Election Day is just around the corner—Tuesday, November 5, 2024—to determine the next U.S. president, with a tight race between Trump and Harris. Given how close it is, we may not see final results until later in the week. The longer the outcome drags on, the more it may increase anxiety and market uncertainty.
Many prospective homebuyers may be waiting until post-election to make their moves. With November as the slowest part of the real estate season, I anticipate that the bidding wars next spring could outpace what we saw in 2024.
Meanwhile, the stock market experienced a 1.5% dip on Halloween, spurred by rising Treasury bond yields, an unexpectedly high Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index (+2.7% YoY), and weaker-than-expected earnings from Microsoft and Meta due to their AI investments.
With all this activity, it’s easy to overlook that the Fed meets on Thursday, November 7, with a likely 25 basis-point rate cut in the works. Currently, I’m building a Treasury bond ladder with yields around 4.21% – 4.53% for some stable returns. This looks good if Goldman’s forecast for 3% S&P 500 returns pans out, though I’m skeptical (70% it doesn’t, 30% it does).
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Money Seems To Buy Everything
While soaking in the hot tub, I was reminded that having a lot of money really seems to get you much farther in life.
First, the Dodgers have a $248 million payroll in 2024, and the Yankees have a $303 million payroll, both in the top five in the league. Naturally, they went to the World Series, and the Dodgers won behind the heroics of Freddie Freeman, who joined on a 6-year, $162 million free-agent contract in 2022. Then, of course, there's Shohei Ohtani's 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers signed this past winter.
Second, there’s our hotly contested San Francisco mayoral race, where Daniel Lurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, has surged in the polls thanks to over $10 million in campaign spending from his family’s money. His parents divorced when he was two (his dad was a Rabbi, so he wasn't rich), and his mother later married Peter E. Haas, the great-grandnephew of Levi Strauss.
Finally, I was looking at my school’s “Report of Giving” and was blown away by how much some families donated. Not only was I impressed, but I was inspired to work harder, invest better, and give more as well. Some families with preschoolers gave $10,000, $25,000, and even $50,000, while others with older kids donated $250,000+. With this level of giving, there's little chance their kids will ever have a problem staying in school or getting into another one.
At some point, you might find yourself with far more money than you need. When that happens, you can easily spend it on philanthropy, your kids, and the acquisition of power and status.
Check out: The Surprising Benefits of Donating to Your Kid’s School. Interestingly, this was the least-read and least-commented post of the week. This signals to me, for most, giving is less important than getting. But I’m telling you, the more you give, the more you will get. You just can’t have the attitude of giving to get!
Your 2025 Tax Brackets Are Out
Finally, the IRS has announced its 2025 plan to take your hard-earned money, without too many people revolting. Income thresholds for the seven income tax rates increased by about 2.7% to adjust for inflation. This follows a 5.4% increase in 2024 and a historically large 7% bump in 2023.
My article not only shares the latest tax brackets and standard deduction figures but also suggests the ideal income levels to aim for to live a happy and balanced life. Those figures are up to $200,000 for singles and up to $400,000 for couples.
See: 2025 Tax Brackets and the New Ideal Income Levels for Workers and Retirees
You Don't Need To Make So Much To Be Happy
I left work in 2012 because I was sick of the grind. I decided to go cold turkey, which, in retrospect, was a rash decision. If I could have found a different occupation with much more work flexibility but lower pay, I would have enjoyed working more. I still would have wanted to leave in 2017, at age 40, but I probably should have explored a different occupation.
So many people I know living in big cities are grinding away with multiple six-figure and low seven-figure household incomes. But their incomes are getting heavily taxed, and they're constantly tired and sometimes miserable. Some long to quit the money chase to take care of their kids themselves instead of letting someone else do it, while others dream of a different career path.
As someone who made $4/hour at McDonald's, then much more in finance, then nothing after I left, then more online, the pursuit of earning much more than $200,000/$400,000 is a waste if you don't like what you do. If you like or love what you do and make such amounts or more, you've won the lottery. Feel blessed. But if you don't, an extended grind is not worth it.
Related: Don't Make Over $400,000 a Year: Look at How Goldman Analysts Suffer
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