How to Allocate the Next Discretionary Dollar | Runyan Capital
Runyan Capital · Beverly Hills
How to allocate the next discretionary dollar.
Pay down debt, hold it safely, invest it, or give it away. The answer turns on your tax bracket and what a Treasury pays for taking no risk. Set three things below; everything else updates as you move.
Income $350,000Federal 24%State 9.30%NIIT 3.8%33.3% combined
3-month Treasury—10-year Treasury—30-year mortgage—15-year mortgage—Loading market data
I
Your household
Filing status, income, state. The brackets on the right and every figure below follow the slider. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.
$350,000after deductions
After the standard deduction ($32,200 joint, $16,100 single) or itemized deductions. Above $1,200,000, type the figure.
Mortgage interest and charitable gifts reduce tax only if you itemize.
Updates as you move the slider
Federal rate
Taxable income
Of each extra $1,000, you keep
State rate
Taxable income
33.3%combined marginal rate
Federal 24% plus state 9.3%. Of the next $1,000 you earn, about $667 is yours. That figure sets the value of every deduction and the after-tax return of every taxable investment below.
II
The choices in front of the dollar
Typical rates and today's Treasury yields are pre-filled. Replace any of them. Mark what does not apply.
$25,000
Pay down debt
Credit card
%
Not deductible. Paying it off is a guaranteed return equal to the full rate.
Auto loan
%
Not deductible.
Student loan
%
Treated as not deductible; the federal deduction phases out at most incomes here.
Home equity line
%
Deductible only if the money improved the home and you itemize.
Mortgage
%
Enter the rate on your loan. Deductible on up to $750,000 of acquisition debt if you itemize; otherwise the full rate is your cost.
Hold it, risk-free
3-month Treasury billLive
%
Federally taxable, state-exempt. Cash that stays cash.
10-year Treasury noteLive
%
The benchmark risk-free rate. Federally taxable, state-exempt. Certain if held to maturity.
Municipal bonds
%
Exempt from federal tax, and from state tax if issued in your state.
Invest it
Bonds (taxable)
%
Enter a yield. Corporate interest is taxed as ordinary income, federal and state.
Stocks
%
We do not forecast returns; enter the return you would need to justify the risk. Long-term gains rate follows your income.
Long-term gains rate at your income:
Treasury yields from the U.S. Department of the Treasury daily par yield curve. Mortgage averages from the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey. Federal figures from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32; state brackets from the Tax Foundation, as of January 1, 2026. Every rate on this page is editable.
III
What the household keeps, after tax
Annual after-tax value of $25,000 in each choice. Solid bars are certain; dotted bars depend on a return you entered.
Hurdle rate:—. Any investment must clear the highest solid bar after tax before it has earned its risk.
What an investment must earn, before tax, to match each choice
To beat
Stocks must earn
Taxable bonds must earn
IV
Considering new borrowing?
Open
The 10-year Treasury is what the safest borrower on earth pays. Anything above it is the premium a lender charges you. Worth paying sometimes; never worth paying without noticing.
Where mortgage rates sit todayLive
30-year fixed, national average—
15-year fixed, national average—
10-year Treasury—
30-year mortgage above the 10-year Treasury—
15-year discount to the 30-year—
Pre-filled with this week's national average for the term you chose. Replace it with your quote.
10-year Treasury, pre-tax4.78%
10-year Treasury, after tax to you—
National average, after tax—
Your borrowing cost, after tax—
Premium above risk-free—
V
Give it away
Open
Giving is not measured in yield. It is measured in what it costs you and what it moves.
To charity
A gift of $25,000 in cash to a qualified charity.
Tax reduced—
Net cost of the gift—
To family
Gifts to individuals are not deductible. Their value is what they remove from your taxable estate and what they let the next generation begin.
Moves this year, no paperwork—
Married couple, gift-splitting—
Over ten years, per recipient (couple)—
The 2026 annual exclusion is $19,000 per recipient. Amounts above it are reported on Form 709 and count against the $15,000,000 lifetime exclusion. Gifted assets carry your cost basis; inherited assets generally do not.
The numbers are the easy part.
What this page cannot see is the rest of your balance sheet and what you are protecting. That is the conversation.
