.
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Despite the change, beneficiaries should weigh strategic IRA withdrawals, depending on tax brackets each year, which could mean emptying accounts sooner, experts say.
Here’s what to know about the change for inherited IRAs.

Who could face an IRS penalty

There’s been widespread confusion about which heirs need to take RMDs from inherited IRAs, according to IRA expert Denise Appleby, CEO of Appleby Retirement Consulting in Grayson, Georgia.
Before the Secure Act of 2019, IRA heirs could “stretch” inherited account withdrawals over their lifetime, which reduced yearly taxes.
Since 2020, the 10-year rule has applied to heirs who are not a spouse, minor child, disabled, chronically ill or certain trusts. However, until the IRS issued its regulations last year, it’s been unclear whether yearly RMDs were required during the 10-year drawdown.

If the original owner reached RMD age before death, beneficiaries also must take RMDs, Appleby said.
Previously, the IRS waived penalties for missed RMDs on inherited IRAs. But if you don’t start yearly RMDs in 2025, you could be subject to a 25% penalty on the amount you should have withdrawn. 
The IRS could reduce the fee to 10% if you withdraw the proper amount within two years and file Form 5329. In some cases, the agency will waive the penalty entirely.  
“A lot of clients are getting that excise tax waived” by correcting the RMD, filling out the form and providing a “reasonable explanation,” Appleby said.

Why it could pay to take the money sooner

While penalties will apply for missed RMDs in 2025, some heirs should start emptying inherited accounts sooner, experts say.
Over the past few years, some heirs have skipped yearly withdrawals from inherited IRAs, which could mean larger RMDs before the 10-year window ends. Pre-tax withdrawals are subject to regular income taxes.
“The quicker you do it, the better it is,” said CFP Scott Bishop, partner and managing director of Presidio Wealth Partners, based in Houston. “It’s better to start clipping that away earlier.”
Typically, advisors project taxes over multiple years and take IRA withdrawals during lower-income years. More

Fiserv CEO Frank Bisignano is scheduled to face questions Tuesday from senators on his nomination to serve as Social Security commissioner.
Ahead of that hearing, Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden sent Bisignano a letter Monday to ask him whether he would support privatizing the agency and if he would be willing to undo recent changes at the agency if they proved harmful to beneficiaries.

Frank Bisignano
Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Two Democratic Senators — Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Ron Wyden of Oregon — sent a letter Monday to Frank Bisignano, the nominee to lead the Social Security Administration, to ask whether he supports privatizing the agency and if he would be willing to undo recent changes.
Bisignano, who is the chief executive officer of payments technology company Fiserv, has been nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as commissioner of the Social Security Administration.

Bisignano’s Senate confirmation hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
The hearing comes as current temporary leadership of the agency last week made headlines for threatening to shut down the agency following a temporary restraining order that barred the so-called Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Americans’ personal data.
In the letter to Bisignano, Warren and Wyden said ongoing efforts by the Trump administration, in cooperation with DOGE, may result in changes that will “hollow out” the agency and “deprive Americans of Social Security benefits they earned and need.”
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Those changes include new “burdensome” administrative requirements for beneficiaries, thousands of job cuts and the closure of dozens of Social Security offices, the senators said.

Warren and Wyden wrote they are “deeply concerned” the Trump administration and DOGE are setting the Social Security Administration up for failure, which could be used to justify a “private sector fix.” DOGE leader and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has “clear disdain” for the program, “has taken up the mantle as the latest privatization crusader,” the senators wrote.
Musk, in a February interview with podcast host Joe Rogan, said Social Security is the “biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”
Neither Bisignano nor the White House responded to requests from CNBC for comment by press time.

Fiserv could ‘theoretically benefit’ from privatization

The idea of privatizing Social Security has been pursued before, including by President George W. Bush in 2005. While those efforts failed, talk about whether it makes sense to allow for Americans’ retirement money to be invested in private accounts has recently resurfaced.
The Social Security Administration currently invests the payroll taxes it receives that it is not immediately using to pay for benefits or administrative costs in Treasury bonds. By allowing for those funds to be invested more aggressively, some argue it could provide better returns. To be sure, that also requires taking on more risk.

Warren and Wyden also said they are concerned that private equity professionals Musk has reportedly enlisted to help with the agency will follow the “typical playbook” for that investment industry — “extracting anything of value before selling the remains for parts.”
Fiserv, which helps move money for financial institutions and individuals, “could theoretically benefit from a privatization of Social Security,” Warren and Wyden wrote.

Bisignano to face questions on agency’s future

The first of a list of questions for Bisignano that Warren and Wyden include in their letter: “Will you commit to not privatizing any components of the Social Security program?”
They also inquired whether Bisignano would commit to not closing any Social Security offices if that would lead to severe disruptions, whether he would be willing to reverse agency layoffs if they contribute to longer wait times or otherwise affect beneficiaries’ receipt of benefits and whether he would be willing to reverse a new policy that will require beneficiaries to prove their identities in person.

On Tuesday, Warren, Wyden and other senators will be able to ask Bisignano his views on the agency’s future and other issues during his confirmation hearing.
To be sure, some leaders may consider Bisignano’s private sector experience an asset.
“Frank’s decades of leadership in the private sector, specializing in financial services and payments, make him exceptionally qualified for the task ahead,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, said in a March 14 statement on the upcoming confirmation hearing following a conversation with Bisignano. More