enRICHed: Volume 9

Written By Rich BFF

All News is Election News…

This week, the only thing anyone talked about was election results. Results which are still being counted, though we are going to see some runoffs in December before we know anything. So, this Sunday, we tried to pull some news you may have missed while at the polls!

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 Rise of Tipflation

  • An interesting article by Vox this week came out on tipping etiquette in the post-pandemic world

  • The COVID pandemic accelerated the adoption of contactless digital payment methods, such as tablets and table-side card readers, which have made tipping less easy to ignore than a jar on a counter.

  • Further, these technologies often change the size of the prompt buttons and ask customers to tip at a higher minimum than normal, resulting in higher tip revenues for employees.

  • HYCU; who knew there was so much psychology behind tipping in the modern world! Have you experienced this type of social pressure to tip in situations when you otherwise wouldn’t have? If you are a service worker, has this new technology helped you or hurt you?

The Crypto Meltdown

  • Crypto company FTX has filed for bankruptcy and its CEO has stepped down after a disastrous week. FTX was airing Super Bowl commercials earlier this year, a slot that goes for $6.5 million per 30 seconds, so this is a very steep fall from grace.

  • FTX is a cryptocurrency exchange, which enables customers to trade digital currencies for other digital currencies or traditional money, and vice versa. Their crypto token, FTT, fell 80% in price as investors requested $5 billion in funds back - which FTX did not have. Cue bankruptcy…

  • HYCU; you don’t have to be a crypto fanatic to have seen this story on the front page of the WSJ and Forbes websites. The FTX drama affected the entire landscape, but the markets remain resilient. The Guardian does a good job explaining further with this free article.

The “Tripledemic”

  • A particularly bad RSV, flu and COVID season are upon us - and the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a record number of parents had to stay home from work in October to take care of their children.

  • Lindsay Kohler, a reporter for Forbes, detailed how this impacts parents’ productivity and also their need for employer-supported childcare.

  • HYCU; staying healthy and avoiding any of these rampant illnesses this winter not only affects your body. If you get the flu, financial impacts could start from as little as missed days of work to as big as hospital bills. If you are a primary caregiver, you could face the issues that Lindsay details, paying more for childcare or seeing a drop in your own productivity if you are working from home while caring for a sick family member. With the flu season being worse than normal, it might be a good time to look into a flu shot at your local pharmacy!

PTO or Cold Hard Cash?

  • Start-ups are offering PTO exchange to employees - the option to receive cash or incentives for the vacation days you have accumulated, instead of actually taking those days off.

  • The pandemic caused a ballooning of PTO balances, prompting companies to search for ways to unburden themselves of eventual payouts upon departure. Now we are seeing technologies pop up in the HR market to help with these types of trade-ins, but no one is really sure if employees are actually winning here.

  • HYCU; an interesting thing about unlimited PTO is that while it seems like a perk for employees it’s really a perk for the company, who doesn’t have to pay out unused PTO when people leave. This option to cash in on days off does the same, but is it really worth it from a burnout POV? We’d love to hear what you think on email or social!

Wakanda Forever

  • “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” hit theaters this weekend, and it is expected to have a record-breaking debut at the box office - up to $205 million in 3 days.

  • The original “Black Panther” was the first movie in the Marvel Universe to star a person of color, and it’s sequel features 4 black women as protagonists

  • HYCU; while the Marvel Universe is enormous, it expands even larger as it grows more diverse. Since Black Panther in 2018, “11 of the 16 Marvel movies released have had a woman or a person of color at the center.” In an era of slowing ticket sales, Marvel has earned more than $22 billion at the box office, proving that it pays to play towards your audience.

Rich BFF
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