Hello, YieldAlley readers! In this issue:
The Withdrawal Order That Could Cut Your Retirement Tax Bill by 40%
S&P 500 Caps Best April Since 2020 as FOMC Hawks Emerge
Chase Cards: $75 Back on Your AT&T Bill
The Countries Most in Debt to the IMF
And more!
NEWS
Standout Stories
💸 Berkshire Hathaway’s Cash Surges in Abel’s First Quarter as CEO (Bloomberg)
📈 10 Exceptional Stocks With Double-Digit Dividend Raises (Morningstar)
🖥️ The dot-com dream of the 1990s is thriving in today’s market (Sherwood)
🧀 Italy’s secret ‘Cheese Bank,’ where Parmigiano Reggiano becomes financial gold (CNN)
🏝️ Four Things to Know About Trump’s New Retirement Plan Order (WSJ)
MARKET THOUGHTS
S&P 500 Caps Best April Since 2020 as FOMC Hawks Emerge
ECONOMY
The Federal Open Market Committee held its benchmark interest rate steady, in line with widespread expectations, while maintaining language in its statement indicating an easing bias. The meeting drew unusual attention for its level of internal disagreement: three members dissented in favor of removing the easing language, a hawkish signal, while one member dissented in favor of an immediate rate cut. The combined number of dissents was the largest of Chair Jerome Powell's tenure, and markets interpreted the hawkish votes as a sign that rate cuts may be pushed further into the future. Powell, whose term as Fed chair concluded with this meeting, announced he will remain on the Fed's Board of Governors through at least January 2028, citing legal pressure on the central bank as his reason for the unusual decision to stay on.
STOCKS
U.S. equities posted solid weekly gains, with broadly strong quarterly earnings results more than offsetting geopolitical uncertainty and hawkish signals from the Fed. The S&P 500 rose approximately 0.9% to close at 7,230.15, capping a monthly gain exceeding 10% for April, the index's best monthly performance since November 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added about 0.5% to 49,499.27, the Nasdaq Composite gained roughly 1.1% to 25,114.45, and the Russell 2000 climbed about 0.9% to 2,812.83, while the S&P MidCap 400 finished essentially flat at 3,639.84. Large-cap stocks outpaced small-caps, and value outperformed growth as West Texas Intermediate crude oil surged more than 7% on the week, lifting the energy sector. Among the five Magnificent Seven companies reporting this week, Alphabet jumped after reporting strong demand for its AI and cloud services, while Meta Platforms fell sharply after announcing plans to increase AI capital spending beyond already elevated levels.
FIXED INCOME
Treasury yields moved higher over the week, weighing on bond prices across the market. Investment-grade corporate bonds generated negative returns, underperforming Treasuries slightly on a relative basis despite heavy new issuance early in the week; most deals were oversubscribed, reflecting continued demand for corporate paper. Meta Platforms brought $25 billion in new corporate bonds to market on Thursday, one of the larger single-issuer deals in recent memory. High yield bonds showed weakness for much of the week before recovering as risk appetite improved into month-end.
INCOME BUILDING TIP
The Withdrawal Order That Could Cut Your Retirement Tax Bill by 40%
Most retirees follow the same instinct when drawing down savings: spend from taxable accounts first, then tap the 401(k) or IRA, and leave the Roth for last. The logic sounds reasonable -- let the tax-advantaged accounts keep growing as long as possible. But this "traditional" sequence often produces a sharp tax spike mid-retirement, and a simple adjustment can cut your lifetime tax bill by more than 40%.
Here's what the math looks like. Take a hypothetical 62-year-old -- call him Joe. He's single, has $200,000 in a taxable brokerage account, $250,000 in a traditional IRA/401(k), $50,000 in a Roth IRA, and $25,000 per year in Social Security. He needs $60,000 a year in after-tax income. Under the traditional approach, Joe drains his taxable account first, then the IRA, then the Roth -- and pays about $56,000 in total taxes over retirement, with an abrupt $5,000-per-year "tax bump" that hits for 11 consecutive years once he starts pulling exclusively from the IRA. Switch to proportional withdrawals -- drawing from each account type each year in proportion to its share of total savings -- and Joe pays only about $31,500 in total taxes, gains roughly an extra year of portfolio life, and never hits that spike. Same money, same income need, 44% lower tax bill.
The capital gains angle is worth understanding too. For 2025, single filers with taxable income below $48,350 pay 0% on long-term capital gains. Consider two hypothetical retirees: Jamie has $27,000 in ordinary income and $5,000 in long-term gains. After the $15,750 standard deduction, her total tax bill is $1,125 and her capital gains are taxed at zero. David has $63,000 in ordinary income and the same $5,000 in gains. His higher ordinary income pushes him past the threshold, so his gains get taxed at 15%, and his total bill jumps to $6,181. Same capital gains, completely different outcome. If you have a meaningful taxable brokerage account, keeping ordinary income -- especially from IRA withdrawals -- below that threshold can turn a 15% capital gains rate into nothing.
The bottom line: if your savings are spread across taxable, traditional, and Roth accounts, run a scenario comparison before defaulting to the "obvious" sequence. Fidelity's Retirement Strategies Tax Estimator is a free tool that lets you model different withdrawal approaches against your specific income and account mix. Small adjustments to which account you pull from -- and when -- can easily add up to tens of thousands of dollars in savings over a 20-to-30-year retirement.
INCOME BUILDING
Cash Rates
Government Money Market Funds (7-Day Yields)
SNVXX (Schwab Government Money Fund - Investor Shares): 3.38%
SPAXX (Fidelity Government Money Market Fund): 3.30%
TTTXX (BlackRock Liquidity Funds: Treasury Trust - Institutional Class): 3.53%
VMFXX (Federal Money Market Fund): 3.58%
Brokered CD Rates (6-Month Rate)
Charles Schwab: 3.94%
E*Trade: —
Fidelity: 3.90%
Merrill Edge and Merrill Lynch: —
Vanguard: 3.90%
ETFs (30-Day Yields)
SGOV (iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF): 3.55%
BIL (SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF): 3.50%
USFR (WisdomTree Floating Rate Treasury Fund): 3.61%
TFLO (iShares Treasury Floating Rate Bond ETF): 3.60%
DEALS AND BONUSES
Chase Cards: $75 Back on Your AT&T Bill
A targeted Chase Offer is paying $75 cash back when you pay your AT&T Wireless bill with an eligible Chase card. The offer requires a minimum $100 payment and expires May 31. Similar versions are reportedly showing up on Truist, US Bank, Citi, and Amex cards too, so check all your accounts.
Offer Details
Activate in the Chase app or at chase.com under "Offers"
Main promotion: $75 cash back on a qualifying AT&T Wireless payment of $100 or more
Promo code: None. Activate directly in the Chase app or online account
Valid dates: Through 5/31/2026
Bonus tiers: Flat $75 credit
Eligibility: Targeted Chase credit and debit cardholders; availability varies by account
Funding/deposit requirements: Single payment of at least $100 made directly to AT&T Wireless
Key restrictions: Terms say new customers only, but the offer has consistently triggered for existing AT&T subscribers paying their regular bill (and reportedly for AT&T Fiber too); not valid for AT&T PREPAID, Cricket Wireless, accessories, or equipment
Our Thoughts
At $75 back on a $100 minimum payment, this is effectively a 75% discount on one month of your wireless bill. The "new customer" language in the fine print hasn't stopped existing AT&T customers from getting the credit, so it's worth trying regardless. The real upside is stacking: you can add this offer to multiple Chase cards and trigger separate $75 credits with separate payments. Tools like Cardpointers or Savewise make it easy to bulk-add offers across all eligible cards at once.
Picture of the Week
