Money Expert Humphrey Yang’s Investing Plan for 2025: Should You Do the Same?

January 4, 2025

The biggest financial story of 2025 will begin on Jan. 20, when President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House. Trump’s economic agenda is expected to be heavy on tariffs and tax cuts, according to financial influencer Humphrey Yang. How that agenda plays out will influence Yang’s investing plan for 2025.

In a recent video on YouTube, Yang said investors will “have to factor in that there will be new policies under the [Trump] presidential administration.” At the same time, he said, investors need to monitor the stock markets closely to see how much longer they can maintain their torrid pace.

Yang is a former financial advisor who now shares his personal finance knowledge on TikTok as @humphreytalks. He previously worked in mobile gaming. Here are some of the areas that will influence his investing plan for 2025.

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Stock Market

As Yang noted, the S&P 500 started 2024 at 4,742 and “mostly just stayed in a straight up and to the right pattern” before closing the year at 5,882. That represented a yearly gain of 24% — well above the typical return of 9% to 11% a year, according to Yang. The index’s price-to-earnings ratio is also much higher than average.

Although Yang plans to remain heavily invested in equities in 2025 — with about 90% of his portfolio in the stock markets — he also is considering keeping more of his assets in cash to help offset the risk that market gains will moderate.

“Another signal to me that you may just want to hold more cash is to just look at Warren Buffett’s portfolio,” Yang said. “He’s holding a record high amount of cash for his portfolio…Now that could just be coincidence, or he could just be hedging a little bit against a frothy market.”

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Tariffs

Trump has proposed imposing a 25% tariff on all products from Mexico and Canada, according to Brookings, along with a 10% tariff on Chinese goods. This could force manufacturers and retailers to raise prices on the products they sell to offset rising costs, which means consumers will pay more for certain items. From an investing standpoint, Yang will keep a close watch on companies like Walmart and Apple to see how they’re impacted. For investors, it could mean limiting their exposure to certain stocks.

“Apple…sources many of their components and finished products from China [so] they might see their stock price decline if those goods are subject to a significant tariff,” Yang said. “it’s definitely something that we’re going to have to keep an eye on.”

Tax Cuts

Tax cuts that went into effect during the first Trump administration — called the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act — are due to expire at the end of 2025. But as Yang pointed out, Trump wants to make the cuts permanent when he takes office again. For investors, this should ease capital gains taxes on the sale and conversion of certain assets.

“Your short-term capital gains rate at its maximum is going to be lower and also long-term capital gains rates are tied to income thresholds instead of income tax brackets,” Yang said. “It just means that you will have slightly more flexibility when it comes to taking capital gains for Roth conversions. The tax cuts and jobs act lowered ordinary income tax rates making Roth conversions more tax-efficient.”

Cryptocurrency

Trump has been “very pro-cryptocurrency,” Yang said. This should be good news for crypto investors, though Yang himself only commits a small percentage of his portfolio to the asset

“I’ve always thought that having a small exposure to crypto as a percentage of your overall portfolio is generally good,” he said. “I’m mostly in the Bitcoin/Ethereum/Salona camp, so just major coins — and if I’m going to choose one to buy and hold forever, it’s probably Bitcoin. If you want some exposure to crypto without having to deal with the whole buying and keeping custody of the coin itself you could simply just buy the Bitcoin ETFs.”

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