• Older Americans are facing retirement uncertainty due to market dips and Trump policy changes.
• Financial advisors urge against drastic investment changes, despite recession fears.
• Diversifying income sources and delaying taking Social Security can help stabilize retirement plans.

With dips in the stock market, planned staff cuts to the Social Security Administration, and rapidly changing economic policy, nearly a dozen older Americans told Business Insider they aren’t sure how to navigate retirement under Trump 2.0 — so we asked financial advisors.

It turns out that they have also been fielding an uptick in queries about how this political moment will impact clients’ finances.

Some retirees are tempted to make drastic changes to their investments, while others feel anxious about how their Social Security benefits may fare. This comes as the White House makes sweeping cuts to the federal workforce, the Department of Government Efficiency slashes budgets for government programs, and Wall Street braces for a potential recession.

The biggest advice for older Americans right now from financial advisors: don’t panic. The news cycle since President Donald Trump’s inauguration has moved quickly, and most advisors caution older adults against making any major changes to their retirement or savings accounts. Advisors told BI that building emergency funds and cutting back on spending are smarter ways to approach economic uncertainty.

“While it’s difficult not to react when stocks are falling, this has often been the best course of action, or you risk locking in potential losses and missing out on any market recoveries,” said Rita Assaf, vice president of retirement offerings at Fidelity Investment. “If you are saving for retirement, continue to stick to your plan. If you haven’t created a plan, you should.”

Here are the three top tips on retirement planning in the current economic climate from financial advisors, economists, and wealth managers.

Avoid drastic investment decisions

The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq have fallen recently, sparking nervousness among older Americans who have invested their retirement savings. A potential recession could also impact the value of some retirees’ assets, like homes.

“Putting the possibility of a recession into perspective can be hard to do,” said John Canally, chief portfolio strategist at TIAA, Wealth Management. “Emotion is a big part of investing, for better or worse, and investors often see short-term volatility as extremely disruptive.”

However, Gordon Whittaker, a Merrill wealth management advisor, told BI there is nothing about this period in the market that is different from other times of elevated volatility. If Americans have a smart retirement portfolio with adequate risk allocations, he said they shouldn’t make any major money changes.

Financial advisors told BI that it’s better to wait and see before making any immediate changes to 401(k) or Roth IRA strategies. Additionally, don’t make any changes now in an effort to “get ahead of the economy,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate. He added that investors can miss out on gains more than avoiding losses when they try to outguess the market.

Market conditions will likely change again soon, and Canally said it is important to “stay anchored” to long-term wealth and savings goals.

Older Americans who have invested in the market should ensure their stock portfolio is diverse, said Christopher Scibilia, a private client advisor at J.P. Morgan Wealth Management. People should invest in various stock options, ideally in stable industries without much risk. Scibilia added that retirees should also plan to withdraw their investments when the market is higher to avoid losses.

Evaluate your budget and pay down debt

Regardless of age, economists and financial advisors told BI it is a good time for Americans to reevaluate their spending.

The job market could slow down, and the price of everyday items could tick up due to tariffs and market volatility, especially if there is a recession. This is a good time to examine household budgets and see what can be trimmed or cut if income changes, McBride said. He added that people should prioritize paying down debt, building emergency funds, and focusing on liquid cash savings.

Scibilia said older Americans, especially, should have cash on hand in case of unexpected expenses, like a medical diagnosis. He said building an emergency fund alongside a traditional retirement account should be a top consideration for Americans who are retired or are looking to retire soon.

Don’t count on Social Security alone to pay your bills

BI previously heard from older Americans who are either unable to retire or must return to work after retirement due to financial constraints. Many said that Social Security isn’t enough to afford essentials, and millions of retirees don’t have adequate savings.

The Social Security fund is unlikely to be immediately affected by any of Trump’s planned policies, though Trump has suggested cutting some government healthcare coverage and resources for Social Security beneficiaries.

Financial advisors and economists told BI that having multiple income streams can help protect people from market volatility or any changes in government benefits.

Assaf and Scibilia said that older Americans should consider waiting to collect Social Security. Delaying their claim until age 70 could increase people’s benefits by 8%, which could be especially helpful for Americans worried about the Social Security fund dwindling in the 2030s, they said.

“Having multiple income sources, like Social Security, pensions, or part-time work, can also provide stability,” Scibilia said.

Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, also told BI that people with emergency funds, investment portfolios, and updated skills in their industry recover fastest from job losses. Scibilia added that pursuing part-time work and increasing health insurance coverage can help retirees weather unexpected expenses.

Do you have a story to tell about retirement plans and how you’re navigating finances under Trump 2.0? Reach out to these reporters at allisonkelly@businessinsider.com and nsheidlower@businessinsider.com

A European Central Bank (ECB) official says America’s embrace of cryptocurrency and non-bank finance could backfire.

“The United States risks sinning through negligence,” Francois Villeroy de Galhau, a member of the bank’s governing council, said in an interview with French weekly La Tribune Dimanche on Saturday (March 15).

“Financial crises often originate in the United States and spread to the rest of the world. By encouraging crypto assets and non-bank finance, the American administration is sowing the seeds of future upheavals.”

The U.S. government’s attitude toward cryptocurrency has changed under President Donald Trump. Trump championed the digital assets when running for office last summer, and has since pushed to make America the “crypto capital of the world” by calling for the creation of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve

Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seems to be rolling back its regulatory crackdown on the crypto sector, having dismissed several cases against crypto platforms since Trump’s inauguration.

As PYMNTS wrote recently, this change has upended the dynamic between America and Europe in how they approach crypto.

“The initial contrast between the rules-based approach to cryptocurrency in the European Union and the enforcement-driven strategy in the United States was once thought to shape the global crypto industry’s trajectory,” that report said.

All the same, the EU’s structured Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) policy framework, designed to harmonizing the fragmented regulatory landscape across the EU’s 27 member states, is already in place and continues to guide the some of the largest crypto companies in one of the biggest economic regions in the world.

“MiCA’s applications, and its endemic speedbumps, could hold many lessons for an eventual U.S. regulatory environment,” PYMNTS wrote.

Since MiCA’s approval in 2023 — the rule is being implemented in phases — market players have been hurrying to comply with its provisions. Crypto exchanges, stablecoin issuers and wallet providers now face strict licensing requirements, capital reserves standards and clear consumer protection rules.

While MiCA is designed to streamline crypto operations, it poses obstacles for existing virtual asset service providers (VASPs). All VASPs who were registered in the EU before 2025 must comply with MiCA requirements this year.

“Predictions suggest that around 75% of these VASPs may struggle to meet the new standards. Factors such as company size, compliance costs and requirements contribute to this potential contraction,” PYMNTS wrote.

“For example, many registered VASPs are small enterprises that may lack the resources to fulfill MiCA’s rigorous demands, including substantial share capital requirements and comprehensive compliance frameworks.”

Cancel culture is now so virulent and dangerous that stars are even buying insurance to protect themselves from financial and reputational ruin.

And no wonder, because MailOnline can today reveal how stars such as Phillip Schofield are losing millions each year after being sent into the celebrity wilderness.

One star whose work has dried up amid allegations of sexual impropriety claims to be £10million worse off – with just £320 left in one business, down from £432,583.

Exclusive analysis of publicly-available company accounts reveal how stars’ earnings have fallen off a cliff since leaving the public eye due to various scandals.

Mr Schofield’s long career means that while his gigantic earnings from This Morning, Dancing on Ice and advertising deals have vanished, he still enjoys the cushion of millions of pounds in cash and assets including several properties.

Gino D’Acampo has built up a nest egg of around £6million from his ITV work and book deals over the past five years – but with no new shows on the way his earnings will take a hit of around £1million-a-year if the work runs out.

And for fallen stars like Gregg Wallace and Wynne Evans, their financial future could be bleak unless they can get their own careers back on track, especially without the comfort blanket of a BBC salary.

Noel Clarke, who was cancelled in 2021 and is fighting for his reputation in the High Court in a high-profile libel case with The Guardian newspaper, faces near-complete financial ruin if he loses the case.

Phillip Schofield is losing an estimated £1.4 million-a-year since quitting his job as This Morning presenter in June 2023.

The star, 62, left the show having admitted to having an affair with a junior colleague and then quit ITV altogether, leaving behind a host of well-paid presenting gigs.

He was earning £730,000 for the This Morning presenter role with Holly Willoughby but also picked up a reported £45,000 an episode for Dancing on Ice, which runs for 10 episodes per year.

Presenting other shows like British Soap Awards, BBC game show The Cube, and an ITV series called How To Spend It Well all added to his lucrative annual earnings.

Away from the screen, Schofield has built up a cache of valuable assets, including properties.

Phillip and Stephanie Lowe married in 1993 and raised two daughters, Molly, right, and Ruby, left. His daughters are also huge supporters – Molly is his publicist

He sold a flat he was said to have used to entertain his lover for £1million last year, making a loss of £250,000 on what he paid for it.

He also owns a mansion in Henley-on-Thames outright, which is thought to be worth at least £5million.

In 2020 he picked up £1.2million for a book deal for his autobiography Life’s What You Make It.

Accounts for his two companies show they had assets of £3million in May 2023, soon after he quit This Morning. 

Fistral Productions, for his TV work, held £2.137million in the year he quit This Morning. His wife Stephanie Schofield is listed as a co-director.

He also has a company called Fistral Property, with assets of £900,000. Mrs Schofield is also a co-director.

Potential loss: £1.4 million-a-year 

Gino D’Acampo 

Gino D’Acampo has seen the value of his company rocket by an average of £979,000-a-year for the last five years and is now worth just under £6million.

But it means he could now stand to lose £1 million a year – or potentially more – if his career had continued to blossom at the same rate.

He lives in a £1.25million house in Hertfordshire, with wife Jessica, who is a director of his companies and the mother of his three children.

In February, ITV pulled all Gino D’Acampo’s shows from its upcoming schedules.

The TV chef, 48, has been accused of ‘sexually inappropriate’ behaviour spanning 12 years while filming his hit food and travel programmes. He denies the claims.

Mr D’Acampo has faced accusations including using sexualised and aggressive language on TV sets including ‘Gino’s Italian Express’, ‘Gordon, Gino and Fred’s Road Trip’ ‘Gino’s Italy: Secrets of South’, ‘Like Mamma Used to Make’ and ‘Emission Impossible’. 

ITV then changed its schedules to ensure he will not appear on our screens. But many of his shows remain available on its ITVX streaming service. 

The new series of Family Fortunes, the iconic family gameshow hosted by Gino, was due for broadcast in early 2025 but has also been canned by ITV. 

Gino is the host of Family Fortunes. Episodes have been pulled and the new series canned

Gino D’Acampo, pictured with Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, honours his promise to cook naked on This Morning if they won at the 2011 NTA Awards. Gino has become known for stripping off on screen

Gino D’ACampo and wife Jessica

Gino ‘said and did whatever he wanted’ while working for ITV – as his alleged victims insisted they were ‘too afraid’ to make complaints at the time. 

Sources told MailOnline that ITV began to ease out Gino in the wake of the scandal that engulfed the BBC over MasterChef’s Gregg Wallace, especially after Phillip Schofield’s bitter exit from This Morning.

But amid questions about why they didn’t raise incidents spanning 12 years, most of the women told ITV News they were ‘too afraid’ to make complaints about D’Acampo because they were self-employed and feared being ostracised in TV.

After a bumper few years, Gino’s company has seen its value increase by between £500,000 and £2.06million each year between 2019 and 2024. 

It currently has £2million in cash in the bank. The company is now worth £4.9million.

MailOnline estimates that his total net worth is £5.7million.

Potential loss: £979,000-a-year

Gregg Wallace 

Gregg Wallace had been earning an estimated £400,000-a-year from his Masterchef role, which, as is suspected, will now be lost if he does not return to TV.

The former MasterChef host, 60, stepped down from hosting the BBC show with Jon Torode in November after multiple complaints of inappropriate behaviour on set.

Before his big break, the star used all his Cockney charms to create an appealing TV persona – ‘the fat, bald bloke off the telly who likes pudding’, as he once styled himself.

But he initially made his living as a greengrocer, although market traders he once worked alongside have claimed they were the ones left counting the cost of his success. 

With his six-figure BBC salary on hold, Gregg has a separate fitness business on the side called Showme.fit which is currently worth £108,663. 

There is also a new health and food business, whose accounts are not yet available.

Ex-MasterChef judge Gregg Wallace was spotted for the first time in February after not being out in public since November 28, 2024

Wallace co-hosted Masterchef for 17 years alongside John Torode (left) 

But he stepped back amid an investigation into his conduct over a period of 17 years

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He also has £32,000 held in his company Lobster Enterprises Ltd, where his TV money is paid into.

George Allan’s Greengrocers, the company Wallace founded in 1989, was built into a business with a £7.5million turnover.

But last year a former manager claimed Gregg left behind £1.5 million in debt – and a host of disgruntled ex-colleagues – when the firm went under in 2000. 

In his 2012 autobiography, Life on a Plate, Wallace acknowledged: ‘We were owed millions and we owed millions to wholesalers in the market’.

He also described how he ‘didn’t have to pick up all the bills personally’ after Gregg Allan’s failed, since it was a limited company, and hit back at the idea that fame had resulted in a loss of focus on his part.

‘Many of the traders had joined forces and said they refused to employ me,’ wrote Wallace. 

‘It wasn’t fair but they blamed me for George Allan’s closure. They thought I’d got too fancy and big for my boots, being on telly now, and I let it all go to pot.

‘Nothing could’ve been further from the truth, though. It’s always the way: the last one out to turn off the lights, gets the blame.’

Gregg founded George Allan’s Greengrocers in 1989 and built the company into a business with a £7.5 million turnover

In 2014 Gregg was forced to close his Wallace and Co restaurant in Putney, South West London and sell its parent company Wallace Cafes.

Since then he has relied on his £400,000-a-year MasterChef salary, which is now hanging in the balance.

Much of the earning pressure is now on his ShowMe.Fit app, which he advertises using his popular Instagram account. But it emerged last year that he borrowed £70,000 to keep it going.

It is currently worth £108,663, according to the accounts.

Lobster Enterprises Ltd, where his TV cash is paid into, paid tax suggesting it made a £400,000 profit. But it is worth £32,000, according to the latest accounts.

The shamed Masterchef star, 60, also set up Gregg Wallace.Health after he himself shed five stone, with the business offering recipes, advice from experts and frozen ready deliveries.

The website reads: ‘Ready to transform your health and feel your best? – no risks, just results. Cancel anytime’.

However in recent weeks fans who signed up have furiously taken to review bible Trustpilot and claimed they are being incorrectly charged and are struggling to get their money back.

One customer fumed: ‘What a scam. I cancelled my membership when they changed apps. However [it] managed to do an auto renewal of my membership and deducted an annual subscription for a non functioning App. Getting no reply on their email for a refund. Customer service terrible and would not recommend them’.

Potential loss: £400,000-a-year 

Noel Clarke 

Noel Clarke said that his work completely dried up the moment The Guardian story about his alleged sexually inappropriate behaviour was published.

In court papers he has detailed more than £10million in lost earnings since the article in April 2021.

One company he still runs called Astonishing Entertainment Limited, had assets of £432,583 in the 12 months up to the end of March 2021, when the allegation was made.

The same company now has just £320 according to the most recent accounts which cover the 12 months to the end of March 2024.

His company Unstoppable Film and Television Limited was bought by powerful TV production company ALL 3 Media, which was behind Fleabag, in 2018, but Clarke and business partner Jason Maza stood down in August 2021 after the Guardian claims were published. 

Noel Clarke arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice this week for his libel case against The Guardian

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The company had assets of £3.3million in the months before the bombshell newspaper claims.

In court papers Clarke catalogued the earnings he was losing as a consequence of being cancelled.

They were a Sky TV show Bulletproof, series 4, where he lost his fee for acting in 10 episodes – £585,000, his fee for writing two episodes – £90,000 – his fee for directing two episodes – £90,000 – and anticipated royalties of £250,000.

The Guardian article came out midway through an ITV series Viewpoint which was immediately taken off the air.

But a second series had already been commissioned meaning he lost his fee – £270,000, anticipated royalties of an estimated £200,000.

Advanced plans for a Channel 5 TV show Highwater which would have begun shooting in winter 2021 meant he lost a producer bonus – in the region of £60,000.

A BBC TV show called Crongton was ‘greenlit’ was ditched and meant he would not get a producer bonus – in the region of £60,000.

Clarke is known for his role in Doctor Who as Mickey. He is pictured here alongside Billie Piper who played Rose Tyler

Noel Clarke pictured as DC Martin Young in the ITV Series Viewpoint

A StudioCanal movie Something in the Water would have earned him a producer bonus in the region of £40,000.

He would also have earned a minimum salary from his ex production company Unstoppable Film and Television of £1.25million over 10 years not including raises or bonuses.

He also said the projected approximate value of shares in Unstoppable Film and Television, which he says has now been ‘wiped out’, would have been £7million.

Potential loss: £10million 

Wynne Evans

Wynne Evans has almost £1million in cash and assets sitting in the bank, his latest accounts reveal.

But he has had to step away from the public eye after making a lewd joke that saw him have to leave the lucrative Strictly Come Dancing tour this year. 

Evans, 53, who made a sick sexual comment about dancer and broadcaster Janette Manrara, has also been replaced in his BBC Radio Wales show. 

Wynne Evans Ltd handles the majority of his media earnings, including his Go Compare commercial work.

GoCompare has repeatedly refused to say whether they are going to sack Wynne from his role, which is believed to worth at least £200,000-a-year. 

Wynne Evans is said to earn £200,000-a-year as the face of Go Compare

The Go Compare star reportedly believes his reputation has been unfairly left ‘in tatters’ after he apologised for a vile remark aimed at tour host Janette Manrara, when footage emerged of the comment at the tour’s press launch

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Accounts for year to end of May 2024, filed in February show he has cash and assets of £734,830 – down from £761,798 the year before. 

He paid £12,186 in tax.

It does not include what he was paid to be on Strictly and its live tour before he was forced to walk away from.

He owns a flat in Croydon bought for £198,000 in 2014. It is now worth an estimated £288,000. 

His ex-wife Tanwen Evans owns a home in Cardiff bought for £465,000 in 2013, now worth £875,000.

He has a management company which manages the flat in Croydon but it is dormant.

But he disbanded another company seven years ago and he is one of many director-board members of a Opera theatre called Grange Park Opera in West Horsley.

When the Go Compare and Strictly star discussed the house he moved into after his divorce he described it as ‘sad and derelict’, backing onto busy a railway track and saying it cost £500,000 to make it fit to live in.

Wynne Evans ‘ lawyers have reportedly compiled a 30-page dossier to take to showdown talks with the BBC as he fights to keep his beloved radio job

Wynne previously revealed he hit ‘rock bottom’ at the end of his marriage to Welsh violinist Tanwen (seen together in 2011) 

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But pictures unearthed by MailOnline revealed that the stunning Edwardian villa was apparently in immaculate condition, with well presented rooms and gardens, packed with period features and in good condition.

And at more than £700,000 it was more than four times the then average property price for Cardiff.

In a recent interview discussing his 2015 divorce, the opera singer was bemoaning the state of the house in Cardiff which he bought after splitting from Tanwen and moving away from his two children.

He claimed the five-bedroomed house was ‘all he could afford’ and said he had spent £500,000 on improvements.

The house with three bathrooms in the leafy area was described at the time he bought it, in 2016, was certainly dated, and needed some modernising, but according to Evans it had ‘boarded-up windows’ and his then teenage children had to sleep in tents in their bedrooms during early visits. 

Potential loss: At least £200,000-a-year