Wealth Management News & Insights
2024 Year End Checklist, Holiday Shopping Season Separates Winning Retailers from Losers, 100 Notable Books of 2024
Primary Sources
- UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, et al., Plaintiffs, v. GOOGLE LLC, Defendant. & STATE OF COLORADO, et al., Plaintiffs, v. GOOGLE LLC, Defendant: Executive summary of plaintiffs’ proposed final judgment. [DCD.USCOURTS.GOV]
- Berkshire Hathaway Inc. News Release: Today, Warren E. Buffett will convert 1,600 A shares into 2,400,000 B shares in order to give these B shares to four family foundations. Mr. Buffett’s comments to his fellow shareholders follow. [BusinessWire]
Financial Markets
- Frozen Home-Improvement Spending Could Take Time to Thaw: Rate expectations need to stabilize for project demand to rebound. [WSJ]
- Customers Are Quitting Luxury Brands as Price Hikes Go Too Far: By charging more, the industry encourages shoppers to buy from cheaper rivals and resale market. [WSJ]
- Holiday Shopping Season Separates Winning Retailers From Losers: Consumers are seeking deals and being choosier about their spending in the crucial final weeks of the year, executives say. [NYT]
- This Old House? Home Buyers’ Best Deals Are on Builders’ Lots: The premium that buyers usually have to pay for a brand-new house is disappearing. [WSJ]
The chart above displays the recent growth in data center investment as a proportion of office construction spending. Data center investment has increased to 28% in 2024, up from 13% in 2019. This trend highlights the strong impact of data centers on the real estate market.
Financial Planning
- How To Budget Better And Pay Off Debt Faster In 2025: A few simple shifts in how to budget better can turn it into a tool that empowers your financial goals. Here’s how to get a head start and take control this year. [Forbes]
Retirement Planning
- For Retirees in Their 60s, the Move That Adds Years to a Nest Egg: Roth conversions allow retirees to pay taxes on their savings now, so that the money can grow tax-free in the future. [WSJ]
The chart above displays the 30-year conventional mortgage rate and the effective rate on mortgage debt outstanding. Although mortgage rates and the effective rate have fluctuated over time, both rates have generally declined since the mid 1980s.
Business Strategy
- It’s Disney’s Biggest Surprise Hit—8 Years After Its Release: We’ve now watched ‘Moana’ for more than 1 billion hours. How did it become the No. 1 movie in streaming history? [WSJ]
- Are Chipotle’s Burritos Priced Right? New Finance Chief Focuses on Value: The chain might soon raise menu prices to offset its own higher costs, while aiming to remain a quick-service deal for customers. [WSJ]
- Kohl’s Picks C.E.O. of Michaels to Help It Turn Around: Ashley Buchanan will be the third chief executive of the department store chain since 2018. [NYT]
- Can Starbucks Fix Long Lines At Its Airport Cafes?: New Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol is tasked with reversing the coffee giant’s sales slump. He said airports, where consumers often face long lines, are one area in particular that could be improved. [CNBC]
- Crash Prevention Technology Shows ‘Huge Potential,’ But the Roadmap is Up For Debate: Researchers at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety test how well automatic emergency braking systems work in real-world conditions. [NPR]
The chart above displays the mortgage credit availability index, which tracks the availability of mortgage credit over time. The index significantly declined in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the index has slightly recovered in recent years, it still remains below pre-pandemic levels.
Life & Work
- Inside ‘Rail Force One’: The Trains That Take World Leaders to Ukraine: With airspace closed and missiles flying, visiting Kyiv typically means 10 hours on bumpy tracks — even for presidents, prime ministers and business magnates. It’s plenty of time to reflect. [NYT]
- Airlines Are Padding Flight Times. It’s Not Your Imagination: Flying in America has become slower even as official statistics have shown improvement. [NYT]
- The Legend of the Celtics L.B.O.: The true story of how Wyc Grousbeck, perhaps the least well-capitalized owner in sports, had the chutzpah to buy the Celtics in one of the greatest deals in modern sports history. [Puck]
- 100 Notable Books of 2024: Here is the standout fiction and nonfiction of the year, selected by the staff of The New York Times Book Review. [NYT]
- ‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator II’ Jump-Start the Box Office, But at a Cost: Battling a 27 percent decline in domestic ticket sales compared with before the pandemic, studios left no marketing drum unthumped in releasing the movies. [NYT]