The 2025 Thanksgiving Ledger
25 Financial Reasons to Give Thanks
đ The Quick Hit
Despite endless doom-hungry headlines, the modern economy is sturdier, safer, and more opportunity-rich than any prior era.
Innovation, global trade, and improving human capital have radically lifted living standards.
Most economic âgood newsâ hides in plain sight - so hereâs a Thanksgiving feast of 25 reasons to feel grateful, grounded, and quietly optimistic.
đ„ A Toast to the Quiet Abundance
The media narrative is that the world is barely hanging on. While it isnât perfect, the reality is that the economic and financial landscape we inhabit today would make anyone from 1950, 1975, or even the quaint days of 2005 weep with a mix of joy and sheer, unadulterated envy.
Weâre living longer, safer, more abundantly, while enjoying financial progress no prior generation could touch.
Today, while the U.S. celebrates Thanksgiving, itâs worth pausing the doom-scrolling to acknowledge the quiet luxury of structural resilience, the innovations that are secretly saving time and money, and the sheer number of opportunities that simply didnât exist when we were all forced to listen to dial-up internet screeching.
Gratitude wonât magically solve global challenges. But it does sharpen your ability to see reality as it is - not as the shrill, profit-driven headlines insist it must be.
đ The Big Picture: Boring Stability
Global GDP per Capita: It keeps marching upward. Apparently, making things and trading them is a sustainable business model. Who knew?
Poverty: Itâs at record lows. Still work to do. But somewhere, an economist is weeping happy tears into their Excel sheet.
Inflation: Sure, itâs a pain. But compared to the actual âhyperinflationâ of the 1970s? Weâre living in a monetary spa retreat.
Banks: Capital requirements have forced them to become profoundly, blessedly boring again. A boring bank is the ultimate financial security blanket.
Literacy: Global literacy is soaring. More people can read, which means more people can read this.
đ Household Finances: Winning (Quietly)
Mortgage Rates: Yes, theyâre uncomfortably high. But anyone complaining about 7% clearly wasnât around for the 18% rates of the â80s. Context is everything.
Women in the Workforce: Participation has surged globally, making the world measurably smarter, richer, and more productive.
Banking: Basic access is near-universal. You donât have to hide cash under your mattress like a bandit.
Remittances: Money travels across borders in seconds, not weeks. Your Aunt Sally in Rome doesnât have to wait for a literal donkey to deliver her cash.
Online Shopping: You are saving thousands a year by forcing retailers to compete on price, all from the comfort of your sofa.
đ» Innovation & Everyday Abundance: Superpowers for Pocket Change
The Smartphone: A supercomputer in your pocket that connects you instantly to the vastness of human knowledge.
Robotics: Strengthening supply chains and creating incredible advancements in healthcare.
Battery Storage: Itâs getting cheaper. Your future is not just solar-powered; itâs always-on-powered.
Cloud Computing: Dropped the cost of starting a scalable business from âmillionsâ to âthe cost of a decent coffee subscription.â
Digital Payments: Transactions are instant. Weâve officially run out of excuses for paying someone back ânext week.â
đ Investments: The Democratization of Wealth
Diversification: Global portfolios are now a single click away. You can own a piece of Tokyo without leaving your kitchen.
ETFs: Institutional-grade portfolios are available for literal pennies. Active managers should be terrified.
The S&P 500: Decades of crises, wars, bubbles, and busts, and the darn thing keeps rising. Itâs the ultimately reliable engine of long-term wealth.
Private Credit: Higher-yield options are filtering down to the non-billionaires. Finally!
Sustainable Investing: Less waste, lower energy bills, smarter logistics - whether you love ESG or groan at it, the operational upgrades save money and reduce volatility.
đĄ Just for Fun: Modern Marvels
Fractional Shares: You can buy a fraction of a share of Amazon for the price of a sandwich.
Death of Checks: You never have to drive across town to deposit a check... wait, whatâs a âcheckâ again?
Entrepreneurship: You can run a micro-empire, complete with global logistics, out of a coffee shop.
Apps: Car insurance apps let you file a claim without reciting your entire life story to a stranger named Brad.
And last, but certainly not leastâŠ
Artificial Intelligence: AI provides a safe place to test our best (and worst) ideas. And, we can âlearnâ almost anything without the uncomfortable shame spiral!
âš Closing Thoughts
Honestly, the full list is too long. It is legitimately amazing how much we have for which to be thankful.
My thanks to everyone who follows, subscribes and reads the Other Side of Obvious. Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving, wherever you may be!
đ Up Next:
Sunday - âBurry, Bubbles & Buy Signalsâ
Thursday - Stayed Tuned for a New Series
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Didn't expect this take on the subject, but you're realy right about the quiet abundance, it's so easy to miss. What do you think makes the media focus so much on the negative?