{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"539: Best of 2025 Holiday Special","description":"It\u2019s been another interesting year in the world of personal finance and macroeconomics. As we look ahead to 2026\u2026 well, who really knows what\u2019s coming? I\u2019ll be sharing my own take\u2014and making a few predictions\u2014in an upcoming episode. What\u2019s hard to ignore is just how unusual this moment in history is. We\u2019re coming off COVID. We went through a rapid rise in interest rates, and now a pullback. Tariffs are back in the conversation. There are a lot of moving parts, and as usual, the consensus hasn\u2019t exactly nailed it. Almost every expert was convinced tariffs would push inflation higher. I expected at least a temporary bump\u2014some transient inflation while markets adjusted. Then the CPI report came out at 2.7%. That\u2019s a lot closer to the Fed\u2019s 2% target, and nearly half a percentage point lower than expectations. Clearly, something else is going on. At the same time, GDP came in at around 4.3% growth. That\u2019s real strength. Inflation is coming down, growth is strong, and while the labor market is still a little murky, there\u2019s no question there\u2019s underlying momentum in the system. Investors haven\u2019t quite felt it yet. It\u2019s been a sticky environment. But my sense is that we\u2019re getting closer to a shift\u2014more liquidity, more money in the system, and markets that may start moving meaningfully again. Of course, we\u2019ll see how it all plays out. For this episode, my producer Phil pulled together some of the highlights from the show in 2025\u2014a look back at the conversations and ideas that stood out in a year when the data kept surprising just about everyone. I hope you enjoy it. And again, happy holidays. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year. ","author_name":"Wealth Formula Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/www.wealthformula.com\/","html":"