enRICHed: Volume 7

Written By Rich BFF

It’s Me! Hi!

After only listening to Taylor Swift’s new album this past week, we officially understand the Anti-Hero hype. But, while she broke 3 Spotify records in 1 day last Friday, we are more impressed by her making money off the movement of physical albums. Fans are jumping to buy multiple copies of the Midnight vinyls, something the music industry has thought to be defunct at this point. Just goes to show! Everything old can be new again!

A few administrative reminders below:

  • HYCU, pronounced ‘haiku’: how the news impacts you and your wallet, aka How You Can Use

  • Spilling the Prosperitea 🫖 : our hot tips for you on all things money. Think discount codes, hacks, non-boring finance articles, sales, etc. 

Now that you’re up to speed, let’s get you enRICHed.

The Nation’s Report Card

  • On Monday, The Nation’s Report Card was released with findings on student performance across the United States. The results were devastating. On average nationally, less than 4 in every 10 students is considered proficient in math and reading.

  • Math scores for 4th and 8th graders dipped in almost every single state, with reading scores dropping to 1992 levels. The National Center for Education Statistics believes these results, a direct effect of the COVID pandemic, will have dramatic impacts on students’ future achievement.

  • HYCU; public schools were a major political ground during COVID, with constant disagreement about school closures. Now, students are bearing the consequences - kids who do not read well in elementary school are more likely to drop out or not graduate on time. Falling behind impacts test scores and GPAs, which directly impact educational opportunities. The hope is that schools across the country will use their federal stimulus dollars to improve student performance.

airbnBUST?

  • A tweet went viral this week that read, “The Airbnbust is upon us.” It cited comments from multiple hosts who are seeing a decline in bookings from the app.

  • While airbnb says guest demand is the highest it has ever been, hosts are feeling squeezed. In recent years, many people have jumped on the “airbnb gold rush,” which means the number of short-term rentals has increased significantly. So while airbnb the company is seeing overall bookings up, individuals with multiple rental properties are seeing their bookings go down.

  • Twitter comments from guests also complained about service and cleaning fees being extremely high, prompting them to opt for hotels over homes.

  • HYCU; a lot of hosts have bought multiple properties to create income streams via airbnb, which means multiple mortgages. If they don’t have enough guests, the cash flow won’t be there to keep up payments. Which do you prefer, airbnb or hotels? Are you a host who is seeing less bookings? Let us know!

Tech Stocks Take a Tumble

  • AMZN, META, GOOGL are stock tickers that anyone can recognize. And this week, they were all down big. While usually stocks in similar industries rise and fall with one another, these dips all came from slightly different places.

  • Google reported its lowest ad revenues since 2013; Microsoft said that rising energy costs decreased their bottom line; META is doubling down on virtual reality spending which disappointed investors

  • HYCU; slowing revenues and prevailing headwinds at these powerhouse companies majorly affect the overall stock market. With recession murmurs circling constantly, this tech news doesn’t help anyone’s outlook.

The Fall of Kanye

  • Ye, the artist forever known as Kanye West, was in the news this week for sparking antisemitic discourse across the country. Visuals from Los Angeles showed signs reading, “Kanye was right about the Jews” - apparently referring to a tweet where he said he would go “death con 3 on Jewish people.”

  • Immediately, companies and celebrities began cutting ties with the rapper. Balenciaga, Gap, The Creative Artist Agency, Foot Locker and TJ Maxx all spoke out about dropping support of him and his Yeezy products. All eyes were on adidas, who finally cut ties on Tuesday after outrage online.

  • HYCU; while speech may be free, consequences are not. Over the course of the last week, Ye’s net worth has crumbled. Forbes reported that his net worth fell to $400 million when he lost the Yeezy partnership with Adidas, removing him from the Forbes’ billionaire list.

Elon Musk Finalizes Twitter Purchase

  • This week, after months of speculation, Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion dollars. As CNN Business reported, this puts “the world’s richest man in charge of one of the world’s most influential social media platforms.”

  • Musk has fired multiple executives, including Twitter’s CEO, and has stated that he plans to cut 75% of the company’s workforce. Other anticipated changes include how fake news and misinformation will be handled in the name of "protecting free speech.”

  • HYCU; while the idea of having Elon Musk in charge of the internet’s “town square” is scary enough, Twitter’s revenue streams are also making investors panic. 92% of Twitter’s revenue comes from ad sales, and with Elon Musk at the helm, advertisers might not be as quick to associate themselves as they have in the past.

Rich BFF
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