3 things I'm thinking about this week...

 
1 - AI: Boom or Bubble? At this point in time, it’s more bubble (maybe the picture below gave that away). The technology itself helps businesses giant and small, as well as consumers. And it will keep advancing rapidly. Which has led to the massive capital investments we’re seeing at Amazon, Google, Nvidia and many others. The bubble part comes from valuations built on seemingly never-ending high growth expectations. As this article points out, this corporate capital spending spree is reaching speculative levels. We’ve seen this play out in the late 1990s with telecom and the internet. Chasing what’s super-loved and popular is a bad investment idea. As has been said many times since Mark Twain coined the phrase, “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”
 
Photo by Marc Sendra Martorell on Upsplash
 

2 - The Richer, the Worse?  Morgan Housel has talked about the tendency to “move the goalposts” and bump up our standard of living as our income increases. The author of this article feels she’s gotten worse at managing her spending as her income has risen. One idea is to think of budgeting as a tool…not a punishment, and not to underspend on the things you want. Carl Richards suggests a periodic review of your spending…and just noting it, without judgement…building awareness without placing guilt or blame. “I spent $400 at restaurants last month. Interesting.”

3 - The RMD Zone. RMDs are a fact of life for many already in retirement. IRAs and other retirement accounts must be tapped (and taxed) – whether you need the money or not. Two ways to address this issue are Roth Conversions and Qualified Charitable Deductions (QCDs). 

Roth Conversions shift money from a traditional IRA to a Roth – while paying the taxes due now vs. later. Can result in your future growth and withdrawals occurring tax-free. QCDs are in play once you’re age 70.5+ and involve direct charitable donations (up to $108,000 for 2025) from your IRA. They count toward your RMD and don’t bump up your taxable income. For both, consult with your financial adviser and CPA for the details, and to see if they make sense for you. 

...and one more thing

Interesting map of where these restaurants got their start. My oldest son attends the University of Denver…steps away from the first Chipotle. And Kansas is a bit more of a fast-food launchpad than I would have guessed.