"Maybe it’s just me, but it feels like every purchase I make comes with a hefty price tag. Between an inflated cost of living and ever-rising bills, it seems as though simply staying afloat financially—much less getting ahead—is impossible, including for the most financially savvy people out there. To make matters worse, President Trump imposed a slew of new tariffs last week, sending the market and global economy into a volatile period of uncertainty. Those tariffs have now been paused, though a base tariff of 10 percent remains. This will-they-won’t-they dance has merely poured salt in the wound and done little in the way of assuaging my fears about the economy. If anything, I’m more stressed about my finances than ever before.
Needless to say, this got me thinking: How, exactly, will President Trump’s tariffs impact my finances, should they be put forward again? To answer this vital question, I tapped four financial experts. Ahead are their responses and all you need to know about how tariffs will actually impact your finances moving forward.
Experts Consulted
Courtney Alev, Associate Director of Product Management at Credit Karma
Courtney Alev serves as Credit Karma’s Consumer Financial Advocate in addition to her role as Associate Director of Product Management. In her role, Courtney is responsible for building Credit Karma’s next generation of product features focused on helping members know, grow, and protect their wealth.
Donna Deaton, Realtor
Donna Deaton has been a full-time realtor since 2003 and serves as the Vice President of RE/MAX Victory + Affiliates. Her passion has always been to see others have their dreams come true, and she is experienced in all fields of residential real estate.
Laura Mattia, CFP®:, MBA, Ph.D, Senior Vice President, Financial Advisor
Laura began her career in the financial industry over 30 years ago, rising to the positions of Controller and Chief Financial Officer before returning to school to pursue personal financial planning. In 2020, she founded Atlas Fiduciary Financial before joining Wealth Enhancement in 2024. Laura is the author of Gender on Wall Street: Uncovering Opportunity For Women In Financial Services, podcast host of “Money Matriarchs,” and has authored articles for peer-reviewed and non-academic journals, and regularly contributes to media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, CNBC, MarketWatch, USA Today, Investment News, MSN, and ABC News.
Ayako Yoshioka, Portfolio Consulting Director at Wealth Enhancement Group
Ayako began her career in Institutional Client Relations and Marketing, before moving on to become a Portfolio Analyst, monitoring portfolio trading and guidelines for over $4 billion in equity securities. Next stop was as a Research Analyst, where she spent a decade covering multiple sectors and providing recommendations to portfolio managers. Today, as a Portfolio Consulting Director at Wealth Enhancement Group, Ayako lends her expertise to the research and analysis of investments across multiple asset classes to assist advisors and clients on portfolio construction.
First, what are tariffs? And why are we talking about them RN?
Tariffs, in essence, are taxes applied to imported goods. This nearly universal practice is meant to help countries stimulate and grow their own domestic economy while protecting local, homegrown industries and generating revenue for the government. President Trump claims he is levying tariffs to ease a trade deficit and boost the economy.
Economists disagree on the effectiveness of Trump’s tariffs, with one calling them a “lose-lose for U.S. jobs and industry.” Outside of that debate, the tariffs are raising concerns over the likelihood of a recession. Negotiations are still happening, but as of April 9, 2025, a 10 percent minimum tariff exists for imported goods from every country except China, which is currently facing a tariff rate of 145 percent. To put that into perspective, the last time the average universal tariff was as high as 10 percent was in 1943.
What this means for us is that anything imported into the U.S. is now subject to a higher tax rate and will likely become more expensive as businesses mitigate these costs, thus increasing the cost of living.
How the tariffs are going to impact your personal finances
1. You’ll pay more for everyday imported goods
It turns out there’s a reason for the uptick in prices on everyday essentials, like groceries and utilities. Tariffs often create an economic domino effect for consumers. To maintain profit margins, consumer financial advocate at Credit Karma, Courtney Alev, says that businesses may opt to pass the cost of these tariffs onto consumers. The end result? A higher price tag on goods.
While it’s impossible to know exactly what will be affected and how, electronics, cars, alcohol, clothing, shoes, and furniture are expected to see the steepest price hikes because of where they’re imported from. Ultimately, Portfolio Consulting Director at Wealth Enhancement, Ayako Yoshioka, says these price increases will depend on final negotiated tariff rates and how much companies decide to absorb themselves or pass on to customers.
2. You might experience rent hikes
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the immediate future of the housing market looks grim. Realtor and Managing Vice President at RE/MAX Victory + Affiliates in Ohio, Donna Deaton, predicts tariffs will likely exacerbate supply and demand issues. Fewer homeowners are selling because uncertainty surrounding interest rates currently plagues the housing market. Plus, if tariffs make developing and constructing more expensive, Deaton says fewer housing options might be built.
Subsequently, this limited supply could drive up rent prices. Alternatively, Deaton also says keeping the cost of rent low might be more challenging for rental property owners in the wake of higher construction and renovation costs.
3. The money in your savings and emergency fund might experience less growth
Typically, a higher cost of goods leads to higher inflation, which then leads to higher interest rates. While high interest rates are usually nothing worth celebrating, the silver lining is that they often make it easier to grow whatever money you have sitting in savings or an emergency fund. However, this situation sadly looks a little more complicated.
According to The Motley Fool, banks are often late to the party when it comes to raising interest rates on savings accounts. If anything, they rush to raise the interest rates on things such as mortgages and credit cards. Plus, banks will also slash interest rates amid economic uncertainty to mitigate and increase their profit margins. All in all, this means that, despite inflation and a potential increase in interest rates, your savings and emergency fund might experience less economic growth.
4. Your retirement and other stock portfolios will temporarily crash
By now, you’ve likely heard that the stock market recently plummeted in the wake of newly imposed tariffs, and if you have a retirement or other stock portfolio invested in the market, chances are it’s taken a hit. Thankfully, this crash is likely temporary. The stock market has a tendency to overreact to breaking news, and this dive seems to be the latest example of that. Plus, Laura Mattia, a CFP®, MBA, Ph.D, SVP, and Financial Advisor, says that although tariffs appear to be the sole reason for the current decline, the reality is that it was overvalued by many metrics. Therefore, it was already fragile and susceptible to decline.
That said, crystal balls that can predict the future don’t exist, so there’s no way of knowing when the market will bounce back. However, Mattia cautions against thinking it’ll bounce back immediately, even as tariff and trading policies become clearer. In fact, the market plunged again on Thursday, April 10, after experiencing a rebound on Wednesday. Those close to or thinking about retiring will feel the effects of this crash most heavily. For everyone else, this isn’t the time to make knee-jerk moves like cashing out or investing during the crash, as the market remains volatile.
5. You’ll have to be more flexible with your budget
“With ongoing announcements and updates about tariffs and their potential impact, it’s important to focus on what you can control right now, rather than getting too caught up in the news cycle,” Alev explained. However, she does recommend being flexible with your monthly budget around essential purchases, such as your rent or mortgage, groceries, utilities, and so forth. Essentially, if you have a category in your budget for “fun” purchases like shopping or dining out, consider allocating fewer funds to those purchases and setting additional money aside to account for rising prices on essentials. This will give you more breathing room in a time of economic uncertainty.
Additionally, Mattia also recommends making purchases from local stores and American businesses a top priority. Think: the farmer’s market, small businesses, and so forth. She explained that purchasing from domestic businesses will help offset the effects of tariff-related price increases.
At the end of the day, the key is to do the best with what you have. Yes, it might feel like the economy is doomed, but there’s no telling what the future holds, and this short-term imbalance might have long-term benefits, like a more stable economy. According to Alev, “Regardless of the economic climate, maintaining a budget that works for you, consistently paying down debt, and contributing to savings and emergency funds when possible will always be the keys to strengthening your financial standing.”
Arianna Reardon, Contributing Writer
Arianna is a Rhode Island native, professional blogger, and freelance writer. She’s passionate about helping women develop healthy relationships with money, become financially independent, and invest in themselves for the future. Arianna is a firm believer in going after what you want, taking time to stop and smell the roses, and the importance of a good cocktail.
Feature graphic images credited to: Nellie Adamyan | Unsplash and Frank McKenna | Unsplash