In recognition of the 2022 Bicentennial of her birth, the commemorative program showcases Harriet Tubman’s life reflected in unique designs in gold, silver, and half-dollar coins.

Authorized by Public Law 117-163, the program celebrates the life of abolitionist Harriet Tubman.

“Every coin produced by the United States Mint helps to tell a story that teaches us about America’s history or connects us to a special memory,” said Director of the Mint Ventris C. Gibson.

The public law directs the Mint to produce $5 gold coins, $1 silver coins, and half-dollar clad coins as part of the program.

“We hope this program will honor the life and legacy of Harriet Tubman and inspire others to learn more about this amazing woman,” adds the Mint director.

Introductory sales prices are in effect until February 5, 2024, at 3:00 pm EST, after which regular pricing will take effect. The household order limits of one for each gold option are in effect for the first 24 hours.

The Mint accepts orders at usmint.gov/ and 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468).

Who was Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman was an abolitionist and social activist. She was known as the “Moses of her people.”  She was an active suffragist, speaking out for the right of women to vote. She also worked to provide care for newly freed people, young and old. Harriet Tubman’s life was characterized by her unwavering pursuit of freedom in every aspect of American life.

Tubman was enslaved, escaped, and helped others gain their freedom as a “conductor” of the Underground Railroad. She also served as a scout, spy, guerrilla soldier, and nurse for the Union Army during the Civil War. She is considered the first African American woman to serve in the military. 

American Women Quarters Program

The American Women Quarters Program is a four-year program that celebrates the accomplishments and contributions made by women to the development and history of our country. Beginning in 2022, and continuing through 2025, the U.S. Mint will issue up to five new reverse designs each year. 

The American Women Quarters may feature contributions from a variety of fields, including, but not limited to, suffrage, civil rights, abolition, government, humanities, science, space, and the arts. The women honored will be from ethnically, racially, and geographically diverse backgrounds.

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However, setting a budget goes a long way in managing your personal finances.

“Many people spend time doing a New Year’s resolution,” said Kamila Elliott, a certified financial planner at Collective Wealth Partners. She explained that people often focus on achieving their personal goals “but an annual budget allows you to focus on your financial goals and understanding what you want to accomplish financially in the year.”

The first step is to figure out your income.

“Knowing your income is extremely important because you know exactly how much you have to deploy,” explained Elliott. “So typically for my clients, we get their pay stubs and look at their net play.”

Net pay refers to your gross pay minus taxes, withholdings and deductions such as Social Security, Medicare and employee benefits such as your health plan.

“I look at it on a monthly basis,” said Elliott, who is also a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council.

“I typically take someone’s biweekly paycheck times 26 and then divide it by 12 or if you are getting paid bimonthly, which is 24 pay periods divided by 12,” she said.

The second step is to calculate your expenses. They can often be split into two types: fixed and variable.

“Fixed expenses are things like your rent, your mortgage, your car payment, things that you know exactly what it will be and how you can plan for it accordingly,” Elliott said.

“Variable expenses can be tricky since some of them you can control and some you can’t,” she added.

“How much are you spending on groceries? How much do you spend on eating out or clothing? Averaging them out will help you get a really good view of what that looks like for you on a monthly basis,” she explained.

The final step is setting a goal.

The budget parameter that many experts recommend is the 50-30-20 budget, where 50% of your take-home pay goes to your needs, 30% to your wants and 20% to savings for your financial future.

Watch the video to find out more about how to set an annual budget for the New Year.

Studies have shown that higher incomes are correlated with higher levels of life satisfaction, and Americans themselves tend to agree — 6 in 10 say money can buy happiness, according to a recent survey from Empower, a financial services company.

It doesn’t come cheap, however. When asked how much money it would take to be happy, Americans said it would take a net worth of about $1.2 million, on average.

However, millennials say they’d need a net worth of about $1.7 million to be happy. Gen Xers would need around $1.2 million and baby boomers similarly said a net worth just under $1 million would make them happy.

Gen Z is the real outlier. Among the youngest adult generation, a net worth of about $487,000 on average would be sufficient for financial happiness, Empower found.

The price of happiness is highest for millennials

Some 72% of millennials agree that money can buy happiness, more than any other generation. They’re also the generation that lists the highest annual salary they would need to be happy — it’s more than four times higher than every other generation’s number.

Here’s the average salary each generation says they’d need to be happy and less stressed, according to Empower:

• Gen Z: $128,084
• Millennials: $525,947
• Gen X: $130,344
• Baby boomers: $124,165

The median annual income respondents said would make them less stressed is $95,000 a year. They currently earn a median salary of $65,000, meaning they’d need nearly a 50% raise to get there.

Remember, the median is the number in the middle of all responses — half of respondents named a higher number, half named a lower number. On the other hand, a few high or low numbers can skew the average up or down.

Relatively speaking, it wouldn’t take much money to improve peoples’ lives, Empower found. An extra one-time payment of $25,000 would increase 42% of Americans’ financial happiness for six months. A $15,000 windfall would do the same for 32% of respondents, and 17% would be happier with a $5,000 bonus. 

What financial happiness looks like

Despite saying they would need to earn a high salary or have an ultra-high net worth to feel happy, those things themselves aren’t what would make most Americans happy.

Rather, having all their bills paid on time and in full defines financial happiness for 67% of Americans, Empower found.

Being debt-free, 65%, and enjoying everyday small luxuries, 54%, are the other two most popular ways Americans say they could be financially happy. Just 17% of respondents say reaching a certain net worth would mean they’re financially happy.

In general, most Americans are happy — 75% of people rank their overall happiness at a seven or higher out of 10, Empower found. But finances are an area where Americans’ happiness has the most room to grow.

These are the areas of their lives Americans are most happy with: 

• At home: 80%
• With relationships: 72%
• At work: 68%
• With financial goals: 63%
• With plans to get to financial goals: 62%
• With financial freedom: 61%
• With financial allies (mentors, etc.): 58%
• With finances (net worth, etc.): 58%

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According to U.S. Currency Auctions, some versions of the $2 bill are valued at nearly $5,000.

The company said $2 bills from 1890 with a brown or red seal could sell for up to $4,500. But that’s not all.

Some newer versions of the $2 bill could also have a higher value.

Heritage Auctions sold a 2003 $2 bill for $2,400 in July 2022 — and that bill’s value could now be significantly higher.

Other versions of the bill, per the U.S. Currency Auctions, are also valued between $500 and $1,000.

Various details like circulation, seal color and printing year all factor in to the bill’s worth.

Check the full list of values here.

The history of the $2 bill

The $2 bill has been in circulation since 1862, with six different types created over the years, according to the Department of Treasury.

“For most of their history, $2 notes have been unpopular, being viewed as unlucky or simply awkward to use in cash exchanges,” the Bureau of Engraving and Printing states.

In the 1860s, there were limits on how many $1 and $2 notes the banks could issue due to fears “that the widespread use of small-denomination notes caused inflation.”

The BEP adds, however, that the fortune for the bill shifted when the U.S. entered World War II.

“In early 1942, the Treasury forbade the carrying of US currency across the Mexican-US border. The Treasury did this ‘to prevent use being made of Mexico as a place in which Axis agents may dispose of dollar currency looted abroad,'” BEP’s website states. “The only exceptions to this blockade were $2 notes and silver dollars as it was believed that there were not many of these items outside the United States. As a result, demand for $2 notes skyrocketed along the border.”

Those designed before 1928 were larger in size and featured a number of different designs, but since 1928, the bills have included a standardized portrait of Thomas Jefferson on the face.

There are still some subtle differences, like those produced between 1928 and 1976 have a vignette of Jefferson’s home on the back, which was later replaced in 1976 with a portrayal of the presentation of the Declaration of Independence.

What else should you know?

It’s not just $2 bills that could be worth more now.

In fact, some of your loose change could be valued at much higher amounts.

Details on what you can watch for here.

Your household needs to bring in a whopping $952,902 to crack the top 1% in Connecticut, the highest threshold for any state, according to a recent SmartAsset analysis. That’s nearly three times the income needed to be in the 1% in West Virginia, the state with the lowest threshold at $367,582.

Connecticut’s median household income of $90,730 is one of the highest in the country and well above the national median of $74,580, according to Census Bureau data.

See how much you’d need to make to be in the top 1% of households in your state:

Earning $700,000 a year would put your household in the top 1% nationwide — and well above the middle class — and in any state in the South or Midwest. But that still won't cut it in seven states.

The Northeast dominates the rankings, with five of the 10 states with the highest 1% thresholds lying in this region. The average income needed to be in the 1% is $696,358 in these states. That's a higher income than is needed to be in the 1% of households nationwide, which is $652,657, according to SmartAsset. 

Southern states tend to have lower 1% income thresholds, with an average income of $526,592 necessary to be among the top-earning households there.

The threshold is slightly higher in the Midwest. You need to earn an average of $544,525 to crack the top 1% in those states.

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Tu and her partner have been together for six years and never fight about money, she tells CNBC Make It.

“We have probably one serious fight every single year and not once has it been about money,” she says.

A few strategies help them avoid arguments. For one, they discussed finances early on. “A month into our relationship, we laid it all out on the table,” she says. “We were like, ‘How much do you make? Show me your pay stub.'”

This helped them determine whether or not they had shared values about money and if their financial priorities aligned, Tu says.

As the relationship progressed, the now-engaged couple began using the “yours, mine and ours” system.

With this approach, Tu and her fiancé each have their own separate bank accounts, plus a joint account they both deposit into. They use the joint account to pay for their shared expenses, such as utility bills, mortgage payments and groceries, she says.

Since they know that they’ve allocated money toward covering their household needs first, neither person feels the need to monitor how the other spends the rest of their money.

“I have an account that I have money in, and I use that for things like going to get my lashes done or when I go out for dinner with girlfriends. And he has his own bank account that he uses when he has to pay the greens fees to go golfing or get a haircut,” Tu says. “Neither of us have a problem with that.”

Tu and her fiancé prefer this system over splitting expenses equally. “When you go 50/50 on every single thing, I think it leads to an unhealthy mentality,” she says. “You’re never always going to be giving perfectly 50.”

That’s not to say that you shouldn’t split expenses at all, Tu says. You just shouldn’t “nickel and dime” each other.

“When I go on Venmo and I see other couples Venmoing each other for light bulbs, I’m like, ‘light bulbs are $8.’ You don’t need to Venmo your significant other for $4 for the light bulbs,” she says. “That’s excessive.”

And at least once a month, Tu and her partner order a pizza and sit down together to discuss their expenses, investments and household costs. Once they’re finished with that, they watch a movie. Turning budgeting into an enjoyable date night activity, she says, makes it feel less like a chore.

“Not only are you able to make it a little bit more romantic and fun,” she says, “but you’re also making sure that you’re actually addressing your finances every single month.”

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Growing up in Iran, she was taught food meant love. “The more we feed you, the more we love you,” Afshar, 57, tells CNBC Make It. In 2018, she started her Instagram @cookingwithfiona, specifically to post instructional cooking videos she’d filmed for her daughter.

Within months, Afshar grew a following. She had recently discovered how malleable pasta dough was, and posted videos of herself designing, cooking and serving brightly colored, loudly patterned noodles. Viewers were hooked. Cooking classes, brand partnerships and an online shop called Fiona’s Pasta followed.

Afshar thinks her audience is drawn to her eccentric noodles for one simple reason: “If you look at every culture closely, there’s always a form of pasta. It just like leaves a really warm feeling [of] comfort.”

Five years into her cooking business, food still means love to Afshar — but now, she gets paid for it, and shares her love with nearly half a million followers. She brought in $129,300 last year, primarily from making pasta and shipping it out of her home in Malibu, California, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

Here’s how Afshar created her pasta business — almost by accident.

A lifelong love of cooking

When Afshar was 9 years old, at the start of the Iranian Revolution, her dad moved her and her three brothers to the U.K. Then, he left to go back for their mother.

Her mother had given her a cookbook, and every night, Afshar ran her fingers over the recipes, memorizing them as a source of comfort. Her parents joined the siblings six months later, but her deep connection with food remained. It was how she was taken care of, and how she learned to take care of others, she says.

After graduating college, Afshar moved to California and worked as a software writer and consultant. She met her husband Ali in 1987, and started a software business with him before retiring to raise their three children.

Except for a brief stint as a florist, Afshar didn’t work until her oldest daughter went to college. She devoted her creative energy to mastering healthy and interesting meals for her family, she says.

Shortly after she started her Instagram account, she started making pasta from chef Thomas Keller’s tutorials — and her followers ate it up.

“As soon as I started posting pasta, the whole social media went viral,” she says. “I’m like, ‘OK, you guys want pasta? I’ll give you more pasta.'”

A homegrown business

In 2020, Afshar started hosting virtual pasta-making classes for $35 per person. She still wasn’t in it for the money, but missed hosting and cooking for other people during the pandemic, she says. At the venture’s peak, 100 people attended per class, with folks joining from all over the world, she adds.

The following year, Afshar’s brother suggested that she sell her creations. When she resisted, he gave her a proposal: Let’s open a Shopify store for one month, and if you hate it, we’ll close it.

Together, they launched the virtual store, called Fiona’s Pasta. “As soon as he opened shop for me, it’s like ding, ding, ding. Sales started coming in,” she says. “I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me? People are actually paying $100 for pasta?'”

Around the same time, luxury fashion retailer Ssense reached out to Afshar, a lifelong fashion lover, about a collaboration. They’d pay her to design pasta that corresponded with the logos and style of brands like Gucci and Anthropologie, and post videos featuring those pastas on social media.

Those types of branding deals now make up a good chunk of Afshar’s income: Last year, they made her about $18,000. Teaching virtual classes made her an additional $16,500.

Her largest source of pasta income, however, is from her shop. She sells boxes of colorful, floral and designer-based pasta anywhere from $80 to $240 on her website.

Keeping things in the family

Afshar says she works about 32 hours per week making, packaging and shipping her pasta out of her home. She spends $0 on advertising, and has her mother and brother’s mother-in-law help her roll, cut and dry the dough. They refuse to be paid, Afshar says.

“Fiona’s Pasta, Cooking with Fiona, it’s more of a passion,” Afshar says. “We’re not relying on the income of it.”

Despite bringing in six figures per year, Afshar insists that her business’s purpose is to connect with people through food and pass some of her culture to her children. She has no plans to expand her pasta-making or classroom teaching beyond her kitchen.

“It just has so much potential to grow so big, but in a way, I’m holding it as a baby,” she says. “It’s so personal. It’s my art … I don’t want to take it somewhere [to] mass produce it. I think it would lose its essence.”

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Did you know that the average American tosses out around 25% of the food they buy? With the right fridge setup, you can easily cut down on this waste and keep your wallet happy.

Here are some easy ways to make your food last longer and spend less on groceries:

Store raw ingredients on the lower shelves

Raw ingredients like meats, eggs, and dairy should be stored on the lower shelves. This part of the fridge is cooler, so your food will last longer.

Store items that need no cooking on the top shelves

For items that need no cooking, like drinks, herbs, and leftovers, place them on the top shelf where the temperature is most consistent.

Store the most spoil-resistant food in the side doors

The side doors are the warmest part of the fridge, so it’s best to store the most spoil-resistant food here. Salad dressings, condiments, and juice do well in this area.

Keep your fruits and veggies separate

If you have vegetables, you can preserve them by putting them in a high-humidity drawer.

Your fruit should go in the crisper drawer, which has lower humidity.

It’s also important to keep your vegetables away from your fruits because fruits produce ethylene, a chemical that can make vegetables go yellow or limp. 

Avoid overpacking your fridge

Cold air needs space to circulate efficiently, so packing it too tight can create warm and cold spots that promote food spoilage.

With these tips, you can extend your food’s life span and save a little money on groceries.

Over the past five years, from 2017 to 2022, no age group has fallen for online scams at a quicker rate than people age 20 or younger, according to a study by online investigation service Social Catfish. During that span, money lost by Gen Z grew nearly 2,500% — compared to 805% for seniors.

In terms of dollars lost, young people lost $210 million overall to scams in 2022, according to the study. That’s way up from 2017, when those under 20 lost $8.2 million.

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But older victims still far and away lose the most money in scams. According to the study, seniors lost $3.1 billion in 2022.

In all, online scams cost people a record $10.3 billion in 2022, up from $6.9 billion in the previous year. The average victim lost nearly $13,000, the study found, but really all numbers may not be entirely accurate: Of the 5,500 victims polled for the study, 4,455 were too ashamed to come forward or file a report.

And of all that $10.3 billion lost, only $433 million, or 4.2%, was able to be recovered by the FBI, the study found, largely because many scammers are from outside the U.S., where the law enforcement body has no jurisdiction.

So why are young people getting victimized more often? It may come down to scammers becoming more sophisticated and adept at taking advantage of their targets. There’s also the rapid increase in use of artificial intelligence online.

“The explosion of AI has given us a glimpse into the future of scams with new tactics such as ‘voice cloning’ and ‘deep fake’ videos making it look and sound like you are giving money to someone you know, trust or love,” read the study, State of Internet Scams 2023.

The truth may be even simpler, though: Younger people are online more and involved in more things on the internet, like social media, gaming, dating apps, shopping and more. That presents more opportunities to get taken advantage of.

Where do most scams take place? By far, Facebook had the most, the poll found,

Here are the top five most common scams that target teens, according to Social Catfish, which seeks to prevent online scams through reverse search technology:

1. Social Media Influencer: Scammers will create fake accounts mimicking real influencers, then host fake brand-sponsored contests. They will then ask the “winner” to pay a fee or provide bank account info in order to claim their prize.
2. Romance: Using stolen photos of attractive people, the scammers will target younger users that may be more vulnerable. They then will manipulate their target to fall for them, before asking for money.
3. Sextortion: Once again using photos of good-looking people, scammers will send an explicit photo and ask for one in return. When they get the photo, the scammers will threaten to do share the photo or make it public — unless they get paid.
4. Online Gaming and In-App Purchases: Younger online gamers get tricked into providing credit card information and downloading malware for rewards that don’t really exist.
5. Online Shopping: This one takes a bit more effort and setup by scammers, who will establish a fake website that appears to be selling items at a big discount. Those who attempt to “buy” anything send the money, which the scammers pocket without sending anything back. They can also steal the credit card and personal info of the victim, using it for potential future online thefts.

The 36-year-old brand director for an advertising firm calculates the cost-per-wear of his wardrobe by highlighting 200 items in a spreadsheet — excluding underwear and socks — and meticulously listing the price he paid for each of them as well as how many times he’s worn it. He updates the spreadsheet every night on his computer to determine whether his purchases were worth it — or not.

Lots of people thought Welch was weird when he started doing this 12 years ago, opting to ditch the cheapest items on the sales rack in favor of maximizing the value of his purchases over the span of their lifecycles. But with inflation still a nagging problem, more shoppers are coming around to his way of thinking.

“I was actually onto something versus being a little looney,” said Welch of Erda, Utah, who presented his findings last month at a company meeting.

Retailers are taking note of this mindset and shifting their marketing strategy in some cases. Gap’s Old Navy is offering shoppers a full refund for uniforms purchased during the upcoming back-to-school season if the clothes don’t hold up for a year. Retailers like Kohl’s and online shirt retailer Untuckit have recently revamped their marketing campaigns — particularly for the fall — to focus on durability and versatility. American Eagle is touting the “longevity of your most-loved jeans” made of recycled cotton and polyester in an email campaigns to customers.

That means a $200 classic sweater may end up being a better deal if you plan to wear it every week in comparison to a hot pink dress picked up for $40 that might be worn only once a month.

“Cost-per-wear is another way that they think about how to combat some of the inflation,” said Christie Raymond, Kohl’s chief marketing officer. “Is this item going to last? Is it going to really be versatile? For back to school, for example, can my child wear it in a number of different ways?”

Some shoppers are also looking to be more eco-friendly by buying clothes that don’t end up in a landfill after being worn a few times.

Still, the cost-per-wear calculation may only make sense for those consumers who can afford to prioritize quality and versatility over price. Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, notes that shoppers with tighter budgets will look at price and may not care whether something will last just as long as it looks good for now.

Indeed, fast-fashion purveyors are still faring well in the face of inflation. Chinese e-commerce retailer Temu, known for deep discounts and coupons, has continued its meteoric rise in the U.S., adding nearly 10 million new daily users since the turn of the year, according to market intelligence firm GWS. Meanwhile, Shein, the ultra-low-price, fast-fashion juggernaut founded in China, has been increasing its daily users from 3.1 million to 4.9 million daily users over the past year, according to GWS.

But there’s a growing backlash to the cheap stuff.

Rohan Deuskar, founder and CEO of Stylitics, a retail technology firm that powers personalized styling, outfitting and bundling suggestions for 150 retailers online, said he started seeing the trend this past holiday shopping season. He noted the average order was going up, particularly for holiday dresses, while shoppers were buying fewer items. And shoppers were also spending more time engaging with the virtual models that showed different ways to wear the item.

“Shoppers are being more considerate about every purchase and being willing to spend only if they get value — and that no longer just means cheap,” Deuskar said. “We’re reaching a little bit of an oversaturation of buying a bunch of stuff.”

According to market research firm Circana’s Retail Tracking Service, higher prices are outpacing lower prices over the past 12-month period ending in June. Women’s dresses priced $200 and above grew about twice as fast as those priced under $50. Sales of men’s jeans that were less than $30 declined, while higher price brands drove growth. Sales of women’s jeans priced $150 and above increased by 7%. And while the market for women’s active pants declined 20%, women’s active pants priced between $125 to $150 increased 19%, according to Circana.

Saunders notes that “price and quality aren’t always linked.” In fact, some retailers may be using any excuse to sell higher price goods. There’s also the timeliness of the fashion item to consider. Shoppers may think about longevity when they look for a coat but not for a skirt or a top.

“People like to refresh or their tastes change,” he said.

And cost-per-wear calculations don’t factor in weight loss or gain, Saunders added.

Welch said his wardrobe consists of mostly blacks, greys and blues and items that can carry through multiple seasons. Higher inflation has helped him better separate his needs and wants.

“I ask myself a little bit harder: ‘Is it something that I absolutely need?'” he said. “Consulting my spreadsheet, how many golf shorts do I really have?”

Welch noted that his formal wear and suits along with dress shirts are among the items that rank the highest in cost-per-wear. He chose a charcoal suit — not a tan version — for his wedding in 2018 that he bought for $480 at Bonobos. He has worn it 44 times, resulting in a cost-per-wear of $10.91. Not too bad but ideally he likes to get it down to 50 cents per wear, like the athletic shorts he bought at Outdoor Voices for $20 and has worn 434 times, according to his spreadsheet he shared.

Kohl’s said its marketing campaigns are showing different ways that items can be worn. For example, on the department store’s Instagram account, it pairs a white T-shirt and denim shirts in different ways, including a beachy take and a more stylish approach with hoop earrings. Untuckit’s fall campaign, “Made for the next journey,” focuses on the different ways customers can wear the shirt or the jacket — taking it from the office to night time events.

As for Welch, he said his wife is now staying away from fast-fashion and focusing on quality, though she’s not embracing the spreadsheets. And he’s delighted that his two girls, ages 3 and seven months, fit with the new math.

“With my first daughter, the cost for use on her dresses and stuff like that have decreased with having another girl, ” he said. “So if we have a boy, great. But if we have another girl, that’s just even more savings.”

But in recent years, car ownership has gotten more expensive than ever — due to the Covid-19 pandemic, supply chain issues, stubborn inflation and the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes.

“Outside of purchasing your first home, a new car … is the second-largest purchase for most people,” said Joanna Dean, vice president of sales at Toyota Financial Services Group. “Given the transaction prices and vehicle prices today, financing is required to buy these vehicles.”

More than 100 million Americans have a car loan, and auto loan debt in the U.S. currently stands at $1.5 trillion — a record high. 

In 2023, the average monthly loan payment for a new vehicle is $725, up from $650 in 2022, according to Experian. The average monthly payment for a used vehicle is $516 in 2023, up 2% from the year prior.

“Outstanding balances continue to grow; consumers are still originating auto loans,” said Melinda Zabritski, Experian’s senior director of product management. “The volume is a little lower, but the loan amounts are certainly higher.”

Your credit score influences auto loan terms

There are both direct and indirect lenders, and you can take out an auto loan for a new or a used vehicle. While consumers have options, your particular interest rate and terms will depend on the lender you borrow from, as well as multiple factors on your end.

Lenders determine rates and terms based on their confidence in your ability to pay back the loan. They look at your assets, liabilities, income, expenses and credit score.

“Our primary goal is to put customers in financial products that they can afford,” said Chase Auto CEO Peter Muriungi. “Our No. 1 priority is our consumers, and so we have put a variety of processes in place to ensure that is the case.”

Chase Auto services consumers with a credit score of 620 and higher, with the average credit score typically in the 700 range, according to Muriungi.

Toyota Financial Services holds primarily a prime credit portfolio, meaning they service those with very high credit scores. The average is 744, according to Dean.

“But we do support a larger spread of business,” said Dean. “And those with maybe lower FICO [credit scores] may come to the table with larger down payments to help that affordability.”

Car purchase woes are leaving some buyers cold

Meanwhile, Americans don’t typically cast their car-buying experiences in a positive light.

“It was a very quick process, and I did feel like they just wanted me to sign at the bottom line as quickly as possible,” said Sean Miller, 32, who took out an auto loan for his car in 2019.

That decision — made years ago — is still costing the Brooklyn, New York, resident today.

“I’m paying a ton of money right now for a car that I don’t really need, and I’ve been struggling and struggling to sell it,” he said. “If I were to sell it today, it would probably be at a $10,000 to $15,000 loss.

“This is something that right now is preventing me from being able to save up in order to start a family,” Miller added.

In fact, American car buyers have filed numerous lawsuits and complaints nationwide against several different lenders, alleging discriminatory and illegal auto loan practices.

So what’s happening in the auto loan industry, and how can consumers protect themselves?

Watch the video above to learn more.

In 2022, reported consumer losses to fraud totaled $8.8 billion — a 30 percent increase from 2021, according to the most recent data from the Federal Trade Commission. The biggest losses were to investment scams, including cryptocurrency schemes, which cost people more than $3.8 billion, double the amount in 2021.

Younger adults ages 20-29 reported losing money more often than older adults ages 70-79, the FTC found. But when older adults did lose money, they lost more. Many retirees have assets like savings, pensions, life insurance policies or property for scammers to target.

With the rise of the digital economy, scammers now reach targets by social media and text, as well as phone and email. Online payment platforms, apps, and marketplaces have also increased opportunities. Still, many of their tactics and strategies are similar.

“The first thing they’ll do is get you into a heightened emotional state, because we can’t access clear thinking when we’re in that state,” said Kathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention for the AARP’s Fraud Watch Network. “It could be fear, panic, or excitement — ‘I just won a million dollars from Publishers Clearing House.’”

Once the sense of urgency is established, the target’s defenses are down.

“When approached with urgency, give it an extra three-second pause,” said Amanda Clayman, a financial therapist who works with digital payment network Zelle around issues of fraud. “When someone is trying to get us to take action quickly, that’s usually a red flag indicating we should do the opposite.”

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What to know to keep your money and information safe

Simply being aware of typical scams can help, experts say. Robocalls in particular frequently target vulnerable individuals like seniors, people with disabilities, and people with debt.

“If you get a robocall out of the blue paying a recorded message trying to get you to buy something, just hang up,” aid James Lee, chief operating officer at the Identity Theft Resource Center. “Same goes for texts — anytime you get them from a number you don’t know asking you to pay, wire, or click on something suspicious.”

Lee urges consumers to hang up and call the company or institution in question at an official number.

Scammers will also often imitate someone in authority, such as a tax or debt collector. They might pretend to be a loved one calling to request immediate financial assistance for bail, legal help, or a hospital bill.

So-called “romance scams” often target lonely and isolated individuals, according to Will Maxson, assistant director of the Division of Marketing Practices at the FTC. These scams can take place over longer periods of time — even years.

Kate Kleinart, 70, who lost tens of thousands to a romance scam over several months, said to be vigilant if a new Facebook friend is exceptionally good-looking, asks you to download WhatsApp to communicate, attempts to isolate you from friends and family, and/or gets romantic very quickly.

“If you’re seeing that picture of a very handsome person, ask someone younger in your life — a child, a grandchild, a niece or a nephew — to help you reverse-image search or identify the photo,” she said.

She said the man in pictures she received was a plastic surgeon from Spain whose photos have been stolen and used by scammers.

Kleinart had also been living under lockdown during the early pandemic when she got the initial friend request, and the companionship and communication meant a lot to her while she was cut off from family. When the scam fell apart, she missed the relationship even more than the savings.

“Losing the love was worse than losing the money,” she said.

“I think anyone who has participated in the digital economy has received multiple attempts daily that have some sort of scheme, whether that’s, ‘Your account has been locked’ or ‘Your package delivery is delayed,’” Lee said. “Again — just take a breath — and verify.”

Lee urges people never to click an unusual link in a text or email, and instead go to the site in question directly, or call the number listed on the official site.

“It’ll take 30 or 40 seconds longer, but go ahead and do that because it could save you a lot of money every time,” he said.

Some indications to be extra wary could include an unrecognized sender, unusual wording, or a tell-tale misspelling.

In 2022, consumers lost more than $326 million from scam texts alone, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Gift cards. Both Maxson and Lee said any mention of payment with gift cards should be a blaring warning alarm.

Kleinart, who experienced the romance scam, was also initially asked to send money via gift cards, with varied explanations.

“Just don’t pay people with gift cards,” Maxson said. “No legitimate company or individual is going to ask you to buy large quantities of gift cards and then read the numbers off the cards. That is exclusively a payment method of fraudsters.”

“Let me tell you, the IRS does not accept gift cards,” Lee said. “But you’d be surprised by the number of people who fall for people calling from ‘fill in the blank agency’ or ‘fill in the blank company’ and who send $500 worth of gift cards.”

In addition to romance scams like the one Kleinart fell victim to, here’s what to know about other common social media scams:

Investment scams

According to Lois Greisman, an associate director of marketing practices at the FTC, an investment scam constitutes any get-rich-quick scheme that lures targets via social media accounts or online ads.

Investment scammers typically add different forms of “testimony,” such as from other social media accounts, to support that the “investment” works. Many of these also involve cryptocurrency. To avoid falling for these frauds, the FTC recommends independently researching the company — especially by searching the company’s name along with terms like “review” or “scam.”

Quiz scams

When you’re using Facebook or scrolling Google results, be aware of quiz scams, which typically appear innocuous and ask about topics you might be interested in, such as your car or favorite TV show. They may also ask you to take a personality test.

Despite these benign-seeming questions, scammers can then use the personal information you share to respond to security questions from your accounts or hack your social media to send malware links to your contacts.

To protect your personal information, the FTC simply recommends steering clear of online quizzes. The commission also advises consumers to use random answers for security questions.

“Asked to enter your mother’s maiden name? Say it’s something else: Parmesan or another word you’ll remember,” advises Terri Miller, consumer education specialist at the FTC. “This way, scammers won’t be able to use information they find to steal your identity.”

Marketplace scams

When buying or selling products on Instagram or Facebook Marketplace, keep in mind that not everyone that reaches out to you has the best intentions.

To avoid being scammed when selling via an online platform, the FTC recommends checking buyers’ profiles, not sharing any codes sent to your phone or email, and avoiding accepting online payments from unknown persons.

Likewise, when buying something from an online marketplace, make sure to diligently research the seller. Take a look at whether the profile is verified, what kind of reviews they have, and the terms and conditions of the purchase.

___

The Associated Press receives support from Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.

If you’ve ever heard the term “unclaimed money” and wondered whether or not it’s a scam, we have some good news. It is indeed real, and there’s plenty of cash out there just waiting to be claimed.

Not sure how to find out if you or a loved one are entitled to some unclaimed money? NBC News Senior Consumer Investigative Correspondent Vicky Nguyen is breaking it all down for us.

What is unclaimed money?

Unclaimed money might seem too good to be true, but the concept actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it.

“Unclaimed money is simply that — money that is owed to you, that didn’t reach you for whatever reason,” Nguyen explains.

For instance, maybe a former employer, retailer or insurance company sent a check to your old address or it got lost in the mail. Typically, these checks are for small sums ($50-100), but amounts can vary.

“Banks, retailers, and health insurers are legally obligated to turn over those funds to the state,” Nguyen explains.

Even if you don’t have any unclaimed money in your name, all hope is not lost. Last year, the New York State comptroller told NBC New York that people may be entitled to checks that were made out to deceased parents or grandparents.

How to find unclaimed money from the government

Ready to see if you have unclaimed money? There are multiple ways to find out and, more importantly, get it back from the government.

Start by visiting usa.gov/unclaimed-money, where you can find a list of all the places you could have money and a list of reputable sites where you can enter your personal information to learn more.

Here are some of the most common places money can be found:

Your State

Did you know that you’re most likely to get unclaimed money from the state(s) you live in?

“This money held by your state could be from bank accounts, insurance policies, tax refunds and more. If you have lived in other states, don’t forget to check their unclaimed property offices, too,” Nguyen says.

Each state has an unclaimed property office that manages inquiries.

Current and Former Employers

Pay day is always the best day of the week, but it’s possible that you might’ve missed a payment or two from a current or former employer. Nguyen recommends checking the Department of Labor’s database for “Workers Owed Wages.” You’ll be prompted to enter your employer name, state and your personal information.

“Just note that after three years in the labor department, unpaid wages are then sent to the treasury department, which you would have found in the state’s database,” she explains.

Closed or Failed Banks

If you were ever a member of a bank that closed or failed, visit the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) website and search for unclaimed money by entering your name and state and the name and city of the bank.

Savings Bonds

Sometimes, you have savings bonds that you simply forgot about. To find out if you have any that have stopped maturing, visit the government website Treasury Hunt and enter your Social Security number and state.

“If nothing matches, try again next month as the service updates its data monthly,” Nguyen says.

The website will also walk you through how to find a lost, stolen, or destroyed EE or savings bond.

Insurance Money, Tax Refunds and More

There are several other ways to find unclaimed money:

• Veterans: Veterans can search the US Department of Veterans Affairs for unclaimed insurance funds
• Mortgages: Mortgages that are insured by the Federal Housing Association may be eligible for a refund. All you need is your last name, case number, city and state to get started.
• Tax refunds: Visit IRS.gov/refunds and have the following information handy: your social security number or taxpayer ID number and the exact refund amount. “There’s also an 800 phone number to call but again to verify your identity you will need social security number, prior year tax returns, and more,” Nguyen adds.

To prove just how common unclaimed money is, Nguyen found several claims for members of the TODAY staff:

• One for TODAY contributor Ally Love
• Four for Craig Melvin, including one for over $100
• Over 11 claims for Al Roker

How to avoid unclaimed money scams

Anytime you’re sharing your personal information, you want to make sure it’s handled safely, and searching for unclaimed money is no exception.

To ensure that you don’t get ripped off, keep these tips from Nguyen in mind:

• Don’t pay anyone to get your money back: “These are government agencies that are giving something back to you that you are owed. If any site you find is trying to charge you a fee to reclaim your money, do not follow through with that site,” Nguyen warns. “Go straight to the source and google the name of your state and the words unclaimed money. You’ll be directed either to your state’s comptroller’s website or given a number to call so you can get to the bottom of it.”
• Spell the website correctly: “For example, incorrectly typing .gov versus .com can make all the difference in getting a legit website versus a bogus one,” Nguyen says.

This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:

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The Powerball jackpot has soared to an estimated $900 million after Saturday’s drawing went by without a winner.

It’s still the third-largest prize in the game’s history ahead of Monday night’s drawing, according to Powerball. But the windfall will shrink significantly after taxes.

If you choose the lump sum payout, the estimated pretax cash value is $465.1 million, whereas 30 years of annual payments are worth an estimated $900 million before taxes.

If you win the jackpot, experts suggest working with a tax professional, financial advisor and estate planning attorney immediately.

“It’s all about protection and paying the least amount of taxes possible, so working with professionals is very important,” said certified financial planner John Chichester Jr., founder and CEO of Chichester Financial Group in Phoenix.

He said winners who choose the 30-year annuity payments option may have “a lot more flexibility” for tax planning.

The chances of winning Powerball’s grand prize are 1 in about 292 million.

Roughly $111.6 million goes straight to the IRS

Winners need to plan for a hefty upfront federal withholding. The IRS requires a mandatory 24% withholding for winnings of more than $5,000.

If you choose the $465.1 million cash option, the 24% withholding automatically reduces your prize by roughly $111.6 million.

Chichester said it’s similar to the mandatory withholding for required minimum distributions from retirement accounts. But since your actual tax bracket may be higher, you can owe additional levies at tax time.

“That’s exactly what happens with the lottery,” he said. “The 24% [withholding] is not the only tax bill” because the highest federal tax bracket includes another 13%.

How to figure out your federal tax brackets

While inflation increased the federal income tax brackets for 2023, millions from the lottery still pushes the winner into the 37% bracket.

For 2023, the 37% rate applies to taxable income of $578,126 or more for single filers and $693,751 or higher for married couples filing together. You calculate taxable income by subtracting the greater of the standard or itemized deductions from your adjusted gross income.

But the 37% rate doesn’t apply to all of your taxable income. For 2023, single filers will pay $174,238.25, plus 37% of the amount over $578,125. As for married couples filing together, the total owed is $186,601.50, plus 37% of the amount above $693,750.

The jackpot winner’s remaining tax bill after the 24% federal withholding depends on several factors but could easily represent millions more.

You may also owe state taxes, depending on where you live and where you purchased the ticket. Some states have no income tax or don’t tax lottery winnings, but others have top-income state tax brackets exceeding 10%. 

Powerball isn’t the only chance to win big. The jackpot for Tuesday night’s Mega Millions drawing now stands at an estimated $640 million. The chance of hitting the jackpot in that game is roughly 1 in 302 million.

When Bill, who preferred to go only by his first name, was accepted into UC Berkeley’s Master of Engineering program, he started looking for a place with a single bedroom and a private bathroom in the Bay Area, but everything was “outrageously expensive.”

Los Angeles and San Francisco are the second- and third-most expensive cities to live in, after New York City, according to Mercer’s Cost of Living survey. The monthly rent in Berkeley, CA is $2,933, which is $833 more than the national median.

He knew he wanted to come back to LA after his program, and he began looking for ways he could continue living in LA while attending classes in the Bay Area. 

After doing some calculations, intensely planning and creating a mega spreadsheet, Bill decided he would commute to school via plane. 

At first, he explained that his friends were in shock.

“They think I’m insane,” he said, but after a month of early departures and late return flights, that disbelief turned into respect, he said. 

The commute

In the fall, Bill woke up to a 3:40 a.m. alarm every Monday and Wednesday, and to a 3:30 a.m. alarm on Fridays. He would brush his teeth and get dressed then drive 35 minutes to LAX. 

He would take the free LAX shuttle to the main terminal, go through security, and wait for his flight to board. Bill said he became good at timing this whole process (he took 238 flights total as part of his commute), so he usually arrives at his gate 10 minutes before boarding. 

He sits through the hour and 20-minute long flight and arrives at SFO around 7:30 a.m. To catch up on the sleep he lost from getting up early, Bill said he mostly took naps while in the air.

He eats his breakfast in the Alaskan Airlines lounge while catching up on homework then leaves the airport around 8:30 a.m. 

He then takes public transit to campus about an hour away, arriving at 9:40 a.m., early for his 10 a.m. class.

At the end of the day, he would take a 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. flight home. He flew out of OAK, SFO or SJC depending on where the cheapest flight was. 

Bill would get back to his home at 9:30 p.m. He said it took four to five hours each way of the trip. 

Did Bill really spend 53 days of his life commuting just to save on rent?

While the cost of living by Berkeley is part of the answer as to why Bill embarked on his “epic commute” challenge, he has always loved transportation. 

“Through high school, I always tried to take different bus routes,” he explained. 

Bill completed his B.S. in Civil Engineering with a specialization in Transportation Engineering at UC Irvine, and he worked as a transportation engineer for two and a half years before starting at UC Berkeley. 

Bill said that when he travels anywhere, “my trip actually starts from the moment I land at the airport and take public transit into the city.” 

“The best way to get familiar with a city is just through regular public transit,” he said. 

The final flight

On Bill’s last flight with Southwest, he gave the crew “thank you cards and goodies as a way to thank them for carrying me through this commute and always getting me to class on time.”

He said that the crew appreciated his gesture, and when it was time for passengers to leave the plane they asked him to stay behind for a surprise.

They let him go into the cockpit and take a picture in the captain’s seat. He said it was his favorite moment from his year commuting by plane.

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To determine the best and worst places for renters, RentCafe ranked 136 U.S. cities on metrics ranging from average apartment size to local unemployment rate to influx of new business.

While the best cities for renters offer strong local economies and sizeable apartments at reasonable prices, the worst cities for renters leave much to be desired. You’re typically either paying less in rent at the sacrifice of job opportunities in the area or paying too much in rent despite earning a decent living.

RentCafe created a scoring system using 20 different metrics across three categories — cost of living, local economy and quality of life — to rank how renters may fare in each locale.

Each category considered data from metrics like these:

• Cost of living: Includes local cost of living estimates, lease renewal rates and market competition.
• Local economy: Includes job market indicators like unemployment (based on the Census Bureau 5-year estimates) and job growth rates and renter income.
• Quality of life: Includes apartment locations, school quality and natural amenities.

Detroit is the worst city for renters, the rent comparison website found. Though it might feature some notably affordable units on the rental market with an average rent of just $1,215 a month, Detroit’s high unemployment rate, low average income among renters of just $26,371 per year and low job growth potential make it a difficult place for renters to get ahead.

Outside of Detroit, however, you’ll find most of the bottom-10 cities for renters along the coasts — especially in the Northeast. Here are RentCafe’s worst cities for renters.

The 10 worst places in the U.S. for renters

1. Detroit
2. Newark, New Jersey
3. Brooklyn, New York
4. Manhattan, New York
5. Hartford, Connecticut
6. Dayton, Ohio
7. Anaheim, California
8. Queens, New York
9. Rochester, New York
10. Stockton, California

Behind Detroit, four Northeastern places offer the worst-rated scenarios for renters. Higher incomes help renters in these places get by, but their quality of life may be lacking with limited options for well-positioned apartments and less access to natural amenities, according to RentCafe.

While many of RentCafe’s best cities for renters hail from Texas, New York locales nearly fill out the bottom of the rankings, with four entries among the worst 10 on the list.

New York City: not the ‘greatest in the world’ for renters

High rent prices almost completely overshadow the benefits of renting and living in New York City, which include high incomes, decent job growth rates and centrally-located apartments.

Renters in Brooklyn and Manhattan — the second and third worst places, respectively — command relatively high salaries, with Brooklyn renters making $54,032 a year and Manhattan dwellers earning $76,806 a year, on average.

But those salaries are deeply undercut by steep rent prices. RentCafe estimates apartments rent for an average of $4,614 a month in Manhattan and $3,250 in Brooklyn, though apartment size and quality can certainly affect what you actually pay.

Based on RentCafe’s analysis, Queens would be the best value for renters in New York City because it shares some of the strong local economy factors like job growth with Manhattan and Brooklyn, but at a significantly lower price point. 

Renters in Queens earn larger salaries — $62,244 a year on average — than their Brooklyn peers and tend to pay less in rent at an average of $2,801.

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Get CNBC’s free Warren Buffett Guide to Investing, which distills the billionaire’s No. 1 best piece of advice for regular investors, do’s and don’ts, and three key investing principles into a clear and simple guidebook.

The payment service said the problem has been fixed and users who have been impacted will be notified. Refunds will also be issued by the end of the day.

“We know situations like these can be frustrating, and we’re sorry for the difficulty this may have caused,” Cash App said in a statement. “We’re dedicated to protecting every account and transaction on Cash App, and we’re always working to improve the experience.”

Cash App said on Monday that customers were seeing negative account balances as the platform’s in-app and phone support services were both down.

This isn’t the first time Cash App has caused frustration to many. Earlier this month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a warning about money-sharing apps including Cash App and Venmo saying users should take caution for long-term usage. The agency said there is a lack of federal protections that consumers would get at a bank — putting money at risk.

What is Cash App saying about refunds?

Customers who are impacted by the issue will be notified by Cash App.

The payment service said the problem has been fixed and refunds will be issued by the end of the day.

Cash App Support can be contacted by calling 1(800) 969-1940, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. ET.

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If you yourself are in your 30s and are looking to earn some extra cash, there are many options available to you. “These are technology natives, right?” says Angelique Rewers, founder of consulting firm BoldHaus, of what people in their 30s might be uniquely suited for. “These are folks who grew up with a cell phone in their hands.” They’ve also often been in the workforce for about a decade (or more) so have built some expertise in their field or even multiple fields.

Whether or not tech is your thing, here are three side hustles for 30-somethings to consider.

AI content assistant

These days, branding is a huge component of running a business, and “the bar has been raised for how much content you need to publish on your website and on social media” to really get noticed, says Rewers.

As such, businesses are looking for ways to create marketing brochures, blog posts, LinkedIn posts and more on a regular basis. That’s where the AI content assistant comes in. This person would take wording from meetings, conferences, webinars and so on and turn it into this material.

With so many people in their 30s likely familiar with tools like LinkedIn and online marketing they’ve consumed since the early aughts, they’re well-suited for the gig.

To begin with, they’d transcribe it using tools like Rev or Otter.ai. They’d then take whatever is relevant and input it into ChatGPT with a prompt like “turn this into a 700-word blog article that has five tips,” says Rewers. They’d then proofread to make sure it’s accurate and legible then post.

It takes about a week to learn how to use these tools, and “you can charge anywhere from $20 to $100 an hour,” says Rewers. She suggests offering your AI content assistant services on sites like Fiverr or Upwork.

Notary public

Many official documents like property deeds and wills require a notary public to be present when they’re signed. The notary ensures the parties signing are who they say they are, that they’re willing to sign the documents and that they’re aware of their contents.

“A lot of notaries are retiring,” says Rewers. “They’re older individuals. But notaries are still really needed.” And they can make good money. Nearly 30% of part-time notaries earn more than $1,000 per month, according to the National Notary Association.

By 30, many adults have encountered such official documents — or at least seen conversations about them on their company Slack.

To become a notary public you’ll need to submit an application, get training from an approved vendor, pass an exam and complete a background check. “It only takes about two to three weeks to become a notary and only cost a couple $100 to do it,” says Rewers.

You can then list your services on social media or sites like Nextdoor.

Consultant

If you have particular expertise from your full-time job or any work you’ve done outside of it, consider offering your services as a consultant. Consultants help companies or individuals with projects, providing expert analysis and recommendations and sometimes doing the tasks involved in completing the projects themselves.

Daniella Flores, founder of the side hustle blog I Like to Dabble and the Remote Work Bestie Podcast, is currently consulting for a client on a technical writing project. The job can get get in the weeds, “working with that engineering manager, working with a team and then working hand in hand cross functionally” to complete the project, she says.

Flores is making $50 per hour for the gig, but consulting jobs on LinkedIn are listed for as much as $110 per hour. She recommends doing a search for consulting jobs in your field on the site to see where you can offer your services. You can also list your services as a consultant on your profile.

Just make sure your full-time employer is open to this kind of part-time gig. Reach out to your manager or human resources at your company to get acquainted with their side hustle policy.

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But even if you have that much in the bank, it might not be enough to be considered rich in certain places, the survey found.

In San Francisco, you need a net worth of $4.7 million to be considered wealthy. That’s down from $5.2 million since last year’s survey, but still well above the U.S. median household net worth of $121,700, according to the Federal Reserve’s most recent data.

San Francisco had the highest total in the survey, which examined 12 of the biggest metropolitan areas in the country, covering 13 major cities. Here’s the net worth you need to be considered wealthy in various places across the U.S.

1. San Francisco: $4.7 million
2. New York City: $3.3 million
3. Southern California (includes Los Angeles and San Diego): $3.5 million
4. Seattle: $3.1 million
5. Washington, D.C.: $3 million
6. Chicago: $2.3 million
7. Houston: $2.1 million
8. Boston: $2.9 million
9. Dallas: $2.3 million
10. Atlanta: $2.3 million
11. Phoenix: $2.4 million
12. Denver: $2.5 million

Net worth is a measure of the value of the assets a person or corporation owns, minus the liabilities they owe.

Despite these lofty numbers, 48% of Americans say they feel wealthy. However, of those that do, their average net worth is $560,000.

Perhaps relatedly, 7 out of 10 Americans polled say wealth is more about not stressing over money, rather than net worth. 

Wealth is also a subjective term. Nearly two thirds of survey respondents say enjoying relationships with loved ones better describes what wealth means to them, rather than having a lot of money. And nearly 66% of respondents say having time is more important than having money.

The online survey was conducted in March, with a sample of 500 to 750 local residents for each metropolitan area, between the ages of 21 and 75.

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Get CNBC’s free Warren Buffett Guide to Investing, which distills the billionaire’s No. 1 best piece of advice for regular investors, do’s and don’ts, and three key investing principles into a clear and simple guidebook.

Philanthropist billionaire George Soros confirmed that he is handing control of his $25 billion empire to his son Alex.

Soros, 92, has a net worth of $6.7 billion, according to Forbes, and is the one of the top 400 richest people in the world. In 2017, he shifted $18 billion from his family office to his Open Society Foundations — a group of charities that works in more than 100 countries — which Alex was named chair of in December.

Alex, speaking to the Wall Street Journal in an exclusive interview published over the weekend, said he is “more political” than his father and hinted at a significant financial role for the Soros organization in the U.S. elections next year. The Open Society Foundations did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment but a spokesperson did confirm the details of the interview with the Reuters news agency.

Voicing his concerns on a potential return of former U.S. President Donald Trump, the 37-year-old Soros told the Wall Street Journal: “As much as I would love to get money out of politics, as long as the other side is doing it, we will have to do it, too.”

The older Soros, often targeted by right-wing conspiracists, has been one of the U.S. Democratic Party’s largest donors — donating some $140 million to politically charged advocacy organizations and ballot initiatives in 2021.

Referred to as the man who “broke the Bank of England” after he shorted the British pound in 1992, reportedly making a profit of $1 billion, George Soros left Hungary at the age of 17 to attend the London School of Economics working as a railway porter and waiter.

Billionaire Elon Musk recently took to Twitter to attack Soros after his Soros Fund Management cut its stake in Tesla. Musk alleged that he “hates humanity” and that he “wants to erode the very fabric of civilization.” Soros, in the WSJ article, described himself as the “go-to man when they want to blame someone.”

Musk defended his comments in an interview with CNBC’s David Faber, saying that he doesn’t care if his inflammatory tweets scare away investors or customers. “I’ll say what I want, and if the consequence of that is losing money, so be it,” Musk told CNBC.

Soros’ eldest son and Alex’s older half-brother Jonathan Soros, founder and chief executive officer of private investment firm JS Capital Management, was previously believed to be the “clear successor,” the Journal reported.

“I didn’t want the foundation to be taken over by one of my children, as a matter of principle. I thought it should be managed by someone who is best suited,” George Soros told the publication, adding that Alex has “earned” his trust.

According to an excerpt on the Open Society Foundations’ website, George Soros was quoted as saying: “My success in the financial markets has given me a greater degree of independence than most other people.”

“I believe that in philanthropy one should do the right thing, whether or not it succeeds.”

College is a major expense for many families, but a payment strategy can provide significant tax savings, according to a college funding expert.

“Distribution planning is not just for retirement,” said certified financial planner Ross Riskin, chief learning officer for the Investments & Wealth Institute. Families also need a plan when tapping assets to pay for college, he said.

Education funding can be complicated, especially when you’re juggling eligibility for college tax credits, Riskin said at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ annual conference in Las Vegas on Monday.

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The American opportunity tax credit offers a maximum of $2,500 per undergraduate student for up to four years, and the lifetime learning credit expands to graduate and professional degrees, worth up to $2,000 per eligible student per year.

However, you can’t “double dip” tax breaks by claiming one of these credits and withdrawing money from a 529 college savings plan for the same expense. So to claim the full value of the credit, you’ll need to plan ahead to cover a portion of tuition using income, loans or other eligible sources.

Compare payment options

“What you pay does not equal what it costs you,” said Riskin, who is also a certified public accountant. For example, let’s say you’re considering three ways to cover $30,000 in college expenses: your cash flow, a 529 plan or student loans.

If your effective tax rate is 35% and you pay for college with $30,000 of after-tax dollars, it actually costs you $46,000, he said. You may also tap a 529 plan, which may have grown from $18,000 of contributions, for example, and can provide tax-free withdrawals for eligible expenses.

While taking out student loans may seem counterintuitive, the strategy may offer tax-free loan forgiveness for certain future nonprofit and government employees. What’s more, student loans may provide other benefits like the ability to claim the American opportunity tax credit or establishing credit for the student, Riskin said.

“Advisors have done themselves a disservice of trying to simplify it,” he said, noting that many families default to 529 withdrawals without analyzing other options.

How to weigh 529 plan withdrawals

When it comes to 529 plans, there’s also the choice of whether to spend the money now or preserve it for family members, such as other children or even grandchildren, Riskin said. (Starting in 2024, a change in the law will allow families to roll qualifying unused funds into a Roth IRA, with limitations.)

While the Secure Act expanded qualified education expenses for federal taxes, some states don’t recognize these costs for state tax purposes. For example, K-12 education is not a qualified education expense in New York.

If your withdrawal exceeds your qualified expenses or you take money after the year expenses were incurred, you may owe extra taxes and a penalty. There’s also a risk the state may recapture any state tax deduction previously received for contributions. “The recapture piece is important,” Riskin said.

Richelle Brooks’ budget is already tight. She doesn’t know what she’s going to do when federal student loan payments resume in the fall.

The single mother of two has seen all her expenses rise over the last few years amid high inflation. “I go grocery shopping and spend $300 or $400 for food that’ll last two weeks in my house,” said Brooks, 35. Her mother recently moved in with her because she doesn’t earn enough as an office manager to afford the rents in Los Angeles, where they live.

Although Brooks earns around $100,000 as a high school principal, her student loan balance is at nearly $240,000. She’s already calculated what her new payment will be.

“With an extra $600 a month, where is that going to come from?” Brooks said.

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Millions of other people are likely asking a similar question.

The more than three-year-long pause on federal student loan payments is slated to finally conclude within months. The Biden administration is preparing borrowers for their payments to resume by September, even while its loan forgiveness program is halted as the Supreme Court debates its validity. The debt ceiling deal passed by Congress also includes a provision officially terminating the pandemic-era relief policy and making it harder for the U.S. Department of Education to extend it.

“The emergency period is over, and we’re preparing our borrowers to restart,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said at a Senate hearing last month.

Average borrower saved $15,000 due to payment pause

Former President Donald Trump first announced the stay on federal student loan bills and the accrual of interest in March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. and crippled the economy. The pause has since been extended eight times.

Nearly all people eligible for the relief have taken advantage of it, with less than 1% of qualifying borrowers continuing to make payments on their education debt, according to an analysis by higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.

As a result of the policy, the average borrower likely saved around $15,000 in student loan payments, Kantrowitz said. The typical monthly bill is just under $350 a month.

‘There will be some initial chaos’

Because there’s no lending precedent for borrowers getting such a long reprieve from their bills, there is little evidence to inform what will happen when the payments resume.

But Kantrowitz expects most borrowers to adjust pretty quickly.

“There will be some initial chaos, but it should settle down within a few months,” he said.

However, Education Department Undersecretary James Kvaal warned earlier this year that if the administration is unable to deliver on President Joe Biden’s plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student debt for borrowers, delinquency and default rates could skyrocket.

During previous natural disasters, borrowers were offered shorter forbearances, and many fell behind when their payments resumed, Kvaal said in a court filing.

″[T]he one-time student loan debt relief program was intended to avoid” that problem, he added.

‘Borrowers are not ready to resume payments’

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy applauded the provision in the debt ceiling agreement that officially ends the stay on bills by September, saying the Biden administration “can [no] longer use Covid as an excuse to pause student loan repayments.”

“It also requires borrowers to be responsible for paying off their student loans once again,” McCarthy wrote on Twitter.

Yet consumer advocates say the troubles for student loan borrowers are far from over.

“Borrowers are not ready to resume payments,” said Persis Yu, deputy executive director at the Student Borrower Protection Center. “Even if the risk from the virus has diminished, the financial fallout has not.”

Before the public health crisis, when the U.S. economy was enjoying one of its healthiest periods in history, there were still problems plaguing the federal student loan system and some experts compared it to the 2008 mortgage crisis

Only about half of borrowers were in repayment in 2019, according to an estimate by Kantrowitz. Around 25% — or more than 10 million people — were in delinquency or default, and the rest had applied for temporary relief measures for struggling borrowers, including deferments or forbearances.

"I think they may be in a worse position," Yu said, of those people. "Which is why President Biden's debt relief program is so critical."

The Biden administration announced a new program last year that will give defaulted borrowers the chance to get into current standing. However, "the administration has barely begun doing outreach" on the program, Yu said.

The Education Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Yu is also worried about the recent turnover and layoffs among student loan servicers, which faced criticism and complaints from advocates, regulators and borrowers long before Covid.

During the payment pause, three companies that managed the loans — Navient, the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (also known as FedLoan) and Granite State — all said they'd be ending their relationship with the government. As a result, around 16 million borrowers will have a different company to deal with by the time payments resume, or not long after.

"It is critical for folks to understand that the student loan system is not prepared to return to repayment," Yu said. "We are relying on brand new servicers and expecting them to help millions of borrowers through a byzantine system all at once."

Some borrowers face hard financial choices

Half of Paul Berlet's monthly income goes to his rent.

The sixth-grade English teacher earns a little under $50,000 a year, and pays $1,200 a month for his one-bedroom apartment in Wilmington, Delaware.

To be able to afford his student loan payment in September, Berlet plans to cut back on how much food he buys. Although he'll technically be able to come up with the extra $250 a month by doing so, he doesn't believe he should have to make these kinds of decisions.

"There's no reason somebody should need to take out loans to be a teacher," said Berlet, 23. "But to be able to serve my own community, I needed to put myself in debt."

Starting in the fall, he expects to return to the diet he had eaten as a broke college student.

"When I go grocery shopping now, I'm able to buy fresh ingredients, vegetables, a piece of salmon if I want it," he said. "But that will go away, and I'll be back to [instant rice] and beans."

Brooks also doesn't believe she should have to be hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt for her education.

Her parents didn't attend college, she said. Her mother was a waitress for much of her life; her father wasn't around. To finance her degrees, she turned to government loans.

"By attaining an education, I was working to better myself and get out of poverty," Brooks said.

Her student debt has made that mission difficult. And she worries the consequences will continue.

Her daughter, Mariah, will start college herself in three years. During the pause on student loan payments, Brooks has been able to put aside $150 a month for Mariah's education.

But starting in September, she won't be able to do that anymore.

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Business took a few months to pick up, but by early 2021, Weatherington had added six other classes and was netting $10,000 per month from the site, working just 10 to 12 hours per week.

Outschool offers teachers the opportunity to turn their individual profiles into organization profiles with multiple educators, and in June 2021, Weatherington decided she would take the plunge. She hired seven teachers through April 2022 and offered up to 60 classes on the site, including essay writing for various ages and creative classes like screenwriting.

In 2021, she also started creating courses teaching people how to build an online course themselves. She posted those on her personal website, Teacherjade.com.

Weatherington, who lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her 14-year-old daughter, now makes about $15,000 per month and is still working around 10 hours per week. Here’s how she built her multiple streams of income and dealt with hiccups along the way.

‘I scaled too fast’

For the first six months after Weatherington turned her individual Outschool profile into an organization profile, everything was going fine. But in early 2022, “there was a plummet in enrollment,” she says.

She noticed a $5 loss while she did her payroll as well. “I remember panicking,” she says, “like, well, if I lost $5, what if it’s $500” in the future?

Weatherington reached out to Outschool. It turned out the platform was undergoing some internal algorithm changes. She ended up meeting with representatives from the company in October 2022 to make some suggestions about how they might fix the problem.

In the meantime, in June 2022, she took all but 17 classes off the site and started offering a handful on Teacherjade.com instead. She also added classes to another platform she’d been experimenting with, Allschool, which caters to students worldwide.  

When she let her teachers know of the change, some decided to switch over to teaching on Allschool or through Weatherington’s personal site, and some preferred to wait it out and see what would happen with Outschool in the fall.

In January 2023, Weatherington saw enrollment on her Outschool classes was back up. She continues to offer those 17 classes on the site and is still offering writing classes on both her personal site and Allschool. All seven of her teachers ultimately came back, and she just hired another.

In her moment of crisis, Weatherington is glad she was able to pivot. But realizes the problem would’ve been easier to solve if she’d had less people to manage.

“I scaled too fast,” she says.

Without her second business, ‘I probably would have lost money’

Luckily, even as she was navigating the mishaps with Outschool, Weatherington was able to bring in some revenue from her courses on how to build an online class yourself.

For years, she’d had people reach out to say they wanted to start teaching people online as well. She realized, “when you have something that you’re really good at, you can always say that it’s easy,” she says. “But for someone who’s never done it, every single step seems like a challenge.”

In her courses, she breaks down how to start an online course including creating the course content and lessons and doing marketing for it. She offers various packages on the subject ranging from $25 to $600.

“If it wasn’t for that, I probably would have lost money” when enrollment on Outschool started dipping, she says.  

‘Find someone who’s a professional in the area’

Her biggest piece of advice as Weatherington has built her businesses: Get a mentor and heed their advice.

“Find someone who’s a professional in the area so that you don’t hit those pitfalls and you know what you’re up against,” she says.

Weatherington got into a program called Our Village United, which helps Black entrepreneurs grow their businesses. As part of the program, she was paired up with a mentor herself, Atlanta-based entrepreneur Cole Jones. After hiring her two initial teachers, she told him she wanted to keep ramping up. “Maybe stick with the two that you have for at least a year,” she says he advised.

“And I was like, ‘Nope. I’m ready,'” she says. Looking back, she realizes had she listened to his advice, figuring out logistics around the Outschool challenges would’ve been much easier.

“I feel like it wouldn’t have been so stressful,” she says.

Check out:

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Gen Zers with 401(k)s saw their average account balances grow by 34% between the first quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023 — a higher increase than millennials, Generation Xers and baby boomers, according to the financial services firm.

Fidelity defines Generation Zers as those born between 1997 and 2012. Gen Zers have the lowest average 401(k) balance of any generation, which is understandable given they haven’t been in the workforce or made retirement contributions for very long.

It’s also unsurprising that their accounts are growing faster: Since young people often have smaller balances, their contributions tend to make a bigger impact on their savings, percentage wise.

The average 401(k) balance for a Gen Zer is about $7,100, as indicated by Fidelity data provided to CNBC Make It — significantly higher than the cohort’s median 401(k) balance of $2,500.

These numbers are drastically different because a handful of accounts with huge balances can pull up the average. Median account balance is considered a more accurate representation of what most people have actually saved for retirement.

This disparity isn’t unique to Gen Z: Americans’ average overall 401(k) balance is $108,200, compared to a median of around $23,700.

Here’s how much Americans have saved in their 401(k)s by generation, according to Fidelity:

Looking at what you’ve saved now versus the total you’d like to have in retirement can be intimidating, so keep another number in mind: your savings rate. That’s the percentage of your pretax income that you can put toward your retirement savings, Fidelity says.

The financial services firm recommends a savings rate of at least 15% — including both your and your employer’s contributions, if available — if you want to maintain your desired lifestyle after retiring.

If you’re not there yet, don’t panic. Gen Zers’ average savings rate is around 10.5%, a slight increase from last quarter, Fidelity reports. For millennials, defined as those born between 1981 and 1996, the average rate is around 12.9%.

You can start with what you can afford and slowly increase your contributions over time. Fidelity recommends upping your retirement contributions by 1% each year, and many 401(k) plans allow you to set that up as an automatic annual increase.

It may seem small now, but that steady increase can make a big difference in your total savings after 20 or 30 years.

“Saving for retirement may seem like a steep mountain to climb, but the climb doesn’t have to be as steep as it looks,” Ann Dowd, vice president at Fidelity, said in a March “Fidelity Viewpoints” article. “Small steps now can turn into big strides later.”

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Numerous Chase customers were posting on social media that their rent or bill payments were taken out of their accounts twice and reporting hold times with customer service approaching more than an hour. Zelle payments were also being impacted with Chase customers.

“We’re sorry that some customers are seeing duplicate transactions and fees on their checking account,” a Chase spokesperson said. “We’re working to resolve the issue and will automatically reverse any duplicates and adjust any related fees.”

Online banking services, while usually reliable, sometimes spectacularly fail or have temporary outages that tend to spook their customers. Banks typically will resolve an error in their services within hours, and no customer is liable for any errors in their accounts that occur when these happen.

Of the 343 CEOs in the compensation survey of S&P 500 companies done by the AP and Equilar, only 20 were women. Because they are a small group, changes in pay for only a few can easily skew the overall figures.

The drop comes after a 26% jump in the value of pay packages for female CEOs in 2021, a year when compensation reflected a recovering economy and soaring stock prices and profits. Many chief executives were rewarded for steering their companies through the worst of the pandemic.

Overall, female CEOs saw their performance bonuses fall 13% to $2.8 million last year and stock awards fall 4% to an average of $10 million. Their median total compensation fell 6% to $14.7 million. The median pay for male CEOs rose 1% to $14.8 million.

“We still do not have enough women CEOs,” said Lorraine Hariton, President and CEO of Catalyst, a nonprofit organization focused on women in the workplace. “It’s hard to make a comment about pay when we really don’t have a big enough sample size.”

Lisa Su, CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, was the highest paid female CEO in the AP survey for the fourth year in a row, but she slipped to 26th highest paid overall, from 22nd last year. Su was the highest paid of all CEOs, men and women, in 2019.

The AP’s and Equilar’s compensation study included pay data for 343 CEOs at S&P 500 companies who have served at least two fiscal years at their companies, which filed proxy statements between Jan. 1 and April 30.

Some notable female CEOs aren’t included because they became CEO less than two years ago or their companies file proxy statements at a different time, including Roz Brewer at Walgreens Boots Alliance, Jane Fraser at Citigroup and Linda Rendle at Clorox.

Most of a CEO’s pay package consists of stock and stock options awards. At AMD, stock awards and options made up more than 90% of Su’s pay. Her total pay package of $30.2 million was up 2% from her package the previous year.

Nasdaq’s CEO Adena Friedman received the biggest pay raise, a 40% jump. That was mostly due to a performance-based stock option award with a value of $10 million, associated with the renewal of her employment agreement for an additional five years. Half of the stock option award will become available after five years of employment, and half will be awarded if Friedman reaches an earnings target in five years. Her total pay package is valued at $28 million.

Executives could see steeper pay cuts in 2023 when boards consider the full effect of the stock market’s downturn, said Kelly Malafis, a partner at Compensation Advisory Partners, a consulting firm that works with boards. The S&P 500 fell nearly 20% in 2022.

__

AP Business Writer Alexandra Olson in New York contributed to this report.

Soon, with the help of an upwardly trending stock market, he and his wife saw their net worth eclipse $1 million.

In the years since, Adcock started the Millionaire Habits newsletter as part of an effort to help others build wealth and reach financial independence and early retirement. Naturally, as is the case with anyone dispensing financial advice, Adcock has his detractors.

Since he retired, “I’ve heard some of the stupidest lies about early retirement from people who will never retire,” Adcock wrote in a recent tweet.

The most common view he hears: “You’re going to be bored, it’s going to destroy your relationship and you’re never going to work again,” Adcock tells CNBC Make It.

Here’s why he says each of those three notions are myths, as long as you’re strategic about your early retirement plans.

Myth 1: ‘You’re going to be bored’

“I’ll be honest with you, with some people that’s going to be true,” says Adcock.

You don’t have to look hard to find stories of people who left their nine-to-five only to find the days growing long and boring with no work to do. “I think a lot of people fall into the trap of, ‘Once I retire, I’ll figure it out,'” Adcock says.

To avoid this pitfall, Adcock advises you to start thinking about how you’ll spend your days long before you leave your job. “You need to know what you’re retiring to, not just what you’re retiring from,” he says. “If your job is your only hobby, then you have no business retiring early.”

Adcock suggests taking some of your hobbies or ambitions for retirement out for a test drive before actually leaving your full-time gig. Think about if something you find enjoyable here and there can blossom into something you want to be doing for the next couple of decades.

“That’s going to give you the best chance of success after you do eventually quit your job,” Adcock says.

Myth 2: ‘It’s going to destroy your relationship’

While your relationship is no one else’s business, there is something to the idea that early retirement might force you to spend a lot more time with your partner. For some couples, that would be an enormous blessing. For others, it can be problematic.

“I’ve heard so many times, ‘We’d drive ourselves crazy,'” Adcock says.

Maybe it’s true that you and your partner would get on each other’s nerves if one or both of you retired early. But that certainly doesn’t have to be the case. “The important thing is that both of you have to have your separate things that you do. You can’t just sit around the house all day or you probably will drive each other crazy,” says Adcock.

That can mean dedicating time to a big project, such as writing a book or training for a marathon. Or maybe you start a business or pick up a side hustle you enjoy.

“You need something you can do apart so that when you have dinner together you can ask each other, ‘So, how was your day?'” Adcock says.

Myth 3: ‘You’re never going to work again’

Critics of early retirement contend that once you’ve left the workforce for several years, you won’t to be able to get your old position back should you want to reenter the working world.

That may be true, but it’s a moot point, says Adcock. After seven years of retirement, he’s well aware that he likely wouldn’t be able to go back to the same job with the same salary and responsibilities.

“But the other side of that coin is, I don’t want that same job back,” he says. “I spent 15 years of my life trying to escape that job. Why would I possibly want to go back to that?”

Critics may point out that, should you find yourself in a financially difficult position, you may need to one day start working again in order to avoid running out of retirement savings.

But just because you’ve been out of the workforce doesn’t mean no one will have you. “If you were able to put yourself into the position to achieve financial independence and retire early, then you’re going to have the skills to reenter the workforce, in some fashion, in probably a job or a career that you like better than what you had before,” Adcock says.

And given that you thought you’d saved enough to live on for the rest of your life, you probably won’t need a high-powered position to bridge the gap if your investments hit the skids for awhile.

“It’s probably not going to be like, ‘Oh crap, I’m out of money. I have to go back to earning six figures,'” says Adcock. “You’re going to see the writing on the wall and maybe you get a part-time job you enjoy.”

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Check out: Why so many people making $100,000 a year don’t feel rich

As new peer-to-peer payment app options emerge for teenagers, experts say it’s an opportunity for parents to teach their kids how to use these financial tools wisely — and educate them on how to avoid common pitfalls.

Venmo on Monday unveiled a new linked teen account that parents can open with select features for kids 13 to 17 years old. While some teenagers already use Venmo, individual account holders must be at least 18 years old, or the age of majority in their state, per the app’s user agreement.

This isn’t the first peer-to-peer payment app to expand to teen users. Cash App, Square Cash and Apple Wallet also offer features for teens, albeit with parental supervision. PayPal, parent company of Venmo, still requires users to be at least 18 years old, or the age of majority in their state.

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The Venmo teen account includes a debit card and can be funded by a parent’s Venmo account through any linked sources. Parents can monitor their teen’s payments and friend requests, as well as control privacy settings.

Apps are ‘convenient,’ but woes can be ‘difficult to fix’

Peer-to-peer payment apps, also known as P2P apps, are widely in use throughout the U.S. They are used by 64% of adults, including 81% of those ages 18 to 29, according to a 2022 report from Consumer Reports.

Teresa Murray, a consumer watchdog at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, urges caution when using P2P apps. “There are real consequences if something goes wrong,” she said.

U.S. PIRG examined nearly 9,300 complaints received by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau between April 2017 and April 2021, and uncovered a pattern of issues among several P2P apps with digital wallets, scams and customer service.

“People use these P2P apps because they’re convenient and they’re easy,” Murray said. “But it’s very inconvenient when something goes wrong.”

“It’s difficult to fix it, and people just don’t realize that up front,” she added.

Nearly one-quarter of users have reported sending money to the wrong person, a 2022 survey from LendingTree found, while 15% have been victims of scams.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy on our platform for attempted fraudulent activity, and our teams work tirelessly to protect our customers,” a PayPal spokesperson told CNBC. “We encourage customers to always be vigilant online and to contact customer service directly if they suspect they are a target of a scam.”

Protecting teens from common P2P payment issues

Whether your teen is using Venmo or another P2P app, Murray said, it’s important for both parent and child to be familiar with the possible risks.

For example, she suggested that users fund P2P accounts with a credit card rather than a checking account because there are greater protections under the Truth In Lending Act and Fair Credit Billing Act if something goes wrong. And if you do link to your bank account or a teen’s, keep the majority of your cash elsewhere.

Murray also suggested only paying “people you know well” via P2P apps and asking them to send you a request via the app before making a payment for the first time. “Once you have completed a transaction, it’s done,” she warned. “You’re not getting your money back.”

Teens should also make transactions private, add extra authentication to access the app from their phone, and be vigilant when sharing their device with others, she said. They may also thwart scammers by never sharing authentication codes with anyone.

Talk to your teens about money

As your teen learns about budgeting and payment apps, experts urge parents, it’s important to discuss these topics with them at home.

“The best tip I can offer is to keep that communication going with your teen about money,” said Desiree Kaul, a certified financial planner at Main Street Planning in Satellite Beach, Florida. “As long as your child feels comfortable asking you questions, they will always have someone to turn to when they want an answer.” 

WASHINGTON — The June 1 “X date” is approaching, the earliest the U.S. government could run out of money to pay its bills if leaders do not reach a deal to lift the debt limit.

After that date, the Treasury will have to decide which obligations don’t get paid, even as multiple critical bills are due.

Lifting the debt ceiling is necessary for the government to cover spending commitments already approved by Congress and the president — and prevent default. Doing so does not authorize new spending.  President Joe Biden is currently in a standoff with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who has refused to raise the debt limit if Biden and lawmakers do not agree to future spending cuts. McCarthy said he hopes the House will vote on a debt limit bill as soon as next week.

The think tank Bipartisan Policy Center modeled the Treasury Department’s cash flow, noting what day bills are paid. The schedule offers a look at the government’s spending priorities as it approaches June 1.

The Treasury has taken extraordinary steps to keep paying the government’s bills, and expects to be able to avoid a first-ever default at least until early June. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen demurred when asked in an interview with CNBC this month what bills would be prioritized in the event of a default.

Here’s a look at the bills that come due in the first half of June, according to analysis from the Bipartisan Policy Center based on daily and monthly Treasury statements. Only the major spending categories are outlined, meaning the numbers may not add up to the total spending due that day.

June 1: $101 billion in spending due; estimated $26 billion in revenue

• Medicare: $47 billion
• Veterans benefits: $12 billion
• Military pay and retirement: $10 billion
• Civil service retirement: $6 billion

June 2: $40 billion in spending; $18 billion in revenue

• Social Security benefits: $25 billion
• Medicaid: $2 billion
• Education programs: $1 billion

June 5: $13 billion in spending; $33 billion in revenue

• Medicare: $1 billion
• SNAP benefits: $1 billion
• Defense vendor payments: $1 billion

June 6: $17 billion in spending; $15 billion in revenue

• Medicaid: $6 billion
• Defense vendor payments: $2 billion
• Education programs: $1 billion

June 7: $16 billion in spending; $18 billion in revenue

• Defense vendor payments: $2 billion
• Transportation programs: $1 billion
• Individual tax refunds: $1 billion

June 8: $18 billion in spending; $13 billion in revenue

• Medicaid: $6 billion
• Defense vendor payments: $2 billion
• Education programs: $1 billion

June 9: $21 billion in spending; $18 billion in revenue

• Federal salaries and insurance: $5 billion
• Medicaid: $5 billion
• Education programs: $1 billion

June 12: $23 billion in spending; $33 billion in revenue

• Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation: $7 billion
• Federal salaries: $2 billion
• SNAP benefits: $1 billion

June 13: $15 billion in spending; $15 billion in revenue

• Defense vendor payments: $3 billion
• Medicaid: $2 billion
• Medicare: $1 billion

June 14: $38 billion in spending; $37 billion in revenue

• Social Security benefits: $25 billion
• Individual tax refunds: $1 billion
• Medicaid: $1 billion

June 15: $22 billion in spending; $79 billion in revenue (quarterly tax receipts are due)

• Military salaries: $4 billion
• Medicaid: $3 billion
• Interest on public debt: $2 billion

June 16: $12 billion in spending; $29 billion in revenue

• Medicare: $2 billion
• Medicaid: $1 billion
• Defense vendor payments: $1 billion

A 35-year-old grocery store worker from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Holdsworth would probably be in the market for a vehicle within a few years — if not for the high cost. For now, it’s out of the question.

“You’re not going to get one for a price you can afford,” he said.

Holdsworth has plenty of company. Americans are keeping their cars longer than ever. The average age of a passenger vehicle on the road hit a record 12.5 years this year, according to data gathered by S&P Global Mobility. Sedans like Holdsworth’s are even older, on average — 13.6 years.

Blame it mainly on the pandemic, which in 2020 triggered a global shortage of automotive computer chips, the vital component that runs everything from radios to gas pedals to transmissions. The shortage drastically slowed global assembly lines, making new vehicles scarce on dealer lots just when consumers were increasingly eager to buy.

Prices reached record highs. And though they’ve eased somewhat, the cost of a vehicle still feels punishingly expensive to many Americans, especially when coupled with now much-higher loan rates.

Since the pandemic struck three years ago, the average new vehicle has rocketed 24% to nearly $48,000 as of April, according to Edmunds.com. Typical loan rates on new-car purchases have ballooned to 7%, a consequence of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive streak of interest rate hikes to fight inflation.

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It’s all pushed the national average monthly auto loan payment to $729 — prohibitively high for many. Experts say a family earning the median U.S. household income can no longer afford the average new car payment and still cover such necessities as housing, food and utilities.

Used vehicle prices, on average, have surged even more since the pandemic hit — up 40%, to nearly $29,000. With an average loan rate having reached 11%, the typical monthly used-vehicle payment is now $563.

Faced with deciding between making a jumbo payment and keeping their existing vehicles, more owners are choosing to stick with what they have, even if it means spending more on repairs and maintenance.

Auto mechanics have been struck by the rising ages and mileages of vehicles that now arrive at the shop in numbers they’d never seen before.

“You see cars all the time in here with 250,000, 300,000 miles,” said Jay Nuber, owner of Japanese Auto Professional Service, a repair garage near downtown Ann Arbor, Michigan. “They haven’t been really having major work or anything. They’ve just been doing the (routine) service.”

It doesn’t mean that most owners of older vehicles are necessarily stuck with constant repair bills. One reason people can hold their vehicles for increasingly long periods is that auto manufacturing has improved over time. Engines run longer. Bodies don’t rust as quickly. Components last longer.

Yet the cost of buying either a new or used vehicle is leaving more people with essentially no choice but to keep the one they have.

“The repair-versus-buy equation changed,” said Todd Campau, an associate director with S&P. Even with rising repair costs, Campau said, it’s still typically more cost-effective to fix an older vehicle than to spring for a purchase.

The average vehicle age, which has been edging up since 2019, accelerated this year by a substantial three months. And while 12.5 years is the average, Campau noted, more vehicles are staying on the road for 20 years or more, sometimes with three or four successive owners.

In such cases, the third or fourth owner is getting a much older car than they would have in the past. Nearly 122 million vehicles on the road are more than a dozen years old, Campau said. S&P predicts that the number of older vehicles will keep growing until at least 2028.

Even with more durable vehicles able to last longer, all of this has created a boom time for auto shops. Through most of last year, Nuber’s Japanese Auto was overwhelmed with customers. It took up to three weeks to get an appointment, whether for repairs or the routine maintenance that older vehicles, in particular, require.

“The phone just kept ringing, and the cars just kept coming,” Nuber said.

It’s now at the point where some vehicle owners must decide whether to pay for a repair that costs more than their vehicle is worth. That’s where many of them draw the line, said Dave Weber, manager at Japanese Auto.

On Friday, Weber said, one customer needed rear brakes, wheel bearings and exhaust system repairs. The customer decided to do only half the repairs and wait until later to decide whether to sink more money into the aging vehicle.

“They patch them up and drive them for however long, until the next major repair,” Weber said.

S&P predicts that U.S. new vehicle sales will reach 14.5 million this year, from about 13.9 million last year. A big reason is that the supply at dealerships is finally growing. Automakers have also begun to restore some discounts that had long helped keep a lid on prices. The result is that many people who can afford to buy can now do so. It’s a trend that could slow the advancing age of the U.S. fleet and boost overall sales.

Still, no one is predicting a return to pre-pandemic annual sales of around 17 million anytime soon. Even with discounts, new-vehicle prices are likely to stay much higher than pre-pandemic levels for years to come.

As for Holdsworth, the Chevy Cruze owner, he plans to keep up with the scheduled maintenance on his car, especially routine oil changes. Even if he encountered a major repair, he thinks he’d probably pay for it.

Having bought his vehicle two years ago, Holdsworth has about two years of payments left. So his Cruze, too, may reach the 12.5-year-old national average.

“I’ll finish paying it off,” he said, “and drive it for a couple more years.”

A consortium of lenders — Fortress Investment Group, Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital — is buying Vice for about $225 million, in addition to taking on a significant amount of the company’s debt. Other parties will be able to submit bids as well.

Vice said it expects the sale to be wrapped up in the next two to three months. It said that during the process its media brands will continue to produce content and the company will keep paying its employees and vendors.

In a prepared statement, Vice co-CEOs Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala said the “accelerated court-supervised sale process” will strengthen the company and position it for long-term growth, “thereby safeguarding the kind of authentic journalism and content creation that makes VICE such a trusted brand for young people and such a valued partner to brands, agencies and platforms.”

Vice assets and liabilities are worth between $500 million and $1 billion, according to Monday’s filing.

The bankruptcy filing arrives just weeks after the company announced it would cancel its flagship “Vice News Tonight” program amid a wave of layoffs expected to impact more than 100 of the company’s 1,500-person workforce, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company also said it would end its Vice World News brand.

There has been a wider surge of media layoffs and closures, including job cuts at Gannett, NPR, the Washington Post and other organizations. In April, BuzzFeed Inc. announced that its Pulitzer Prize winning digital media outlet BuzzFeed News was being shut down as part of a cost-cutting drive by its corporate parent.

Digital advertising has plummeted this year, cutting into the profitability of major tech companies from Google to Facebook.

“Advertising is down across the board, so it’s a test for a lot of the digital publications,” Megan Duncan, assistant professor at Virginia Tech’s School of Communication, told The Associated Press.

Duncan and others also noted the changing landscape of social media — a space where outlets like Vice once thrived in terms of reaching audiences.

“One of the things that I think really hurt Vice, and in turn BuzzFeed as well, is social media networks like Facebook changing their algorithms,” Jason Mollica, professor at American University’s School of Communication, said. “When you’re not pulling in the numbers that you would expect advertising-wise, you’re losing money.”

Beyond advertising and the shifting digital landscape, Mollica and Duncan also pointed to the changing habits of news consumers today — and challenges media companies across the industry face as they try to reach audiences.

“With such a focus on youth, it can be really difficult to keep being youth-oriented — and change your brand and your appeal for the next generation,” Duncan said.

Duncan also noted that Vice has relied on different rounds of funding and investors throughout the company’s history and “never really found the business model in its most recent, modern digital age that was going to sustain it.” Beyond all of this, the company has its own “complicated history” with troubles in leadership and employment, she added.

Vice Media’s roots date back to 1994, with the launch of Vice’s original punk magazine in Montreal. Vice soon moved to New York and built itself into a global media company.

Over the years, Vice developed a reputation for in-your-face journalism that covered daring stories around the world that particularly resonated with new, young audiences across digital platforms. The media company’s assets also include film and TV production, an in-house marketing agency, and brands such as Refinery 29 and Unbothered.

The media company has struggled to turn around profits in recent years. Monday’s filings show that Vice has total outstanding debt of $834 million.

In 2017, Vice was valued at $5.7 billion. Now, however, most experts estimate the company is worth just a fraction of that, The New York Times reported earlier this month.

Monday’s bankruptcy filing arrives just months after Nancy Dubuc announced that she would be stepping down as CEO of the company. Vice named longtime Vice executives Dixon and Lokhandwala as co-CEOs.

Dubuc replaced Vice co-founder Shane Smith in 2018, a turbulent time at Vice after a 2017 Times investigation uncovered rampant sexual harrassment and misconduct at the company.

Professional sports are about competition, championships – and cold, hard cash.

Forbes released its list of the 10 highest-paid athletes for 2023. The group made over $1.1 billion combined and includes three soccer stars, three basketball players, two golfers, a boxer and a now-retired tennis player.

Here’s a look at the biggest paydays for athletes on and off the field over the last year: 

Cristiano Ronaldo – $136 million

Cristiano Ronaldo’s ugly exit from Manchester United wound up helping his bank account. The Portuguese superstar left Europe to sign with Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr and now has an estimated annual salary of $75 million. His appeal to brands off the field is also evident, as he has more combined followers across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter than any other athlete on Earth.

Lionel Messi – $130 million

Lionel Messi’s PSG future is over, but coming off his first career World Cup title, the Argentine legend is still raking in dough. About half of his money came from PSG, while endorsements from Adidas, Budweiser, PepsiCo, Socios and more effectively doubled his earnings.

Next in the 35-year-old's chapter is MLS, which he announced would be his next destination. Concrete details on his potential salary are not yet known due to MLS' financial rules, so it'll be interesting to see how much the club pays him along with possible endorsement deals.

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Kylian Mbappé – $120 million

Kylian Mbappé is the youngest player in Forbes’ top 10 at just 24 years old. With one World Cup title under his belt and another World Cup Final appearance in 2022, the PSG phenom has already become one of the world’s most recognizable athletes. A majority of his earnings come from his whopping salary with the French club.

LeBron James – $119.5 million

LeBron James is the top-earning American athlete on Forbes’ list. On top of becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer this year, James also became the first active athlete to become a certified billionaire by Forbes last June. On top of his Lakers salary, James has a lifetime deal with Nike and has a stake in Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox, Liverpool FC and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Canelo Álvarez – $110 million

Canelo Álvarez made big bucks with his fights against Dmitry Bivol and Gennadiy Golovkin. He makes the vast majority of his money in the ring compared to endorsements, and he will add to his total during his bout against John Ryder on May 6.

Dustin Johnson – $107 million

Like Ronaldo, Johnson was one of two golfers who earned nine-figure paydays over the last 12 months after making the move to a Saudi-financed organization. Dustin Johnson joined LIV Golf in 2022 for a staggering signing fee, and wound up making $35.6 million in prize money during play in less than 10 tournaments on the rouge tour.

Phil Mickelson – $106 million

Right behind Johnson is Phil Mickelson, who is relying on on-course results for earnings after losing sponsors with his move to LIV. The new golf league handed Mickelson a contract in the ballpark of $200 million to join last year. The 52-year-old lefty returned to hallowed grounds and earned $1.6 million by tying for second place at the 2023 Masters.

Steph Curry – $100.4 million

Steph Curry is the eighth and final athlete to surpass the $100 million threshold over the last year. He won his fourth NBA Finals with the Golden State Warriors last June and had the league’s highest 2022-23 salary at $48.1 million. Off the court, Curry was swept into a lawsuit after FTX collapsed, but he has a lucrative deal with Under Armour and is expanding his media ventures with his company, Unanimous Media, to make up for that loss.

Roger Federer – $95.1 million

Roger Federer called it a career last September, but his sponsors are staying put. The Swiss tennis icon has over a dozen long-term partners that helped him earn $95 million off the court in the last year, per Forbes.

Kevin Durant – $89.1 million

It’s been a hectic 12 months for Kevin Durant, but he’s been getting paid at every stop. The former Brooklyn Net was traded to the Phoenix Suns in February, but his $40-plus million salary came with him. He’s making moves off the court, too, landing a lifetime deal with Nike, growing his media company, Boardroom, and picking up stakes in companies through his investing firm, 35V.

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The 25-year-old is still surprised at how lucrative her small notary business has been. When she first became a notary signing agent seven years ago — just weeks after her 18th birthday — Nguyen thought it would be a temporary side hustle to support her income as a bank teller.

Notaries, or notary publics, witness and authorize the signing of important documents, like passport applications and real estate contracts. Most notary publics can only charge what their state dictates; notary signing agents, on the other hand, can charge more as they specialize in property records and loan documents. 

While Nguyen thought the bulk of her work as a notary would be spent verifying signatures and explaining documents to clients, she quickly realized there was more to notarizing than she initially thought — she was also walking people through some of the happiest, and saddest, moments of their lives.

“I’ve watched people sign the deed to their first house and contracts for a house they weren’t ready to leave … there’s a lot of tears, both happy and sad,” says Nguyen. “I realized I wanted to be the person who made people feel seen, heard, cared for and understood in those important moments.” 

Two years ago, Nguyen decided to try notarizing as a full-time career, launching her business, Team Signings, in San Jose, California, her hometown. That decision turned out to be a smart bet: In 2022, Nguyen’s business made close to $150,000, according to tax documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. 

‘You don’t have to go to college to be successful’

Nguyen’s dad, Chau, repeated the same advice to her throughout high school, as her friends panicked about their grades and having the right extracurriculars on their resumes: “You don’t have to go to college to be successful.”

“He built a career that he loved as a real estate agent, without a bachelor’s degree, and always instilled in me that I didn’t have to go to college to be successful,” says Nguyen. “I listened to him, and thank goodness I did because I didn’t know what I wanted to major in and I would have had to take out student loans … it saved me a lot of time and stress.”

Her dad was also the one who suggested she become a notary signing agent, as the notaries he worked with on real estate documents were in incredibly high demand and earning $75-$200 per signing.

In most states, you just need to submit an application and clear a background check to become a notary public, but in California, you have to take a six-hour training course, pass an exam and clear a background check. The startup costs for becoming a notary in California can range anywhere between $275 and $442, according to Notary.net.

It took Nguyen about three months to complete the process, which she finished in 2015, and another month of training and coursework to become a specialized signing agent in 2021.

After completing her certifications in 2015, Nguyen still wasn’t convinced she wanted to be a notary signing agent full-time. She quit her job as a bank teller in 2016 and for the next five years, she tried out different jobs, including short stints as a real estate agent and insurance agent — but nothing matched how much she enjoyed notarizing.

“It’s one hour of work and then you’re done, you’re free,” says Nguyen. “It’s flexible hours, and I feel like I am really making a difference in people’s lives.”

‘I work less than six hours a day’

Nguyen registered Team Signings as a corporation in November 2021 and immediately got to work building her clientele: She visited real estate agencies with a stack of business cards, made TikTok and Instagram pages to document her work as a signing agent and asked friends to spread the word about her new business.

Nguyen’s TikTok, which has almost 30,000 followers, has been her most successful marketing tool, she says. Notaries in other states have reached out with referrals in the comments, and followers near San Jose have messaged her to request her services.

She aims to do at least two signings per day, charging anywhere between $75-$200, and sometimes an even higher rate, depending on the type of document that needs to be notarized and how far the appointment is from her home office in San Jose. 

Some signings take a few minutes, while others can take over an hour. On average, Nguyen says she works “less than six hours a day.” 

“I try to keep regular hours and work between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., but I will also often take signing appointments on weekends,” she adds. Nguyen hired a full-time assistant in March to help with scheduling and billing.

Her only regret is not starting her notary business sooner.

“I love that I can set my own schedule, support myself financially and my parents if they ever need help,” says Nguyen. “All of that together, along with having the opportunity to help people every day, just makes me feel really fulfilled as a person.” 

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Wig, a real estate agent and investor, saw the potential in the space, but knew he couldn’t take on the project alone.

He got in touch with Adam Colucci, a 35-year-old real estate investor and owner of an audio-video business, and Dan Spanovich, a 42-year-old real estate developer and lawyer.

In May 2019, the trio bought the abandoned school, Bowtie High, for $100,000 and converted it into a 31-unit apartment building. The renovation started in early 2020 and took about 18 months to complete.

Colucci tells CNBC Make It their biggest concern was how much money would be needed to convert the space, which became an even more urgent matter when the partners had a bank pull its financing at the last minute.

Wig, Colucci, and Spanovich found a different bank and secured a $2 million mortgage, which they pay down at $12,129/month.

The partners also put in $1.3 million of their own money.

In total, renovating the old school cost $3.3 million, an amount that the partners are still shocked by.

“I’m not sure we would have done the renovation in the beginning if we would have known what it was going to take,” Spanovich said.

Renovating an old high school meant the project qualified for historic tax credits from the state of Pennsylvania and the federal government.

But it also meant they had to keep the historical significance of the building and its hallways.

Wig, Colucci, and Spanovich took it a step further by reusing some of the original materials found in the school, like an old bookshelf and the original hardwood floors from the former auditorium.

Leasing started in October 2021 before renovations were even completed

Leasing at Bowtie High started in October 2021, and within six months, the former high school had reached 100% occupancy.

There are 31 units in the building, with monthly rent for one-bedroom apartments starting at $1,400 and two-bedrooms starting at $1,600.

Some units that used to be classrooms have the original chalkboards and an enviable amount of natural light, thanks to massive windows throughout the space.

Apartments are also equipped with stainless steel appliances, in-unit washers and dryers, and walk-in closets.

Wig, Colucci and Spanovich are reinvesting profits into a second abandoned school

When Colucci learned that the school just right across the street from their property was up for sale, it was already under contract with another investor.

But that deal fell through and in 2020, the partners bought it for $90,000, with a $3.25 million mortgage.

“I knew that we needed to have it in our portfolio mainly because when you look out of the front windows, that’s what you see, so we could control what we see,” Colucci said.

Spanovich estimates they will need more than the mortgage amount to finish the school because it’s been a “much more challenging project than Bowtie High was.”

When the second school is complete, it will have 33 apartments and amenities like a rooftop deck, indoor parking, and a common lounge on the lower level. It will have about seven apartments on each floor.

Renovations for that school are expected to be completed in July 2023.

The units will feature the same 14-foot high ceilings from the original classrooms and the concrete floors, that the partners were able to save and refinish.

“These buildings sat vacant for a long time and a lot of investors passed on them before we came along,” Spanovich said.

“I’m invested in this area not only financially but from the aspect that I live here and I want the area to continue to improve,” Wig added.

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Pew’s commonly used definition of middle class sets the range of middle income salaries between two-thirds and double the median salary for a given area. That means you can earn $100,000 and be considered middle class in some locales, but not others.

In fact, middle class income ranges vary widely across the largest 100 U.S. cities, according to a new study from SmartAsset. Fremont, California, has the highest-earning middle class with those earning up to $311,936 still falling in the middle-income range there. That’s more than $50,000 higher than the next city’s upper limit. 

SmartAsset used a variation of Pew’s middle class calculation to determine where middle class Americans are making the most money. Naturally, places with higher median incomes — like many cities in California — will have higher-earning middle classes.

Three cities near or within California’s Silicon Valley — Fremont, San Jose and San Francisco — have some of the highest-earning middle classes in the country. That makes sense, as the tech industry has earned a reputation for its high-paying roles.

These are the 10 U.S. cities with the highest middle class income thresholds:

1. Fremont, California

• Middle income lower limit: $104,498
• Middle income upper limit: $311,936

2. San Jose, California

• Middle income lower limit: $84,673 
• Middle income upper limit: $252,754 

3. Arlington, Virginia

• Middle income lower limit: $84,186
• Middle income upper limit: $251,302 

4. San Francisco

• Middle income lower limit: $81,623 
• Middle income upper limit: $243,652 

5. Seattle

• Middle income lower limit: $74,223
• Middle income upper limit: $221,562 

6. Irvine, California

• Middle income lower limit: $70,869
• Middle income upper limit: $211,548 

7. Gilbert, Arizona

• Middle income lower limit: $70,217
• Middle income upper limit: $209,604 

8. Scottsdale, Arizona

• Middle income lower limit: $66,395 
• Middle income upper limit: $198,194 

9. Plano, Texas

• Middle income lower limit: $63,651
• Middle income upper limit: $190,004

10. Chandler, Arizona

• Middle income lower limit: $63,391 
• Middle income upper limit: $189,226 

What makes you middle class?

High local median incomes tend to correlate with high costs of living.

Someone earning a middle class income by San Francisco’s standards might appear wealthy to a resident of Cleveland, where a middle class income is between $23,827 and $71,124, the lowest threshold in the country, according to SmartAsset. But the cost of living in San Francisco is estimated to be twice as much as in Cleveland, according to NerdWallet.

And while Pew’s equation might tell you whether your salary fits into a numerical definition of middle class, it’s often more of a mindset. Although the share of people — about half of Americans, according to Gallup polling — who identify as middle class is about the same size as the share of people Pew defines as middle class, not everyone uses the same definition.

To be in the middle class generally means to be doing well enough financially to live fairly comfortably. You might own a home, but have to work to be able to afford your mortgage payments. You aren’t necessarily living paycheck to paycheck, but you can’t afford to retire early.

Generally speaking, being in the middle class means you can reasonably meet your financial obligations with a little room to save for the future or splurge on your passions.

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Check out: Money doesn’t make you middle class—here’s what does, according to an anthropologist, sociologist, and philosopher

On April 11, Oregon State Police and other local authorities received multiple calls reporting money “floating” along Interstate 5 in Eugene, Oregon State Police Capt. Kyle Kennedy confirmed in an email statement to TODAY.com.

According to Kennedy, multiple cars had stopped along the highway’s north and south lanes so people could hunt for what appeared to be loose $100 bills.

Eventually, police located the source of the highway hullabaloo: 38-year-old Colin Davis McCarthy, who said he wanted to gift the money, which he claimed amounted to $200,000.

“However, there wasn’t really a way to confirm how much money was ‘gifted,’” Kennedy said.

Concerned that the cash drop was causing a “significant traffic hazard” (in the words of Kennedy), troopers asked McCarthy to stop his giveaway. 

“McCarthy was cooperative and agreed to stop leaving money on the roadway,” stated Kennedy, who also confirmed that no criminal charges are currently being considered.

For drivers with the notion to gear up and head to Interstate 5 for a modern-day gold rush, don’t bother.

According to Kennedy, motorists did a “thorough job of gathering the loose money.” The next morning, troopers followed up with the incident but could not locate any additional currency along the roadway. 

“OSP is urging the public to avoid the temptation to go looking for money along the highway,” Kennedy remarked. “These searches create a hazardous condition and put both the searchers and motorists at risk.”

Last July, a similar — albeit safer — giveaway tale caught the eye of users on social media when Kevin Cate shared a viral Twitter post featuring a Waffle House customer sitting at a table and handling bundles of cash.

According to Cate, the man in the photo said he’d given away one-dollar bills and five-dollar bills to “strangers, kids and people” since 2014 — a small act of kindness that the man said tallied up to more than $13,000 and came wrapped with a special message: “Love every body.”

“He told me those were the last three words his mother said to him. And he says it to me again,” Cate recalled. “She didn’t say ‘I love you.’ She said, ‘Love every body.’ So that’s what I’m doing. Loving every body.”

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You should actually do the complete opposite, the billionaire entrepreneur said during a panel at SXSW last month, and opt to start a business “with as little money as possible.”

Cuban, of course, has invested in hundreds of startups, including some on ABC’s “Shark Tank.” But those companies often already have momentum, and need external funding to achieve a specific goal.

“People get this mindset that, ‘OK, I’m starting a business. Now, I’ve got to go raise money,'” Cuban said, adding: “Just remember raising money, whether it’s from me, on ‘Shark Tank’ [or] anywhere, that’s an obligation. There’s somebody who wants that money back.”

Instead, Cuban recommends using your own personal savings to get any business off the ground. That way, you’re “controlling your own destiny,” he said. “The more of your equity that you can retain and control, the more the upside.”

That’s “where the big bucks are made,” he added.

Cuban started his first company, a computer systems company called MicroSolutions, on his own dime. He sold the startup to CompuServe for $6 million in 1990.

Four years later, Cuban and his friend Todd Wagner invested $10,000 in a small startup called Cameron Audio Networks. Later, sensing potential, they offered the company’s ownership a buyout — ultimately assuming a large majority of its equity and turning it into Cuban’s second company, Broadcast.com.

That company sold to Yahoo! for $5.7 billion in 1999.

“If you look at people with a B next to their name, it’s because they own all that equity in their company,” Cuban said.

An examination of the world’s richest people shows this to be at least partially true. Elon Musk, who has an estimated net worth of $187.9 billion, owns about 23% of Tesla and 74% of Twitter, according to Forbes. Jeff Bezos — whose estimated net worth is $125.1 billion — now owns “a bit less than 10%” of Amazon, Forbes reports.

Still, holding onto your company’s equity until you have no other option is a smart move, Cuban said.

“I’ve sat next to people who have sold companies for billions of dollars and they did OK,” he said. “But they own 2% of the company, when it was all said and done.”

Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to “Shark Tank,” which features Mark Cuban as a panelist.

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SmartAsset’s study analyzed the after-tax income needed to live in the nation’s 25 largest metro areas comfortably. To determine the required salary for a single individual with no kids in each city, SmartAsset employed the 50/30/20 rule, which defines a comfortable lifestyle as one in which 50% of after-tax income is applied to basic living expenses (needs), 30% to discretionary income (wants) and 20% to savings and debt.

The MIT Living Wage Calculator was used to calculate basic living expenses for each city. 

The post-tax salary needed in these 25 areas increased by around 20% throughout 2022, while inflation grew about 8%.

Persistent inflation has led Americans to think more consciously about the cost of living throughout the country, Susannah Snider, a certified financial planner and managing editor at SmartAsset, tells CNBC Make It. 

“Inflation is taking a bigger bite out of their paychecks and the cost of living is rising. What does it take in these cities to really feel not just like you’re surviving financially, but like you’re comfortable? Like you’re thriving?” Snider says. 

How much Americans need to live comfortably

For the second year in a row, St. Louis is the most affordable city on the list, with a required after-tax salary of $57,446. In contrast, San Francisco requires the highest take-home pay to maintain a comfortable lifestyle at an after-tax salary of over $84,000.

Income demands in Southern California rose nearly 30% this year; the Riverside metro area, for example, had the most acute one-year increase in required income, up 27.28% from 2022. 

Here are the salaries needed to live comfortably in 15 major U.S. cities: 

1. San Francisco metro area: $84,026
2. San Diego metro area: $79,324
3. Boston metro area: $78,752
4. New York metro area: $78,524
5. Seattle metro area: $77,634
6. Los Angeles metro area: $76,710
7. Washington, D.C. metro area: $76,194
8. Miami metro area: $67,056
9. Atlanta metro area: $66,580
10. Phoenix metro area: $65,670
11. Chicago metro area: $65,500
12. Dallas metro area: $64,742
13. Houston metro area: $62,260
14. Philadelphia metro area: $61,678
15. St. Louis metro area: $57,446

Why does San Francisco top the list?

In cities like San Francisco, the cost of living comfortably exponentially increased over the past year, from roughly $74,000 in 2022 to about $84,000 in 2023, Snider says.

California cities’ elevated cost of living can be explained, in part, by the state’s high income, gas and sales taxes. In San Francisco, for example, residents face a statewide gas tax rate of $0.539 per gallon and a sales tax of 8.625%. 

San Francisco’s $10,000 increase “really highlights just how much the rising cost of living might be making [residents] feel like maybe that salary last year, that allowed them to feel like they were living comfortably, isn’t really going as far this year,” Snider says.

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Virgin Orbit on Tuesday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. after failing to secure a funding lifeline.

The California-based satellite launch company lodged the filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the District of Delaware and is looking to sell its assets.

It comes after CNBC obtained audio of Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart telling employees during an all-hands meeting last week that the company was ceasing operations “for the foreseeable future.” The firm also said it would lay off nearly all of its workforce.

“While we have taken great efforts to address our financial position and secure additional financing, we ultimately must do what is best for the business,” Hart said in a statement Tuesday.

“We believe that the cutting-edge launch technology that this team has created will have wide appeal to buyers as we continue in the process to sell the Company. At this stage, we believe that the Chapter 11 process represents the best path forward to identify and finalize an efficient and value-maximizing sale,” he added.

Virgin Orbit said it was focused on a swift conclusion to its sale process to provide clarity on the future of the firm.

Virgin Orbit said a commitment from Virgin Investments had allowed the company to secure $31.6 million in new money through “debtor-in-possession” financing. This process, sometimes known as DIP financing, refers to funding for businesses that have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to allow them to keep operating.

What happened?

Virgin Orbit developed a system that uses a modified 747 jet to send satellites into space by dropping a rocket from under the aircraft’s wing mid-flight.

The company’s last mission suffered a mid-flight failure, with an issue during the launch preventing the rocket from reaching orbit. It crashed into the ocean.

Virgin Orbit is among a select few U.S. rocket companies to successfully achieve orbit with a privately developed launch vehicle. It has launched six missions since 2020, counting four successes and two failures.

It has been looking for new funds for several months, with majority owner Richard Branson unwilling to fund the company further.

Branson founded the company in 2017 and owns a 75% interest. Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala holds the second-largest stake at 18%.

The company began commercial services in 2021 and began publicly trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange after a so-called SPAC merger. The deal saw the company valued at nearly $4 billion at the time.

It is a markedly different picture at present. Virgin Orbit had a market value of roughly $65 million, according to the Monday closing price.

“Today my thoughts and concerns are with the many talented teammates and friends now finding their way forward who have been committed to the mission and promise of all that Virgin Orbit represents,” CEO Dan Hart said.

“I am confident of what we have built and hopeful to achieve a transaction that positions our Company and our technology for future opportunities and missions,” he added.

— CNBC’s Michael Sheetz contributed to this report.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was up by around 9 basis points to trade at 3.498%, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond fell 7 basis points to 3.7%. The yield on the 2-year note rose by more than 3 basis points to 4.094%. Yields move inversely to prices.

Bond markets endured a chaotic first quarter fueled by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and a mixed bag of investor expectations for the direction of monetary policy, as the Federal Reserve continues to grapple with high inflation.

Much of the focus for the second quarter will remain on the Fed’s likely monetary policy trajectory, with the central bank having indicated that interest rate hikes may be nearing their end after a 25 basis point increase in late March.

“Investors should follow the markets, not the Federal Reserve for clues on when the central bank’s rate hikes will end,” said Richard Saperstein, chief investment officer at New York-based Treasury Partners.

“While it’s possible that the Federal Reserve may hike rates by another 25 basis points, the 2-year Treasury yield has moved below the Fed funds rate, which historically signals that the Federal Reserve is near the end of its rate hiking cycle and we’re close to the peak of the Fed funds rate.”

On the economic data front, S&P Global and ISM manufacturing PMI (purchasing managers’ index) surveys are due mid-morning on Monday.

Auctions will be held Monday for $57 billion of 13-week Treasury bills and $48 billion of 26-week bills.

• There are 37.9 million Americans living in poverty, accounting for 11.6% of the total population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
• The number reported by the Census Bureau is based on the official poverty measure, which has remained virtually unchanged since the mid-1960s
• As a response, the Census Bureau developed the Supplemental Poverty Measure in 2011 as an improvement over the existing measure.
• But some experts say that even the SPM falls short of accurately measuring poverty in the U.S.

As of January 2021, 37.9 million Americans lived in poverty, accounting for 11.6% of the total population, according to the latest report from the United States Census Bureau. That’s despite the fact that America ranks first as the richest nation in the world in terms of GDP.

“Poverty and economic insecurity are widely common, very commonly experienced,” said Shailly Gupta Barnes, policy director at the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice. “They are as much a part of the American story as successes to the American dream.”

But the number reported by the Census Bureau is based on the official poverty measure, which has remained virtually unchanged since the mid-1960s. It’s calculated by comparing pretax income against a threshold set at three times the cost of a minimum food diet in 1963.

“The researcher whose work became the basis of that measure never intended it to be used in the way that it currently is,” said Barnes.

Grace Bonilla, president of United Way of New York City, said the official poverty measure doesn’t take very obvious indicators into consideration. To start, it looks at pretax income instead of actual take-home pay. It also doesn’t consider factors such as family composition or the cost of child care.

“It has not kept up with the way life has changed for most Americans,” said Bonilla.

As a response, the Census Bureau developed the Supplemental Poverty Measure in 2011 as an improvement over the existing measure. It incorporates into the measurement both the cost of basic needs like food, clothing and utilities, but also government transfers and programs. It also takes into account geographical differences and household size. The SPM rate for 2021 sat at 7.8%, compared with the official poverty measure rate of 11.6%, mainly due to government relief during the Covid-19 pandemic.

But some experts say that even the SPM falls short.

“It’s a step in the right direction but it falls so short of actually giving us an accurate count of poverty in the United States,” said Bonilla. “If you have a universal brush for the whole country, you’re going to miss a number of people that are either at risk of falling into poverty or are already technically living in poverty but are not counted by the measure.”

The Census Bureau told CNBC that both the official poverty measure and the supplemental poverty measure provide a consistent data of poverty measurement and that the Bureau continually strives to innovate and improve the design and measurement of their well-being statistics.

Watch the video to find out more about why the U.S. has had such difficulty in eradicating poverty.

The announcement Monday comes as the department works on regulations to prevent families from being separated on planes.

It’s the latest salvo in the Biden administration’s efforts to clamp down on what it calls “junk fees” and to put pressure on airlines to improve service.

The dashboard rewards airlines with a green check if they guarantee that an adult family member can sit next to their young children if seats are available. On Monday, only three of the 10 U.S. airlines listed on the website received a green check: Alaska, American and Frontier.

The site also includes links to each airline’s customer policies.

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“Parents traveling with young kids should be able to sit together without an airline forcing them to pay junk fees,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a release announcing the dashboard. He gave his department credit for pressuring airlines, “and now we’re seeing some airlines start to make this common-sense change.”

Airlines say they try and usually succeed at seating families together, but they have stopped short of making iron-clad promises. This year, several carriers have pledged to make changes in their seating policies.

Last month, Frontier Airlines said it would automatically seat at least one parent next to any child under 14.

Last week, American Airlines updated its customer-service plan with a guarantee that children 14 and under would be seated next to an accompanying adult at no extra cost.

United Airlines said it would let families with children under 12 to pick adjoining seats at no extra cost starting in early March in certain fare classes. The announcement seemed to fall short of Transportation standards however, because the department issued a notice last July that it intends to ban extra charges to have a family adult sit next to children up to age 13.

You can view the dashboard here.

He even got one with a $0 down payment, Cuban told Bill Maher on a December episode of the Club Random Podcast. One of his first cars, a 1977 Fiat X1/9 with holes in the floorboard, died after his cross-country move from Indiana to Dallas in 1982, he said. He had to hitch rides with friends until, one day, they found an abandoned car on the side of the road.

He made his friends pull over. The car was unlocked, and he noticed an envelope stuffed with loan papers sitting on the front seat.

“I knew from my own personal experience that someone had abandoned [the car], because they couldn’t make the payment,” Cuban said. The next day, he called officials at the bank, told them he found a car they were looking for and offered to take over the payments. They agreed, he said.

The strategy isn’t exactly replicable, Cuban noted: You can’t rely on finding a working abandoned car and acquiring it legally, and it’s harder now to call up a bank and actually speak to a real person.

Other money-saving hacks from Cuban’s 20s remain usable for today’s young adults. At age 24, Cuban lived in a three-bedroom apartment with five roommates, he wrote in a 2009 blog post. He also went to supermarkets in the middle of the night to score food discounts, he told Maher.

“I used to go to the grocery store at midnight because they lowered the price of chicken and these big [bags of] French fries to $1.29,” he said on the podcast. “And I would buy a bunch of them.”

Cuban’s youthful frugality, particularly when it came to cars, stemmed from his desire to avoid having to work, he told Money in 2017.

“I was determined to be able to retire,” he said. “I valued time more than anything. I wanted enough money to be able to travel, have fun, and party like a rock star, but still live like a student. That was my motivation.”

Cuban got his chance to retire early after becoming a millionaire at age 32. He decided against it after realizing he was “too competitive” to exit the entrepreneurial world, he told Wharton psychologist Adam Grant’s “Re:Thinking” podcast last year.

Still, his riches didn’t change his spending habits “all that much,” he told Money.

“I bought a plane … because the asset I value the most is time, and that bought me time,” Cuban said. “Other than that, I’ve lived in the same house for 18 years and still have the same cars.”

This story has been updated to clarify that Cuban obtained the car with a $0 down payment.

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According to Cointrackers.com, certain pennies that were minted in 1943 and 1944 top the list of the 25 most valuable pennies for coin collectors in 2023.

The 1944 steel wheat penny could be worth as much as $408,000 in mint condition, and up to $10,000 in average condition, the site said.

Additionally, the site reports that the 1943 copper penny in perfect condition is quoted at $250,000 and in average condition could be worth more than $60,000.

Here’s a list of the top 10 most valuable pennies for 2023:

• 1) 1944 Steel Wheat Penny – $408,000
• 2) 1943 Copper Wheat Penny – $250,000
• 3) 1856 Flying Eagle Penny – $25,000
• 4) 1873 Indian Head Penny – $10,000
• 5) 1858 Flying Eagle Penny – $10,000
• 6) 1857 Flying Eagle Penny – $7,000
• 7) 1914 D Wheat Penny – $5,500
• 8) 1922 D Wheat Penny – $5,000
• 9) 1909 S VDB Wheat Penny – $4,150
• 10) 1877 Indian Head Penny – $3,200

Why are these pennies so highly valued?

The reason 1943 copper pennies are so rare is that all of them would have been released by error into the coin supply. The pennies minted that year, during World War II, were supposed to be steel so that more copper could be used in the manufacturing of war materials.

Similarly, any 1944 steel pennies would have been released by error into the coin supply. Therefore, because only a small number of pennies were made of copper in 1943 and steel in 1944, they are a rare and valued find for collectors.

How do I know if my penny is real?

A quick way to check the authenticity of a 1944 steel penny is to see if it sticks to a magnet, according to Coin Trackers. While authentic steel pennies will stick to magnets, fakes that are copper and zinc-coated will not.

The site also warns that many 1943 copper pennies are fakes because a 1948 copper penny can be filed down on the left side of the 8, making it look like a 3 instead.

Additionally, some scam artists copper-plate steel coins. To ensure your 1943 copper penny is not actually steel, do the magnet test. If the coin sticks to the magnet, it’s a copper-plated steel, and therefore a fake.

The worker was sorting trash in Sapporo, a prefecture of Hokkaido, when he found wads of cash worth 10 million yen, or approximately $74,000 USD, mixed in with the other garbage that was collected on Jan. 30.

Stacks of 10,000 yen bills were inside several garbage bags.

The worker’s supervisor notified police about the finding.

Officials are treating the money as a lost and found case and are looking for the owner of the cash.

If the owner is not found within three months, officials said they would revert the ownership to Sapporo City Hall, which contracts for recycling services.

A similar case has happened in the prefecture before. In 2012, a waste disposal facility in the city of Sunagawa found ten million yen in cash. The owner later came forward.

State by state, the incomes the top 1% of earners in the U.S. bring in vary by over a half million dollars, according to a new analysis of 2022 incomes by personal finance website SmartAsset.

To be in the top 1% of earners in Connecticut, residents need an adjusted gross income of at least $955,261. However, in West Virginia, they only need to earn an AGI of $374,712 to be part of the top 1%.

For comparison, the median income for U.S. households overall is under $70,000, with only 10% of households earning more than $200,000, according to SmartAsset.

Coastal states like New York and California tend to have the highest earners, while top earners in more rural states like Mississippi and Arkansas make less. Only 12 states require annual earnings less than $500,000 to be considered in the top 1%.

To calculate these numbers, the analysis updated 2018 income data from the Internal Revenue Service using 2022 Consumer Price Index data to account for inflation. 

Below are the incomes needed to be part of both the top 1% and top 5% of earners in each state. States are listed in descending order, starting with the state with the highest income threshold for the top 1%.

Connecticut

• Top 1% income threshold: $955,261
• Top 5% income threshold: $336,866

Massachusetts

• Top 1% income threshold: $896,932
• Top 5% income threshold: $349,737

New Jersey

• Top 1% income threshold: $825,965
• Top 5% income threshold: $338,884

New York

• Top 1% income threshold: $817,796
• Top 5% income threshold: $287,752

California

• Top 1% income threshold: $805,519
• Top 5% income threshold: $317,791

Washington

• Top 1% income threshold: $736,084
• Top 5% income threshold: $312,907

Colorado

• Top 1% income threshold: $682,897
• Top 5% income threshold: $288,694

Florida

• Top 1% income threshold: $678,816
• Top 5% income threshold: $243,617

Illinois

• Top 1% income threshold: $666,202
• Top 5% income threshold: $271,049

Texas

• Top 1% income threshold: $641,449
• Top 5% income threshold: $258,369

Virginia

• Top 1% income threshold: $635,705
• Top 5% income threshold: $294,495

Wyoming

• Top 1% income threshold: $635,458
• Top 5% income threshold: $233,212

New Hampshire

• Top 1% income threshold: $634,464
• Top 5% income threshold: $281,154

Maryland

• Top 1% income threshold: $634,255
• Top 5% income threshold: $287,246

Minnesota

• Top 1% income threshold: $616,326
• Top 5% income threshold: $264,140

Pennsylvania

• Top 1% income threshold: $591,900
• Top 5% income threshold: $250,528

Georgia

• Top 1% income threshold: $586,207
• Top 5% income threshold: $242,967

North Dakota

• Top 1% income threshold: $578,237
• Top 5% income threshold: $240,797

Utah

• Top 1% income threshold: $577,024
• Top 5% income threshold: $239,222

Nevada

• Top 1% income threshold: $571,593
• Top 5% income threshold: $221,842

North Carolina

• Top 1% income threshold: $554,221
• Top 5% income threshold: $238,562

Oregon

• Top 1% income threshold: $551,004
• Top 5% income threshold: $246,539

South Dakota

• Top 1% income threshold: $549,189
• Top 5% income threshold: $219,642

Arizona

• Top 1% income threshold: $546,798
• Top 5% income threshold: $235,447

Rhode Island

• Top 1% income threshold: $545,345
• Top 5% income threshold: $240,792

Kansas

• Top 1% income threshold: $539,002
• Top 5% income threshold: $231,855

Tennessee

• Top 1% income threshold: $535,065
• Top 5% income threshold: $220,362

Alaska

• Top 1% income threshold: $529,327
• Top 5% income threshold: $250,103

Delaware

• Top 1% income threshold: $526,858
• Top 5% income threshold: $241,817

Wisconsin

• Top 1% income threshold: $514,561
• Top 5% income threshold: $223,102

Montana

• Top 1% income threshold: $514,013
• Top 5% income threshold: $216,789

Michigan

• Top 1% income threshold: $511,240
• Top 5% income threshold: $225,673

Nebraska

• Top 1% income threshold: $510,981
• Top 5% income threshold: $224,759

Idaho

• Top 1% income threshold: $508,126
• Top 5% income threshold: $217,945

South Carolina

• Top 1% income threshold: $506,496
• Top 5% income threshold: $219,743

Vermont

• Top 1% income threshold: $502,425
• Top 5% income threshold: $193,396

Missouri

• Top 1% income threshold: $427,917
• Top 5% income threshold: $186,671

Ohio

• Top 1% income threshold: $422,373
• Top 5% income threshold: $182,635

Louisiana

• Top 1% income threshold: $417,948
• Top 5% income threshold: $212,223

Hawaii

• Top 1% income threshold: $487,092
• Top 5% income threshold: $231,685

Maine

• Top 1% income threshold: $486,893
• Top 5% income threshold: $215,213

Oklahoma

• Top 1% income threshold: $483,606
• Top 5% income threshold: $210,109

Iowa

• Top 1% income threshold: $474,160
• Top 5% income threshold: $217,390

Indiana

• Top 1% income threshold: $471,007
• Top 5% income threshold: $208,917

Alabama

• Top 1% income threshold: $466,719
• Top 5% income threshold: $209,636

Kentucky

• Top 1% income threshold: $447,370
• Top 5% income threshold: $199,963

Arkansas

• Top 1% income threshold: $446,276
• Top 5% income threshold: $198,233

New Mexico

• Top 1% income threshold: $418,970
• Top 5% income threshold: $201,646

Mississippi

• Top 1% income threshold: $383,128
• Top 5% income threshold: $181,094

West Virginia

• Top 1% income threshold: $374,712
• Top 5% income threshold: $183,973

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Don’t miss: Almost half of the ultra-rich haven’t figured out how to pass on their wealth, research finds

Some fed-up consumers are posting rants on social media complaining about tip requests at drive-thrus, while others say they’re tired of being asked to leave a gratuity for a muffin or a simple cup of coffee at their neighborhood bakery. What’s next, they wonder — are we going to be tipping our doctors and dentists, too?

As more businesses adopt digital payment methods, customers are automatically being prompted to leave a gratuity — many times as high as 30% — at places they normally wouldn’t. And some say it has become more frustrating as the price of items has skyrocketed due to inflation, which eased to 6.5% in December but still remains painfully high.

“Suddenly, these screens are at every establishment we encounter. They’re popping up online as well for online orders. And I fear that there is no end,” said etiquette expert Thomas Farley, who considers the whole thing somewhat of “an invasion.”

Unlike tip jars that shoppers can easily ignore if they don’t have spare change, experts say the digital requests can produce social pressure and are more difficult to bypass. And your generosity, or lack thereof, can be laid bare for anyone close enough to glance at the screen — including the workers themselves.

Dylan Schenker is one of them. The 38-year-old earns about $400 a month in tips, which provides a helpful supplement to his $15 hourly wage as a barista at Philadelphia café located inside a restaurant. Most of those tips come from consumers who order coffee drinks or interact with the café for other things, such as carryout orders. The gratuity helps cover his monthly rent and eases some of his burdens while he attends graduate school and juggles his job.

Schenker says it’s hard to sympathize with consumers who are able to afford pricey coffee drinks but complain about tipping. And he often feels demoralized when people don’t leave behind anything extra — especially if they’re regulars.

“Tipping is about making sure the people who are performing that service for you are getting paid what they’re owed,” said Schenker, who’s been working in the service industry for roughly 18 years.

Traditionally, consumers have taken pride in being good tippers at places like restaurants, which typically pay their workers lower than the minimum wage in expectation they’ll make up the difference in tips. But academics who study the topic say many consumers are now feeling irritated by automatic tip requests at coffee shops and other counter service eateries where tipping has not typically been expected, workers make at least the minimum wage and service is usually limited.

“People do not like unsolicited advice,” said Ismail Karabas, a marketing professor at Murray State University who studies tipping. “They don’t like to be asked for things, especially at the wrong time.”

Some of the requests can also come from odd places. Clarissa Moore, a 35-year-old who works as a supervisor at a utility company in Pennsylvania, said even her mortgage company has been asking for tips lately. Typically, she’s happy to leave a gratuity at restaurants, and sometimes at coffee shops and other fast-food places when the service is good. But, Moore said she believes consumers shouldn’t be asked to tip nearly everywhere they go — and it shouldn’t be something that’s expected of them.

“It makes you feel bad. You feel like you have to do it because they’re asking you to do it,” she said. “But then you have to think about the position that puts people in. They’re paying for something that they really don’t want to pay for, or they’re tipping when they really don’t want to tip — or can’t afford to tip — because they don’t want to feel bad.”

In the book “Emily Post’s Etiquette,” authors Lizzie Post and Daniel Post Senning advise consumers to tip on ride-shares, like Uber and Lyft, as well as food and beverages, including alcohol. But they also write that it’s up to each person to choose how much to tip at a café or a take-out food service, and that consumers shouldn’t feel embarrassed about choosing the lowest suggested tip amount, and don’t have to explain themselves if they don’t tip.

Digital payment methods have been around for a number of years, though experts say the pandemic has accelerated the trend towards more tipping. Michael Lynn, a consumer behavior professor at Cornell University, said consumers were more generous with tips during the early days of the pandemic in an effort to show support for restaurants and other businesses that were hard hit by COVID-19. Many people genuinely wanted to help out and felt sympathetic to workers who held jobs that put them more at risk of catching the virus, Lynn said.

Tips at full-service restaurants grew by 25.3% in the third quarter of 2022, while gratuities at quick or counter service restaurants went up 16.7% compared to the same time in 2021, according to Square, one of the biggest companies operating digital payment methods. Data provided by the company shows continuous growth for the same period since 2019.

As tip requests have become more common, some businesses are advertising it in their job postings to lure in more workers even though the extra money isn’t always guaranteed.

In December, Starbucks rolled out a new tipping option on credit and debit card transactions at its stores, something a group organizing the company’s hourly workers had called for. Since then, a Starbucks spokesperson said nearly half of credit and debit card transactions have included a gratuity, which – along with tips received through cash and the Starbucks app – are distributed based on the number of hours a barista worked on the days the tips were received.

Karabas, the Murray State professor, says some customers, like those who’ve worked in the service industry in the past, want to tip workers at quick service businesses and wouldn’t be irritated by the automatic requests. But for others, research shows they might be less likely to come back to a particular business if they are feeling irritated by the requests, he said.

The final tab might also impact how customers react. Karabas said in the research he did with other academics, they manipulated the payment amounts and found that when the check was high, consumers no longer felt as irritated by the tip requests. That suggests the best time for a coffee shop to ask for that 20% tip, for example, might be on four or five orders of coffee, not a small cup that costs $4.

Some consumers might continue to shrug off the tip requests regardless of the amount.

“If you work for a company, it’s that company’s job to pay you for doing work for them,” said Mike Janavey, a footwear and clothing designer who lives in New York City. “They’re not supposed to be juicing consumers that are already spending money there to pay their employees.”

Schenker, the Philadelphia barista, agrees — to a certain extent.

“The onus should absolutely be on the owners, but that doesn’t change overnight,” he said. “And this is the best thing we have right now.”

While in his 20s, shortly after moving to Dallas with only $60 in his pocket, Cuban tried every money-saving hack he could think of to stretch what little cash he had, he told Bill Maher on a recent episode of the “Club Random Podcast.”

One of Cuban’s strategies: Going to supermarkets in the middle of the night to score deals on food.

“I used to go to the grocery store at midnight because they lowered the price of chicken and these big [bags of] French fries to $1.29,” he said on the podcast. “And I would buy a bunch of them.”

Some markets still offer discounts for late-night shoppers, according to a 2021 Instacart report. In the evenings, they might mark down perishable items that won’t last until the next day, like fresh produce, meat and baked goods.

More commonly, major grocers offer deals on specific days of the week. Several grocery stores begin weekly specials on Wednesdays, according to the Instacart report. That’s likely because the bulk of their customers shop on the weekend, analyst and founder of Supermarket Guru Phil Lempert told TODAY in 2018.

Cuban, who lived in a three-bedroom apartment with five roommates at the time, didn’t just look for deals on food, though. He told Maher that while he needed to get to and from his bartending gig and make it to job interviews, he couldn’t afford a car.

Cuban had “credit cards cut up” and “bill collectors” on his trail, he told Maher. But one day, he was with his friends when he saw an abandoned vehicle on the side of the road. They pulled over, and the car seemed to be in good shape. Better yet, it was unlocked and had a thick envelope full of loan papers on the front seat.

“It wasn’t f—ed up,” Cuban explained. “I knew from my own personal experience someone abandoned it because they couldn’t make the payments.”

He took the papers and called the bank the next day. Cuban asked if he could take over the payments, and the bank agreed.

Other 20-somethings wouldn’t likely be able to copy his roadside strategy, he told Maher. After all, not everyone can rely on finding a working car left untouched on the side of the road. Plus, Cuban pointed out that it’s nearly impossible these days to avoid an automated assistant when you call the bank.

Still, Cuban has said in the past that his days of scraping by helped motivate him. “I had nothing. So I had nothing to lose, right? It was all about going for it,” Cuban told The Dallas Morning News in a 2011 interview.

That attitude led Cuban to take a shot at selling software, despite having been fired from multiple jobs. He then launched his own computer consulting business, MicroSolutions, which he sold for $6 million in 1990 at the age of 32.

Today, Cuban is grateful that his experiences in his 20s taught him to seek creative ways to save money, and led him to enjoy his current wealth all the more. Now that he doesn’t have to worry about running out of money, Cuban told Maher the best part of his success is the freedom it affords him to choose what he eats and what kind of car he drives — not to mention how he spends his days.

“People are like, ‘What’s the best part about being rich?'” Cuban said on the podcast. “Freedom, right? [And] time. I get to control my time.”

This story has been updated to reflect that Cuban lived with five roommates in his three-bedroom apartment.

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As part of a $3.7 billion settlement, Wells Fargo has agreed to pay more than $2 billion directly to customers harmed by “illegal activity,” ranging from incorrect overdraft fees to wrongful foreclosures, according to the CFPB.

Wells Fargo customers who might be affected include those with car loans, mortgages or bank accounts.

• For auto loan customers, illegal practices include prepaid gap coverage that wasn’t refunded when loans were paid off early, incorrectly applied payments that led to higher interest charges and fees, and unwarranted auto repossessions.
• For mortgage loan borrowers, damages might be owed for wrongful foreclosures, incorrectly charged fees and wrongful loan modifications that would have otherwise prevented foreclosure.
• For bank account holders, some were incorrectly charged overdraft fees on debit and ATM withdrawals, as well as having money unfairly “frozen” if Wells Fargo suspected a single deposit was fraudulent.

The total amount of damages owed to each affected customer will vary, according to numbers provided by the CFPB.

• For automobile repossessions, compensation is “at least,” but is not limited to, $4,000. 
• For mortgage holders that were unable to modify their mortgages to avoid foreclosure, damages average $24,125 per claimant. 
• For deposit accounts, customers average $100 in damages.

How to claim damages

If you’re eligible to receive money, Wells Fargo is required to notify you. In fact, many customers have already received their payments, either as a check or credit to their existing accounts.

“We have already proactively communicated with most of the customers who may have been impacted by the matters covered in the settlement, and those efforts are ongoing,” a Wells Fargo spokesperson tells CNBC Make It, describing the “required actions” of the settlement as “substantially complete.”

However, per CFPB’s updated guidance, if you think you’re eligible for a payment and have not received it yet, you should contact a Wells Fargo customer representative.

If that doesn’t work, you can submit a complaint directly to the CFPB online. The CFPB will then follow-up with Wells Fargo directly, if it’s required.

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If you happen to be more introverted but are still looking for ways to bring in some extra cash, fear not. There are many gigs out there suitable for those who like their time alone. Gig economy apps, for example, like Uber or Doordash, “are very well suited for that because you don’t have a real boss,” says side hustle expert Kevin Ha. “You’re doing things on your own.”

Here are four side hustles for introverts to consider.

Take surveys

If you’ve got a few spare minutes and like sharing your opinions, consider taking surveys on sites like Survey Junkie and InboxDollars that pay cash or gift cards.

You’ll fill in some personal information that gives a sense of your demographic and geography, then see options for different surveys you can take pertaining to retail, food and beverage, tech and personal care products, and others. Most typically take up to 20 minutes.

“You’re not going to make thousands of dollars a month doing this,” says Jen Glantz, founder of Bridesmaid for Hire and the creator of the Monday Pick-Me-Up and Odd Jobs newsletter. Most reviewers report making a couple of dollars per hour, but that can add up and works if you don’t feel like thinking too hard on your hustle.

Sell your clothing and apparel

If you’ve got a closet full of clothes to get rid of, consider selling them on sites like Poshmark, Mercari, OfferUp and eBay. If you have luxury items, you can also try selling on The RealReal.

Peruse each site to see how much items like the ones you have are going for, then start a page and post them yourself. Keep in mind the cost of shipping and shipping materials, as well as each site’s fees. On Poshmark, for example, the fee for sales under $15 is $2.95 and the fee for sales above $15 is 20% of your selling price (that is, you keep 80% of what you made).

“It’s really, really worth it,” says Glantz. “If you have downtime and you want to make cash on the weekend, it’s the best time to list things.”

Kaycie Morwood opened her Poshmark store in 2016 and has made $30,000 altogether. “It takes about two minutes to set up,” she previously told CNBC Make It. “Then I’ll go watch Netflix, work out or go to my actual daytime job.”

Sell printable items like calendars

If you’re organized and have a flair for design, consider using tools like Canva or even Google Docs to create digital calendars, checklists or holiday cards for people to buy on sites like Etsy and print on their own.

“I’ve bought media kit templates off there,” says Glantz as an example.

Peruse the site for the types of printables people are selling to get some ideas about what you can make and how much people are charging. As with the other sites, keep in mind Etsy’s seller fees. It costs 20 cents to list an item and there’s a 6.5% transaction fee for each sale.

Rachel Jiminez started her Etsy store in 2019 and made nearly $160,000 on the site in 2021 selling digital planners, Christmas scavenger hunts and other items. When she was jut starting out and making time for her hustle over lunch, “I would spend 30 minutes eating, hanging out with [my coworkers], and then another 30 minutes working on my Etsy store,” she told CNBC Make It.

Start a medium blog

If you love writing and have a lot to say about a given topic, consider starting a Medium blog.

The site features a wide array of topics ranging from parenting to neuroscience and offers two different ways to make money: one that’s linked to how much time people spend reading your content, the other to referring members. “You can refer readers to become Medium members and get half of  their membership fee, net of standard payment processor fees, for as long as they remain a member,” according to the site.

To be eligible for either, however, you’ll need to have at least 100 followers, have published at least one story and be at least 18 years old. And keep in mind, you’ll want to write a lot ― “I would be doing five posts a week for a year, if you really want to do this,” says Ha. Most writers make under $100 per month.

Various blogs and media outlets also pay contributors for freelance pieces. If there’s an outlet you follow regularly, peruse the site and see if there are opportunities to write something for them yourself.

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