Our Work
Investment Insights – Keith R. Schicker, CFA, Portfolio Manager
- Thinking About Higher for Longer: Having grown accustomed to free and freely available capital, it is not at all clear that the low interest rate environment of the past twenty years will return. [READ MORE]
Primary Sources
- Inflation: Progress and the Path Ahead: Chair Jerome H. Powell speaks at “Structural Shifts in the Global Economy,” an economic policy symposium sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Jackson Hole, Wyoming. [FRB]
News
Financial Markets
- Investors Say No Thanks to Gen-Z, Metaverse Funds: ETFs are closing at a record pace, with many niche funds struggling to attract investors. [WSJ]
- Real-Estate Doom Loop Threatens America’s Banks: Regional banks’ exposure to commercial real estate is more substantial than it appears. [WSJ]
- Resilient U.S. Economy Defies Expectations: Strong hiring and spending are keeping recession at bay—for now. [WSJ]
This chart displays the recent sport rights renewals for a variety of sports leagues included the NFL, MLB, PGA Tour and Summer Olympics.
Financial Planning
- If Your Rent Went To A Mortgage Instead, How Much Space Would It Buy?: A new study answers this question for renters in the 100 largest U.S. cities. [NYT]
- Everyone’s Getting Married—And It’s Costing Me A Fortune: For those of us in our 20s and 30s, weddings can put a huge dent in our budgets. We need to figure out our priorities. [WSJ]
- Where to Put Your Cash Now For Every Income Level: Rising rates may mean it’s time to put more money in savings accounts, certificates of deposit and Treasury bills. [WSJ]
- The $100trn Battle For The World’s Wealthiest People: Two financial giants look likely to crush the competition. [Economist]
Retirement Planning
- Is Financial Stress Hurting Retirement Savings? 4 in 10 Workers With a 401(k) Don’t Contribute, CNBC Survey Finds: About 2,700 respondents of the CNBC Your Money Survey are employed full time or part time. Of that group, 4 out of 10 workers, 41%, don’t contribute any money at all to a 401(k) or employer-sponsored plan. [CNBC]
- 46% of 401(k) Investors are Clueless About Their Investments, CNBC Survey Finds. That’s Not Always Bad: Almost half — 46% — of 401(k) investors don’t know what investments are in their workplace retirement plan, according to a new CNBC Your Money Survey, conducted by SurveyMonkey. [CNBC]
- I Pitted ChatGPT Against A Real Financial Advisor To Help Me Save For Retirement—And The Winner Is Clear: From teachers to cybercriminals, it seems everyone is jumping on the artificial intelligence (AI) bandwagon. [Apple]
- Roth vs. Traditional 401(k): Where to Put Your Money for Retirement?: You don’t have to think like a tax accountant, actuary and investment adviser to get it right. [WSJ]
- Social Security Benefits Could Shrink in 10 Years. How to Plan: If the Social Security trust fund runs dry in 2033—which it is projected to do if no action is taken—a couple with average earnings would lose $17,400 in benefits that year alone, according to a new report. [Barron’s]
Business Strategy
- Walgreens Chief Executive Rosalind Brewer Steps Down: Executive led company for less than three years and tried to revamp its strategy. [WSJ]
- A Private Phone. Secret Recordings. Inside One CEO’s Relationship With a TV Anchor: Under Armour’s Kevin Plank shared nonpublic financial details with Stephanie Ruhle, and she gave advice on how to address negative publicity. [WSJ]
- Spotify’s $1 Billion Podcast Bet Turns Into A Serial Drama: The prospect of podcast riches led to aggressive investments in celebrity deals and original programming for what appeared a sky’s-the-limit media frontier. [WSJ]
The two graphs above by The Economist compare content spending to the number of worldwide subscribers to various streaming platforms including Amazon, Netflix and Hulu. This year Amazon will spend $12bn on streaming content, second only to Netflix.
Life & Work
- ‘Barbie’ And ‘Oppenheimer’ Trounce Franchise Films to Jolt A Slow Summer At The Box Office: The two movies based on original story lines outperformed many tried-and-true franchise titles. [WSJ]
- Why Are You So Tired? Your Sleep Schedule Needs A Reset: Four things you can do to get back on track to healthy sleeping at night. [WSJ]
- Biden Administration Unveils First 10 Drugs Subject To Medicare Price Negotiations: The Biden administration on Tuesday unveiled the first 10 prescription drugs that will be subject to price negotiations. [CNBC]
This chart reveals the download activity of various streaming services, including Spotify, Netflix, and Amazon. From June ’23 through Aug ’23, Spotify has been well above Netflix and Amazon in app downloads per month. In August 2023, Spotify had 26,986,397 app downloads while Netflix had 15,227,496.
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