mark my words. we will be back. >> in this episode, our "secret lives" super tally rings up to a jaw-dropping "secret lives" super tally rings up to a jaw-dropping $552,735,000.

just what you wanted when you're flying. airlines are expected to carry more passenger this is spring than they have in seven years, 144 million passengers in march and april, up 2% from the same

time last year. good luck finding any elbow room. there is an invisible three-headed monster that may be threatening the retirement of tens of millions of americans, future cost of social security, public pensions and health care are all looming large and no one seems to be paying too much attention to them except for david walker, former u.s. comptroller general. you've been talking about this for years. the disability trust fund, part of social security, that is looking like it could run out of money next year. what does that mean? >> the trustees, it's supposed to go to zero. in reality what they'll do is what they did last time, reallocate the payroll tax revenues from the retirement portion to the disability portion rather than solve the problem. you know, washington has a tendency to put band-aids on open wounds rather than trying

to actually do what needs to be done. >> tell me again how bad is the situation right now and how would you fix it, when it comes to social security? >> first, government uses word that is don't mean the same thing as websteres dictionary. trust funds. you can't trust them. they're not funded. what's in the trust fund is government debt. there's enough government debt we can pay timely benefits on a combined basis until 2023. >> we have a situation where the retirement age is being gradually raised from 62 to 65. >> something less than $200,000, maybe 90% of taxable wages, where it was in the '80s, but not eliminated. not raise the tax rate because that's very regressive. maybe additional changes to the retirement eligibility age based on increase in life expectancy. new tables out have gone up two years for men and women since the last time they did it, but

gradually phase that in. you'll have to keep in mind people in certain occupations like can't work that long. >> desk job, something like what i do, you can do that for a long time. >> intellectual capital, no problem. when it's manual labor mierks grandfathers worked in the mines and the steel mills, it's not the same and you have to recognize that. we'll have to have a stronger minimum benefit. too many people rely on that. and provide somewhat less of a replacement rate for upper middle and upper income individuals. we'll exceed the expectation of every generation of americans and move on, quite frankly, to tougher things. >> it sounds so easy. why is it so hard to get anybody to pay attention to this? >> no leadership. we have a great partisan divide and an even bigger etiological

divide. many republicans don't want to consider raising the tax cap because they call that a tax increase they need to understand the longer we wait, the more dramatic the changes, both on the spinning side and revenue si side. making tough choices sooner rather than later is the right way to go. >> what about medicare? >> it's in much worse shape than social security, multiple times in worse shape. we'll have to solve medicare in conjunction with the broader health care. we've overpromised on health care. affordable health care promised too much, didn't do enough with regard to controlling health care costs and the biggest challenge we face in government is health care costs, trends and the fact that they're going up faster than inflation and economic growth. how much universal health care, appropriate, affordable and sustainable. how can we pay more for outcomes rather than activities? you can't write a blank check for health care.

we're the only major industrialized nation that does that. 18% of gdp and growing. it just doesn't work. a number of things that we can and must do. this is a much heavier lift. we will get it done. we'll have to get it done. but it's going to be tougher choices. >> that's just the federal problems. we also have the state pension plans. we've heard about many of them, new jersey, illinois, that are really in tough shape. how big of a problem is this? is there a fix for this hole, too? >> it's a huge problem. underfunded pensions. pensions are generally funded. it's a matter of how well funded they are. unfunded retirement health care plans. very generous promises to their retirees, many retire early and they're total unfunded if you will. yes, we have to restructure these obligations in a way that's fair to workers and retirees. there's a way to do that. we can eliminate the abuses with

regard to current workers, double dipping and work a lot of overtime into one's career to pad your pension. we could also end up capping the indexing, allow for indexing for inflation but having some reasonable relationship between how much you make in retirement versus the person that has the job that you retired from. with regard to retiree health care, we got an even bigger option. the affordable care act. you can let people be covered under the affordable care act, depending upon their income, they may get federal subsidies and convert to an approach based upon years of service. those changes will save many, many billions of dollars. and in the absence of restructuring this, it means higher taxes over time. and in many cases the states that have the biggest problems are already overtaxed. >> great to be with you, becky.

we are "on the money," everything old is new again. breaking barriers in silicon valley and betting an old-fashioned single blade razor is the future of shaving. the incredible shrinking apartment. why they're getting even smaller and why one city is making aing a huge bet on the tiny investment. called whatever usa and invited anyone who enjoys spontaneous awesomeness to become its citizens. it's like christmas, my birthday, mardi gras... all combined! this is unreal! it's like my best dream! are you up for whatever? good weather, drinking beer, it's awesome! where am i? this is amazing! and all that's standing between you and a chance at - wooooo! - is sharing a fifteen second video audition! tell us why you should go using #upforwhatever and #audition.

tristen walker, after stops at four square, venture capital giant, the new york city native has founded his own start-up, walker & company brands. latest invention is a single blade razor, $9 million in

funding, disrupting the personal grooming and beauty products market. thanks for being here today. >> reporter: thanks for having me. >> silicon valley, spent time in the technology world yet your first product is a razor, which seems very low tech. what's special about this razor? >> bevel for coarse and curly hair like me, prone to shaving irritation, razor bumps, et cetera. we sell them online but that's where the technology starts. i like to describe our business as kind of this analogy, it's very beautiful above water but legs are flapping beneath it. >> something i never even thought about, though. you need a different razor if you have different type of hair that comes out. >> absolutely. >> why? >> 80% of black men and women have this issue. because we have coarse, curly hair and 30% of men and women of

other races have this issue as well. in multi-blade razors that exist today cut the hair beneath your skin. and if you have curly hair, it leads to these ingrown hair issues. no one as tried to fix it until now. i was incredibly frustrated and bevel was founded under that belief. >> you made it the point of saying this is just one of many. >> walker & company is all about developing brands that solve problems for people of color. bevel is the first of that vision. eradicated the razor bump issue. hyper pigmentation, national hair transitioning, we talk even about the prev lens of miscarriage and how hair products lead to some of that issue, right? that's a problem. and all these problems just really need to be fixed. >> business worlds like any world, i think, can be fairly insular, the type of place you learn about if you grow up

there, if your parents grow up there. you didn't know about silicon valley growing up. how did you break in? >> by luck. i applied to stanford business school. had the good fortune, they let me in. i wanted to learn as much about silicon valley as possible. fundamentally changing the world. i knew i wanted to be part of that and tried everything i could to be part of it. fortunately, i've been blessed with a good opportunity to do so. >> there have been huge story lines about how there aren't a lot of women in silicon valley. there aren't a lot of minorities in silicon valley. it's a problem that silicon valley, to me, it seems, is trying to take on and pay attention to. >> i agree. i think about this problem. there are two big ones. number one, folks talk about the access problem. i like to talk about the awareness problem. the fact that i just did not know that silicon valley existed is a big problem. secondly, assuming the awareness problem gets fixed one issue we

have to deal with -- this is an issue everyone has to deal with in any kind of business, implicit buy as. eradicating that implicit bias within your company. i ask all my investors before you can think about who could fill this role, think about women or folks of color who can excel. if you can't think of folks, tell me who you're thinking about. all fantastic leaders and that's something i'm going to continue because we're serving a diverse consumer base. >> i don't know what your plans are for the company, if you want to keep this independent but i can see somebody like a procter & gamble saying we need this. what would be your response if someone came knocking on the door? >> we want to build a company with as much legacy as those folks, great organization. there's no reason we can't do the same. right? it would be my biggest joy to have walker & company outlast

me, right? i think this is a company that needs to exist. we're serving an incredible demographic that will be the fastest -- it is the fastest-growing demographic in the country. we'll be the majority of this country in 20, 30 years. our opportunity is really significant. for us to kind of give up on that, i think, would be a shame. >> tristan, thank you for your time. >> thank you. appreciate it. thank you. we are "on the money." think small. new way of living that's hitting cities across the country. could you manage to live in 400 square feet or less? later learn how to freelance your way to financial freedom. hey mom, you want to live by the lake, right?

yeah. there's here. ♪ did you just share a listing with me? look at this one. it's got a great view of the lake. it's really nice mom. ♪ your dad would've loved this place.

you're not just looking for a house. you're looking for a place for your life to happen.

fully accessible bathroom. storage space post bathroom area and generously sized closet, kitchen. it's all just a little bit more compact than bigger apartments. >> that was the project developer of the my microapartment complex in new york. it's a pilot project that the city hopes will help to alleviate the housing demand for renters. it is a little hard to imagine living in less than 400 square feet, research suggests that tiny is the wave of the future for city dwellers everywhere. the director of the project joins me now.

thank you for joining us. >> you're welcome. >> prevented them from having any apartments designed less than 4 hu00 square feet. it has been waived for this project. >> exactly. it's a pilot project and it's only waived for our project. if it's successful, the hope is that the city would allow for microunits and greater density. >> admittedly i live in the suburbs, used to quite a bit more space houchlt do you live in 475 square feet? is it possible? >> it is entirely possible. this is not for everybody. but the fact is that more and more people are living alone. and that is due to the fact that we are studying more, particularly women. we are marrying later. we are also, unfortunately, divorcing more. in manhattan, almost half of the population lives by themselves. so, this project is in response to a change in demographics. >> when i looked at what we just saw from that video footage, it's beautiful. it does look more spacious than i might have imagined.

but have you or anybody you know actually tried to do this? >> yes. my partner, who is also my husband, we lived in a 375 square foot apartment for two years. >> both of you? >> both of us. it's a good test for a marriage, by the way. but that was our market research on how to maximize space and go vertical with all of your storage. but more importantly, we chose to do that because we wanted to be in the heart of manhattan. and so it's a lifestyle choice for some people who, you know, are very entice bd by urban living, to be koclose to amenits and cut down on their commute time. >> how much do you end up paying for an apartment like this? >> the development is going to be 40% affordable and the rest is market rate. so, whatever market rate will be by the time we finish, that will

set the price. >> you know, i have been surprised because, as you said, it's not for everybody. you might expect it in the heart of manhattan. it's picking up in places like boston, seattle and i even read an article recently in the "new york times" that suggested it was taking place in tennessee. >> also texas. >> and texas, too. >> micro in texas is 500, 600 square feet but that's extremely small for texas standards. it's a global issue and also a national issue where there's a housing shortage in dense cities and there's just an overall general desire to live in cities. >> do you think part of it is the response to the housing bubble bursting in 2008, people feeling like they had been putting too much into housing? >> yes and also people feeling as if they don't necessarily need mcmansions and they don't necessarily need to own so much because it could all go away. >> mimi, thank you so much for joining us today. >> you're welcome. up next on "the money" a look at the news for the week

ahead. how to be your own boss and keep your finances in tiptop shape? is it a dream or a nightmare?

for more on our show and our guests go to otm.cnbc.com. industrial production figures for february on monday and an important housing market index from the national association of home builders. tuesday, housing starts for february. plus on tuesday, when irish eyes

are smiling, watch for parades, leprechauns and shamrocks. it's st. patrick's day. and on friday could the long winter be over? spring finally begins. yea! the number of americans who work for themselves has grown by more than a million people in the last three years. there were more than 15 million self employed workers in the country by the end of 2015, according to the bureau of labor statistics. add to that those who moonlight, have side jobs or freelance. that number grows significantly. sharon epperson joins me now to talk about the impact of freelance work on your future and your money. sharon? >> about one-third of workers are freelancing today, according to a national survey by the freelancers union. increase enough in numbers to make up half of the labor force in the next five years.

>> freelancers, consultants, independent contractors. that will change not only their life but the way that corporate america works. >> why this huge number of people who are kind of self employed like this? is this because they want to be or is this because the other jobs aren't out there? >> i think it's a combination of both. how much of the u.s. workforce is underemployed. in order to get up to what they need to be making, a lot of folks are freelancing and others are saying this is a more entrepreneurial economy. while they're trying to figure out how to do that, they may have a corporate job or regular job while they're trying to figure out how to become more entrepreneurial in the future and freelancing while they're trying to figure out how to do that. >> what's the biggest thing while you're transitioning. >> you can be your own boss and set your own deadlines. to be a successful boss of yourself, you have to be a successful marketer. you have to get the word out

there about what you're able to do. a skill set you may not have developed as well in a traditional job. >> practical considerations, what should freelancers know before they really jump in? >> financial considerations you need to make. as you're managing your own finances you have to manage your own taxes as well. rule of thumb that was easy when i was doing freelancing, think about your tax bracket and put that percentage of whatever check you get into a separate account so that you have that money already set aside. health insurance, that's a big consideration that you now have to do on your own and go to healthcare.gov and try to figure out if an individual marketplace option is the best for you. freelancersunion.org is another pla place. retirement opgs for someone who is self employed or freelancing are so wide. there's much more than, of course, traditional 401(k), which you'll not be able to necessarily contribute to, but solo 401(k) allows you to put in more money.

>> it gets tricky sometimes that you combine your personal and business expenses. >> big no-no. have a separate checking account for your business and a separate business credit card. you want to keep them separate because those business expenses will be tax deductions down the road. you want to make sure that you understand what some of those potential expenses are that you're going to be able to write off. >> great advice. sharon, thank you. that's shoet for today. i'm becky quick. thank you so much for joining me. next week, are they a technological breakthrough or menace to air safety? we'll take a look at whether drones are a danger. each week keep it here. we're "on the money." have a great week. i'll see you next weekend. female announcer: you're on the right track to save big

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>> narrator: in this episode of "american greed"... he's a successful insurance broker. she's a vice president at a leading financial firm. >> she was making close to a quarter of a million dollars a year. they were living large. >> narrator: tina and joe caronna lived the good life, with a nice house and a collection of classic cars. but joe has one very dark secret. he's stealing money from clients to finance their fun. >> he preyed on people that were friends and family. he didn't prey on strangers. there was nobody he would not steal money from. >> narrator: how far will joe caronna go to keep his sins a secret? >> i started crying, and i said, "i don't want to believe this.