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IN THIS ISSUE: Wealth tips, rent realities, and year-end tasks |
GOOD START
This account has no contribution limits. |
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THE HEADLINES
Wealthy and wiseWhat happened: Some of the roughly 10% of Americans who consider themselves wealthy have revealed the factors they credit for their success in the new State of Wealth Mobility study from Fidelity Investments.1 Their top 3: investing strategically (such as aligning investments to a specific time horizon), saving from a young age, and saving consistently. |
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Here’s why: Investing early, often, and with a solid financial plan—with defined goals and a clear way to help reach them—could help you grow your money and feel financially successful.
What it means for you: The end of the year is a good time to reflect on how you want to level up your investing habits for next year. While there are no guarantees investing would catapult you to wealthy, knowing how to invest could increase your confidence that you’re on the right path. Need help getting started? Check out our guide to
ramping up your investing. And consider setting up recurring contributions, which could help you stick to your plan. |
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Touch and goldWhat happened: Gold’s price set a record late last month before losing some of its luster and dipping back down.
Here’s why: Gold’s value can rise or fall based on a number of factors observed recently, including fluctuating interest rates, economic uncertainty, and the changing strength of the dollar.
What it means for you: You might not want to decide whether to invest in gold based on recent highs (or lows) alone. Instead, think about potentially going for the gold as a way to help diversify your portfolio and spread out your risk—so if one investment type declines, the others might grow … or at least not decline as much.
There are a few ways to invest in gold, such as ETFs and mutual funds,
gold futures, or gold stocks. Heads up: You’ll need an investment account (such as a brokerage account or IRA)
to invest in gold. You could also invest in physical gold bars or coins (like these)—just be sure to account for extra costs, like storage and insurance. |
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Home economicsWhat happened: Rents rose more than 3% over last year, according to real estate site Zillow.2 That’s nearly a percentage point higher than inflation for all items.3
Here’s why: An apartment building full of reasons: low vacancies, people unable to buy homes (due to high mortgage rates and little inventory), landlords’ inflated labor and maintenance costs, pandemic rent freezes and discounts ending, remote workers flocking to formerly affordable areas, and more people wanting to live solo.
What it means for you: Housing is many people’s biggest monthly expense, eating into cash you might otherwise spend on financial goals like investing. Try these strategies to possibly lower your rent. Also ask about rent concessions, which are more common now.4
That could be because there’s more housing construction going on, so landlords might think finding tenants could get tougher once those buildings are completed. Look for temporary rent discounts, free weeks or even months of rent, and waived fees. |
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2024 and 2025 CONTRIBUTION LIMITS ON … |
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HOW TO
Help save money on 2024 taxesConsider these tasks before year-end to help trim your tax bill—and set you up for success in the years ahead. |
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STREET SMART
Capital gainsCapital gains are the profits from selling investments that have gone up in value. Everyone wants gains—including Uncle Sam. So you might have to pay taxes on gains, and you’ll be taxed at a higher rate on investments you sold within a year of buying them—these are called short-term capital gains. If you sell investments after holding them for more than 1 year you typically pay lower taxes, depending on your income—these are long-term capital gains. The flipside: Capital losses—investments you’ve sold that have dropped in value—could lower your taxable income. Find out
how to use capital losses to your potential advantage. |
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QUICK QIn a poll last week, you said paying down debt was the top goal you’d put extra money toward. That’s why we’re answering:
What are some tricks for paying down debt?Debt can be one of the biggest hurdles to saving and investing, so it’s smart to get it under control by using the avalanche method or the snowball method. With both strategies, you focus on making extra payments to 1 particular debt balance while continuing to make the minimum payment on all your other debts. With the avalanche method, you’ll tackle the loan with the highest interest rate first, which could help you save more money over time. The snowball method says you should start with the lowest-balance loan first, which could be emotionally satisfying as you clear smaller debts first.
Here’s more on how each method works and how to decide which may work best for you. |
