I believe it has been true for decades that the Fed is influenced by things that are not at the top of their talking points. After 2008 as we embarked upon the first few years of ZIRP and what became QE1-3, did you hear this a lot, because I did:

“We continue to believe an aggressive posture of easy monetary policy is needed to give the economy support in the aftermath of this recession. Getting to our desired place of
employment and economic growth means an accommodative stance that may be more prolonged than normal as we monitor price data and labor data in the context of this recovery.”

Fair enough. Safe. Politically correct. Not even untrue, though certainly incomplete.

Did you ever hear this, though, because I sure didn’t:

“We believe some form of reflation is needed in the corporate economy as the household sector de-levers, and monetary policy must facilitate a strong support to asset prices to soften
household deleveraging and allow time for the governmental portion of the economy to lever up. This will surely drive productivity in private equity and private credit, which is
something we have to facilitate in order to move the holes in the economy off of household balance sheets and on to the public’s balance sheet.”

I do not believe there is an answer to your question, not an answer I could give, and not an answer the Fed can give. What level does the Fed Funds rate need to get to, and at what point does it go too far? These are the unanswerable questions in an era of NON-rules-based monetary policy that is entirely discretionary and experimental.
~ David L. Bahnsen, December 19, 2024

TBG has a broad network of commercial and residential real estate professionals around the country.  With how specialized and local the real estate market can be, the buy/sell or realtor side itself may be niche, but we can chat about the specific areas you are referring to.  As far as lending, a robust array of 1031 resources, and detailed cost/benefits analysis and planning in real estate, TBG has advanced in-house expertise that can aid at a national level. 
~ Brian T. Szytel, December 18, 2024

You're right; since a back-door Roth IRA contribution involves making a nondeductible IRA contribution and then converting it to the Roth IRA based on a pro-rata percentage of the after-tax IRA balance, it doesn’t realistically work if you hold a sizable existing IRA balance.  Some questions would need to be addressed to effectively consider the cost-benefit analysis.  Assuming the 401k plan would accept the rollover, and there are many years left of either one spouse or both continuing to work with earned income, the idea of a reverse rollover of sorts by moving your IRA back to a 401k plan in order to continue doing these back door Roth IRA contributions can make sense. However, keep in mind that employer-sponsored 401k plans have a limited mutual-based investment menu to choose from, which often resembles a combination of index-oriented choices.  Those types of choices are less ideal normally, but today in particular, as they are concentrated in higher valuation positions. For any sizeable IRA balance, having the freedom and flexibility of owning a more tailored and customized retirement plan portfolio, including other asset classes like alternative investments, is preferred.  That flexibility may outweigh the potential future benefit of back-door Roth IRA contributions, but it’s always a case-by-case consideration.  Putting the tax cart before the investment horse is typically something to be avoided where it is reasonable to do so. 
~ Brian T. Szytel, December 17, 2024

I very much agree there are things that can go very badly – in any administration – including this one.  I do not worry much that the economic policies of Trump 2.0 will disproportionately help the wealthy just because none of the policies I see being prescribed at this time indicate such, but I certainly think that the sentiment of the people is always subject to change, and I definitely believe in a world of left-wing and right-wing populism that the people are always primed for disappointment, carrying way too high an expectation of what Washington D.C. even could do for them if it wanted to.
~ David L. Bahnsen, December 16, 2024