Affinity Insider | October 2025

Even in Southern California, where the weather hardly hints at fall, the shift in seasons still shows up in other ways: the neighborhood illuminated with haunted holiday decorations, school routines settling in, and a subtle pull to wrap up unfinished goals before year-end. It’s a natural time to reflect on what’s shifted  and what deserves a closer look.

This edition of The Affinity Insider is about clarity through change—how revisiting familiar areas of your financial life can bring fresh perspective and renewed confidence for the months and years ahead.

Here’s what you’ll find inside:

💸 Your Finances in Focus — Practical steps to strengthen your financial safety net, keep idle cash working harder, and make level-headed decisions if income ever becomes uncertain.

📈 Market & Investing Commentary — Encouraging data on growth, consumer spending, and inflation, and what it means for staying diversified and optimistic.

🎁 Featured Article — Open Enrollment 2026: A Practical, Tax-Savvy Guide. A

concise review of how to align your employer benefits, health plans, and pre-tax savings opportunities with your current stage of life.

📚 What I’m Reading, Watching & Listening To — A curated mix on AI investing, real estate strategy, and fraud prevention.

🐻 Behind the Scenes — A reflection on revisiting a familiar place through new eyes.

As always, thank you for letting us be part of the conversations that bring greater clarity, connection, and confidence to your financial life.

Let’s begin.

💸Your Finances in Focus

Preparing for Income Gaps and Work Setbacks

Periods of missed paychecks, whether from a government furlough, industry strike, or sudden job change, can be deeply unsettling. Even when the situation is beyond your control, it can shake your sense of stability and raise tough questions about how long your savings will last.

While no one can predict when these disruptions might happen, you can prepare for them. A few intentional steps can make the difference between feeling anxious and feeling assured:

1. Strengthen your cash safety net

A true emergency reserve of  at least 3–6 months of essential expenses acts as your first line of defense. Learn more about how much to hold and where to keep it in our Cash Savings Buffer guide.

2. Keep your reserves working for you

Even during stable times, idle cash doesn’t need to sit unproductive. Affinity Financial clients have access to Flourish Cash, an FDIC-insured platform offering competitive yields—currently offering a 3-month rate boost of 0.35%, on top of the 3.75% standard rate for new client accounts invited through January 31, 2026.

3. Know where to turn if savings run short

Not all emergency funding sources are equal. Morningstar recently ranked 10 options, from the most sustainable (cash savings, low-risk assets in taxable accounts) to the most costly (high-interest credit cards, payday loans). Knowing the hierarchy of options can help you make clear-headed choices under stress.

4. Review your fixed vs. flexible expenses

Identify what’s essential and what can pause temporarily. Flexibility in your spending plan helps you stay in control when life feels unpredictable.

5. Protect your insurance and benefits

If your employment status changes, double-check that key coverages—health, disability, and life insurance—remain active or can be extended through other means.

Financial resilience isn’t built overnight. It’s built over time, through preparation, discipline, and perspective. Taking small steps today can ensure that when life pauses your income, it doesn’t pause your progress.

📈Market & Investing Commentary

Glass-Half-Full Economy

Market momentum in September was fueled by a steady stream of encouraging economic data that consistently outpaced expectations. These reports reignited confidence in the strength and durability of the U.S. economy — suggesting that growth remains firmly intact even as policy uncertainty and geopolitical headlines persist. Heecent key data points:

1. GDP Growth

The final estimate for Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, the primary gauge of the health of the U.S. economy, was revised higher to a strong 3.8% annualized, well above estimates of 3.3%. After stalling in the first quarter, it appears the economy is back on track — and then some. Early expectations for third quarter indicate the economy has continued to grow by more than 3% annualized.

2. Consumer Spending

Real consumer spending (adjusted for inflation) increased by an annualized 2.5% in the second quarter, well above estimates of 1.6%. Given that consumption drives about 70% of economic growth, it’s not surprising the economy remains strong and is a good signal to maintain above trend growth going into the holiday months.

3. Inflation Rate

Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE), the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) preferred inflation gauge, was 2.7% for August, in line with expectations. Likewise, core PCE, which excludes the more volatile food and energy prices, rose by 2.9%, also matching expectations. While this remains elevated relative to the Fed’s 2% target, it remains below their recent estimates, and the impact of tariffs appears to have been exaggerated.

Looking Ahead

A strong economy combined with a resilient consumer and stable inflation provides a great runway for the market to continue its upward trajectory through year end. And don’t forget the Fed remains accommodative with more potential rate cuts on the horizon, providing even more tailwinds for the market to prosper.

Staying diversified and disciplined remains the most effective way to navigate shifting conditions — participating in growth while being prepared for occasional market wobbles.

🎁Featured Article

Open Enrollment 2026: A Practical, Tax-Savvy Guide to Maximizing Your Employer Benefits

Each fall brings an opportunity to step back and make sure your benefits still align with your life today, not last year. Whether your family has grown, your health needs have shifted, or your career has advanced, open enrollment is your chance to make intentional updates that protect your income, improve coverage, and save on taxes for 2026.

In this month’s feature article, you’ll learn about:

• How to evaluate PPO, HMO, and EPO options — and why lower-cost options can sometimes deliver better value
• How 2026 expands HSA eligibility under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA)
• Smart ways to use HSA, FSA, and Dependent Care FSA accounts for pre-tax savings
• How to right-size your life and disability insurance coverage to protect your family’s income needs
• Often-overlooked employer perks that can enhance your financial well-being, from fertility benefits to stock plans and legal support
• The two other open enrollment windows, ACA Marketplace and Medicare, that may apply to you or loved ones

Benefits make up nearly one-third of most professionals’ total compensation, yet many households leave money and protection on the table. A thoughtful review this fall can strengthen your coverage, reduce your tax bill, and bring greater financial clarity into the new year.

Click here to read the full article.

Did You Know? 👇

All-It seems every few years, Washington D.C. flirts with a government shutdown, and once again investors are asking: should we worry?

Headlines often frame shutdowns as economic calamities in the making, but history suggests otherwise. While the political drama grabs attention, past episodes have typically had only modest and temporary impacts on growth, markets, and government services.

Historically, markets have shown no consistent pattern around government shutdowns. Over one-, three-, and six-month periods following past episodes, returns for stocks, gold, and the dollar have been mixed. The S&P 500 Index (SPX), however, has been the clear standout, posting the strongest average gains across all timeframes. But markets are driven by corporate profits, monetary policy, economic growth, and global forces to name a few—not a temporary pause in government funding.

📰🎧🍿What I’m Reading, Listening To, and Watching

🤖 AI Market Clarity (Elad Gil) — A clear-eyed look at where artificial-intelligence markets are heading and what signals actually matter amid the hype.

👕AI Stocks Are Soaring: How to Invest Without Losing Your Shirt with Dan Ives (Future Proof Festival 2025) – AI sentiment is driving huge market swings. Here’s a no-nonsense panel discussion on how to spot real opportunity, manage risk, and invest smart in this fast-moving space.

🏡 Converting A Primary Residence Into Rental Property (Kitces.com) — Practical tax strategies to keep your home-sale exclusion, defer capital gains, and maximize deductions when turning your home into a rental.

🤥 I’ve Written About Loads of Scams. This One Almost Got Me. (NY Times)— A seasoned reporter shares how an advanced scam nearly fooled him, and what you can learn to avoid it.

💑 9 Steps to Help Your Wife Have It All (Modern Husbands)— A thoughtful guide for partners on sharing money, time, and household responsibilities to support mutual success.

🏡Behind the Scenes

Back to Berkeley, Forward in Perspective

In August, my wife had a conference in Berkeley — so we decided to turn it into a family trip. For me, it was a return to my alma mater, UC Berkeley. But this visit wasn’t about reliving college memories. It was about experiencing a familiar place in a new way.

Days before we left, my son was bubbling with excitement — telling his doctor, the grocery clerk, even the mailman that he was heading to “The Big School” to visit Oski, the Cal mascot. Since my wife works at another “Big School” (UC San Diego), the idea of college has become something fun and mysterious to him — a place filled with music, learning, and adventure.

We explored the bear statues outside the Haas School of Business, where I once took several classes, rode the elevator to the top of the Campanile to take in sweeping views of the Bay, and marveled at the towering dinosaur fossils inside the Valley Life Sciences Building — especially the T. Rex named Osborn.

Beyond campus, we discovered places I’d never seen as a student — from the hand-built forts and rope swings of Adventure Playground to the nostalgic carousel and gentle farm animals at Tilden Park. Each stop revealed a different side of Berkeley’s charm, one I had somehow missed the first time around.

Walking those familiar paths, I couldn’t help but reflect on how much has changed over the past two decades. In my early 20s, college was about finding myself — my people, my purpose, and my path in life. Today, in my early 40s, my priorities revolve around family, presence, and building a life rooted in meaning more than momentum.

Yet one thing hasn’t changed: the relationships that shape each chapter. The friendships and mentors who guided me then, and the family, clients, and community who fill my life today, have always mattered more than the setting itself. Places change, but people — and the connections we build — give those places their true significance.

P.S. What’s something familiar in your life that you’ve experienced in a new way lately?