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House Republicans have released a new proposal to raise the Social Security retirement age.
Democrats have called for requiring the wealthy to pay more taxes so benefits can be enhanced.
Here’s what current and future beneficiaries need to know about those proposals.

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House Republicans unveiled a plan this week that calls for raising the Social Security retirement age. Meanwhile, Democrats and advocates for the program are ramping up their calls to tax the rich to enhance benefits.
“On the right, there is a line in the sand against tax increases,” said Emerson Sprick, associate director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

“And on the left, there’s this idea that we’re going to address this problem and not touch benefits,” he said.
Both Social Security and Medicare face looming insolvency dates, while the number of seniors who rely on those programs is projected to grow.
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The trust funds that Social Security relies on to pay benefits may run out in the next decade. For retirees, that may amount to a 23% benefit cut. For the average dual-income couple, that would result in a $17,400 benefit cut, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated.
Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund, which covers Medicare Part A, may face insolvency in 2031.

Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office is now projecting public debt will grow to 166% of gross domestic product by 2054, up from about 97% as of fiscal year 2023.

This week, the Republican Study Committee, a large group of conservative House Republicans, released a 2025 budget proposal including significant reforms for Social Security and Medicare.
President Joe Biden, in his own recent budget proposal, also outlined broad changes he hopes can be made to those programs.
Changes that are enacted to Social Security and Medicare will have to be bipartisan.
“Any kind of durable policy with a realistic chance of getting through Congress is going to have to include aspects from both of these budgets,” Sprick said.

Republican budget calls for raising retirement age

The Republican Study Committee budget calls for “Making Social Security Solvent Again.”
The reforms would be gradually phased in and “affect no senior in or near retirement,” according to the plan. Ultimately, the goal for the changes is to make Social Security’s retirement trust fund “sustainably solvent.”
Republicans’ budget proposal calls for “modest adjustments” to the retirement age to reflect longer life expectancies, though it did not specify how high the age could go up. Social Security’s full retirement age — when beneficiaries may receive 100% of the benefits they’ve earned — is currently 67 for people born in 1960 or later.
The plan also calls for reducing full retirement age benefits for high-income earners, while also limiting and phasing out “auxiliary benefits” for those beneficiaries’ spouses and dependents. The budget did not specify the income thresholds to which those changes would apply.
“There is a lot of willingness and openness on the Republican side of the aisle to reduce Social Security benefits for high earners,” Sprick said.
The Republican budget proposal would restructure Medicare so beneficiaries receive premium support subsidies, which they may use to pay for either through federal traditional Medicare or private Medicare Advantage plans. The amount of the subsidies would be based on a benchmark that would be chosen after testing several options, according to the plan.

Biden’s proposal opposes benefit cuts

Biden’s budget outlines the ways in which the president wants to address the looming funding shortages both Social Security and Medicare currently face.
“No benefit cuts,” the budget states regarding Social Security. Efforts to privatize the program are also off the table.
To help shore up Social Security’s shortfall, Biden’s budget calls for the “highest-income Americans to pay their fair share.”
“Under my plan nobody earning less than $400,000 will pay an additional penny in federal taxes,” Biden said during his State of the Union address earlier this month.

The president’s budget proposal also calls for improving Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits for retirees and individuals with disabilities who “face the greatest challenges making ends meet.”
Biden’s budget also aims to shore up Medicare in keeping with changes he has previously proposed. That includes raising the Medicare tax rate on both earned and unearned income from 3.8% to 5% for those earning more than $400,000.

Parties trade jabs on proposals

Biden’s plan stops short of specifying how he would restore Social Security’s solvency with the proposed combination of tax increases and benefit enhancements. That has prompted House Republicans in their budget proposal to state, “President Biden’s plan would cut benefits by 23% in 2033” in reference to the program’s current projected depletion date.
“We could extend the life of Medicare’s Trust Fund permanently — without cutting benefits — if Congressional Republicans would get on board with the President’s historic budget proposal to raise taxes on the wealthy,” White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson said in a statement. “The President’s Budget also clearly states his principles for strengthening Social Security.”
Democrats, on the other hand, have complained the Republican budget proposal would result in $1.5 trillion in benefit cuts, including raising the retirement age.
“Because they know these cuts are unpopular with the American people, the [Republican Study Committee] does not reveal how many years they would raise the age nor how they would ‘phase out’ other benefits,” Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., ranking member of the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, said in a statement. More

Women and Wealth Events
Your Money

Establishing a routine is necessary for successful investing and building wealth.
When I think about my clients who have managed to reach financial independence, I’d say they have very defined patterns that help them save and track their finances.
Here’s how to develop habits that will help you achieve financial success.

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We’ve all been told that following a routine is important in many aspects of life — for physical fitness, good eating habits, solid work patterns and so on. But many experts are telling us that establishing a routine is also necessary for successful investing and building wealth.
At an early age, my mom drilled into me that it wasn’t how much I earned, but how much I saved. I’ll add that it’s not just how much we save, but how and when we save — ideally, without overthinking it.

When I think about my clients who have managed to reach financial independence, I’d say they also have very defined patterns that help them save and track their finances. 

More from CNBC’s Advisor Council

Let’s take a look at what some prominent people have said on the subject and then I’ll share my tips on how you can apply their observations to upping your own personal finance game.

To change a habit, ‘understand its structure’

The advice: In his best-selling book, “The Power of Habit,” Charles Duhigg found people who stick to a daily routine are more likely to make smarter financial decisions.
“Habits are at first cobwebs, then cables,” Duhigg wrote, referring to his observation that building wealth through investing takes time and consistency to develop good habits and see results. 
Another quote, “The key to changing a habit is to understand its structure — to identify the cue, the routine, and the reward — and then alter them,” is Duhigg’s way of noting that it’s important to understand your own spending and saving habits. That helps you identify what triggers you to spend money, establish a routine for saving a certain amount of money from each paycheck and reward yourself for achieving your savings goals. 

“The brain can be reprogrammed. You just have to be deliberate about it,” Duhigg wrote. This can be applied to investing by recognizing that you can change your financial habits and mindset with deliberate effort. By educating yourself about investing, setting specific goals and staying disciplined, you can reprogram your brain to prioritize saving and investing for your future.
My take: Data from Pew Research supports this. Pew found that individuals who establish consistent saving routines are more likely to build wealth over time than those who don’t. The report says that “households benefit from automatic mechanisms to generate savings. Such programs have shown promise for other types of savings and could, with appropriate alteration, offer a valuable platform for building and rebuilding emergency savings.”
Putting your savings and investing on automatic is a small change that may significantly affect your net worth over the long term. Instead of waiting to save, set up automatic savings to your important “goal” accounts. Have money transferred regularly to your emergency fund, your retirement savings, kids’ college savings, paying off credit cards and even for your next dream vacation. 

‘Automatic’ behaviors carry us along

The advice: Wendy Wood, a professor of psychology and business at the University of Southern California, is the author of “Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick.” Wood says that habits give us the freedom to focus on other things while our “automatic” behaviors carry us along. 
By establishing routines that support our financial goals, we can free up mental energy to focus on other aspects of our lives. This can be especially important when it comes to investing, which can be complex and stressful. “Small changes to the environment can lead to big changes in behavior,” Wood wrote. Wood also said that “the more we repeat a behavior, the less effort it takes to do it.” The more you invest, the easier it becomes. 

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Here’s a look at more coverage in CNBC’s Women & Wealth special report, where we explore ways women can increase income, save and make the most of opportunities.

My take: If you typically invest in individual stocks, consider diversifying your portfolio by also adding mutual funds or exchange-traded funds that track a broad market index. By making this a regular habit, you’ll also become more comfortable with the movement of the stock market, diversifying your portfolio and the process of investing and rebalancing. This, in turn, will require less effort over time and reduce investing fears.

Daily actions outweigh ‘once in a while’ moves

The advice: In podcaster Gretchen Rubin’s best-selling book, “Better than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits,” she explores the science of habit formation and gives advice for making positive changes. 
“What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while,” she wrote. That can be applied to investing by consistently contributing to your investment accounts, even if it’s just a small amount each month. 
Another Rubin quote, “Happiness is not a destination, it’s a way of life,” can be applied to investing by recognizing that building wealth is not just about achieving a certain financial goal, but about creating a more secure financial future for yourself and your loved ones.
My take: Establish routines that support financial goals. Make a choice that you’re going to get serious about saving by committing to establishing good habits — including forming and following a budget, making saving from each paycheck a priority, adding to your investments regularly and paying off credit card debt. 
Set specific financial goals and stick to them and automate as many things as you can, including savings and recurring bills such as insurance and mortgage payments. Meet at least once a year with your financial advisor so you can be sure to stay on track.

5 ways to build habits that improve your finances
You can develop the habits that will help you achieve financial success by consistently following these steps:

Identify the cues, routines, and rewards that drive your financial behavior.
Make small adjustments to your investment strategy.
Set specific goals.
Contribute regularly to your accounts.
Recognize that wealth-building is a long-term process.

— By Winnie Sun, co-founder and managing director of Irvine, California-based Sun Group Wealth Partners. She is a member of the CNBC Financial Advisor Council. More

Prices are beginning to come down from peak highs for both new and used cars, but we might never go back to pre-pandemic norms, experts say.
“The bad news is we’re never going back to the old normal. The good news is within new normal range we have been coming off of peaks,” said Pat Ryan, the founder and chief executive officer of CoPilot, a car-shopping app.

Maskot | Maskot | Getty Images

After a year of supply shortages and climbing borrowing costs, 2024 is shaping up to be a better time to buy a car.
The average transaction price for a new car in the U.S. in February was $47,244, down 2.2% from February 2023. That’s also down 5.4% from the market peak in December 2022, according to Kelley Blue Book.

But new cars are still generally expensive; prices are nearly 14% higher than in February 2021.
Incentives such as rebates and discounts are slowly making a comeback as inventory grows for most automakers, but prices might never go back to pre-pandemic levels, experts predict.
“The bad news is we’re never going back to the old normal. The good news is within new normal range we have been coming off of peaks,” said Pat Ryan, the founder and chief executive officer of CoPilot, a car-shopping app.
“We have this structural move now in both new and used car prices that are making consumers’ eyes pop out,” he said.

Why new cars have gotten pricier

The underlying components built into new cars, such as technology, as well as high labor costs, are keeping prices high, Ryan said.

“A fender bender is no longer a small thing,” he said. “If you hit somebody with your fender in your new car today, instead of being $300 with plastic that you have to replace, it might be $2,000 or $3,000 because you have … all these anti-collision and electronics.”
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That’s why it’s hard to come by a new model below $20,000 in the auto market. It’s also a response to consumers preferring cars with features such as automatic climate control, a touch screen and parking sensors, Joseph Yoon, a consumer insights analyst at car website Edmunds, previously told CNBC.
Because of these advances, Ryan said, new car prices are “never going to go back down to where they were.”

Used car shortage ‘puts a floor’ on depreciation

The average transaction price for used cars in the fourth quarter of 2023 dipped to $28,371, a 4.4% decline from $29,690 a year prior, according to Edmunds data.
“Depreciation didn’t exist” in the last few years for used cars due to high demand, Yoon explained.
Used car prices are likely to stay “structurally higher” because fewer new cars were produced during the pandemic due to shutdowns and chip shortages. That means more drivers held on to their previous cars, making fewer used cars available on the market, Ryan said.
“That shortage of used cars puts a floor on how much the used cars can depreciate because … there’s no used car factory, you can’t build more used cars,” he said.

However, newer used cars, or those up to three years old, are depreciating, because they are directly correlated with the recovered inventory of the new car market, Yoon said.
“A three-year-old car is marginally similar to newer cars,” he said.
Cars between five and seven years old are still holding onto pandemic-era values because of low supply, he said. As there are fewer older cars available, the high demand keeps prices elevated.
While prices remain generally high, drivers who need to switch up their wheels may have a better chance this year, experts say.

When to buy a car in 2024

Incentives between April and July are forecast to be the most attractive in the new car market, Ryan said.
Car shopping often takes place in the spring and summer.
“To go on a test drive, you’re going to be outdoors to look at a car … it’s kind of an outdoorsy activity,” said Brian Moody, executive editor for Kelley Blue Book.
While interest rates are still high, the Federal Reserve is expected to cut rates this year, which may “give people a little more breathing room,” Ivan Drury, Edmunds’ director of insights, previously told CNBC.
“Last year was ugly all around. At least there’s an upside this year,” he said.
Manufacturers are also ramping up incentives on some new cars. Since deals are not a “blanket across all brands or even all cars within one brand,” shoppers will have to hunt for those offers, Moody said.
Drivers can get deals on used cars under three years old, Yoon said, and car dealers are more likely “to be a bit generous during holidays.”
“In general, whether new or used, dealers often offer incentives over big holidays like Presidents [Day] weekend,” he said.
The average transaction price for a one-year-old car dropped to $38,720, a $6,763 decline from its peak of $45,483 in the third quarter of 2022, which is a “meaningful shift,” he said.

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The IRS issued more than 43 million refunds, worth about $135.3 billion, as of March 8.
The average refund was $3,145, up from $2,972 during the same week last year.
You can check the status of your refund via the “Where’s My Refund?” online tool.

Urbazon | E+ | Getty Images

Why many taxpayers wait to file

Typically, taxpayers file sooner when they’re expecting a refund, said Mark Baran, managing director at financial firm CBIZ Marks Paneth.

Indeed, knowing “they won’t get a refund” is one of the top five reasons Americans procrastinate on taxes, according to a January survey from IPX1031, an investment property exchange service.
Plus, many taxpayers file for an extension, which bumps the federal filing deadline by six months, to Oct. 15 this year. This provides more time to file, but federal taxes owed are typically still due on April 15. Some taxpayers have an automatic federal extension due to natural disasters.

“A lot of high-net-worth clients will file extensions” because they’re still waiting for tax forms such as Schedule K-1 for so-called pass-through business income, Baran said.
“The [latest IRS] data doesn’t reflect the returns that are ultimately filed by October,” he added.
As of Dec. 23, the average refund for 2023 was $3,167, which was slightly lower than the $3,252 average in 2022, the IRS reported.

Why more taxpayers are relying on a refund

Some 40% of taxpayers are relying on a refund this season, up from 36% last year, according to a LendingTree survey published in March.
“The most simple explanation is inflation,” said Jacob Channel, LendingTree’s senior economist.
While inflation is down significantly from its 9.1% peak in 2022, it remains above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, he said.
The consumer price index, which tracks the cost of consumer goods and services over time, rose 3.2% in February compared with one year ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in March.

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Amid ongoing FAFSA issues, criticism of the U.S. Department of Education has reached a fever pitch.
Former top student loan official Wayne Johnson accused the Education Department of “malicious negligence” in a letter written to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and other senior officials and shared with CNBC.

As problems with the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid persist into the spring, harsh words are being directed at the U.S. Department of Education.
Former top student loan official Wayne Johnson accused the Education Department of “malicious negligence” in a recent letter written to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and other senior officials and shared with CNBC.

“Continuing to whitewash this evolving calamity with ‘corporate style crises management PR’ is extraordinarily irresponsible,” wrote Johnson, who served as the chief operating officer of the Office of Federal Student Aid from 2017 until 2019 and is now running for Congress.
“Each of you is personally and collectively responsible for what is manifesting to be a level of incredible harm inflicted upon students and schools,” Johnson wrote.
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Johnson had a “brief” tenure as COO of FSA, a department spokesperson told CNBC of his correspondence, “during which time none of the changes he now talks about were successfully implemented.”
“We will also note that the FAFSA Simplification Act requires not just a new form but a complete overhaul of the formula and process for delivering financial aid to students,” the department spokesman added.

A separate group of Republican lawmakers also has requested a federal inquiry into the rollout and whether students were given sufficient information on the new process.
To be sure, the overhaul was a “major” undertaking imposed by Congress without additional funding or resources, a senior Education Department official said on a January press call. “Our ‘North Star’ here is trying to make sure that students get the help they need for college.”

‘Any further delays would be disastrous’

The FAFSA serves as the gateway to all federal aid money, including loans, work study and grants, the latter of which are the most desirable kinds of assistance because they typically do not need to be repaid.
However, this year, fewer students are applying for financial aid, data shows, as the U.S. Department of Education works to resolve ongoing technical issues with the new form, including preventing contributors without a Social Security number from starting or accessing the application.
“This adds to the growing list of can’t-miss priorities that the Department must deliver in the month of March, a timeline students and institutions desperately need the Department to meet,” said Justin Draeger, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. “Any further delays would be disastrous for both students and schools.”

They’ve been accepted into schools and they don’t know if they can afford it — that’s a problem.

Lydia McNeiley
college and career coordinator in Hammond, Indiana

Award letters are typically sent around the same time as admission letters so students have several weeks to compare offers ahead of National College Decision Day on May 1, which is the deadline many schools set for admitted students to decide on a college.

Especially ‘scary’ for those depending on aid

For most students and their families, which college they will choose hinges on the amount of financial aid offered and the breakdown between grants, scholarships, work-study opportunities and student loans.
“They’ve been accepted into schools and they don’t know if they can afford it — that’s a problem,” said Lydia McNeiley, a college and career coordinator for the public school district in Hammond, Indiana. “It’s not fair across the board, but for those that are depending on that financial aid letter, this is scary.”
In Hammond, most high school seniors are first-generation college applicants who would qualify for aid but have hit obstacles with the 2024–25 form, McNeiley said.
“The message that they are getting is that they have to prove that they deserve to be on those campuses,” she said. “It’s really a slap in the face.”

Because of the extensive delays, many colleges are now relying on their own calculations to determine student aid packages, which could open the door to issuing financial aid award offers that schools may not be able to honor or “cause tens of billions of dollars in improper payments,” Johnson wrote.
“Moreover, it is highly probable that FAFSA related systems failures will continue to further disenfranchise large populations of students into 2025-2026,” Johnson added in his letter, underscoring how important the awarding of federal student financial aid is to driving college enrollment.
Johnson equated the potential impending enrollment decline to the one experienced at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, when college attendance notched the largest two-year drop in 50 years.

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The Biden administration announced it would forgive $5.8 billion in student debt for 77,700 borrowers through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
It also said President Joe Biden would email another 380,000 public service workers, notifying them that they’re on track to have their debt canceled within two years.

U.S. President Joe Biden announces a preliminary agreement with Intel for a major CHIPS and Science Act award, during a visit to the Intel Ocotillo Campus, in Chandler, Arizona, U.S., March 20, 2024. 
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

The Biden administration announced Thursday it would forgive $5.8 billion in student debt for 77,700 borrowers through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
It also said President Joe Biden would email another 380,000 public service workers starting next week, notifying them that they’re on track to have their debt canceled within two years.

The U.S. Department of Education has routinely announced waves of loan forgiveness, as the Biden administration seeks to use its existing authority to leave people with less debt after the Supreme Court struck down its sweeping $400 billion loan forgiveness plan last June. The Biden administration has so far cleared the education debts of nearly 4 million people, totaling $143.6 billion in relief.
“For too long, our nation’s teachers, nurses, social workers, firefighters, and other public servants faced logistical troubles and trap doors when they tried to access the debt relief they were entitled to under the law,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement about the latest round of forgiveness.
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The PSLF program, signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2007, allows certain not-for-profit and government employees to have their federal student loans canceled after 10 years of on-time payments. In 2013, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimated that one-quarter of American workers may be eligible.
However, the program had long been plagued by problems, making people who actually received the relief a rarity. Borrowers complained about confusing rules and misinformation from their servicers.

The Biden administration has worked to fix those issues.
Before Biden’s fixes to PSLF, just around 7,000 borrowers had received debt relief through the over 15-year-old program, according to the administration. Since 2021, it said, 871,000 borrowers have now had their debt canceled under the program.

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Bitcoin’s recent rise has contributed to investor FOMO, or the fear of missing out.
While bitcoin should be handled with care, investors should use the same investment principles applied to other positions.
The goal is to incorporate a repeatable process, so you have less fear and avoid missing out.

Photographer, Basak Gurbuz Derman | Moment | Getty Images

When it comes to investor maladies, fear of missing out, or FOMO, is the clinical term for buying a security after a meteoric price increase because you don’t want to be left behind. There is no known cure for this condition, which has been linked to numerous bad investment decisions.
Bitcoin caught the attention of investors in 2020 because the price skyrocketed from $7,194 a coin to a peak of $60,360 in November 2021. Just as we became comfortable with digital gold, the price declined all the way back to $16,547 at the end of 2022.

Today’s environment is déjà vu all over again, a feeding frenzy of quick profits that few of us want to miss out on.

More from CNBC’s Advisor Council

Last week, bitcoin climbed to a record $73,679, a price surge of nearly 70% from the start of the year. Prices have since eased somewhat: As of early Wednesday, the flagship currency was trading at around $62,500, due in part to the news Tuesday that Japan raised interest rates for the first time in 17 years.

How does monetary policy influence bitcoin?

The value proposition for bitcoin is that it serves as a store of value because there will only be a maximum of 21 million bitcoins available. When you buy bitcoin, you are exchanging something in abundance, namely a dollar, for something that is scarce, which in this case is bitcoin.
When the Fed increased liquidity in 2020 the case for bitcoin was obvious. Similarly, once the Fed reversed course and raised rates in 2022 the opposite dynamic occurred.
In other words, bitcoin’s price will be heavily influenced and correlated to the global money supply.

Why did bitcoin go up last year?

You can make the case that the Fed reduced the rate at which it tightened, which on a rate of change basis increased liquidity. Moreover, the banking crisis forced the Fed to open the discount window first and then create a Bank Term Funding Program that allowed regional banks to pledge illiquid bonds as collateral in exchange for much needed liquidity. These events were tailor made for the scarcity trade.

Where do things stand today for bitcoin?

There are a couple of things to consider when deciding if it’s too late to buy bitcoin.
First, what do investors believe will happen to liquidity? Or said another way, will the Fed accelerate a campaign of tightening?
Inflation may be sticky, but it’s not high enough to warrant a rate hike. If anything, investors are anticipating a rate cut. There is also a matter of the commercial real estate loans that come due this year and concerns about the regional banks that may force the Fed to provide resources that mitigate a contagion.

Second, bitcoin has been approved as a spot ETF. If bitcoin is indeed a hoax it must have quite the sales pitch because stalwarts such as Schwab, Fidelity, Van Eck and Blackrock are all on board, the SEC notwithstanding.
In fact, Grayscale’s 2021 Bitcoin Investment Survey found that 77% of investors who did not own bitcoin would be more likely to buy it if there were an ETF, and according to a recent Coinbase report, 59% of institutional investors plan to increase allocations to crypto over the next three years. Lo and behold, bitcoin ETFs have attracted over $3.5 billion in new inflows in March as of this writing, the supply and demand dynamic pushing the price higher.

What’s the best way to participate?

While bitcoin should be handled with care, investors should use the same investment principles applied to other positions. If a security is significantly more volatile than the market, it makes sense to hold a smaller position.

It’s advisable to dollar cost average 1% at a time until you reach the position size that suits your risk tolerance. Once you are fully invested, make sure to rebalance quarterly to mitigate the roller coaster ride and ensure that you participate on the upside.
The goal is to incorporate a repeatable process, so you have less fear and avoid missing out. Fortunately, the same investment methods you use for a traditional portfolio are applicable to bitcoin as well.
— By Ivory Johnson, certified financial planner and the founder of Delancey Wealth Management in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the CNBC Financial Advisor Council. More

Women and Wealth Events
Your Money

Nearly two-thirds of the country’s outstanding student debt is held by women.
CNBC spoke to student loan and financial experts about how women can best manage their education debt.

10’000 Hours | Getty Images

Nearly two-thirds of the country’s outstanding student debt is held by women.
Women graduate college owing $2,700 more, on average, than their male counterparts, according to the American Association of University Women. Among undergraduate students in bachelor’s degree programs in 2019-2020, 54% of men graduated with student loans, compared to 66% of women, according to higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.

One major reason women tend to borrow more, experts say, is the fact that they often face additional caretaking responsibilities that can leave them with higher expenses and less able to work while they’re in school.

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Here’s a look at more coverage in CNBC’s Women & Wealth special report, where we explore ways women can increase income, save and make the most of opportunities.

After graduation, men also typically pay down their student debt faster, since they earn more. Men with a bachelor’s degree pull in a median weekly earnings of $1,632, compared with $1,248 for women, the U.S. Department of Labor has found.
“We find that women borrowers tend to have multiple financial pressures that contribute to their student loan struggles,” said Betsy Mayotte, president of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors, a nonprofit that helps borrowers navigate the repayment of their debt.
“Over 63% of the borrowers that reach out to us for advice are women,” Mayotte added.
CNBC spoke to Mayotte and other student loan and financial experts about how women can manage their education debt.

Make the most of federal relief for borrowers

There used to be a working mother and parental leave deferment for student loans, but these options are not available for more recent borrowers, Kantrowitz said. (If your federal student loans were disbursed prior to July 1, 1993, you could still qualify.)
Still, there are ways to pause your loan payments if you’ve hit an especially hard patch financially, he said.
If you’re out of work, you can request an unemployment deferment with your servicer. If you’re dealing with another financial challenge, meanwhile, you may be eligible for an economic hardship deferment.
Those who qualify for a hardship deferment include people receiving certain types of federal or state aid and anyone volunteering in the Peace Corps, Kantrowitz said.

With both a hardship and an unemployment deferment, interest generally doesn’t accrue on undergraduate subsidized loans. Other kinds of loans, however, will rack up interest.
The maximum amount of time you can use an unemployment or hardship deferment is usually three years, per type. Other, lesser-known deferments include the graduate fellowship deferment, the military service and post-active duty deferment and the cancer treatment deferment.
Student loan borrowers who don’t qualify for a deferment may request a forbearance.
Under this option, borrowers can keep their loans on hold for as long as three years. However, because interest accrues during the forbearance period, borrowers can face a larger bill when it ends.
A better option for federal student loans may be enrolling in an income-driven repayment plan, experts say. Those plans cap your monthly bill at a percentage of your discretionary income and forgive any of your remaining debt after 10 or 25 years.
To determine how much your monthly bill would be under different plans, use one of the calculators at Studentaid.gov or Freestudentloanadvice.org.

Use a ‘hybrid approach’

It’s deflating for women to have to direct all their extra cash to their student debt, said certified financial planner Cathy Curtis, founder and CEO of Curtis Financial Planning in Oakland, California.
“I like to recommend a hybrid approach,” said Curtis, who is a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council. “Even if a person puts a small amount towards each goal, they can feel less anxious about their finances and know that they are doing the right things with their money.”
Because federal student loans tend to have low interest rates, you’ll likely see more of a benefit from meeting your minimum payment and then funneling any extra cash toward long-term investing for retirement, Curtis said. (Research shows women’s retirement savings tend to lag men’s.)

If your company matches your 401(k) retirement plan savings, try to salt away at least enough to get that full matched amount, Curtis said. “I always emphasize trying to capture that free money,” she added.
Women who have children may also want to consider putting even small amounts on a regular basis into a 529 savings plan so that they don’t need to borrow more when their kids are ready for college, Curtis added.
But Winnie Sun, co-founder of Sun Group Wealth Partners and another member of CNBC’s Advisor Council, added an asterisk to that point.
“When it comes to helping your kids with their college costs, just remember that you need to prioritize your own retirement savings,” Sun said.

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