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TikTok’s “loud budgeting” trend encourages consumers to take control of their finances and be vocal about making money-conscious decisions.
Being open about your financial constraints and cutting down on impulse purchases can help reduce anxiety and achieve broader goals, experts say.

Just months ago, we were coveting Loro Piana cashmere baseball hats and $300 Smythson notebooks in the name of “quiet luxury” and justifying such expensive purchases using “girl math.”
But in 2024, there’s a new idea taking hold that overtly rejects the urge to overspend and promotes speaking up about saving money — welcome to the era of “loud budgeting.”

What is loud budgeting?

TikTok’s loud budgeting trend encourages consumers to take control of their finances and be vocal about making money-conscious decisions, rather than modeling purchase decisions after celebrities and their bottomless pockets — and financial experts love it.
The idea making waves on social media is centered around the everyday person, or the “average Joe,” according to Lukas Battle’s viral TikTok video.
“Let’s send a message to corporations about the national inflation level. Let’s take a stand,” Battle said.
“It’s not ‘I don’t have enough,’ it’s ‘I don’t want to spend,'” Battle explained.
In fact, the truly ultrarich are less interested in conspicuous consumption, he contends. In that way, loud budgeting is “it’s almost more chic, more stylish, more of a flex.”

‘Being loud can be empowering’

“Being loud can be empowering,” said Erica Sandberg, personal finance expert at CardRates.com. “With this process, you become proud that you bring a bag lunch, make your own coffee, or take the bus.”
Further, being open about your financial constraints can also help reduce anxiety and crowdsource solutions, she added.
“Not only can consumers find commonality with budgeting concerns, they can also find community to achieve broader goals and cut down on impulse purchases,” Sandberg said.

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Although a majority of all Americans say they are living paycheck to paycheck and feel increasingly strained by higher prices, consumers routinely spend more than they can afford on impulse purchases, many studies show — particularly on sites like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.
One report by online lender SoFi found that 56% of consumers said that more than half of their online purchases are spontaneous, driven largely by changing habits post-Covid and the surge in online shopping.
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In fact, there are a growing number of catchy phrases, such as “bougie broke” and “de-influencing,” which aim to consciously stop overspending on social media and adhere to a realistic budget.
“When opening Instagram and routinely seeing photos of that friend who travels to Europe every month, or near daily dinners in $100 per person downtown restaurants, it can become easy to feel that doing the opposite, putting more into savings for a single annual vacation, isn’t really ‘living,'” said Yuval Shuminer, CEO of budgeting app Piere.
Yet, Battle is spot-on, Shuminer said.
“Deprivation isn’t the goal or the outcome,” she said. “It’s the creation of a lifestyle that creates real individual value. It’s about spending money and allocating resources on what you prioritize in life, and cutting ruthlessly on what you don’t.”

How to jump on the loud budgeting trend

Quiet the noise altogether, consumer savings expert Andrea Woroch recently told CNBC.
“The most simple way to dodge temptations is to get off the list by unsubscribing from emails, opting out of text alerts, turning off push notifications in retail apps and unfollowing brands on social,” she said.
In addition, deleting payment details stored online helps create a “purchase hurdle” that forces you to think through your buying decisions, Woroch said.
Otherwise, Jacqueline Howard, head of money wellness at Ally, recommends trying “the 48-hour rule,” which requires waiting a full two days before making a purchase, even if it’s on sale.
“This small window of time allows you to calm your emotions from the urgency of the sale and helps you decide if you really want or need the item,” she said.
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While a 12% annual rate of return has been suggested as possible in retirement investing, that’s not always achievable.
Here’s why you may want to anticipate a more conservative return to account for life’s inevitable curveballs, according to experts.

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When you invest toward retirement, experts often like to say you are letting your money work for you. But how much can you realistically expect to earn on your money?
The annual rate of return — defined as the percentage change in an investment’s value — is an estimate of the gains you may earn over time.

Exactly how much you can expect to earn per year on average has been the subject of debate.
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A 25-year-old who invests $100 per month in an S&P 500 index fund in a Roth individual retirement account until they are 65 may see a 12% annual rate of return over 40 years, personal finance expert Suze Orman recently told The Wall Street Journal in an interview. Dave Ramsey has long called for a 12% return estimate in his calculations.
However, David Blanchett, managing director and head of retirement research at PGIM DC Solutions, is seeking to debunk the idea of 12% return assumptions. Among other reasons, that rate of return is “absolutely nuts” because it doesn’t incorporate volatility or inflation, Blanchett said.
He said a more reasonable return assumption is 5% for a balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds or 7% for a more aggressive exposure to stocks.

Return assumptions as a lesson on compounding

The point of her example was not to expect a 12% average rate of return on your money, Orman told CNBC.com. Instead, it was intended to teach young investors what time and compounding can do, she said.
“You have no idea how many kids have said to me, ‘When I heard that I immediately opened a Roth IRA, I immediately started to put money in it,'” Orman said.
Young investors should start right now and should not wait, she said. The reason comes down to a concept called compound interest — that both the money you initially invest and the interest earned on that money will continue to grow.

Those investors start to learn that — no matter the return — it’s better to start at age 25 versus 35, she said.
“Every year that you wait, you have less time for your money to compound,” Orman said. “The less time you have for your money to compound, the less money you could have.”
Moreover, investing through a post-tax Roth IRA account versus a pretax traditional retirement account may help boost your returns, as tax rates may increase in the future.
Ramsey was not available for comment.

Why 12% is an optimistic benchmark

There’s a reason that 12% tends to be used as a benchmark, according to Blanchett. The average historical return from 1926 to 2023 is 12.2%, according to a monthly data set called stocks, bonds, bills and inflation, or SBBI.
But that is based on a simple arithmetic return, which may not accurately reflect all fluctuations, according to Blanchett.
For example, if you have $100 and your portfolio goes up 100%, you now have $200. But if it then goes down 50%, that brings you back to $100. The average return, by taking the 100% and negative 50% returns and dividing by two, would be positive 25%. Yet your realized return would be 0%, as you are back to your original $100 balance, Blanchett said.
Another more complicated calculation used by experts, known as compounded or geometric returns, would better account for those fluctuations, he said.
“It’s just the impact of negative returns that hurt you so much,” Blanchett said.

How much retirement savers can expect to earn

So how much can you realistically expect to earn on your retirement investments?
“I would tell them 4% to 6%,” Orman said.
The two different returns Orman cites serve different purposes, she said. The first example, with a 12% average rate of return, is to illustrate the power of compounding. The second is a lesson to anticipate a conservative return, “because you never know what can happen in life,” Orman said.
Orman’s conservative estimate is in line with Blanchett’s 5%.
Investors saving for retirement may see tools that provide return projections. However, it is important to be mindful of how those anticipated rates of return are determined.
For example, Fidelity provides a balance projection for a NetBenefits accountholder’s next milestone age that anticipates a 3.5% return, among other assumptions. Because those time frames tend to be shorter, using historical returns is not necessarily the best strategy for those estimates, nor is it intended to be a long-term growth assumption, according to the firm.

How your personal rate of return may vary

Of course, no rates of return are guaranteed.
Much of the rate you may anticipate earning on your investments depends on your personal asset allocation, said Brian Spinelli, a certified financial planner and co-chief investment officer at Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors in Long Beach, California, which was No. 8 on CNBC’s FA 100 list in 2023.
Investors in workplace retirement accounts typically have a limited menu of options from which to choose. If they opt for greater exposure to bonds or stable value funds, they can expect more muted returns compared with someone who is more heavily invested in stocks, Spinelli said.

The goal is to match those allocations to your time horizon, which typically means reducing the size of your stock investments the closer you get to your anticipated retirement date.
Generally, investors should not have major asset allocation shifts from month to month, quarter to quarter or even year to year, according to Spinelli.
It also helps to pay attention to the fees you may be charged on your investments, he noted. Fees eat into your returns.
To stay the course, it helps to anticipate a certain amount of volatility from the outset, he said. By selling and sitting on the sidelines and waiting for the market to recover, you may miss the market’s best performance days.
“In order to get those returns, you have to stay in it,” Spinelli said. “You cannot try to market-time and try to get out and expect yourself to get back in at the lows, because [you] probably won’t make that decision.” More

The Biden administration announced Friday it would forgive $4.9 billion in student debt for 73,600 borrowers.
The relief is a result of the U.S. Department of Education’s fixes to its income-driven repayment plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

US President Joe Biden speaks at Abbotts Creek Community Center during an event to promote his economic agenda in Raleigh, North Carolina, on January 18, 2024. 
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images

The Biden administration announced Friday it would forgive $4.9 billion in student debt for 73,600 borrowers.
The relief is a result of the U.S. Department of Education’s fixes to its income-driven repayment plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

“The Biden-Harris Administration has worked relentlessly to fix our country’s broken student loan system and address the needless hurdles and administrative inaccuracies that, in the past, kept borrowers from getting the student debt forgiveness they deserved,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement.
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Around $1.7 billion of the aid will go to 29,700 borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment plans. Those plans are supposed to lead to debt forgiveness after a set period, but historically, this hasn’t always happened because loan servicers failed to keep track of borrowers’ payments, experts say.
In addition, 43,900 borrowers who have worked in public service for a decade or more will receive $3.2 billion in loan cancellation, the U.S. Department of Education said. Borrowers in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program have also struggled to get the debt erasure they’ve been promised due to errors in their payment counts and other issues.
The announcement did not specify when eligible borrowers may expect to see that relief.

The Biden administration has now canceled more than $136 billion in student debt for over 3.7 million Americans, according to the White House.
Consumer advocates have praised President Joe Biden for his recent actions but are pressuring him to do more.
On the campaign trail ahead of the 2020 presidential election, Biden vowed to cancel at least $10,000 of student debt per person.
“Student debt cancellation tipped the balance in Democrats’ favor in the midterms,” said Astra Taylor, co-founder of the Debt Collective, a union for debtors, in an interview last fall with CNBC. “Failing to deliver will demoralize and demobilize young people whose votes they cannot afford to lose.”
Biden’s plans to cancel up to $400 billion in student debt for tens of millions of Americans were thwarted last June at the Supreme Court. The high court said the president didn’t have the authority to instruct his Education secretary to cancel such a large amount of consumer debt without prior authorization from Congress.
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Tax-related identity theft happens when criminals use your personal information to file a return in your name and claim your refund.
Victims are waiting an average of almost 19 months for the IRS to process their returns and issue refunds, the National Taxpayer Advocate reported.

5M3photos | Moment | Getty Images

As the start of tax season approaches, experts are warning filers about tax-related identity theft, an issue that often halts returns and delays refunds.
Tax identity theft happens when criminals use your personal information to file a return in your name and claim your refund — and “it continues to be a huge problem,” said Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center.

The IRS’ Identity Theft Victim Assistance program had 294,138 individual case receipts during fiscal 2023, up from 92,631 in 2019, according to the National Taxpayer Advocate’s annual report to Congress released last week. 
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Tax-related identity theft has diminished since the early days of electronic filing. But “the challenge is it takes so long to resolve,” Velasquez said.
Indeed, victims are waiting an average of almost 19 months for the IRS to process their returns and issue refunds, National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins wrote in the organization’s report to Congress. She called the lengthy waits “unconscionable.”
There are signs of tax identity theft listed on the IRS website, including a letter from the agency about a “suspicious tax return,” the inability to e-file, tax transcripts by mail you didn’t request and more.

There are also two key steps taxpayers can take to protect themselves.

File your tax return early

One of the best ways to avoid tax-related identity theft this season is by filing your return early, according to Mark Steber, chief tax information officer at Jackson Hewitt.
“There’s just too much downside risk in allowing the scammers and the stealers to come in and get in front of you by filing a faster return,” he said.

There’s just too much downside risk in allowing the scammers and the stealers to come in and get in front of you by filing a faster return.

Mark Steber
Chief tax information officer at Jackson Hewitt

Of course, it’s important to wait for the necessary tax forms to file a complete and accurate return. With missing information, the IRS may flag your filing, which could cause delays.
As a year-round precaution, the IRS recommends protecting your data with strong passwords, multi-factor authentication, encryption programs and software updates.

Get an identity protection pin for the future

If you’re looking for added protection, experts suggest getting an identity protection PIN, or IP PIN, from the IRS.
This six-digit number blocks others from using your Social Security number or individual taxpayer identification number to file a tax return. Once you enroll, the agency generates a new IP PIN for you each year.
Previously, IP PINs were only for identity theft victims. “Now, they’ve opened it to everyone,” Steber said. “I highly recommend it.”
However, he doesn’t recommend “last-minute adjustments” by trying to get an IP pin before filing your 2023 return. “If you file [your return] now, you do a lot more to protect your data and secure your personal information” than trying to get an IP pin in January, Steber added. More

Most Gen Zers blame the economy for making it harder to get by, according to a recent report.
Those just starting out are more likely to need a side hustle to help cover their monthly expenses.
In the struggle to build wealth, young adults should not discount the advantage of time and the power of compound interest, experts say.

Gen Zers are having a harder time making ends meet, let alone building wealth.
Roughly 38% of Generation Z adults and millennials believe they face more difficulty feeling financially secure than their parents did at the same age, largely due to the economy, according to a recent Bankrate report. Gen Z is generally defined as those born between 1996 and 2012, including a cohort of teens and tweens.

In the face of a higher cost of living, 53% of Gen Z workers also said they have a side hustle — more than any other generation — to help cover their monthly expenses, Bankrate found. Fewer are saving for the future.

Parents need to realize that their kids are in trouble.

Laurence Kotlikoff
professor of economics at Boston University

“This is a tougher climate, for sure,” said Laurence Kotlikoff, economics professor at Boston University and president of MaxiFi, which offers financial planning software. “Parents need to realize that their kids are in trouble.”

Gen Zers face greater obstacles to financial success

Inflation’s recent runup has indeed made it harder for those just starting out. More than half, or 53%, of Gen Zers say higher costs are a barrier to their financial success, according to a separate survey from Bank of America.
In addition to soaring food and housing expenses, millennials and Gen Z face other financial challenges their parents did not as young adults. Not only are their wages lower than their parents’ earnings when they were in their 20s and 30s, but they are also carrying larger student loan balances.
Roughly three-quarters of Gen Z Americans said today’s economy makes them hesitant to set up long-term financial goals and two-thirds said they might never have enough money to retire, another recent Prosperity Index study by Intuit found. 

Young adults also have the advantage of time

“Younger Americans haven’t had it easy in this economy, but any step they take toward strengthening the building blocks of their finances will pay off over time,” said Sarah Foster, analyst at Bankrate.
Gen Zers have the significant advantage of those extra years when it comes to saving for long-term goals such as retirement, she added.
“Prioritize investing in yourself, paying down debt and reaping the benefits of compound interest by saving for both the short and long term,” Foster advised.
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The earlier you start, the more you will benefit from compound interest, whereby the money you earn gets reinvested and earns even more.
There are no magic bullets, Matt Schulz, LendingTree’s chief credit analyst, recently told CNBC — but there are a few financial habits that pay off. “Most things around saving aren’t super complicated but it doesn’t mean they’re easy to do,” he said.
“Just like having a healthy lifestyle, it’s just about doing the right things over and over again over time and having patience.”
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Lawmakers are racing to avert a government shutdown, which could affect the upcoming tax season, IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said last week. 
By law, the agency can preserve certain activities for ongoing operations after a lapse in funding.
But it’s unclear exactly which areas of taxpayer service would be affected, experts say.

Internal Revenue Commissioner Danny Werfel speaks during his swearing in ceremony at the IRS on April 4, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Bonnie Cash/Getty Images)
Bonnie Cash | Getty Images News | Getty Images

As Americans prepare for the opening of tax season, lawmakers are racing to avert a government shutdown. If they fail to come to an agreement, the resulting pause in nonessential operations could affect taxpayers’ filing experience, according to IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel. 
By law, the agency can preserve certain activities for ongoing operations after a lapse in funding, Werfel told reporters last week. But “shutdowns are highly disruptive,” he said, noting it could “increase the risk that we don’t have as smooth a filing season as we intend to have.”

Congress faces two looming deadlines, Jan. 19 and Feb. 2, to finalize a deal or pass a short-term funding measure. It’s the second deadline that affects the IRS.
While lawmakers have taken steps to extend both deadlines to early March, the new dates would still leave limited working days to reach a deal.
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“We experienced shutdowns before,” Werfel said. “We have not experienced a shutdown in the middle of filing season, so there’s some uncertainty there.” 
“Of course, we will do everything in our power to minimize the disruptions that a shutdown would have on the filing season,” he added. 

Some tax preparers have already begun accepting 2023 returns, but the season officially kicks off on Jan. 29 when the IRS starts processing filings.

What may happen at the IRS during a shutdown

While certain IRS functions would continue under a federal government shutdown, it’s unclear exactly which employees would keep working, experts say.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury in September released a lapsed appropriations contingency plan for fiscal 2024, covering critical operations for the IRS.

However, the American Institute of CPAs in November sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commissioner Werfel, asking for plan updates with “filing season-specific activities.”
“There’s not a lot of winners if the IRS shuts down and has to go to their contingency plan,” said Kasey Pittman, tax policy director with Baker Tilly’s Washington tax council. 
The AICPA’s letter expressed concerns about phone service, taxpayer assistance centers, possible refund delays, paper correspondence and automated notices, pointing to an interpretation of the contingency plan from the National Taxpayer Advocate.

Shutdown could affect IRS priorities

If lawmakers don’t finalize a deal, or pass a short-term funding measure, it could threaten the agency’s progress on past issues and new initiatives, according to Mark Everson, a former IRS commissioner and current vice chairman at Alliantgroup.
“It’s not just a regular filing season,” he said, pointing to challenges like the employee retention tax credit backlogs and the upcoming Direct File pilot program, which will allow certain taxpayers to file directly with the IRS for free. 
Meanwhile, the IRS faces mounting pressure to continue improving service after an infusion of funding and efforts from some Republican lawmakers to rescind it.
There’s an “incredibly long list of things that they’re after,” Everson said. “They certainly don’t need that kind of disruption.” 
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With advanced technology, thieves can capture a voice recording and then use a software program to generate an imitation “deepfake” version that can be used to impersonate you.
Fraud cost U.S. consumers more than $7 billion in the first three quarters of 2023, a 5% increase from the same period a year earlier, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
If you are aware of a specific scam, research shows you are 80% less likely to engage with it.

Natasaadzic | Istock | Getty Images

Artificial intelligence tools and sophisticated technology are making it harder for consumers to spot scams.
Fraud cost U.S. consumers more than $7 billion during the first three quarters of 2023, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Those figures are up 5% compared to the same period in 2022.

“Fraud is at a crisis level in this country,” said Kathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention programs at AARP. 
Perpetrators of these types of crimes may be organized gangs or transnational criminal enterprises with employees who have scripts they follow to lure victims. “They have the money, they have the time and they’ve got the playbook to get you into that heightened emotional state,” Stokes said. “It’s us against them.”
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The most crucial step to avoid being scammed is knowing what could happen and discussing it with family and friends. When people are aware of a specific scam, they are 80% less likely to engage with it, and if they do engage, are 40% less likely to lose money or sensitive information, according to the FINRA Investor Education Foundation. 
Here are five of the top financial scams you should look out for in 2024, and ways to avoid becoming a victim.

1. Grandparent scams

Playing on people’s emotions by targeting personal relationships and posing as someone they care about is a starting point for many fraud schemes. 
The grandparent scam is becoming a more damaging version of imposter scams with advanced technology. Thieves can capture a voice recording and then generate an imitation version of your voices that can be used to impersonate you.
Fraudsters may call and pretend that they are a family member in immediate jeopardy — for example, that they have been arrested or are dangerously ill — and urgently needs money. Fraudsters frequently try to isolate their victims by concocting some reason the victim cannot consult with friends, family or law enforcement, such as saying the case is under a “gag order.”

“Elder fraud and elder abuse are reprehensible crimes,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement to CNBC. “I urge all Americans, particularly older Americans, to be on the lookout for potential scams, to pause before turning over personal information, and to report fraud and abuse when it occurs.” 
Some scammers may have a third conspirator pose as a courier and go to a grandparent’s home to pick up the money. 

How to avoid grandparent scams: 
“Don’t answer any emails or phone calls from unknown persons,” advises Michael Bruemmer, vice president of global data breach and consumer protection at Experian. “All they need is less than a 10-second voiceprint.”

Choose a “safe word” or “password” to share with a grandparent, family member or loved one and say that word when you call in an emergency situation so they know it’s you.
If you get a call or text from someone claiming to be a loved one but using an unfamiliar number, call or text the usual number that you use to reach that person to confirm they called.
Confirm emergency financial requests with other family members. Don’t fall prey to a scammer who tells you to keep their initial call or text a secret. 

2. Romance scams

Romance scams have been a common way to use new, but fake, relationships to steal people’s money and they are growing in popularity. These scams often start with private messages on social media or dating apps, after thieves review the information posted on these accounts. 
Once the new “love interest” gains your trust, they may claim that someone close to them is sick, hurt or in jail. They may claim to be in the military or need help with an important delivery. After telling the lie, they’ll ask for money or a purchase made on their behalf.  

Scammers will often ask for payment in ways that are harder to trace and reverse, such as gift cards and peer-to-peer services such as Venmo and Zelle, said Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst at Bankrate. “Be very suspicious if someone that you don’t know asks you for one of these payments.”
Another frequent lie from an online “love interest” is an offer to help invest in cryptocurrency. While many victims of romance scams send money with a gift card, the most significant dollar losses — more than one-third of losses to romance scams in 2022 — were in cryptocurrency, according to the FTC.  

How to avoid romance scams: 

Talk to friends or family about a new love interest and pay attention if they’re concerned.
Don’t share with a love interest any personal information, usernames, passwords or one-time codes that others can use to access your accounts or steal your identity. 
If someone you’ve just met tells you to send money because they’re in trouble or to receive a package, the FTC says you can bet it’s a scam.

3. Cryptocurrency scams

Investment-related scams are the most costly type of financial fraud with total losses of more than $3.8 billion in 2022, according to the FTC. The median loss was $5,000. 
Scammers use cryptocurrencies because they don’t have the same legal protections as credit or debit cards, and payments usually can’t be reversed. With investment scams, crypto is central in two ways: It can be both the investment and the payments that can’t be reversed.
Besides claiming to be a love interest who needs you to send them money, crypto scams may start with an “investment manager” calling you out of the blue with a tip that seems too good to be true or a scammer claiming to be a celebrity who can quadruple your money. 

How to avoid cryptocurrency scams: 

Don’t mix online dating and investment advice. If you meet someone on a dating site or app and they want to show you how to invest in crypto or ask you to send them crypto, that’s a scam.
Know that a legitimate business or government entity will never email, text or message you on social media to ask for money, and will never demand that you buy or pay with cryptocurrency. 
Don’t pay anyone who contacts you unexpectedly demanding payment with cryptocurrency.

4. Employment scams

Business and job-related scams are another top category of financial fraud, and with companies laying off workers, these schemes are likely to continue in 2024. 
Some scammers use enticing, hard-to-detect tactics to lure victims through interviews with a company that may seem legitimate. Then this fake employer sends you a fake email to collect personal information, or says they’re using a third party, which is also fake, to do a background check. Once they have your personal identity information, it’s an easy step to get into your bank account. 
Other job scams may promise guaranteed or easy income if you purchase a program they offer, or you’ll see job opportunities that involve receiving or sending money to another account. 

How to avoid employment scams:

Look up the name of the company or the person who’s hiring you, plus the words “scam,” “review” or “complaint.” See if others say they’ve been scammed by that company or person.
Never click on a link from an unexpected text, email or social media message, even if it seems to come from a company you know.
Don’t ever pay a fee to get a job. If someone asks you to pay upfront for a job or says to buy cryptocurrency as part of your job, it’s a scam.

5. Online account tax scam

In this scam targeting individuals, swindlers pose as a “helpful” third party and offer to help create an online account at IRS.gov to pay taxes. Bad actors can use the taxpayer information in such accounts to file a sham tax return where the scammer gets the refund. The information can also be used for other financial fraud or identity theft, such as to get a loan or open a line of credit. 
“Any of the process that you’d go through to set up an account or check on a refund or just to look at payments that you’ve made, all of that would start at IRS.gov,” said IRS spokesperson Eric Smith. “If someone contacts you saying, ‘We’ll help you set up an IRS account and send us all of your information,’ that’s bogus.”

How to avoid online account tax scams:

Set up a taxpayer’s IRS Online Account at IRS.gov yourself. Do not use third-party assistance for that task.
Don’t store financial records and information in an email account.

“If a criminal gets in there, they have a roadmap to everything,” said Haywood Talcove, CEO of LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ government group.

If you do get caught in a scam, report it to local law enforcement, the FBI, the state attorney general where the fraud took place, AARP and the FTC.
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Beginning in February, certain student loan borrowers who have spent a decade in repayment will get their debt forgiven.
Here’s how to know where you fall on that timeline.

Chris Tobin | Digitalvision | Getty Images

Beginning in February, certain student loan borrowers who have spent a decade in repayment will get their federal student loan debt forgiven, the Biden administration recently announced.
Most borrowers need to make payments for 20 years or 25 years on an income-driven repayment plan before their debt is erased. But under the U.S. Department of Education’s new repayment program, called the Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, plan, those who took out $12,000 or less will get their debt erased after just a decade.

To qualify for the aid, you’ll also need to make sure you have eligible federal student loans and that you’re enrolled in the SAVE plan.
Here’s what to know about the 10-year timeline to forgiveness.

Pandemic-era payment pause counts

Other forbearances, deferments may count, too

The Department of Education gives federal student loan borrowers several options to pause their payments.
Due to the timeline of regulatory changes, borrowers may have to wait for some of these periods to be credited to their forgiveness timeline under the SAVE plan. Some of these stretches may only start counting after July.

But it seems that forbearances could qualify toward forgiveness: either 12 consecutive months in a forbearance, or 36 cumulative months, a Department of Education spokesperson told CNBC. Time spent in an economic hardship deferment, and other deferments, such as the deferments for cancer and unemployment, may also get you credit, depending on when you were enrolled.
You should also eventually get credit for time spent in repayment before a loan consolidation.

There may be an option to pay for forgiveness

The Department of Education added that borrowers, in time, can make “buyback” payments to get credit for any periods in deferments or forbearances that didn’t count toward forgiveness.
But the spokesperson said that option hasn’t been implemented yet. “We will provide more detail on it when it is going live,” they said.
If your calculated payment under SAVE is currently $0, “the cost to the borrower for the buyback will be zero, letting them get all the other deferments and forbearances covered at no additional cost,” said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz. “It’s a pretty sweet deal.”Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More