The coming year will be a good one for housing — at least, the National Association of Realtors says so. It’s forecasting lower mortgage rates and more stable prices for homes in 2025. But not all housing experts agree. Later in the episode: an unexpected way to tap into geothermal energy, new approaches to corporate diversity as a court blocks Nasdaq’s DEI initiative, and a federal health care referral program leaves many Native Americans in debt, apparently in violation of the rules.

Older Americans will pass on more than $120 trillion to heirs and charities over the next 25 years, according to a wealth management company’s study. But financial advisers caution against assuming you’ll get lucky — half of the “great wealth transfer” will come from just the top 2% of households. Also in this episode: Insurance grows pricier, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau limits bank overdraft fees and less than 10% of Americans moved last year — the lowest proportion since the Census Bureau began keeping track in 1948.

Food prices aren’t going down. The good news is, they aren’t rising rapidly anymore, either. But we get it, grocery shopping still hurts. In this episode, why food isn’t likely to ever cost what it did five or 10 years ago, and how our habits are changing in response. Plus: The fight against inflation isn’t over, rising child care costs take women out of the workforce and the supply chain preps for an import wave.

Remember those Christmastime Coca-Cola ads from the ’90s and early aughts? A caravan of red trucks snakes through picturesque towns, delivering holiday cheer in the form of good old-fashioned Coke. The company just released a new version, meant to invoke nostalgia for the Yule of yesteryear. And in the true spirit of 2024, it’s AI-generated. Will all our ads be AI-made soon? Or is human creativity still key? Also in this episode: A dogecoin influencer weighs his options, a startup wants to put EV chargers in lampposts and unit labor costs may tell us where inflation is headed.

Over the next five years, electric power demand in the U.S. will increase five times faster than we thought it would in 2022, a new report says. Can the grid take it? Probably — it won’t be the first time demand for electricity has made a major leap. Also in this episode: An influencer sues a “copycat,” consumers overestimate inflation but think it will fall eventually and ad industry evolution triggers a merger of rivals.

It’s been a wonky year for the labor market. Unemployment is down and inflation has eased. But ask an average American, and they might not feel like everything is peachy keen. In this episode, we asked economists to sum up the complicated year … in a song. Plus, homebuilders worry incoming President Donald Trump’s immigration policy will leave them short-handed, and retail hiring plateaued in November — unusual for the holiday shopping season.

Federal employment numbers come out Friday, so we’ve got a labor-packed episode. First up, job growth in evergreen or “secular” industries is strong (think health care) while cyclical jobs (think manufacturing) have been stagnant. Then, wage gains are outpacing inflation, but some workers aren’t feelin’ it. We’ll also hear from seasonal employees in Vermont and a mall manager in Montana who’s moving on.

Many provisions of the Trump administration’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are set to expire next year. That means the incoming Republican-controlled House and Senate will have the privilege of agonizing over which parts to renew and how to pay for them. Plus: Community colleges push up graduation rates, the advantages of owning your own small-business space, and are holiday shoppers buying the sale hype along with the goods?

About 3.3 million people quit their jobs in October, slightly more than in September. More quits can signal a strong labor market, but quit rates vary across the country. In this episode, why job churn is strong out West and falling in the Northeast. Plus: TikTok Shop did over $100 million in sales on Black Friday weekend, renters want electric vehicle chargers and the restaurant industry struggles with debt and shifting preferences.

Manufacturers have held back on big investments because of high interest rates and inflation. Those have eased, but companies are worried that potential tariffs and tax cuts could stoke them again. Also in this episode, more uncertainty: A customs broker isn’t sure what to expect if there’s another round of tariffs, and the number of “permanent job losers” climbed the highest its been since November 2021.