It’s time to lean back, relax and enjoy a little Joe …
Welcome to another exciting edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what is going on in the world of money and personal finances.
I hope everyone had a great week. And with that, let’s go immediately with this week’s comments, will we?
Neither a wise man nor a brave man lie on tracing history to wait until the train of the future runs over him.
– Dwight D. Eisenhower
Credits and depreciation
Credit: Have you seen this? There was good news and bad news for first home buyers. The good news is that mortgage interest rate law driven Last week to their lowest level since October 2024, with the average 30-year fixed mortgage interest at 6.58%. The bad news is that in most cases lower mortgage interest rate usually do very little to make houses more affordable, because sellers usually increase their asking price to prevent the potential monthly payments from falling. The real solution is higher Interest rates – they offer the best chance to break the housing market, which will lead to more affordable prices.
Credit: At Wall Street, market analysts point out that last week the S&P 500 was closed above the 20-day advancing average for 68 straight days. Bulls with stock market indicate that when that milestone is reached, the S&P 500 is almost always higher in the following year. That is great news for stock investors because history suggests that the S&P can now expect an average annual return of 11% in 2026. Rules are being made to be violated. Take the decorum, for example …
Debit: On the other hand, a new study by Bank of America showed that the largest 50 shares in the S&P 500 since 2015 have surpassed the benchmark index by 73 percentage points. Cracking the Dot Com Bubble. Imagine that.
Credit: Meanwhile, economic analysis estimates that taxpayers will see an average $ 3752 tax reduction In 2026, due to provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The OBBBA has also implemented a large number of temporary tax provisions that will expire in 2030, including a quadruple of the deduction hood of $ 10,000 and local tax (aka Salt); a deduction of $ 6000 for seniors; And temporary tax deduction for tips and overtime, tucked off for some files at $ 25,000 and $ 12,500 respectively. Oh, and talking about spending cuts …
Credit: In the event that you are wondering, individuals in Wyoming, Washington and Massachusetts will see the largest average tax reductions in 2026 – hanging around $ 5100 – While residents of West Virginia and Mississippi will see the smallest average tax cuts in that year, about $ 2400. Well, at least the honest …
Debit: Unfortunately, although individual households will benefit from tax cuts, the tax health of the country will probably not. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office. CBO estimates that the trillions in lost federal income will more than add $ 4.1 trillion To the national debt in the following decade. Au. That said, no matter how gloomy the situation seems, there are always optimists who are there …
Debit: On a somewhat related note, there is a growing choir of voices that suggests that the Increasing age of male virgins In the US there is a direct consequence of the monetary policy of the FED; In particular quantitative relaxation (QE).
Debit: Needless to say that most people tend to spot the suggestion that QE leads to a society of older male virgins – but a similar pattern originated in Japan During their lost decade of the nineties. The question is: is the correlation equal to the cause in this case? Or is there something else at work? What is that? You have never heard of the lost decade of Japan. Well … that’s not the only one from the nineties that – ever – was completely unknown to the public …
Debit: Of course it is not as important as whether or not you believe that there is a causal relationship between the long -running and reckless monetary policy of the FED and male virginity. What is It is important that you acknowledge that the current fiat Monetary system is now in its death disorder in debt and what is coming will not be beautiful. (Get link)
Debit: One of the growing amount of indisputable evidence that reveals that the current monetary system is No longer to be repaired Is the inability of the worldwide central banks to control interest rates. Consider production A, where, despite the European Central Bank (ECB) that reduces the deposit rate in the past year with 200 BPs, the German and French returns of 30 years have been moved in the opposite direction and are now at 14-year-old highlights. We suspect strongly that the FED will see the same results after it starts later this year to lower its Fed Funds rate.
H/T: @MemetiqCream
Credit: The good news is that although there will be a settlement, it is still possible to buy the power insurance that should minimize everyone – if not profit – From the final endgame we are now in. However, Checkmate is on the horizon. As soon as the game is over, that insurance will be sent, leaving everyone in the middle class who did not buy it financially destroyed. Do you have gold?
By the figures
Since 2022, the average vacancy rate in America has since been on an upward climb; It is now 7.8% on large American metropolitan markets. From April 2025 here were the American cities with the lowest – and highest – vacancy rates in America:
1.2% Subsidies pass, or
1.5% Jefferson City, MO
1.6% Glens Falls, NY
1.7% Ocean City, NJ
1.8% Stanton, VA
21.2% Fort Walton Beach, FL
22.7% Wenatchee, wa
27.1% Sherman, TX
27.2% Myrtle Beach, SC
34.8% The villages, FL
Source: Apartment
The question of the week
The poll results from last week
How large is it deductible on your car insurance?
More than 1800 Len Penzo Dot com readers responded to last week’s question and it appears that just over half of you have car insurance with a deductible of $ 500 or less. One of the best way to save money on your premiums is of course to increase your own deductible as high as you can afford. Remember that the insurance is intended to cover the costs not afford to pay. Most drivers – especially the good ones – will ultimately save money by paying lower premiums at the front in exchange for paying the higher deductible on the back.
When You Have a question that you would like to see here, send it to me Len@lenpenzo.com And make sure you place “question of the week” in the subject line.
Useless news: camping trip
One day Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to go on a camping trip. After a long first day of enjoying the outdoors, they founded their tent and fell asleep.
A few hours later Holmes woke up his loyal friend. “My best Watson! Look up at the sky and tell me what you see.”
“I see millions of stars.” Watson answered.
“And what does you say?” asked Holmes.
Watson thought about the question for a long minute. Finally, the good doctor turned to his friend and said: “Astronomically speaking, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and possibly billions of planets. Astrologically it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Time wise, it seems to be about fifteen minutes past three, it seems to be a nice day. You, Sherlock?”
And with that Holmes looked at his partner and said, “Watson, you idiot! Someone has stolen our tent!”
(H/T: Susan)
Squirrel
Provided this week without comment …
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More useless news
Here the top five articles were viewed by my 51,777 Weekly E -Mail subscribers and other followers in the past 30 days (excluding black coffee costs):
- My 17th annual cost research of 10 popular Brown -bag sandwiches
- 18 great credit cardfeiten that you probably didn’t know
- Good personal financial habits that everyone should follow
- 14 things you shouldn’t buy while traveling
- Breaking the costs to say goodbye: my journey with funeral planning
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Letters, I get letters
Every week I have the most interesting question or comment, assuming that I get one, that is. And people who are lucky to have the only question in the mail bag, get their letter here emphasized whether it is interesting or not! You can contact me at: Len@lenpenzo.com
Superman has Lex Luthor and I have Oscar – who asked the following question:
If you had the money at hand and your two options for buying a $ 300,000 house were for $ 400,000 or $ 600,000, which would you choose?
Uh … is that a trick question?
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Photocredit: Public Domain
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