What do you think? What is your opinion?

How do you think interest rates affect the economy and markets? - When interest rates climb, spending slows, which leads to a slowdown of economic growth. With higher interest rates, people borrow less, and the ones who have already borrowed have less discretionary income, thanks to the higher interest rates that are now being paid. Similarly, when higher interest rates occur, businesses are also paying higher interest rates and borrowing less, and like the economy, it will slow their growth. If the company is publicly traded, it could spur people to sell, which would means their stocks would lose value. Where do you think interest rates are headed and why? Is this good or bad? - I have been doing research on interest rates recently, as I am purchasing a home this year and expect it to be a good time to get a decent rate. It dropped fairly significantly from 2018 to 2019, and it's expected to stay pretty even (around 3.5% I think) through 2020. This could be a good thing for it to stay relatively steady, because it means the economy is fairly stable. If interest rates dropped too low too fast, we could end up in a situation in which people are quickly over-borrowing, which is never a good idea. Do you think markets are currently undervalued, overvalued, or fairly valued? How about certain asset classes? - I believe markets in general are currently fairly valued. Property is one that comes to mind that is overvalued frequently, but it depends on where the market is. Not all property is overvalued. It depends on the area. How does taxation and inflation work against your objective of wealth building? - Taxation does not outright prohibit your ability to grow your wealth, but it does slow it. For example, my husband and I both were promoted in our fields in 2019, which put us from the top of one tax bracket to the bottom of the next one. While we overall still have more money, we have not been able to grow our savings and 401ks as quickly as we were expecting. I saw a 20% increase in my yearly income in 2019, but have not seen a 20% extra growth in savings. Are there ways you can "defeat" the effects of inflation and taxation? - There are no real ways to defeat it, but there are ways to get around it. Staying at the top of a tax bracket is one that comes to mind, or moving to an area with lower taxes.