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The real reason a staggering 40% of U.S. homeowners are mortgage-free

The real reason a staggering 40% of U.S. homeowners are mortgage-free

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The real reason a staggering 40% of U.S. homeowners are mortgage-free
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Here's a stat that would likely make financial adviser and radio personality Dave Ramsey—who has long advocated for Americans to pay off their mortgages early as a key pillar of his debt-free philosophy—at least somewhat pleased: A staggering 39.8% of U.S. owner-occupied housing units in 2023 were mortgage-free, marking a new high for this data series. That's up from 39.3% in 2022 and 32.8% in 2010.
Among the 85.7 million U.S. homeowner occupied households, 34.1 million are mortgage-free. The other 51.6 million have an outstanding mortgage.
So why did I say it'd only make Dave Ramsey 'somewhat pleased'?
Well, the reason is that a higher percentage of Americans are mortgage-free isn't necessarily because so many are paying off their mortgages faster. Instead, it reflects a powerful underlying demographic shift: the aging composition of the American population.
As Americans live longer, the U.S. fertility rate declines, and the massive baby boomer generation ages into their senior years, the U.S. population has skewed older. Since older homeowners are more likely to have paid off their mortgages, the aging composition of the American population means a larger share of homeowners are achieving mortgage-free status each year.
The other thing is that when older Americans sell their house and buy another home, they're more likely to rollover their equity and purchase that next home in all-cash.
Given that most demographic forecasts expect the composition of the American population to continue shifting upward in age, the share of mortgage-free households could also continue rising in the years to come. The wild card? If reverse mortgages get more popular and more older Americans take on mortgage debt again to tap into their equity.
This post originally appeared at fastcompany.comSubscribe to get the Fast Company newsletter: http://fastcompany.com/newsletters
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2025 tax guide for expats: What you need to know about taxes if you live outside the U.S.
2025 tax guide for expats: What you need to know about taxes if you live outside the U.S.

Yahoo

time4 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

2025 tax guide for expats: What you need to know about taxes if you live outside the U.S.

Living abroad doesn't mean you can leave your U.S. tax responsibilities behind. If you're an American expat, the IRS still expects you to report your worldwide income — no matter where you live or work. Here's the good news: There are a few different tax breaks that help many expats avoid U.S. taxes altogether. This tax guide for expats will help you understand which forms to file, what income to report and how to take advantage of key exclusions and credits so you can stay compliant and avoid overpaying. What you should report to the IRS if you live abroad U.S. citizens and resident aliens must report their global income — no matter where it's earned. That means wages, dividends, interest, rental income and self-employment earnings all need to be included on your annual tax return, converted into U.S. dollars using the applicable exchange rate. 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The Warped Idealism of Trump's Trade Policy
The Warped Idealism of Trump's Trade Policy

Atlantic

time7 minutes ago

  • Atlantic

The Warped Idealism of Trump's Trade Policy

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Tomorrow is Donald Trump's deadline to agree to trade deals before he imposes tariffs, and he means it this time. Why are you laughing? (In fact, since saying that yesterday, he's already chickened out with Mexico, putting the 'taco' in, well, TACO.) But the president has already written off hopes of reaching agreements with some allies. Yesterday, Trump announced that he was raising tariffs on many Brazilian goods to 50 percent across the board, as retribution for Brazil's prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally. This morning, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Prime Minister Mark Carney's decision to recognize a Palestinian state 'will make it very hard' to strike a deal with Canada. 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Figma's top VCs are sitting on $24 billion worth of stock after massive IPO pop
Figma's top VCs are sitting on $24 billion worth of stock after massive IPO pop

CNBC

time7 minutes ago

  • CNBC

Figma's top VCs are sitting on $24 billion worth of stock after massive IPO pop

You can almost smell the bubbly wafting across Silicon Valley. Following Figma's blockbuster market debut on Thursday, four of the most iconic names in venture capital — Index Ventures, Greylock, Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia — are collectively sitting on roughly $24 billion worth of the design software vendor's stock. Until recently, there's been little reason to celebrate. From late 2021, when soaring inflation and rising rates pushed investors out of risky assets, until the middle of 2025, tech IPOs were few and far between, and many of the companies that managed to make it out failed to impress Wall Street. That's left venture firms with scarce returns for the pension funds, endowments and foundations they rely on for funding. The mood is noticeably brighter these days as the Nasdaq trades near a record. Figma is the latest, and perhaps most high-profile, tech company to hit the market, and Wall Street appears to want more. After raising its price range this week and then pricing $1 above the top of that range, Figma shares soared 250% in their first day on the New York Stock Exchange. Investors will admit they got lucky. Figma was supposed to get acquired for $20 billion by Adobe, an agreement the two companies forged in 2022. But the following year, the transaction collapsed after U.K. regulators said the tie-up would harm competition. Figma is now worth more than three times what Adobe was going to pay, closing on Thursday with a market cap of almost $68 billion. CEO Dylan Field, who co-founded the company in 2012, owns a stake worth over $6 billion. Danny Rimer, a partner at Index Ventures and Figma board member, wrote in a blog post on Thursday that the failed acquisition came with "intense pressure and a spotlight few founders ever face." "Dylan remained his usual grounded, transparent self," wrote Rimer, whose firm first bet on Figma in 2013 and is the biggest shareholder, with $7.2 billion worth of stock in the company. "When the deal fell through a year later, he didn't flinch. He turned the page and got right back to building." Figma's offering raised $1.2 billion, with two-thirds of the proceeds going to existing investors. Other than the small slug of stock each of the venture firms sold at $33, the rest of their holdings are subject to a lock-up period, meaning all of the current value is currently just on paper. The vast majority of outstanding shares are locked up for 180 days, so big stock sales can't happen until January. Stablecoin issuer Circle went public in June, and is the other tech IPO that's generated hefty returns for VCs recently. 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But Trump later walked back his threats and the trade deals he's landed have resulted in lower tariffs than previously feared. CoreWeave, a provider of artificial intelligence infrastructure, went public just before Trump's initial plans were announced. The stock is now almost triple its IPO price, closing on Thursday at $114.13, though that's down about 38% from its high in June. CoreWeave and Circle have both been big wins for investors, with their market caps now at about $56 billion and $41 billion, respectively. Figma is worth even more. Lynn Martin, president of the NYSE, told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" on Thursday that she thinks the Figma offering "will open the floodgates." Figma's early investors and big financial winners all published glowing blog posts about Field and the journey he's been on with the company that he started after dropping out of college in 2012. 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On Thursday, with his firm's stake in Figma approaching $3.8 billion, Reed took to X for his congratulatory remarks. "Congrats to the incredible @Figma team," Reed wrote. "The most creative, determined, imaginative, and positive group of people. I'm just so happy for all of your success."

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