Nearly 15 years ago, Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett teamed up to start the Giving Pledge, which encouraged the super wealthy to donate at least half their fortunes to charity. Since then, it’s gone from 40 members to 245.
The group now includes members from 30 countries, though they represent just 8% of the world’s 3,028 billionaires. Ahead of its anniversary, Forbes spoke with five members about why they joined, what they’ve learned and what more they’d like to see happen.
“Sooner rather than later I realized that wealth comes with both responsibility and opportunity,” says Rohini Nilekani, who is married to Infosys billionaire Nandan Nilekani.
Still, fewer pledgers have joined in recent years, and there’s no way to know how many have actually fulfilled their promise.
FIRST UP
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The stock market has stumbled during President Donald Trump’s first 100 days, but one controversial company is bucking the trend: AI giant and government contractor Palantir, chaired by longtime Trump backer Peter Thiel. The company’s stock has jumped 54% since January 17, the strongest return of any company listed on the S&P 500, though the firm has faced criticism over a $30 million contract with ICE on a program to assist the agency in deportations.
The Trump Administration signaled a plan that will indirectly lower tariffs on foreign-made auto parts needed to manufacture cars in the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reported, prompting automaker shares to inch up in premarket trading. While automakers will need to pay 25% tariffs on foreign-made components beginning May 3, a reported tweak to the rule will allow them to seek partial reimbursement for those levies.
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BUSINESS + FINANCE
President Donald Trump said revenue from tariffs may “completely” eliminate income taxes for many people in the U.S., but one economic study said it would be “mathematically impossible.” The Department of Homeland Security has collected $15.86 billion in customs and excise taxes so far in April, an increase of about $6 billion from March, though the White House is still negotiating with other countries, so it’s unclear how much the tariffs will ultimately bring to U.S. coffers.
MONEY + POLITICS
Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
In an interview with The Atlantic, President Donald Trump boasted that he runs “the world” and is “having a lot of fun,” after the publication called his cellphone and he answered. Though Trump has previously criticized the magazine, he touched on several issues, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the Signal chat app, the alleged deportations of Americans and Silicon Valley’s warming to him.
MORE: Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) introduced seven articles of impeachment against Trump on Monday afternoon, saying the president has “ignored the very checks and balances that keep our democracy intact.” The articles are the first formal impeachment effort of Trump’s second term, though they are almost certain to fail in Congress.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the decision to deport three children from Louisiana who were U.S. citizens, saying it was their mothers who were deported and chose to take their children with them. “You guys just make it sound like I say, ‘Just kick down the door and grab the 2-year-old’ and threw them on an airplane. That’s misleading, that’s just not true,” Rubio said.
WORLD
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney has secured a full term in power, and his Liberal Party was projected to win the Canadian national elections Monday. Carney, who won his seat with a comfortable 30-point margin, addressed the tension between Canada and the U.S. in his victory speech, telling supporters that “Trump is trying to break us so America can own us. That will never happen.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a three-day ceasefire in Ukraine from May 8 to 10 while Russia celebrates the end of World War II, as peace talks between the U.S., Ukraine and Russia have dragged on. President Donald Trump has indicated he is losing patience with Putin, and Secretary Rubio signaled recently the U.S. would walk away from the discussions if progress was not made soon.
TRENDS + EXPLAINERS
President Donald Trump has long battled with the media, but he’s increasingly using government resources to attack it. As polls published in the last week from outlets like the New York Times, ABC News, the Washington Post and Fox News show him with net negative approval ratings, Trump has called the pollsters “negative criminals.” His administration has elevated right-wing voices in the White House press corps and sought to effectively shut down federally funded media outlets, and new FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr has launched investigations into several outlets.
DAILY COVER STORY
It’s Time To Buy Muni Bond Funds—Here’s Why And Where
ILLUSTRATION BY CECILIA RUNXI ZHANG FOR FORBES; IMAGES BY GOOGLE GEMINI AI
There’s good news for savers in fairly high tax brackets: Yields on municipal bonds are good, comfortably ahead of what you can clear from Treasury bonds. But the bad news is it is easy to be gouged buying either individual bonds or high-fee funds.
Municipal bonds are worth considering for any fixed-income money you have in taxable accounts. Patrick Haskell, who oversees a $182 billion pile of them at BlackRock, says: “We haven’t had the opportunity to invest at these levels of real and nominal yields since the financial crisis.”
The numbers he has in mind: For bonds due in 10 years, tax-exempt yields are 80% of U.S. Treasury yields, not bad for anyone destined to pay a tax of 20% or more on interest. At the 30-year mark the percentage is close to 100%. There is a catch with the long munis, having to do with the risk they will be called in early, but they remain very attractive even after allowance for this risk.
Are you interested in collecting 4% interest federally tax-free? There are too many choices. Fidelity has on its sale counter 138,000 individual tax-exempt bonds. You could get a fund, but even so there is a selection process. YCharts counts 3,700, including all the share classes.
On individual bonds our advice is simple: Don’t buy them. As for funds: Forbes narrowed the roster of those worth looking at to 40.
WHY IT MATTERS “The U.S. equity market has been volatile and discouraging this year—so investors are looking at making their portfolios more conservative,” says Forbes senior contributor William Baldwin. “Inside an IRA or 401(k) they’d select a taxable bond fund. Outside the tax shelter they often do better by owning a municipal bond fund. The Forbes Fund Finder displays the best ones.”
MORE The Market Is Crashing. Buy These Stock Index Funds
FACTS + COMMENTS
Hundreds of thousands of visitors are expected to descend on St. Peter’s Square in Rome in the hopes of seeing the new pope. The ritual to select the pope, known as the papal conclave, will begin May 7:
345%: The surge in searches for flights to Rome from the U.S. on Expedia for May 5-14, compared to a more than 1,000% surge in interest from Mexico
$558 to $629: The airfare from New York’s JFK airport to Rome over the same dates, which is slightly above average
135: The number of cardinal electors eligible to vote for the new pope out of the 252 cardinals worldwide
STRATEGY + SUCCESS
In today’s job market, a degree isn’t the gatekeeper it once was. Employers increasingly care more about real-life job skills, so make sure you can talk about quantifiable results you’ve had in previous roles. If you do have a degree, use it as a foundation, but not your entire value proposition—and if you don’t, you have more options than ever.
QUIZ
Some Philadelphia Eagles players skipped a White House celebration of their Super Bowl victory Monday, but one player who attended was also spotted playing golf with the president over the weekend. Who is it?
A. Saquon Barkley
B. Jalen Hurts
C. DeVonta Smith
D. A.J. Brown
Thanks for reading! This edition of Forbes Daily was edited by Sarah Whitmire and Chris Dobstaff.
