Housing and Food Hit Half of Spending

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Monday, November 02, 2026

For information only. Nothing in this issue is investment advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold anything. Read our disclaimer.

Happy Monday! Here's what your money needs to know today.

⏱ About a 3-minute read

S&P 500

7,580

▼ 1.82%

10-yr rate

4.93%

▼ 0.06 pts

30-yr mortgage

7.24%

▼ 0.08 pts

Your Money Numbers further down. Information only.

⏱️ Today in 30 seconds

Housing and Food Hit Half of Spending
Everyone

Economist Says Fed Is Watching Government Debt Costs
If you have debt

New York Jobless Site Down 9-12 Days
If you're job hunting

💵 Your Money Numbers →

➜

Money Move · EasyCheck What Your Savings Account Pays You

🛒 Economy · Lead story Everyone

Housing and Food Hit Half of Spending

Photo: Pexels / Pixabay

$1,988

More the average family spent on housing and food in 2025 than in 2024

Housing and food took nearly half of U.S. household spending in 2025, the biggest share in 15 years. The average family spent $1,988 more on the two than in 2024. Why? Rising rents, homeowner costs and beef prices. That was before the Iran war pushed up some grocery and utility costs this year. With prices up 3.7% in a year and pay up 3.0%, the squeeze is real.

🔭 Long-term lens Worth knowing

Noise: ignore it

Signal: pay attention

Why: Worth knowing: the average family paid $1,988 more for housing and food than in 2024, which leaves less each year for saving.

When it would matter: It matters more if pay keeps growing slower than prices, so housing and food take a bigger share of income for years.

What it means for you: Add up one month of housing and grocery bills, then divide by your total monthly spending to compare with the nearly-half national figure.

🏦 Fed If you have debt

Economist Says Fed Is Watching Government Debt Costs

One economist argues Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's mixed signals are less about inflation and more about what the government pays to borrow. The Fed (the central bank that sets interest rates) raised rates in September, then held off last week even as prices rose 3.7% in a year. Why? Higher interest on U.S. debt, now above $40 trillion, makes that debt harder to carry. That is one view, not settled fact.

What it means for you: Find your credit card's interest rate on your latest statement and compare it with the 21.19% national average.

🖥️ Economy If you're job hunting

New York Jobless Site Down 9-12 Days

New York's unemployment system goes offline Monday, Nov. 2, at 5 p.m., for 9 to 12 days. Roughly 150,000 people receive benefits there. Until the new site is active, no one can receive checks or create new claims. Why? A $188 million replacement for a system built in the 1970s. It even has a "pizza tracker" for your claim. Claimants must also log three work searches a week.

What it means for you: If you claim in New York, start a weekly log of three job searches now, since you must certify them to qualify for benefits.

💵 Your Money Numbers

What your money earns, what borrowing costs, and whether pay keeps up. Changes are since the last reading.

Your savings could earn

money market funds and top savings accounts, a year

4.0%

▼ 0.07 pts · savers earn less

About $400 a year on $10,000. The average bank savings account pays much less.

Credit cards cost

average card interest rate, a year (Q3 2026)

21.2%

▲ 0.25 pts · costs more

About $1,060 a year in interest on $5,000 owed. Paying it off saves that rate, guaranteed.

30-year mortgage

national average, week of Oct 29

7.24%

▼ 0.08 pts · better for buyers

About $2,040 a month on a $300,000 loan, before taxes and insurance.

Your paycheck vs. prices

average hourly pay (Sep 2026) and prices (Sep 2026), vs. a year ago

+3.0%

Behind prices

Prices rose faster than pay, so the average paycheck buys a little less than a year ago. $100 of everyday spending a year ago now costs about $103.72.

Pay

+3.0%

Prices

+3.7%

Long-term investors

S&P 500, not counting dividends

+12%

past year

Up about 71% over 5 years, through good days and bad.

📍 Today's row: the 30-year mortgage. Mortgage rates tend to follow the 10-year US bond rate (today 4.93%). When lenders can earn more lending to the government, they charge home buyers more too.

The economy: Prices (inflation) 3.7% · Fed's key rate 3.75–4.00% · Unemployment 4.2% · Economy (GDP) +3.4% · Saving rate 3.8%

Markets today · daily moves, for the curious

Nasdaq
25,437 ▼ 2.9%

Dow
51,770 ▼ 1.1%

Gold, per oz
$3,915 ▲ 0.4%

Bitcoin
$78,294 ▲ 0.7%

Silver, per oz
$50.28 ▲ 2.4%

Oil, barrel
$104 ▲ 2.1%

Fear gauge
19.4 ▲ 2.2

US dollar
121.3 ▼ 0.03%

The fear gauge (VIX) rises when investors are nervous. Rates you're offered depend on your credit. Sources: FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis), Freddie Mac, Yahoo Finance. Information only, not a forecast or advice.

➜ 💰 Money Move of the Day

Easy

Check What Your Savings Account Pays You

Then compare it with 4.00%, which is what the government currently pays on short-term loans and a rough yardstick for cash.

On $5,000, 0.5% earns about $25 a year, while 4% earns about $200, so a low number is worth a call or a look at other banks' rates.

Prices are up 3.7% in a year, so money earning almost nothing buys a little less each month.

🔢 One Number

$40 trillion

Total US government debt, now above this level

The government pays interest on that debt just like a credit card, and one economist thinks this cost is shaping how the Fed (the central bank that sets interest rates) acts.

⚡ Quick hits

🤖 AI: Investors Are Shifting Away From AI Stocks. A financial article says the run of AI-linked stocks (small pieces of companies) has broken down. It describes a "rotation," which means investors moving money from one group of companies to another. If you save in a 401(k) or similar account, swings like this can show up in your balance, but they are short-term moves. More →

🤖 AI: Meta's AI Shopper Hasn't Upended Business Yet. Meta says its Muse tool, an AI helper that does online tasks for you, is used by millions of people to shop. Executives at about 50 companies said they don't expect sudden disruption, and many said they would mostly benefit. If AI tools start buying things for you, it's worth checking each purchase and price before it goes through. More →

📈 Top 50 this week

Our list of the S&P 500 companies with the strongest long-term business records, refreshed every quarter.

Our list has a fresh start under our long-term method: we now look at 5-year records and refresh the list once a quarter.

🔦 Spotlight: Deckers Brands (#1)
Deckers makes Ugg boots and Hoka running shoes, and it ranks first on this week's Top 50 list with a score of 80.1 out of 100. Its net profit margin (the share of sales left as profit after all costs) was 18.4% lately, so it kept about 18 cents of every $1 in sales, up from about 17 cents on average over five years. Over those five years, sales grew about 16.5% a year and earnings per share (profit divided by the number of shares) grew about 25.6% a year, with sales per share rising in every recent year, and it has no debt compared with shareholders' equity (the owners' stake in the company, as shown on its books).

See the full Top 50 →

Information only: describes company financial results, not a recommendation to buy or sell.

📘 Term of the Day

Real wages

Real wages measure what your paycheck can actually buy once rising prices are taken into account. If prices climb faster than your pay, your real wages shrink, even though the number on your paycheck got bigger.

For example: Pay is up 3.0% in the past year while prices are up 3.7%, so someone earning $50,000 who got a 3% raise (to $51,500) can buy slightly less than before.

"Your gift is something that you can do innately better than anything else."

✨ Quote of the Day · Steve Harvey

That's your five minutes. Go make your money work as hard as you do. 💪

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nett.daily

Nett Daily provides financial news and information only. It is not investment, financial, tax or legal advice, and nothing in it is a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security, cryptocurrency, commodity or other product. Market data may be delayed or approximate. Investing involves risk, including loss of principal. Please consult a licensed professional before making financial decisions. Full disclaimer.