It’s two days until election day in the U.S., and the entire country is waiting to elect its new President, along with other state elected officials. My desire for you is that you find a sense of peace amidst the craze and uncertainty.

If you didn’t vote during the early voting period, I wish you well at the polls on Tuesday. Regardless of who you vote for, your vote matters – please exercise it. This is my first time voting in a Presidential election in a swing state. I’m specifically in North Carolina. I have never received so many texts, calls, knocks, and snail mail flyers. All I have to say is – wow! I wish we could use those same marketing tactics for other important issues.

Well, even as we wait for election day, I want to share several learnings over the last quarter that will hopefully be useful beyond Tuesday.  

Cherish Your Intangible Relationships in Your 40s. When I was a child, I always thought that people in their 40s were WAY too old. Now that I’m in my 40s, anyone in the decade still seems very young to me, of course. I always get a dose of reality when I miss most of the young pop cultural references, I hold a book a little farther away than I did a few years ago, I need at least 7 hours of sleep or things will go haywire, I am taking on more caregiving responsibilities, or my knees make creaking noises, to name just a few! I anticipated some of these things. What I did not anticipate is how many people within 10 years seem to die around me with much, much more frequency. Funerals outnumber baby showers and weddings.

And then when I add on the people who die above 60-years-old with whom I have real relationships with (as compared to when I was younger and these individuals were more my parents’ friends), the amount of deaths add up. No one told me to prepare myself for losing way more people in your life as you journey into your 40s. So, I’m telling you now -- prepare yourself for the emotional roller coaster. Right now:

• Cherish the family and friend gatherings that seem routine; at the next function, a loved one may not be there, so make them extraordinary.

• Be intentional about how you are spending your time with the people you want to spend it with – you may miss an opportunity to do so later.

• Celebrate the big and small milestones with the people you love – family is everything!

As the holiday season draws near, may you rejoice in the memories of those that may have already slipped away this year or in the past. Hold on a little tighter to those around you as they are the intangible assets that no amount money of money can replace.

Minimize Taxes When Selling Rental Property. I said goodbye to my Chicago condo, which I have rented for the last six years. The property became too cumbersome to manage from Charlotte and the rental market softened in the neighborhood. Thus, we decided to part ways with our condo and sell it. It was a bittersweet moment when I visited the condo one last time - I remembered all the memories I had in the space and also felt a sense of gratitude for the rental profits gained. Yet, I also looked fondly upon the newfound freedom of no longer having to be a landlord. One of my goals has been to minimize the taxes on the sale gain.  In 2024, for example, the tax rate is 15% if you're married filing jointly with taxable income between $94,051 and $583,750. If your taxable income is $583,751 or more, 20% is the capital gains rate. I read “How to Prevent a Tax Hit When Selling a Rental Property,” I am reminded of three ways to reduce capital gains exposure:

1. Pair the gain of a sale with the loss from another investment. You can sell an asset at a loss in the same year as the gain on a rental property sale. Here, you can take advantage of the tax-loss harvesting concept and subtract those losses from the capital gains realized from a rental property sale. You may be familiar with this concept when you have managed losses in your stock portfolio, and you can apply it to real estate assets too.

2. Defer paying capital gains taxes on the sale to some point in the future. Basically, you can reinvest the proceeds from the real estate sale into new real estate. The catch is that the new real estate property must be what IRS Section 1031 defines as a “like-kind” exchange. Given that there are broad parameters of what a “like-kind” exchange entails, a good rule of thumb is to that both properties in question be income-generating rental units. Be mindful that you have only 180 days from the close of your first property to officially close on the replacement property.  Savvy real estate investors use “like-kind” 1031 exchange to keep selling properties and purchasing new and better ones. For more details on the rules of 1031, check out these 9-basic rules you need to know.

3. Convert your rental property into a primary residence. You can exclude as much as $500,000 (if married filing jointly) in property gains taxes if you live in your property for two of the five years immediately preceding the sale. Keep in mind that the two years do not have to be consecutive. Now, your deduction amount is dependent on how many years you live in the property as a primary residence versus a rental. And you don’t get out of paying taxes on the previous amounts you deducted for depreciation, so please consult your tax advisor on the details.

Great books for living life to the fullest – a holistic wealthy life. If you want to practice goodwill or protect your children (and others) from technology, these books are for you. Over the past few months, I’ve had the opportunity to immerse myself in these knowledge-building resources and I hope you enjoy and/or gift these books this upcoming holiday season to someone who might benefit:

• Red Helicopter ―a parable for our times: lead change with kindness (plus a little math), James Rhee. I heard James speak first at an inspiring keynote at the Toigo Foundation’s annual gala. I am a Toigo alum and the organization always creates environments to push us forward. As his book description denotes, “Rhee was a high school teacher turned private equity investor when he unexpectedly took the helm of Ashley Stewart, an iconic company predominantly employing and serving Black women. Inspired by the values his dying Korean immigrant parents instilled in him, he knew that a radically different—yet familiar—approach was required to lead this twice-bankrupt company from certain liquidation to true transcendence.” Rhee’s book is about extending goodwill (or “Jeong” in Korean), using math and kindness to push forward communities at work and home, and pursuing untraditional paths with a mindset to succeed. I eventually met James in October of this year at a Girls Write Now (great organization by the way!) gala honoring him and here we are in the image attached to this post – he’s a fellow author who inspires me.

• The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, Jonathan Heidt. In the book, “psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults… He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.” He encourages parents to protect our kids from the ill effects of social media. My biggest takeaways from the book are: (1) Delay giving your child a smartphone until he/she is a teenager, (2) coordinate with other parents on delaying this smartphone so that your child does not fear missing out, and (3) eliminate devices at meal times, (4) Let schools know that you’d like the institution to eliminate any form of device from the classroom that allows texting and access to social media.

Of course, I hope you can also spread some wealthy girl love by buying A Wealthy Girl books this holiday season for your friends and family. Keep giving the gift of knowledge. Also, you can always give me a gift by leaving an Amazon review – the more reviews, the more the Wealthy Girl ideas spread to others who could use the info. Just to my book’s Amazon page, scroll down by the customer review section, and click on “write a customer a review.” Thank you in advance.  

I’ll leave you with – Let’s Go Kamala! Yup, I voted for her because I believe she is the best person running to lead the nation forward. It’s as simple as that!

If there are topics you want to see in next year in the quarterly blog, please let me know. May these last two months of 2024 bring you joy, peace, and laughter!

See you in 2025 (gasp).