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A recent Supreme Court ruling and the uncertainty about President Joe Biden’s reelection bid may have consequences for millions of student loan borrowers.
Here’s what to know about these developments.

Students study in the Perry-Castaneda Library at the University of Texas at Austin on February 22, 2024 in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images

New affordable repayment plan faces legal attacks

The Biden administration rolled out its new repayment plan, known as SAVE, or the Saving on a Valuable Education plan, in the summer of 2023, describing it as “the most affordable student loan plan ever.” Under the program, many borrowers expected to see their bills reduced by half or more.
However, Republican-backed states, including Arkansas, Florida and Missouri, filed lawsuits against the SAVE plan earlier this year, putting that relief in jeopardy.
The states argued that the Biden administration was overstepping its authority with SAVE, and essentially trying to find a roundabout way to forgive student debt after the Supreme Court blocked its sweeping plan last year.
In response, two federal judges in Kansas and Missouri temporarily halted significant parts of the SAVE plan on June 24. Days later, the Biden administration successfully appealed part of the injunction against its plan. Yet the fate of SAVE remains in limbo until the judges decide the cases.

Borrowers likely won’t learn more until after the presidential election in November, said Scott Buchanan, executive director of the Student Loan Servicing Alliance, a trade group for federal student loan servicers.
Buchanan assumes the cases will eventually reach the Supreme Court.
“Then they themselves wouldn’t even take it up until the October term, for a ruling much later,” he said.
For now, SAVE enrollees can learn more about what the recent legal developments mean for them in a CNBC story from last week.

Chevron ruling may limit Education Department

Meanwhile, a recent Supreme Court ruling is expected to make it harder for the Education Department to deliver relief to student loan borrowers.
The high court in late June overruled the so-called Chevron doctrine, a 40-year-old precedent that required judges to defer to a federal agency’s interpretation of disputed laws. The 6-3 ruling, which split the conservative-majority court along ideological lines, is expected to undermine the federal government’s regulatory power.
“Federal agencies will have less flexibility in developing, implementing and enforcing regulations,” said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.

Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington, speaks outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, June 28, 2024.
Valerie Plesch | Bloomberg | Getty Images

That could make Biden’s do-over effort at sweeping student loan forgiveness more difficult, Kantrowitz explained. The president had hoped to start canceling borrowers’ debt under a so-called Plan B before the election.
“President Biden’s proposal for student loan forgiveness involves significant interpretation of the statute,” Kantrowitz said. “This makes it more vulnerable to legal challenge.”

With Biden’s future at risk, so is student loan aid

So what would a Harris presidency mean for those with student debt?
Harris has helped promote Biden’s policies to alleviate the burden of borrowers, and would likely continue his efforts, experts say. However, as a presidential candidate in the 2020 race, Harris put forward a debt relief program that was criticized as being overly complicated and narrow. (To be eligible, borrowers needed to receive a Pell Grant and open a business in a disadvantaged community, among other requirements.)
Ernesto Apreza, press secretary for Harris, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
For now, the fact that Trump is leading in the polls is a concern for consumer advocates.
As president, Trump called for the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education’s existing loan relief programs, including the popular Public Service Loan Forgiveness initiative. He also wanted to slash the department’s budget, and his administration halted a regulation aimed at providing loan forgiveness to those defrauded by their schools.
“When Donald Trump was president, prior to the pandemic, a new student loan borrower fell into default every 26 seconds and more than 99% of educators, first responders and nurses were denied relief they were entitled to under PSLF,” said Aissa Canchola-Banez, political director at Protect Borrowers Action.
“The stakes for Americans with student debt have never been higher,” Canchola-Banez said.

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Micron Technology’s solid-state drive for data center customers is presented at a product launch event in San Francisco on Oct. 24, 2019.
Stephen Nellis | Reuters

Investors are grappling with a host of mixed signals as recent data suggests the economy may be softening and the S&P 500 surges to new highs.
As investors navigate this complicated environment, they may turn to research from top-rated Wall Street analysts as they search for stocks with strong balance sheets and solid growth prospects.

With that in mind, here are three stocks favored by the Street’s top pros, according to TipRanks, a platform that ranks analysts based on their past performance.
Micron Technology
Chipmaker Micron Technology (MU) is this week’s first pick. The company recently reported beats on the top and bottom lines for the fiscal third quarter, thanks to the demand induced by the ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) wave. Management is confident about the road ahead and expects to generate record revenue in fiscal 2025, backed by artificial intelligence-driven opportunities.
Reacting to the results, Goldman Sachs analyst Toshiya Hari reiterated a buy rating on MU stock and increased his price target to $158 from $138. The analyst sees the post-earnings pullback in the stock as a good opportunity for investors to build a position. He expects AI-driven demand and a disciplined supply to fuel better-than-consensus earnings growth in calendar year 2025.
The analyst highlighted several reasons for his bullish investment thesis, including market share gains in the lucrative high-bandwidth memory space and AI compute growth in Micron’s data center business and edge computing.
Hari pointed out that Micron generated free cash flow of $425 million in the fiscal third quarter, marking a rebound from several quarters of negative FCF. He added that the company “remains committed to driving positive cash flow in FY4Q and into FY2025, even considering the material increase in capex that is expected in FY2025.”

Hari ranks No. 25 among more than 8,900 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 69% of the time, delivering an average return of 29.2%. (See Micron Technical Analysis on TipRanks) 
Amazon
We move to e-commerce and cloud computing giant Amazon (AMZN). Recently, Evercore ISI analyst Mark Mahaney reaffirmed a buy rating on AMZN stock with a price target of $225 following his firm’s 12th Annual U.S. Online Retail survey, which involved 1,100 respondents.
Highlighting the survey results, Mahaney said that Amazon continues to be the market leader in the U.S. online retail space, with its dominance reflecting in three vital shopping metrics that his firm tracks – price, selection and convenience. However, he cautioned that the survey indicated a mixed competitive backdrop for Amazon Retail, especially with rival Walmart (WMT) displaying notable improvement in the selection and convenience metrics.
Mahaney noted that AMZN remains three to four times ahead of its closest rival across all the three key metrics. Moreover, the company continues to improve its score in satisfaction, which increased 2% year-over-year to 84% and reflected a significant jump from the 65% bottom seen in 2020. The analyst thinks that the enhanced score is a “reflection of Amazon’s continued focus on improving speed and selection (esp. via the regionalization initiatives).”
The analyst also noted that the penetration of Amazon Prime touched a record high of 81%. Attractive features like Prime Video, Free Same Day Delivery, Prime Music and Grocery made the Prime membership more attractive to the survey respondents.
Overall, Amazon remains Evercore’s “No. 1 Large Cap Long,” with the survey results backing the company’s long-term investment thesis. Notably, the survey results supported the analyst’s views about three fundamental catalysts in 2024 – significant acceleration in the growth of Amazon Web Services, rising operating margins of the North American Retail business and solid free cash flow margins. 
Mahaney ranks No. 20 among more than 8,900 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been successful 63% of the time, delivering an average return of 32.2%. (See Amazon Hedge Funds Trading Activity on TipRanks) 
Twilio
Cloud communications platform Twilio (TWLO) is this week’s third pick. The company reported better-than-expected results for the first quarter of 2024, with active customer accounts growing to more than 313,000 as of March 31, from 300,000 at the end of the prior-year quarter. However, shares declined following the results as the Q2 guidance missed estimates and reflected the impact of weak customer spending.
Nevertheless, Tigress Financial analyst Ivan Feinseth recently initiated coverage of TWLO stock with a buy rating and a price target of $75. The analyst sees the sell-off in the stock as an attractive buying opportunity, backed by his belief that “TWLO is well-positioned to benefit from the ongoing acceleration of AI-driven digital customer engagement.”
The analyst expects Twilio to gain from the demand for artificial intelligence-based automated responses that ensure timely and cost-effective customer interaction. He expects the company’s continued investment in research and development and the integration of predictive and generative AI into its new products to boost customer adoption.  
Feinseth also highlighted Twilio’s cutting-edge “call center as a service” platform and its industry-leading position in the communications market. He expects the company’s cost saving efforts and efficiency measures to drive higher margins and boost profitability.
Feinseth ranks No. 195 among more than 8,900 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 61% of the time, delivering an average return of 13.1%. (See Twilio Stock Charts on TipRanks)  More

Vanessa Acosta and her now husband decided to have a “micro wedding” in their backyard instead of a black-tie wedding with 100-plus guests.
Slashing their guest count to roughly half saved them thousands of dollars.
Here’s how a smaller wedding can help you save costs.

Vanessa Acosta marries Sam Roberts in their backyard in Pasadena, California, on May 25, 2024.
Courtesy: Vanessa Acosta

Last year, Vanessa Acosta and Sam Roberts found their dream venue for a black-tie wedding.
But a series of family events made the couple reconsider their plans: “We don’t need to do this big thing where we’re going to put ourselves out financially,” said Acosta, 35, of Pasadena, California.

Instead of hosting around 150 guests and spending about $75,000, the couple decided to get married in their backyard with just 54 of their closest family and friends.
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Such events with roughly 50 guests, max, are called “micro weddings.” A so-called minimony is even smaller, usually attended by no more than 10 people, according to The Knot, an online wedding marketplace.
Acosta and Roberts had a new budget of $3,000, and they knew they needed to get creative.
“We DIY’ed and thrifted everything,” Acosta said. “We thrifted my husband’s shirt, he used his really nice dress shoes he already owned. I made my dress and I thrifted the fabrics; I made my veil.”

Cutting the guest list made the wedding “much more manageable,” she said. The couple tied the knot on May 25.

Why micro weddings are becoming appealing

Vanessa Acosta and Sam Roberts pose together on a street in California.
Courtesy: Vanessa Acosta

The average cost of a wedding ceremony and reception in 2023 was $35,000, according to The Knot 2023 Real Weddings Study. The total cost is a $5,000 increase from 2022.
Inflation over the past few years was a key driver to higher costs, according to the Knot. The report polled 9,318 US married couples between January 1 and December 2023.  
“Put simply, weddings are expensive,” said Allison Cullman, wedding expert and the vice president of brand marketing and strategy at Zola, another online wedding marketplace.

‘The number one way’ to save on wedding costs

As the cost of typical weddings in the U.S. has swelled in the past few years, experts say cutting down the guest list is the best way to save on costs, even if you don’t trim it to micro-wedding levels.
In 2023, weddings with 25 to 50 guests took up about 15% of the market; weddings with less than 25 guests made up roughly 2% of the market, according to data from The Wedding Report, a wedding research company, provided to CNBC.
The average guest count at weddings has been declining since 2006, when the average was about 184 people, according to data from The Wedding Report.

We don’t need to do this big thing where we’re going to put ourselves out financially.

Vanessa Acosta

The lowest count was in 2020, when the average headcount declined to 107, primarily due to restrictions from the Covid-19 pandemic, said Shane McMurray, CEO and co-founder of The Wedding Report. The size of weddings rebounded in 2021 to 124 because people wanted to socialize after the lockdowns, he said.
“But because of how expensive it is to get married now,” he said, the size of weddings is “probably going to start to come back down.”
“The number one way to save money on your wedding is to cut the guest count,” said McMurray, as many wedding costs, like meals, invitations and favors, are based on your headcount.
Indeed, “having a minimony or a micro wedding allows you to still have an incredibly special celebration without having to pay for 150 meals,” said Cullman.

A sign that reads, “Welcome to the wedding of Vanessa and Sam.”
Courtesy: Vanessa acosta

“It literally was not stressful to deal with the food situation for like a 50-ish person wedding,” said Acosta, who booked a taco stand for $640 instead of roughly paying $90 per plate for about 150 guests.
“Ninety times 150 people. It was a drastic change to go from that to a taco stand that was able to feed every single one and there was still food left over,” said Acosta.

Set a ‘clear and realistic’ budget

Engaged couples should come up with a “clear and realistic” budget from the beginning, as well as make a list of what their priorities are, said Cullman. Doing so will help you when you have to make “difficult decisions to stay within your budget,” she said.
“Couples should discuss what is the most important to them, and what they want to allocate towards items that will make their wedding feel unique, authentic, and most of all, fun,” said Cullman.
Confirming such priorities will help you “determine where to focus your budget and where you can save,” said Lauren Kay, executive editor of The Knot.
You might need to make trade-offs along the way.

“Typically, the venue requires the majority of your budget, and food and beverage costs are determined by the number of guests,” said Kay. “So if the location is your highest priority, keeping this in mind will help you properly allocate your budget and make decisions on the guest list size.”
Being flexible with the ceremony date can also help reduce costs, said Cullman, as off-peak dates can be less expensive.
Exploring “upcycled” or thrifted attire typically won’t “set you back hundreds of dollars,” she said. In that vein, you can even take the proverb of “something borrowed” more seriously and rent a wedding dress or even flowers.

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Tax identity theft victims are waiting nearly two years for resolution and refunds from the IRS, the National Taxpayer Advocate reported last week.
As of April, the agency had roughly 500,000 unresolved cases, up from 484,000 in September.
However, the IRS is working on a “range of improvements” to address the issue.

Erin Collins, national taxpayer advocate at the Taxpayer Advocate Service, speaks at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C., on May 19, 2021.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

There’s a pileup of tax identity theft cases at the IRS — but the agency is working on a “range of improvements” to speed up service.
As of April, the agency had roughly 500,000 unresolved identity theft cases, up from 484,000 cases in September, National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins reported last week. Identity theft victims have waited more than 22 months for resolution, plus several weeks for refunds.

Tax identity theft happens when criminals use stolen personal information to file a fraudulent tax return to claim a refund. If a criminal files before the taxpayer, the IRS rejects and freezes the second return for investigation.
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The wait has only grown longer over the past several months. Collins reported in January that identity theft victims were waiting 19 months for resolution and refunds, which stemmed from Covid-19 shutdowns and pandemic relief.
Those delays have caused “significant hardship” for taxpayers, especially lower earners, she wrote.
Nearly 70% of the cases involved taxpayers with an adjusted gross income at or below 250% of the federal poverty level.

“It has been four years from the onset of the pandemic, and the IRS’ delays in helping victims are unconscionable,” Collins wrote last week.
While taxpayer service has improved through the 2024 season, the backlog of identity theft cases remains “one of the most significant ongoing service gaps,” the IRS said in a statement.

IRS plans for ‘faster service’

The IRS said it’s working on improvements to provide “faster service” to identity theft victims, including more resources to work cases.
The agency also plans to review its processes and engage with stakeholders to “identify and prevent evolving tax-related identity theft threats.”
“Identity theft cases are complex and take time to resolve,” but increased funding has better positioned the agency to tackle these cases more quickly, the IRS said.

The agency on Tuesday warned tax professionals to protect themselves from identity theft criminals who could be targeting them and their clients.
“Security threats against tax professionals and their sensitive taxpayer information continue to evolve, and it’s critical to stay on top of the latest developments to protect their business and their clients,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a statement on Tuesday.  More

If you’re a wealthy investor between the ages of 21 and 43, alternatives are probably at the top of your list of investments that may provide the most growth.
Yet wealthy investors who are ages 44 and up still tend to steer toward traditional stocks and bonds.
If you’re interested in alternatives, it’s wise to consider the risks and costs, experts say.

pixelfit | E+ | Getty Images

Young, wealthy investors don’t want their parents’ investments.
If you’re between the ages of 21 and 43 and have at least $3 million in investable assets, your preferred investments likely aren’t your traditional mix of stocks and bonds, according to new research from Bank of America.

Nearly one-third of young, wealthy investors’ portfolios are in alternative assets like hedge funds, private equity, and crypto and digital assets, according to Mike Pelzar, head of investments at Bank of America Private Bank.
Meanwhile, less than half of their portfolios are in traditional stocks and bonds.

Where wealthy investors ages 21 to 43 see greatest opportunities for growth

Real estate investments, 31%
Crypto/digital assets, 28%
Private equity, 26%
Personal company/brand, 24%
Direct investments in companies, 22%
Companies focused on positive impact, 21%Source: Bank of America

That’s in contrast to wealthy investors ages 44 and up, who have about three-quarters of their portfolios allocated to stocks and bonds, and only about 5% in alternative assets like hedge funds, private equity and real estate, he noted.
“The two different cohorts think very differently about what the greatest opportunities are for growth with their investments,” Pelzar said.
Younger investors’ appetite for alternatives isn’t expected to let up, with 93% indicating they plan to use more of those investments in the next few years, Bank of America’s research found.

Why younger investors have a different outlook

Much of the difference between younger and older wealthy investors’ outlook comes down to what kind of investments they grew up with, Pelzar explained.
“This younger generation has enjoyed much greater access to a broader set of asset classes than the older generation did as they were growing up,” Pelzar said.
The younger generation may also have less trust in traditional stocks and bonds after having lived through the financial crisis and dot-com bust. More recently, the increased correlation between equities and fixed income may be prompting them to diversify their assets.
“They’re looking to spread around the risk,” Pelzar said.

Where wealthy investors ages 44 and up see greatest opportunities for growth

Domestic equities, 41%
Real estate investments, 32%
Emerging market equities, 25%
International equities, 18%
Private equity, 15%
Direct investments in companies, 15%

Source: Bank of America

At the same time, younger, wealthy investors also have higher cash allocations, the research found. Some experts worry having more cash can lead to missing out on bigger market returns, even as today’s elevated rates guarantee the highest interest on cash in more than a decade.
“Underinvesting is a risk, and it’s one that I think more younger investors are susceptible to,” Callie Cox, chief market strategist at Ritholtz Wealth Management, recently told CNBC.com.
But higher cash allocations may make sense for younger, wealthy investors who have a lot of their net worth tied up in alternative investments that tend to be more illiquid, or who are planning to make big purchases, like buying a home, Pelzar said.

What to consider when planning

Another reason why young, wealthy investors may be turning to alternatives is because they have more choices.
“There’s never been a bigger menu of opportunities to put your money into,” said Douglas Boneparth, a certified financial planner and president of Bone Fide Wealth, a wealth management firm based in New York City.
When diversifying to alternatives, it’s important to be aware of the potential costs involved, said Boneparth, who is also a member of the CNBC FA Council.

Alternative investments may require your money to be locked up for a certain period of time, he said.
Alternatives may also come with unique costs, such as the 2 and 20 fee structure. It’s a fee arrangement that is standard in the hedge fund industry, and is also common in venture capital and private equity, where an annual management fee of 2% is charged for managing assets and a 20% standard performance or incentive fee applies to profits made by the fund above a certain predefined benchmark.
Expense ratios — management fees charged by investment funds — may also be higher for alternatives, Boneparth noted.
If you’re invested in an area like collectibles, the bid-ask spread — or the difference between quoted prices for a sale and purchase — may be larger or more unpredictable, he said.

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The movie “Thelma” follows a 93-year-old grandmother on a quest to get back the $10,000 she lost after falling victim to an imposter scam call.
The movie is based off a real scam call, which is growing increasingly common as AI makes it easy to clone voices with just a few seconds of audio pulled from social media. These are also known as grandparents’ scams or family emergency scams.
Financial experts recommend freezing credit and establishing a financial surrogate early for aging parents to protect their identity and assets.

Theatrical one-sheet for THELMA, a Magnolia Pictures release.
Courtesy: Magnolia Pictures

In the movie “Thelma,” 93-year-old Thelma Post receives a frantic call from what sounds like her grandson saying he’s in jail with a broken nose following an accident and needs $10,000.
Assuming the call is truly her grandson, Thelma, portrayed by June Squibb, follows the scammer’s instructions by fearfully gathering bunches of cash hidden around her home and sending it to a P.O. Box address. 

While this story was dramatized for Hollywood, the threat of such scam calls — also known as grandparents’ scams or family emergency scams — is genuine and getting easier in the age of artificial intelligence.
Total losses from imposter fraud last year reached nearly $2.7 billion, according to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. But there are ways to stay vigilant, financial experts say, such as freezing your credit or obtaining power of attorney for a vulnerable parent.
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The scam attempt that happened to the real Thelma, the now 103-year-old grandmother of writer and director Josh Margolin, was almost identical to the movie. In the movie, Thelma goes on an epic adventure involving a scooter and a gun to track down her scammers and get her money back. 
In real life, Thelma’s family stopped her before she could send the money. 

“I think the kind of emotion leading [to] action there was definitely a real thing and something that I tried to dramatize in the movie as well,” Margolin told CNBC. “She was kind of getting ready to do it, because she was really panicked. And luckily she called my parents.”

Scammers exploit ‘fear and urgency’

Scams like the one Thelma fell victim to are increasingly common, experts say. Imposter fraud was the most common type of fraud reported to the FTC in 2023, and the agency saw an increase in reports of business and government impersonators.
Social media is fertile ground for harvesting content for these scams.
With advancements in generative AI, a scammer can run just a few seconds of audio from a TikTok video to make the harvested voice say whatever they want, according to computer security company McAfee. 
“Everybody should know that deep fakes are becoming more and more popular and common and easier to do, and there are whole industries built around scamming people,” said Carolyn McClanahan, a certified financial planner and physician who founded Life Planning Partners in Jacksonville, Florida.
Typically, AI voice scams mimic distress calls. It could be someone stuck on the side of the road after their car broke down or someone calling from jail in a foreign country claiming they need bail money. The common denominator is that it’s coming from someone you care about who needs money “fast.” 
A 2023 survey from McAfee found that 25% of adults have experienced a similar AI voice scam — and the company says 77% of victims have lost money as a result. The company polled 7,054 adults in seven countries, including 1,009 in the United States.
Thelma’s age in the movie was a factor in her vulnerability.
“They target the elderly, because as we get older, we lose cognitive flexibility, meaning that we can’t make decisions as quickly, and so it takes us longer to think through things,” said McClanahan, who is a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council. “And so these scamsters use techniques like fear and urgency to try to get you to act immediately.”

But older adults aren’t the only ones at risk; younger people who spend more time online are increasingly vulnerable, CFP Andrew Sivertsen said.
“You think about Gen Z and young millennials, I mean, just the number of impressions that they have online with technology is just exponentially more than seniors and so they’re falling victim to a higher number of scams,” said Sivertsen, a senior planner at The Planning Center in Moline, Illinois.

Protecting loved ones and yourself from scams

Speaking with an older loved one about the risk of being scammed can be difficult, and much of the movie showed Thelma grappling with her own autonomy in the situation.
After falling for the scam, she had to come to terms with the fact that she needed help with technology and taking care of herself, but she wasn’t ready to give up her freedom. 
“You have to find a way to kind of process the feelings of watching somebody go through something like this, but also to do so in a thoughtful way, so that when you do talk to them about it, you don’t kind of add to the shame and embarrassment that I believe is probably already there,” Margolin said. 

One way to be proactive about this is by establishing an aging plan when you are in your late 50s or early 60s, and including other family members in that conversation. McClanahan said she does this with her clients to determine who can act as a financial surrogate later in life.
“If you wait until somebody is experiencing symptoms or having cognitive issues, then what happens is they become defensive, they become in denial,” McClanahan said. “They’re afraid of losing control, afraid of losing their freedom.”
Basic security practices can also go a long way.
Sivertsen recommends freezing your credit and setting up multifactor authentication on social media and bank accounts to serve as a barrier protecting your personal information from scammers. You can also purchase identity theft insurance, he said, which can help remedy compromised information.
If you or a loved one does fall victim to a scam, usa.gov/where-report-scams lets you enter details about the scam to direct you to where it should be reported. 

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More than one-third of summer vacationers say they are willing to take on debt to pay for their travel, according to a Bankrate survey.
You lose the plot — and your money — when what’s supposed to be for you becomes about showcasing it for everyone else.
When planning a vacation, dial into the things that are important to you and your family — not what’s trending online.

Two winters ago, we vacationed to a hot-spot resort in the Caribbean with our family. Around the perimeter of its casino concourse, a variety of attractions buzzed for our consumption.
We found an art installation to climb on, faux floral arches to position ourselves around and giant milkshakes topped with full desserts in sugar-rimmed glasses to sip from — well, not before the photos.

Photos came first.
To be honest, it felt less like a vacation and more like a visit to one of those immersive exhibits where everything’s a photo-op and everyone you know has taken the same exact photos there. This is because they have taken the same exact photos there, and doubtless, geotagged their location.

More from CNBC’s Advisor Council

Social media has transformed the reason we take photos on vacation. According to a survey conducted by Forbes Advisor, 82% of Gen Zers and 57% of millennials visit certain destinations because they saw them on social media. Many people post their travels in real time, engaging in a perpetual game of capture and share. According to the same survey, 74% of respondents feel some kind of pressure to imitate the travel content they consume online.
Without question, we fell into that camp on our vacation. It was performative, exhausting, and above all, absurdly expensive.
Don’t get us wrong — we love social media for connecting with friends, drawing inspiration from others, and yes, even drooling a bit over beautiful destinations. But its hazard lies in clouding your better judgment when making financial decisions that might not be worth it in real life.

This summer, a little more than half of Americans are planning to take a vacation, according to a Bankrate survey. Out of those travelers, 36% are prepared to take on debt to pay for it. Costs continue to rise across the board for flights, accommodations, even dining, and consumer buying is keeping pace. In the process, many travelers are losing sight of their long-term goals to capture something that feels important in a moment but isn’t at all.

‘Pics or it didn’t happen’ comes at a cost

Morsa Images | Digitalvision | Getty Images

You lose the plot — and your money — when what’s supposed to be for you becomes about showcasing it for everyone else. It’s a classic case of “pics or it didn’t happen.” You can end up spending more time focused on the wrong elements of your vacation, like positioning yourself for the perfect sunset photo-op but then not watching the actual sunset, or filming half of a concert with the camera flipped around on you.
We’ve all done this; it’s no one person’s fault. But is snapping those pics worth paying inflated prices? Going into credit card debt? Stretching your annual vacation budget to accommodate the resort everyone claims to love so much?
Without core memories affixed to those photos, they are not nearly as valuable. The casino resort was crowded, the restaurants priced like Las Vegas, the waits long for almost anything. We had a lovely time together as a family, but almost nothing we snapped a photo of contributed to that time.

Dial into vacation elements that are important to you

When you’re trying to budget and plan for your summer vacation, come up with your cost ceiling first. See how much your proposed travel and accommodation costs eat into that number. If they almost reach your limit, maybe that version of the trip is too expensive. You want to leave room to experience the vacation, and those experiences will come at a cost.
In terms of what you choose to do, put yourselves at the center of those decisions. What will cause you to depart for home from your vacation saying, that felt really good?
Dial into the things that are important to you and your family — not what’s trending online. If you’re into food, focus on the food. If you’re into adventure, invest in that. When you set your itinerary with intention, you find the perspective you need to scale back on the superfluous things that cause you to overspend.

Finally, try putting your phone away or leaving it in the room, just for a little while. Tap into all five senses instead of diverting to some of your ordinary coping mechanisms. Nothing will be more memorable than trying, tasting or seeing something new that you don’t get in the ordinary course of your life.
Take it from us. We went away over the same weekend the following year to a beautiful, much more low-key resort on the beach. While there, we read whole books. Our phones lived in our bags. Our feet lived in the sand. Sure, we took photos, but we took more away from our time together than any photo-op would capture.
— By Heather and Douglas Boneparth of The Joint Account, a money newsletter for couples. Douglas is a certified financial planner and the president of Bone Fide Wealth in New York City. Heather, an attorney, is the firm’s director of business and legal affairs. Douglas is also a member of the CNBC Financial Advisor Council.

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Consumers lost a whopping $1.14 billion to romance scams in 2023, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
“Romance scams tend to be some of the more insidious because they prey on emotions,” said a fraud expert. “These things happen in real life, these aren’t just shows that we see on Netflix.” 

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Cybercriminals are targeting wealth accounts by tapping into a victim’s emotions.
So-called romance scams involve building a relationship and trust with the victim so that the target willingly provides access to their accounts or transfers money to the criminal, explained Tracy Kitten, the director of fraud and security at Javelin Strategy & Research, a financial research services firm.

Consumers lost $1.14 billion to romance scams in 2023, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Median losses per person amounted to $2,000, the highest reported losses for any form of imposter scam, the FTC found.
“Romance scams tend to be some of the more insidious because they prey on emotions,” Kitten said. “These things happen in real life, these aren’t just shows that we see on Netflix.” 
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“What people need to realize is that people behind these types of scams could teach a master class in human behavior,” said Theresa Payton, a former White House chief information officer who is now the CEO of cybersecurity firm Fortalice Solutions.
“They know the different emotional trigger points that we all have, and that’s when they strike,” Payton added.

‘They trust the person who’s manipulating them’

Romance scammers trick their victims into thinking they’re someone they’re not. Over time, the criminal will develop a relationship with the victim, Kitten explained.
Once trust is established, the victim may be more easily convinced to send money, provide access to their bank accounts, and, in some cases, even launder funds for them, she said.
About 22% of surveyed financial advisors with clients affected by fraud have had clients who fell victim to a romance scam, according to Javelin. The survey fielded 1,500 financial advisors in July 2023.
Oftentimes, cybercriminals are reaching out and developing relationships over social media platforms, Kitten said.
It’s a really easy way for them to fool their victims because there’s no face-to-face contact,” she said.

About 40% of people who said they lost money to a romance scam in 2022 said the contact started on social media, the FTC found.
Almost three-quarters, or 73%, of consumers who had been victimized by a romance scam were men, according to Javelin data. For that report, Javelin polled 5,000 U.S. households in November 2022.
“At this point, we’re all exposed,” Fortalice Solutions’ Payton said. “Even if you don’t have a big social media footprint, your data points are out there.”  

Spotting ‘the biggest red flag’ for romance scams

There are ways to detect if a romance scammer has targeted you. “The biggest red flag,” said Payton, is requests for money. 
Here are five more warning signs:

Unsolicited text messages: Scammers can use bots that can reach out to hundreds of people at a time through cell phone numbers, email addresses and social media accounts. Some messages are as simple as “hi.” “All it takes is just for one person to take the bait,” she said.
Too good to be true: If the person is suddenly very interested in the same things as you, and wants to carry the conversation in a different direct messaging platform, that can be another red flag.
Refusal to meet in person: The scammer will make up excuses for not wanting to meet in real life. Yet sometimes the alternative can occur: The scammer might ask for money for travel expenses to come out and meet you, Payton said. 
Isolation attempts: If the scammer discourages you from talking to family or friends of the new romantic interest. 
Pressure tactics: If the new contact is badgering you to keep up the relationship, ask for money or financial information. 

In these long-term scams, it’s often hard for the victim to see that they’ve been scammed because “they trust the person who’s manipulating them,” Kitten said. 
Financial advisors can help their clients by educating them on what cybercrime could look like. Doing so can “go a long way” to help victims understand when they’ve been scammed, said Kitten.
Here are five things you can do to vet the new contact, according to Payton:

Reverse search the image: Use reverse-search tools for images online to verify the images the potential scammer is using.
Look at your privacy settings: Be mindful of the information that you share on social media.
If you meet someone, take your time: Make sure to ask questions about their background. Keep track of what they say and look for inconsistencies.
Avoid financial transactions: Do not send financial information or funds to the person at first ask. Talk to family, friends, trusted advisors and bankers about the situation.
Meet at a public spot: Ask to meet them in person in a public spot or close to a police station. If they act “sketchy,” said Payton, “you have your answer.”

Report suspicious profiles or messages to the online platform you’re using and then report the incident to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. If the situation has escalated, report the incident to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Victims can seek free support and counseling through The Cybercrime Support Network, which offers a free 10-week virtual romance scam recovery group, led by licensed counselors, Payton said. More