Most people donât set out to accumulate wealth for the sake of it. Rather, people want to live comfortably and provide for their families. After that, many hope to put their money to work in the world. Truly maximizing your wealth requires you to manage it with intention. And those conversations require you to touch on more than just your finances.
When it comes to investing, you sometimes hear the phrase âbig moneyâ thrown around. That term loosely refers to institutional investorsâlarge funds managed on behalf of an institution or group of people. These âbig moneyâ funds, which include university endowments, pensions, sovereign wealth funds, and so on, often manage enough capital that they have the power to move the market if they make big updates to their holdings. They also tend to report higher-than-average returns.
When the S&P 500 increases 25% in a calendar year, as it did in 2024, it can be easy to write the year off as a win. Digging into the details, however, can give investors a better sense of the overall health of the economy and trends to watch in 2025. With that in mind, we put together our annual list of winners and losers, plus the stalwart neutrals that fell somewhere in the middle.
January seemed to go on forever, as the country faced extreme weather and devasting wildfires. The new administration got underway with a lot of sound and fury, particularly around tariffs, which had been a highlight â or a wild card â of the campaign promises. This temporarily caused some market turmoil, but a reversal in short order seemed to validate the marketâs perception that this business-oriented administration may have a bark that is worse than its bite.
The inauguration of only the second U.S. president to win two non-consecutive terms (Grover Cleveland was the first) is historic by a host of measures. However, the economy is in a very different place than it was eight or even four years ago. Will a new economic cycle and a vastly different interest rate environment change plans and outcomes?Â
Policy ideas from the incoming Trump administration could impact your financial life in myriad ways. We look at what potential changes could be in store plus how Trumpâs second term is shaping up to be different from his first.
The transition to a new administration is underway with announcements of cabinet position nominees. The pro-business lean of the incoming government is not a surprise, and the emphasis is likely to be on deregulation and tax cuts. Several of the provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 were set to expire in 2025, and those may get a reprieve.