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The Trump administration’s appeal of a temporary restraining order blocking the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing personal data at the Social Security Administration has been denied.
Per the order issued by a federal judge last month, DOGE and its affiliates cannot access agency systems with personally identifiable information and must delete any such data in their possession.

A person holds a sign during a protest against cuts made by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to the Social Security Administration, in White Plains, New York, U.S., March 22, 2025. 
Nathan Layne | Reuters

The Trump administration’s appeal of a temporary restraining order blocking the so-called Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive personal Social Security Administration data has been dismissed.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit on Tuesday dismissed the government’s appeal for lack of jurisdiction. The case will proceed in the district court. A motion for a preliminary injunction will be filed later this week, according to national legal organization Democracy Forward.

The temporary restraining order was issued on March 20 by federal Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander and blocks DOGE and related agents and employees from accessing agency systems that contain personally identifiable information.
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That includes information such as Social Security numbers, medical provider information and treatment records, employer and employee payment records, employee earnings, addresses, bank records, and tax information.
DOGE team members were also ordered to delete all nonanonymized personally identifiable information in their possession.
The plaintiffs include unions and retiree advocacy groups, namely the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Alliance for Retired Americans and the American Federation of Teachers. 

“We are pleased the 4th Circuit agreed to let this important case continue in district court,” Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, said in a written statement. “Every American retiree must be able to trust that the Social Security Administration will protect their most sensitive and personal data from unwarranted disclosure.”
The Trump administration’s appeal ignored standard legal procedure, according to Democracy Forward. The administration’s efforts to halt the enforcement of the temporary restraining order have also been denied.
“The president will continue to seek all legal remedies available to ensure the will of the American people is executed,” Liz Huston, a White House spokesperson, said via email.

The Social Security Administration did not respond to a request from CNBC for comment.
Immediately after the March 20 temporary restraining order was put in place, Social Security Administration Acting Commissioner Lee Dudek said in press interviews that he may have to shut down the agency since it “applies to almost all SSA employees.”
Dudek was admonished by Hollander, who called that assertion “inaccurate” and said the court order “expressly applies only to SSA employees working on the DOGE agenda.”
Dudek then said that the “clarifying guidance” issued by the court meant he would not shut down the agency. “SSA employees and their work will continue under the [temporary restraining order],” Dudek said in a March 21 statement.

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More than half of credit card borrowers carry debt from month to month, according to a new report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Credit cards are the No. 1 source of unsecured borrowing, even though interest rates average more than 20%.

Julpo | E+ | Getty Images

Many Americans are paying a hefty price for their credit card debt.
As a primary source of unsecured borrowing, 60% of credit cardholders carry debt from month to month, according to a new report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

At the same time, credit card interest rates are “very high,” averaging 23% annually in 2023, the New York Fed found, also making credit cards one of the most expensive ways to borrow money.
“With the vast majority of the American public using credit cards for their purchases, the interest rate that is attached to these products is significant,” said Erica Sandberg, consumer finance expert at CardRates.com. “The more a debt costs, the more stress this puts on an already tight budget.”
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Most credit cards have a variable rate, which means there’s a direct connection to the Federal Reserve’s benchmark. And yet, credit card lenders set annual percentage rates well above the central bank’s key borrowing rate, currently targeted in a range between 4.25% to 4.5%, where it has been since December.
Following the Federal Reserve’s rate hike in 2022 and 2023, the average credit card rate rose from 16.34% to more than 20% today — a significant increase fueled by the Fed’s actions to combat inflation.

“Card issuers have determined what the market will bear and are comfortable within this range of interest rates,” said Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree.
APRs will come down as the central bank reduces rates, but they will still only ease off extremely high levels. With just a few potential quarter-point cuts on deck, APRs aren’t likely to fall much, according to Schulz.

Despite the steep cost, consumers often turn to credit cards, in part because they are more accessible than other types of loans, Schulz said. 
In fact, credit cards are the No. 1 source of unsecured borrowing and Americans’ credit card tab continues to creep higher. In the last year, credit card debt rose to a record $1.21 trillion.

Because credit card lending is unsecured, it is also banks’ riskiest type of lending.
“Lenders adjust interest rates for two primary reasons: cost and risk,” CardRates’ Sandberg said.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s research shows that credit card charge-offs averaged 3.96% of total balances between 2010 and 2023. That compares to only 0.46% and 0.43% for business loans and residential mortgages, respectively.
As a result, roughly 53% of banks’ annual default losses were due to credit card lending, according to the NY Fed research.
“When you offer a product to everyone you are assuming an awful lot of risk,” Schulz said.
Further, “when times get tough they get tough for most everybody,” he added. “That makes it much more challenging for card issuers.”

The best way to pay off debt

The best move for those struggling to pay down revolving credit card debt is to consolidate with a 0% balance transfer card, experts suggest.
“There is enormous competition in the credit card market,” Sandberg said. Because lenders are constantly trying to capture new cardholders, those 0% balance transfer credit card offers are still widely available.
Cards offering 12, 15 or even 24 months with no interest on transferred balances “are basically the best tool in your toolbelt when it comes to knocking down credit card debt,” Schulz said. “Not accruing interest for two years on a balance is pretty hard to argue with.”
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The traditional 60/40 portfolio may “no longer fully represent true diversification,” BlackRock CEO Larry Fink writes in a new letter to investors.
Instead, the “future standard portfolio” may move toward 50/30/20 with stocks, bonds and private assets like real estate, infrastructure and private credit, Fink writes.
Here’s what experts say individual investors may want to consider before dabbling in private investments.

Andrew Ross Sorkin speaks with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink during the New York Times DealBook Summit in the Appel Room at the Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City on Nov. 30, 2022.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images

It may be time to rethink the traditional 60/40 investment portfolio, according to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink.
In a new letter to investors, Fink writes the traditional allocation comprised of 60% stocks and 40% bonds that dates back to the 1950s “may no longer fully represent true diversification.”

“The future standard portfolio may look more like 50/30/20 — stocks, bonds and private assets like real estate, infrastructure and private credit.” Fink writes.
Most professional investors love to talk their book, and Fink is no exception. BlackRock has pursued several recent acquisitions — Global Infrastructure Partners, Preqin and HPS Investment Partners — with the goal of helping to increase investors’ access to private markets.
More from Personal Finance:Why uncertainty makes the stock market go haywireInvestors are ‘miles ahead’ if they avoid 3 things, CIO saysHow investors can ready their portfolios for a recessionThe effort to make it easier to incorporate both public and private investments in a portfolio is analogous to index versus active investments in 2009, Fink said.
Those investment strategies that were then considered separately can now be blended easily at a low cost.
Fink hopes the same will eventually be said for public and private markets.

Yet shopping for private investments now can feel “a bit like buying a house in an unfamiliar neighborhood before Zillow existed, where finding accurate prices was difficult or impossible,” Fink writes.

60/40 portfolio still a ‘great starting point’

After both stocks and bonds saw declines in 2022, some analysts declared the 60/40 portfolio strategy dead. In 2024, however, such a balanced portfolio would have provided a return of about 14%.
“If you want to keep things very simple, the 60/40 portfolio or a target date fund is a great starting point,” said Amy Arnott, portfolio strategist at Morningstar.
If you’re willing to add more complexity, you could consider smaller positions in other asset classes like commodities, private equity or private debt, she said.
However, a 20% allocation in private assets is on the aggressive side, Arnott said.
The total value of private assets globally is about $14.3 trillion, while the public markets are worth about $247 trillion, she said.
For investors who want to keep their asset allocations in line with the market value of various asset classes, that would imply a weighting of about 6% instead of 20%, Arnott said.
Yet a 50/30/20 portfolio is a lot closer to how institutional investors have been allocating their portfolios for years, said Michael Rosen, chief investment officer at Angeles Investments.

The 60/40 portfolio, which Rosen previously said reached its “expiration date,” hasn’t been used by his firm’s endowment and foundation clients for decades.
There’s a key reason why. Institutional investors need to guarantee a specific return, also while paying for expenses and beating inflation, Rosen said.
While a 50/30/20 allocation may help deliver “truly outsized returns” to the mass retail market, there’s also a “lot of baggage” that comes with that strategy, Rosen said.
There’s a lack of liquidity, which means those holdings aren’t as easily converted to cash, Rosen said.
What’s more, there’s generally a lack of transparency and significantly higher fees, he said.
Prospective investors should be prepared to commit for 10 years to private investments, Arnott said.
And they also need to be aware that measurement issues with asset classes like private equity means past performance data may not be as reliable, she said.
For the average person, the most likely path toward tapping into private equity will be part of a 401(k) plan, Arnott said. So far, not a lot of companies have added private equity to their 401(k) offerings, but that could change, she said.
“We will probably see more plan sponsors adding private equity options to their lineups going forward,” Arnott said.

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Many student loan borrowers are experiencing challenges on their timeline to debt forgiveness.
Here’s what they can do to stay on track for the relief.

Leopatrizi | E+ | Getty Images

Aubrey Bertram was starting to imagine her life without student debt.
Bertram, a staff attorney at Wild Montana, a nonprofit that works on land conservation in the state, had just around two and a half years left of payments before her $247,804 federal student loan balance would be excused under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

But for many months now, she’s been frozen on her timeline to that relief.
“We’re not getting credit,” said Bertram, 35. “This time has been devastating.”
Bertram took out her loans in law school knowing that she’d work in public service and pursue PSLF.
“That was the only way taking on this debt made any sense,” Bertram said.

Arrows pointing outwards

Aubrey Bertram with her dog, Rex
Courtesy: Aubrey Bertram

Millions of other student loan holders are in the same frustrating limbo now. After Republican-led legal challenges blocked the Biden administration’s new repayment plan in the summer of 2024, the borrowers who enrolled in the program, like Bertram, have found themselves stuck.

Many of those borrowers remain in a forbearance that doesn’t bring them closer to debt forgiveness, while the Trump administration recently revised other student loan repayment plans to no longer conclude in debt cancellation.
Here’s what to know about the current challenges to federal student loan forgiveness, and what you can do about them.

SAVE borrowers are stalled on way to forgiveness

D’Aungilique Jackson, of Fresno, California, holds a “Cancel Student Debt” sign outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., after the nation’s high court struck down President Joe Biden’s student debt relief program on Friday, June 30, 2023.
Kent Nishimura | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

Many federal student loan borrowers who enrolled in the Biden administration-era SAVE, or Saving on a Valuable Education, plan remain in a forbearance as a result of GOP-led legal challenges to the program. But unlike the Covid-era pause on student loan bills, this forbearance does not give borrowers credit toward debt forgiveness under an income-driven repayment plan or Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
A recent U.S. appeals court decision blocked SAVE, as well as the loan forgiveness component under other income-driven repayment plans.
Historically, at least, IDR plans limit borrowers’ monthly payments to a share of their discretionary income and cancel any remaining debt after a certain period, typically 20 years or 25 years. PSLF, which President George W. Bush signed into law in 2007, allows certain not-for-profit and government employees to have their federal student loans wiped away after 10 years of payments.
“In the end, we may see borrowers lose over a year of monthly payments to count toward forgiveness,” said Elaine Rubin, director of corporate communications at Edvisors, which helps students navigate college costs and borrowing.
If you’re eager to be back on your way to debt cancellation, you have options, experts say.

You may be able switch out of the now-blocked SAVE plan and into another income-driven repayment plan. The Education Department recently re-opened several IDR plan applications, following a period during which the plans were unavailable. (The Trump administration said it was updating the plans’ applications to make them comply with the recent court order over SAVE.)
The IDR plans open now, according to the Trump administration, are: Income-Based Repayment, Pay As You Earn and Income-Contingent Repayment.
“The caveat on ICR and PAYE is that automatic forgiveness after 20 or 25 years is not available now since the courts have questioned that permissibility under statute,” said Scott Buchanan, executive director of the Student Loan Servicing Alliance, a trade group for federal student loan servicers.

Still, if a borrower enrolled in ICR or PAYE, then switches to IBR, their previous payments made under the other plans will count toward loan forgiveness under IBR, as long as they meet the plan’s other requirements, Buchanan said.
Meanwhile, borrowers in any of the three IDR plans can get credit toward PSLF.
Those who want to be making progress toward debt cancellation should see which plan comes with a monthly payment they can afford. There are several tools available online to help you determine how much your monthly bill would be under different options.
For now, Bertram has decided to stay put in the SAVE forbearance, even though she’s not moving any closer to debt forgiveness. She’s worried she’ll switch into a new repayment plan only to find that program has also been halted or amended.
“You’re constantly being jerked around by political rhetoric,” Bertram said. “I just hope I’m student-debt free before I’m 40.”  More

Over the next six months, all federal departments and agencies will phase out the use of paper checks and switch to electronic payments, according to the White House.
As the U.S. accelerates toward a “check zero” world, here’s how you may be affected.

Checks are printed at the U.S. Treasury Philadelphia Finance Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Dennis Brack | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Paper checks were already dying a slow death.
President Donald Trump on March 25 signed an executive order mandating that all federal departments and agencies end their use of paper checks and switch to electronic payments by Sept. 30.

The U.S. Treasury now has about six months to phase out the paper checks it uses for various purposes, including tax refunds and the roughly 456,000 Social Security checks that are mailed monthly.
The executive order will “modernize how the government handles money, switching from old-fashioned paper-based payments to fast, secure electronic payments,” the administration said in a fact sheet on the order.
“Paper-based payments, such as checks and money orders, impose unnecessary costs, delays, and risks of fraud, lost payments, theft, and inefficiencies,” the White House said.
Under the order, all government departments and agencies will have to issue disbursements via electronic transfer methods, like direct deposit, debit or credit card payments, digital wallets and real-time transfers.
Consumers will have until then to set up an online bank account or some form of digital payment option, with limited exceptions for those who do not have access to banking services or electronic payment systems.

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Banking groups applauded the move.
“We welcome President Trump’s executive order mandating that the federal government cease issuing paper checks for all disbursements, including government benefits and tax refunds,” Rob Nichols, president and CEO of the American Bankers Association said in a statement. “Despite a continued decline in business and consumer use of checks, check fraud has continued to rise.”
Check fraud, mail theft and identity scams have exploded in recent years, according to Haywood Talcove, CEO of LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ government group. A 2024 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office estimated that the federal government could lose between $233 billion and $521 billion a year to fraud.
“Checks aren’t safe anymore,” Talcove said. “It’s where the criminal groups are feasting.”
As part of the executive order, payments made to the federal government — such as fees, fines, loans and tax refunds — must also be made electronically.

With significant advancements in security — thanks to authentication, monitoring and data encryption — retailers’ and consumers’ shift to contactless and digital payment methods will only continue to grow, accelerating the move toward a “check zero” world, according to Scott Anchin, vice president of operational risk and payments policy for the Independent Community Bankers of America. 
However, there are still certain groups that rely on paper checks, including some of the nation’s most vulnerable populations such as social security beneficiaries and those who receive rental assistance, or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
Check writers generally skew older and are likely at the margins of the banking community, according to Anchin. Americans over the age of 55 were most likely to write checks every month, the survey from GoBankingRates found.
But these groups are also most at risk of being targeted by scammers, Talcove said. “The elderly are significantly disadvantaged by the antiquated systems and you have to get them into digital payments.”

The death of checks

Although checks, as we know them today, first originated in the 11th century, they didn’t become mainstream until the early 20th century following the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, according to a historical survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
But back then, “everyday people didn’t have checking accounts, that was for rich people,” Stephen Quinn, professor of economics at Texas Christian University and co-author of the Atlanta Fed’s report, previously told CNBC. “It wasn’t until after World War II that checking accounts were a common thing.”
Postwar prosperity greatly expanded the use of checking accounts to middle-class households, making checks the most widely used noncash payment method in the U.S., according to the Atlanta Fed.
Personal checks continued to gain steam until the mid-1990s, when credit and debit cards largely took over. Since 2000, check-writing has plummeted by nearly 75%, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

Despite the rapid decline, “a form of payment with a thousand-year history is unlikely to vanish overnight,” the Atlanta Fed report said.
And yet, today’s young adults are increasingly eschewing the traditional banking and credit infrastructure altogether in favor of peer-to-peer payment apps.
Quinn said his students rely almost exclusively on digital wallet payments such as Apple Pay, Venmo and Zelle — hardly anyone carries cash, and it’s likely that few even know how to write a check.
Mobile payment apps have become de facto bank accounts even though, unlike banks or credit unions, these financial services are not FDIC-insured.
Still, there remains a place for personal checks, Quinn said.
“The paper check might linger where it began, at the high end — for large one-off payments,” he said, such as charitable donations or real estate transactions. “In this way, checks might hold on for some time.”
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Staff cuts and policy changes at the Social Security Administration are going to make Social Security benefits harder to access for many, experts say.
New reports that the SSA plans to migrate from an old computer programming language on an accelerated timeline have prompted more concerns about payments.
“Now I’m concerned that benefits could get disrupted,” one expert says.

A Social Security Administration (SSA) office in Washington, DC, March 26, 2025. 
Saul Loeb | Afp | Getty Images

Fast-moving changes at the Social Security Administration by the Trump administration’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency have prompted concerns that it may be more difficult for beneficiaries to access the agency’s services.
Some experts are raising concerns that efforts to update the agency’s systems could impact the continuity of benefits.

“Now I’m concerned that benefits could get disrupted,” said Jason Fichtner, a former deputy commissioner at the Social Security Administration who was appointed by President George W. Bush.
Recent changes that have been announced by the agency are cause for concern, experts including Fichtner say.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed not to touch Social Security benefits. Yet recent changes could make it more difficult for eligible Americans to access benefits.
The SSA under the Trump administration has moved to eliminate 7,000 Social Security employees and close six regional offices, Fichtner and Kathleen Romig, a former Social Security Administration senior official, wrote in a recent op-ed. Romig is the director of Social Security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
The cuts will affect the service Americans receive when they either visit Social Security’s website, which has experienced glitches; call its 800 number, which has long wait times; or visit a field office, which can be crowded, they wrote.

That may make it more difficult for eligible Americans to claim benefits, particularly those with disabilities, who may run the risk of dying before receiving the money for which they are eligible.
“The Social Security Administration is in crisis, and people’s benefits are at risk,” Fichtner and Romig wrote.

‘You have to understand the complexity of the programs’

Fichtner said his worries are elevated following reports that the Social Security Administration under DOGE plans to move “tens of millions of lines of code” written in a programming language known as COBOL within an accelerated time frame of a few months.
“If you start messing with the system’s code, that could impact those who are currently getting benefits now, and that’s a new front-and-center concern,” said Fichtner, who is a senior fellow at the National Academy of Social Insurance and executive director at the Retirement Income Institute at the Alliance for Lifetime Income.
While the Social Security’s systems could use an upgrade, projects of this size are typically handled over a period of years, not months, Fichtner said. Moreover, they typically start out with smaller tests, such as with one state, to identify bugs or other issues, before expanding regionally and then nationally, he said.
“You can’t just flip a switch one night and expect to be able to upgrade,” Fichtner said. “It takes due diligence, and you have to understand the complexity of the programs.”
Before the COBOL transition reports, Fichtner said he had not been worried about benefit interruptions, though he had been concerned that changes at the agency may impact customer service and that applicants for benefits may see delays.
“There is no validity to these reports,” a Social Security Administration spokesperson told CNBC via email.
In an email statement, the White House also said, “There is no validity to these reports.”

Bigger reforms should be focus, experts say

As DOGE seeks to eliminate fraud at the Social Security Administration, some experts say the focus is misplaced.
To that point, focusing on the agency’s administrative side takes away from the bigger issue the program faces of the looming depletion of the trust funds it uses to help pay benefits, experts say.
DOGE may have good intentions to make the Social Security Administration more efficient, but its actions may not “meaningfully change the financial trajectory of the program,” said Romina Boccia, director of budget and entitlement policy at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.
If DOGE makes changes that have to be reversed, that could get in the way of the benefit reforms that Congress must also consider before a projected 2033 trust fund depletion date, she said.
“Current erratic actions have the potential to undermine those much more important, bigger reforms in a misguided attempt to root out very small levels of fraud,” Boccia said.

The Social Security’s trustees in 2024 projected the program’s combined retirement and disability trust funds may last until 2035, at which point just 83% of benefits will be payable unless Congress finds a way to fix the situation sooner.
Those 2024 projections also found the retirement trust fund on its own faces a sooner depletion date of 2033, when 79% of benefits may be payable. A new law that provides more generous benefits for certain public pensioners is expected to move the projected depletion dates closer.
Because the Social Security Administration’s administrative budget is less than 1% of outlays, it’s not the best area to focus on to make the program more cost-effective and efficient, said Charles Blahous, a former public trustee for Social Security and Medicare and deputy director of President George W. Bush’s National Economic Council.
“There’s just not enough money there to make serious headway,” said Blahous, a senior research strategist at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center.

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Military spouses have unique advantages as well as hurdles to overcome on their path to starting a small business, including their tendency to move around frequently.
An array of retirement accounts are available for military spouses, depending on the stage their business is in. They can start with Roth IRAs and move on to SEP IRAs. Both have low start-up costs and don’t require hefty contributions at the outset.
Don’t be afraid to call in a financial planner or accountant to help you get your business in order.

fstop123 | E+ | Getty Images

It’s scary enough for individuals to take a chance on themselves and start their own business, but the spouses of military servicemembers are often grappling with a unique set of hurdles on the journey toward entrepreneurship.
Certified financial planner Adrienne Ross can speak to that personally. She and her now-retired Marine Corps husband were constantly on the move during his military career, and that made the complicated process of earning her bachelor’s degree a yearslong process.

“We would move, and it would be like going through the process all over again,” recalled Ross, a partner at Clear Insight Wealth Management in Spokane, Wash. “I went to multiple colleges to complete a degree, and we were never in one place long enough.”
She ultimately completed her education at the University of Illinois Springfield through an online program while she and her family were living outside the U.S., but the ordeal informed her decision to become a financial planner, hang out her own shingle and work with military families toward financial stability.
“The client base I focused on serving is military families because I understand what it’s like to move all the time and have so many disruptions to your work life and personal life – and how it impacts your financial journey as well,” she said.
Unique advantages and disadvantages
The itinerant lifestyle that Ross grappled with as she worked on her degree can be a handicap for military spouses who are trying to build out a business.
“The number one additional hurdle would be things like business licensing,” said Bill Sweet, CFP and CFO at Ritholtz Wealth Management and U.S. Army combat veteran. “Each state and municipality will have its own licensing requirements, and there isn’t always reciprocity.” That’s often the case for teachers and nurses, for example.

“If you’re moving around every two to three years to follow your spouse, it becomes difficult to redo your nursing license on a business income,” he said. “But when it comes to things like retirement savings, I think there are a lot of neat things you can do.”
Servicemembers can enroll in the federal government’s Thrift Savings Plan, for instance, which offers benefits and savings like the 401(k) plans available to private-sector employees.

A spousal individual retirement account might be a good starting point for military spouses, even if they themselves aren’t yet employed. The servicemember can sock away up to $7,000 in 2025 ($8,000 for those age 50 and older) into the spouse’s IRA. To make this work, the married couple must be filing jointly.
“Most families today live on two incomes, so they should plan on retiring on two incomes,” said John Power, CFP at Power Plans in Walpole, Mass. “Every military spouse should have a spousal IRA. The IRS allows you to deduct from your income to contribute to your spouse’s IRA – and if you can do that, you should do that.”
While the spousal IRA is enough to start stashing money away for retirement, entrepreneurs can take other steps to beef up their savings as their business grows.
In Ross’s case, she started out with a Roth IRA – a retirement account where contributions are made on an after-tax basis but grow tax free and, most importantly, are free of tax upon withdrawal. “I love Roth IRAs,” she said. “They are super flexible, available to many people and very attainable, especially if you’re getting started with a small business.”
Roth IRA contribution limits are capped at $7,000 for those under 50 ($8,000 for those 50 and over). Be aware that if you have both a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA, the contribution limit of $7,000 is an aggregate amount. The upshot of Roth IRAs? You don’t need a whole lot of money to start saving in the first place.
“You can start with as little as $50 a month, and in most places fees are very reasonable,” Ross said.
Graduating to more complex savings options
When Ross’s business grew, she shifted into using a simplified employee pension plan, or SEP IRA, for retirement savings. These plans are specifically for small businesses, and they don’t come with the hefty start-up costs you might see in conventional retirement plans.
The upshot for young businesses is that the annual contributions to SEP IRAs are flexible, which can be handy in the early years when cash flow is inconsistent. Generally, these accounts allow for a contribution of up to 25% of an employee’s pay (or up to $70,000 in 2025). It should be noted that participant loans are not allowed under these arrangements, however.
“In terms of planning your own retirement, treat the business like a job and treat yourself as an employee of that business,” said Sean Gillespie, president of Redeployment Wealth Strategies in Virginia Beach, Va. “Take the proceeds and feed your retirement the way you would if you were [a W-2 employee] working for someone else.”
Eventually, Ross and Gillespie partnered with another advisor to form a registered investment advisory firm called Apforia. Because of this arrangement, they had the assets and the economy of scale needed to start a 401(k) plan.
In 2025, individuals can put away up to $23,500 in a 401(k) plan, plus $7,500 if they’re 50 and over (or up to an additional $11,250 for employees aged 60 to 63).
It’s OK to seek help
Military spouses seeking to make the leap into entrepreneurship should leverage their connections to peers.
“Having that connection to other military spouses who have their own businesses was really important,” said Ross. “They have that same understanding of what it’s like to be living a nomadic life and trying to build a business or career for yourself despite all of that.”
They should also invest in themselves by calling in a financial planner or an accountant who can help them build a resilient and healthy business.
“Ultimately, I think working with a professional will pay off, and being proactive,” said Sweet. “Pay a little out of pocket and talk to a CPA or CFP about setting up a business.”
JOIN the CNBC CFP® Circle for Mission: Money Management on April 1. This exclusive virtual roundtable, held in partnership with The Association of Military Spouse Entrepreneurs, will focus on how to best manage money effectively. Get your free ticket today! More

Federated Hermes’ Kathryn Glass wasn’t always set on a career in finance.
She is now co-head of the firm’s high-yield fixed-income group.
With high-yield bonds ‘priced to perfection,’ she’s making specific moves in her portfolio.

Kathryn Glass, co-head of high-yield group at Federated Hermes
Courtesy: Federated Hermes Inc.

Federated Hermes’ Kathryn Glass wasn’t always set on a career in finance. Yet these days she’s co-heading her firm’s high-yield fixed-income group — and trying to navigate a market that some say has gotten too expensive.
Glass, who was promoted to the position in February after 27 years in the business, at first seemed destined for a career in Japanese language and literature.

She received a bachelors of arts degree in the subject from the University of Pittsburgh and spent her junior year abroad in Japan. She then got a masters degree in Japanese literature from Cornell University in upstate New York. It wasn’t until her Ph.D. program that she shifted gears — dropping out and getting an internship at Federated Hermes. It also brought her back home to Pittsburgh, where she grew up.
“I was hired at Federated in our muni bond group and money market group, which was the same group at the time, because they had a lot of exposure to Japanese banks, letters of credit,” said Glass, who minored in math during college. “It was a two-year program, where I could learn finance and they were interested in my language skills.”
She was hooked. Glass then went to the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, also in Pittsburgh. She earned her masters in accounting and finance and, in 1999, returned to Federated Hermes, joining their high-yield group as an analyst.
“The reason I ultimately really got interested in the analyst side of this business is because, yes, you need to do math, but you also need to be able to interact with people, read 10-Ks, read 10-Qs, understand strategy,” Glass said. “The gray parts of this is really where you’re able to shine.”
Together, Glass and co-head Mark Durbiano lead a team of 16 in the high-yield fixed-income group. They manage about $13 billion in U.S. high-yield fixed income strategies as part of Federated’s $98 billion in fixed-income assets as of Dec. 31, 2024. Glass is also a senior portfolio manager.

Finding the right stories
The investment process is reliant on research from its analysts, who have a bottom up approach, looking at company balance sheets rather than macroeconomics, she said. She describes the technique as more akin to small-cap equity analysis than investment-grade corporate analysis.
“High yield, it’s stories. There’s lots of reasons companies are in our market. Our job is to get to know the management teams, understand their priorities, [and] continue to monitor it for the life of the investment,” she said.
“It’s a pretty labor intensive focus to get names in and out of the portfolio,” she added. “We want to ride our winners, but we also want to get away from the losers.”
The approach, as seen in its Institutional High Yield Bond Fund (FIHAX), gets kudos from Morningstar. The mutual fund researcher said the Federated fund “stands out thanks to its long-tenured management team and differentiated investment approach.” FIHAX has a 30-day SEC yield of 5.96% and a 0.75% net expense ratio.

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Federated Hermes Institutional High Yield Bond Fund (A shares) in 2025.

Putting her strategy to work
Investing in high yield hasn’t been easy in this market, Glass noted. She’s positioned cautiously right now because spreads — which measure junk bonds’ excess return over risk-free Treasurys — are tight.
“It’s almost a Goldilocks-type scenario where the economy has chugged along quite nicely — but are you getting paid for risk?” she said. “While valuation is a horrible timing tool, it should definitely be a guidepost for you.”
Because the fund is known for being “very pure high yield,” shying away from bank loans and cash as a strategic instrument, she has moved into lower-spread names.
“They’re all still rated in the junk bond market, but the market is pricing them to show that they’re higher quality issuers,” she explained.
Now, she waits for a buying opportunity.
“People need to be aware that we are priced to perfection at this point in time,” Glass said.
“We can bounce along here for a bit longer, but at some point you will have a shock that sends spreads wider,” she added. “Better to be positioned more cautiously and be ready to go back into the market aggressively when that happens.”
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