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Why founders often overlooked by VCs are now poised for success as the market stumbles
April Joyner and Diamond Naga Siu
Underrepresented founders have often had to make do with less capital. That's prepared many of them well for the current market downturn.
FG Trade/Getty Images; Leventince/Getty Images; iStock Photo; Vicky Leta/Insider
Underrepresented founders produce outsize returns on investment in spite of lower funding overall.
In the downturn, their cash-flow efficiency is sought after by investors.
Nine founders and investors offer a glimpse into their playbooks on how to get through lean times.
The abrupt end to free-flowing venture capital has made it necessary for some founders of once high-flying unicorns to learn fast how to tighten their budgets and curb costs. But in actuality, only a tiny fraction of startups ever enjoyed the luxury of having millions to burn, even in the best of times.
Within that echelon of well-funded startups, fewer still are helmed by female, Black, or Latino founders. As venture-capital funding reached record highs in 2021, peaking at $643 billion globally, the share of funding going to those founders remained stubbornly low: 2.2% went to solo female founders, 1.3% to Black founders, and 2.1% to Latino founders, Crunchbase said.
Undercapitalized founders from underrepresented backgrounds are often at a disadvantage. But because many of them are well accustomed to operating their companies leanly in all environments, they're now poised for success in today's turbulent market, founders and investors say. Global venture funding fell 13% in the first quarter of 2022 from the fourth quarter of 2021, Crunchbase said.
Some founders have chosen to forgo outside funding altogether, while others are preparing for a more opportune moment to fundraise once again.
Insider spoke with nine founders and venture capitalists about how they're preparing for their companies to grow even as the broader world of startups faces turmoil.
Gaining an edge by growing at your own pace
Madison Maxey has the résumé of a Silicon Valley wunderkind. She left college to participate in the Thiel Fellowship, a program launched by the investor Peter Thiel that encourages talented students to leave school in order to pursue startups. In 2013, at age 20, Maxey founded Loomia, which makes electronic textiles for industries such as automotives and robotics.
Over the next few years, she raised $1.8 million from Backstage Capital and other investors. That put her in rarified company: The nonprofit DigitalUndivided said fewer than 200 Black women had raised more than $1 million in venture capital as of 2021.
Maxey's ambition for Loomia, it turned out, was ahead of its time. Despite articles and fashion showcases touting the future of wearable tech, there wasn't much of a market for it. The difficulties formed a rift between Maxey and her business partner, who eventually left the company. The path to further funding appeared untenable.
So instead, Maxey focused on attracting more industrially focused customers interested in testing out e-textiles for research and development purposes — and who were willing to pay up front.
Today, Loomia is a profitable company with a small team of six whose clients have included Hyundai, Covestro, and Analog Devices. Having a diverse set of customers, both large corporations and startups, has enabled the company to ride out downturns such as 2020's business shutdowns, Maxey said, and she's following a similar playbook this time around.
"In the e-textile space, competitors come and go," she said. "I feel better being able to stand on my own two feet."
Madison Maxey, the founder and CEO of Loomia.
Diego Donamaria/Getty Images for SXSW
That type of perseverance is important for early-stage companies that haven't yet proved their business model, said Marlon Nichols, a partner at MaC Venture Capital. Because founders from underrepresented backgrounds often start out with limited capital, they're well rehearsed at rolling with the punches, he said.
"They've been running companies on shoestrings for a long time, so usually when they have to go back to that, they're pretty resilient," he said.
Tara Reed, the founder of the online education company Apps Without Code, has funded her company through customer revenue from the start. With her previous startup, Kollecto, an art-collector marketplace, which went through the 500 Startups accelerator in 2015, she saw firsthand the challenges of navigating bias among certain investors. While her peers vented about their experiences, Reed decided to seek other paths to funding, she said.
"I got really clear during that program that that was not the route I wanted to take," she said. "I felt very much that I was swimming upstream. My approach is to zig when everyone else zags."
Funding through customer revenue has freed Reed to grow her business at her own pace while reserving funds to test out new products and services for customers. Apps Without Code brings in between $3 million and $5 million in revenue annually, she said. By comparison, the no-code education platform Makerpad made $200,000 in its first year of business, in 2019, and was bought by Zapier in March 2021.
Samara Hernandez, the founding partner of Chingona Ventures.
Investors covet the scrappiness of underrepresented founders
Though Maxey and Reed aren't seeking venture funding, their lean approach isn't completely dissimilar to that of successful venture-backed companies, investors told Insider.
"Operating in a lean, capital-efficient way is becoming a superpower, moving forward," said Jamison Hill, a partner at the VC firm Base10 Partners.
Some data suggests that founders from underrepresented backgrounds outperform once they gain access to venture capital.
A 2020 study by Kauffman Fellows and MaC Venture Capital found that startups with diverse founding teams produced a median return multiple of 3.26, as compared with 2.5 for startups with white founding teams. At least two previous studies have indicated a similar pattern for companies with women on their founding team.
The ability to produce bigger returns with their capital is one factor that has drawn Samara Hernandez, the founding partner of the $59 million VC firm Chingona Ventures, to founders from underrepresented backgrounds, who make up about 80% of her firm's portfolio, she said. Chingona invests in companies at their earliest stages, and often such founders come to her firm after a period of self-funding their companies, Hernandez said.
"That's the attractive piece, how they've been super efficient with capital," she added. "Imagine what they can do with $1 million in outside funding."
One firm with a focus on underrepresented founders, the $75 million Slauson & Co., has made a similar argument to the investors in its fund.
"Amidst all the new 'cashflow is king' blog posts and Warren Buffett quote tweets now coming from the venture industry, Slauson & Co. has not had to change our approach," the firm wrote in an investor letter viewed by Insider. "We continue to back founders whose lived experience is their competitive advantage."
A similar pattern has held for the startups in the portfolio of Reach Capital, an edtech-focused VC firm with $355 million in assets under management. On average, its companies with at least one female founder or founder of color produced a multiple on invested capital of 4.2, versus 1.9 for its companies with only white male founders, a December blog post from the firm said.
As the market cools, Jomayra Herrera, a partner at Reach, said the firm is now imparting lessons across its entire portfolio on how to accomplish more with less — namely, figuring out ways to make their capital stretch over a period of two years.
"For our growth-stage investments, thankfully, almost all of them raised in the last 12 months," Herrera said. "But I will say many of them are reconsidering how they're thinking about their runway."
Ruben Harris, a cofounder and the CEO of Career Karma.
Career Karma
Preparing for flusher times
As founders brace for the possibility of an extended downturn, it's also important for them to maintain growth even as they seek to curb costs. That can be a tricky balancing act for startups with capital constraints, Base10's Hill said.
Founders told Insider that's something they're keeping in mind as they bootstrap, with an eye toward possibly raising venture capital in the future.
Melanie Cristol, a lawyer and the founder of the sexual-wellness company Lorals, raised $250,000 in funding for her company in 2019, but she has largely funded the company herself since then, she said, in part by taking on roles as a legal consultant to other businesses.
Still, Lorals' revenue has grown sevenfold over the past year, and the company recently gained clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration for its underwear, designed as an alternative to dental dams in protecting against sexually transmitted infections during oral sex.
Lorals has a list of future products in development that have been requested by customers, and Cristol is open to raising outside capital again, she said. But she's seeking to do so on her own terms, with investors "aligned on our mission," and as the company nears profitability, she added, she'll be able to do just that.
Tara Gupta, the founder of the climate-tech startup Map-Collective, funded her company with a grant from the National Science Foundation. She's emphasized long-term sustainability in her company's operations, working closely with customers to develop and iterate upon products, and isn't aiming for a quick exit. That approach has yielded ample growth even without venture backing, she said.
"I haven't even noticed that we're in an economic downturn because it feels like there's one announcement after another where there is just incredible growth," Gupta said. "I mean, we cannot even keep up with it at times."
A heads-down focus on organic growth during fallow periods can reap outsize rewards once fundraising opens up again, as Ruben Harris, a cofounder and the CEO of the edtech company Career Karma, learned.
In early 2020, when the pandemic led to widespread business shutdowns and a pause in VC funding, Harris focused on managing costs and demonstrating strong business metrics, including profitability, even without a fresh round of capital.
Since then, the company has raised two rounds of funding, including a $40 million Series B round announced in January from investors such as Top Tier Capital Partners, GV, and SoftBank.
Even with that funding, Harris said, his approach to operating the business remained the same. He focuses on staying "default alive," a term coined by Paul Graham, a cofounder of the renowned accelerator Y Combinator — in other words, maintaining a path to profitability without relying on constant infusions of outside capital.
Harris said, "We're doing everything we can not just to survive but to raise money when we want to."
More: BI Graphics Vicky Leta Black founders
Latinx Founders | 2022-05-18T15:57:48Z | www.businessinsider.com | Underrepresented Founders Have a Playbook to Weather the Downturn | https://www.businessinsider.com/underrepresented-founders-market-downturn-playbook-startups-vc-funding-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/underrepresented-founders-market-downturn-playbook-startups-vc-funding-2022-5 |
I make up to $150,000 a month as a freelance UX designer. Here's how I used Project Hunt, IndieHackers, and Twitter to grow my side hustle into an actual business.
Brett Williams works with over 40 clients who pay a monthly fee of $5,495 for unfettered access to his design services.
Brett Williams taught himself graphic design by making popular Tumblr quote images while in college.
Williams was working as a UX designer at a transport company when he began freelancing on the side.
This is how he scaled his service into a multimillion-dollar business, as told to Kiera Fields.
This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Brett Williams, a freelance UX and graphic designer who runs the one-person agency Designjoy in Phoenix.
I make up to $150,000 a month running a one-person design agency, but I didn't study design at college. I studied international business at the College of the Ozarks in Missouri from 2009 until 2011.
I loved design and taught myself how to use Adobe Photoshop by making these cheesy quote images that were popular on Tumblr and Pinterest.
At one point, I was creating more than 100 quote images a day to post on Tumblr. At the end of my stint, I had 60,000 followers on Tumblr and started a business around it selling T-shirts.
In 2011, I was offered a job making social-media assets for a California design agency, so I dropped out of college. At the agency, I began to segue into UX and website design.
In 2012, I met my wife in California. A year later, we got married and move to Arizona where she lived. I hopped around agencies until taking a UX designer position at a transportation company in February 2015. I later got promoted to creative director.
I started my UX design business as a side hustle
I found my corporate job boring and wanted more creative design work. Freelancing appealed to me as an introvert, but the lack of consistent guaranteed income concerned me.
I landed on the idea of creating a design subscription service. I would offer my services as a UX and graphic designer for a monthly fee and clients could request custom designs whenever they wanted.
Over a single weekend in 2017, I fleshed out the packages I wanted to offer, wrote some copy, and built a website.
I initially offered two plans: $449 a month for the most basic package and $849 a month for front-end design — app and website development.
I would let clients request only one design task at a time and would turn that request around within two days. Design tasks could range from single email templates to entire landing pages and had unlimited revisions.
I broke down larger projects into chunks and delivered each new piece every two days.
A week after coming up with my subscription offering, I posted my landing page to Product Hunt, a platform for people interested in new tech products that works on an "upvoting" system similar to Reddit's, as a soft launch.
My project gained popularity fast, and I made it into the top four products on the homepage. I had 40,000 unique visits to my page within the first day of launching.
I haven't invested any money into marketing since then.
My growth was pretty linear in the first two years, and I retained about five clients each month. Even back then, I was very fast at turning around designs and did freelance work between meetings and after work.
I started posting about my business on Indie Hackers, a platform for entrepreneurs
I began "building in public" on Indie Hackers in 2019. I would post everything about my business on different threads and message boards: the highs and lows, revenue, and what lessons I was learning.
I posted about my zero-meeting tolerance, allowing clients only a 20-minute introductory call before purchasing a subscription. After that, I don't communicate with my clients outside Trello boards.
My communication style means I can work efficiently, as almost no project management is needed. The faster I can work, the more clients I can have and scale my earnings.
I gained lots of traction posting in these groups and generated a steady increase in subscriptions. Between 2020 and 2021, I incrementally increased my prices to $2,500 a month from $850.
Naturally, some clients wouldn't renew their membership after a price increase, and new ones would come on.
Six months ago, I was still juggling Designjoy and my corporate job
By May 2021, I worked with about 30 clients, making $47,000 a month while working my 9-to-5 job. My ability to work quickly meant I could get all the work done for my corporate job in an hour, and then I just had to sit in meetings. I spent the rest of my days and evenings working on Designjoy.
I went to turn in my resignation twice. Both times the company offered the flexibility to continue working and running my own business, so I stayed at it.
I finally quit in October when I reached $70,000 monthly revenue and was retaining about 40 clients. From October 2021 until January 2022, my growth stagnated, and my annual run rate hovered at about $839,000.
I decided to start using Twitter in February as another platform to share my business story. I went from a handful of followers to 20,000 in three months.
My new Twitter fame directed lots of people to my business
3 weeks after I got on Twitter, I had a waiting list of 100 clients. I had two options: Stop taking any new sign-ups or raise my rates. By the end of February, I'd doubled my rates to $5,495 a month.
I have maybe five more clients than before I raised my rates, but within two months I had doubled my monthly run rate. I made $150,000 in April 2022 without significantly changing my workload.
I work 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., five days a week, with no vacation or sick days. That isn't longer than I worked before, but I feel pressure to create better work since I charge more.
The next step is to keep raising my prices and decrease my client load. I could make a good living off a handful of clients. Right now, I am too risk-averse to say no to anyone or turn away money, but I want a better work-life balance.
I didn't intend for Designjoy to get this big. My advice to anyone who wants to follow my model is to take on only the number of clients you can get to in an eight-hour workday.
Freelance income | 2022-05-18T15:57:54Z | www.businessinsider.com | How I Make up to $150,000 a Month As a Freelance UX Designer | https://www.businessinsider.com/ux-designer-how-to-make-150000-a-month-freelance-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/ux-designer-how-to-make-150000-a-month-freelance-2022-5 |
Banking startups like Greenlight and Copper are tapping into a growing market of younger customers. Here's why VCs see massive value potential.
While each works differently, debit and prepaid cards can give kids a sense of financial freedom.
hxyume/Getty
Companies like Greenlight and Copper are among a wave of banking startups catering to young adults.
These startups help to teach children how to manage and invest their money.
Investors in youth banking startups see potential in converting users into lifelong customers.
Neil Underwood, a general partner at Canapi Ventures, wanted his 17-year-old son to learn how to manage and invest money and had set him up with a Robinhood account after going over the basics of stock trading.
A few weeks later, Underwood checked back in with his son, and all he was concerned about was how much money he had made — he really wasn't concerned about managing his investments.
"All his buddies were on Reddit and talking about all these highly volatile, cool ways where they can make money." Underwood said. "And I just thought no, I have to get him something else."
And so Underwood turned to Greenlight — a startup Canapi had already invested in — where parents can control how their child uses their cash while learning how to manage their money.
Teaching young adults financial literacy is nothing new. But companies like Greenlight and Copper have seen strong investor interest as this younger generation expresses interest in investing and parents seek out technology to guide them.
Investors in the space see the potential in these platforms as a way of converting users into lifelong customers. By building trust among a younger digital banking customer base, some investors believe there's lots of long-term value, especially as these startups grow with their users.
Dustin Drees, vice president at Panoramic Ventures and an investor in Copper, said beyond teaching the younger generation to be more fiscally responsible, these apps build loyalty for digital banking.
"[Younger] consumers are generally making more informed decisions, and they're frequenting brands that they can build trust and more personal relationships with," Drees told Insider. "If a business like Copper can capture their loyalty early, it can translate into loyalty or familiarity with other offerings."
Copper, a Seattle, Washington-based banking startup for teens recently raised $29 million in a Series A round that Panoramic took part in. The platform allows teenagers to open an account, get a debit card, and set savings goals. Parents can then track their spending through the app.
As with most companies in this space, they target a specific age demographic. And investors say this is a plus because these companies can grow with their clientele. The companies can follow their customer base into college, when they start to work or when they transition to other phases of life.
Youth banking also "represents billions of dollars of spending power untapped by any significant digitized financial product," PitchBook analyst Ryan Vaswani wrote in a November 2021 report. And many of these so-called neobanks are looking for a competitive advantage by tapping into new demographics.
As of last November, startups in this space had raised nearly $6 billion, according to PitchBook data.
Other startups gaining traction include Greenlight, which gives kids and teens the chance to save and invest their allowance through its app. It also offers a service where kids learn financial literacy through gamified lessons. Then, parents can push the "green light" when they think their child is ready to invest for real. Greenlight has also partnered with JPMorgan to offer a debit card for kids. Last year, the company raised $260 million and was valued at $2.3 billion.
And Zogo, an app that calls itself the "Duolingo of financial literacy," uses games to make financial information exciting and accessible.
Financial Venture Studio managing partner Tyler Griffin, also an investor in Copper, noted this space should not be limited to teaching kids how to invest, but it also shows the power of serving niche markets with very specific banking needs.
"There will definitely be winners and losers in the space but it does allow companies to have a narrower focus," Griffin said. "The only requirement is that the target demo needs to have some distinct needs."
More: Fintech startups 2022 Greenlight | 2022-05-18T15:58:00Z | www.businessinsider.com | Why Youth Banking Startups Like Greenlight Are Getting VC Attention | https://www.businessinsider.com/youth-banking-startups-greenlight-copper-vc-investor-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/youth-banking-startups-greenlight-copper-vc-investor-2022-5 |
There's an unusual split in the US economy that's making the inflation problem even worse.
Consumer sentiment is the worst it's been in a decade, yet retail sales are at a record high.
Massive demand is one reason inflation is so high. If it doesn't cool, prices will likely surge higher.
There's something very confusing going on in the US economy.
Americans are, by the widest margin in a decade, feeling awful. Inflation continues to weigh on economic moods, with shoppers facing soaring prices from the gas station to the grocery store. The trend dragged the University of Michigan's sentiment index to its lowest level since 2011, signaling the bleakest outlook since the sluggish recovery from the Great Recession .
But Americans sure aren't acting on that pessimism. Data out Tuesday showed spending at retailers and restaurants climbing 0.9% in April to yet another record high of $677.7 billion. The nationwide spending spree has slowed throughout 2022, and the April print marks the smallest one-month gain since spending declined in December. Yet the report still shows spending growing and remaining well above the pre-pandemic trend.
Americans might be feeling the worst economic mood since 2011, but their spending habits suggest inflation will have to get even worse before they start pulling back.
The divergence between spending and sentiments highlights just how hard it will be to bring inflation back to sustainable levels. Even with prices soaring at the fastest pace since the early 1980s, Americans' demand has shown no signs of wavering.
In normal times, such strong demand would fuel similarly impressive economic growth, as about 70% of gross domestic product is fueled by consumer spending. But the economy remains extraordinarily strained on the supply side. Lockdowns across Asia hampered production last year and roiled the global supply chain. Improvement since has been scarce, and a new surge of coronavirus cases in China risks worsening the situation. Without ample supply, Americans' overwhelming demand will continue to boost prices.
The Federal Reserve started raising interest rates in March in a bid to cool demand and, in turn, better match it with supply. Still, it typically takes several months for tighter monetary policy to affect spending. The resilience of Americans' demand will make it difficult, then, for the central bank to fight inflation, especially as it isn't relying on the supply situation to ease anytime soon.
"It's going to be a challenging task, and it's been made more challenging in the last couple of months because of global events," Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday during a conference hosted by The Wall Street Journal, referencing Russia's invasion of Ukraine and rolling lockdowns in China.
The split between spending and sentiment has a bright side, too. Had spending cratered alongside sentiment, economic growth would plummet in kind and put the US at a heightened risk of recession. The persistence of healthy demand signals stimulus worked to keep Americans afloat throughout the pandemic, and continued spending is likely to keep the recovery moving forward even as the Fed reverses its easy-money policies.
"Consumers' tolerance to high inflation will continue to be tested and the renewed spike in gasoline prices, along with tighter financial conditions, will weigh on households' willingness to spend on big-ticket items," Lydia Boussour, lead US economist at Oxford Economics, said in a Tuesday note. "But strong fundamentals, including robust labor income growth and a pile of accumulated savings, will continue to underpin consumer spending."
More: Economy Retail Sales Consumer spending Consumer Demand | 2022-05-18T16:05:03Z | www.businessinsider.com | Americans Hate the Economy but They're Still Spending Big | https://www.businessinsider.com/americans-hate-the-economy-but-theyre-still-spending-big-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/americans-hate-the-economy-but-theyre-still-spending-big-2022-5 |
In yet another discrimination complaint against the gym, an Equinox account exec says she was asked to "wear short dresses and have your tits out"
A representative for Equinox said the club strives to "foster a culture built on respect, diversity and inclusion."
A 41-year-old Equinox employee said managers bullied her and paid her less than young staff.
She said even peers demeaned her as the "tits and ass" of her Equinox club where sexism was rampant.
Equinox has defended its work culture against a previous complaint about harassment by managers.
An account executive at Equinox said male leaders at the company underpaid her and shamed her at work meetings, all because she didn't fit the "young and sexy" mold for female sales employees at the elite fitness club.
Brieanna Skarbo, 41, filed a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission on May 18, alleging that her managers at Equinox held her to grueling and sexist standards for appearance and job performance, describing it as part of a top-down culture of misogyny at the company.
Even peers at the company subjected her to sexist and crass comments, she said, including one employee who told her to "wear short dresses and have your tits out and things will go more smoothly for you here," and another who called her the "tits and ass" of her Equinox club.
"The message could not have been more clear: for client-facing women at Equinox to be considered 'on brand,' they were expected to look young and sexy in order to sell memberships and keep members happy," Skarbo said in her complaint to the EEOC, a federal agency that oversees civil rights claims relating to workplace discrimination. EEOC complaints are typically brought before employees bring workplace discrimination suits in federal court.
"Given this sexist backdrop, it is unsurprising that as female employees at Equinox age, their perceived usefulness to the company wanes," Skarbo said in her complaint.
Skarbo, who has worked at Equinox for nearly a decade, said she's also paid less than men and younger employees. She said she was subjected to unreasonable sales goals that she viewed as a pretext for sidelining her due to her age. Even though she had consistently met her sales targets, she was at one point asked to take on a role that cut her base pay by 25 percent, from roughly $61,800 to $46,000, according to her complaint. Skarbo still works at Equinox, according to the complaint.
Dan Bank, a representative for Equinox, did not comment on Skarbo's allegations but said, "at Equinox, we strive to foster a culture built on respect, diversity and inclusion, and it is required that everyone in our community uphold these values."
Skarbo's complaint follows similar claims of sexism brought by former employee Jaime Piccolo in February. Piccolo said Equinox fostered a culture of rampant sexism and accused managers of harassing her. Piccolo, who was terminated, also alleged that she received a pay cut when she sought to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic to take care of her two young children.
Both Skarbo and Piccolo are represented by Wigdor LLP, one of the top firms that represent employees in harassment and discrimination suits.
Skarbo's complaint also states that the EEOC is separately conducting an ongoing investigation into Equinox over discrimination pertaining to caregiver responsibility. Representatives for the EEOC and Equinox did not comment.
EEOC investigations are not public and often don't become known until the agency files a lawsuit. The agency has indicated that it believes discriminating against employees who are caregivers can be a violation of federal civil rights protections for workers on the basis of sex, according to its website.
More: Equinox EEOC Gender Discrimination | 2022-05-18T17:29:18Z | www.businessinsider.com | An Equinox Account Exec Accused the Fitness Club of Fostering Sexism | https://www.businessinsider.com/equinox-account-executive-filed-eeoc-complaint-sexism-harassment-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/equinox-account-executive-filed-eeoc-complaint-sexism-harassment-2022-5 |
American Airlines Landline bus.
American Airlines is launching a new bus service on June 3 to connect small markets to its Philadelphia hub.
The airline previously had two cities in its bus network, but just added a third — Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Lancaster is an Essential Air Service city and currently has jet service from Southern Airways Express.
Starting August 16, passengers traveling on American Airlines between Philadelphia International Airport and Lancaster, Pennsylvania, can take a dedicated shuttle bus instead of driving themselves. Lancaster joins Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Atlantic City, New Jersey, as part of American's bus network, with the two latter cities set to launch on June 3.
The American-branded bus is operated by Landline, a transport startup that focuses on connecting travelers in small communities to hub airports. It launched its first airline partnership in 2019 with Sun Country Airlines, shuttling passengers between Minneapolis−Saint Paul International Airport and Duluth and Mankato airports in Minnesota.
"Customers can start and end their journey at Lancaster Airport, relax on a comfortable Landline vehicle, and leave the driving to someone else while they work or start their vacation early." American vice president of network planning Brian Znotins said, per local news station FOX43. "From road to runway, we're excited to welcome customers on board."
The journey is meant to replicate the flying experience, according to American's website. This means that passengers will check bags and go through security at the Lancaster, Allentown, and Atlantic City airports before boarding the bus.
Once in Philadelphia, passengers will be dropped off past security where they can go straight to their connecting gate, while their luggage will be automatically transferred to the plane.
Inside the American Airlines Landline bus.
When traveling from Philadelphia to one of the three cities, travelers will still have their bags transferred from the plane and will meet the bus at a dedicated pick-up spot at the airport.
The new bus routes are a cheaper alternative to regional flying, Landline CEO David Sunde told NPR, saying "the airline saves money on the cost of jet fuel and staffing the flight with two pilots and one or two flight attendants."
United, American, and Delta have dropped several cities in recent months, citing low demand, high costs, and unprofitability as driving factors. The pilot shortage has also exacerbated the problem, with United grounding 100 regional planes because it doesn't have enough pilots to fly them.
American's managing director for global network planning, Jason Reisinger, told NPR that despite the current challenges in operating regional routes, Landline is not intended to replace any flying.
"We really see Landline not as a replacement of flights but more of allowing us to connect places that we just aren't going to fly," he said.
Meanwhile, an American spokesperson told Insider that the bus routes "aren't related to pilot staffing."
While airlines do not have a responsibility to serve unsustainable markets, the federal government has established the Essential Air Service (EAS) program to ensure certain small airports maintain their air link to the rest of the US. This means airlines will be subsidized to fly to cities on the official list.
Lancaster Airport is one of those markets. Currently, Southern Airways Express has a contract to fly to Lancaster, according to The Points Guy, and American would not be eligible to apply until 2026. The airline has not served Lancaster since May 2020, according to Cirium data; however, it is unknown if the government would approve subsidies for a landline bus service over a jet.
American and Sun Country are not the only carriers to partner with Landline. United has also started service between Denver and Breckenridge and Fort Collins in Colorado, which also mirror a regular flight.
More: American Airlines American Landline Bus
regional flying
lancaster airport | 2022-05-18T18:24:55Z | www.businessinsider.com | American Adds New Route to Landline Bus Service From Philadelphia | https://www.businessinsider.com/american-adds-new-route-to-landline-bus-service-from-philadelphia-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/american-adds-new-route-to-landline-bus-service-from-philadelphia-2022-5 |
Sarah Palin, a Republican seeking the sole US House seat in Alaska, speaks during a forum for candidates Thursday, May 12, 2022, in Anchorage, Alaska. In all, 48 candidates are seeking to replace the late Rep. Don Young who died in March.
Sarah Palin earned more from making videos on Cameo in 2021 than she would in Congress.
Palin made $211,000+ from Cameo alone. That's $37,529 more than the annual salary of a House member.
She's mounting a comeback run in the special election to replace late Rep. Don Young of Alaska.
Sarah Palin earned significantly more from Cameo in 2021 than she would as a member of Congress.
Palin, now making a comeback political run for the House, revealed in a new financial disclosure form filed on Tuesday that she earned a whopping $211,529 from personalized videos on the app Cameo in 2021. That's $37,529 more than the annual salary of a House member.
The former Alaska Republican governor's financial disclosure showed $70,000 in earnings in 2021 from her marketing company Pie Spy LLC, more than $40,000 in speaking fees, and $10,000 for her participation in the Club for Growth's Save America bus tour. There are also dividends listed from a number of investment and retirement accounts.
Page 3 of Sarah Palin personal financial disclosure
Contributed to DocumentCloud by Insider Staff (Insider Inc.) • View document or read text
Palin was the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee on the late-John McCain's White House ticket. They lost that race, of course, to Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Now, Palin is now competing against 47 other candidates in a June 11 special election to fill Alaska's At-Large House seat vacated by the death of Rep. Don Young, who was the longest-serving member of the House.
Palin has so far brought in more than $56,000 from web advertising for Young Conservatives LLC and $44,000 from Cameo videos, which she sells for nearly $200 a pop, in 2022, according to the filing. But it's unclear whether Palin could continue earning income from Cameos if she gets elected to Congress.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is selling personalized messages for $200 a video on Cameo
Screenshot via Dave Levinthal/Insider
Members of Congress are technically limited to $29,595 in outside income per year to supplement their official salaries while serving in federal office.
But loopholes in the rules allow members to significantly pad their annual salaries through investment accounts, real estate holdings, and book deals, including advance fees and subsequent royalties.
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, for example, was able to earn double his congressional salary with $184,167 in advance and royalty fees for his upcoming memoir, Insider's Kimberly Leonard reported from his latest financial disclosure filing.
Under Alaska's new top-four primary system, all 48 candidates vying for Young's seat from all parties will run on the same ballot in June. The four highest performing candidates will then advance to an August special general election where voters will pick the winner under ranked-choice voting.
More: Sarah Palin Alaska cameo John McCain | 2022-05-18T18:25:20Z | www.businessinsider.com | Sarah Palin Earned More From Cameo Than She Would in Congress | https://www.businessinsider.com/sarah-palin-cameo-income-congress-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/sarah-palin-cameo-income-congress-2022-5 |
Why are rates increasing?
What are the new rates?
Federal student loan rates
Private student loan rates
New loans vs. existing loans
Would Biden's loan forgiveness apply?
How to lower student loan rates
Student loan interest rates are about to go up — here's what that could mean for you
The new student loan interest rates only apply to federal loans, not private ones.
Chuck Savage/Getty Images
The US Department of the Treasury has raised interest rates on federal student loans.
These rates will apply to new loans taken out July 1 or later, but not to any existing loans.
A private lender may offer you a lower rate, but you'll lose the benefits that come with federal loans.
The US Department of the Treasury recently announced that student loan interest rates will increase for the 2022-2023 school year. These new rates go into effect July 1, 2022, and you can't take out any new student loans before that date.
Here's what you should know about the new student loan rates, and how they could impact your wallet.
Why are student loan rates increasing?
Each May, the Treasury Department changes student loan rates depending on the most recent 10-year Treasury note auction. The Treasury note rate has increased this year, so student loan rates are going up, too.
Inflation has a huge impact on the Treasury note rate. This past March, inflation grew at its fastest pace in 41 years. So it follows that the Treasury note rate — and student loan rates — are increasing.
What are the new student loan interest rates?
Here are the new rates starting on July 1, versus rates for this past year.
Type of loan New rate Previous rate
Undergraduate (unsubsidized and subsidized) 4.99% 3.73%
Graduate (unsubsidized) 6.54% 5.28%
PLUS loans (Parent and grad) 7.54% 6.28%
These increases may not seem significant, but they will result in higher monthly payments. You could also pay hundreds more over the life of a loan.
Will this affect my federal student loans?
Yes, the Treasury Department's new rates impact any federal student loans issued between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023.
Will this affect my private student loans?
No, not directly. The new interest rates only apply to federal student loans.
However, it's possible that private lenders will increase their rates in response to this news, because their rates don't have to be as low to compete with federal rates now.
"I would shop around, not just be committed toward one loan provider or private versus federal loans," says Mark Reyes, a certified financial planner with the personal-finance app Albert. Comparing lenders can help you find the best rate — just know that private lenders don't offer the same protections, such as student loan forgiveness through the government, that federal loans do.
How will this affect new loans vs. existing loans?
Any new federal loans you take out from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023, will have these new interest rates. But the higher rates won't apply to any loans you've already taken out.
Federal student loans are fixed-rate loans. This means that once you take out the loan, your rate is locked in and never changes, unless you refinance or consolidate your debt with new terms.
Would Biden's student loan forgiveness apply to these new loans?
It's unclear. President Biden has talked publicly about ideas for widespread student loan forgiveness — including cancelling $10,000 in debt per borrower and limiting cancellation to people earning under $125,000 — but he has not submitted an official proposal. Nothing regarding student loan forgiveness is official yet, so we don't know what the parameters for cancellation would be.
How to lower your student loan interest rates
The new student loan rates are set in stone, so there's no way to lower your rates for this upcoming year. But there are ways to take out less in student loans, which in turn means you'll pay less in interest.
"Try borrowing the amount that you only need for school, not the entire amount that you qualify to borrow. By borrowing less, you won't pay as much interest in the long term for your education," says Reyes. "Maybe you qualify for $20,000 worth of student loans, but you do the math, and you only need $15,000."
He also says you should contact your financial aid office with questions about your specific situation. You may find out you have other options for paying for school, such as a scholarship or grant that doesn't need to be repaid. The school also might have work-study opportunities.
Paying down your loans more quickly than required is another way to save money on interest. The amount of interest you pay is based on your principal, so putting extra payments toward you principal will reduce the amount you pay in interest overall.
Making payments on any unsubsidized loans while in school could be especially useful in paying down your loans, Reyes says. With unsubsidized loans, interest accrues while you're in school — so any money you can put toward these while still enrolled will help in the long run.
You could consider private student loans in place of federal ones. Some private lenders may offer lower rates, especially if you have a good credit score . However, Reyes says you should take caution when considering private lenders.
"With federal student loans, there comes a lot of protections, like forbearance, income-driven payment plans, Public Service Loan Forgiveness, and the potential to have student loans forgiven by the government," he says. Private student loans don't offer these benefits.
It's also important to remember that interest paid on federal student loans may be tax-deductible. You can deduct either $2,500 or the total amount paid in interest during the year (whichever is less) if your modified adjusted gross income is under $70,000, or $140,000 if you're married filing jointly. You might still be able to deduct interest if you earn more, but a higher income means a lower tax deduction.
If you're unable to find ways to reduce how much you pay in interest, it still might not be time to worry. Reyes says it's important to remember that student loans can be considered "good debt."
"Student loans aren't bad debt, as they can help you gain experience and potentially help you gain more in your lifetime," Reyes says. "So it's more of an investment in your future."
PERSONAL FINANCE Understanding student loan interest is vital to managing your debt. Here's how it works
PERSONAL FINANCE How to read your financial aid award letter and understand the true cost of your dream school
More: Loans Student Loans student loan interest Personal Finance Insider | 2022-05-18T19:04:06Z | www.businessinsider.com | Student Loan Interest Rates Are About to Go up — Here's What That Could Mean for You | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/student-loan-interest-rates-increase-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/student-loan-interest-rates-increase-2022-5 |
Wall Street bankers are 'livid' at having to hand over their personal cell phones for the SEC's texting probe. 'I have no idea what might pop up.'
Wall Street bankers are "livid" over having to turn their personal phones over to regulators.
Kevin C Moore
The SEC has asked Wall Street to review more than 100 personal phones for unauthorized messages.
Insider spoke to three bankers who say the review is tantamount to an "invasion of privacy."
They fear it will unveil personal information about themselves, their clients, and peers.
Wall Street execs are "livid" and scared at having to submit their personal cell phones to their employers to satisfy a regulatory crackdown over secretive messaging apps like WhatsApp.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission is asking banks from Goldman Sachs to Credit Suisse to review more than 100 personal phones used by traders and dealmakers. The SEC wants to understand how bankers use unauthorized messaging platforms to communicate with clients and colleagues, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. Regulators say these apps allow banks to get around rules requiring them to preserve business records, which can make it harder for them to spot bad behavior, like insider trading.
Bankers, however, fear the oversight from lawyers and regulators could expose personal text exchanges with peers, unveil privileged banker-client information, and even chats with journalists, three bankers told Insider. They are complying with the request while blasting it behind the scenes as an "invasion of privacy."
"I think it's complete bullshit," one senior banker in New York said. "You trust me to sign billion-dollar credit agreements, but you don't trust me to communicate properly. Give me a break."
In addition to Goldman and Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, Citi, and HSBC have said they're looking into inquiries from the US government into messaging apps. The SEC has also sent a list of positions, including investment-banking heads, that are subject to review, according to Bloomberg.
This latest development comes after Deutsche Bank was asked by German financial watchdog BaFin to reveal how its staff use private messaging services earlier this week. And last December, JPMorgan was fined $125 million by the SEC for allowing its bankers to use Whatsapp , text messages, and personal emails to communicate about business matters that skirted around federal record-keeping laws.
'People are livid'
Some banks, like Citi and Credit Suisse, request their bankers use their own cell phones to conduct work matters, while others, like Canadian Scotiabank, provide execs with a second phone that does not enable the users to download apps like Whatsapp, one of the three bankers said.
A spokesperson for Credit Suisse declined to comment. A spokesperson for Citi could not immediately clarify the bank's procedure around cell phones. A spokesperson for Scotiabank was not available for comment before this article was published.
For those bankers with a single phone, there's a lot of content both personal and professional that are open to scrutiny.
"People are livid," another senior banker said. "While I can see what they're trying to do from a regulatory point of view, it's still an invasion of privacy."
The banks that have received requests from the SEC have appointed lawyers to look for work-related communications. According to Bloomberg, ranting about your colleagues or management would not likely result in punishment, nor would it be conveyed to management.
But the Orwellian nature of the exercise has bankers fearing that anything untoward could be misconstrued or publicized.
"If you're investigating something big like insider trading, fine. But if you're going through every single text with my boss, I have no idea what might pop up, and that's scary" a third banker said. "Going through every single text, group chat, you might find something you don't want to see in the papers."
Bankers have grown accustomed to instant-messaging apps like Whatsapp because it enables them to communicate quickly with peers and clients both domestic and overseas. During the coronavirus pandemic, use of these apps skyrocketed as employees shifted to remote work, Insider has previously reported.
Bankers also love that Whatsapp and rival platform Signal provide encrypted, secure messaging services, which is ideal for execs working on confidential deals.
"There's an immediacy to Whatsapp. I don't check my email as often as I used to now that I chat on Whatsapp," a third banker said (ironically through a Whatsapp phone call). "A lot of banks also don't have things like Slack , which is the closest to texting. And text has become the way of working, for sure."
More: Capital Markets investment banking WhatsApp | 2022-05-18T19:04:24Z | www.businessinsider.com | Bankers Are 'Livid' Over the SEC's Probe Into Their WhatsApp Messages | https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-bankers-livid-over-sec-probe-private-messages-whatsapp-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-bankers-livid-over-sec-probe-private-messages-whatsapp-2022-5 |
Charlie Bell, the famous ex-Amazon cloud exec now leading cybersecurity at Microsoft, is putting his stamp on the business with sweeping org changes, internal memo shows
A security surveillance camera is seen near the Microsoft office building in Beijing, July 20
Associated Press/Andy Wong
Charlie Bell, considered a founder of Amazon Web Services, joined Microsoft last year.
It's been mostly quiet since he started leading a new companywide cybersecurity org in October.
Now, he's putting his stamp on the business through a sweeping reorg, an internal memo reveals.
Last year, Amazon Web Services cofounder Charlie Bell stunned the cloud computing industry when he jumped ship for Microsoft to lead a revamped cybersecurity organization.
Since then, Bell and his team have flown under the radar — until last week, when he sent an internal email viewed by Insider that lays out his plans for a sweeping reorganization to the unit.
"Last October we came together as the Security, Compliance, Identity and Management division, which reflected the incredible opportunity in front of us and was an acknowledgment of the amazing work all of you have done over many years," Bell wrote in a May 11 email to his organization view by Insider. "This was an important first step."
Per that email, Bell spent his first eight months at Microsoft as an observer. Now, he wrote in the memo, he's ready to put his stamp on the business by reworking his leadership team, making organizational changes, and introducing a new set of "organizing principles" to dictate the structure of the unit.
Bell's email also discloses that Bharat Shah, a 33-year Microsoft veteran and corporate vice president of Azure Cloud Security, is leaving the company to "pursue new interests." Shah will stick around for a few weeks while Microsoft searches for a new leader for the business.
Meanwhile, Michal Braverman-Blumenstyk, corporate vice president and general manager of the Israel R&D center, will join Bell's leadership team as chief technology officer for the organization and Moti Gindi, corporate vice president of Microsoft Threat Protection, will become chief strategy officer.
As for organizational changes, Bell is creating a single product organization for the company's Security Opertaions Center products, uniting teams for its Sentinel security analytics products and Microsoft 365 Defender enterprise defense suite under Microsoft corporate vice president Rob Lefferts.
Bell is also creating a new Research organization under John Lambert, combining the M365 security and compliance research teams, Sonar analyst team, and teams working on AI, machine learning, and data science.
Vlad Korsunsky will help lead cloud security as the new general manager for Defender for Cloud, leading engineering and product. A new Shared Services team will be led by Mario Goertzel, and first-party security customers teams will be combined under Aanchal Gupta.
Remaining groups, such as those led by Identity Corporate Vice President Joy Chik and Chief Information Security Officer Bret Arsenault., will remain the same, Bell said.
Bell explained the changes will help make his Microsoft teams more agile, responsive, and organized with customers in mind, detailing what he called "organizing principles."
"First and foremost, changes are rooted in customer signals because there will always be tradeoffs to any structure. Where we can improve our customers' experiences by making internal organization adjustments, we will evaluate those opportunities.," Bell wrote in his email.
"Second is the notion of Conway's Law which asserts that organizations design systems that reflect their own communication structure. Practically speaking, if we aren't organized with customers in mind, we run the risk of 'shipping our org chart.'
Third, I believe deeply in creating engineering primitives as the foundation upon which we can create building blocks for our various products and services, and so can our developer and partner ecosystem. That doesn't mean that everything will be centralized all the time, but it does mean looking out for where we can bring similar efforts together to simplify, improve, and enable.
Finally, just as the market is dynamic and customers' needs are as well, it is important for us all to embrace the reality that organizational agility is a muscle we will need to build together. That means that as we grow. both ahead of and in response to this dynamic market, we will adjust and refine our structures and processes to ensure our ability to effectively build and deliver our products and services end-to-end is world class." | 2022-05-18T20:35:41Z | www.businessinsider.com | Microsoft's Charlie Bell Is Making Sweeping Org Changes, Memo Shows | https://www.businessinsider.com/microsofts-charlie-bell-is-making-sweeping-org-changes-memo-shows-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/microsofts-charlie-bell-is-making-sweeping-org-changes-memo-shows-2022-5 |
What is a mortgage refinancing?
7 reasons to consider refinancing your home
7 reasons refinancing your home might not make sense
How long does it take to refinance a mortgage?
The 7 best and worst times to refinance your mortgage
Carefully evaluate all the costs involved in refinancing and make sure the savings will outweigh them.
Six_Characters/Getty
Refinancing your mortgage can offer many benefits under the right circumstances.
You may be able to lower your interest rate, pay off your loan faster, or take cash from your home.
Refinancing might not make sense if you plan to move soon or your credit score has worsened.
If you buy a home with a mortgage, there will likely come a time when you're faced with the question of whether or not to refinance. This strategy, which essentially replaces your existing loan with a new one, can help you achieve a variety of financial goals. It might even reduce your monthly payments or interest rate, as long as it's used under the right circumstances.
Here are a few scenarios in which refinancing might make sense — and some when it may be ill-advised.
Refinancing is when you take out a new mortgage and use the money to pay off your old one. The new loan may have different terms or a new interest rate. It could even be an entirely different type of mortgage.
Cash-out refinancing is also an option. This involves taking out a new mortgage that's larger than your current one. The new loan pays off the old one, and you get the difference between the two balances back in cash. Many homeowners use cash-out refinancing to cover the costs of home repairs or renovations.
As Mike Tassone, co-founder of mortgage marketplace Own Up, explains: "The purpose of this type of refinancing is to take additional cash out at closing by borrowing against the equity in your home and increasing the principal balance."
Refinancing your mortgage can often be a smart move — but only in the right circumstances. It's important to weigh the costs, your goals, and your unique financial situation before deciding to refinance.
Here are seven scenarios when you might want to consider refinancing:
1. You can get a lower interest rate
One of the best reasons to refinance is to reduce your interest rate, which could save you a lot of money in the long run.
Tassone recommends aiming for at least a quarter-point reduction, though the lower the rate you qualify for, the more you'll stand to save.
Keep in mind that interest rates are determined both by the market and your credit profile. Borrowers with the highest credit scores will typically qualify for the lowest rates. If your credit score is on the lower end, you might want to take some time to improve it before applying to refinance.
Quick tip: Shopping around for a mortgage lender can help you find a lower rate too. You should get quotes from at least five different lenders and compare the rates, fees, and terms.
2. The value of your home has risen
Refinancing when your home's value has increased offers two benefits.
First, it might allow you to cancel mortgage insurance. Most conventional mortgages require borrowers to pay for mortgage insurance until they've reached at least an 80% loan-to-value ratio — meaning their mortgage loan amounts to 80% or less than the home's value. If you're able to refinance into a new loan without mortgage insurance, it could save you both on your monthly payment and in the long haul.
A higher home value also means you have more equity, which would give you access to more money in a cash-out refinance. If your home value is up and you're looking for a way to cover the costs of a big repair or some other expense you're facing, a cash-out refinance could be an option to explore.
3. You want to pay off your loan faster
Refinancing lets you take on a new loan with new terms. Tassone calls this, "reworking your loan to better suit your current needs."
For example, if you wanted to pay off your loan faster, you might refinance from a 30-year loan to a 10- or 15-year one. This would usually mean higher monthly payments, but it would also save you on long-term interest and help you pay off the mortgage faster.
4. Your credit score has improved
Credit scores play a big role in mortgage financing. Lenders use your score in setting your interest rate. It also helps determine the types of loans and terms that are available to you.
If your score has improved considerably since taking out the initial loan, "You may be able to qualify for more favorable terms," says Mayer Dallal, managing director of mortgage lender MBANC.
Quick tip: Getting your credit score for free is easy. Credit card companies often provide it on your monthly statement or anytime you check your account online.
5. You want to eliminate mortgage insurance
Most FHA loans come with mortgage insurance — typically for the life of the mortgage. It costs anywhere from 0.45% to 1.05% of your loan amount per year.
If you have an FHA loan and want to eliminate those added costs, refinancing into a conventional loan is an option. Your loan balance just needs to be 80% or less of your home's total value.
6. You have an adjustable-rate mortgage
With an adjustable-rate mortgage, your interest rate can rise over time — meaning your monthly payment can increase. To avoid this, you could refinance into a fixed-rate mortgage, which offers a consistent interest rate and payment for the life of the loan.
Quick tip: If you have an adjustable-rate mortgage, talk to your loan servicer about when your rate may adjust next — and by how much. This can help you determine the best time to refinance your mortgage.
7. You're facing big expenses or want to pay off debt
Cash-out refinancing can help you pay for renovations, big medical bills, college tuition, or other expenses. It can also help you eliminate higher-interest debts — like credit cards, which currently carry rates over 14%, according to the Federal Reserve.
"With the average mortgage refinance rate just a fraction of the average credit card interest rate, cashing out to be able to pay down your credit card or other higher-interest-rate debts may be a smart financial move," says Al Murad, executive vice president of sales at AmeriSave Mortgage.
When you use a cash-out refinance to pay off higher-interest debts, you essentially roll those debts into your mortgage loan and then pay them off over time.
Refinancing has its benefits, but it's not right for everyone — nor for every situation. In some cases, it may even cost you more in the long run.
Here are seven times refinancing might not be the wisest move:
1. Fees and other costs would offset the savings
There are closing costs associated with refinancing. In 2021, the average cost to refinance was just under $2,400, according to data compiled by CoreLogic, though it varies by location and lender. According to the Federal Reserve , it can sometimes cost as much as 6% of the loan amount.
For refinancing to be worthwhile, you'd want to make sure the savings would outweigh those initial costs in the long run. As Dallal explains: "Closing costs can be high, so it may not always be worth the time and effort to refinance a mortgage."
You can use Personal Finance Insider's mortgage calculator to get an idea of how much a refinance could save you over time. Then, compare that to average closing costs in your state to see if the move is worth it.
2. You might move soon
To come out on top, you want to stay in the home long enough to hit your breakeven point — or the point at which you saved more than the refinance initially cost you.
"Refinancing is generally a bad idea when there are negligible payment savings and the time it would take to break even on the closing costs extends beyond the time you expect to remain in your home," Tassone says. "You need to be certain that you'll be in the new mortgage for a long enough time period that the savings exceed the upfront cost to refinance, which can be in the thousands."
3. Interest rates are significantly higher
If refinancing your mortgage loan would mean trading a low interest rate for a higher one, proceed with caution. There may still be reasons to do it, but you'll want to weigh the long-term costs of the move first.
To gauge what current mortgage rates look like, see Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. You can then use a mortgage calculator to compare the long-term costs of your current loan versus a potential refinance.
4. You've had your loan a long time
Mortgage loans are amortized, meaning you pay more toward interest at the beginning of the loan and then more toward your principal balance later in the term. For this reason, refinancing when you're well into your term can be a big setback. It means resetting all that progress you made and starting over — with the majority of your payments, once again, going toward interest.
"When refinancing into the same product as your existing loan, it's important to understand that your amortization period will be reset," Tassone says. "This can lead to paying more in total payments and interest."
The only reason you might want to take this approach is if you are struggling to make your payments. In this scenario, refinancing into another 30-year mortgage would spread your costs out over a longer period and lower your monthly payment.
5. You can't afford the closing costs
Refinancing has its costs. Though some lenders advertise "no-cost" refinances, these just roll the closing costs into your mortgage balance. That means higher payments and more interest costs. These loans also come with higher interest rates.
While Tassone says this isn't always necessarily a bad thing, he stresses the importance of calculating the added long-term costs of such a move and making sure it aligns with your budget and goals.
6. Your credit score is lower than it was before
"If accumulating credit card debt or other factors have caused a homeowner's credit score to drop significantly since the time of their current mortgage's lock, it may not be wise to refinance," Murad says.
A lower credit score will typically mean a higher interest rate and less favorable loan terms than you currently have. If you want the lowest possible rates, most lenders require a credit score of 740 or higher.
7. Your current loan has a prepayment penalty
Some lenders charge fees if you pay off your loan too early (usually within three to five years of taking it out). These are called prepayment penalties.
Always check your loan paperwork or ask your servicer if your mortgage has a prepayment penalty and, if so, how much it is and when it applies. Prepayment penalties can not only make refinancing more expensive upfront but also eat into the savings it can net you in the long run.
Refinancing typically takes around 49 days, on average, from application to closing, according to data compiled by ICE Mortgage Technology.
To get started, apply for quotes from at least three to five lenders. They'll give you loan estimates, which break down the terms, rate, and costs, which you can then use to compare against your other offers.
Once you've chosen a lender, you'll complete their full application, submit various financial documents such as tax returns and bank statements, and schedule a home appraisal . When those steps are complete, you'll be given a closing date, which is when you will sign the final paperwork and pay your closing costs.
If you're confused about refinancing, you might consider speaking to a mortgage broker. They have access to loan products from dozens of different lenders and can shop around on your behalf.
PERSONAL FINANCE Fixed-rate vs adjustable-rate mortgage: How to decide which one you should get
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More: Personal Finance Insider PFI Reference Freelance Refinance
refinance mortgage | 2022-05-18T20:35:55Z | www.businessinsider.com | When to Refinance Your Mortgage | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/when-to-refinance | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/when-to-refinance |
Here is what Melvin Capital founder Gabe Plotkin told investors as he liquidates his $7.5 billion hedge fund
Melvin Capital founder Gabe Plotkin told investors that he is closing his hedge fund.
Gabe Plotkin told investors Wednesday that he is closing his hedge fund.
Melvin Capital managed $7.5 billion in its hedge fund, which was down 23% through April this year.
Plotkin was the target of Reddit traders last year, who piled into his short bets, like GameStop.
Sixteen months after suffering from an unprecedented retail-trader-driven short squeeze, Gabe Plotkin is shutting down his $7.5 billion hedge fund Melvin Capital.
Plotkin, a one-time industry star who previously ran money for billionaire Steve Cohen, was down 23% this year as markets have moved away from the growth stocks he and other hedge funds rode to fame and fortune.
In a letter to investors seen by Insider, Plotkin wrote, noting that he gave "everything I could, but more recently that has not been enough to deliver the returns you should expect."
"I now recognize that I need to step away from managing external capital," the letter reads. The winding down of the portfolio is already underway, he wrote, and the firm will not charge management fees after June 1.
"I am grateful for the trust that you have placed in me and our team. I am available over the coming weeks to answer any questions you may have," he wrote, ending the letter. Bloomberg first reported the news the fund was closing.
Plotkin's disastrous start to 2021 — when he lost billions in a matter of days as retail traders pumped up his various short bets, most notably GameStop — was a shocking turn for what many people considered to be one of hedge funds' golden boys. His fund, named after his grandfather, made an average of 30% annually before the Reddit trading frenzy, and still finished with an average annual return of 11.9% after the past year and a half, according to a source familiar with the fund's performance.
The success of the fund, which was backed by Cohen, provided Plotkin with serious personal wealth as well; he is a minority owner of the NBA's Charlotte Hornets, and bought a massive multi-million-dollar property in Miami Beach right before the short squeeze.
Because of the rough start to last year, when Melvin finished down 39% overall, the firm was going to have to dig out of a deep hole to ever charge long-time investors performance fees again. At many hedge funds, investors only pay performance fees when the firm makes money above its high-water mark, or its highest level of performance.
Melvin attempted to reorganize its fund offerings to create a new, smaller hedge fund earlier this year, but investors revolted because they did not want to start paying performance fees to a manager who had lost them money. Now, the firm is returning its investors' capital and shutting down.
More: Hedge Funds Gabe Plotkin Melvin Capital | 2022-05-18T22:06:50Z | www.businessinsider.com | Gabe Plotkin on Why He's Closing $7.5 Billion Melvin Capital | https://www.businessinsider.com/gabe-plotkin-investor-letter-closing-melvin-capital-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/gabe-plotkin-investor-letter-closing-melvin-capital-2022-5 |
Biden invokes the Defense Production Act to ramp up production of baby formula as parents face a national shortage
President Joe Biden announced new measures Wednesday to address the national baby formula shortage.
Invoking the Defense Production Act gives formula manufacturers priority in obtaining ingredients.
The White House also announced plans to use military aircraft to pick up formula from abroad.
The White House on Wednesday announced new measures to address the national shortage of baby formula, including that President Joe Biden is invoking the Defense Production Act.
Invoking the act allows the government require suppliers to send needed ingredients to baby formula manufacturers ahead of any other customers, according to a statement announcing the move.
"Directing firms to prioritize and allocate the production of key infant formula inputs will help increase production and speed up in supply chains," the statement said.
Another announced measure was "Operation Fly Formula," which will allow the Department of Health and Human Services and the US Department of Agriculture to use military aircraft to pick up baby formula from over seas. The statement said the formulas from abroad must meet the Food and Drug Administration's safety standards.
"I've directed my team to do everything possible to ensure there is enough safe baby formula and that it is quickly reaching families that need it the most," Biden said in a video announcing the measures.
The measures come as empty shelves have left parents across America scrambling to find food for their babies, especially for infants with allergies who rely on specialty formulas.
More: Baby formula Shortage Defense Production Act Joe Biden | 2022-05-18T22:59:01Z | www.businessinsider.com | Biden Invokes Defense Production Act Amid Baby Formula Shortage | https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-invokes-defense-production-act-amid-baby-formula-shortage-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-invokes-defense-production-act-amid-baby-formula-shortage-2022-5 |
A top Democratic lawyer took the stand in the first trial stemming from John Durham's investigation.
Marc Elias said the Clinton campaign never authorized the FBI meeting at issue in the prosecution.
Elias called Trump a "bully" and criticized the FBI response to Russia's hack of the DNC.
The top lawyer for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign labeled Donald Trump a litigious "bully" on Wednesday and recalled feeling "under attack" from Russia's hack of the Democratic National Committee, in trial testimony that reflected on the bitterly contested presidential race.
Marc Elias, a prominent Democratic lawyer and voting rights advocate, took the witness stand in the first trial stemming from Trump-era special counsel John Durham's inquiry into the origins of the Russia investigation. Durham's office called Elias to testify against another lawyer with Democratic ties, Michael Sussmann, who was charged last year with lying to the FBI in connection with a 2016 meeting where he presented internet data purporting to show suspicious contact between servers for the Trump Organization and a Russia-based bank.
Prosecutors allege that Sussmann misled the FBI's top lawyer at the time, James Baker, by stating that he was not representing any client when he was, in fact, seeking the meeting on behalf of the Clinton campaign and a tech executive who'd provided him the internet data. But, under questioning from Sussmann's defense lawyer, Elias said neither he nor anyone associated with the Clinton campaign had not authorized the meeting at the crux of Sussmann's prosecution.
Elias said he would not necessarily have seen the meeting as a "good thing" for the Clinton campaign as it sought press coverage of the internet data. The FBI, he said, had not been "particularly helpful" in investigating Russia's hack of the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee or taking steps to prevent the ensuing leak of emails.
During that time period, Elias added, then-FBI Director James Comey had taken public stances he considered unfair and viewed as "putting a thumb on the scale against Secretary Clinton."
Elias recalled feeling "under attack" from Russia's hack of the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. And he took note of the strategic release of politically damaging emails, which was time just before that year's Democratic National Convention.
It was, he said, "wholly an effort by Russia to ruin what is the one clean shot candidates get to talk to the American public."
Elias added: "Rather than doing what any decent human being might do," Trump openly invited Russia to find unreleased emails from Clinton's tenure as secretary of state under the Obama administration.
Recounting his work with the Clinton campaign more broadly, Elias said he was mindful during the 2016 election of Trump's reputation for being "infamously litigious." During the Republican primary, he said, Trump had threatened to sue former Florida Gov. Job Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio.
"Donald Trump was a bully who used litigation as a tactic," Elias said, "whether it be in business or in politics."
More: michael sussmann Donald Trump John Durham Hillary Clinton | 2022-05-18T22:59:02Z | www.businessinsider.com | Clinton's Top 2016 Campaign Lawyer Called Trump a 'Bully' at Trial | https://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-2016-campaign-marc-trump-elias-sussmann-trial-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-2016-campaign-marc-trump-elias-sussmann-trial-2022-5 |
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina.
Saul Loeb and Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
McCarthy expressed some sympathy for Madison Cawthorn after the freshman congressman lost his primary.
The Republican House leader said he still wants "to help" the 26-year-old lawmaker.
Cawthorn conceded defeat on Tuesday night to North Carolina state Sen. Chuck Edwards.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said on Wednesday that he still wants to help scandal-plagued Rep. Madison Cawthorn after the North Carolina Republican became a lame-duck following his stunning primary loss on Tuesday.
McCarthy added that the 26-year-old lawmaker's career is "not over" and that there's still a possible future in politics for the North Carolinian who just a few years ago became the youngest Republican lawmaker ever elected to Congress. Less than two years ago, the former rising star was given a speaking slot at the Republican National Convention, a major stage for a first-term lawmaker.
But Cawthorn's career took a serious blow on Tuesday night. Cawthorn has conceded defeat to State Sen. Chuck Edwards, one of a handful of primary challengers in his race. It didn't help matters that GOP Sen. Thom Tillis took the rare step of endorsing Edwards, signaling that senior Republicans in the North Carolina delegation had grown tired of Cawthorn.
McCarthy himself previously told reporters that Cawthorn had "lost my trust." It was the second time in weeks that McCarthy had to admonish Cawthorn, first when the North Carolinian called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "thug" and later when Cawthorn suggested that Republicans were engaging in illicit drug and orgy parties in Washington.
The situation was only further exacerbated when Cawthorn was cited for bringing a loaded gun on an airplane, the second time that had happened, and received multiple traffic tickets. The final straw was likely a coordinated opposition research campaign that dumped embarrassing videos of Cawthorn online.
More: Kevin McCarthy Madison Cawthorn North Carolina 2022 midterms | 2022-05-18T22:59:02Z | www.businessinsider.com | McCarthy: Madison Cawthorn's 'Career's Not Over' After Primary Defeat | https://www.businessinsider.com/mccarthy-madison-cawthorns-careers-not-over-after-primary-defeat-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/mccarthy-madison-cawthorns-careers-not-over-after-primary-defeat-2022-5 |
Palestinian children carry light candles and pictures of slain Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, to condemn her killing, in front of the office of Al Jazeera network, in Gaza City, Wednesday, May 11, 2022.
AP Photo/Adel Hana
Slain Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh inspired generations to take up the profession.
Several journalists who have followed in her footsteps talked to Insider about her legacy.
The veteran journalist was shot and killed on May 11 by Israeli forces, according to Al Jazeera.
Longtime colleagues and young reporters inspired by slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh said the trailblazing figure could tell a story with her eyes.
Palestinian reporters Jalal Abukhater, Haya Yasmeen, and Faten Elwan told Insider that Abu Akleh became their idol as early as 2000 when she reported on the second Palestinian intifada for Al Jazeera.
"There was a war outside of our windows, and it was terrifying," Abukhater, a Jerusalemite who was seven years old at the time, told Insider. "I remember Shireen Abu Akleh as being one of the only reporters who was always outside bringing the news to our homes."
Two decades later Abukhater, still influenced by Abu Akleh, became her colleague in the field.
"It's like when there's a battle and the commander goes onto the battlefield to inspire the troops," Abukhater told Insider. "That's what we felt as journalists."
Abukhather called Abu Akleh a "martyr of truth." He attended her funeral service and said that without Israeli occupation checkpoints and walls blocking access "it could have been a million man march."
The three reporters who spoke to Insider personally knew the pallbearers transporting Abu Akleh's coffin, who were beaten by Israeli police. Despite that, the reporters said the mobilization was one of the largest and proudest they had seen in Jerusalem. It represented unity in grief and a commitment to carrying on Abu Akleh's message.
A 'martyr of truth'
Abu Akleh, who had worked as a TV correspondent for Al Jazeera since 1997, was shot and killed while wearing a "PRESS" vest and covering an Israeli military raid in the occupied city of Jenin on May 11, per Al Jazeera.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 19 journalists have been killed since 1992 while reporting in Israel and Occupied Palestine. The Palestinian Ministry of Information claims that since 2000, at least 45 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israeli forces, according to Al Jazeera.
Eyewitness accounts from Al Jazeera colleagues, an initial investigation by the Palestinian Authority, as well as an independent investigation by Bellingcat all point to Israeli Defense Forces shooting and killing Abu Akleh, though Bellingcat said it could not be 100% certain without seeing additional evidence.
The Israeli military has offered shifting narratives on the incident — first blaming Palestinian militants located elsewhere in the city and saying that Abu Akleh and her colleagues were "armed with cameras."
In an interim report, the Israeli military later admitted that the IDF could have accidentally fired the bullet. Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, chief and general staff of the Israeli army, said "at this stage, we cannot determine by whose fire she was harmed and we regret her death."
The foreign minister said that Israel was offering to conduct a joint investigation with Palestinian authorities.
The EU and UN Security Council condemned the killing and called for an independent investigation. The US, confirming that Abu Akleh was an American citizen, called for a thorough investigation. Later State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that the US trusted Israel to conduct its own investigation.
The Palestinian Authority, however, has said it does not have any faith in a solo or joint Israeli investigation.
'The woman I wanted to be one day'
Yasmeen, a travel journalist inspired by Abu Akleh, also remembered being fixated on Abu Akleh as a girl in Jerusalem.
"I never felt like a president represents me, or people in politics represent me, but Shireen was always that person, and I saw myself in Shireen as a little girl," Yasmeen said. "When you would turn on the TV, as a Palestinian woman, you would see a woman presenting to you – she was a reflection of the women I grew up with and the woman I wanted to be one day, not the woman that the Western media always painted us as."
Like Abukhater, Yasmeen said that Abu Akleh not only inspired her life and career path but also instilled fearlessness. Eventually, they met, and Yasmeen has become an acclaimed journalist in the region herself.
"She's seen parts of Palestine that people who lived there their whole lives under occupation haven't seen," Yasmeen said.
A teacher and a lifelong friend
Elwan, one of Abu Akleh's close friends and colleagues told Insider that the veteran journalist also inspired her to stay on her path to becoming a journalist. She rode with Abu Akleh in the ambulance from the scene of her killing back to a hospital in Ramallah on May 11.
She said that Abu Akleh — originally a friend of her journalism teacher — gave her advice to help her work on her pronunciation for broadcast reports, a nudge that she says gave her the confidence to become a reporter.
By 2000, the two were working in the field together under Israeli fire, covering the intifada. Elwan, a seasoned war correspondent who worked for Al-Hurra TV, told Insider that it was the care with which Abu Akleh approached stories that set her apart.
"What was different about Shireen, is that when she worked on a story, it was her face, her body language, and her interaction with the story," Elwan said. "It's a thing that you cannot teach; it's a thing that is built-in a personality, and this is what Palestine is going to miss."
More: Shireen Abu Akleh Press freedom Palestine Israel | 2022-05-19T02:40:20Z | www.businessinsider.com | Palestinian Journalists, Friends of Shireen Abu Akleh on Her Legacy | https://www.businessinsider.com/palestinian-journalists-friends-of-shireen-abu-akleh-on-her-legacy-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/palestinian-journalists-friends-of-shireen-abu-akleh-on-her-legacy-2022-5 |
Nine Republicans voted against a bill that would help poor families buy baby formula.
The bill is a measure that expands on a federal program to help low-income women and children.
Separately, 192 Republicans voted no on a bill to staff up the FDA to help manage formula supply.
Nine Republicans voted against a bill in Congress that would help lower-income women secure baby formula for their children.
Many Republicans crossed party lines to vote for HR 7791, the Access to Baby Formula Act, which passed the House on Wednesday with 414 "yes" votes. However, the bill — which comes amid a crisis where parents are struggling to procure baby formula for their children — was voted down by nine Republican lawmakers.
The "no" votes were cast by GOP Reps. Andy Biggs, Lauren Boebert, Thomas Massie, Clay Higgins, Matt Gaetz, Chip Roy, Paul Gosar, Louie Gohmert, and Marjorie Taylor Greene. The bill now goes to a vote in the Senate.
Rep. Jahana Hayes introduced HR 7791 by saying it would help families using benefits under the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program access more baby formula. This supplemental nutrition program for poorer women does limit the kinds of baby formula brands that WIC recipients can purchase, though the bill aims to resolve these limits. The bill also requires that formula manufacturers put in place contingencies to prevent supply disruptions.
"I have heard directly from constituents who are searching for formula to no avail, and we are actively seeing the consequences of an essential service throttled by a monopoly industry during a time of unprecedented supply chain challenges," Hayes said in a press release.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro introduced a second bill that was voted on in the same session, meant to address the ongoing baby formula crisis in the form of increased funding for the Food and Drug Administration. HR 7790 proposed a $28 million cash infusion to help the FDA address the current formula shortage and prevent future supply chain issues. DeLauro told NBC before the vote that most of the cash in her legislation would go to staffing up the FDA and bolstering its inspection force.
According to The Hill, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise urged Republican members to vote no on HR 7790, arguing that Speaker Nancy Pelosi was pushing the bill forward "in hopes of covering up the administration's ineptitude by throwing additional money at the FDA with no plan to actually fix the problem, all while failing to hold the FDA accountable."
The House vote on both bills came several hours after President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act, using the 1950 law to boost the supply of formula from US manufacturers.
The US is still facing staggering issues with baby formula supplies, with the backlog having been induced by pandemic supply chain snags and a recent recall of Abbott products. Brands including Target, Walgreens, and CVS have begun rationing purchase quantities, and nationwide shortages continue to plague parents.
More: Republican Congress Bill Infant Formula | 2022-05-19T07:18:37Z | www.businessinsider.com | 9 Republicans Vote Against Bill to Help Poor Families Buy Baby Formula | https://www.businessinsider.com/9-republicans-vote-against-bill-poor-families-buy-baby-formula-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/9-republicans-vote-against-bill-poor-families-buy-baby-formula-2022-5 |
Finland Prime Minister Sanna Marin in Rome, Italy, on May 18, 2022.
Finland's prime minister said joining NATO does not mean it will host nuclear weapons in its backyard.
Finns aren't interested in having nuclear arms or permanent NATO bases in their country, she said.
Finland shares a 830-mile border with Russia, and Moscow has threatened retaliation if it joins NATO.
Finland's prime minister said that the country being accepted as a member of NATO would not mean bringing nuclear weapons into its territory.
Sanna Marin spoke with Italian newspaper Corriere Della Serra in an interview published on Thursday, soon after Finland and Sweden submitted their applications to become members of the military alliance.
She was asked about Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson's comments that her country does not want permanent NATO bases or nuclear weapons on its territory even if it is accepted to join.
Marin was less forceful than Andersson in her interview, but she said that Finland likely feels the same way, and that the decision would be one taken by Finland and not imposed on it by other countries.
"It is not an actual debate, the topic is not part of the negotiations. These are national decisions. Nobody will come to us to impose nuclear weapons or permanent bases if we don't want them," she said.
"So I think that this topic is not on the agenda. It doesn't even look like there is an interest to deploy nuclear weapons or to open NATO bases in Finland."
Russia and Finland share an 830-mile border, prompting Russia to repeatedly threaten to retaliate if Finland, and its neighbor Sweden, join NATO.
This map shows how much Russia's border with NATO grows with Finland as a member:
Support for joining NATO in both Sweden and Finland grew after Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
Russia's threats have included the deployment of nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles. But, in recent days, Russia has presented a calmer tone and painted the two countries joining as something that would not pose a threat to Russia.
Claudia Romeo contributed translation to this story
More: News UK Speed desk Nuclear Weapons NATO | 2022-05-19T09:46:28Z | www.businessinsider.com | Finland PM Says Joining NATO Doesn't Mean Hosting Nuclear Weapons | https://www.businessinsider.com/finland-pm-nato-does-not-mean-nuclear-weapons-beside-russia-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/finland-pm-nato-does-not-mean-nuclear-weapons-beside-russia-2022-5 |
Inside Amazon ProServe, an elite group in the company's cloud unit that sparked a workplace investigation
Members of the group are in a fight with management to end what they say is a long-standing culture of 'bullying and bias'
Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon and former CEO of its cloud unit.
Amazon Web Services; Mike Blake/Reuters; Alyssa Powell/Insider
Belle Lin and Ashley Stewart
Ten days after Andy Jassy took over as Amazon's CEO in July, he was sent a petition signed by more than 500 employees that described a culture of systemic "discrimination, harassment, bullying and bias against women and under-represented groups."
It was the type of information any boss would dread receiving when starting a new job. In this case, the allegations involved Amazon Web Services, the cloud business Jassy had overseen for well over a decade.
The petition focused on a group within AWS called ProServe, its professional-services unit, and came on the heels of a lawsuit by a ProServe employee, Cindy Warner, who alleged she was fired for speaking up about gender discrimination at the company.
Twenty-one current and former AWS employees told Insider the allegations in the petition and lawsuit reflected long-standing problems at ProServe, including bullying, shouting, derogatory remarks about women, other biased comments, retaliation against people who complained, and scant punishment for wrongdoers. Many of these people spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation; their identities are known to Insider. Some people agreed to share their names.
"There was this unspoken culture within ProServe. It was really not very healthy, and it wasn't a secret," Laudon Williams, who worked in the group from 2016 to 2020, said. "Everyone knew what the problems were, and everyone knew who the people were that caused the problems."
Williams wrote a widely shared LinkedIn post detailing why he left AWS in August 2020. He said the reasons included that he had heard a senior leader use homophobic language, that colleagues were afraid to go to human resources, and that the company's performance-management system was used to push people out.
Jassy aims to make Amazon "Earth's best employer," but one that answers to shareholders keen to see growth continue. His performance as CEO will partly be determined by how he navigates this balancing act — at ProServe and beyond.
Amazon said in a statement that the allegations of misconduct at ProServe did "not reflect the culture of Amazon." It added that the company was "investigating claims about the culture within the ProServe team" and "committed to that being a thorough review, which takes time to get right."
In response to the petition, Amazon told Insider that it had taken steps to understand the concerns raised from ProServe employees and that it was surveying the ProServe group to determine next steps.
Still, employees in the unit are leaving in droves. ProServe's attrition rate in the first quarter was almost double what was expected, a senior-level employee said. Pravin Raj, a director in ProServe who has been accused of misconduct by several employees, has seen a significant number of leaders on his team exit as of late April, the senior-level employee added. An Amazon spokesperson called the figures inaccurate, but declined to provide specifics.
Meanwhile, Amazon this month moved Todd Weatherby, the former head of ProServe accused of gender discrimination in Warner's lawsuit, to an "advisory role" in a sweeping reorganization of the unit, according to internal emails viewed by Insider. In February, Weatherby was also moved to report to Uwem Ukpong, who was hired from the energy-technology company Baker Hughes, to run a new AWS Global Services group that combines ProServe with other customer-facing businesses.
The downside of life inside Amazon's growth engine
Created in 2012, ProServe has helped transform Amazon's cloud from a niche offering favored by tech-savvy internet startups to a mainstream platform relied upon by major corporations. ProServe employees are essentially on-call cloud consultants who work directly with VIP customers like Nestlé, BMW, and Samsung, helping them set up and maintain their use of Amazon's cloud products.
Multiple people told Insider that for AWS to meet customer and partner demand, managers in the group were hired too quickly. ProServe's head count was growing about 78% a year, Matt Taylor, a ProServe partner-program manager who joined the group in 2015, said. (Amazon said the group's head count grew 50% a year on average.)
New leaders were often brought on with relatively little management experience and ended up running fairly large teams simply because ProServe was growing so quickly. And the group didn't have a culture or system for turning these people into competent managers, Williams said.
"We made too many sacrifices, and we hired people we shouldn't have hired into senior level," Taylor told Insider.
An internal turf war turned into name-calling, suit says
Such management challenges were exacerbated by an aggressive, male-dominated culture, insiders said. Women accounted for roughly 20% of ProServe's 7,000 employees, less than Amazon as a whole in the US, which had 31.4% female staff, according to its 2020 diversity report.
For Warner, a tech-industry veteran who joined ProServe in February 2020, these problems came to a head in a phone conversation with a male colleague and an Amazon HR representative. Her lawsuit, filed in May 2021, said the call was intended to address an internal turf spat over a VIP customer but quickly went off the rails.
"You are nobody," Warner's colleague shouted at her, according to the complaint. "I'm going to make damn sure you go nowhere in this organization!"
He then called her a derogatory term typically used against women, the suit alleged.
Though HR investigated the incident and brought it to Jassy, then AWS' CEO, Warner said the man was not disciplined. Weatherby, her manager, then "mocked" her for taking offense, she said.
"That's when I sought representation," she added.
An Amazon representative said the company "conducted a thorough investigation into Ms. Warner's complaints as soon as she made them and found her allegations to be unsubstantiated." Its motion to dismiss the case is pending.
Going 'berserk'
Other ProServe insiders described Raj, a department director and a Cisco Systems veteran, as particularly difficult to work with. They said he bullied staff, was prone to bursts of anger, and made derogatory remarks about women and people of color.
One ProServe employee said Raj "went berserk" and screamed at them following a recent disagreement about a project.
"It was not something you'd expect in a professional environment," this person said. Another employee corroborated this person's story.
Three former ProServe employees said Raj had a history of making racially charged remarks, including introducing himself as a person of color with a white partner and encouraging other people of color to "integrate."
"He's very assimilationist," one of the people said. "He was of the mind that if you just 'do and act like us,' then you'll be fine."
Several female employees who worked at ProServe told Insider they and others steered clear of working with or for Raj.
"He talks over women. He doesn't listen. He will take credit for women's ideas," a woman who worked with Raj said. "He's like the epitome: If you looked up in the dictionary 'worst male to work with,' he has got all the attributes."
Another woman who worked on a team close to ProServe said she always avoided Raj because she knew his reputation for "arrogant and entitled" behavior. A different female ProServe employee said she'd been recruited by Raj to join his group but had been warned by nine women, some of whom had worked for him, to stay away.
"'Whatever you do, don't take that job,'" she quoted those women as saying. "'He is god-awful to work for.'"
A fourth woman told Insider that Raj had acted as her ally, telling her he was "pro-women," but never delivered on promised career opportunities. When she confronted him, the woman said Raj told her, "Well, if you don't like it, leave." Another woman recounted a similar experience in which she said Raj had promised a female employee career advancement but, behind closed doors, discouraged others from working with her and disparaged her work.
A record of HR complaints
There have been repeated complaints about Raj sent to Amazon's HR department, according to four people with knowledge of the matter.
In her lawsuit, Warner said several ProServe employees had previously complained about Raj's "discriminatory and harassing conduct."
Raj was a high performer in ProServe and often acted as Weatherby's "enforcer," so he was shielded from repercussions for his misbehavior for some time, several people said. This description was corroborated by eight other people who worked at ProServe and said Raj would dole out punishment on Weatherby's behalf.
Last summer, he was moved to a new role reporting to a different manager rather than directly to Weatherby, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Insider. At the time, Raj was reintroduced as a leader who could listen. He hosted breakout sessions and individual meetings where employees could "meet the new Pravin," this person said.
An Amazon spokesperson said Raj denies the allegations of misconduct detailed in this story. Raj and Weatherby did not respond to direct requests for comment from Insider.
Punishing staff who spoke out
Warner and several other ProServe employees said managers and senior leaders would use Amazon's performance-management program, known as Focus, to punish staff who spoke out about the group's problems.
A few years ago, Raj put a male employee into the Focus program after the employee criticized his leadership of the ProServe advisory group, Warner said. The person was a "star performer" who had simply "crossed Pravin," Warner said, adding: "That's how the process was used against him."
Another ProServe employee told Insider that Raj put them in Focus because of what Raj described as an "attitude problem." The person said they hadn't been underperforming and found out about the change from a hiring manager when they tried to transfer to a different team.
Focus is intended to coach underperforming employees, but instead, is used as a weapon to prevent people from speaking up about problems at Amazon, the person said.
'Smoke screen'
In July, after the petition alleging bias and bullying at ProServe was circulated internally, AWS hired an outside firm, San Francisco's Oppenheimer Investigations Group, to investigate.
Nearly 10 months later, insiders said they hadn't received updates on the inquiry or any messages addressing the petition's concerns. Warner, who was initially optimistic about the initiative, said she considered it "a smoke screen."
"They had to do something to quiet people down," she said.
Three people who worked at ProServe, including one who was contacted by Oppenheimer directly, told Insider that they and women, in particular, had been wary of speaking with the investigative firm out of concern that their statements would not be anonymous as promised. Documentation from their interviews is stored in Amazon's servers, one of these people said.
In a statement, Amazon said it "will continue to communicate with employees about the investigation." A spokesperson also denied that employees had raised concerns about the confidentiality of the investigation, and said staff were informed they "may communicate completely confidentially" with Oppenheimer.
Do you work at Amazon or have insight to share? Contact reporter Belle Lin via encrypted email (bellelin@protonmail.com) or corporate email (blin@insider.com). Contact reporter Ashley Stewart via email (astewart@insider.com), or send a secure message from a nonwork device via Signal (+1-425-344-8242).
More: Amazon AWS Amazon Web Services Andy Jassy | 2022-05-19T10:21:07Z | www.businessinsider.com | Inside Amazon ProServe, a Growth Engine That Sparked a Workplace Probe | https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-proserve-culture-investigation-workplace-gender-discrimination-lawsuit-2022-1 | https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-proserve-culture-investigation-workplace-gender-discrimination-lawsuit-2022-1 |
A portfolio manager at a $26 billion firm breaks down the 5 qualities he looks for in stocks amid a challenging macroeconomic environment — and shares 4 companies he's betting on for the years ahead
Investors are still digesting a monetary policy shift, says Zehrid Osmani.
In such an environment, fundamentals will become increasingly important, he said.
He shared 5 stocks his firm is betting on for the years ahead.
Much of the stock market has suffered from the substantial shift in the macroeconomic outlook that has happened since the start of 2022.
As the Federal Reserve has adopted a more hawkish stance as it tries to slow down four-decade-high inflation, expectations for earnings growth have been downsized, and investors have been de-risking portfolios. Deutsche Bank has said they expect a recession in 2023 thanks to tighter Fed policy. Goldman Sachs said this week that the risk of a recession is "very high."
Since January 3, the S&P 500 is down roughly 18%, the biggest drop the index has seen since the 35% drawdown in February and March 2020. And many, like Morgan Stanley, say it has further to fall.
The hysteria around the Fed's hawkish shift and what it means for stocks has seemingly led to a degree of indiscriminate selling.
But as soon as investors have fully understood what the consequences of hawkish policy will be, fundamentals will once again matter, according to Zehrid Osmani, a portfolio manager at Martin Currie, which manages more than $26 billion in assets.
Fundamentally strong firms are where investors will find opportunities, he said.
"Investors have to digest the monetary policy transition. Once that happens, once we're clear about how high and how rapidly interest rates go where they need to go, that will provide that stability in terms of expectations by investors, which will then bring back the fundamentals," Osmani said in an interview on Tuesday.
"On the fundamentals side, we see a lot of quality growth companies that have continued to deliver or over-deliver on their operational expectations, and yet have sold off by 30%, 40%, 50%," he added. "As these fundamentals continue to come through, there's only so long that the market will ignore those fundamentals."
Given the riskier environment for stocks — and uncertainty around how long it will last — Osmani listed qualities he's looking for in stocks he invests in.
Generally, he said he looks for firms that are growing consistently, are profitable, have strong balance sheets, have earnings momentum, and have strong pricing power, or the ability to raise prices without hurting growth.
With investors being forced to lower earnings expectations amid an economic slowdown, Osmani said profitable firms growing their earnings will become more attractive. Conversely, in a lower interest rate environment, firms with a longer-term growth outlook tend to perform better.
"As you're moving into this downgrades cycle, companies that provide stable earnings momentum, or indeed positive earnings momentum, will be in demand by investors," Osmani said.
He added: "We think companies that are most vulnerable in this phase of the economic cycle are companies that are unprofitable" and whose past profitability is uncertain.
Osmani also listed five stocks in his fund that he believes fit these criteria.
The first is Kingspan Group (KGSPY), an Irish renewable-energy firm producing products like solar panels. Osmani said the firm has strong pricing power and has been able to pass on rising materials prices to consumers. He also said the shift toward green energy is a medium-term secular growth tailwind for the company.
The company grew sales by 47% year-over-year in Q1 2022.
Second is Ferrari (RACE), the luxury auto maker. Osmani pointed to the company's pricing power and long waiting lists for its cars.
"They've been able to really show that as they raise prices, demand doesn't necessarily get impacted because of the scarcity of the products," he said.
The firms beat earnings estimates in Q1 2022.
Third is ASML (ASML), which supplies photolithography systems to semiconductor makers. Semiconductors are in high demand for growing industries like electric vehicles and cloud computing, Osmani said. He also said they have a stronghold in their space with little competition.
The firm is "sitting right at the top of the value chain of the ecosystem, in a quasi-monopolistic situation providing equipment to the semiconductor makers," he said.
ASML slightly beat earnings estimates in Q1 2022.
Fourth, Osmani like power tools and vacuum technology equipment producer Atlas Copco (ATLKY) because of their pricing power. He also likes their exposure to the semiconductor space.
The firm narrowly topped earnings estimates last quarter.
More: Investing Stock Picks stock picks to buy | 2022-05-19T10:21:22Z | www.businessinsider.com | 5 Qualities to Look for in Stocks Amid Slowdown — and 4 to Buy: PM | https://www.businessinsider.com/stocks-to-buy-now-what-to-look-for-in-companies-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/stocks-to-buy-now-what-to-look-for-in-companies-2022-5 |
Jefferies says it's now bullish on hard-hit tech stocks, and details its favorite names and preferred industries that are investors' best bets for outperformance
A trader works on the trading floor on the last day of trading before Christmas at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., December 23, 2021.
Jefferies Global Equity Strategist Sean Darby says he's "bullish" on tech stocks now.
Reasons include lower stock prices, a strong dollar, solid demand, and looser financial conditions.
Darby also named a small group of especially low-priced and high-returning tech stocks he likes.
"Correction" seems like a bland term for a scary stock market decline. But the word endured for a reason, as those downturns can reverse conditions that investors were worried about.
According to Jefferies Global Equity Strategist Sean Darby, that's exactly what happened in the technology sector , which has taken worse losses than stock in general. Before the latest round of selling, a lot of investors were concerned about high prices and about tightening financial conditions.
Now, prices are lower, and financial conditions have eased because credit spreads are wider and the dollar is at a 20-year high. So everybody's happy, right?
Maybe not. But Darby says there is some good news for tech, and circumstances have changed in important ways.
"A tradeable rally is unfolding for the IT sector as the overshoot in the dollar and credit spreads reverses and financial conditions ease temporarily at least," he said.
He had been pessimistic about the sector, but Darby says now that "new order and backlog fundamentals are still firm" for tech even though stock prices have fallen dramatically.
The stronger dollar is also an important factor. Tech companies get more of their revenue from outside the US than any other major market sector, so they benefit when the dollar gets stronger. When those sales made overseas are converted back into dollars, they end up with bigger profits. That's helping tech this earnings season.
All of that contributes to Darby upgrading the sector to "bullish" from "modestly bearish." He's positive on all three of the major categories in the sector, which are software and services, hardware and equipment, and semiconductors and semiconductor equipment.
Darby concludes that the changes in the market are so dramatic that they present a real opportunity even though interest rates will keep going up — a development that is bad for long-duration tech stocks — and estimates for global economic growth will keep going down.
"With financial conditions easing at the boundary and valuations back on the side of the investor and sentiment measures depressed such as the AAII and NAAIM (the latter almost as bad as the pandemic), there is some room for a counter-trend rally," he said.
He says that the most attractively priced tech stocks today based on forward return on capital and free cash flow field are Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Cisco Systems, Applied Materials, Global Payments, Lam Research, Juniper Networks, IBM, and Microchip Technology, which Jefferies rates at "Buy," and HP and Qualcomm, which have "Hold" ratings.
Darby is also bullish on consumer staples and healthcare stocks and has his lowest "bearish" rating on energy and communication services stocks. | 2022-05-19T10:21:27Z | www.businessinsider.com | Tech Stocks to Buy, Picks From Jefferies After Bullish Upgrade | https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-stocks-to-buy-outperformance-picks-bullish-upgrade-jefferies-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-stocks-to-buy-outperformance-picks-bullish-upgrade-jefferies-2022-5 |
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Wednesday she's launching an investigation into various platforms used by a suspected shooter who launched a racially motivated attack at a supermarket Buffalo, New York.
James specifically named Twitch , Discord , 4Chan, and 8Chan as subjects of her investigation, and said the shooter used them to "plan, promote, and stream" his attack.
Amazon-owned Twitch is a streaming service which the attacker used to broadcast the attack live. Twitch confirmed the shooting was streamed on its platform, and a spokesperson told CNN the livestream was taken down less than two minutes after the attack began.
8Chan, which was renamed 8Kun in 2019, is a site similar to 4Chan which has been taken offline in the past after being linked to multiple mass shootings.
The suspected shooter's online behavior and livestream of the attack have drawn comparisons with the 2019 attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The Christchurch shooter livestreamed his attack on Facebook.
More: Buffalo shooting NYC Letitia James ag | 2022-05-19T11:18:07Z | www.businessinsider.com | NYC AG Probes Twitch, Discord, 4Chan Over Buffalo Shooting | https://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-ag-probes-twitch-discord-4chan-buffalo-shooting-white-supremacy-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-ag-probes-twitch-discord-4chan-buffalo-shooting-white-supremacy-2022-5 |
I did a climate change crash course run by a startup that aims to inspire urgent action. Here are my 5 key takeaways.
AimHi Earth cofounders Sarah Humphrys and Matthew Shribman at COP26.
AimHi
I attended a climate and nature crash course run by environment education startup AimHi.
The course is designed to give people a basic understanding of climate change and inspire action.
AimHi detailed the importance of soil and showed how glaciers are used to measure CO2.
"Does the climate crisis feel scary to you right now ... is your adrenaline pumping?"
That was the question from environmentalist Matthew Shribman, cofounder of AimHi Earth, a startup dedicated to educating people and companies about the climate crisis.
Humans react to immediate threats but struggle perceiving long-term, slow, problems, according to Shribman.
That's where AimHi Earth, cofounded in 2020 by Shribman and Sarah Humphreys, comes in. The startup counts the likes of Cambridge Zero, the esteemed university's climate initiative, and the UN's environment program among its partners.
AimHi Earth has set out to arm everyone with essential knowledge and energy to become a climate leader, whether that's in the community or a corporation. It offers one-off crash courses on the climate crisis or four one-hour sessions for more in-depth knowledge.
I took part in the startup's one-hour crash course, which discussed emissions, feedback loops, fossil fuels, soil and food, nature, and technological and natural solutions.
When asked where the low-hanging fruit was when it came to climate change, Shribman said: "Move your money away from banks that invest in fossil fuels, vote, and diets."
The course covered all bases, including the influence of scientists over time and the impact of agriculture, but I was left wanting more depth. An after-session pack landed in my inbox as soon as the course ended that helped with this and provided action-driven solutions to the crisis.
Here are my key takeaways.
Negative feedback loops are actually positive
When you're hungry, you eat, and become less hungry. This is a negative feedback loop, Shribman said. If eating made you feel more hungry, this would be a positive feedback loop. Climate change is a positive feedback loop; the world getting hotter is making the world get hotter.
Greenland's ice is melting faster now than any point in the last 12,000 years, Shribman said. In one month, enough ice melts to cover the whole of UK in 2.5 metres of water.
As ice melts, there is less bright ice to reflect the heat. Oceans, in comparison, are dark and attract heat. This negative feedback loop is called the albedo effect. Oceans also soak up the sun's radiation and sea temperatures rise, which is responsible for coral bleaching events. Rising sea temperatures are responsible for fewer clouds, which itself causes more extreme weather.
Positive feedback loops, at the point they could spiral out of control, are called tipping points. No one knows where the tipping point is or if we have passed it already, Shribman said, which is why it's important to act now.
Soil plays a bigger role than I realized
The world treats soil as a tool to grow crops, but it is alive, Shribman said. One teaspoon of soil contains more living things than the human population. This includes everything from bacteria and algae to mites and insects.
The top three layers of soil also contain three times the CO2 than the atmosphere.
However, its usefulness is hindered by chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which kill off much of its biological life. Degenerative farming processes also harm soil's ability to sequester carbon.
It takes hundreds of years to recover a layer of topsoil, Shribman said. "We should put the soil first, it will take care of the plants for us."
I know that soil plays a vital role in storing carbon, but I was surprised to learn how much CO2 top soil stores.
Glaciers play a cruical role in measuring historical carbon levels
The melting Upsala Glacier in Patagonia, captured by astronaut Thomas Pesquet.
ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet/A. Conigli
Scientists can measure how much CO2 was in the atmosphere throughout history by drilling deep into a glacier.
This is called ice core data and it shows the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere moves around in peaks and troughs. However, there have never been more than 300 particles of CO2 for every million particles of air, a measurement referred to as parts per million, or ppm.
At the time of writing, the density of carbon in the atmosphere stands at 419.9ppm, according to a CO2 tracker launched by Shribman and Cambridge Zero.
Ice core data is possible in snowy areas because layers of ice, which preserve air bubbles of that time, are constantly being added to glaciers. The oldest air analyzed is over 2 million years old, according to a 2019 study.
As well as the changing climate, scientists can figure out when the Romans started using different metals in their coins, Shribman said.
1 million species are on the brink of going extinct
Up to 1 million species are currently threatened with extinction, many of which could happen within decades. The biodiversity crisis is well documented but I was surprised to see such a high figure, encompassing land animals to coral reefs.
Living things store carbon and release it into the atmosphere when they die, impacting other ecosystems. "These are tipping points on top of tipping points," Shribman said.
Extinction numbers don't give a holistic view of the situation, Shribman said. Population declines are even bigger.
It is not just destruction and loss of habitat causing animal populations to decline.
The sex of sea turtles is determined by the temperature of the egg during nesting season. There are now fewer males being born thanks to the warming planet, raising concerns as to whether there will be enough to sustain future populations.
Town planners should also have greater respect for biodiversity and nature, Shribman said. A forest is typically older than a castle, for example, but the latter would likely be safeguarded in urban planning.
We need to consider the knock-on effect of human interventions
There are a host of reasons to be optimistic about the climate crisis, not least because of increased interest from governments, investors, and startups.
AimHi Earth's crash course spent most of its 60-minute slot looking at the problem rather than the solutions. It did, however, highlight work in geoengineering, artificial clouds, and ocean fertilizers.
The company's key message for technological solutions is to consider how they impact nature. They don't solve the problem, Shribman said. "They just buy us time."
Throughout the course, the company stressed that the climate crisis is also a nature crisis. "Natural climate solutions" are 33% of the solution but get a fraction of the funding, Shribman said.
Shribman also noted that the longer course goes into more detail about solutions. The after-session booklet also plugged this gap, so I felt well set up to go off and do further research.
More: Startups climate tech Tech Insider | 2022-05-19T11:52:29Z | www.businessinsider.com | I Did a Climate Crash Course. Here Are My 5 Key Takeaways. | https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-crash-course-designed-heres-what-i-learned-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-crash-course-designed-heres-what-i-learned-2022-5 |
Check out the 19-slide pitch deck blockchain gaming company Azra Games used to raise $15 million from investors including a16z, Coinbase Ventures and Franklin Templeton.
Mark Otero, co-founder of blockchain gaming firm Azra Games
Blockchain gaming firm Azra Games raised $15 million in a seed round led by a16z & NFX.
The startup is founded by gaming veteran Mark Otero and entrepreneurs Sonny Mayugba and Travis Boudreaux.
Check out the 19-slide pitch deck used to raise funds from investors including Coinbase Ventures.
Legendary Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz officially announced their new gaming venture fund only days ago.
The $600 million fund focuses exclusively on gaming startups and is led by three general partners — Andrew Chen, Jonathan Lai, and James Gwertzman, who joined the firm in November from Microsoft's gaming division.
One of the first companies to make the cut into a16z's new portfolio is Azra Games, a blockchain company that's just raised $15 million in a seed round led by a16z through its gaming and crypto fund, and NFX.
Azra Games focuses on building collectible and combat role-playing games for Web 3.0 and is founded by veteran games designer Mark Otero, who is best known for "Electronic Arts' Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes", and entrepreneurs Sonny Mayugba and Travis Boudreaux.
"Imagine role playing giant monsters, robots and creatures, and leading your favorite heroes and villains to battle - and on top of satisfying game sessions, a vibrant marketplace and a sustainable economy based on real value that only web3 can unlock to deliver the most compelling and complete play experience," Otero said in a press release.
The seed funding will be used to accelerate the development of Azra's first game, a sci-fi collectibles and mass combat roleplaying game which is code-named Project Arcanas.
"CEO Mark Otero is a seasoned game director who was at the forefront of mobile free-to-play games with the hit franchise Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes," said Jonathan Lai, a a16z general partner in a press release. "We're excited to partner with Mark and the Azra team as they apply their expertise to web3 games in creating new types of gameplay and economy design."
Other investors in the round include Coinbase Ventures, Franklin Templeton as well as a number of leaders in the crypto space, such as Yield Guild Game's co-founder Gabby Dizon, Twitch co-founder Justin Kan and Dapper Labs co-founder Roham Gharegozlou.
"We are incredibly impressed by what the team is building," said Gigi Levy Weiss, a NFX general partner in the press release. "I believe Azra will be the leader in blending amazing gameplay with digital ownership, offering ultimate value and entertainment to players."
Slide 16 of Azra Games pitch deck
Slide 17 in Azra Games pitch deck
More: Investing VCs crypto
Mark Otero
a16z gaming fund
VC Pitch | 2022-05-19T11:52:35Z | www.businessinsider.com | Crypto Pitch Deck: Azra Games $15 Million Raise Led by A16z & NFX | https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-pitch-deck-slides-azra-games-blockchain-web3-gaming-a16z-nfx-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-pitch-deck-slides-azra-games-blockchain-web3-gaming-a16z-nfx-2022-5 |
I'm a recruiter who's placed over 700 people at companies like Microsoft, Google, and Facebook. Here are the 3 questions I tell candidates to ask to make sure they won't be on the wrong side of future layoffs.
Jermaine Murray is a recruiter who's placed candidates at firms like Google, Microsoft, and Meta.
Jermaine Murray is a job recruiter who's worked with companies like Google, Meta, and Microsoft.
As tech experiences a downturn, Murray says it's important for job seekers to ask hard questions.
This is how Murray suggests job seekers navigate layoffs, as told to reporter Jessica Xing.
I'm the founder of JupiterHR, a recruiting firm that's helped place over 700 tech workers at companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Google since 2019.
Just a month ago, I saw how candidates had an unprecedented amount of leverage in the job market. Candidates came to me with lucrative offers and counteroffers from firms like Meta, Reddit, and Uber. In fact, most candidates had multiple offers, leaving companies scrambling to distinguish themselves fast. If companies couldn't do it with cash, they tried other enticing benefits like four-day workweeks or permanent work-from-home arrangements.
Yet within the past two weeks, I've seen how quickly things changed. The pendulum has swung the other way, and now companies are facing hiring freezes, layoffs, and trying to figure out how to make do with the talent they have. People I placed just five months ago have already been affected by layoffs.
However, I don't think this means worker leverage has disappeared. Some workers have leveraged the skills and the salaries they earned at previous jobs to get high-paying roles at other firms. Others have circulated layoff sheets so impacted employees can be contacted by recruiters.
Many companies are still hiring, and while some are a lot more cautious, the foundations of good salary negotiation never change. You owe it to yourself to ask the awkward questions, no matter what the economic situation is.
Here are the questions I've been telling candidates to ask companies to land a job during the tech downturn and get ahead of future layoffs.
How do I know the company is going to be here in 6 months?
Whenever you enter a new job, you need to talk figures. Ask about revenue, how much funding they have, and how well the company is hitting its key performance indicators, or KPIs. Also ask about how they've treated employees when the business wasn't doing so well.
Startups that once raised huge rounds are quickly burning out, laying off staff that joined just months before being hired. So you need to ask the hard questions to make sure that both you and the company will still be there after six months.
This is especially true for startups, but it's still important to ask these types of questions at larger tech companies. Ask how the department is doing, how the team you will join is serving the business, and more importantly, what funding management is willing to provide. All of these questions will at least give you a better idea of how viable your job will be in six months.
What does your customer base look like?
It's important that a company understands who its customer base is. This question also gives you a good opportunity to see how invested clients are in the company, as well as if the customers themselves are profitable and willing to spend money on the company you're joining. If a firm is bleeding customers, it's a good indicator that something's up.
If a company can't succinctly state how they are serving their client base, or doesn't clearly know what market they fit into, then it shows that even leadership doesn't have a good idea of what the product actually does, which could mean trouble in the future.
If investors tell you to tighten up, what plans do you have in place in order to retain your staff?
Companies spend a lot more to hire employees than to retain them. Which means when times are tough, many companies start looking to see who they can cut first.
New people are scared because they have the least amount of tenure, middle management feels there might be too much redundancy in their work, and product people might be afraid that their product is stagnating. There's been a misconception that tech was recession -proof, yet recent pullbacks show that employees need to be prepared for a downturn.
You can use the backdrop of what's going on recently, or even the backdrop of what's going on with the pandemic, to have these honest conversations. You owe it to yourself to ask tough questions, especially when things are so uncertain. | 2022-05-19T11:52:53Z | www.businessinsider.com | How to Get Ahead of Future Tech Layoffs As a Job Seeker | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-get-ahead-of-layoffs-interview-tips-google-facebook-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-get-ahead-of-layoffs-interview-tips-google-facebook-2022-5 |
The Shade Room is investing beyond Instagram, ramping up hiring, and looking to build credibility around its investigative journalism
The Shade Room / Joshua Ott / Angelica Nwandu
The Shade Room is one of the top non-personality-driven Instagram pages.
But this year, the company wants to invest more on platforms like Snapchat and YouTube.
It hopes to grow its team by 41% and hire more journalists to build longstanding credibility.
The Shade Room remains one of the top non-personality-driven Instagram accounts, with over 26 million followers and counting.
But while Instagram is its origin and success story, these days, the media company is trying to expand beyond the platform, and the wisecracking celebrity headlines that made it famous.
The Shade Room is investing 16.5% of its revenue this year outside of Instagram, which includes hiring producers and journalists to make shows on Snapchat and investigative pieces on YouTube, the company told Insider. The company says that its daily Snapchat show, which helps break down trending topics in 24 snaps, averages 600,000 unique viewers per day.
"The Shade Room has ventured into offering our audience more special interest, political and investigative news reporting," said Justin Dwayne Joseph, the company's head of content. "That endeavor has led to the introduction of TSR Investigates, a digital series that explores cold cases and special interest stories underrepresented in mainstream media."
The Shade Room's VP of People and Culture, Clarice McClung, said the company is trying to grow its head count by 41% in 2022. It currently has 29 staffers.
How its quippy Instagram success is helping to funnel an investment in longer-form journalism
Josh Ott, the head of revenue at The Shade Room, said its biggest revenue driver is still Instagram as far as large partnerships and native posting. But the foundation the company built on Instagram is also helping it invest in broadening its reputation as a media brand.
"We're just tapping the surface of potential revenue streams and solidifying our future," Ott said. "We're going to be putting our money behind longform efforts so we can build audiences outside of Instagram. Not to say we don't believe in Instagram's future — we just want to be everywhere our audiences are."
Ott defined longform content as anything beyond a few minutes long, like investigative YouTube video from March about the disappearance of a South Carolina makeup artist named Alexis Ware, which clocks in at a bit over four minutes. Its channel has put out features that span a few minutes long to interviews that are packaged to upwards of 30 minutes.
Over the years, The Shade Room has seen varying success with denser content beyond Instagram. Its two-part interview with rapper 6ix9ine in late 2020 drew in nearly 10 million views combined. But some of its more recent YouTube videos have garnered a couple of thousand views each.
The Shade Room is following the trajectory of other media brands that have made the jump beyond Instagram. For instance, after the basketball-focused Instagram account House of Highlights was acquired by Bleacher Report in 2016, it expanded to platforms like Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok, and into both longform video and livestreamed content.
Even on Instagram, The Shade Room is testing out longer videos, like a seven-minute reported piece on an apparent wig scam in Florida. Ott added that speaking to issues that affect its core BIPOC viewers that other outlets often overlook will always be the outlet's main focus.
Ott believes the brand is still innovating and speaking to a majority Black audience that few media companies have been able to authentically address in the past.
"We're a leader; we're the leader," Ott said. "There's an absolute expectation to post on cultural events, so we are much more than a celebrity or gossip channel. Our team does real investigative journalism along with lifestyle features. Sometimes we double and triple check our sources. We owe that to our roommates."
The company's big 2022 plans to grow and nab top media talent
To build longevity in the media landscape that's still often dominated by legacy publications, Ott believes The Shade Room needs to see them as their direct competition.
"Our comparisons aren't against Black or BIPOC outlets; they're against Disney and Complex and the NBA," he said. "These companies have all the resources in the world to create awesome content, and somehow we are doing the best job of it."
McClung said that beyond hires for Instagram, its Snapchat show, YouTube, and bigger investigations on these platforms, the company is looking to poach talent from traditional media. So far, The Shade Room has recruited journalists like Justin Carter, who won an Emmy for an investigation into Illinois' foster care system, and Judith Nwandu, a political correspondent who was previously at Ebony Media.
"We are currently looking for reporters, editors, and producers that have experience working for high-output and trusted media brands," McClung said. "Some of our hires over the last year previously worked for CNN, Viacom, Urban One, ESPN, and local news stations."
More: The Shade Room Instagram Snapchat YouTube
BIPOC business | 2022-05-19T11:53:11Z | www.businessinsider.com | The Shade Room Invests Beyond Instagram and Hires for Investigations | https://www.businessinsider.com/the-shade-room-invests-beyond-instagram-and-hires-for-investigations-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/the-shade-room-invests-beyond-instagram-and-hires-for-investigations-2022-5 |
Market data is 'big business': A crypto director explains how the world's largest traders are earning money from abandoning rivalries — and shares 3 types of alpha that can still be found in the market
The world's biggest trading firms are abandoning rivalries and earning money from collaborating.
A director for the Pyth network, which powers this collaboration, explains why trading shops are getting involved.
He discusses how further adoption could improve 3 alpha opportunities that currently exist in the market.
If the world's largest trading firms were seen to be collaborating in traditional markets it would likely raise eyebrows and result in a call to the regulators.
But in crypto, the collaboration between market participants could be the key to creating more efficient markets and tools for traders and investors.
At least one of the world's largest crypto trading firms, Jump Crypto, thinks it could.
Jump Crypto has a foot in both the centralized and decentralized worlds of finance through its ties to proprietary trading firm Jump Trading, which is its parent company. This overview helps Jump Crypto pinpoint critical blockers in the growth in the crypto market.
"One of the things that we realized was the oracle problem," said Mike Cahill, director of the Pyth Data Association. "So the oracle problem, very simply put, is all smart contracts in the world rely on some reference data."
Oracles are blockchain tools used to fetch data from the real world to be used in blockchain smart contracts. Oracles rely on multiple data sources to remove the need for intermediaries.
Financial service smart contracts and crypto trading solutions need access to oracles that provide reliable market data quickly. But right now, most oracles are pulling information from the internet, which is at risk of outages, or from sources that aren't optimized for speed, or even licensed for data usage, Cahill said.
Jump wanted to change that by launching the Pyth network to deliver reliable market data on the blockchain.
"The US equity market has a very mature market data business, like $5-to-$10 billion a year, selling real-time data to trading firms like Jump." Cahill said. "So big, big business. If you are using real-time market data from the US equity market and you're not paying fees, eventually you're going to be shut down or sued."
One way to replicate this type of market data feed in a blockchain environment is by getting the trading firms that are doing material volume on exchanges to collectively publish market data.
"If you can get them to contribute directly to blockchains, you can actually recreate this market data, without ever having to worry about the intellectual property controls like the CME," Cahill said.
Already some of the biggest names in trading, both in crypto and in traditional markets, are providing market data to the network including Jane Street, FTX, Alameda Research, Two Sigma Securities and Virtue Financial.
Most of these players are looking to build out a critical piece of infrastructure useful to the whole ecosystem rather than reduce their market data bill, Cahill said,
But like in all crypto products, there will eventually be an incentive scheme in place where those with the highest quality of data will receive the most rewards.
"Right now, the emphasis is on making sure that the data providers themselves are of the highest caliber and quality," Cahill said. "And each one of them has publicly declared that their data provider and they're contributing, and in some cases, they've even said, which wallet they're using, which address they're using."
Eventually data providers will stake the PYTH token to become a data provider and, as long as their data is accurate, they will be rewarded in PYTH tokens.
"If they're lying, or they are sending the wrong price, they'll be slashed," said Cahill, describing the process of removing a significant amount of the tokens staked as punishment for incorrect use of the network.
Professional consumers and companies will pay a fee to use the network. These fees will play a role in compensation of any losses from any incorrect data alongside the amounts garnered from cutting data providers.
"Professional consumers who need this extra security from black swan events who are willing to pay fees, subsidize the ability for everyone else in the world who wants to get real time market data on chain to get it for free," Cahill said.
Cahill expects staking will be live at some point this year, which would offer trading institutions a way to earn money from collaboratively contributing to the crypto ecosystem.
Money-making opportunities aren't only available to trading firms, however, Cahill sees a number of opportunities in the crypto market especially as the space grows with more institutions being onboarded.
1) Derivatives of the play-to-earn trend, such as move-to-earn and learn-to-earn
Cahill highlights how these games leverage components of yield farming and could become a hot category to watch.
2) NFTs
Cahill predicts NFTs will start to find their product market fit, which will also bring an increase in trading opportunities.
Already instruments have been developed for trading NFT floor prices. He expects to see more instruments develop as the category matures.
"Volume grows on everything then even though the spreads are compressing or the alpha is compressing like the overall opportunity will certainly go up," Cahill said.
3) More decentralized exchanges
Cahill expects more decentralized exchanges to roll out this year. The increasing fragmentation could result in further trading opportunities, he said.
More: Investing crypto crypto trading
HFTs
Pyth network
Pyth data association
Quants
algortihmic trading
cryptocurrency bulls
alpha opportunities
Alpha returns | 2022-05-19T13:23:41Z | www.businessinsider.com | Crypto Trading: How Big Trading Shops Earn by Collaborating, Pyth | https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-trading-opportunities-alpha-market-makers-investing-strategy-jump-crypto-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-trading-opportunities-alpha-market-makers-investing-strategy-jump-crypto-2022-5 |
Snowflake's reliance on other companies may end up as a liability as its top rival Databricks moves into another billion-dollar big-data business
Ali Ghodsi, the CEO of Databricks.
Ali Ghodsi
Databricks and Snowflake rely on orchestration, a process that schedules data-crunching tasks.
Databricks launched a product that includes orchestration, opening another front in the rivalry.
This leaves Databricks with an opportunity to capture another big market and edge out Snowflake.
Like the rest of the market, the data-warehousing giant Snowflake has seen its value crash, plummeting to a $44 billion market cap from a high of more than $110 billion a few months ago. And as the company looks to grow by expanding into new areas, such as machine learning, its rival Databricks is quickly building its own efforts across the entire data-analysis process.
Now a new battleground between the two companies is emerging at a critical time when Snowflake is under pressure to regain that lost growth. Orchestration, an early step in the data-crunching process, is also one of the most critical parts of the workflow for both companies. Databricks recently built its own orchestration tool, opening an opportunity for the company to capture another big market and edge out its primary rival.
Orchestration tools drive large workloads to companies such as Snowflake and Databricks. Databricks' new orchestration tool, Delta Live Tables, gives the company a way to continue growing into an all-in-one tool, going into direct competition with Snowflake's Tasks.
Primarily seen as a growth stock, Snowflake has aggressively expanded into machine learning. But orchestration is one of many areas of the data pipeline. Snowflake could indeed find opportunities for growth if it were to expand its presence there, said Daniel Newman, the principal analyst at Futurum Research.
"Growth at any cost is on hold," he said. "Efficient growth from net revenue expansion and measures to decrease costs and expand margins will be in focus. Investors want to see earnings or at least a strategy to getting positive earnings and cash flow."
Snowflake did not respond to a request for comment.
Startups such as Astronomer and Prefect already proved orchestration is a billion-dollar business
The first step in using data is scheduling the order for how the data is processed. Data engineers use orchestration tools to define the precise order in which these steps happen, understand if any point in that process fails, and tell the system what to do if it does not fail.
Various tools exist to help companies with this process. The most popular is Airflow, an open-source tool primarily maintained by an Ohio startup called Astronomer.
Astronomer, the largest startup in the space, was recently valued at more than $1 billion in a secondary round that was part of its most recent series C round, people familiar with the deal told Insider. But its history with Airflow is somewhat controversial — depending on whom in the industry you talk to, Astronomer either pushed its way into managing Airflow or revived an open-source tool that was stagnating.
Still, the round places a billion-dollar peg on the part of the data-processing stack that Databricks has its own product in, while Snowflake relies on partners such as Astronomer and Prefect. It also puts Astronomer in rare company with other unicorn-level big-data startups, including Hugging Face, dbt Labs, and Dataiku.
How orchestration is becoming a battleground between Databricks and Snowflake
Like many parts of the modern data stack, Databricks has its own product and works with external partners. Astronomer and Prefect are both options for Databricks customers, but they can also use the internally built Delta Live Tables.
Snowflake's scheduling tool, Tasks, doesn't necessarily satisfy all the needs of a strong orchestration tool either, said Jeremiah Lowin, Prefect's CEO. Instead, a lot of the value relies on seeing where tasks are failing. Prefect focuses on alerting companies as quickly as possible and providing backup operations when something fails.
"We view scheduling as a commodity and not orchestration per se," Lowin said. "The ability to run things at a certain time has been pretty maxed out on the innovation front."
While many companies may opt to use those external tools, either through legacy adoption or specific needs, Databricks having its own product gives it another edge on Snowflake. Delta Live Tables, in particular, focuses on automating as much of the process as possible, giving customers yet another "set it and forget it" option if they want to keep their process as simple as possible.
"If you're just running jobs, that's great, but customers want to see what those jobs are doing," said Ali Ghodsi, Databricks' CEO. "If they're failing, can you automatically fix it and automatically rerun it and optimize it. Our customers pushed us to have a better understanding inside the jobs — that's why we built Delta Live Tables."
Still, companies such as Databricks extending into new areas doesn't necessarily mean they will automatically win in that business, said Ethan Kurzweil, a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners and an investor in Prefect. That might still enable Snowflake to fend off Databricks as it continues to work with multiple companies.
"I honestly don't worry about the basic extension tools of the core platform technologies, as that's always the starter edition of the more fully featured offering from a dedicated vendor like Prefect," Kurzweil said. "The true high-value use cases for orchestration will continue to be more complex code-based orchestration and a UI that reflects the workflow of all of the various flavors of data team."
More: Databricks snowflake orchestration Astronomer | 2022-05-19T13:23:42Z | www.businessinsider.com | Databricks Invests in Orchestration As It Takes on Rival Snowflake | https://www.businessinsider.com/databricks-orchestration-rival-snowflake-astronomer-prefect-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/databricks-orchestration-rival-snowflake-astronomer-prefect-2022-5 |
Big drops in tech stocks could make these adtech companies M&A targets
Lucia Moses and Lauren Johnson
Public adtech companies have taken a hit in the stock market, along with broader tech stocks.
M&A activity could pick up now that those companies are cheaper to buy.
Acquisition targets could include publisher-focused and e-commerce advertising firms.
The recent decline in tech stocks has industry watchers predicting a rash of M&A activity in adtech in the months ahead.
Tech giants like Meta, Alphabet, and Amazon and their smaller brethren have been hammered in the public markets lately by slowing revenue growth and macro factors like rising interest rates and supply chain snarls that have sowed uncertainty.
The adtech companies that provide the pipes for digital advertising soared during the pandemic and had many others running to the public markets last year. Investment bank Luma Partners counted 18 adtech and martech that went public in 2021, including AppLovin, DoubleVerify, and Integral Ad Science.
But in the first quarter of this year, adtech and martech stocks declined 17% and 25%, respectively, versus a 9% decline by the NASDAQ 100, according to Luma's indices tracking the sectors.
Even The Trade Desk and Magnite, two industry darlings, have each fallen more than 40% to date this year.
Companies that rely on the app economy, which has been hit hard by Apple's privacy changes have been particularly impacted: Ironsource's stock fell nearly 65% year to date through May 17. Applovin's stock fell more than 60%, and Digital Turbine's stock fell more than 56%.
Companies that specialize in e-commerce, cookieless advertising, and performance marketing were already seen as potential acquisition targets this year. But the falling prices for public adtech companies could make those companies now cheaper to buy, seven industry executives, investors, and advisors told Insider.
Flush with funds, private equity has been driving a lot of the deal-making in adtech lately, and the topic had PE firms salivating at Luma's Digital Media Summit in New York this week.
"It's a big opportunity for us," said Davis Noell, senior managing director at Providence Equity, whose portfolio company DoubleVerify went public last year.
"We still see a lot of growth in adtech. It's not just DSPs and SSPs and measurement companies; we still see a lot to like in the space," he added, referring to demand-side platforms and supply-side platforms.
Noell said he's specifically looking for advertising agencies that focus on performance marketing, which has been a growing area for private equity.
Of course, not everyone shares that view. Stephen Master, principal at GTCR, didn't see companies as ready to sell and predicted the markets would rebound. "If I'm a board, I'm probably not hitting the sale button."
Outside of private equity, other types of buyers could include newly public adtech firms like Magnite and Outbrain that have been aggressively acquiring to compete for digital ad budgets.
Ad holding companies also are expected to be acquisitive to expand the digital services they offer clients. Even Microsoft, having recently acquired Xandr and Activision Blizzard, hinted this week it may seek more acquisitions. All of this could offset the venture capital money that late-stage adtech firms relied on for years to grow and has since dried up.
"It's an interesting time for strategics — both obvious and non-obvious — and private equity, who have been seeking M&A opportunities for some time, to revisit acquisitions, given the recent public market valuation compression," said veteran adtech investor Eric Franchi.
As for potential acquisition targets, industry experts speculated that public adtech companies like LiveRamp and Innovid, with their reliance on subscription revenue, could be increasingly attractive to PE firms, which like to own companies with predictable revenue streams. Case in point, a PE group is leading an effort to take Nielsen private.
Innovid and Magnite also are seen as increasingly attractive for their exposure to the red-hot connected TV business.
Retailers and other companies fueling the retail media boom are another potential buyer of adtech. They're trying to build ad businesses that extend their own websites and apps, so they'll need the tech to deliver the ads, whether they get it through a third party, build it themselves, or acquire it. That's already begun happening, with Walmart buying Polymorph Labs and Amazon buying Sizmek.
Those looking to build retail media businesses through acquisition could also snap up supply-side platforms such as PubMatic, Index Exchange, OpenX, and Magnite, sources said. Such adtech companies are seen as potentially vulnerable to The Trade Desk's push for advertisers' push to use fewer adtech partners and could end up consolidating as a hedge against that move.
More: Ad Tech Digital Advertising The Trade Desk | 2022-05-19T13:23:45Z | www.businessinsider.com | Falling Tech Stocks Could Spur Adtech M&a | https://www.businessinsider.com/falling-tech-stocks-could-spur-adtech-acquisitions-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/falling-tech-stocks-could-spur-adtech-acquisitions-2022-5 |
Noyo, a health insurance tech startup, is seeing more interest for its product with remote working on the rise. It just raised $45 million.
Noyo founders Dennis Lee and Shannon Goggin.
Noyo
Noyo has raised $45 million in Series B funding from investors like Norwest and Gusto.
The startup's technology helps benefits providers share data with health insurance companies.
Shannon Goggin, Noyo's cofounder, says its seeing more interest from benefits providers.
One startup is looking to help companies deal with the shift to remote work.
Noyo provides an API that helps health insurance companies connect with the companies that use their services. Using this technology, providers remove the need for manual data entry and longer information exchange when figuring out specific benefits plan needs. Noyo also helps insurance companies modernize their systems to meet the increasingly complicated ecosystem of remote work.
The startup just closed $45 million in Series B funding led by Norwest Venture Partners with participation from Workday Ventures, Cap Table Coalition, and other existing investors like Spark Capital and Homebrew.
Shannon Goggin, cofounder and chief executive of Noyo, told Insider that it's seeing more interest from benefits providers that want to offer solutions to make it easier to shift employees into more flexible work arrangements.
"Companies are trying to use benefits to compete for talent, because people have choice as they should, and they want to work at companies that are going to support them," Goggin said."Benefits really can't be one size fits all and people need different things at different stages of their life, or different things depending on what's important to them."
Noyo's technology makes it easier for benefits providers to change an employee's information when they move around gives them access to those benefits faster once the changes are made.
One of Noyo's clients is Gusto, who also participated in the Series B funding round, and Goggin said Noyo will deepen its relationship with strategic partners by "being closer aligned and having a more more formalized relationship."
Noyo's other partnerships include insurers and benefits platforms like Ameritas, Anthem, Beam, Guardian Life, Humana, Rippling, Unum, and Zenefits.
Goggin said the funding will be used to help add more carriers to its system and add more product lines such as fertility benefits or other packages.
Goggin pointed out that the company, even with its considerable experience with distributed work environments, still has a lot to learn. But it understands that in order to better serve a changing workforce, they need to help their clients think out of the box and modernize their systems to meet demand.
"We certainly haven't figured everything out but we're really focused on getting ahead of issues," Goggin said. "Our teams are kind of right there with them thinking it through and, and that informs the products that we build as well."
More: Insurance startups 2022 | 2022-05-19T13:24:06Z | www.businessinsider.com | Noyo Raises $45 Million From Norwest and Gusto to Modernize Benefits | https://www.businessinsider.com/noyo-raises-series-b-norwest-and-gusto-health-benefits-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/noyo-raises-series-b-norwest-and-gusto-health-benefits-2022-5 |
3 signs a personal finance TikToker actually knows what they're talking about
A lot of Gen Z and millennials get their financial literacy from TikTok and Instagram.
Many people turn to TikTok and Instagram Reels for financial literacy content.
It's hard to know who to trust online, so we asked a former financial advisor how to spot real experts.
Humphrey Yang says there are three green flags to look out for.
Many Gen Zers and millennials first turn to TikTok and Instagram Reels for financial literacy before contacting a professional, like a financial advisor or financial planner. On TikTok alone, videos that use the hashtag #MoneyTok have collectively earned 12.7 billion views (and counting).
There are typically two groups of personal finance influencers: First, there are financial professionals who have left the field to make a bigger impact online. Then, there are people who have achieved large financial milestones, like paying off all of their student loans or building a six-figure investment portofolio in a short amount of time.
Personal finance influencer, former financial advisor, and TurboTax investing expert Humphrey Yang belongs to the first group. After building a following of 3.3 million on TikTok and 508,000 on Instagram, Yang knows how to spot an influencer who actually knows what they're talking about.
Yang tells Insider there are three green flags to look out for when assessing whether or not a personal finance influencer is legitimate.
1. They respond to their community's comments
"A green flag is really listening to their audience and understanding their problems," says Yang. On TikTok, it's relatively easy to see if influencers are creating new videos to respond to commonly asked questions in the comments. On TikTok and Instagram, you can simply scroll down to see if the influencer has responded to some or most of the comments.
However, Yang warns, "There are some financial creators who just hire an agency to post a bunch of content for them. They'll chop up the content and that creator will not even be replying to the comments."
2. They have a long-term mindset
Yang says that an influencer claiming they know how to get rich fast is a major red flag. He adds, "Make sure they're not trying to sell you a product, like, 'Check out my sales funnel, my course, my one-on-one consultations!' There are also people who claim, 'This is how you're gonna make 10x your money today!'"
Influencers with a long-term mindset are more likely to explain larger financial concepts, like Roth IRAs or 401(k)s, or daily habits that can help you become better with money.
3. Their past experiences match their expertise
Yang encourages people to Google personal finance influencers and find out what their past experiences are. He says, "The first thing I'd do is probably look at their work history on LinkedIn."
For financial planners or financial advisors who have left the industry to serve a larger audience, it should be relatively easy to find whether or not they're lying about their expertise and credentials. On the other hand, influencers who have paid off large amounts of debt or are high-earning, self-taught investors typically post screenshots of their accomplishments to prove they're legitimate.
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More: Influencers TikTok Instagram Investing | 2022-05-19T13:24:12Z | www.businessinsider.com | How to Tell If a Personal Finance Influencer on TikTok Is Legit | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/trusting-personal-finance-influencer-tiktok-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/trusting-personal-finance-influencer-tiktok-2022-5 |
This virtual apartment tour startup is working with Brookfield and Greystar to bring the e-commerce experience to apartments
Peek co-founders Austin Lo, CEO, and Chris Kostoulas, COO.
Virtual tours kept the real estate market moving in the early days of the pandemic.
Now, they're a must-have for landlords such as Brookfield and Greystar, for quick leasing.
Peek, a virtual tour company that's inspired by e-commerce, raised $2.5 million to expand its trade.
When pandemic lockdowns first hit, real estate agents and landlords scrambled to keep their markets active when prospective buyers and renters couldn't tour properties in person. Many turned to self-administered virtual tours to guide clients around over FaceTime, or if the budget was there, to a professional videographer.
Digital scanning technology — which allows people to control tours of properties on their own time, also became popular. One of the originators of the industry, Matterport, went public in 2021 as demand surged, but another upstart in the same category captured the attention of large landlords by focusing explicitly on the challenge of leasing.
Peek was founded in 2019 by two roommates who met on Craigslist. They planned to differentiate their business by creating virtual tours that replicate the e-commerce shopping experiences that are knit into the daily lives of most consumers, but with the unusual product of apartment rentals. They also sought to incorporate a less tangible feature that was lacking in online apartment rentals but essential to e-commerce: trust, according to Austin Lo, the CEO and cofounder.
"Apartments can't be reviewed like products online, because not enough people actually experience them" said Lo, who invested in e-commerce companies while working at investment managers J Goldman and Nomura, and who was a licensed New York real estate agent. Plus, perceptions can vary greatly, he added, such that "someone's experience on the 13th floor facing the west may be very different from someone in a third floor unit facing east."
Peek has grown its portfolio to 150,000 units in just three years after partnering with some of the largest landlords in the country like Brookfield and Toll Brothers, and Greystar, which said its "leasing approach" has evolved, as a result. Peek has also won $2.5 million in fresh seed funding led by GFA Venture Partners, bringing its total funding to $4 million.
A look at Peek's data dashboard for landlords.
Peek's model is built around the leasing process. Its features include automatic uploads of its virtual tours to marketing portals like StreetEasy when apartments become vacant, and integration of its product into the onsite self-guided tours of its partners, with the goal of reducing workloads for leasing agents. The tours also generate data about the behavior of prospective tenants, that can help landlords rent vacant units faster, according to Lo.
"Through Peek, I can tell whether somebody spent 70% of their time looking at their kitchens," Lo said. "The leasing team can follow up and say, 'Did you know we only have one more rental with this floorplan with the upgraded countertop and Viking stove?'"
Peek says that the virtual tours, and the data that they provide, save its customers $750 per unit via reduced vacancy times, largely because a prospective tenant is three times more likely to lease an apartment after an in-person tour if they had previously seen a virtual tour of the same apartment. As the company grows, it hopes to use the data to understand consumer preferences, too.
Virtual tours seem to to be a permanent change born of the pandemic, much like the increase in working from home. Settling on virtual tour technology is another question, however, since a lot of the solutions adopted by property managers in a panic during the pandemic are not scaleable, Lo contended.
More: Apartment Rental | 2022-05-19T13:24:30Z | www.businessinsider.com | A Virtual Tour Startup Inspired by E-Commerce Is Working With Greystar and Brookfield | https://www.businessinsider.com/virtual-tour-startup-inspired-e-commerce-greystar-brookfield-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/virtual-tour-startup-inspired-e-commerce-greystar-brookfield-2022-5 |
Both Walmart and Target saw fuel prices rise by more than $100 million above forecasts, while labor costs continue to rise.
Walmart and Target both delivered earnings this week that showed huge increases in costs.
Target's transport costs exceed $1 billion, while Walmart said it was briefly "overstaffed."
In earnings calls, both companies said they were likely to pass some of the costs onto consumers.
Walmart and Target have both revealed how soaring costs are hitting across their operations, as consumers face 40-year high inflation and continued interest rate rises.
On an earnings call with analysts Wednesday, Target CEO Brian Cornell said the company was dealing with "unusually high costs" in the last quarter, while Walmart CEO Douglas McMillon said in his company's latest quarterly report the company was experiencing "double-digit inflation" in its food prices.
He said he was concerned these would continue to rise.
Transport and labor added to the grocers' costs
The companies have been dealing with exceptional circumstances that have put pressure on their supply chains, with both citing supply chain crunches and renewed global demand for energy which has pushed average gas prices to $4.59 a gallon.
Cornell said on the earnings call that Target was dealing with "much higher than expected freight and transportation costs" as a result, with the company facing $1 billion worth of shipping costs over the year, "hundreds of millions" above expectations.
"We did not anticipate the rapid shifts we've seen over the last 60 days," Cornell said, referring both to fuel prices and changing consumer habits as COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, with travel-hungry customers buying more luggage and fewer TVs.
McMillon said Walmart was likewise dealing with the rapidly climbing fuel prices, running $160 million higher than forecast, while both companies deal with materially high food costs instigated by global shortages.
Labor also continues to be stretched across the US, with job openings at a record high and wage rises exceeding 5%. For Walmart, this was made worse by a miscalculation on its staffing requirements as the Omicron variant swept the US at the end of 2021, McMillon said.
McMillon said on the earnings call the company had "weeks of overstaffing" after bringing in workers to cover for those it expected to be on sick leave, but almost all returned ahead of schedule in February, increasing labor costs alongside the knock-on from last year's wage rise.
"The extent of the impact of inflation on these giants of American retailing has woken investors up, once again, to the huge impact surging prices are having on every facet of the economy," Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said in a research note circulated to reporters.
What does it mean for prices?
He told analysts on the earnings call customers were "switching" from products in deli, lunch meat, dairy, and bacon to lower-cost items.
On the same call, Walmart's chief financial officer Brett Briggs said the company was likely to increase food prices, while offering reductions in its general merchandise like sporting goods and hardware, where margins were higher.
But McMillon said the company was working to bring down the burden for low-income families.
"Not all of them can afford to absorb this and they need our help," he said on the call. "And so we do stay focused on opening price-point food items, a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, a can of tuna, mac & cheese, protein categories."
Cornell said Target was looking at where they could pass on costs "very carefully."
"You can expect us to surgically pass on costs where appropriate," Cornell said, but chief financial officer Michael Fiddelke said on the same call that price increases would continue to be "the last lever we pull."
Target and Walmart didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
More: Business Walmart Target Inflation | 2022-05-19T13:24:36Z | www.businessinsider.com | Walmart and Target's Huge Costs Are Likely to Add to Price Rises | https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-target-huge-costs-likely-add-price-rises-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-target-huge-costs-likely-add-price-rises-2022-5 |
Intense footage shows Su-25 jets maneuvering at ultra-low altitude to dodge shoulder-fired missiles in Ukraine
Man-portable air-defense systems in Ukraine have changed out combat aircraft have to operate.
Ultra-low level maneuvering is one of the tactics needed to dodge MANPADS' infrared-guided missiles.
The video that you can find in this post has started doing the rounds in the last couple of days.
According to some sources, it was shot in the Severodonetsk region, in the eastern side of Ukraine, and shows two Ukrainian Air Force Su-25s [the guy who filmed it is allegedly Ukrainian and says "it's ours"], whereas other sources on social media identified the attack aircraft as Russian Aerospace Forces Frogfoot aircraft.
Since both the Ukrainians and the Russians fly the type in the contested airspace over Ukraine, is really difficult to ID the operator [someone even suggested the camouflage scheme does not appear to be dark as the one of the Russian Aerospace Forces' Su-25, meaning the Frogfoot jets in the clip *might* sport a digitized light gray paint scheme but, again, this appears impossible to verify with the low quality of the clip].
The tail of a Russian Su-25 that was shot down by the Ukrainian military in the Kyiv region and then relocated near a military museum in the city, May 2, 2022.
Whatever, the video, that appears to be genuine (although we can't say when and where it was shot), is really impressive: Even if it was was recorded with a smartphone, hence shaky and partly out of focus, it proves how low tactical aircraft need to operate in Ukraine to evade the threat of MANPADS and their lethal IR-guided missiles.
You can make out two Sukhois turning at low level while releasing flares to dodge possible missiles fired at them. The cameraman finds it difficult to follow one or the other but the scene is pretty clear: You can make out both aircraft trying to remain low and fast while flying an unpredictable path. And dropping plenty of flares.
There are two different version of the same video actually. The first one is shaky as the result of the cameraman zooming to get a closer view of the Su-25s.
A post shared by David Cenciotti (@theaviationist)
The second one offers a wider angle and allows the viewer to see the whole scene from distance.
A post shared by MilitaryAviation.in.UA (@ukraf)
We have already explained how the war in Ukraine will probably change the tactics of many air forces, at least for those which had (almost) abandoned the ultra-low level flying as a consequence of the experience gained in in those air campaigns (like Desert Storm in Iraq, Allied Force in the Balkans and Unified Protector in Libya) where the air superiority allowed the attack aircraft to operate at medium or high-level, instead of flying at treetop altitude (as done for instance like the Falklands War).
As most of the videos coming from Ukraine clearly highlighted, contested airspace and MANPADS threat have made low-level flying skills relevant again.
H/T to our friend @bjoernen_hj for the heads-up!
NOW WATCH: Meet the Su-30SM — Russia’s answer to the F-15E Strike Eagle
More: The Aviationist News Contributor Russia Ukraine
Su-25 Frogfoot
anti-aircraft missile | 2022-05-19T14:20:15Z | www.businessinsider.com | Combat Jets Make Low-Altitude Maneuvers to Dodge Missiles in Ukraine | https://www.businessinsider.com/combat-jets-low-altitude-maneuvers-to-dodge-missiles-in-ukraine-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/combat-jets-low-altitude-maneuvers-to-dodge-missiles-in-ukraine-2022-5 |
Nora Naughton and Alexa St. John
Some of last year's EV Power Players, which included individuals from Lucid, Si la Nanotechnologies, and Electrify America.
Lucid Group; Sila Nanotechnologies; Northvolt; Electrify America; Marianne Ayala/Insider
Insider is seeking nominations for its upcoming list of the EV industry's power players.
Nominees must work for a company developing EV tech — no CEOs allowed.
You can submit yourself or someone you know using this Google Form.
Insider is seeking nominations for its upcoming list of the power players in the electric-vehicle industry.
As the automotive industry moves closer to a more electrified future, the EV space has grown from traditional engineering and manufacturing to include batteries, charging infrastructure, logistics and supply chain, fleet management, recycling, and so much more.
In each corner of this growing industry are great leaders, many drawing from years of experience to usher a century-old industry into a new, more energy-efficient future. These leaders are also fostering the next generation of talent in the electric-vehicle industry, whether at legacy companies like General Motors and Ford or startups like Rivian and Lucid.
This year, we're looking for nominees from startups as well as legacy companies dealing in electric vehicles, batteries, charging, and much more.
Insider is looking for individuals influencing their companies the most (and playing a part in the future of the industry) but who aren't chief executives. We want to highlight the folks that are just as important to the future of these businesses as their bosses.
These are our criteria:
Nominees must be currently working for a company that is actively working in the electric vehicle space, including charging, batteries, and manufacturing.
No CEOs allowed.
Submit your nominations(s) through this Google Form by June 13, 2022, by 5 p.m. Eastern.
Tell us why you or someone you know is leading in the booming electric-vehicle industry – specifically via accomplishments or notable contributions to the industry.
If you want to nominate more than one person, fill out a separate form for each person.
LIMIT: A max of three submissions per company's internal PR/communications team. If a company exceeds this number, Insider will review the first three submissions. This is to ensure we are able to review a variety of nominations from many different companies. (If a company receives externally-nominated individual nominations, those will not be counted as part of a company's three and will also be considered).
If you have any questions, reach out to this reporter at nnaughton@insider.com
The form requests a photo be emailed to Nora Naughton; the photo is not a requirement for submission or selection or taken into consideration during selection. It simply makes the publishing process easier once the selected list is finalized.
You can find 202 1's electric-vehicle industry power player list here for examples of previous honorees.
Note: this list differs from electric-vehicle industry rising stars. You can see the 2022 and 2021 lists of rising stars here.
More: Power Players Electric Vehicles EV startup Ford | 2022-05-19T14:20:15Z | www.businessinsider.com | EV Power Players: Nominate Someone You Know | https://www.businessinsider.com/ev-power-players-nominate-someone-you-know-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/ev-power-players-nominate-someone-you-know-2022-5 |
The 2021 Ford Expedition.
Ford advised owners of 2021 Lincoln Navigators and Ford Expeditions to park outside.
Ford knows of 16 fires that sparked while vehicles were moving or parked.
The company said around 39,000 vehicles may be affected.
Ford warned owners of 2021 Lincoln Navigator and Ford Expedition SUVs to park outside and away from their homes due to a fire risk.
The company is aware of 16 vehicle fires, 14 of which involved rental cars, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Most of the fires happened in vehicles that were parked and switched off, but some drivers reported smelling smoke coming from the engine compartment while driving, according to Ford's recall notice.
The Lincoln Navigator.
The recall affects roughly 32,000 Expeditions and roughly 7,000 Navigators. Ford said it's investigating the cause of the problem. Customers can determine if their vehicle is included in the recall through NHTSA's website.
In February, Kia and Hyundai recommended that nearly 500,000 of their customers park their cars outside due to a braking-system defect that could lead to fires.
NOW WATCH: How Tesla's Model Y compares to Ford's first EV
More: Transportation Ford Auto Industry Lincoln | 2022-05-19T14:20:30Z | www.businessinsider.com | Ford Warns Some SUV Owners of Fire Risk, Says to Park Outside | https://www.businessinsider.com/ford-lincoln-navigator-expedition-park-outside-fire-risk-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/ford-lincoln-navigator-expedition-park-outside-fire-risk-2022-5 |
A Ukrainian soldier, who is not the soldier in this article, speaks on his smartphone on February 25, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine.
A Ukrainian soldier told how he is estranged from his parents, who support Russia.
Cpl. Andrii Shadrin told Axios his parents believe Kremlin propaganda that Ukraine is run by Nazis.
He is among many Ukrainians left estranged from family who have a warped view of the invasion.
A Ukrainian soldier described being estranged from his parents in Crimea, who only have access to Russian propaganda about the war and believe he is fighting for the wrong cause.
"I am a Nazi for them," Cpl. Andrii Shadrin told Axios in an in-depth report about his fighting experiences in Donbas, the region home the fiercest battles between Russia and Ukraine.
The report describes his hardships in the war, including how he received a shrapnel injury from a Russian tank attack, which he treated himself without anaesthetic.
Russian forces have all but retreated from much of Ukraine but desperate fighting continues in Donbas, where most of Putin's troops are concentrated, as Reuters reported.
26-year-old Shadrin's parents are Soviet-born Russians who live in Feodosia, in Crimea, Axios reported. Even before Russia's 2014 annexation of the region, there was strong Russian influence there.
Shadrin joined the Ukrainian army to resist the occupation of Crimea in 2014, but his parents stayed loyal to Russia. They only consumer pro-Kremlin media and believe its warped version of the invasion.
In late February, Putin ordered a clampdown on Russia's already-restricted media, outlawing what he described as "false information" and even requiring the deletion of articles describing the war as a war.
Per those rules, Russian media still only refers to the invasion as a "special operation" conducted solely to liberate Ukraine from the grip of Nazism.
The drought of accurate information was noticed early on by many Ukrainians with friends and family in Russia.
It soon emerged that some were unable to persuade family members in Russia of the horror of the invasion, as Insider reported.
Those relatives generally refused to believe that Russian troops would attack civilians, bomb hospitals or commit other atrocities, despite abundant evidence and the testimony of their own family.
One woman told Insider that her Ukrainian uncle, living in Russia, said he wanted to join up to fight on Russia's side, while another said she had cut ties with her father, who believed Putin's forces were "saving" Ukraine.
That was in early March. But even now, three months into a faltering invasion, Shadrin told Axios that his parents believe he is the one who is brainwashed, even as he personally experiences the war.
The experiences he described suggest that Putin's grip over the information landscape in Russia and Russian-controlled areas is as strong as ever.
Experts estimate that only around 10% of Russians have access to a VPN , the encrypted networks that allow access to blocked media, as Insider's Erin Snodgrass and Sarah Al-Arshani reported in April.
More: ukraine-russia donbas Russian Media War | 2022-05-19T14:20:36Z | www.businessinsider.com | Ukraine Soldier Says His Russian Parents Think He Is Brainwashed | https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-soldier-says-his-russian-parents-think-he-is-brainwashed-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-soldier-says-his-russian-parents-think-he-is-brainwashed-2022-5 |
In response to employee demands, companies are making business-travel programs more sustainable
Business travelers who go by train can reduce their carbon footprints.
Business travelers want to cut their carbon footprints, even if that means changing how they travel.
Companies are implementing sustainable-travel programs to meet employees' demands for changes.
A lack of standardized carbon-footprint calculators and disparate reporting makes it hard.
So long, free pretzels: Many business travelers say that much of the flying and driving they do for work just isn't worth the cost to the climate.
For most business travelers, pandemic lockdowns meant spending more time working from a couch at home than in an airport lounge. Now, as travel continues to pick up, many workers are taking another look at the effects of scooping up all those frequent-flyer miles and car-rental points. But it's not always easy to get a clear picture.
A recent survey of 1,000 business travelers from SAP Concur found that 88% of respondents were willing to take steps to reduce their environmental impact while traveling for work, even if doing so could mean opting for a less-fancy hotel or going by bus instead of car.
About four in 10 respondents said they would take fewer but longer business trips, 40% said they would stay in a "less preferred but greener hotel," and about one in three said they would take public transportation.
Overall, younger generations were most keen to adapt their travel plans, with 93% of Gen Z and 89% of millennial respondents saying they were willing to make changes.
Above all, employees want more information about their business trip's climate impact — almost nine in 10 respondents — along with the opportunity to compare sustainability measures for accommodation and transport options.
"More comprehensive sustainability reporting will not only help guide organizations down a more eco-conscious path but establish worldwide industry standards that can make a real impact on global travel emissions," Brian Hace, the head of travel products and travel-management company services at SAP, said, adding that he was heartened by the data.
"Making business-travel programs more sustainable can be a game-changer in enabling companies to meet net-zero goals," he said. "We're in the midst of a fundamental shift in how businesses respond to climate change."
Business travel's sustainable face-lift
In the past 12 months, 76% of US travel managers surveyed by SAP in a companion survey said their companies had updated travel guidelines or policies to have a greater sustainability focus.
They're not alone: About 13,000 companies disclosed data on climate change, water security, and deforestation in 2021, a jump of 37% year over year. And 1,000 companies have set targets that align with the Paris climate accord, which aims to limit global warming to just 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.
It feels like the ground is starting to move.
Organizations are increasingly taking sustainability into account. As part of this, many issue reports on how they're doing when it comes to their environmental, social, and governance goals.
James Dent, the ESG and sustainability lead at the business-travel specialist TravelPerk, said more companies were setting science-based targets for cutting emissions.
"We've seen a huge recent increase in corporate climate disclosures," he said.
And according to Dent, employee demands are just one factor.
Other incentives include pressure from customers and investors, many of whom want to see companies glove up in the fight against the climate crisis. Plus, making these steps toward sustainability can make a company eligible for inclusion in ESG investment funds, which are growing in popularity.
Companies are responding to these incentives in numerous ways, including by prioritizing direct flights, focusing travel on essential trips, choosing rail over air travel, and using defined budgets instead of corporate cards.
"We've also seen businesses compensate for avoidable emissions through offset programs," Hace said.
More is needed
But we are not out of the woods — even if those woods have sprung from plant-a-seed offsetting programs. Because, as Hace put it, both a lack of standardized carbon-footprint calculators and disparate sustainability-reporting criteria can result in a misreporting of emissions.
Dent said some necessary changes weren't happening as quickly as they should.
"The aviation industry isn't decarbonizing anywhere near fast enough," he said. "Electric planes are still a good couple of years away but would completely revolutionize the way we travel short-haul, not only for business but more generally, too."
Plus, sustainable travel options are often pricey. Sustainable aviation fuel is typically three to four times as expensive as conventional jet fuel, Hace said, and eco-friendlier direct flights often cost more than those that are indirect.
This might not matter as much for big companies that can adjust budgets to make up for climate-conscious spending. But small companies with limited funding are likely to have a harder time affording the sustainable route.
"It's a problem of accessibility," Hace said, one that needs addressing fast. Employees want their employers to take action.
More: Edit Series deloitte-41 Sustainability Newsletter Business Travel | 2022-05-19T14:20:48Z | www.businessinsider.com | Workers Want Their Companies to Make Business Travel More Sustainable | https://www.businessinsider.com/workers-want-companies-to-make-business-travel-more-sustainable-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/workers-want-companies-to-make-business-travel-more-sustainable-2022-5 |
Pedestrians walk past a Sears store is seen on October 18, 2021 in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn borough in New York City.
Recession fears have grown throughout 2022, but data signals a downturn isn't coming soon.
Layoffs are back to pre-crisis levels, and Americans' spending is at a record high despite high inflation.
The US could very well be heading into a downturn, but it's likely at least several months away.
Recession warnings are the loudest they've been since early 2020. The latest data, however, suggests it's early to be so worried.
Outlooks toward the economic recovery have been split into two camps. In one corner, hawkish economists fear the Federal Reserve's fight with inflation will slow the rebound to a halt. Rising interest rates, according to the group, will crush spending and pull the country into a new, albeit mild, recession.
In the other, more optimistic experts see little reason for such concern. They concede inflation is a problem, and that growth is slowing down. Yet they're just as focused on the rest of the economy, and although inflation data is sounding alarms, other signals show the US faring extremely well for a country that just climbed out of a historic recession.
Leading indicators offer economists the closest thing to a preview of economic growth, as they tend to reveal trends earliest. Reports including weekly jobless claims and factory orders can reveal the first signs of a coming downturn, but so far, they're showing little cause for concern.
"I think the economy is fine," Neil Dutta, head of economics at Renaissance Macro Research, said on Bloomberg's "Odd Lots" podcast earlier in May. He said if he were forced to answer, "'do you think growth is going to come in stronger than what the consensus is for Q4 2022?' My guess would be 'probably yes.'"
The Fed's rate hikes are expected to cool growth, but the effects won't be felt in full for at least several months. Until then, the most closely watched recession alarms are encouraging.
Mass layoffs aren't happening yet
Job losses are a hallmark of economic downturns. Concerns over rising unemployment have grown through 2022 as economists see higher rates hitting the brakes on hiring efforts.
So far, there's been no sign of job creation easing up. The US added 428,000 nonfarm payrolls in April, beating economist forecasts and repeating the same increase seen the month prior. Despite having recovered about 95% of the jobs lost earlier in the pandemic, monthly payroll gains are still double the pre-crisis trend. If the pace holds, the country will complete its labor-market recovery by the end of July.
Demand for workers, then, remains strong, and businesses are keeping a tight grasp on the employees they already have. Weekly filings for unemployment insurance sit close to the same levels seen before the coronavirus crash. Continuing claims, which track the number of Americans actively receiving unemployment benefits, totaled 1.32 million in the week that ended May 7, marking the lowest level since December 1969. If companies are bracing for a downturn, it's not showing up on their payrolls.
If anything, it's workers that are ditching their employers, and not the other way around. Monthly quits hit a record high 4.5 million in March, reflecting the tenth straight month that more than 4 million Americans walked out of their jobs. Quitting tends to swing higher when employees are confident they can find higher pay or better working conditions elsewhere.
With job openings hitting a fresh record in March and pay climbing at a historic pace, it's clear that companies are still desperate to hire and retain workers, not shed payrolls. Until jobless claims edge higher or payroll growth turns negative, a recession is likely months away from materializing.
Americans are shopping through inflation
Shoppers are also acting like a recession is a long way out. Despite consumer sentiment sitting at the most pessimistic level in a decade, spending is still climbing. Retail sales gained 0.9% in April to hit a record $677.7 billion, according to government data published Tuesday. Inflation might be dragging on Americans' moods, but they're still spending well above the pre-pandemic trend.
Sales data is among the most prescient for judging the health of the economy. Consumer spending accounts for about 70% of economic activity, meaning a sudden slowdown would have a major negative effect on the country. Business revenues would plunge, and employers would lay off workers to protect their bottom lines. While sales growth has steadily slowed throughout 2022, it's far from sliding into a contraction.
"What we're seeing today in the US economy is a fairly robust economic backdrop. We still have consumers spending at a decent clip," Greg Daco, chief economist at EY-Parthenon, told Insider.
Businesses, meanwhile, are betting that the shopping spree will live on. New orders for manufactured goods gained 2.2% in March, doubling the average forecast and sharply accelerating from the 0.1% increase in February. The measure is a closely watched forward indicator of economic activity, as an uptick in orders reflects expectations for strong demand.
The demand side of the economy is looking plenty strong. Look for spending growth to turn negative or factory orders to contract for the first signs that the rebound is shifting into a recession.
Other forward-looking gauges are in the green
Even the less conventional measures of future recession risk aren't flashing warning signs just yet.
The yield curve has long been lauded by investors as a dependable forward indicator of economic downturns. The tool tracks yields for a range of Treasury maturities, effectively showing what investors expect economic conditions to look like in the future. An inverted yield curve — in which short-term rates exceed long-term yields — has preceded most major recessions, as it reflects investors moving into safer assets amid fears of a downturn.
The yield curve briefly inverted in March but has since pivoted back to a more normal state. The tool only tracks market expectations, and has no direct connection to the performance of the economy. The reversion back to a normal curve, particularly so soon after the inversion, hints investors aren't so sure that a recession is looming.
The Conference Board's own collection of leading indicators is also in healthy territory. The organization's Leading Economic Index edged just 0.3% lower to 119.2 in April but still sits 0.9% higher than where it was six months ago. The LEI's flat trend through 2022 is "in line with a moderate growth outlook" and economic output is likely to rebound in the second quarter, Ataman Ozyildirim, senior director of economic research at The Conference Board, said.
Significant uncertainties remain, particularly as Russia continues to wage war on Ukraine, the labor shortage rages on, and lockdowns in China threaten to snarl supply chains. Yet most indicators suggest the recovery is still intact. A recession could be on the horizon, but it probably isn't coming anytime soon.
More: Economy economic outlook Recession recession 2022 | 2022-05-19T14:55:00Z | www.businessinsider.com | Here's When You Should Really Start Worrying About a US Recession | https://www.businessinsider.com/economic-outlook-recession-odds-when-start-worrying-indicators-spending-employment-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/economic-outlook-recession-odds-when-start-worrying-indicators-spending-employment-2022-5 |
After a 'gold rush' for link-in-bio startups, founders, VCs, and creators break down who could end up on top in the billion-dollar industry
Sydney Bradley and Marta Biino
Over the past two years, link-in-bio startups have collectively raised more than $200 million.
Now, as the market cools, these startups are vying to differentiate themselves.
Insider spoke with founders, VCs, and influencers about what's next for the link-in-bio space.
Riding on the coattails of the creator economy boom, "link-in-bio" companies have seen their own windfall. But these startups may soon have to battle it out.
Since 2020, more than ten companies have launched link-in-bio tools. Creators use these single URLs in their social media profiles to lead followers to landing pages with several other links and apps.
"Where there's success, inevitably competitors are going to pop up," said Anthony Zaccaria, cofounder and president of Linktree, which is largely considered a leader in the space.
At least seven startups in this space have raised venture capital funds — collectively more than $200 million over the past two years — according to Crunchbase data. But as the funding market cools, link-in-bio startups are racing to compete and differentiate themselves.
Only a handful of these tools have risen to the top as creator favorites, and even fewer will likely survive the wave of creator economy M&A that industry leaders are predicting.
"A lot of these link-in-bo companies are not going to last very long," said Nate O'Brien, a content creator and angel investor , who recently invested in link-in-bio company Beacons. "The name of the game in the past five or six years has been growth at all costs."
Insider spoke with 19 industry experts, including founders, VCs, and creators, to get a grasp of where the link-in-bio space is heading — and what startups will need to do to succeed.
'There's so many of them'
Link-in-bio companies were founded as early as 2016 to circumvent the fact that social platforms — particularly Instagram — only allowed users to include a single URL in their profiles.
Six years later, there are at least 30 companies that offer link-in-bio technology, including tech behemoths like Shopify. By March of this year, the space minted its first unicorn, Linktree, which raised a $110 million late Series B round at a $1.3 billion valuation.
'There's so many of them," said Jon Youshaei, a content creator and angel investor who also recently invested in link-in-bio startup Beacons. Many of these tools "feel and look the same," he added.
Linktree is the most frequently used link-in-bio service, according to data obtained by Insider from influencer-marketing platforms HypeAuditor and Traackr. It's also the only URL more common in Instagram bios than links to YouTube, Facebook, and Etsy.
According to the HypeAuditor analysis of almost 2 million Instagram influencer profiles, Linktree accounted for almost 16% of all link-in-bio real estate, followed by Linkin.bio (0.96%) and Beacons (0.74%).
Data provided by HypeAuditor.
HypeAuditor.
Primetime for M&A is on the horizon
With so many companies offering similar solutions, founders, users, and VCs agree that the space is crowded — and that mergers and acquisitions are par for the course.
"There'll be consolidation at some point," Linktree's Zaccaria said, adding that "M&A is definitely part of our roadmap."
Evy Lyons, CMO of influencer-marketing agency Traackr, agreed, saying that this is the nature of an exploding market. She compared this space to the M&A race in the marketing automation industry nearly a decade ago.
These moves are already in motion.
As early as 2019, website-building company Squarespace acquired Unfold, an editing and link-in-bio tool. In 2021, Linktree acquired music-specific link-in-bio platform Songlink/Odesli. And this March, link-in-bio tool Lightricks (Ltx.bio) acquired Popular Pays, an influencer-marketing platform.
Two examples of link-in-bio options: Lightricks (left) and Stan (right)
Screenshot/Charli D'Amelio/Lightricks; Screenshot/Zara Khan/Stanwith.me
Last month, influencer-marketing firm Mavrck purchased Later, a startup known for its content scheduling features and its link-in-bio tool, Linkin.bio. The tool racks conversion and click-through rates directly, which Mavrck CEO Lyle Stevens said played a vital role in the acquisition of Later.
"They have this underpinning of analytics and insights already baked into their user experience," Stevens said, which is in line with the fact that data is becoming more and more important to influencer marketing.
There is also the potential that these link-in-bio tools could be scooped up by larger social-media platforms, such as TikTok or Meta-owned Instagram — though this is less likely, as the platforms have started to work on their own solutions.
TikTok lets creators link directly to their YouTube or Instagram pages in their bios, and Instagram has expanded to include buttons such as "view shop," "reserve," and "contact" in profiles.
Instagram also confirmed to Insider that there is an internal prototype for adding multiple links to a profile — but the tool is not being publicly tested.
Link-in-bio tools will need to evolve to succeed
As consolidation continues and some companies come out on top, those with the largest user bases and that are favorites of creators are poised to succeed.
"It's still in that gold rush phase where people can still enter and build a successful company," Christopher Nam, head of internet investment banking at UBS, told Insider. "The question is: How can you sustainably keep building it going forward? And can you be profitable doing that?"
As of now, Linktree is an obvious trailblazer, with more than 24 million active users, according to the company's recent "Defining the Creator Economy" report, which surveyed more than 9,500 of those users.
Who that user base includes is also increasingly a sign of success, with creators being a valuable asset.
"If these larger companies buy up these tools, it's more buying up the community that belongs with it rather than the tool themselves, because they're all relatively similar," said Night Ventures investor Emily Herrera. (Night Ventures invested in Beacons in 2021, prior to Herrera joining the venture firm.)
Startups are attempting to attract creators by building features that help them make money or by partnering with them directly.
"As the space becomes more crowded, aesthetics and functionality aren't everything," said Zara Khan, a micro influencer and creator coach. "Being the one-stop-shop for everything is the game changer."
Lightricks, for example, offers a tip jar in its landing pages, and earlier this year inked a partnership with the D'Amelio family, giving them equity in the company and having them serve as advisors.
Koji landing pages, meanwhile, include apps and widgets that help creators earn money, like "Shout Out," which is the company's version of Cameo. Beacons helps creators build media kits, and just earlier this week, Linktree added NFT tools.
Stan.store, which Khan uses, aims to be a storefront solution for creators to sell directly through their link-in-bio, without having to create a full website. She uses it to sell courses and other services.
What seems inevitable is that these companies will have to do more than just aggregate links to end up on top.
"The most interesting companies are treating that as an entry point rather than the end game," Youshaei said.
More: BI Graphics Rachel Mendelson Influencers Creator economy | 2022-05-19T14:55:23Z | www.businessinsider.com | Link-in-Bio Insiders on Who Could End up on Top of Billion-Dollar Industry | https://www.businessinsider.com/industry-insiders-what-comes-next-link-in-bio-startups-linktree-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/industry-insiders-what-comes-next-link-in-bio-startups-linktree-2022-5 |
How to survive inflation, according to 5 financial planners
Here's what: Financial planners gave us the lowdown on how to get through record-high inflation
Like most Americans, I've been experiencing dizzying sticker shock in recent weeks.
I went grocery shopping over the weekend and kept whisper-shouting "Inflation!" and shaking my head every time I reached for an item I'd normally buy without thinking but could no longer justify the expense (for example: $8 for blueberries!). I stopped at the gas station, too, and had to wonder if I was back in California when I saw a Philadelphia pump priced at over $5 a gallon.
All told, I probably spent $30 or $40 more on food and gas than I would have a few months ago.
I decided to get some professional help: I asked five financial planners I know and trust to share exactly what they've been telling their clients about how to beat inflation.
1. Be smart about where you're keeping cash
If you'll need your cash in less than a year, Atlanta-based financial planner Malik S. Lee suggests keeping it in a high-yield savings account. "These accounts should increase their rates as the Fed's fund rate continues to rise," he says. For cash you plan to use in the next one to three years, Lee says he's directing clients to Series I savings bonds that currently pay 9.62% ($10,000 limit) and multi-year fixed annuities that pay over 3.5% (and have no annual limit).
2. Focus on critical home repairs only
Chloé A. Moore, a financial planner based in Atlanta, says her high-earning clients have mostly been fortunate enough not to feel the effects of inflation. Things among homeowners have been slightly more complicated, though.
Moore says some clients who may have wanted to make repairs or improvements to their homes have had to put their plans on pause as the cost of materials continues to rise. For now, she says, they're focused on making only "critical repairs or upgrades that would significantly improve their quality of life."
3. Reconsider your home purchase if rising mortgage rates would stretch your budget too thin
With housing prices rising all over the country, it can feel like this is a "now-or-never" moment to buy a home. Who knows if prices will stop rising, and if they do, will you be priced out? But even though the market is on fire and buying a home may feel urgent, Santa Barbara, California-based financial planner Natalie Taylor says she's helping clients calculate what rising mortgage rates would mean for their budgets, which may mean now isn't the time.
"I've been calculating how much of a difference in monthly payment there would be for every 0.25% of additional interest so that clients have a clear understanding of what higher rates mean for them specifically," she says.
She also recommends Series I bonds for those looking to protect their emergency funds from inflation.
4. Get to know your spending
Spending in an inflationary environment can be hazardous to your financial plans, especially if you don't know how much more you're spending now than you used to. Philadelphia-based financial planner Charles Weeks says he stresses the importance of tracking your spending with clients.
"If you don't know you spend $250 a month on groceries you may not realize you are now spending $300," he says. "But if you know your normal spending you can tell when prices are increasing and adjust accordingly. Possibly cutting back or buying cheaper replacements."
5. Be prepared for inflation to stick around
No one wants to hear this, but financial planner Malcolm Ethridge of Rockville, Maryland, says high prices on food, gas, and entertainment may be around for a while longer, likely another year or so. "That's primarily due to the Federal Reserve's plans to raise rates a couple more times through the remainder of this year," he says. "If they see demand as still being high enough to warrant a couple more rate hikes, then there is certainly potential that inflation could continue to creep up a bit more from here."
So what can you do? Keep breathing and do your best to budget accordingly. Things will settle down eventually, though we may just have to get used to higher prices.
I'm a financial planner, and I'm telling everyone to invest in I bonds to beat inflation
While not every money expert agrees that I bonds are the best choice — their interest rates go up and down, and there's a penalty for early withdrawal — financial planner Hanna Horvath still thinks they're a smart place to park your cash for now.
After seeing her parents' friends take luxury vacations in retirement, writer Jen Glantz wanted to know their secret. Turns out: It's dividends.
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More: Inflation Financial Planners Alyssa Powell PFI Newsletter | 2022-05-19T14:55:29Z | www.businessinsider.com | PFI Newsletter: 5 Financial Planners on How to Survive Inflation | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/pfi-newsletter-financial-planners-survive-inflation-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/pfi-newsletter-financial-planners-survive-inflation-2022-5 |
I created a $50,000 income stream by self-publishing on Amazon. Here are the 3 most important steps I take to ensure my books become bestsellers.
Meera Kothand
Meera Kothand is an email-marketing strategist who runs her own blog and is an Amazon bestselling author.
Meera Kothand is a digital entrepreneur who wanted to create a new revenue stream for her brand.
She self-published her first book in 2017. Her 11 titles made $50,000 in royalties last year.
She shared three of her best tips for marketing self-published books to generate continuous sales.
After quitting my corporate job as a marketing manager in 2013 due to a health scare, I couldn't return to work, so I started a blog for solo entrepreneurs.
I self-published my first book, "The One Hour Content Plan," in 2017 on Amazon.
The goal was to create a revenue stream that wasn't dependent on me generating traffic for my site. I wanted to avoid having to use social media constantly to market my business.
Publishing Kindle books on the Amazon marketplace seemed like a great way to continue to build my audience and access more clients. It took me three months to write and publish that first book from scratch.
That single self-published book has grown into a library of 11 self-published books earning more than $50,000 in royalties in 2021.
Here are three of my best marketing tips that have turned my books into bestsellers that continue to sell several years into their life.
Create free virtual events around your book
Self-published authors often fall into the trap of stopping book promotion shortly after publication. You need to maintain a stream of eyeballs on your book to generate continuous sales.
Virtual events based on the topic of your book are great ways to market a book launch and can spur interest long after the release date. Events can b challenges, workshops, webinars, or book clubs.
Multiple of my self-published books revolve around content planning. I've held a free annual planning party called Plan Intensive since November 2018.
It's a virtual event where new businesses can make a marketing plan for the upcoming year. It lasts between a week to a month, and I've hosted over 1000 guests.
The virtual training and live streams show my expertise in marketing and give me a platform to generate interest in my older books. These events typically see sales spike by at least 40% right across all books.
At events, I can introduce newer books to past readers who may be unfamiliar with them and let new followers know that I'm an author on Amazon.
I always look for opportunities to link to my book in any content I create. My advice is to mention your book on podcasts you're on, within your email signature, or on your website.
Maintain contact with your readers in between releases
Once a reader buys one of my books, I don't want to rely on them stumbling across my next book when it comes out. My advice is to try and get readers to subscribe to your email list.
I offer bonus resources like checklists and templates that can help implement the tips and frameworks I outline with each of my books. I leave a link in the text informing the reader where they can download their bonus after becoming an email subscriber.
Case studies, reports, mind maps, or even audio files work well as bonus resources.
Once a new reader becomes a subscriber, you can email them and start building a relationship. An automated welcome email series is the most time-effective way of doing this. The series is usually three to seven emails that go out automatically to any new subscriber.
These emails are an opportunity to put a face to a book. They should include your experiences and link to your best resources, posts, and videos.
By the end of the email series, you've created brand awareness, and if your content has been helpful, you've cemented your name in the reader's mind.
Email subscribers are a pool of readers that you can tap into when you publish your next book.
Let readers market your book for you
Crowdsource marketing for your book by asking your readers to create buzz on social media and Amazon.
I include a call-out in every book, asking the reader to post about it on social media. In my book "The Blog Startup," I wrote: "I'd love to hear from you as you work through this book and launch your site. Tag me @meerakothand and let me know!"
Call-outs embedded into the book mean readers are inclined to post about a book regardless of its release date.
I ask my readers to engage on Amazon as well as social media. Amazon reviews attract new readers and give your book credibility. Be open about how a review will help get your book into the hands of more people.
Here's an example of an email I send within my welcome email sequence to readers:
"I hope you had a chance to work through The One Hour Content Plan templates. If you could spare a few minutes, will you leave a review for me and let me know what you thought about the book?
Every verified review counts for the author, and I'd love to hear your thoughts. Please leave a review here on Amazon."
Selling is just the beginning. Your self-published books are unlikely to continue to sell or skyrocket your business unless you are proactive about marketing.
Editor's Note: Insider has verified Kothand's financial claims with documentation.
More: contributor 2022 UK Freelance Publishing | 2022-05-19T15:29:43Z | www.businessinsider.com | How to Create a $50,000 Income Stream by Self-Publishing on Amazon | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-make-thousands-self-publishing-amazon-kindle-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-make-thousands-self-publishing-amazon-kindle-2022-5 |
If Elon Musk walks away from his $44 billion Twitter deal, he could face a legal nightmare
Elon Musk is griping about Twitter bots, but calling off the deal would carry a $1 billion fee.
A breakup could mean bitter litigation in Delaware, where the parties agreed to handle disputes.
M&A contracts have become more ironclad during the pandemic and harder to break, experts said.
Elon Musk tweeted this month that his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter was "temporarily on hold" while he surveyed the true percentage of fake accounts on the social-media platform.
But if Musk's balking threatens to radically remake or wreck the deal, Twitter can ask the courts to bring him in line, legal experts told Insider. Under the terms of the deal announced in April, Musk and Twitter agreed to resolve any disputes in Delaware, the go-to venue for mergers-and-acquisitions litigation that's notoriously business-friendly.
"The short answer is, he'll be sued," said Karen Woody, an associate professor at the Washington and Lee University School of Law who studies securities law. "There's a contract here, and it's binding."
If Musk were to back out, Twitter has two main avenues for litigation, Woody said. The company could either sue Musk for the $1 billion termination fee set in the terms of the deal, or it could sue him to force the deal through anyway. In that scenario, Twitter would ask a court to enforce what's known as a "specific performance" clause in deal contracts that requires parties to do what they said they'd do to close the deal.
A representative for Twitter declined to comment. Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
M&A contracts are generally designed to insulate parties from the risk of the other side backing out. These kinds of contracts have tightened up after a slew of event cancellations during the pandemic tested the strength of "force majeure" clauses in agreements, according to corporate law experts. Such provisions are typically meant to allow parties to point to unforeseen events, like the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, to argue that they should be released from their contracts.
Since then, lawyers drafting deals have been savvy about spelling out a comprehensive list of excuses that prospective buyers can't use to back out of deals, Alon Kapen, a transactions partner at Farrell Fritz, P.C., said
In this case, the Twitter deal language enumerates a long list of events that would not count as a "material adverse effect" — lawyer talk for any event that hurts the business — that would allow Musk to walk away. For instance, the ongoing market collapse affecting tech stocks likely can't be cited as a reason to break the agreement, since Musk's contract excludes any "circumstance generally affecting any of the industries or markets in which the company or its subsidiaries operate."
Twitter's stock has dropped to $36.85 a share as of May 19, a decline from Musk's $54.20 per share offer in late April.
But Twitter's lawyers were careful to draft the contract to "minimize the opportunity for someone like Musk to walk away by claiming that there was a material adverse effect," Kapen said.
Nevertheless, Musk's public stance shows how he may already be trying to build a defense against Twitter, experts said. Earlier this month, Musk said the deal was on hold while he verifies whether the fake accounts on Twitter indeed make up less than 5%, as Twitter has said.
When two parties come together for a deal, the representations and warranties they make have to be true. Musk could potentially argue that Twitter underrepresented the true percentage of bot accounts on its platform.
"Musk could say, 'I don't owe you a billion dollars, because you haven't complied with all of the obligations required by the merger agreement, or the 'reps and warranties' weren't accurate, or there has been a company material adverse effect," Usha Rodrigues, a law professor at the University of Georgia, said.
Delaware courts aren't known to be particularly sympathetic to that kind of argument. Either way, Musk is likely to put up a fight.
More: Law Elon Musk Twitter Lawsuits | 2022-05-19T15:30:01Z | www.businessinsider.com | Why Elon Musk Can't Just Walk From His $44 Billion Twitter Deal | https://www.businessinsider.com/why-elon-musk-cant-walk-from-44-billion-twitter-deal-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/why-elon-musk-cant-walk-from-44-billion-twitter-deal-2022-5 |
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sarah Cosley, a 38-year-old mom from Dubuque, Iowa, about the national formula shortage. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I started panicking and called her pediatrician. They contacted Similac, the formula brand, who said there weren't any shortage issues. Their best advice was to go to Similac's website and see what stores had Brooklyn's formula, Pro-Total Comfort, in stock. The website directed me to stores I'd already visited, and I knew I'd met a dead end. That's how it's been ever since.
There's so much misinformation out there, including how to make your baby formula, which doctors don't recommend. There's also a lot of price gouging, which makes me sick to my stomach — people are taking advantage of desperate moms.
There are 10,000 babies born every day, and we need a solution now.
More: Nora Biette-Timmons contributor 2022 Formula Babies | 2022-05-19T16:26:15Z | www.businessinsider.com | A Facebook Group Is the Only Reason I Can Feed My Baby Right Now. | https://www.businessinsider.com/formula-shortage-facebook-group-help-other-moms-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/formula-shortage-facebook-group-help-other-moms-2022-5 |
Goodreads' list of the best baby books of 2022 so far include a bagel-themed alphabet lesson
From creative ways to learn the alphabet to stories that teach kids about their emotions, these are the best baby books released in 2022.
Picture books can teach meaningful lessons or simply convey a fun story to a baby or young child.
We used Goodreads rankings and reviews to rank 21 of the best baby books of 2022.
For more great children's books, check out our list of picture books written by celebrities.
Picture books are a great way to instill a love of reading, teach challenging topics, or learn something new with babies and young children. Even if they don't have many words, picture books are filled with emotionally evocative illustrations that portray the lessons, messages, or history in memorable ways.
Goodreads is the world's largest platform for readers — including parents and teachers of young children — to rate and review their favorite children's books, so we turned to their recommendations for the titles on this list.
Whether you're looking for a great new picture book for your children, classroom, or niece's upcoming birthday, here are 21 of the best baby books of 2022 so far:
The 21 best baby books of 2022 so far:
"The Year We Learned to Fly" by Jacqueline Woodson, Illustrated by Rafel López
In this story, a brother and sister learn how to use their minds to combat boredom, overcome anger, and lift up others in the face of challenges. They follow their grandmother's advice, which was "use those beautiful and brilliant minds of yours. Lift your arms, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and believe in a thing."
"Love in the Library" by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, Illustrated by Yas Imamura
Based on the true story of the author's grandparents, this historical fiction children's book follows Tama as she's sent to live in a WWII internment camp along with countless other Japanese Americans on the West Coast. There, she works in the camp's library where she meets a friend named George who comes into the library every day.
"I Am You: A Book about Ubuntu" by Refiloe Moahloli, Illustrated by Zinelda McDonald
Ubuntu is the belief that all people are connected to each other. First published in South Africa, "I Am You" is a lyrical children's picture book that introduces young readers to ubuntu with a story about friendship, kindness, and the ways we are all connected.
"This Is (Not) Enough" by Anna Kang, Illustrated by Christopher Weyant
Though two friends are excited to get presents for each other, it seems every idea isn't quite "enough" for their friend. In this simple and sweet tale, the friends learn that giving and gifts are about far more than what you can fit in a box.
"My Grandma's Photos" by Özge Bahar Sunar, Illustrated by Senta Urgan
When Ali's mother pulls out a truck of his grandma's old photos, she's able to tell Ali wonderful stories and memories from her past, even though she usually struggles to remember most things. In this children's book, Ali relives his grandmother's life through pictures and learns the importance of making and sharing memories.
"I Am Able to Shine" by Korey Watari, Illustrated by Mike Wu
"I Am Able to Shine" is an empowering children's book about perseverance and confidence, inspired by the author's young life growing up Asian American. Keiko has big dreams to change the world but knows the world sees her differently so she works hard to stand strong, lift up others, and know that she can still shine.
"Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free" by Alice Faye Duncan, Illustrated by Keturah A. Bobo
"Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free" is a nonfiction historical picture book about Opal Lee, a young Black activist who wanted to bring about a national recognition of Juneteenth. Though her family and community always celebrated Juneteenth, Opal discovered many Americans hadn't heard of the holiday and sets out to honor the past, improve the future, and use her voice to make a difference.
'Born Hungry: Julia Child Becomes "the French Chef"' by Alex Prud'Homme, Illustrated by Sarah Green
This nonfiction children's book tells the story of how Julia Child discovered her passion for cooking in France and went on to become one of America's most cherished chefs. "Born Hungry" follows Julia Child through recipe books, culinary school, successes, and failures in cheerful and bright illustrations.
"The Monster Parade" by Wendy O'Leary, Illustrated by Noémie Gionet Landry
With playful imagery, "The Monster Parade" teaches young readers how to work through different and changing emotions by imagining them as monsters marching in a parade. With anger, sadness, fear, and other emotions portrayed as colorful monsters, children can learn coping strategies and mindfulness in this helpful new read.
"Before the World Wakes" by Estelle Laure, Illustrated by Paola Zakimi
In the early morning before the sunrise, a brother and sister venture outside to enjoy the world and their time together before everyone else is awake. "Before the World Wakes" is a calm and colorful story about the bond between siblings and the importance of small moments.
"Anansi and the Golden Pot" by Taiye Selasi, Illustrated by Tinuke Fagborun
In West African folklore, Anansi is a much-loved trickster who often appears as a mischievous spider. In this picture book, Taiye Selasi reimagines the story with a young boy named Kweku, nicknamed Anansi after the spider. When Anansi the boy meets Anansi the spider, they discover a magical, golden pot that can be filled with anything they want as they learn an important lesson about greed, kindness, and giving.
"Playing with Lanterns" by Wang Yage, Illustrated by Chengliang Zhu
Every year, Zhao Di and her friends celebrate Chinese New Year with colorful, unique paper lanterns in the village. "Playing with Lanterns" explains the excitement and joy of this tradition and the holiday for young readers.
"Thursday" by Ann Bonwill, Illustrated by Kayla Harren
"Thursday" follows a little girl, who learns of her parent's divorce on a Thursday, effectively ruining her favorite day of the week. Turning to her stuffed unicorn for comfort, the little girl is able to find joy every day, even as her life changes, until Thursdays can be happy again.
"Pruett and Soo" by Nancy Viau, Illustrated by Jorge Lacera
On Pruett's planet, Planet Monochrome, everything is black, white, or gray and very straightforward — until the day Soo arrives from Planet Prismatic, full of color and zig-zag lines. "Pruett and Soo" is a fun story about how friends can help us see the world differently and how who we are is truly defined by what's on the inside.
"Snuggle Time Easter Stories" by Glenys Nellist, Illustrated by Cee Biscoe
This cute and cozy new baby book is a collection of springtime and Easter stories for children ages 0-4. With biblical tales and colorful illustrations, this board book is a simple and adorable early read.
"Jake and the Biggest Yawn Ever!" by Chris Hardy, Illustrated by Wally LL
Available on Amazon, from $9.99
When Jake lets out the biggest yawn ever, it makes its way through the neighborhood until everyone is yawning. This cute bedtime story follows the yawns through animals and friends to help young readers fall asleep.
"The Helping Rock" by Tanya Hoover, Illustrated by Shannon O'Toole
Lani is struggling to learn to ride a bike but doesn't want help until her mother teaches her about the "helping rock". This picture book is a great way to teach young readers about how much stronger, happier, and connected we can be when we work together and how it's okay to ask for help when we need it.
"Edward and Annie: A Penguin Adventure" by Carya Rivadeneira, Illustrated by Katy Tanis
Modeled after two viral penguins from the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, "Edward and Annie" follows two penguin friends as they explore the aquarium when no one seems to be there to visit. The pair discovers the amazing world outside their habitat before returning home at the end of their exciting day.
"What Will I Do with My Love Today?" by Kristen Chenoweth, Illustrated by Maine Diaz
Written by actress Kristen Chenoweth, "What Will I Do with My Love Today?" is a meaningful story that follows Kristi through New York City as she shows love to others through acts of generosity and kindness. Young readers will learn about adoption, sharing, and random acts of kindness as Kristi encounters a church choir, a neighbor gardening, and an adorable puppy.
Grateful Jake by Chris Hardy, Illustrated by Wally LL
This new picture book follows Jake as he learns how grateful he is for his life when he gets out of the yard as a puppy and is lost in the streets until he's brought to the Humane Society and adopted into a wonderful family. This story uses other animals and situations to teach readers all the many things we can be grateful for.
"B is for Bagel" by Rachel Teichman
This bagel-themed ABC book uses bright photographs to walk through the alphabet with many different types of bagels, toppings, and flavors. "B is for Bagel" also includes two recipes for bagels, with one specially modified so that young children can help.
More: Features Insider Reviews 2022 Education & Personal Development Insider Picks | 2022-05-19T16:26:16Z | www.businessinsider.com | 21 Best Baby Books of 2022 so Far, According to Goodreads Reviewers | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/learning/best-baby-books-2022 | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/learning/best-baby-books-2022 |
Sen. Manchin heads to a vote on Capitol Hill in May 2022.
Biden's economic agenda is on the ropes with Manchin holding out.
The party's effort to strike a deal with the West Virginia Democrat hasn't gone anywhere in months.
Time is running out before the focus in Congress turns to midterm campaigning.
The chaos-squiggle image of President Joe Biden's economic agenda moving through Congress is starting to resemble a flatline on a hospital heart monitor.
Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia came out in opposition to the House-approved Build Back Better bill five months ago in a Fox News interview, arguing it would grow the national debt and worsen inflation. Without his support, Democrats can't pass their marquee climate and tax legislation over united GOP resistance in the 50-50 Senate and it has been frozen in amber ever since.
Gone are last year's appeals from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for Democrats to pursue "big, bold" social change on a scale similar to the Great Society or the New Deal with new federal spending on childcare, checks to parents, and education. They shifted their focus from a once-in-a-generation overhaul of the economy to cutting costs for families and providing financial relief from rising prices at the gas pump and grocery store.
But even that smaller scope does not seem to have moved the needle with Manchin as spring turns to summer. Now some Democrats are openly fretting they will botch their endeavor to secure elements of Biden's agenda and leave empty-handed with time dwindling before the midterms.
They face enormous challenges hanging onto their narrow majorities in both chambers. Inflation is severely denting Biden's approval rating and some polls show Republicans edging out Democrats on the economy.
"I'm worried that we won't deliver for the American people," Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts told Insider, adding "it makes no sense not to have a deal."
"It would be professional malpractice for a Democratic majority — albeit a narrow one — to leave a reconciliation opportunity on the table," Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said in an interview. "We ought to get locked in a room until we can have all 50 in agreement."
To tackle inflation, Manchin says he is open to a package centered on deficit reduction, cutting prescription drug prices, and stepping up taxes on the super-rich and large corporations. But signs of an imminent breakthrough are scant with talks remaining behind closed doors. He's never publicly endorsed Biden's spending plans.
Manchin and Schumer have met twice since late April on efforts to curtail inflation. The pair met recently on Wednesday afternoon, Politico reported. Schumer said they "were making some progress. I'm feeling decent."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin
Some in the party like Kaine had floated a Memorial Day deadline to see if a deal could be struck with the Democratic holdout. But Manchin is suggesting Sept. 30 — when the party's ability to approve a bill without GOP votes expires due to the strict rules governing reconciliation — as the final deadline, telling Politico that "I don't know how you put a time limit on that if you can do it right."
But there is widespread belief among Democrats that the start of the August recess marks the end of their capacity to pass a slimmer bill with attention turning to campaigning.
It's possible other deadlines could force a last-minute Democratic scramble. Enhanced federal subsidies available through the Affordable Care Act are set to expire at the end of the year under the Biden stimulus law. That program bolstered financial assistance for individuals buying their own health insurance through the federal exchange or state marketplace.
But experts say Congress must act by summer's end to avoid setting off steep premium hikes that millions of voters would learn about only a week before the November midterms. West Virginia residents would see the biggest premium increases in the nation, per a report from the Families USA advocacy group released this week.
"That's a headwind, but it's also a tailwind in that this is certainly something Joe Manchin wouldn't want to happen," Rep. Donald Beyer of Virginia, a member of the House Ways and Means panel, told Insider. "Why would he want all these health insurance premiums to go up? So that one might be a piece to get that constructive conversation between the senator and the president."
Other priorities are taking up his attention. Manchin has been spearheading an effort to secure a bipartisan energy deal. The bipartisan gang fluctuates in size between 10 to 12 Democrats and Republicans and they have convened four times over the past month. There have been few signs of an emerging agreement with the lawmakers wielding competing priorities on how to pay for it and whether cleaner energy should be a focus.
"My gut tells me that we might have a shot at a bipartisan bill. We might resolve some of our differences, but not all," Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, a regular Democratic attendee, told Insider. "At the end of the day, there might have to be a smaller reconciliation bill than would otherwise have been necessary."
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, another Democratic attendee, simply shrugged when asked if he believed the group's work was meant to replace a Democrat-only spending plan. Others in the room, though, believe Manchin wouldn't be plowing so much time and energy if that wasn't the case.
"He's been so clear about reconciliation," GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota told reporters on Monday evening. "I don't know why even his own people seem to not accept no for an answer."
More: Policy Joe Manchin Congress Democrats | 2022-05-19T17:27:33Z | www.businessinsider.com | Democrats Grow Anxious About Biden Agenda As Manchin Holds Out | https://www.businessinsider.com/democrats-biden-agenda-manchin-holding-out-bbb-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/democrats-biden-agenda-manchin-holding-out-bbb-2022-5 |
Hannah Towey and Gabrielle Bienasz
A GrubHub delivery worker in Times Square on December 29, 2021.
GrubHub's "free lunch for NYC" promotion generated 6,000 orders per minute on Tuesday.
Many restaurants and delivery workers felt overwhelmed and unprepared for the tidal wave of orders.
Long wait times led to abandoned orders, angry customers, and negative reviews, businesses told Insider.
For many New York City restaurants, Tuesday felt like the Super Bowl. Restaurant owners and workers told Insider that takeout orders piled up as some customers waited hours for their lunch. Angry customers yelled and kitchen cooks fumed.
The cause of Tuesday's mid-day chaos? GrubHub's "free lunch for NYC" promotion, which gave users $15 off any order between the hours of 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. — resulting in 6,000 orders per minute, as BuzzFeed News first reported.
"It ended up causing a five-hour wait," one Astoria restaurant worker, who asked to remain anonymous in order to speak freely, told Insider. "There were so many angry customers. We got bad reviews all because GrubHub didn't have carriers for us."
GrubHub based its order projections for Tuesday's promotion on a similar campaign that took place last year, Christopher Krautler, a spokesperson for the company, told Insider. But the actual redemption rates were six times higher than GrubHub's estimates.
"Even with that preparation, we didn't anticipate demand at this level, and unfortunately that caused strain on some restaurants," GrubHub said in a statement.
Donnie D'Alessio, the owner of Astoria's popular cafe Comfortland, said bags of unclaimed food sat in the restaurant for hours on Tuesday. "People were very disappointed," he said. As he tried to assist stressed-out staff, the phone was "ringing off the hook," he added.
To cut down on the delivery queue, he went live on Instagram and offered the cafe's 50,000 followers free ice cream if they came to pick up their GrubHub orders in-person. He estimates about 20 people did out of about 150 orders total.
D'Alessio closed the restaurant early, which he estimated cost the shop a "couple thousand dollars." At around 6 p.m., D'Alessio said GrubHub drivers started reaching out about food orders placed five hours prior.
Many restaurants and delivery workers were caught off guard
Several restaurant workers and owners, including D'Alessio, told Insider they were not aware of the promotion before Tuesday's sudden surge in orders. Another worker, Frances Morel of Nish Nush, said his boss only knew about it because of a news article and alerted staff.
GrubHub told Insider it gave multiple forms of advance notice to its restaurant network over email and on the app.
A Sweetgreen in Midtown, Manhattan crowded with customers and delivery drivers during GrubHub's free lunch promotion on Tuesday.
Courtesy of a GrubHub delivery driver
Many of GrubHub's own delivery drivers were similarly caught off-guard by Tuesday's free lunch promotion, according to Hildalyn Colón Hernández, the director of policy and strategic partnerships at Los Deliveristas Unidos, a group that represents over 5,000 food delivery workers in NYC. She said the majority of her group's members were unaware of the promotion.
"This isn't like a regular workforce that you can go to an office and ask questions," she told Insider. "You depend on your phone and the app to tell you what's going on."
Gabriel, a business student who delivers food part-time and requested to only use his first name, received a notification on May 14 within GrubHub's internal messaging platform, according to screenshots viewed by Insider. The message said drivers would "have the chance to earn big on deliveries" on May 17 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. because of a "special deal" being offered to customers.
Gabriel worked from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday and earned $81.93, screenshots showed, with $35 of it coming from bonuses dependent on how many consecutive deliveries were made without canceling.
The first hour of the promotion ran smoothly on the delivery side, Gabriel said. But by noon he said the situation "deteriorated greatly" as restaurants became swamped with orders and crowds of delivery drivers formed.
Gabriel said he called it quits after a distressed owner of a small Japanese restaurant — who told him he had 400 orders when he first opened, and 600 orders by the time Gabriel arrived — asked the drivers to cancel their orders. Gabriel gladly agreed, but called GrubHub customer service in order to explain the situation to avoid having his rating downgraded.
Gabriel also noted that GrubHub's delivery model is different from other apps, such as Uber Eats . Instead of waiting for the restaurant to complete the food order before pinging the delivery drivers, the app notifies both the restaurant and driver simultaneously.
"If you have hundreds of orders because you're running a promotion, there's no way logistically it's going to work," he said. "That's a big reason why I think there was massive bottlenecks on Tuesday."
When things go wrong, who is left with the bill?
It's unclear who, between customers, restaurants, and delivery drivers, is going to literally pay the price for angry customers who never received or canceled their "free lunch." D'Alessio said he called his GrubHub representative on Tuesday to try to find out.
"They had no idea how it was going to go down," he said. "Their response was no one was really going to get refunded as far as customers go because it was free anyway."
GrubHub told Insider on Thursday that the company is reaching out to restaurant partners "to ensure that no restaurant is charged for a cancellation that was due to Grubhub drivers being unavailable to deliver orders."
"Additionally, we are reaching out to diners who applied the promo but had a canceled order and did not get their lunch with a $15 credit off their next order, to use anytime," the company said.
Hernández, of Los Deliveristas Unidos, said GrubHub's planning of the promotion highlights how delivery apps often prioritize their technology over the needs of restaurant and delivery workers.
"Computers can get thousands of orders," she said. "But if there's not enough human capital on the other side to fulfill it, it's like having nothing."
NOW WATCH: How restaurants are making 800,000 meals for frontline workers
More: GrubHub Gig Workers food delivery restaurant | 2022-05-19T17:27:39Z | www.businessinsider.com | 'Free' Grubhub Lunch Overwhelms Restaurants, Delivery Drivers | https://www.businessinsider.com/grubhub-free-lunch-promo-overwhelms-restaurants-delivery-drivers-nyc-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/grubhub-free-lunch-promo-overwhelms-restaurants-delivery-drivers-nyc-2022-5 |
Kayla Epstein, Brent D. Griffiths, and Joseph Zeballos-Roig
Summer Lee, a candidate for the US House in Pennsylvania, speaks at a rally.
AP Photo/Rebecca Droke
Progressive Democrats had a good night in Tuesday's primaries after losses earlier this year.
Progressives are poised to win three important House primaries in Oregon and Pennsylvania.
But a flood of outside spending to defeat them shows the stark divisions within the Democratic Party.
Progressive Democrats caught a much-needed break on Tuesday night, after coming up short in an earlier spate of elections this cycle.
The progressive left is claiming victory in three key House races in Oregon and Pennsylvania, though votes are still being tallied. Should their candidates prevail, it would give them momentum heading into a busy summer of primary elections, in which Democrats from across the party's ideological spectrum are fighting to ensure their side has the upper hand.
The Democrats that surged ahead on Tuesday night "were unashamed in defining that they are progressive," said Kristal Knight, a Democratic strategist who's worked with candidates and political groups across the party's spectrum. "That has been something that has won many voters over, saying, 'This is where I stand, this is what I believe in, and this is the kind of Democrat I am.'"
In Pennsylvania, state Rep. Summer Lee appears poised to defeat her more centrist opponent, Steve Irwin, to win the Democratic nomination for a seat representing the Pittsburgh area. The race has not yet been called, but Lee leads Irwin by 47% to 41% as of Wednesday morning. Progressives also celebrated John Fetterman's victory in the Pennsylvania Senate primary, though the candidate has tried to eschew labels like "progressive" or "centrist" on the trail.
Decision Desk HQ results for the Democratic congressional primary in Pennsylvania's 12th District
Insider/DDHQ
Meanwhile in Oregon's 5th district, incumbent Rep. Kurt Schrader, a member of the centrist Blue Dog Democrats in Congress, trails progressive challenger Jamie McLeod-Skinner by about 20 percentage points.
McLeod-Skinner ran a campaign that painted Schrader, a 13-year veteran of the House, as an out-of-touch establishment figure who had held up key parts of the Democrats' agenda. She won despite an infusion of support for Schrader from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and President Joe Biden himself.
Decision Desk HQ results for the Democratic primary in Oregon's 6th District
Over in Oregon's 6th district, Decision Desk HQ and Insider are projecting state Rep. Andrea Salinas will win against well-funded political novice Carrick Flynn, who'd benefitted from the largesse of a cryptocurrency billionaire.
Flynn also won support from the Democrats' House Majority PAC, effectively anointing him the establishment's preferred candidate. Meanwhile, Salinas had the support of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of the standard bearers of the progressive movement.
"I saw the power last night," said Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, who won his primary on Tuesday. "Voters said you better go out there and take on the special interests."
"Democratic voters sent a clear message last night: we're done with putting people in Congress who sabotage our whole agenda," said progressive organizer Kai Newkirk, who singled out Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema for their votes against Biden's agenda items.
"Democrats want our representatives to at least be actual Democrats," Newkirk continued. "And the strong progressive credentials of Summer Lee, Fetterman, and McLeod-Skinner show there is real hunger among most Democrats for representatives who will fight to actually get big things done that make a real difference on the huge issues facing our democracy, our planet, and working class people."
Jamie McLeod Skinner is running for Congress in Oregon's 5th district.
AP Photo/Andrew Selsky, File
But taken as a whole Tuesday night's primaries revealed a much deeper fissure within the Democratic Party.
Earlier in May, incumbent Rep. Shontel Brown defeated former Bernie Sanders advisor Nina Turner for the second time in what had been billed as a showdown between centrist and progressive Democrats.
Moderate Democrats succeeded in House races in Kentucky and North Carolina on Tuesday. And not everyone was thrilled at progressives' gains this week.
"It's just a shame, it really is," Manchin, a conservative West Virginia Democrat, told CNN of Schrader's loss. "Kurt is a good man. A really good man."
"It's a really sad scenario when you lose people that are willing to work, to find solutions and not just retreat back to their corners," Manchin continued. "And that's why people are losing confidence in us being able to solve problems here in Congress."
The progressives who performed well in Tuesday's primaries had to contend with millions of PAC dollars spent against them — and in support of Democratic candidates who identified as more centrist.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, who endorsed Lee in Pennsylvania, praised her campaign and railed against the sheer amount of outside money that was spent to try to derail her.
One PAC, the United Democracy Project, spent nearly $2 million to attack Lee and bolster Irwin in the final weeks of the race, the Washington Post reported.
"Summer ran a brilliant campaign, a really strong campaign," Sanders told reporters at the Capitol. "I think without that super PAC money she probably would have won by 20 points. It was just a huge flood of money."
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, addresses the crowd as he endorses Pa. state Rep. Summer Lee.
Oregon's 6th district became a textbook case of excessive political spending. It was the third most expensive House primary in the country to date, thanks to nearly $11 million in donations to Flynn that POLITICO traced back to cryptocurrency CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.
"What we know for certain is, there is infighting within the party," Knight told Insider. She did not see the party settling the issue anytime soon, but rather predicted the debate would continue to play out at the ballot box all year.
"Even in other races that will continue to pop up over the summer, these will be the defining questions for the Democrats," Knight continued. "Which side do you want to be on? Which side is going to be able to beat a Republican in November? And which side is going to vote with the President's agenda?"
More: Joe Manchin 2022 election Progressives Democrats | 2022-05-19T17:28:09Z | www.businessinsider.com | Progressive Democrats Claim Victory in Pennsylvania and Oregon Primaries | https://www.businessinsider.com/progressive-democrats-pennsylvania-and-oregon-primary-summer-lee-andrea-salinas-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/progressive-democrats-pennsylvania-and-oregon-primary-summer-lee-andrea-salinas-2022-5 |
Yuliia Paievska captures an image of herself in a bathroom mirror.
AP/screengrab
Her footage shows Yuliia Paievska, 53, tend to wounded Ukrainians — and even Russians.
A day after she snuck out the video, Russian forces abducted her. Her whereabouts are currently unknown.
A Ukrainian medic was captured by Russian forces in mid-March after sneaking out video evidence of the war's devastation past multiple Russian checkpoints.
Yuliia Paievska — known in Ukraine as Taira — recorded 256 gigabytes of harrowing and graphic footage from a helmet camera in Mariupol over a two-week time span during Russia's siege on the city, the Associated Press reported on Thursday.
Taira, 53, hid the thumbnail-sized data card inside a tampon and made her way through over a dozen Russian checkpoints before handing it off to an AP team. The journalists were the last international journalists in the strategic southern port city and escaped in a humanitarian convoy.
Taira was captured by Russian troops the next day. Russian broadcasters aired a video of her and accused her of trying to flee the city in disguise. She hasn't been seen since.
In one video, a team of medics could be seen trying to save a young boy's life. He does not survive, and Taira turns away — placing a bloodied hand on a wall. The helmet footage picks up sounds of her sobbing, as medical devices beep in the background. She then shuts the boy's eyes.
Another video published by the AP shows Taira removing bloodied gloves from her hands, before moving to footage of her hustling down a hallway behind first responders as they push a stretcher.
The following frame shows Taira tending to the wounded and bloodied face of a man — opening his eyelid with extreme caution as he takes deep breaths.
More footage from Taira's helmet camera shows a soldier being carried away on a stretcher, before cutting to a shot of a soldier's bloodied face getting bandaged by medics. In the next frame, medics performed CPR on an unidentified body.
Her husband told the AP he has little to no knowledge of her whereabouts or condition. According to the website, Russian state media have tried to use Taira in disinformation and propaganda campaigns.
Medics, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities have consistently been targted by Russian forces throughout the three-month-long war. | 2022-05-19T17:28:39Z | www.businessinsider.com | Ukrainian Medic Used Tampon to Smuggle Out Video of Horrors of Russia War | https://www.businessinsider.com/ukrainian-medic-captured-russian-troops-tampon-smuggle-video-war-horrors-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/ukrainian-medic-captured-russian-troops-tampon-smuggle-video-war-horrors-2022-5 |
Inflation is upending Amazon's $1.1 trillion business empire, documents show: 'The inflationary environment is not something I would have predicted'
Record inflation is roiling Amazon's retail business, adding a jolt to an already volatile post-pandemic business environment.
Amazon is seeing steeper margin declines, slower-than-expect demand, and surging employee attrition driven by below-inflation raises.
Frustration over rising inflation has even riled up Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos, who vented on Twitter this week.
The day after Amazon reported disappointing first-quarter financial results, on April 29, the company's SVP of Global Delivery Services John Felton shared mixed feelings in an email to his team.
"First, I want you to know that I look back at Q1 as an overall success and am very impressed at what was done and how it was done the right way," Felton wrote in the email, obtained by Insider. "But, like you, I was also disappointed with what we reported in earnings."
High labor costs and capital investments were a drag on overall performance. Productivity is improving, but still needs to find the right balance, he wrote.
And the "unpredictable inflationary environment," Felton added, is making things harder.
"The inflationary environment is not something I would have predicted, but I continue to be impressed with how the teams pivoted and have continued to focus on managing costs even with some uncontrollable headwinds," Felton wrote. "We are going to continue to have cost challenges in front of us until we are able to grow into our capacity."
The uncertainty over rising costs and consumer prices shows even Amazon, a $1.1 trillion company obsessed with meticulous attention to detail, can be roiled by the rising inflation around the world — adding an unwelcome jolt to what has already been a volatile business environment since the pandemic started more than two years ago.
Internal documents and employees who spoke to Insider shed light on the challenges Amazon has faced in the current inflationary environment, now running at a 40-year high in the US. They show the retail business's dwindling margins and reliance on ad profits, consumer demand that fell short of internal expectations, and surging employee attrition that many attribute to below-inflation pay raises. These people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they're not authorized to speak to the press.
Amazon's spokesperson didn't respond to a request for comment.
An Amazon warehouse in England.
Frustration over rising inflation has even riled up Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos, who rarely engages in political discourse over social media. In the past week, Bezos tweeted several times about high inflation, calling out the Biden administration's "misdirection" and "failed" attempt at controlling the current economic environment.
"In fact, the administration tried hard to inject even more stimulus into an already over-heated, inflationary economy and only Manchin saved them from themselves," Bezos tweeted, referring to the Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, who voted against the $3.5 trillion stimulus bill. "Misdirection doesn't help the country."
Advertising is saving profit margins
Rising costs are the most immediate fallout of inflation, which is a "big topic" internally, according to a person familiar with the finances team.
Those costs, which include everything from higher gas prices, shipping fees, and employee salaries, have a direct impact on Amazon's operations.
In the first quarter, Amazon saw $6 billion of incremental costs related to inflation, lower productivity, and over-capacity issues, CFO Brian Olsavsky said during last month's earnings call. Overseas shipping costs more than doubled compared to pre-pandemic rates, while fuel prices jumped 1.5-times from a year ago, he said.
As a result, Amazon reported $3.7 billion in operating income during the first quarter, 32% below investor expectations. Sluggish sales and rising costs disappointed Wall Street, driving down Amazon's stock by 14% on the day after its earnings last month, the biggest one-day drop since 2006.
Amazon's stock price this year
But it could have been worse, if not for Amazon's rapidly-growing, high-margin advertising business, according to internal documents reviewed by Insider.
An internally-tracked figure called "North America Established," which represents revenue from the North American retail business excluding such segments as ads, groceries, and digital products, had $2.9 billion in operating losses last quarter, one of the documents shows. But when ad sales were included in that segment, it turned an operating profit of $1.6 billion.
The same goes for "International Established," which includes Amazon's most mature overseas retail markets, like Germany, the UK, and Japan. That category would have lost $653 million in operating income last quarter without ads. Instead, by including ad revenue, it reached $755 million in operating profits, the documents show.
Amazon doesn't publicly disclose these numbers. Without the profits from its advertising business, Amazon would have lost roughly $3 billion in operating income in the first quarter, the documents show.
To counter some of these concerns, Amazon recently increased its Prime membership fee by 17% to $139 a year in the US. Fulfillment costs increased several times in the past two years, and starting last month, Amazon added a 5% fuel and inflation surcharge for sellers using its logistics network. Still, Amazon guided operating income in the range of a loss of $1 billion to a profit of $3 billion in the second quarter, far below last year's $7.7 billion.
"Macro today is about as challenging on the cost side as at any point in Amazon's history," Evercore's analyst Mark Mahaney wrote in a note last month.
'Prioritize within the limited resources'
Inflation is slowing demand too.
Amazon grossly overestimated the demand it would see this year, leading to missed goals and excess capacity across its warehouses and workforce.
Signs of a slowdown were already apparent in the holiday quarter. One of the internal documents shows that package volumes were "light" in 80% of the weeks in the fourth quarter of last year compared to internal expectations. In the European market, total packages in the fourth quarter were almost 15% lower than internal estimates, while "peak" period packages were 19% to 24% lower than expected, according to one of the documents.
Olsavsky, the CFO, acknowledged during last month's earnings call that Amazon over-expanded during the pandemic, leaving the company with more resources than it needed.
That's leading to cut backs across the retail business.
The retail team is scaling down on hiring targets this year until "business accelerates" to reach certain growth targets, as Insider previously reported. Amazon also plans to significantly curb the growth of its third-party delivery partners this year, following a two-year ramp-up period, Insider previously reported. Though Olsavsky said customer demand remains "strong," Amazon announced it would stop expanding its "physical and staffing capacity" for now.
"We fully understand that this is not ideal and the teams have to make some tough choices to prioritize within the limited resources," Gokul Dakshina, VP of finance and CFO for Amazon's North America consumer business, wrote in an email to his team last month, reviewed by Insider. "Please adjust your hiring ramp accordingly."
Third-party sellers, who account for more than half of the products sold on Amazon, are learning to adapt as well. Shipping and fulfillment costs have increased significantly in the inflationary environment, causing sellers to raise prices or accept lower margins, according to Juozas Kaziukenas, CEO of research firm Marketplace Pulse. Consumer prices for online shopping jumped over 10% since June 2020, data from Profitero shows.
"It ultimately means shoppers are paying more for the same goods," Kaziukenas said.
Other large retailers are facing similar problems. Walmart and Target both reported weaker-than-expected quarterly earnings this week that showed huge increases in costs. Both of their stock prices plunged, driving down other retail brand shares as well.
Higher 'regretted' attrition driven by low pay
There is concern around wage inflation and employee turnover.
Amazon is known for its relatively low pay compared to its peers. And with its stock price lagging — down 36% this year — employees are finding less reason to stay put, as Insider previously reported.
To address the issue, Amazon made some improvements to its pay structure this year. But many employees told Insider that most pay raises have been far below current inflation rates, prompting them to seek other opportunities.
In fact, Amazon is already seeing a huge spike in "regretted" attrition, or the portion of employees it didn't want to lose, according to internal data obtained by Insider. Amazon's regretted attrition rate hovered around 5% from 2016 to mid-2021. But from June 2021 until last month, the average regretted attrition more than doubled to 12.1%, the data show.
Competition for talent is forcing Amazon to hand out more employee stock awards — an increase in its cost. Olsavsky said last month that Amazon was on pace to spend a record $6 billion on stock-based compensation expenses in the second quarter, the highest quarterly amount ever spent on employee stock awards and a 66% jump from the same period last year.
Felton, the SVP of Global Delivery Services, ended last month's email to his team on a more positive note, highlighting performance improvements. Navigating all these issues, however, will require a "pivot" from growth and expansion to finding the right balance, he wrote.
"Keep working on it because the opportunity is there," Felton wrote. "We need to get the right balance of safety, quality, speed, and costs."
More: Amazon Inflation Amazon retail | 2022-05-19T17:57:36Z | www.businessinsider.com | Inside Amazon's Struggles With Record Inflation | https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-amazons-struggles-with-record-inflation-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-amazons-struggles-with-record-inflation-2022-5 |
Netflix is exploring live TV programming and it's a race with Disney+ to see which company can own this new arena in the streaming wars
The Season 5 reunion of Netflix's "Selling Sunset."
Netflix has begun to explore live programming, according to the company.
The company has a small group of engineers beginning to work on live-streaming capabilities.
Early live programming would likely focus on reality and competition shows and standup specials.
Netflix has begun exploring live programming, according to the company, committing a small group of engineers to begin working on live- streaming capabilities and telling independent producers it wants to figure out its place in the medium. The move comes as the Walt Disney Co. has shifted longtime ABC Network staple "Dancing With the Stars" exclusively to Disney+ for this fall as the streamer's first-ever live series.
Netflix is in the very early stages of developing live capabilities. But given that other streamers, including NBCUniversal's Peacock and Amazon Prime Video, are already live-streaming a limited number of events, the arrival of behemoth players Disney+ and Netflix to the live category should accelerate demand for real-time programming on streaming platforms.
This trend could also mark the beginning of the end for traditional linear TV, where live events and competitions have helped broadcast and cable networks maintain relevance.
Netflix, for now, is only looking to "eventize" certain programs with a live component, as one company insider put it. That might mean something along the lines of a live "Selling Sunset" reunion or a live-stream of future Netflix Is a Joke comedy events.
And with Netflix hunting for its own competition series akin to NBC's "The Voice," as Insider previously reported, a live element could draw fresh viewers as well as spark interest among its subscriber base and prevent households from canceling their memberships.
One producer who has worked with Netflix points to sports as a logical live arena for the streamer, particularly following the breakout popularity of "Drive to Survive," which has been credited with increasing awareness of Formula1 in the US. But given that broadcast rights for most major leagues have already been locked into long-term deals, televised live sports would likely prove to be a tougher nut for Netflix to crack.
Insiders at the company said sports are not part of Netflix's initial set of live programming goals. (Disney CEO Bob Chapek recently nodded to the future potential for a standalone ESPN streamer that would carry the cable network's programming, which would quickly become a dominant player.)
Multiple industry insiders noted that talk of live programming at Netflix had bubbled up among their contacts at the streamer only in recent weeks. Many speculated that the company was revving up plans in reaction to its dismal Q1 earnings report in April, which reflected slowing growth and an internal forecast of 2 million subscriber losses in Q2. Netflix on Tuesday laid off 150 full-time employees along with 70 contracted animation workers and 60-70 social media and publishing channel contractors.
A person familiar with Netflix's thinking denied that the foray into live was a reaction to earnings. But one longtime agent at a major agency told Insider they were not aware of the streamer's live ambitions, despite being in routine communication with the company and its producers, until a Deadline story about the move published last Friday.
Netflix's reality and unscripted teams are familiar with the live space. The streamer's unscripted originals chief, Brandon Riegg, spent well over a decade working on alternative TV programming (as reality, competition, talk and game shows are known in the industry) at NBCUniversal, ABC, and VH1 before he made the leap to the streamer.
Several reality and unscripted producers who spoke to Insider highlighted Netflix's willingness to try new things.
"You can experiment at Netflix," said one who has made a series with the streamer. Compared to the legacy broadcast networks that seem set in their ways, this person added, "at least they have the appetite for experimentation."
More: Netflix Reality TV Disney | 2022-05-19T17:57:45Z | www.businessinsider.com | Netflix Is Exploring Live Programming, a New Arena in Streaming Wars | https://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-explores-live-tv-programming-disney-streaming-wars-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-explores-live-tv-programming-disney-streaming-wars-2022-5 |
OnlyFans creators are paying each other millions of dollars to promote their pages and rack up followers
Marta Biino and JP Mangalindan
Adult film actress and OnlyFans star Riley Reid at the 2019 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo.
Many OnlyFans creators are spending money on "shoutouts," a marketing practice used to gain followers.
These creators told Insider that shoutouts were crucial to building up their following.
Insider spoke to 9 creators, some of whom spend thousands per month on shoutouts, about the practice.
Riley Reid never needed help promoting her OnlyFans page.
Before joining the platform in 2020, the 30-year-old actress enjoyed recognition in the adult film industry, where she'd won dozens of awards and amassed a sizable fanbase.
But many adult content creators on OnlyFans aren't so lucky and rely on various forms of marketing to grow their following.
Reid realized that soon after joining OnlyFans, when she began receiving messages from content creators asking her to promote them on her page.
"I realized that there was a lack of opportunity for smaller girls or boys to grow their brand," Reid told Insider. "A lot of girls just kept asking me to pay for shoutouts."
Reid joined a network of thousands of adult content creators who buy and sell "shoutouts" to advertise on OnlyFans and on other social media platforms, like Twitter and Instagram. Creators collectively spend millions of dollars each month on this marketing practice in order to gain followers and increase their income.
Insider spoke with nine of them about how it works and why it is so crucial to their careers.
Isabella James is an adult content creator with 133,000 subscribers on OnlyFans. She said she invests up to $40,000 a month in "shoutouts."
Isabella James.
Shoutouts play an important role in the success of many OnlyFans pages
The practice of shoutouts developed in response to the absence of a discovery algorithm on OnlyFans.
"OnlyFans doesn't really have suggested users," Reid said. "Instagram may show suggested people ... but OnlyFans doesn't have the same tools or operations."
The company, for its part, told Insider in an email that the decision to not offer a traditional function for discoverability is "a strategic design choice meant to prioritise user control and safety."
For this reason, cross-promotion has become an essential marketing tool for adult content creators who rely on shoutouts for follower and income growth. Some creators said they invest up to 50% of their monthly income in shoutouts.
Brie Nightwood, an OnlyFans model with nearly 81,800 fans, began buying and selling "shoutouts" several months after joining OnlyFans in 2020. Although she has ratcheted down her spending from $20,000 a month to between $5,000 and $10,000, the creator said buying shoutouts was helpful for her business.
"It was definitely worth it," Nightwood said. "I made a lot more than that back."
Isabella James, an OnlyFans creator with nearly 133,000 followers, currently invests $40,000 a month in promos, which she said is a steep but worthwhile investment.
"Because at the end of the day, the reason that Bhad Bhabie, Bella Thorne, or Belle Delphine can make millions of dollars in one is because they're famous," James said. "You can literally have… potatoes as content. You know what it's about? It's about your exposure."
The demand that Reid, one of these famous creators, was getting was so high that she put shoutouts up for sale on her online store, and had her assistants support her in fulfilling and scheduling the posts.
An OnlyFans shoutout that stays up on Reid's page for seven days is priced at $2,200, and a Twitter shoutout that lasts for three days and then gets deleted is $2,000. At the beginning of May, Reid's shoutout schedule was fully booked for the following two months, she said, adding that she normally posts one shoutout a week on each platform.
While posting a photo of a fellow creator on different social media feeds for a select period of time is one of the ways this form of marketing works, there are also other options, like mass DMs to fans.
Another practice called "guaranteed gains" has creators pay other creators to promote a free trial link until the paying creator accrues a certain number of new followers. Creators told Insider that rates for "guaranteed gains" range between $0.50 and $1 per fan.
With this system, it's up to the creator to keep the new fans on their page when the free subscription ends and to get them to pay for extra services, like personalized content and messages.
"I almost always feel like I make my money back," said Brooke, a creator who goes by BrookeShowsXX and spends between $10,000 and $20,000 each month in cross-promotion. "Even if I bought 1,000 fans and 800 of them did not spend money, those 200 that did will make that money back for me in time."
'There's enough money to go around'
While some may assume creators are competitive with one another, the community of OnlyFans creators is quite strong.
"Networking is super important, and we all really stick together," Brooke said. "It's really nice that we have this community, and we all really lean on each other."
There are countless networking group chats on Telegram, which one creator described as "the hub of sex work." In these chats, creators can review their experience with shoutouts.
Justine Jakobs, who has 36,000 fans on the platform, said that this adds a sense of trust, because creators are more motivated to only cross-promote with people who are vetted and avoid scams.
Audrey Aura, an Australian model with about 3,000 subscribers, said that mutual support reassures creators that different types of content will appeal to different people.
"A lot of us understand that fans will have a variety of interests," she said. "We know that there's enough fans to go around, there's enough models to go around, there's enough money to go around."
More: OnlyFans adult entertainment Creator economy | 2022-05-19T17:57:54Z | www.businessinsider.com | OnlyFans Creators Pay Each Other Millions of Dollars to Gain Followers | https://www.businessinsider.com/onlyfans-creators-pay-each-other-millions-of-dollars-gain-followers-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/onlyfans-creators-pay-each-other-millions-of-dollars-gain-followers-2022-5 |
Republican Pennsylvania Senate candidates Mehmet Oz and David McCormick
Stephanie Keith, Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc via Getty Images
The GOP primary for Sen. Pat Toomey's seat in Pennsylvania won't be decided any time soon.
Mehmet Oz and David McCormick are so close that they'll likely trigger an automatic recount.
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump has been encouraging Oz to pre-emptively declare victory.
Pennsylvania's Republican Senate primary is likely headed to an automatic recount with the Senate majority hanging in the balance.
The margin between celebrity TV doctor Mehmet Oz and former hedge fund CEO David McCormick has been razor-thin, sitting at just 1,240 votes with more than 95% of ballots counted by Thursday at noon, according to Insider's partners at Decision Desk HQ.
A narrow margin of just 0.10 percentage points currently separates Oz and McCormick, all but guaranteeing a statewide recount under Pennsylvania's 0.5-percentage point automatic recount threshold.
The law requires the secretary of state to call for a recount by the end of the day on the Thursday after the election, or May 26, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman says she'll "have a very good sense" of whether she'll be calling for a recount by Tuesday when counties are due to send her unofficial returns.
The looming — possibly weeks-long — recount will extend an already expensive, tumultuous, and high-stakes primary election.
Oz and McCormick, who are both independently wealthy, have spent $12 million and $11 million on their own campaigns, respectively, and could soon find themselves paying even more for election lawyers across the state.
And the delay in resolving the Republican primary could take up precious time that ultimately advantages the Democratic Senate nominee in one of the nation's most competitive 2022 Senate races.
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who easily cleared the field for the Democratic nomination on Tuesday, raised an eye-popping $1.6 million the day after winning the race, his campaign said.
Making matters even more chaotic, President Donald Trump has been publicly pressuring Oz — his endorsed candidate who struggled to consolidate the MAGA vote — to preemptively declare victory, as the former president did in 2020.
Echoing his previous false statements baselessly alleging fraud, Trump told Oz in a TRUTH Social post that declaring victory before the vote is finalized "makes it much harder for them to cheat with the ballots that they 'just happened to find.'"
Both Oz and McCormick projected confidence and predicted they will win when all the votes are counted on election night, but they've otherwise ignored Trump's meddling and have not gone as far as the former president in questioning the validity of the mail-in ballots that could secure either of them a victory.
The outstanding votes include 51,000 total absentee ballots, including 17,000 Republican primary ballots, yet to be counted, the secretary of state's office announced Thursday morning. Most of the uncounted ballots are in Philadelphia, where Oz currently leads, Delaware County, where McCormick narrowly leads, and Lancaster County.
Some Election Day votes in Allegheny County, a McCormick stronghold, and Philadelphia are also still yet to be counted, NBC's Steve Kornacki explained in a Thursday Twitter thread. A smaller pool of overseas and military votes and provisional ballots will also add to the count over the next few days.
McCormick in particular has benefited from the mail-in and absentee votes relative to Oz, though it remains unclear how large a share of the remaining ballots fall into those categories.
Ballot counting hiccups in two counties have further delayed counting. In 31 precincts in Allegheny County, flash drives containing election data were left at polling sites instead of taken to central counting locations and can't be retrieved for tabulation until Monday, county officials said.
And in Lancaster County, a printing error of the county's absentee ballots made them unable to be read by scanners. Election workers are currently in the process of manually duplicating and scanning 16,000 ballots, a process they expect to wrap up by Friday.
Pennsylvania has been a ground-zero of highly-scrutinized election processes, legal battles over voting laws, and aggressive efforts by Republicans to overturn Trump's 2020 election loss. Those efforts culminated in 2020 election denier and January 6 rally attendee state Sen. Doug Mastriano with Trump's backing, easily securing the Republican nomination for governor.
But looking towards November, a drawn-out, highly-watched recount in the Senate primary will force the winner to concede that Pennsylvania can indeed run a clean, close election and recount after all — especially if Oz prevails with the "ballots they just happened to find."
More: Elections Pennsylvania 2022 midterms INSIDER Data | 2022-05-19T19:03:10Z | www.businessinsider.com | Pennsylvania's GOP Senate Primary Careens Toward a Recount | https://www.businessinsider.com/pennsylvania-senate-results-recount-oz-mccormick-primary-trump-vote-count-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/pennsylvania-senate-results-recount-oz-mccormick-primary-trump-vote-count-2022-5 |
We went to the year's biggest meeting of money managers. Alternative assets took the limelight.
The three-day conference, held in Chicago by the research powerhouse Morningstar, serves as a microcosm of the investment industry.
Matthew Gilson Photography
Money managers flocked to Chicago this week for Morningstar's annual investment conference.
Insider was at the event to detail what investors like AQR's Cliff Asness were buzzing about.
Attendees zoned in alternative assets, the market plunge, and "decentralized finance."
On Monday morning, as investors filed into North America's largest convention center for Morningstar's investment conference in Chicago, the annual event dedicated to dissecting and celebrating capital markets, the S&P 500 was coming off its sixth straight week of losses.
People were also eyeing cryptocurrencies, which have plunged in recent weeks. Inflation in the US, near the highest it has been in four decades, is unsettling consumers. Firms are slowing hiring or laying off employees. And a backlash to investing with a sustainable lens, which every big bank and asset manager has thrown its weight behind in some fashion, has gathered steam this month.
No better time to gather a bunch of people responsible for managing our money to talk shop.
Anna Paglia, the global head of exchange-traded funds and indexed strategies at Invesco, said investing in this environment has felt like a mad dash to seize on good news while it lasts. Between Russia's invasion of Ukraine, rising interest rates, and inflation, investors are rattled.
Invesco's $158 billion QQQ exchange-traded fund, which tracks the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index, has shed roughly a quarter of its value since the start of 2022.
"Despite the fact that public companies and public markets still feel generally robust and generally resilient, market dynamics are very frenzied, and people very much react to headlines," Paglia told Insider outside the conference's press room. "This is how the last couple of weeks have played out."
Blackstone's view, the crypto crash, and other tales from the alternative asset universe
The three-day conference serves as a microcosm of the investment industry. As usual, stocks (teetering on a bear market ) and bonds (getting hit by rampant inflation) were major topics of discussion. Talk of their splashier "alternatives" — such as private equity, private credit, real estate, and digital assets — sucked up a lot of airtime, too.
No wonder. Firms from major wealth managers to banks to Morningstar are trying to beef up their private market offerings for clients, and aggressively market these funds as increasingly transparent and lower-cost than they have historically been. The interest was crystallized on Tuesday during a panel with the title "Are Alternatives Making a Comeback?"
"We think it's very early innings, and just beginning, and just broadening out. We also think the word 'alternative' is maybe not the best word anymore," said Tom Morrison, senior managing director in the private wealth solutions group at Blackstone during one panel. "We think of private markets products as products that should be core to one's portfolio rather than setting up some sort of alternative universe."
Blackstone's Tom Morrison, seated on the far left, AQR's Ashwin Thapar, Kathryn Kaminski of AlphaSimplex Group, and Simon Scott of Morningstar discussed alternative investments.
On the sidelines of the exhibit hall, the marketing chief at CAIS, the Apollo-backed financial-technology startup that aims to connect independent financial advisors with alternative funds, told Insider that its workforce has ballooned.
"We can't hire fast enough," said Abby Salameh, who joined the company last year from the big wealth management firm Hightower Advisors.
And alternatives were the focus down the hall the day before during a panel that Morningstar named "Innovation in Alternatives: from TradFi to DeFi, and everything in between. Seriously," referring to the shorthand supporters use for "traditional finance and "decentralized finance." One of the topics at hand: Crypto.
"I think it's a very attractive option for some folks," said Todd Briggs, a digital asset expert from consulting firm RSM who a moderator referred to as the panel's "champion for DeFi."
His caveat: "The risk is you don't have the same protections, and that's played out pretty dramatically in the last week or two with Terra Luna," Briggs said, referring to the coins that crashed this month. "I think, all told, there was something like $40 billion dollars in wealth that just vaporized in the process."
"'I don't give a damn about the world, just give me the highest risk-adjusted return you can'"
Cliff Asness, the colorful, self-deprecating AQR Capital Management cofounder who has been taking a victory lap lately for his performance against the rise in value stocks benefitting his once-beaten-down funds, sat in front of an audience discussing investing with environmental, social, and governance considerations.
He extolled the virtues of shorting stocks as opposed to divesting from them in ESG-focused portfolios, and detailed some of the challenges in the nascent space.
"There are two clients. One who tells me, 'I don't give a damn about the world.' Terrible person. I'm not saying this is okay," Asness said, turning to the room. "But 'I don't give a damn about the world, just give me the highest risk-adjusted return you can.' The other client says, 'I care a lot about the world, and I want the best risk-adjusted return you can give me.' Given that, you can't tell these two you're going to give them the same portfolio."
When the event ended, a group of eager audience members flocked to Asness in front of the stage to chat.
Cliff Asness, the cofounder and investment chief of AQR, addressed ESG and value investing on Tuesday.
Earlier on Tuesday, a conversation between the journalist Mary Childs and Todd Trubey, a senior manager research analyst at Morningstar, was the main event during lunchtime held in a ballroom.
As attendees ate potato pave and lemon and black-truffle-crusted chicken breast, Childs discussed the eccentric, complex bond investor and Pimco cofounder Bill Gross, whose life and career Childs chronicled in her new book. Gross, who left the Newport Beach, California-based firm under a cloud in 2014, was not in attendance.
But he loomed large over the event. Eight years ago, it was on the same stage where Gross made a memorable appearance wearing sunglasses — not a typical look for this buttoned-up crowd — and baffled conference-goers in what we know now as true Gross fashion.
"He has been on Twitter replying to my tweets with links to his book," which he published two weeks before hers, Childs said, responding to an audience member's question about whether she knew what Gross thought of her book.
"I've heard that he thinks it's fine. I think he would quibble with some of the characterizations. But, you know, it's telling that he hasn't sued me," she said.
"In the 'no recession at this moment' camp"
In the press room on Monday afternoon, Kate Moore, BlackRock's head of thematic strategy, sat next to David Giroux, the star portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price, to field questions from reporters. Insider asked Moore — who said that BlackRock is "squarely in the 'no recession at this moment' camp" — what in the market is keeping her up at night.
Moore is concerned about China's strict lockdown policies and its impact on global growth, she said. Separately, she is closely watching the ways companies are choosing to spend and invest — or not.
"We haven't seen a big cancellation of projects. But I do expect that we will see some slight pause in planning, if not indefinite delays, and that won't be great for the cycle," she said.
Earlier that day, two independent financial advisors waiting on line for boxed lunches said they weren't concerned about the market selloff. There will always be another downturn in the market, a new challenge to confront. They're just trying to keep their clients calm.
And anyway, they said — the media tends to overstate these types of things.
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How much does it cost to open a bank account?
What is a minimum deposit or balance?
Minimum opening deposit for brick-and-mortar banks
Minimum opening deposit for online banks
Minimum opening deposit for credit unions
Tips for opening a new bank account
The cost of opening a bank account may require less money than you think. Here's why.
When you're opening an account, make sure to look at how much is needed to open it and maintain it over time.
Milan_Jovic/Getty Images
The cost of opening a bank account includes a minimum opening deposit and potential bank fees.
Many financial institutions have easy opening requirements that let you open an account with $0.
Experts say to consider your financial habits to help you figure out which bank to choose.
Unbanked populations often cite that they don't own a bank account because of the high cost. According to a 2019 FDIC study, 29% of unbanked households said they "don't have enough money to meet minimum balance requirements."
But the cost of opening up a bank account can boil down to a manageable price point — in fact, it could be as low as $0.
The minimum cost for opening a bank account will usually depend on the type of bank account you'd like to open.
Generally, money market accounts and certificates of deposit (CDs) require higher minimum opening deposits than checking accounts and savings accounts. That said, some financial institutions offer a variety of bank accounts with $0 minimum opening deposits and minimal bank fees.
Alina Leon, a paraplanner at Beacon Financial Planning, Inc. who previously worked in the banking industry , says people new to banking should look for free accounts.
"Free meaning that no monthly maintenance fees," explains Leon. "If it has a requirement of an initial deposit that's OK because it's only a one-time payment. But they need to look at that monthly maintenance fee."
Leon also recommends paying extra attention to overdraft fees, which may pile up if you're bank account has a negative balance for a couple of days.
Quick tip: Bank On certified bank accounts have minimum opening deposits of $25 or less, monthly services fees of $5 or less, and minimal bank fees. To learn more about the Bank On Initiative, refer to our guide on what to do if you're unbanked.
Financial institutions may stipulate a minimum deposit amount and minimum balance amount. These are not interchangeable terms, so it's good to know the difference:
A minimum opening deposit is how much is needed when you first open the bank account.
A minimum balance usually refers to how much is needed in your account to avoid paying a monthly service fee.
The minimum balance amount may be the same or higher than the minimum opening deposit amount. You can always ask a financial institution about the requirements needed to waive a monthly service fee.
Below, you'll find the minimum opening deposits from several of the largest brick-and-mortar banks.
We also have bank reviews for each financial institution, so you can look at potential minimum balance requirements if you'd like to learn more about a specific bank.
First-Citizens Bank
$0 or $25
$5 to $50
Below, you'll find the minimum opening deposits and bank reviews from several of the largest online banks .
Capital One 360
Below, you'll find the minimum opening deposits and reviews from several of the largest credit unions .
America First Credit Union
Security Service Credit Union
Wings Financial Credit Union
When researching different financial institutions, Kevin Mahoney, a CFP® professional, CEO, and founder of Illumint, recommends taking into consideration your financial habits.
"There isn't necessarily a set of terms or options that is best for everyone," explains Mahoney. "If someone is more likely to overdraft a bank account, they may want to look for an option where they don't get penalized for that."
Meanwhile, David Kuzma, CPFA, AIF®, CEPA® professional and managing director and founder of Aquilo Private Wealth Advisors, says convenience could play a significant role in choosing a financial institution.
For instance, if you prefer banking in person, you may want to consider financial institutions with locations near your home or work.
Mahoney also points out that while opening a bank account may not be particularly exciting, it can be a foundation for organizing your finances.
"For many people, it's a starting point to allow them to do other things with their money, like save for the long term, invest, and pursue specific things in life that are important to them but require some financial strategy or discipline," says Mahoney.
Even if you have a negative or lack of history in banking, there are institutions available that provide financial products to small local communities or offer second chance banking if you've struggled to open a bank account.
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5 things to do with your money right now to prepare for a recession, according to a financial planner
We're not in a recession yet, but experts think we may get there soon.
I get asked all the time about the possibility of a recession, and I'm telling everyone to prepare.
To start, pay off high-interest debt, bulk up your rainy-day reserves, and don't sell your investments.
Take courses to advance in your career, too, so you're not as vulnerable to layoffs.
Many people are worried about a looming recession, and it's easy to see why. Rising inflation, spiking consumer prices, supply-chain issues, instability in the global market, and labor shortages all have many financial experts saying that another recession is around the corner.
As a financial planner, I often get asked when the next recession is coming. While I can't exactly predict when the economy may take a turn for the worse, I can offer some good news: We're currently not in a recession, yet.
That means now's the best possible time to prepare your money.
Here are my tips to get ahead of the tides and recession-proof your cash.
1. Think about where to cut back
A lot of things have gotten more expensive recently — gas, food, cars, furniture — which means now's a great time to revisit your budget and identify some areas to cut back.
I'm a huge fan of using your budget as a living, breathing record that can be revised and changed as your needs change. The easiest items to scrap are services or purchases you can live without — think dinners out, streaming services — but that doesn't mean you need to go and cut out all the things that bring you joy.
Deciding if something is a need or a want isn't always black and white. Some things that may seem non-essential to some people, like a gym membership, others can't live without. It's all about weighing your current priorities with your long-term goals.
2. Start building your rainy-day reserves, if you haven't already
Recession or not, you should have an emergency fund. These savings help you avoid borrowing money to cover unforeseen costs like repairs, medical treatments, or job loss.
Emergencies are just that — unexpected. And many people are unprepared for them: 25% of Americans say they have no emergency savings at all, according to a study from Bankrate.
If you're just starting out, I recommend having around six months' worth of expenses, including the amounts you spend on necessary items like rent, utilities, and groceries. That number may sound high at first, but small contributions over time can build those savings.
You'll want to store your emergency money in a liquid account (like a high-yield savings account) to easily access it when you need it.
3. Pay off high-interest debt ASAP
The last thing you want to deal with during a recession is high-interest debt weighing you down. Credit-card debt should be the first to go, especially when the Federal Reserve is likely to raise its borrowing benchmark this year.
Their interest rate influences short-term lending like credit cards. In other words, your credit card interest could go up even higher, causing you to pay hundreds (or thousands) in interest.
Once you pay off your debt, you'll have room in your budget to put towards other things, like growing your emergency fund or making up for rising consumer prices.
4. Think about your career
Recessions historically go hand-in-hand with higher unemployment — which means preparing your career for the next downturn is essential.
Now's a great time to reach out to your network and continue to maintain connections with others in your field. Typically, higher education comes with lower rates of unemployment – so if you've been thinking about going back to school, now may be the time. Adding new skills or bolstering your current ones could give you an edge in a future, tighter job market.
Be sure to weigh the pros and cons of potentially forgoing a salary or taking on student loan debt to earn your degree. I would also recommend being practical about what industry you're considering. No job is completely protected from recessions, but certain industries are safer from cuts.
5. Keep calm and carry on
Recessions can be an emotional and stressful time, especially when it comes to your investments. Watching your portfolio fall into the red can be worrisome, but it's important to avoid making a knee-jerk reaction.
Changing your investment strategy could hurt you in the long run — the market often grows in the long term and behaves in ways you may not expect. Case in point: After falling more than 30% in March 2020, the stock market had a full rebound (and then some!).
If you really want to take action before any future recession, I would recommend simply revisiting and rebalancing some of your investments. Having a diversified portfolio can help you minimize your losses during a volatile market. Remember: If you have an already-diversified portfolio, doubling down on your plan and focusing on the long term is one of the best things you can do for your money.
There's no doubt that the idea of a recession can be anxiety-producing. But making a plan beforehand and taking the steps to prepare yourself can help you feel more in control of your situation and reduce some of your stress. To me, there's never a bad time to revisit your financial situation — so if you're looking for a sign, now's the time to start!
PERSONAL FINANCE 4 ways to recession-proof your money, according to a financial planner
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Twitter executives reassure workers that acquisition by Elon Musk will go through, despite his 'on hold' tweet
Elon Musk's Twitter account.
Twitter executives took time to "reassure" employees that the sale to Elon Musk was going forward.
The overall message was the contract was going forward unchanged.
Executives earlier laid out parts of the contract that will be enforced to close the deal.
Elon Musk is still buying Twitter for $44 billion and the deal to do so is not "on hold," according to company executives that addressed employees in another meeting on Thursday.
During the all-hands meeting, described by a person in attendance as shorter than similar meetings that have taken place in recent weeks, CEO Parag Agrawal and head of legal Vijaya Gadde took the time to "reassure" employees that Musk's $44 billion takeover of the company was proceeding.
"There was nothing about the price changing but they were reassuring across the board," the person said. The overall message was the deal is going forward unchanged, the person added.
Another person in attendance on the call said the executives reiterated the merger contract in place, including the price, with Musk will be "enforced" and it ensures the deal "will go through."
The meeting was in response to a late-night tweet by Musk last week saying his deal to buy Twitter was "temporarily on hold" as he insisted on more information supporting the platform's claim that fake accounts make up less than 5% of its 230 million users. Shortly after the meeting, Musk posted to Twitter a meme about "bots" or fake accounts that seemed to illustrate he is not letting go of the notion that bots make up more of Twitter than he may have earlier thought.
Gadde explained in an earlier call with employees reported by Insider some of the details in the agreement that are in place to secure the sale. A $1 billion termination fee included in the contract, that says Musk and Twitter will need to pay up if either side backs out of the deal serves as an "incentive to perform the contract." The contract itself is tight, she added, and has "very strong requirements to perform."
"There's a provision in the contract that says Twitter can sue to have the contract enforced," Gadded said. "So, as we say, it's not just about the termination fee. It's all the provisions and how they play together to create deal certainty."
There was no mention of a lawsuit during Thursday's call, a listener said. Should a lawsuit be filed, it would be a particularly messy one, legal experts told Insider.
Such meetings have become a regular occurrence for Twitter workers since Musk in April revealed his intention to acquire Twitter after it became public that he had been building up his investment in the platform. Since the acquisition was unanimously approved by the board, including founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, Twitter has already started to change. High level managers have been let go and a hiring freeze has been put in place as the company attempts to cut costs, as Insider reported last week.
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Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia.
The Jan. 6 committee asked Rep. Barry Loudermilk to testify about a tour he gave a day before the Capitol attack.
The committee said it has evidence contradicting Republican claims that no such tours took place.
Loudermilk had previously filed an ethics complaint against Democrats who had raised the issue.
The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol siege has summoned Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk to testify about a tour he allegedly gave the day before the attack took place.
In the days following the attack, Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherill of New Jersey and more than 30 of her colleagues sent a letter to Capitol Police asking for an investigation into "suspicious behavior and access given to visitors" the day before the attack. She cited a seeming resemblance between the visitors and the rioters who attacked the complex the following day.
"The visitors encountered by some of the Members of Congress on this letter appeared to be associated with the rally at the White House the following day," Sherill wrote on January 12, 2021. "Members of the group that attacked the Capitol seemed to have an unusually detailed knowledge of the layout of the Capitol Complex."
Sherill had described the tours as being for the purposes of "reconnaissance" during a Facebook Live event the day before.
Republicans on the Committee on House Administration later said they had reviewed security camera footage covering the Capitol complex in the days before the attack, and denied that there had been any tours.
"There were no tours, no large groups, no one with MAGA hats on," a Republican aide anonymously told The Hill. "There's nothing in there remotely fitting the depiction in Mikie Sherrill's letter."
And Loudermilk led an ethics complaint against the Democrats who had signed onto Sherill's letter, calling the allegations "morally reprehensible and a stain on this institution."
But the committee now says they've uncovered new evidence that Loudermilk led such a tour, and are asking him to testify before the committee next week.
"If it would be preferable to hold this meeting with you in your home district, we would also be glad to explore travel arrangements to facilitate that option," wrote Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and Republican Re. Liz Cheney of Wyoming in the letter to Loudermilk.
—January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) May 19, 2022
Loudermilk's office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
The letter comes after the committee issued subpoenas to five other Republican members of Congress, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Loudermilk could also face a subpoena — which would compel him to testify — should he reject the committee's request to voluntarily testify.
More: Barry Loudermilk january 6 January 6 committee capitol riot | 2022-05-19T20:34:32Z | www.businessinsider.com | Jan 6 Committee Asks GOP Lawmaker to Testify About Tour He Led Day Before Attack | https://www.businessinsider.com/republican-barry-loudermilk-capitol-tour-january-6-committee-attack-testify-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/republican-barry-loudermilk-capitol-tour-january-6-committee-attack-testify-2022-5 |
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses a press conference with international media in an underground metro station in Kyiv on April 23, 2022.
Russia claims that it has a new laser weapon that can cook drones over three miles away in seconds.
A senior US defense official said there was nothing to corroborate these claims.
Ukraine's president ridiculed the Russian claims, comparing them to those of Nazi Germany.
A senior Russian official claimed this week that the Russian military had deployed a powerful laser weapon system in Ukraine that can incinerate a drone miles away in a matter of seconds, a capability for which the US Defense Department has seen no evidence. The Ukrainian president also responded, saying wild claims like these highlight how poorly the war is going for the Russians.
Yury Borisov, the Russian deputy prime overseeing defense developments, told Russian media Wednesday that the first prototypes of a new laser weapon known as Zadira are being used in Ukraine and that one successfully took out an unmanned aerial vehicle just over three miles away in five seconds in a recent test, per Reuters.
He said the weapon was more powerful than the Peresvet laser that he says can blind satellites and that Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously touted alongside other new Russian weapons, most of which are not currently operational.
"If Peresvet blinds, then the new generation of laser weapons lead to the physical destruction of the target," Borisov said. "They burn up."
Russia, which has struggled to achieve its objectives in Ukraine since it invaded without provocation in late February, has at times suffered losses due to Ukrainian drone warfare. The Turkish Bayraktar TB2, in particular, has been a headache for the invading Russian forces, who have faced significant Ukrainian resistance from the start.
A destroyed Russian tank seen with graffiti on it in Kyiv Oblast.
Photo by Hesther Ng/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
While it would make sense for Russia to want to field a capable counter-drone system, a senior US defense official told reporters on Wednesday that the US has been unable to substantiate Borisov's claims, according to The Washington Post.
And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ridiculed the Russian claims of a new "wonder weapon" in an evening address, comparing Russia's propaganda and claims of a game-changing laser weapon to those of Nazi Germany.
"The clearer it became that they had no chance in the war, the more propaganda there was about an amazing weapon that would be so powerful as to ensure a turning point," he said, referring to the Nazi propagandists who hyped so-called "wunderwaffe" during World War II.
"We see that in the third month of a full-scale war, Russia is trying to find its 'wonder weapon,'" he said. "This all clearly shows the complete failure of the mission."
Though Russia was largely expected to achieve victory over Ukrainian forces in a matter of weeks, if not days, the Russian forces have experienced setback after setback.
There have been reports of Russian troops surrendering without a fight, sabotaging their combat systems, and disobeying orders, Russian generals dying at alarming rates, and serious losses in poorly executed assaults. After the push on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv stalled, Russia was forced to redirect its efforts to fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Although Russia's war effort has faltered, a senior US defense official said Thursday that Russian still has a "significant" amount of combat capability left to throw into the already brutal conflict. "This could be a prolonged fight," the official said.
More: Ukraine Russia Volodymyr Zelenskyy Vladimir Putin | 2022-05-19T20:34:38Z | www.businessinsider.com | Ukraine Says Russian 'Wonder Weapon' Sign of Complete Mission Failure | https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-says-russian-wonder-weapon-sign-of-complete-mission-failure-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-says-russian-wonder-weapon-sign-of-complete-mission-failure-2022-5 |
NASA astronauts watch as an Atlas V rocket with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft aboard is rolled out to the launchpad, on May 18, 2022, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
NASA/Joel Kowsky
The Starliner spacecraft atop an Atlas V rocket during rollout at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, on May 18, 2022.
An illustration of Starliner orbiting Earth.
A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule docked to the ISS.
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Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina speaks to reporters at his campaign headquarters in Hendersonville, NC on May 17, 2022.
Madison Cawthorn is vowing revenge after Republicans helped tank his re-election bid.
He says he's on a "mission" to expose colleagues who "work towards another, self-profiteering, globalist goal."
Cawthorn's troubles escalated when he made unverified claims about colleagues engaging in orgies.
Fresh off of a primary election defeat that saw members of his own party and even some former supporters turn their backs on him, 26-year-old Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina is vowing revenge.
After declaring that the "best is yet to come" two days after he conceded defeat to state Sen. Chuck Edwards, the first-term lawmaker posted a graphic on Instagram that he says includes the "lion share [sic] of figures that came to my defense when it was not politically profitable."
The list included Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Matt Gaetz of Florida, and Paul Gosar of Arizona, Steve Bannon, the National Rifle Association, and various other right-wing media figures.
"When the establishment turned their guns on me, when the Uni-party coalesced to defeat an America First member very few people had my back," said Cawthorn. "These are honorable men and women who are the type of friends anyone yearns to have. "
They're also among the few friends Cawthorn still had in Congress following an embarrassing string of scandals that included attempting to bring guns onto planes, potentially engaging insider trading, insinuating that his colleagues participate in cocaine-fueled orgies, and having a nude video leaked by a rival PAC.
The orgy allegations marked something of a turning point for Cawthorn: within days, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had summoned the 26-year-old to his office, telling reporters afterwards that Cawthorn had lost his trust.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina then backed Edwards' primary challenge to Cawthorn, and even former President Donald Trump observed that Cawthorn had made "foolish mistakes" while in office even as he urged voters to give him a "second chance."
Cawthorn went on to mis-quote author Mark Twain, writing in quotes that "at the beginning of a change the patriot is a rare and hated man." (Twain had written "a scarce man" in his original 1901 work "As Regards 'Patriotism'").
"These are those rare and hated men/women," Cawthorn wrote, apparently referring to the graphic. "There are other National figures who I believe are patriots, but I am on a mission now to expose those who say and promise one thing yet legislate and work towards another, self-profiteering, globalist goal."
He also wrote that the time for "gentile politics as usual" is over, declaring that it's "time for the rise of the new right, it's time for Dark MAGA to truly take command."
"Dark MAGA" refers to a burgeoning aesthetic movement gaining traction among the far-right online. The Global Network on Extremism & Technology has identified the movement as one that "celebrates violence and the terror that fascist organising might inspire."
"We have an enemy to defeat, but we will never be able to defeat them until we defeat the cowardly and weak members of our own party," he wrote. "Their days are numbered. We are coming."
As for Cawthorn, he has just 7 and a half months left in Congress, and it remains unclear what exactly he means by his pledge to "expose" his colleagues.
More: Congress Madison Cawthorn Republicans North Carolina | 2022-05-19T21:00:19Z | www.businessinsider.com | Cawthorn Vows to 'Expose' Other Republicans Following Election Defeat | https://www.businessinsider.com/madison-cawthorn-expose-republicans-election-defeat-dark-maga-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/madison-cawthorn-expose-republicans-election-defeat-dark-maga-2022-5 |
Netflix has updated its groundbreaking culture memo and 2 small changes say big things about the streaming company's future
Ashley Rodriguez and Elaine Low
Reed Hastings.
Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images
Netflix overhauled its groundbreaking culture memo, which was first made public in 2009.
The streamer detailed its philosophy on representation, artistic expression, and other issues.
Experts say the updates are progressive, but could also come in conflict with one another.
Netflix has overhauled its groundbreaking culture memo to address representation, artistic expression, and other issues. The revisions rolled out just days ahead of a companywide round of layoffs that affected 150 full-time employees and at least as many contractors.
The changes, first reported in Variety, highlight some of the growing pains the company has experienced as it has transformed from a disruptive tech upstart to an entertainment powerhouse with more than 11,000 employees around the world.
The latest Netflix memo, titled "Netflix Culture — Seeking Excellence," includes new policies that say "representation matters," as does "artistic expression." It speaks to a tension among companies at the intersection of tech and content creation that are trying to balance representation on and off screen with free speech.
"As much as ideally we wouldn't like for those things to be in conflict, sometimes they are. Sometimes content can harm individuals and communities," Y-Vonne Hutchinson, cofounder and CEO of ReadySet, told Insider. ReadySet is a boutique consulting firm focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion that has worked with companies from Amazon to MailChimp.
Netflix made waves in 2009 when it first publicly released its management philosophy, then in the form of a 125-slide deck. The company's policies offering unlimited vacation and eliminating employee expense tracking have since been echoed across corporate America. And experts have said the deck inspired other employers to formalize and be more transparent about their own cultures.
Meta Platforms exec Sheryl Sandberg once said the deck "may well be the most important document ever to come out of the Valley."
But some aspects of Netflix's management philosophy stirred controversy, like its ruthlessly high bar for performance ("adequate performance gets a generous severance package," the early deck said) and aversion to "brilliant jerks."
Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings co-authored a 2020 book explaining the approach titled "No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention."
Insider zeroed in on some key changes to the culture document and asked experts what they reveal about Netflix's future as it battles growing competition in streaming and a rocky economic climate.
Representation versus artistic expression
The latest version of Netflix's culture document, published on May 12 as a 4,000-word memo, comes as the company's unique environment and philosophy face fresh challenges. The company said in a statement that it invited all employees to give feedback on changes to the memo and received more than 1,000 comments.
In July, one of Netflix's values of integrity ("You only say things about fellow employees that you say to their face," a previous version of the memo said) came to the forefront when the company fired three marketing execs for criticizing their boss, the Hollywood Reporter reported, in what they thought were private Slack messages.
Some Netflix staffers staged an October walkout after the streamer released a Dave Chappelle special called "The Closer" that included transphobic jokes, a decision the company defended in memos to staff and in interviews.
The May 12 memo's section on artistic expression reaffirms that defense: "Not everyone will like — or agree with — everything on our service," it reads, continuing, "we support the artistic expression of the creators we choose to work with; we program for a diversity of audiences and tastes; and we let viewers decide what's appropriate for them, versus having Netflix censor specific artists or voices."
"Netflix is weighing the cost of employee discontent against the benefit of artist loyalty," said Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter. "They have a lot invested in Dave Chappelle and other artists and clearly hope to be perceived as a safe haven for creators to express themselves without concern that the company itself will cause them grief."
The streamer is making a bet, he added, that the cost of internal dissension isn't as great as the benefit of supporting creators. "The only way they back off this culture memo," he said, "is if they lose either a lot of employees [or] enough important employees to cause them to re-evaluate."
How progressive values translate into company practice
The updated memo also includes three other new sections — addressing representation, ethics, and philanthropy — as well as minor tweaks like rewording the company's "valued behaviors" (formerly described as "real values") and removing a section on stock options that is still detailed in the Work Life Philosophy page of its jobs site.
"Our members want to see a variety of stories and people on screen — and our company and leadership should reflect that diversity," the culture memo states in the new section titled, "Representation Matters."
The passage is progressive in codifying those values, but it's only as impactful as the way it translates into practice, said ReadySet's Hutchinson.
"It's a little bit of a mixed bag," she said. "That piece about representation is important but I think it has to be situated against the overall policy itself."
For media companies overall, Hutchinson noted, investment and empowerment are as important as representation — how much money the company is devoting to developing and marketing diverse stories that amplify marginalized voices.
"In an ideal world, we would have a holistic approach," said Hutchinson.
The mass layoffs at Netflix on Tuesday — which impacted 150 full-time employees, 70 roles at the animation studio, and 60-70 contractors on its social media and publishing channels — have prompted a fresh wave of scrutiny regarding the company's commitment to inclusion. Many who were let go from Netflix's fan site Tudum and its social verticals in particular — Strong Black Lead, LGBT-centered Most, AAPI-focused Golden, and Latinx-centered Con Todo — were women and people of color.
The policy on representation could also come into conflict with the artistic expression section. That section concludes: "As employees we support the principle that Netflix offers a diversity of stories, even if we find some titles counter to our own personal values. Depending on your role, you may need to work on titles you perceive to be harmful. If you'd find it hard to support our content breadth, Netflix may not be the best place for you."
In other words, Netflix expects employees to work on content they disagree with. That could create tension if a trans employee, for example, were assigned to work on a project they felt questioned or undermined their identity — which was one objection to the Chappelle special.
The tension begs the question, what matters more to Netflix — representation or artistic expression?
View a side-by-side comparison of Netflix's culture memo before and after the latest overhaul, titled 'Seeking Excellence,' here. | 2022-05-19T21:00:25Z | www.businessinsider.com | What Netflix's New Culture Memo Reveals About the Company's Future | https://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-overhauled-culture-memo-reveals-streaming-company-future-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-overhauled-culture-memo-reveals-streaming-company-future-2022-5 |
CDC advisors just endorsed a booster shot for 5-11s as new Omicron subvariants emerge
A group of expert advisors to the CDC just voted "yes" to a third COVID shot for kids 5-11.
The boosts could be ready by this weekend but most kids won't be eligible because they haven't had 1 shot yet.
"I'm very concerned about the BA.4 and BA.5 variants," one infectious disease expert said. "I would give my children this booster."
An influential group of independent advisors to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just voted near-unanimously to recommend a booster dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for kids ages 5 to 11.
The move still requires final approval from the CDC director, which could come as early as Thursday night.
Experts hotly debated the merits of even bothering to endorse a third COVID shot in the 5 to 11 age group, at a time when fewer than a third of school-age kids are fully vaccinated with two doses.
"Only 30% have received at least one" shot, committee member Dr. Helen Keipp Talbot, the lone 'no' vote said at the end of the CDC meeting, pointing out how few kids are fully vaccinated against COVID.
"Boosters are great, once we've got everyone their first round."
Ultimately, though, doctors and nurses at the meeting by and large coalesced around the idea that three doses of this vaccine is better than two, especially now that new and highly-contagious Omicron sub-variants are circulating.
'I would give my children this booster'
"I'm very concerned about the BA.4 and BA.5 variants," committee member and infectious disease expert Dr. Camille Kotton said, referring to some of the newest Omicron sub-variants. "We really need optimal vaccine protection," she added, saying: "I would give my children this booster."
COVID-19 was the 11th leading cause of death among children 5-11 years old in 2020, and hospitalizations and deaths in kids, while still rare, have only gone up since the Omicron variant emerged. Pfizer presented data during the meeting showing that a third dose dramatically improves childrens' immune response, bolstering their defenses against the virus.
Data the CDC released in April showed that vaccinated kids are better protected: 87% of children aged 5 to 11 who were hospitalized with Omicron were unvaccinated, and the agency estimates that roughly 1,000 hospitalizations were prevented in the age group through vaccination.
Children are also more likely than adults to develop MIS-C, a rare heart inflammation linked to COVID. The CDC says 93% of MIS-C cases in 5 to 11s have been among unvaccinated kids.
Does my kid really need another shot now?
Dr. Sarah Long, a committee member, pointed out that a lot of children recently had Omicron infections, and it may be worth waiting three months post-infection to boost them, as the CDC recommends for improved immune response.
"I would say that all children 5 to 11 should at some time have a third dose," she said. "The timing of that dose depends."
Lynn Bahta, another committee member, and an infectious disease specialist with Minnesota's Department of Health, said parents should understand that third doses are probably on the horizon for all kids at some point — a regimen of at least three shots is already the gold standard for many other pediatric vaccinations.
"I keep struggling with the terminology of 'booster' dose," Bahta said. "I would hate to suggest that that third dose isn't necessary."
Arm pain is the most common side effect
9 year old Nyla Varner getting a COVID-19 shot.
This kid-size booster shot is the same size as the two primary doses that children 5 to 11 get, and it is only 33% of the amount of vaccine that adults and teenagers receive.
Pfizer presented data during the CDC meeting showing that the most common side effects kids in their 5 to 11 trials suffered after their third shot was mild to moderate arm pain, reported in more than 70% of cases. Fatigue and headaches were the second and third most common side effects. 46% of kids who got a third shot reported fatigue, and 34% reported headaches, while fewer than 7% reported fevers, the company said.
More: coronavirus COVID-19 vaccine Pfizer Public Health | 2022-05-19T22:05:19Z | www.businessinsider.com | CDC Advisors Recommend COVID Booster Shot for 5-11-Year-Olds | https://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-advisors-recommend-covid-booster-shot-5-11-year-olds-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-advisors-recommend-covid-booster-shot-5-11-year-olds-2022-5 |
Under Armour CEO's surprise exit is worrying investors and could signal a return of the 'get big fast' era defined by founder Kevin Plank
Matthew Kish and Andy Kiersz
Under Armour founder Kevin Plank.
Justin Solomon/Getty Images
Under Armour announced Wednesday that CEO Patrik Frisk will step down June 1, sending down shares.
Frisk, who became CEO in January 2020, is credited with improving the company's operations.
The company's founder, Kevin Plank, said the company made the move to jump-start growth.
At a 2018 investor day, Under Armour's founder Kevin Plank described the three stages of the company's history: "get big fast," "protect this house," and the future.
The third stage came into fuller view on Wednesday.
After the markets closed, the company announced the surprise exit of its CEO, Patrik Frisk, effective June 1. Colin Browne, Under Armour's chief operating officer, will serve as the interim CEO while the company's board searches for a permanent replacement.
Wall Street has responded negatively to the news, with company shares down 11% in morning trading. Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock, citing eroding confidence in the company's turnaround efforts.
Shares are down 62% since hitting a 52-week high in early November.
Frisk, who joined the company in 2017 and succeeded Plank as CEO in 2020, is known for his operational expertise — a contrast to Plank, who preferred a "get big fast" mantra when he was CEO.
Frisk, who will leave with a $7.1 million severance package and an agreement to consult for the company, was a steady leader who took the company through a $571 million restructuring effort, but sales remained stagnant.
In North America, where the company makes roughly two-thirds of its revenue, sales are down 3%, to $3.5 billion, since 2017, according to securities filings.
By comparison, industry leader Nike is up 13%, to $17.2 billion, over that same time period.
In a note to investors, BTIG analyst Camilo Lyon credited Frisk for his work on the company's operations but criticized Under Armour for its lack of brand momentum, a rebuke that he targeted at Plank, who also serves as chief brand officer.
"The six years of lost time to improve and elevate the brand likely render the (Under Armour) brand destined to mediocrity as the current generation of Gen Z'ers have largely concluded which athletic brand is their choice to embrace ... we think it's Nike," he wrote.
The company's stock will likely "at best tread water and at worst trade lower" because of uncertainty and impatience, Lyon wrote.
The CEO move comes less than two weeks after Under Armour disappointed Wall Street with a quarterly-earnings report that fell short of expectations and sent shares into a tailspin.
"The (quarterly) miss came as a surprise as Under Armour had been consistently beating its guidance over the past two years," Christina Fernandez, a Telsey Advisory Group analyst, said in a note to investors.
On the call, Under Armour projected a 5 to 7% revenue growth in fiscal year 2023, which started April 1.
Plank founded the company in 1996 and served as CEO until 2020. During his tenure, the company reported 26 consecutive quarters of 20% growth and briefly surpassed Adidas to become the No. 2 sportswear brand in the critical US market.
"The growth the company is targeting this year probably seems insufficient for a chairman who previously ran the company under the motto 'Get Big Fast,'" Tom Nikic, a Wedbush analyst, said in a note to investors.
But the growth also caused problems while Plank was in charge, including excess inventory and other operational weaknesses that took years to address. Under Armour had also dealt with a (now settled) SEC investigation of its accounting and a scandal over the use of corporate credit cards for strip-club visits and other inappropriate behavior.
"(Under Armour's) decision to pivot CEOs presumably signals a desire to push past restructuring and reignite growth," Simeon Siegel, a BMO Capital Markets analyst, said in a note to investors. "As it embarks on its next chapter, we hope it remembers that growth at all costs got it (and others) into trouble in the first place."
Do you work at Under Armour or have insight to share? Contact reporter Matthew Kish via the encrypted messaging app Signal (+1-971-319-3830) or email (mkish@insider.com). Check out Insider's source guide for other tips on sharing information securely.
More: Nike Sports athetic apparel | 2022-05-19T22:31:41Z | www.businessinsider.com | Under Armour CEO's Exit Could Mean Return to Kevin Plank Era | https://www.businessinsider.com/under-armour-ceos-exit-could-mean-return-to-kevin-plank-era-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/under-armour-ceos-exit-could-mean-return-to-kevin-plank-era-2022-5 |
Samuel Corum/Stringer/Getty Images
Kellyanne and George Conway have famously been at odds with former President Donald Trump.
The former Trump advisor wrote in her new memoir that it impacted their marriage.
She wrote his "daily deluge of insults-by-tweet against my boss ... violated" their marriage vows.
Conservative political consultant Kellyanne Conway and her husband, George Conway, have vastly contrasting opinions of former President Donald Trump – and the differences made their way into the couple's marriage.
In her new memoir, "Here's the Deal," the former Trump advisor wrote about the strain of her husband's blatant disapproval of her boss, according to an excerpt published in People Magazine. The two have remained married despite the turmoil of their relationship and the public attention from statements their daughter, Claudia made about them on social media.
Kellyanne, 55, said in her book — which is set to be released on May 24 — that her husband, an attorney, spent long periods of time in New York for work while she and the kids were in DC.
"During this time, the frequency and ferocity of his tweets accelerated. Clearly, he was cheating by tweeting," she wrote. "I was having a hard time competing with his new fling."
George Conway, 58, frequently used his platform to criticize Trump, who he'd introduced to Kellyanne Conway before later disapproving of his political stances and actions.
"Don't assume that the things he says and does are part of a rational plan or strategy, because they seldom are," George Conway tweeted once in 2019. "Consider them as a product of his pathologies, and they make perfect sense."
Trump, now banned from Twitter, responded: "George Conway, often referred to as Mr. Kellyanne Conway by those who know him, is VERY jealous of his wife's success & angry that I, with her help, didn't give him the job he so desperately wanted."
Kellyanne Conway said Trump only mentioned George Conway to her a "handful" of times, three of which were in frustration.
Her memoir continued: "I had already said publicly what I'd said privately to George: that his daily deluge of insults-by-tweet against my boss — or, as he put it sometimes, 'the people in the White House' — violated our marriage vows to 'love, honor, and cherish each other."
George Conway had even written a 3,500-word essay countering Trump's claim that Robert S. Mueller III's Russia investigation was unconstitutional in 2018.
"On one side was my marriage and my husband. On the other was my job and my boss," Kellyanne Conway wrote. "George was mixing the two of them in a highly combustible manner. I was able to keep these things separate and in perspective. George should have, too, but it seemed the flood of reaction and attention he was receiving was magnetic and irresistible."
She added that Ivanka, Trump's daughter, had a similar issue with her husband, Jared Kushner. Ivanka recommended that the Conway couple try therapy, though Kellyanne Conway said her husband wasn't a fan of the idea. They never went.
"I feel there's a part of him that thinks I chose Donald Trump over him," Kellyanne Conway told The Washington Post. "Which is ridiculous. One is my work and one is my marriage."
The Post went on to describe their marriage as "emblematic" of the controversy around Trump — especially within the Republican party.
"Whoop-de-do, George!" Kellyanne Conway wrote that she told George Conway once, according to her book. "You are one of millions of people who don't like the president. Congrats."
Neither George nor Kellyanne immediately responded to Insider's request for comment.
More: Kellyanne Conway George Conway Trump Republican | 2022-05-20T01:12:11Z | www.businessinsider.com | Kellyanne Conway Says Husband Was 'Cheating by Tweeting' Against Trump | https://www.businessinsider.com/kellyanne-conway-george-cheating-tweeting-former-president-trump-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/kellyanne-conway-george-cheating-tweeting-former-president-trump-2022-5 |
The White House on Wednesday announced "Operation Fly Formula" to address the national shortage.
Meanwhile an ER doctor in Texas told Insider they are treating babies who were fed diluted formula.
The first batch of baby formula is being imported to the US from Switzerland as part of President Joe Biden's "Operation Fly Formula," which was launched to address the ongoing national shortage.
The White House on Thursday announced a batch of Nestlé S.A. formula would be transported from Zurich, Switzerland, to Plainfield, Indiana, by commercial aircrafts contracted by the Department of Defense.
Hypoallergenic formulas intended for babies with dairy milk allergies are being prioritized "because they serve a critical medical purpose and are in short supply in the United States because of the Abbott Sturgis plant closure," the statement said.
Operation Fly Formula was announced Wednesday and allows the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture to use military resources to pick up baby formula from overseas.
The operation is part of a series of measures taken by the Biden administration to address the infant formula shortage as empty shelves have left parents across America scrambling to find food for their babies.
Insider's Anna Medaris reported Wednesday that an emergency room in Texas has been treating babies whose parents fed them homemade or watered-down formula, putting the infants at risk for life-threatening seizures.
More: Baby formula Shortage White House | 2022-05-20T01:12:17Z | www.businessinsider.com | US to Get First Batch of Baby Formula From Switzerland Amid Shortage | https://www.businessinsider.com/us-import-first-batch-baby-formula-from-switzerland-amid-shortage-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/us-import-first-batch-baby-formula-from-switzerland-amid-shortage-2022-5 |
Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate David Perdue.
Donald Trump is giving up on Georgia GOP gubernatorial candidate David Perdue, per NBC.
Trump, according to NBC's sources, has griped about how badly Perdue is doing in polls.
The former president first backed Perdue in December, picking him over incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp.
Donald Trump plans to cut his losses and drop his support for David Perdue, the Georgia GOP gubernatorial candidate whom the former president previously endorsed but is now performing poorly in polls.
In an article published on Friday, NBC News cited four sources who said that Trump had been complaining about Perdue.
One source told NBC that Trump was not planning to visit Georgia to stump for Perdue due to his belief that Perdue is struggling and that his race against incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp is all but lost.
"David either has a bunch of geniuses working for him — because he's basically spent no money — or he's run the most flawed campaign in America," the anonymous source said, per the outlet.
NBC also reported how Perdue's campaign had been outspent in ads, citing data from political action committees. The outlet stated that Perdue's PAC had put out only around $280,000 worth of ads, while Kemp's PAC is on track to spend more than $1 million in campaign advertising.
Perdue has not been performing well ahead of the Georgia GOP primaries.
According to a survey done for Fox News published on Wednesday, Perdue is trailing far behind Fox — 60% of the respondents who voted early or cast absentee ballots surveyed between May 12 and 16 said they voted for Kemp, while 28% said they picked Perdue.
A representative for Perdue did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
According to Trump's past statements, the former president first began supporting Perdue on December 6, 2021.
"Great to see that David Perdue is running for Governor of Georgia. He is a Conservative fighter who isn't afraid of the Radical Left," Trump wrote in a statement released on Twitter via a spokesperson.
He added that Kemp, in his opinion, had "failed Georgia" and was a "very weak governor."
"David Perdue has my Complete and Total Endorsement. He will not let you down!" Trump wrote in his message.
Trump then mentioned Perdue on nine other occasions in his daily statements. However, Trump's last known mention of Perdue in official statements — as seen in the email blasts sent from his team — was on April 25.
In that statement, Trump called Kemp a "RINO" (short for "Republican In Name Only") while rallying "MAGA voters" to support Perdue. "It is not easy to beat an incumbent, however, if our voters turn out, David Perdue will win in a landslide," Trump wrote.
Trump's backing away from Perdue comes after some of his high-profile endorsements have flopped in their respective races, blemishing his self-proclaimed status as the Republican kingmaker.
Just two weeks ago, the former president bragged about the value of his "unparalleled" and "unblemished" endorsement record, saying GOP candidates who want to win should fear him.
This week, that claim was undermined when controversial freshman Rep. Madison Cawthorn was ousted by his primary challenger, Chuck Edwards. Another Trump-backed candidate, Charles Herbster, lost his gubernatorial race in Nebraska last week amid allegations of sexual assault from eight women.
Trump has made 183 endorsements since leaving office, per Ballotpedia, many of which have yet to play out. While most of the Trump-endorsed political candidates have seen victory, many were also running in uncontested races.
More: Donald Trump GOP Georgia Gubernatorial Race | 2022-05-20T08:53:17Z | www.businessinsider.com | Trump Ditches David Perdue Amid High-Profile Endorsement Flops | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-ditches-david-perdue-amid-high-profile-endorsement-flops-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-ditches-david-perdue-amid-high-profile-endorsement-flops-2022-5 |
Goldman Sachs lays out the case for investing more of your money in real assets — and reveals which ones it's most bullish on as the stock market crashes
As stocks slide investors will be increasingly thinking about other options for their money.
Goldman Sachs pointed to real assets as offering "a welcome source of diversification".
Goldman analysts also revealed their price targets for a basket of commodities including oil, industrial metals and gold.
As the stock market continues to slide, investors will be increasingly thinking about other places to put their money.
While sitting in cash is of course an option, it may not be a good one given inflation is running at 6% in the US and even higher in many other places. The purchasing power of wealth left in cash is eroding at an alarming rate, so investing elsewhere may be the smarter move.
Real assets, commodities in particular, are potentially the answer. As the name suggests, these are tangible things that exist in physical form such as oil, industrial metals, gold, rare earths and various foods such as wheat. Things like art, fine wine and classic cars are also real assets, but Goldman does not focus on them.
One much-heralded feature of real assets is that they are not correlated with the stock market. This is far from guaranteed to be the case all the time, but over long timeframes this has been true for the majority of recent history.
Typically, commodities will perform well in a rising interest rate environment such as the one we have now, in stark contrast with stocks.
Of course, prices across many commodities have already moved up significantly over recent months so there's a risk most of the upside is already priced in, but there could easily be further to go this year.
This is not a reality that has escaped the attention of the big investment banks and asset managers. Goldman Sachs is touting the benefits of investing in real assets and believes economic conditions could allow for continued price rises.
In a recent note for clients, Goldman's Sabine Schels and Mikhail Sprogis laid out the case for adding more real assets to investment portfolios.
"While balanced portfolios have had a tough time digesting the surge in bond yields, commodities remain a welcome source of diversification in multi-asset portfolios amid low correlations and stable risk-adjusted returns."
"Chinese lockdowns have managed to avert the worst-case stockout conditions in metals and energy, but they have also masked worsening supply conditions as European sanctions begin to bite in crude markets and base metals struggle in the face of water scarcity, lack of supply investment and declining ore quality. Such scarcity should keep markets tight and returns well diversified."
Crude oil has gained around 45% so far this year, while natural gas has risen by 116% and base metals such as nickel and aluminum have risen by 35% and 5%, respectively.
The Goldman Sachs team also pointed to "exceptional carry" in the market right now. This refers to the costs of transporting, storing and insuring real assets versus the rise in their prices.
"An exceptional carry regime has also allowed investors to find shelter in commodities, with carry delivering 16% roll returns annualized, thus adding another layer of uncorrelated returns," they wrote.
They did warn however that this opportunity could fade away later on in the year. "High inflationary periods tend to be associated with steeper backwardation, particularly in energy, and so a continued strong inflation backdrop could support backwardation," they said.
Backwardation is a market situation where the current price, known as "spot", is higher than prices quoted in the futures market.
"Although term structures could flatten gradually by year-end if commodity flows normalize, we expect carry to remain positive on structural underinvestment even in a rising rate environment. In the case of additional supply shocks, we could even see a further steep backwardation regime that will fuel volatility ."
In terms of which assets in particular the Goldman team are most bullish on, the table below outlines their 3, 6 and 12 month forecasts. Standouts include nickel, zinc and gold.
While most investors do not have the means or will to directly acquire and store large quantities of the various assets listed, exposure to most of them can be gained through exchange-traded products available from the usual online stockbrokers.
More: investing advice 2022 Investing recommendations 2022 Stock Market Crash Stock Market Analysis
Goldman Sach | 2022-05-20T09:10:09Z | www.businessinsider.com | Stock Market Crash: Why Commodities Have More Room to Run up, GS Says | https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-crash-why-commodities-have-more-room-to-run-up-gs-says-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-crash-why-commodities-have-more-room-to-run-up-gs-says-2022-5 |
10 Things in Tech: Musk sex claim
Good morning. It's Friday, so let's get right to it.
1. Elon Musk accused of sex misconduct. SpaceX paid a flight attendant $250,000 to settle a sexual misconduct claim against Musk in 2018, Insider has learned.
According to interviews and documents obtained by Insider, she accused Musk of exposing himself and rubbing her leg without consent, and he offered to buy her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage.
The incident, which took place in 2016, is alleged in a declaration signed by a friend of the attendant and prepared in support of her claim. After the flight attendant reported the incident to SpaceX, the company paid her $250,000 as part of a severance agreement.
2. Record inflation is roiling Amazon's retail business. Insiders say rising costs, dwindling margins, and employee attrition are just some of the challenges facing the company. Here's everything internal documents and employees revealed.
3. Companies are clamoring to reduce their growth. Tech and e-commerce companies — like Wayfair, Meta, and DoorDash — saw explosive growth over the last few years, but now they're taking a step back. Here are the prominent companies freezing or slowing hiring.
4. Ever dreamed about a $100,000 job in the tech industry? People have switched from careers as nurses and teachers for high-paying jobs in the world of tech. These 6 people explain exactly how they made the leap to a six-figure salary.
5. GrubHub's free lunch promotion overwhelmed NYC's restaurant and delivery workers. The promotion generated 6,000 orders per minute, resulting in long wait times, abandoned orders, and angry customers. Here's a full rundown on the chaos.
6. Apple executives previewed its upcoming mixed-reality headset. According to people familiar with the matter who spoke to Bloomberg, Apple's development of the headset has reached an advanced stage. The headset, which combines elements of virtual and augmented reality, is reportedly Apple's next big bet. Here's what we know about it.
7. A new report highlights the most and least recession-proof tech companies. Google is among the strong ones, while Ebay is less fortunate. See where other big companies stand.
8. A job recruiter who has worked with companies like Google, Meta, and Microsoft reveals what to ask to make sure you aren't on the wrong side of layoffs. As the tech industry experiences a downturn, Jermaine Murray says it's important for job seekers to ask hard questions. These are the important things to ask to navigate layoffs.
9. Pixel 6a vs. iPhone SE: Google is looking to one-up Apple's budget phone. Insider put the two phones head-to-head to compare everything from battery life to screen size. Both phones have excellent cameras and performance, but there is one major difference.
10. Ford's F-150 is missing a feature at launch. As per The Verge, anyone getting an F-150 Lightning in the next few months will be disapointed to learn that they won't have the ability to unlock and control the electric truck using a phone. Here's everything we know about the delay.
Twitter's VP of product management Ilya Brown, VP of Twitter service Katrina Lane, and head of data science Max Schmeiser are all leaving.
Cerebral has replaced CEO Kyle Robertson with the company's chief medical officer, Dr. David Mou.
Vanessa Guthrie, head of Snap originals and head of original content, is leaving the company after eight years
Terraform's legal team — comprised of Marc Goldich, Lawrence Florio and Noah Axler — resigned amid Terra's stablecoin meltdown.
More: Newsletter Tech 10 things in tech Elon Musk | 2022-05-20T10:27:28Z | www.businessinsider.com | 10 Things in Tech: Musk Sex Claim | https://www.businessinsider.com/10-things-in-tech-musk-sex-claim-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/10-things-in-tech-musk-sex-claim-2022-5 |
Rishi Sunak is the first frontline politician to enter the Sunday Times Rich List
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has entered the Sunday Times Rich List, as one of the UK's wealthiest 250 families, the first frontline politician to do so.
Rishi Sunak with his smart coffee cup in July 2020
Raab described Murthy as "an incredibly successful entrepreneur in her own right."
More: UK Politics News UK Rishi Sunak Sunday Times Rich List | 2022-05-20T10:27:46Z | www.businessinsider.com | Rishi Sunak First UK Politician to Enter Sunday Times Rich List | https://www.businessinsider.com/rishi-sunak-first-uk-politician-to-enter-sunday-times-rich-list-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/rishi-sunak-first-uk-politician-to-enter-sunday-times-rich-list-2022-5 |
An abandoned damaged Russian tank in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, Ukraine, on April 13, 2022.
Russian commanders are coming under pressure to get soldiers back into the field, after their lengthy assault on Mariupol.
UK intelligence says soldiers will not be suitably "re-equipped and refurbished" in order to speed things up.
However, this could backfire and lead to further soldiers deserting, the MoD claimed.
Russian commanders are likely to rush exhausted soldiers back into the field after their lengthy assault on Mariupol, leaving them improperly equipped and at risk, UK intelligence said.
Earlier this week Ukraine ordered many soldiers holding out in a steel plant in the city to surrender.
UK intelligence estimated that around 1,7000 soldiers surrendered. Many were wounded and without adequate supplies of food or water, the officials said.
The steel plant was the last major point of resistance in Mariupol, which was surrounded by Russian early in its invasion of Ukraine and subject to relentless attacks.
The "staunch Ukrainian resistance" means Russian troops would have to be "re-equipped and refurbished" before they can move onto the next operation, the MoD update said.
However "this can be a lengthy process when done thoroughly" and comes at a time when commanders are under increasing pressure to make up for poor performance in the invasion.
"This means that Russia will probably redistribute their forces swiftly without adequate preparation, which risks further force attrition," the MoD said.
The update came after the Ukrainian Defence Ministry's main intelligence directorate released a recording apparently showing Russian troops openly mocking the "stupid" war.
"Everyone who is here … I'm telling you … everyone is planning to take off on the 26th," a soldier says, according to one translation from The Daily Beast.
"Isn't that stupid?" another man replies.
"Isn't it stupid that we're here?" the unnamed soldier retorts.
He later says that troops decided to abscond "on the basis of the fact that they put us on the front with absolutely nothing".
"They don't provide us with any [equipment]," he adds, complaining that the rifles given to snipers are "from 1945."
Russia's months-long campaign to capture Mariupol left thousands of dead and the city in ruins as President Vladimir Putin's forces bombed targets like hospitals, schools, and shelters.
Separatists are now planning to turn it into a resort town — wiping out symbols of Ukrainian resistance but also dismantling the steel plant production that has fueled the area's economy.
More: News UK Ukraine Russia Ministry of Defence | 2022-05-20T10:27:52Z | www.businessinsider.com | Russia May Redeploy Mariupol Troops Too Fast in Desperation: UK Intel | https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-may-redeploy-mariupol-troops-fast-desperation-uk-intel-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-may-redeploy-mariupol-troops-fast-desperation-uk-intel-2022-5 |
The top investment strategist at JPMorgan Private Bank explains why the US will dodge a recession even as the housing market inevitably slows — and makes portfolio suggestions for a period of 19% upside in stocks
Real estate agents work an open house in West Hempstead, New York.
JPMorgan Private Bank strategy chief Tom Kennedy believes the US can still avoid a recession.
Kennedy is confident in the Federal Reserve's ability to cool inflation without freezing growth.
Detailed below is Kennedy's outlook for the housing market, as well as some of his investing ideas.
It's been an ugly five-and-half-month stretch for stocks as investors start to realize just how destructive historically high inflation might be for the economy.
Price surges have weighed on corporate earnings and caused the Federal Reserve to implement tighter financial conditions. That unpleasant combination led JPMorgan Private Bank to trim its 2023 economic growth outlook as the post-pandemic recovery starts to lose steam.
But Tom Kennedy, who's JPMorgan Private Bank's chief investment strategist, told Insider in a recent interview that he's still optimistic about stocks because he believes that there's still about a two-thirds chance that the US will avoid a recession .
Like many of his Wall Street peers, Kennedy came into the year bullish. He thought that the S&P 500 would extend its winning streak to four years by rising 5% to 5,000 in 2022. Kennedy and his team were forced to recalculate earlier in the year, but their revised year-end price target of 4,650 still suggests that the index has about 19% upside from current levels.
"We're holding onto that number, for now, in our base case," Kennedy told Insider. "But clearly see downside skew because of the campaign against inflation from the Fed and what's going to be required to control growth in inflation in America."
Kennedy continued: "If interest rates have risen enough, the Fed can still engineer a soft landing. But the most-likely scenario after that one is that they end up tightening too much, which in history is generally what has caused recessions, ex-financial crisis."
Why the US will probably avoid a recession
For the US to stave off a second economic downturn in three years, the Fed must put a lid on inflation without completely choking off growth, Kennedy said. A so-called soft landing is still possible because there's evidence that the US central bank's credibility is "still intact" despite the tsunami of criticism it's taken, the strategy chief said.
"First and foremost is the way that people are trading inflation expectations," Kennedy said. "The first chart that the Fed will look at at every meeting is if the market prices them as credible, and they'll first start with five-year expectations, and then they'll talk about surveys for three-year-ahead inflation expectations."
He continued: "Those are elevated, but they're not suggesting that the Fed is losing control or people are saying, 'There's no way they'll ever get control of inflation.'"
The market's long-term inflation expectations are still near the Fed's long-term target of 2%, Kennedy noted. Economists view a moderate level of inflation as healthy because it's a sign of a growing economy. Markets trust the US central bank to tackle inflation, so Kennedy does also.
"The Fed has the capacity to control this because inflation's not running away from them," Kennedy said.
But just because Kennedy is skeptical of an imminent recession doesn't mean he thinks the US is totally in the clear.
In one of the most obvious signs of inflation, home prices have skyrocketed as strong demand, limited supply, and the ability to borrow money for next to nothing have caused a once-in-a-generation surge. Kennedy is among those speculating that the trend is unsustainable — especially as interest rates rise.
"Something will give," he said. "I'm not calling a crash in the housing market, but that world has to slow down."
The strategy chief added: "You should see either home prices come down or the number of homes sold go down. But either way, that economic impact will slow growth."
That view aligns with the majority of 32 experts interviewed by Insider about whether a housing-market bubble will burst. About two-thirds of respondents said there won't be another financial crisis-style crash, but there was a broad consensus that the housing market will cool."
A housing market slowdown may seem desirable, given how high inflation is and the fact that home affordability has been "as bad as it was in the years prior to the great financial crisis," in Kennedy's words. But, as the strategist noted, a sharp reversal in the value of home prices will hurt growth while making millions of Americans less wealthy and raising fears of a recession.
Investing ideas as the US dodges a downturn
Though Kennedy's main focus is developing views about what's next for markets and the economy, the strategy chief also shared some ideas about how to manage a portfolio.
At the start of the year, Kennedy said that JPMorgan Private Bank recommended that investors maintain a risk-on mindset by staying overweight stocks and underweight fixed income. Both asset classes have performed poorly so far this year as the economy shows signs of weakness.
And while Kennedy still believes that the US will avoid a recession, he acknowledged that the chances of a downturn are materially higher than they were. That's why he's keeping a bias toward US stocks over their international peers while giving fixed income more love.
"Our highest conviction idea right now is to talk about plain vanilla, unsexy fixed income," Kennedy said. "Recession probabilities are rising, our clients are underweight, and finally you can get yield and diversification benefits in the liquid market."
The strategist also said the following about bonds: "If recession probabilities are going to rise, as rates have risen, they become more and more attractive."
The best opportunities within the bond market, in Kennedy's view, are in core products like investment grade coupons and municipal debt. Riskier high-yield bonds can have value in a portfolio as an equity replacement but would do poorly in a recession, Kennedy said.
"As an outright yield opportunity, I think you're better off in core," Kennedy said.
Investors who are willing to take on more risk to chase a higher yield may instead want to consider bank preferreds or extended credit ideas since yields have risen to the high single digits, Kennedy said.
"I can replace higher risk equity exposure with lower risk, lower volatility ideas, and still get an equity-like return," Kennedy said. "That's pretty much the name of the game."
More: Investing Tom Kennedy JPMorgan
JPMorgan Private Bank
inflation and bonds
inflation federal reserve | 2022-05-20T10:43:11Z | www.businessinsider.com | Recession, Stock Market, Home-Price Outlooks From JPMorgan Strategist | https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-risk-stock-market-outlook-housing-market-bubble-jpmorgan-strategist-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-risk-stock-market-outlook-housing-market-bubble-jpmorgan-strategist-2022-5 |
Meta executives have been instructing staff how they're expected to discuss abortion at work.
They're banned from discussing abortion on the company's internal messaging system, per The Verge.
The directive, from Naomi Gleit, Meta's head of product, came days after a leaked draft opinion showed the US Supreme Court was poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, a decision which could lead to 23 US states quickly criminalizing abortion.
At an all-hands meeting Thursday, Janelle Gale, Meta's vice president of HR, reminded staff about a policy restricting how much they can talk about abortion at work, and that they can't discuss abortion on Workplace, the company's internal communication system, The Verge said.
Meta's "respectful communication" policy dates back to 2019, according to The Verge, but came to the fore after the leaked Roe opinion was published. The policy prohibits staff from discussing "opinions or debates about abortion being right or wrong, availability or rights of abortion, and political, religious, and humanitarian views on the topic," per The Verge.
More: Meta Abortion Roe v Wade Tech | 2022-05-20T11:30:53Z | www.businessinsider.com | Meta Limits at-Work Abortion Debate to 5 Like-Minded People: Report | https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-restricts-abortion-discussion-five-people-roe-wade-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-restricts-abortion-discussion-five-people-roe-wade-2022-5 |
As Amazon's winds down its Whole Foods gig worker strategy it's leaving the grocery chain low on employees to fill online orders, workers say
A person shops at a Whole Foods grocery store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., March 10, 2022.
Amazon workers who filled Whole Foods orders are being encouraged to become Whole Foods employees.
But many are walking away from the company instead because the new jobs are less flexible.
Some shoppers said the change could leave Whole Foods without enough people to fill orders.
Amazon employees who fill Whole Foods online delivery and pick-up orders are leaving the retailer in droves.
The exodus is so great that some say the grocery store may take longer to fill orders — something that Amazon can't afford as it focuses on delivering orders at an ever-faster pace.
Earlier this year, Amazon told its employees who pick delivery and pick-up orders from Whole Foods shelves that it was consolidating all those jobs under Whole Foods. Previously, orders were picked by a mix of Whole Foods employees and Amazon staff hired as gig workers.
Amazon told employees that they would be able to transfer to Whole Foods or to another Amazon facility, such as a warehouse.
But as many of the roughly 500 Whole Foods stores are now making that change, some Amazon shoppers say that they are walking away from Amazon and Whole Foods entirely.
Shoppers who picked orders as a part-time gig or don't want to do other tasks that the Whole Foods jobs entail, such as stocking shelves, appear most likely to leave.
"I like the shopper job," said one shopper who works in Washington state and doesn't plan to continue working for Amazon or Whole Foods. "Do I want to stack onions? No, I do not."
Insider spoke with four employees who fill orders for Whole Foods for this story. They asked not to be identified while discussing store operations, but their identities are known to Insider.
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
The risk of too few workers to fill orders
At the height of the pandemic in 2020, Amazon hired an army of shoppers — hundreds per store — to pick orders. Demand for delivery and pick-up groceries had skyrocketed, and Amazon brought as many people as they could onboard.
In the two years since, orders at most stores have declined, according to the shoppers that Insider spoke with. Some shoppers said that orders dropped last fall after Amazon implemented a $9.95 fee on Whole Foods orders for Prime customers.
In response, Amazon has moved to thin its shopper ranks, according to multiple workers.
In some cases, that predates Amazon's announcement about its shoppers being able to move over to Whole Foods earlier this year. "For a year now, they've been trying to get Amazon shoppers to go anywhere else," a shopper who works in Texas said. "They had this abundance of shoppers."
The shopper told Insider that Amazon has been encouraging its Prime shoppers to take shifts doing other jobs since mid-2021. Those jobs included handling returns of Amazon products at Whole Foods stores and even working at Amazon Fresh, the company's lower-cost grocery chain.
Many felt that Amazon's decision to get rid of the Amazon-managed shopper job is the culmination of efforts to downsize Whole Food's pandemic-era shopper teams.
One North Carolina-based shopper recalled reporting for weekend shifts in 2020 to find 100 orders waiting to be picked. Similar shifts this spring have featured around 20 orders.
"It's slower, but it's enough that they're going to need a capable workforce to do it," the shopper said.
The shopper estimated that about one-third of the over 100 Amazon shoppers at the store where they work have decided not to transition to a job at Whole Foods, though they added that others have yet to make up their minds.
The shoppers leaving include many who worked for Amazon even before the pandemic and whose units picked per hour — a key metric that Amazon uses to track shoppers' productivity according to how many items they find — are among the highest in the store.
"Those people, Whole Foods should be actively recruiting," the shopper said. Instead, Whole Foods has taken little action beyond informing shoppers of options for other jobs.
They added that the store could have trouble filling Prime orders on time if enough of those shoppers leave Whole Foods entirely.
'A ready, waiting pool of employees' for Whole Foods
Amazon has been pulling back on staffing across multiple areas.
Its corporate retail division has will reduce hiring targets for 2022, per a leaked email obtained by Insider.
Previously, Insider also reported that Amazon will slow down the expansion of its third-party delivery partners this year, following two years of growth. In April, Amazon said it's "no longer chasing physical or staffing capacity."
Meanwhile, Amazon's strategy for physical stores, and how they connect to e-commerce, has been changing lately. The Seattle-based tech giant closed multiple store chains, including Amazon Books, 4-Star, and Pop Up stores.
It's also opening more Amazon Fresh stores, including some just a short walk away from Whole Foods locations, as it closes some Whole Foods locations.
Multiple shoppers also told Insider that the Whole Foods stores where they work are chronically understaffed. The problem is so bad that some locations close departments that require staffing to assist customers, such as the seafood counter, hours before the entire store closes.
"They hire people and they stay a couple of months and leave," the Washington state-based shopper said of Whole Foods employees at the store where they work.
In Amazon shoppers, though, "they have a ready, waiting pool of employees that they can conscript into Whole Foods," the shopper added.
But not all shoppers are willing to move over.
Higher units-picked-per-hour goals at Whole Foods and having to perform a wider range of tasks on command make taking a job at Whole Foods unattractive, according to the shopper.
Those who need a full-time job have better options, such as high-end local grocery chains that offer similar jobs for better pay, the shopper said.
Others, who don't want to do other grocery-store work at Whole Foods or work in an Amazon warehouse, are looking for part-time jobs at other companies.
"Part-time flex work there was fabulous," the shopper said. Previously, Amazon shoppers could work as little as 12 hours a month to remain eligible for shifts.
"Whole Foods is probably not going to accommodate your schedule like that," the shopper said.
Do you work at Whole Foods and have a story to share? Reach out to Alex Bitter at abitter@insider.com or via Twitter direct message @abitterjourno
More: Whole Foods Big Box Fast Food | 2022-05-20T13:32:38Z | www.businessinsider.com | Why Amazon Workers Aren't Making the Leap to Whole Foods | https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-whole-foods-gig-workers-online-delivery-labor-shortage-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-whole-foods-gig-workers-online-delivery-labor-shortage-2022-5 |
Pressure has been mounting for Biden to cancel student debt, as he pledged during his campaign.
Last month, he said his decision on relief would come in a matter of weeks.
While Republican opposition mounts, a few developments hint at the kind of relief borrowers might see.
Despite President Joe Biden's campaign pledge to cancel $10,000 in debt per borrower, he's been largely silent on the issue through his presidency.
But there may be a light at the end of tunnel for more than 40 million Americans with federal student loans.
In late April, Biden said he'd "have an answer" on relief in the coming weeks. That was a year after Biden asked the Department of Education to prepare a memo outlining his legal power to cancel student debt. Insider found that the Education Department created and circulated the memo, but Biden has not revealed its contents.
Instead of relief for all borrowers, so far, Biden has focused on targeted groups like borrowers with disabilities and those defrauded by for-profit schools, who have seen more than $9 billion in collective debt relief. He also extended the pandemic pause on student loan payments four times since taking office, following two from former President Donald Trump.
Democrats are pressuring him to relieve borrowers in fear of low midterm turnout, with some progressives urging him to cancel at least $50,000 for those in debt. Meanwhile, Republicans senators have introduced bills intended to prohibit cancellation.
Biden's approval rating among the young people who helped get him elected is tanking. With the payment pause set to expire after August 31, Americans are on pins and needles to find out what Biden will do.
In April, Biden said he would announce a decision or extend the payment pause by September, when the current payment pause is up.
In April, Biden gave himself until the end of August to announce a decision regarding student debt cancellation, or to extend the payment pause he'd already continued four times.
"Between now and August 31, it's either going to be extended again or we're going to make a decision, as Ron referenced, about canceling student debt," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told Pod Save America referring to Ron Klain, Biden's chief of staff, who also told the podcast in March that leading up to the prior May 1 payment restart date, the president would either extend the pause again — which he did — or decide how he could act on student debt using executive action.
Later that month, Biden shortened his own timeline, saying he'll 'have an answer' on student-loan forgiveness in the coming weeks.
Since Psaki revealed the end-of-August deadline, Biden truncated the timeline for the announcement to be a few weeks from April.
"I'm in the process of taking a hard look at whether there will be additional debt forgiveness," Biden said at the end of the month. "And I'll have an answer for that in the next couple of weeks."
Republicans introduce their first bill to bar Biden from cancelling debt broadly.
Sen. John Thune alongside Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell at a news conference.
Following Biden's hints that an announcement on forgiveness could be coming soon, GOP Sens. John Thune, Richard Burr, Mike Braun, Bill Cassidy, and Roger Marshall introduced the Stop Reckless Student Loans Action Act, which would end the payment pause and bar Biden from canceling student debt broadly.
"As Americans continue to return to the workforce more than two years since the pandemic began, it is time for borrowers to resume repayment of student debt obligations," Thune said in a statement. "Taxpayers and working families should not be responsible for continuing to bear the costs associated with this suspension of repayment. This common-sense legislation would protect taxpayers and prevent President Biden from suspending federal student loan repayments in perpetuity."
Shattering progressives' hopes, Biden confirmed in April that he won't be forgiving $50,000 in debt per borrower.
President Biden at State of the Union.
Democratic senators such as Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren have made it clear that for many progressives, $50,000 in forgiveness per borrower is the number to strive for.
"Canceling $50,000 of student-loan debt would give 36 million Americans permanent total relief," Warren said during a town hall in January. "That would be the end of their debt burden. And it would aid millions more by significantly reducing the principal on their debt."
But at the end of April, Biden shattered progressives' hopes, saying that although he is considering debt forgiveness as promised, it will not be for as high as $50,000 per borrower.
"I am considering dealing with some debt reduction, I am not considering $50,000 debt reduction," he told a reporter last month. It marked one of his most decisive comments to date on what he is considering when it comes to canceling student debt broadly.
Biden considers excluding high earners from debt relief, possibly excluding people who make more than $125,000 or couples making $250,000.
Biden considered income caps on student debt relief while on the campaign trail, but that may not be what the final policy looks like.
Top Biden aides are looking at limiting student debt relief to people earning less than $125,000 to $150,000, or $250,000 to $300,000 for couples that file joint taxes, people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post. But they said that Biden hadn't made a final decision.
"There's different proposals floating around the administration about how to structure this," one person told the Washington Post.
But as Psaki later noted, while income caps are in line with what Biden considered on the campaign trail, that may not be what the final policy looks like. Income caps could also pose problems for many Americans, as doing so means setting up a layer of income verification before the government grants debt relief. And it would mean that borrowers would miss out on relief if they don't know to sign up or apply for it, Politico reported.
Three Democratic senators make a last ditch effort to urge Biden to go big on relief.
Three Democratic senators — Elizabeth Warren, Chuck Schumer, and Raphael Warnock — want Biden's student-loan relief to be expansive, and are requesting him to hold off on implementing any loan forgiveness through executive action until they can arrange a meeting with him, sources told Politico last week.
Following Biden's comments that he is not considering $50,000 in debt cancellation for federal borrowers, something that Warren, Warnock, and Schumer have pushed for repeatedly, the progressive senators reportedly moved to intervene.
A former Obama lawyer says Biden 'likely does not' have the legal standing to cancel student debt broadly.
Then-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama listens as his vice presidential running mate, then-Sen. Joe Biden, speaks at a rally in front of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill., on August 23, 2008.
The contents of the Education Department's memo outlining whether or not the president has the authority to unilaterally cancel student debt remain private to Biden's team, leaving others to speculate over the last year.
This month, a Wall Street Journal exclusive found that Charlie Rose, a top lawyer in former President Barack Obama's Education Department, is not confident that it's legal.
According to a legal analysis the Journal obtained, Rose said that canceling student debt for every borrower without tailoring the relief toward each borrower's individual needs could be overruled in court and leave the administration at risk of being sued by student-loan companies.
Republicans are starting to worry Biden might actually forgive some student debt.
Republicans aren't happy about Biden's potential student loan action.
Virginia Foxx, a North Carolina representative, was among congressional Republicans who have voiced their disapproval of student debt cancellation recently.
"The Biden administration is trying once again to save its tanking poll numbers by writing a blank check to student loan borrowers using Americans' pocketbooks," she said in an op-ed for Fox News.
A group of Republicans led by Mitt Romney introduced a bill that would stop Biden from cancelling debt broadly.
Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah outside the Senate chamber on December 7, 2021.
Senator Mitt Romney and several of his Republican colleagues introduced a bill that would bar the Biden administration from broadly canceling student-loan debt this week, prohibiting him from even partially forgiving borrowers' outstanding balances.
The bill is unlikely to become law anytime soon with a 50-50 Senate, a Democratic-controlled House, and Biden in the Oval Office, but the message is clear.
More: Features Biden Student Debt Student Loans
Student debt cancellation | 2022-05-20T15:05:17Z | www.businessinsider.com | Here's What Biden's Student Debt Forgiveness Could Look Like | https://www.businessinsider.com/will-biden-forgive-student-debt-decision-republicans-oppose-loan-relief-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/will-biden-forgive-student-debt-decision-republicans-oppose-loan-relief-2022-5 |
An influencer with 123,000 followers wants to help women make more money on products they recommend. Using her own platform, she earned a 6-figure income in 2021.
Colette Shelton at home.
Patrick Cline
Colette Shelton created the interiors blog Cococozy and shopping platform Chirpyest.
Chirpyest users earn money based on their recommendations for brands including Lululemon and Nike.
Shelton is seeking venture capital to expand Chirpyest.
Colette Shelton started her interior-design blog, Cococozy, in 2008 as a creative outlet while working as a senior vice president at Fox Broadcasting Co.
In the early days, the website chronicled her dive into interior design, including her remodeling and furnishing of a small home in Los Angeles' Hollywood Hills. Since then, Shelton has turned her side hustle into a full-time enterprise with 123,000 followers and garnered bragging rights, such as collaborations with the likes of etúHOME, which landed on Oprah's Favorite Things list last year.
Despite her success, Shelton will be the first to tell you that Cococozy's growth — particularly the kind of lucrative branding deals that allow influencers to earn income and gain exposure — was a slog for her as a Black woman. Sponsorships and other opportunities would come to her, but the compensation offered was sometimes 700% less than what some of her white peers were getting, she said.
It was, in part, frustrations with her experience trying to grow her brand that turned her to another profit opportunity.
Last year, she launched Chirpyest, a shopping platform where users earn endorsement income based on their recommendations for about 850 brands, including Lululemon, Nike, and Pottery Barn. Users can build virtual shopping boards or send links that, when used for purchases, generate cash payments. It's not a unique platform, but it has a democratic angle over competitors such as the well-known influencer-marketing hub LTK: It allows anyone to join, with no application or invitation required.
Shelton said she wanted to prove to brands and people that everyone's recommendations matter, regardless of the size of their following.
"Does the everyday consumer even know that when you choose to buy something, the brand has money to give you in the form of cash back to reward you for making that choice?" Shelton said. "Your consumer voice has value."
Users of Chirpyest are earning an annual average of $300 through biweekly payments on PayPal, but a larger following begets higher earnings. Last year, Cococozy made $107,000 through Chirpyest by driving $750,000 of sales to a single retailer, Shelton said.
Now that Chirpyest is established, the next step is growth. Shelton is hitting the pavement with her pitch to venture capitalists, with an expectation that she'll be seen as an underdog.
Because of what she encountered while building Cococozy, Shelton's acutely aware that as a Black woman, it's more challenging for her to raise money. Of the $166 billion of venture capital distributed in 2020, only 0.43% went to Black and Latina women founders.
"I'm trying to think of what I would tell someone who's seeing all of their peers making tens of millions of dollars in fundraising" but not bringing in much themselves, Shelton said, adding: "I'd actually tell the VCs to open their minds."
More: Influencer Branding Entrepreneur | 2022-05-20T15:16:38Z | www.businessinsider.com | An Influencer Wants to Give Everybody Brand-Endorsement Income | https://www.businessinsider.com/influencer-affiliate-marketing-chirpyest-colette-shelton-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/influencer-affiliate-marketing-chirpyest-colette-shelton-2022-5 |
New data reveals the top 10 link-in-bio tools creators use on Instagram
Marta Biino and Sydney Bradley
Influencer-marketing platform HypeAuditor analyzed the Instagram profiles of 1.7 million creators.
The research aimed to determine which link-in-bio tools are most popular on Instagram.
The study follows a boom in the space, with more than 10 new link-in-bio services since 2020.
Over the past two years, the "link-in-bio" economy has boomed.
Since 2020, more than ten companies have launched link-in-bio tools. Creators use these single URLs in their social media profiles to lead followers to landing pages with several other links and apps
Link-in-bio services came about as early as 2016 to circumvent the fact that social platforms — particularly Instagram — only allowed users to include a single URL in their profiles.
For many creators, these landing page are critical for business.
"It's invaluable," said Kristen Bousquet, a micro influencer and creator coach. "It would be really difficult for me to have to just choose one link. I love the option of having multiple because I'm able to drive people to so many different things that are going to help me be more profitable."
Bousquet, who uses link-in-bio tool Milkshake, includes links to her paid coaching program, her Amazon affiliate storefront, and her eBook in her landing page.
With so many link-in-bio services available, it can be hard to navigate the space.
Influencer-marketing platform HypeAuditor analyzed 1.7 million Instagram accounts of creators in the US, Australia, the UK, and Germany to determine which link-in-bio tools are most popular on the platform.
Here's a breakdown of what they found.
Linktree is the most popular link-in-bio tool used by Instagram influencers
HypeAuditor calculated that 15.73% of Instagram accounts analyzed, or roughly 270,000, use Linktree, one of the earliest link-in-bio solutions from the Australian startup of the same name.
Linktree is widely recognized as a link-in-bio leader, with more than 24 million active users, according to the company's recent "Defining the Creator Economy" survey. And in March, the company became the first unicorn in the link-in-bio space after raising a late Series B round at a $1.3 billion valuation.
Other popular options include Linkin.bio by social media company Later (which was acquired by Mavrck last month), Beacons, Milkshake, and Carrd.
Here's are the 10 most popular link-in-bio tools on Instagram, according to HypeAuditor's data:
Linktree: 15.73%
Linkin.bio (by Later): 0.96%
Beacons: 0.74%
Milkshake: 0.61%
Carrd: 0.44%
Lnk.bio: 0.27%
Linkfire: 0.26%
Direct.me: 0.09%
Linkpop.com (by Shopify): 0.09%
Koji: 0.04%
55% of Instagram profiles have URLs in their bios
Just over half of the 1.7 million accounts analyzed had websites linked in their profiles.
The top 10 most popular links included URLs of link-in-bio tools like Linktree, as well as links to other social media platforms like YouTube and Facebook.
Only three of the link-in-bio platforms above were among the 10 most popular sites included in Instagram bios, according to HypeAuditor.
Here's are the 10 most popular links in Instagram bios, according to HypeAuditor's data:
YouTube: 9.22%
Facebook: 2.09%
Bit.ly: 1.91%
Etsy: 0.92%
TikTok: 0.72%
Twitter: 0.64%
Spotify: 0.62%
Read Insider's full story about the competitive link-in-bio space and what industry insiders predict will follow the 'gold rush'.
More: Link in bio Instagram Influencers | 2022-05-20T15:16:41Z | www.businessinsider.com | New Data Reveals the Top Link-in-Bio Tools Creators Use on Instagram | https://www.businessinsider.com/new-data-reveals-top-link-in-bio-tools-on-instagram-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/new-data-reveals-top-link-in-bio-tools-on-instagram-2022-5 |
I interviewed with Amazon 8 times before they hired me. Here's what the notoriously difficult interview loop was like and how I nailed it.
Tara Larsen said she applied to at least 20 executive assistant roles before finally hearing back from Amazon.
Tara Larsen is a former executive assistant at Amazon and Microsoft.
She had 8 interviews with Amazon before landing a job as an executive assistant.
She references Amazon's 16 Leadership Principles, using the S.T.A.R. method, and demonstrating 'Amazonian' qualities during their interview will help candidates stand out.
Amazon's interview process is notoriously tough, and my experience was no exception. But I landed the role, and later became an interviewer myself.
Here's what the hiring process was like for me, and what I recommend to anyone interviewing to be an executive assistant.
I ended up nailing my Amazon interview because a girl at the grocery store complimented my shoes.
Sneaker-talk turned to "I work at Amazon," (her) and "I have an Amazon interview next week!" (me). We exchanged numbers and started texting, sending voice memos, everything about what to expect in an Amazon interview. It's time I pass along the favor.
So, pretend I just complimented your Doc Martens in the chip aisle and let me tell you how to prepare for an interview the Amazonian way.
Here's what my 8 interviews were like, step by step
First was a phone screen with the recruiter.
I applied to a lot of Amazon EA roles cold. No internal referrals. In the age of digital networking and LinkedIn messaging, I was surprised to get a call from a recruiter. I applied to at least 20 open executive assistant roles and heard back from only one. I even had to ask the recruiter to re-send me the job description because I couldn't sort through which role this was for. I'm so glad I asked, because she also told me about the most important skills from the job description that the hiring manger wanted to see:
Copy-editing skills with attention to detail to draft and edit legal documents
Familiarity with Boardvantage and DocuSign
Great, a chance to talk up my time as an Editing major (admittedly, for only two semesters), and I was well-versed in DocuSign contracts (as a prolific college apartment hopper). "That's perfect," the recruiter said over the phone. "He really wants an editor. This job is in our Legal department, so really talk up your grammar skills when you interview with him."
I always recommend asking a lot of questions about the job. Recruiters want you to get hired because filling a role makes them look good. Ask them if the hiring manager is looking for anything specific to improve the workflow of his team, or any additional information not included in the job description, because the recruiter is likely to give you some extra clues that could land you the position.
Next, you'll have a single interview with an executive assistant—someone like me. These interviews are important, but not the most important. The EA interviewing you will not be on the hiring manager's team and does not have stock in the actual hire. In my experience as an interviewer at this stage, we were told to look for people with quick competence, someone who can solve unfamiliar problems, and can act as the first point of contact on behalf of an executive.
After this conversation, the interviewer will incline or reject the candidate, which is done by logging a few notes and selecting either a thumbs up or thumbs down emoji in the candidate portal. Yes, really. An emoji can determine whether you're put through a formal loop.
This is where your interview experience becomes an Amazonian one: the interview loop. These interviews will include behavioral questions around Amazon's 16 Leadership Principles. Haven't heard of them? Good luck ever forgetting them after your loop.
My loop consisted of five 45-minute interviews with the hiring manger (vice president of legal), three other Corporate Counsel members, and an executive assistant on an adjacent team.
Know Amazon's Leadership Principles like the back of your hand
Each interviewer in the loop asked me behavioral questions based around two or three of Amazon's 16 Leadership Principles. Amazon uses their LPs (they love acronyms) to measure success within the Amazonian culture. Familiarize yourself with the LPs, have them in mind when you answer questions, and be ready to tell an interviewer which Leadership Principle you identify best with.
Behavioral questions sound like this:
Tell me about a situation that required you to dig deep to get to the root cause. How did you know you were focusing on the right things?
Describe a time when you felt strongly about something, but the team decided to go in a different direction. Did you press the issue?
Describe an innovative thing you've done and how it simplified your problem.
A Google search will show you the commonly asked questions correlated with each LP, and preparing your answers might help you feel more confident. But the trick is not to guess which Leadership Principle is behind each interview. What's more important is showing them you know how to execute using the LPs as a guide. They want someone who can row alongside Mr. Bezos's moving ship, and the ability to act within their culture's measurements of success is what makes a candidate stand out as an already operable Amazonian.
Because Amazon interview follows the same format: (1) behavioral-based Leadership Principle questions; (2) S.T.A.R. method (but more on that later), the interviews began to meld together. The only differences between each interview were the certain LPs guiding the questions of each interview.
At least twice in each interview, I let them know exactly which Leadership Principle came to mind when answering a question. I didn't worry whether it was the prescribed LP behind their question bank, since every Amazonian knows the LPs work best when paired with another.
I said things like, "… where I did a little Inventing and Simplifying," or "…which reminds me of the LP, Earn Trust, because…" and "...where I learned a thing or two about Diving Deep." They knew exactly what I was doing, and it showed them I prepared by learning how to interview like an Amazonian.
They won't ask you hypotheticals or brain teasers. The interviewers are required to follow this LP-based, behavioral question style, but the hiring manager might take liberties. Especially for an EA position, hiring managers will often rely on the other interviewers to measure a candidate's competency while they ask conversational questions to see how well you can communicate together. My manager didn't ask my many behavioral questions and instead wanted to have a conversation with me to get a feel for what our rapport would be like.
He asked me questions unrelated to work, like whether I thought the written word had a stronger place in the arts or in business (he saw I held an English Literature degree). I told him the arts were my first love, but there is power in speaking clearly, concisely, and correctly, which is priceless in business.
"Clear, concise, and correct. I like that," he said, and I finally breathed for the first time in the entire loop.
If you don't answer questions using the S.T.A.R. method, a good Amazon interviewer will prompt you until you do
The S.T.A.R. format is this: Situation, Task, Actions, Results. When answering a behavioral question, be clear about the situation, what task you were asked to accomplish, the actions you took, and the results of your actions. The recruiter will likely give you advice to use this format in your interviews. Here's exactly what mine said in an email to me:
"Be prepared to answer behavioral based questions using the S.T.A.R. Method (Situation, Task, Action, Result). These give us a better understanding of how your work history coincides with our Leadership Principles."
To prep for this, I made a list of work experiences I would likely share in my interview and practiced talking about them using the S.T.A.R. format. Using this format helped me to clearly state the impact I made in my past roles, both quantitative and qualitative.
A week passed after my loop, and they pulled me in for one final interview—number eight—with the EA to the org's Senior Vice President.
This EA quizzed me on Excel, though I rarely used Excel once I got the role. I remember she asked me how one would total the sum of multiple cells. It was basic stuff, but I couldn't remember what keys perform the trick. I made something up, saying, "ctrl this" and "command, shift that." It was the part in my interview process where I knew I tripped.
Luckily for me, she didn't ask any follow-up questions and moved on to talk about other software tools I'd need to skill up on: Salesforce, Visio, and Word (but the most technical Word formatting tools you think you'll never have a use for—Amazon EAs use these).
No matter the company, there's a certain comradery between EAs, and you can use this to connect with your EA interviewer. In this final interview, we talked about the nature of being an EA, the styles of executives I've worked with, and we joked about how helpless they would be without us. Maybe this even made up for the Excel question.
My biggest tip for an Amazon executive assistant interview, besides using the S.T.A.R. method and studying up on Leadership Principles, is to show them you're an Amazonian EA. You're the kind of EA that can adapt to learn and do everything. The EA that can play the role of Project Manager, Business Manager, and executive assistant. Show them you're a problem solver. Tell them how you make a team's lives easier. Explain how you stay organized—for yourself and for an executive.
Prepping for an Amazon-style interview alone is already the practice of what it means to be an Amazonian. That's really what they want; You're the Inventor and Simplifier.
Tara Larsen is a freelance writer and editor.
More: Amazon Interview Advice executive assistant Career advancement | 2022-05-20T15:25:18Z | www.businessinsider.com | Here's What Amazon's Notoriously Difficult Interview Loop Is Like | https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-interview-loop-process-executive-assistant-preparation-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-interview-loop-process-executive-assistant-preparation-2022-5 |
1. Equifax
3. TransUnion
How to update your name elsewhere
Step 1: File name change documents with your state
Step 2: Update your Social Security card
Step 3: Update any other forms of identification you have
How to report your gender-affirming legal name change to the major credit bureaus
Here's how to report your gender-affirming legal name change to credit bureaus.
Transgender and non-binary people can now report their legal name change to credit bureaus.
To change your name, you'll need copies of your legal name change decree.
If you haven't gotten a new driver's license, Social Security card, and updated utility bills, you'll want to do that first.
Congratulations on your gender-affirming legal name change!
After navigating confusing legal paperwork and paying court fees, there's still more work to be done after receiving your name change decree signed by a judge at your local courthouse. One of the many steps in your legal transition is to report your legal name change to all three credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion —to update your credit report.
Before updating your credit report, it's recommended that you update your name on your driver's license, Social Security card, and utility bills first since credit bureaus ask for copies of those documents to verify your name change request.
It seems like a tedious process, but it's all worth it in the end. "By updating their names with the three major credit bureaus, trans and non-binary folx will be able to proactively prevent any potential disruptions to their credit history, which is particularly important when applying for a future mortgage or auto loan," says Ryan Kippel, head of social impact and LGBTQ+ CFP® professional at Optas Capital.
Here's a step-by-step guide to updating your credit report with your legal name.
The process for each of the three credit bureaus is slightly different, but they all require copies of your new ID and your legal name change decree.
The Equifax and Experian processes are relatively straightforward, but changing your name with TransUnion requires more time and effort.
According to the Equifax website, you can update your legal name through the myEquifax Dispute Center.
First, create an account on myEquifax using your deadname, or log into an existing account. Once you're logged in, you'll be asked to upload the following documents:
Your legal name change decree
Documents that include your Social Security number, such as your updated Social Security card, a utility or phone bill, a pay stub, or Medicare/Medicaid card
Your state ID or driver's license, or your updated passport
If you prefer to speak to a representative instead of changing your legal name online, you can call 1-866-349-5191 during these hours:
Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET
Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET
You'll need to fax or mail the same documents listed above to finish reporting your legal name change to Equifax.
Experian has a specific client portal where you can upload the following required documents:
A government-issued ID with your new legal name, such as a driver's license, state ID card, military ID, or passport
A dated copy of a utility bill, bank statement, or insurance statement with your new legal name addressed to your current legal address
Experian's portal will have space to describe your claim. Here's what you need to write in that space:
"My legal name is now ______; please see attached documents."
If you prefer to report your legal name change by regular mail, you can send copies of the same documents in the mail with a typed letter explaining that you'd like to change your legal name on your credit report. Send the letter and your documents to:
Experian Dispute Requests
Unlike the other two credit reporting bureaus, TransUnion requires you to change your legal name with every individual financial institution listed on their credit report first. Unfortunately, this is a time-consuming process that everyone undergoing a legal name change — even cisgender people getting married or divorced — has to go through.
The main difference is that transgender and non-binary people may experience higher emotional distress from fear of being outed, misgendered, or deadnamed while dealing with each financial institution. LGBTQ+ financial planner Kippel reminds folx to take deep breaths throughout the process, adding, "You are contributing to real change by paving the way for a hopefully more streamlined process in the future for trans and non-binary folx."
After reporting your legal name change to each credit card company, lender, or bank, TransUnion requires you to mail a letter requesting the name change that includes:
You'll also need to include a copy of your legal name change decree. Mail both items to:
TransUnion Consumer Solutions
Chester, PA 19016-2000
You may also call TransUnion at 1-833-395-6938 if you have additional questions about changing your legal name.
Each state has its own process and requirements for filing your legal name change. The National Center for Transgender Equality has a page that outlines processes for each state.
Some states, like California, will waive court fees for low-income folx who receive food stamps or Medicaid/Medicare. Some state colleges with law programs, like UC Berkeley, have legal clinics that help folx fill out their name change paperwork free of charge. Google "transgender legal name change clinic workshop + (insert your city and state here) to find legal clinics in your state.
To update your Social Security card, you'll need to send original or certified copies of the following documents to your local Social Security office:
Proof of your identity, such as a driver's license or state ID
Proof of citizenship or immigration status, such as your certificate of naturalization or passport
An application for a new Social Security card
Because you're required to send original or certified copies, it's recommended that you use a form of mail that includes a tracking number to prevent your items from getting lost. After your application has been processed, the Social Security office will mail your documents back within a few days.
After your legal name change is complete and you have your new Social Security card on hand, you can move forward with changing your the following forms of identification:
State ID
Next, update your utility bills and your credit report, as listed above.
Keep copies of documents you mail out and a record of when you mailed them. You can also invest a few dollars in certified mail at the post office, which gives your mail a tracking number you can follow. Once the tracking number states that the mail has arrived, follow up with a phone call to make sure your documents were received.
Take notes when you're calling financial institutions to follow up about your name change process. Write down the date, what time the call started, the name of the customer service representative, and what time the call ended. Take detailed notes about the next steps in the process, or when they estimate your name change will be completed.
Spread the tasks out over the span of a few weeks instead of tackling them all at once. Kippel says, "As this process can be overwhelming, once you have all the necessary documentation, you can set bite-sized goals over a three-day period — one credit bureau per day."
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More: Transgender non binary Nonbinary Credit Report | 2022-05-20T15:25:24Z | www.businessinsider.com | How to Report a Name Change to the Credit Bureaus | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/how-to-report-name-change-to-credit-bureau | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/how-to-report-name-change-to-credit-bureau |
The 15 best Apple Arcade games that make a subscription worthwhile
Apple Arcade has a vast and expanding catalog of compelling games.
Apple Arcade offers some of the best mobile games for $4.99 per month for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Mac.
Games in Apple Arcade don't have ads or in-game purchases.
Here are 15 of the best games to check out if you are new to Apple Arcade.
If you're in the market for new gameplay on your Apple devices, an Apple Arcade subscription is likely a worthwhile investment.
Apple Arcade is a gaming subscription service that, for $4.99 a month, gives Apple users access to hundreds of curated, high-quality game titles, none of which have ads or additional purchases.
You might consider Apple Arcade the antidote to typical mobile games, many of which lean into in-game ads, in-game purchases, and rudimentary gameplay.
Apple Arcade isn't limited just to iPhone and iPad users, either; games can also be played on Apple TV and the Mac. In addition, the subscription can be shared between up to six people via Apple's Family Sharing feature.
Here are 15 of the best games currently available with a subscription to Apple Arcade.
Sort of like SimCity but focused exclusively on building roads, Mini Motorways challenges you to keep traffic moving as a city expands. You'll need to accommodate increasing color-coded traffic by laying down streets, bridges, traffic lights, and highways to turn a small town into a metropolis. Somehow soothing and nail-biting at the same time.
Build roads and manage traffic in Mini Motorways.
If you're looking for a game that is more thoughtful than the typical arcade shooter or RPG adventure, Mutazione might be just what the doctor ordered. A charming, slow-paced 2D point-and-click adventure, it's heavy on dialog and story and light on action. You follow the adventure of a teenage girl who visits her sick grandfather, and interacts with a surreal cast of local characters to complete quests and unravel a mystery.
Sneaky Sasquatch reimagines Yogi Bear as Bigfoot, and you play the titular character as you dash around the great outdoors, hiding from humans while simultaneously stealing their food and performing simple quests. You can walk, run, hide in tents, break into homes to use the kitchen, drive golf carts to get around faster, and more. It's a fun and relaxing open-ended game that's like playing a goofy wildlife-themed version of Grand Theft Auto.
Play out wacky Yogi Bear adventures as Bigfoot in Sneaky Sasquatch.
What The Golf?
Technically a golf title in perhaps the strictest sense, you don't have to love golf to enjoy this surreal title. What The Golf? may take place on the links and use familiar golfing mechanics to aim and power your shot, but it devolves into an acid trip universe of madness from there, with a crazy assortment of objects you need to get onto the green and an endless array of virtual gags that always one-up the craziness of the previous hole. You won't play it every day, but it's fun to pull out every once in a while when you need a break from reality.
This is the official Oregon Trail game, a modern refresh of the famous educational title from the 1970s and onward. The Apple Arcade version has beautifully updated graphics, 15 playable adventures and a half-dozen new quests based on actual historical events. If you played the game as a kid, this version will feel familiar, but still has enough novelty to be entertaining. But the real joy should come from introducing it to your kids so they can experience history in the palm of their hands.
Sayonara Wild Hearts is a psychedelic techno rhythm-based arcade game in which you catch hearts while riding your skateboard, motorcycle or magical deer across astral highways. It's narrated by Queen Latifah and features a Tarot-themed plot, though that's not as important as the gorgeous visuals and addictive gameplay.
Collect hearts and tarot cards as you race through mystic vistas in Sayonara Wild Hearts.
Imagine a classic fantasy-world role-playing game populated with cats — that's Cat Quest in a nutshell. There are lands to explore, treasure chests to open, dogs to do combat with, and more. The game is utterly charming, packed with traditional hack-and-slash adventure with a dollop of kitty adorableness. You can play in story or arcade mode, solo or cooperative.
Reminiscent of Portal, Manifold Garden is an addictive puzzle game that challenges you to solve elaborate puzzles. You can move, look, move objects, pull levers, and even manipulate gravity — you can choose which surface in a room is the floor, for example, by walking to a wall and resetting gravity. The game has a distinct M.C. Escher vibe, enhanced not just by the geometry of the spaces, but also by the ever-shifting logic you need to employ to solve the ever more challenging puzzles.
A true classic mobile game, Cut the Rope has been re-released in eye-popping 3D. Like Angry Birds, Cut the Rope is built on a simple game mechanic — in this case, cut ropes with a swipe of the screen to release candy into the mouth of a waiting hungry creature. There's a puzzle in each challenge, as you try to maximize the number of stars you hit as the candy falls. Always a good way to kill a few minutes between meetings, this game belongs on everyone's phone.
Some games are classics for a reason, like the charming puzzler Cut the Rope.
Assemble With Care
One of the most entertaining puzzle games on any platform, Assemble With Care is a charming title that is more than it at first seems. You're tasked with fixing an assortment of gadgets — phones, watches, a music box, and so on — in a colorful animated interface. But the game has lovely narration which adds an extra layer of depth to every repair you perform, and the European setting is quaint and exotic at the same time. Perhaps the game's best attribute is its simplicity. None of the puzzles are especially hard, which means it's a nice diversion when you don't want to think hard enough to play Cut the Rope or Manifold Garden.
Want to step inside an anime? Fantasian is perhaps the best of the Japanese RPGs you can play on your phone. The graphics are gorgeous, built from more than 150 real-world physical dioramas that were painstakingly photographed and enhanced to become the setting for the game. You play a hero with amnesia who slowly learns who he is as he quests with his robot cohorts and battles all manner of bad guys, but that's secondary to the hack-and-slash combat and delicious visuals.
Galaga Wars+
It's hard to exaggerate the impact that Galaga had on the early arcade game industry, and Galaga Wars+ brings the endless waves of insect-themed aliens to the smaller screen. The action is intense, the graphics are superb, and the gameplay is mindless (in a good way). And while there are a lot of similar mobile games out there, because this one is an Apple Arcade title, it doesn't demand in-page purchases to advance.
Fight endless waves of insectoid aliens in Galaga Wars+.
While some pinball games pride themselves on photorealistic accuracy, The Pinball Wizard goes another way. And it borrows its name from The Who for a very good reason; your pinball machine is actually a dungeon, and the game requires you to fling an actual wizard around to do battle with monsters while you also collect coins and keys. There's a lot going on here, but it's also a fun and virtually endearing, low-stress arcade game that doesn't demand a lot from you aside from timing the bumpers properly.
Really Bad Chess+
A philosophical cousin to What The Golf?, Really Bad Chess starts the board with a random assortment of pieces. Rather than the traditional starting line, you might have four rooks, three queens or a handful of knights. The graphics aren't remarkable — it would be great if the top-down visuals didn't look like they came from a black and white newspaper in 1975, but this is the game for anyone with a passing interest in the game and a desire to know, "What if I had a whole front line of knights instead of pawns?"
The game looks very flat but the chess scenarios are a blast in Really Bad Chess+.
If you're looking for a game that's a bit more serious — with a decidedly darker theme — then Overland might be just the ticket. This turn-based rogue-like adventure puts you in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where virtually every decision you make is life or death for your character. You can twist and turn the 3D environment to see it from every angle, inspect your surroundings, and take your car westward. The game is surprisingly tense, with a horror movie sense of urgency at every turn.
TECH How to cancel an Apple Arcade gaming subscription on any device
More: Apple Arcade Mobile Gaming Gaming Tech How To | 2022-05-20T16:35:16Z | www.businessinsider.com | The 15 Best Apple Arcade Games | https://www.businessinsider.com/best-apple-arcade-games | https://www.businessinsider.com/best-apple-arcade-games |
Sebastien Roblin,
A burnt-out car on a street in Freedom Square in Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 1, 2022.
In mid-May, Ukrainian troops drove the last Russian forces away from Kharkiv after a three-month siege.
Ukraine also released documents showing that the Russian unit that led the assault on Kharkiv lost hundreds of vehicles and troops.
The heavy losses are due in large part to Russian incompetence and Ukrainian perseverance.
Another victory for Ukraine? After a three-month siege, in mid-May Ukrainian troops finally drove away the last Russian forces surrounding Kharkiv, Ukraine's second most populous city.
Russia's only tank army
A Ukrainian serviceman next to a destroyed Russian T-90M tank near the village of Staryi Saltiv in the Kharkiv region, May 9, 2022.
The 1st Guards Tank Army (1st GTA) is the only tank army in the Russian order of battle. Ordinarily based in Moscow, it counts three powerful divisions and one brigade with more modern armored vehicles and equipment than the rest of the Russian Army. It also has a higher ratio of longer-term, paid contract soldiers instead of conscripts.
2nd 'Tamanskaya' Guards Motor Rifle Division
2x motor-rifle regiments — [1st, 15th] — BMP-2, BTR-80
1x tank regiment — [1st] — T-72B3M
4th Guards Tank Division
2x tank regiments — [12th, 13th] — BMP-2 T-80U and T-80UE tanks
1x motor-rifle regiment — [423rd] — BMP-2, T-80BV and T-80BVM tanks
47th Guards Tank Division
1x tank regiment — [26th]
27th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade
3x infantry battalions — BMP-3, BTR-82A, BTR-80
1x tank battalion — T-90A tanks
Each Russian tank regiment has around 93 tanks in three battalions, and one battalion of mechanized infantry mounted in BMP infantry fighting vehicles or IFVs (with usually around 42-48 vehicles). A motor-rifle regiment has the inverse: three battalions of mechanized infantry in BTR armored personnel carriers or BMP vehicles, and one tank battalion.
In the field, these battalions were likely used to generate about two-thirds that number of ad hoc battalion-tactical groups heavily reinforced by artillery batteries and other support units.
The army also includes a brigade each dedicated to artillery (mobile BM-27 rocket and 2S19 howitzer systems), Iskander ballistic missiles, Buk medium-range air defense missiles, reconnaissance, and command-and-control.
Counting the casualties in Ukraine
Destroyed Russian military vehicles on the roadside on the outskirts of Kharkiv, February 26, 2022.
In terms of casualties, the log suggests the 1st GTA reportedly lost 409 personnel:
61 killed in action
44 missing in action
209 wounded in action
96 captured/surrendered
Though the high number of surrendered troops for an invading army is notable, this remains a percentage loss rate in the low single-digits for a Russian army-sized formation.
However, the document further reports the loss of 308 vehicles. Rob Lee, an expert on the Russian military, highlights some major implication of the loss reports.
1st Guards Tank Regiment (part of the 2nd Motor-Rifle Division) lost 45 out of its 93 upgraded T-72B3M tanks — i.e. nearly 50% of its combat strength.
The 4th Tank Division's three maneuver regiments lost 65 T-80U and T-80UE tanks, and six T-72BVs. That's around 33% of its expected strength of 200-217 tanks.
The 27th Motor-Rifle brigade lost nine of its 31 T-90A tanks (29%)
Infantry fighting vehicles losses are also startling with the loss of battalion equivalent each of BMP-2 fighting vehicles and BTR-80 APC wheeled APCs across three motor-rifle regiments
In all the documents, Lee counts the loss of 131 tanks, materially equivalent to more than four entire battalions of tanks out of the roughly 16 in the tank army's order of battle. He also notes the losses seem to correspond with detailed confirmed loss records maintained by the Oryx blog.
The T-80s and T-90As are amongst Russia's best operational tanks, protected by various types of explosive reactive armor and "soft-kill" active protection systems to misdirect incoming missiles. The T-80s are also faster, thanks to gas-turbine engines, while the T-90s sport distinctive anti-laser guidance jammers and French thermal sights.
The T-72B3M, meanwhile, is a relatively extensive modernization of the less expensive T-72, incorporating many similar systems.
Still, they share the vulnerability of having their 125-mm shells stored in an automatic loading system in the turret amidst the crew. This creates a high risk of catastrophic detonation if the armor is penetrated (often resulting in the turret blasting clean off the tank) and poor odds of crew survival.
Ukraine's second city takes on a Russian tank army
The turret of a destroyed Russian tank on the outskirts of Kharkiv, February 26, 2022.
In truth, the heavy losses likely have less to do with the tanks' technical shortcomings than Russian tactical and operational incompetence as well as Ukrainian perseverance, as explained below.
Columns of armored vehicles from Russia's elite Moscow-based 1st Guards Tank Army streamed into and around the big city from their staging area in the nearby Russian city of Belgorod.
However as poor and uncoordinated jabs into Kharkiv's suburbs were crushed, the mechanized units instead streamed around the city's flanks, besieging the cities of Sumy, Okhtyrka and Trostyanets to Kharkiv's west (supported by the smaller 6th Combined Arms Army), or Chuhuiv to the southeast. The aim was to open an additional eastern corridor to Kyiv and encircle Kharkiv, as Russian forces had done in Mariupol far to the south.
But Russian forces proved incapable of capturing these secondary cities, lacking sufficient infantry to secure dense urban areas and properly screen tanks from ambushes. This allowed outgunned Ukrainian defenders to stubbornly hold on by their fingernails, lasting through weeks of desperate fighting.
Meanwhile, the supply lines of Russian spearhead units pushing into central-eastern Ukraine grew longer and sustained heavy losses from Ukrainian raids. And Ukrainian forces based around Kharkiv, including the 92nd and 93rd mechanized brigades, began a series of fast-paced counterattacks that routed multiple Russian regiments, slashing back constricting coils of the attempted encirclement.
A Russian armored personnel carrier burns amid damaged and abandoned light utility vehicles after fighting in Kharkiv, February 27, 2022.
AP Photo/Marienko Andrew
By the end of March, Russian forces had lost Chuhuiv and their hold on the western cities was growing weaker, not stronger. As the Russian military grudgingly retreated from the approaches to Kyiv, it also relinquished the cities west of Kharkiv. Most of the 1st Guards Tank Army fell back into Russia in the hopes its exhausted forces could be more profitably redeployed for a new campaign targeting the Donbas region.
However, a Russian covering force remained around Kharkiv itself, manned by lower-quality Russian separatists from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, apparently as well as the 1st GTA's 200th and 27th Motor Rifle Brigades, detached from Russia's 6th army and 1st GTA respectively.
This residual presence was to pin down Ukrainian defenses around Kharkiv — denying their use in Donbas — and to sustain the bombardment, more than out of any short-term expectation of capturing the metropolis.
However, Ukraine's military was aware of the weakness of the Russian covering force. In May it mobilized three mechanized brigades around Kharkiv (the 72nd, 92nd and 93rd) to launch a series of counterstrikes, pushing Russian forces northward back toward the border, or eastward against the unyielding banks of the Siverskyi Donets river.
The counteroffensive also opened a corridor down the M-03 highway from Ukraine to Izium, the locust-like swarm of Russian efforts to punch through Ukrainian lines in Donbas. In fact, the elements of the 1st Guards Tank Army, including its 2nd Tank Division, are among the forces operating around the city.
The elite tank army may be done fighting Kharkiv, but Kharkiv, it seems, isn't done fighting it.
Sébastien Roblin writes on the technical, historical, and political aspects of international security and conflict for publications including The National Interest, NBC News, Forbes.com, War is Boring, and 19FortyFive, where he is Defense-in-Depth editor. He holds a master's degree from Georgetown University and served with the Peace Corps in China. You can follow his articles on Twitter.
NOW WATCH: Why the US military's M1 Abrams tank is still the king of the battlefield | 2022-05-20T16:35:22Z | www.businessinsider.com | Captured Documents Say Elite Russian Unit Lost 130 Tanks in Kharkiv | https://www.businessinsider.com/captured-documents-say-elite-russian-unit-lost-tanks-kharkiv-ukraine-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/captured-documents-say-elite-russian-unit-lost-tanks-kharkiv-ukraine-2022-5 |
'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars' season 7 is now streaming on Paramount Plus — here's how to watch new episodes every Friday
Can I watch for free?
Who is competing in season 7?
When do new episodes come out?
What other 'RuPaul's Drag Race' shows can I watch on Paramount Plus?
Season seven of "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars" premiered May 20 on Paramount Plus.
Eight returning winners are back to compete to become the "Queen of all Queens."
A new season of "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars" debuted on May 20 with a two-episode premiere. The Paramount Plus original series returns less than a year after the last "All Stars" iteration ended.
For the first time in the show's history, all of the drag queens returning to the competition have already won the crown in a previous season of "RuPaul's Drag Race" or "All Stars." The returning queens range from Raja, who won "Drag Race" season three in 2011, to Shea Couleé, who won "All Stars" season five in 2020.
Check out the trailer for season 7 of 'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars'
In a departure from previous seasons, this season will feature no eliminations. Instead, the queens compete for stars in each episode. At the end of the season, the four queens with the most stars will face off in a lip sync battle to decide the show's winner.
Fans can expect an all-star roster of celebrity guest judges, including Cameron Diaz, Ben Platt, Ronan Farrow, and Betsey Johnson. Naomi Campbell, Nancy Pelosi, and Vanna White have also been confirmed to appear.
You can watch "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars" exclusively on Paramount Plus. The first two episodes of season seven premiered on May 20. One new episode will follow every Friday through July 29.
Paramount Plus has two streaming plans. The Essential plan costs $5/month for ad-supported playback. With the Essential plan, you get access to the service's entire on-demand library, plus live NFL games on CBS.
For $10/month, you can upgrade to the Premium plan, which offers commercial-free on-demand streaming and adds live access to your local CBS station.
The Paramount Plus app is compatible with most major connected devices, including smartphones, tablets, streaming media players like Roku, and smart TVs. For a full list of supported devices, check out the Paramount Plus website.
Can I watch 'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars' for free?
You can watch "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars" for free if you sign up for a Paramount Plus trial. All new members can get a seven-day free trial when signing up for either the Essential or Premium plan.
If you want to watch every episode of "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars" season seven for free, you should wait to sign up until the week of July 24. That way, you can catch up on the season with time to watch the finale when it debuts on July 29.
Who is competing in 'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars' season 7?
There are eight queens competing in the show's very first all-winners season, including the first international queen to appear on an American "Drag Race" series.
Here are the 8 queens confirmed to appear in 'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars' season 7:
Jinkx Monsoon (season five)
Monet X Change (All Stars four)
Raja (season three)
Shea Couleé (All Stars season five)
The Vivienne (UK season one)
Trinity the Tuck (All Stars seasons four)
How many episodes are in 'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars' season 7?
There are 12 episodes in the new season of "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars."
When do new episodes of 'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars' come out?
New episodes of "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars" will hit Paramount Plus every Friday at 12 a.m. PT/3 a.m. ET through July 29.
In addition to all seven seasons of "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars," you can also watch 12 seasons of "RuPaul's Drag Race" on Paramount Plus.
The official aftershow of "RuPaul's Drag Race," "Untucked," is also on Paramount Plus. "Untucked" episodes are filmed between the judging and elimination for each episode, and offer an unfiltered look at the queens as they discuss the events of each installment.
You can currently watch "Untucked" for seasons 10, 11, and 12 of "RuPaul's Drag Race" and additional "Untucked" seasons for "All Stars." New episodes of "Untucked" will premiere alongside new episodes of "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars" beginning May 20. | 2022-05-20T16:35:34Z | www.businessinsider.com | How to Watch 'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars' — Season 7 Now Streaming | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/streaming/how-to-watch-rupauls-drag-race-all-stars | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/streaming/how-to-watch-rupauls-drag-race-all-stars |
After making 11 failed offers to buy a house I finally got one — but I had to skip the inspection, and I'm still not sure it was wise
The author, bottom left, with her family outside their new home.
I made offers on 11 homes before finally deciding to waive my home inspection.
That decision helped me secure a house so I don't regret it, but I'm still not sure it was wise.
I thought a home inspection would make me feel "safe," but now I think safety is an illusion.
Our housing search began in April of 2020 and ended in August, 2021. It ended when we finally "won" a bid, which is a term I am still at odds with. We didn't win a house; we won the right to take out a giant loan on a tiny house. And in our case, it was a tiny house for which we did no inspection.
When we'd begun our house search a year and a half earlier, we swore we would never do such a thing. Our realtor had broached the issue with us after we lost one bid, then two bids — three, then four. We didn't have many aces in our hand; he knew that waiving the inspection would be a smart card to play. But fear led our way. What if something big is wrong? we said to each other. No way. No way.
We wrote letters to sellers, to no avail
Instead of power moves involving cash we tried to plead with words, writing letters to homeowners we thought would make them love us. I'm a writer, I thought. I'll be able to put our hearts down on paper and they'll be unable to turn away. I was wrong. And after a while, we were told to stop writing letters altogether; told that they could actually violate fair housing laws. I felt like my only strength had been curtailed, and that the only thing that mattered was the thing we didn't have much of: money.
After 11 bids lost, we felt more desperate than ever, and considered new options. When a house came up in our desired area, we looked at each other in resignation, and told our agent to waive the inspection.
We got the house, but waiving the inspection still felt a little wrong
The day after we moved in, our new neighbor popped over to introduce herself. She was lovely, and incredibly kind. We chatted for a few minutes before the conversation turned to our house acquisition, when suddenly, I heard her say something about the people who have forgone inspections, and how crazy or detrimental or something that was. And I froze. I don't hide things. Not from people I know; not even from people I don't know. I believe in living out loud. Shame closes us off and quiets us. But in that moment, I didn't know what to say. I shook my head in rhythm with hers, agreeing about how foolish those people were. But I am those people. We are those people. I can be honest now.
Now I think 'safety' is an illusion
At this point, we've been in the house long enough to assume that we would have noticed something terrible; we decided not to get an inspection post-move in though we may in the future. But mostly, we just pray we somehow made a "safe" purchase in an insane market. I would love to believe this, but what I believe now — this far into my life — is something quite different.
There is no such thing as safety — only the illusion of it. And that is what we gave up. For a patch of grass, for a backyard big enough for our kid to kick a soccer ball, for a patio we can sit on when it's warm, for a front and back door — we gave up the illusion that we are safe from some hidden truth about this house. Maybe the foundation is faulty; maybe the roof is worn.
But I have felt safe in cars when I wasn't. Safe at home, when someone was breaking in downstairs. I have felt safe a hundred times when safety was absent. And I have been safe many times when I wasn't able to tell. May this house hold us as long as we need it to, and may it hold us safely.
PERSONAL FINANCE 6 things to expect after you make an offer on a house
More: Homeownership Buying A Home Home Inspection Personal Finance Insider | 2022-05-20T16:47:52Z | www.businessinsider.com | I Had to Skip My Home Inspection to Win a Bidding War | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/skip-home-inspection-win-bidding-war-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/skip-home-inspection-win-bidding-war-2022-5 |
Memorial day is the perfect time to stock up on outdoor essentials.
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A Russian serviceman sprays disinfectant at the yard of the recruitment center, St. Petersburg, on May 20, 2020.
Photo by Sergey Nikolaev/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Arsonists are reportedly targeting Russian military conscription centers with Molotov cocktails.
In the last week there have been five cases of arson, a Ukrainian official said on Thursday.
Russia's military is reliant on conscripts and admitted to sending them to fight in Ukraine.
Arsonists are reportedly targeting Russian military conscription centers with Molotov cocktails and trying to set the offices ablaze, as officials seek to fill the gaps in battered combat units fighting against Ukrainian forces.
In the last week there have been five cases of suspected arson at Russian "military registration and enlistment offices," Ukrainian Brigadier General Oleksii Gromov said on Thursday — and at least a dozen total cases since President Vladimir Putin's forces invaded on February 24.
According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) these attacks are "likely in protest of covert mobilization," citing Russian media and local Telegram channels.
It's not yet clear who is responsible for the string of attacks.
Russia's military is generally reliant on conscripts — men aged 18 through 27 who typically serve for one year and are drafted semi-annually — in both active-duty and reserve forces, according to the ISW.
Of the 1.2 million military-aged men in Russia's annual conscription pool, "only about half are compelled to present themselves at their local military commissariat," the ISW said.
Russia has previously admitted to sending young conscripts to fight in Ukraine, after Putin initially denied their involvement. Many are reportedly ill-equipped and poorly trained, and unaware of their purpose in the war.
Russian forces have suffered heavy losses in Ukraine — bogged down by a litany of communication, tactical, and morale issues.
It's not exactly clear how many of Putin's troops have been killed. Ukraine has pegged the death toll at upwards of 20,000, though the West said the figure is likely lower than that.
The Kremlin has admitted to suffering "significant losses" on the battlefield, but its count of its war dead in late March was far below Western estimates and has refused to provide more death tolls as Russian leaders have continued the invasion.
More: Speed desk Breaking Molotov Cocktail Russia | 2022-05-20T18:58:15Z | www.businessinsider.com | Arsonists Are Targeting Russian Military Conscription Centers | https://www.businessinsider.com/arsonists-russian-conscription-centers-combat-units-struggle-ukraine-war-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/arsonists-russian-conscription-centers-combat-units-struggle-ukraine-war-2022-5 |
The Congressional Black Caucus calls for $50,000 in student debt cancellation as Biden inches closer to a decision
Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Jason Lalljee, and Ayelet Sheffey
Standing with members of the Congressional Black Caucus, caucus chair Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) and Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) speak to reporters about voting rights outside of the Senate Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on January 19, 2022 in Washington, DC
The CBC is seeking to meet with Biden as he decides how much student debt to cancel.
"To help free Black borrowers, President Biden must cancel $50,000 in student debt," Beatty said in a statement.
The White House shut down that level of debt forgiveness, but Democrats are piling on pressure.
In a statement, CBC chair Rep. Joyce Beatty urged the White House to take action on "broad-based student debt cancellation" totaling $50,000 per borrower in the near future.
The CBC highlighted the disproportionate burden that student loans have had on Black Americans, who are not only more likely to take on debt for school, but nearly five times as likely to default on their loans than their white peers, according to the Brookings Institute.
Student debt "has devastated families and roadblocked opportunities for countless Black Americans," the CBC said in its statement.
The CBC also criticized Biden for shutting down the possibility of canceling $50,000 in debt per borrower last month, which progressives have been gunning for. During Biden's presidential campaign, he promised that he would wipe out at least $10,000 per person.
"To help free Black borrowers, President Biden must cancel $50,000 in student debt," Beatty wrote. "This is what the NAACP has been calling for, for over 2 years. $10,000 won't do anything for the Black community, it'll only help with wealthiest class in America. It's time to support low-income families and the Black community by canceling $50,000."
Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley, who is a member of the CBC, supported its message to Biden in a statement on Friday.
"By canceling student loan debt, President Biden can single-handedly transform the lives of millions of workers and families across this country and help reduce the racial wealth gap," she wrote. "Our communities have waited long enough for relief and President Biden must act without further delay."
This comes after the Congressional Hispanic Caucus met with Biden last month, and builds on the message from many Democratic lawmakers that canceling student debt will amplify racial justice in the country. Recent data from Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren's office, for example, found $10,000 in relief would wipe out balances for 2 million Black borrowers, and $50,000 in relief would reduce the share of Black people with student debt from 24% to 6%, narrowing the Black-white gap.
The White House closed the door on erasing $50,000 amount in student debt, signaling it would instead be closer to the president's original campaign pledge of providing $10,000 in debt relief. But other Democrats are raising the pressure on Biden to cancel $50,000 per borrower as he inches closer towards a decision.
Those include Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia.
The trio of Democrats recently met with Biden in the White House on Wednesday afternoon to make their case. Warnock, another Black lawmaker, faces a difficult re-election campaign in Georgia.
"My message is that we need to do student debt cancellation and we can do it soon enough," Warnock said on Tuesday. "And it needs to be large and significant enough to make a difference in the lives of hardworking Georgia families."
More: Policy Congress Democrats White House | 2022-05-20T18:58:21Z | www.businessinsider.com | Congressional Black Caucus Calls for 'Broad-Based' Student Debt Cancellation | https://www.businessinsider.com/congressional-black-caucus-broad-based-student-loan-debt-relief-cancellation-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/congressional-black-caucus-broad-based-student-loan-debt-relief-cancellation-2022-5 |
Leaked Slack messages show Bolt's head of talent and evangelist of its 4-day workweek is out after just 5 months
Ann Gehan and Madeline Stone
Ryan Breslow is the founder and executive chairman of Bolt.
Bolt's chief people officer, Jennifer Christie, will leave the company after less than five months.
Christie helped develop and implement Bolt's four-day workweek program.
Leaked Slack messages indicate Christie's last day at Bolt will be May 27.
The shakeups at the San Francisco fintech startup Bolt continue: An executive who helped develop its four-day-workweek policy recently announced plans to depart the company after 4 1/2 months on the job, Insider has learned.
Jennifer Christie, the company's chief people officer, is leaving "to pursue another opportunity more aligned with her career aspirations," said a Slack message sent on Wednesday by Bolt's CEO, Maju Kuruvilla, that Insider reviewed.
Adam McBain, Bolt's vice president of people operations, will replace Christie after she leaves on May 27.
Christie helped oversee Bolt's shift to a four-day workweek, which began officially in January after a three-month pilot program late last year.
Insider reported in February that Christie had been involved in Bolt's conversations about the four-day workweek since October. She joined the company on January 3 after spending three years as Twitter's chief human-resources officer.
Bolt confirmed Christie's departure in an email to Insider.
Jennifer Christie, Bolt's chief people officer, will leave the company after less than five months on the job.
Bolt has touted its Monday-to-Thursday workweek as both a benefit to employees and a signal of its willingness to challenge long-standing norms. Christie told Insider in February that 94% of employees and 91% of managers were supportive of the decision to permanently adopt the four-day workweek following the trial period. Employees said that the four-day week forced them to prioritize tasks and that reducing unnecessary meetings allowed them more time to focus and work uninterrupted.
In mid-2021 the company launched a site called Conscious.org where it shared its "Conscious Culture Playbook," with the aim of helping other companies replicate Bolt's corporate culture and initiatives.
Christie's departure caps off several months of internal changes. In late January, shortly after posting a Twitter thread criticizing the startup incubator Y Combinator and the payments competitor Stripe as "mob bosses" intent on squeezing competitors out of Silicon Valley, Ryan Breslow, Bolt's founder, announced he would step down as CEO.
Breslow is now the company's executive chairman. Kuruvilla, who was previously Bolt's chief operating officer, took over as CEO.
Bolt is also facing a lawsuit from one of its largest customers, Authentic Brands Group, the parent company of brands including Forever 21, Nautica, Brooks Brothers, and Reebok. In the lawsuit, ABG alleged that issues with Bolt's technology and delays on promised features caused the retail giant to lose money.
This month, a New York Times report described claims that Bolt often stretched the truth about the capabilities of its technology and misrepresented prospective clients as Bolt sellers before partnerships had been finalized.
The Times report also said Bolt implemented a three-month hiring freeze in April and has considered raising more funds.
Leaked secondary-market data reviewed by Insider suggested that Bolt shares are selling at a 28% discount to the $11.1 billion valuation it announced in January. One trader said some sellers had discounted Bolt shares by about 50%.
Are you a current or former Bolt employee with a tip about the company? Contact this reporter via email at agehan@insider.com, via Twitter direct message @anngehan, or via encrypted message on Signal at +1 (646) 374-8461 using a nonwork device.
More: E-Commerce Fintech Startups | 2022-05-20T19:50:25Z | www.businessinsider.com | Bolt's Chief People Officer Is Leaving After Less Than 5 Months | https://www.businessinsider.com/bolt-chief-people-officer-leaving-after-less-than-5-months-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/bolt-chief-people-officer-leaving-after-less-than-5-months-2022-5 |
Required documents for a mortgage
Other things your lender might need from you
Why are so many documents required?
Before you apply for a mortgage, make sure you have these documents ready
The exact documents your lender will request depends on your situation.
Lenders need to look at your income, assets, credit, and debt before qualifying you for a mortgage.
Be prepared to provide pay stubs, W-2s, tax returns, bank statements, and any other documentation proving you have the ability to repay the loan.
Having your documents ready ahead of time can help the process go more smoothly.
Getting a mortgage requires a lot of documentation. To ensure that you can afford to pay back the money you're borrowing, your mortgage lender will go through your financial history with a fine-tooth comb.
This means you'll be asked to provide a lot of proof that you have sufficient income, credit, and assets to qualify for a loan. Having all these documents ready to go ahead of time can help make this process go more smoothly.
"Although the process of submitting paperwork to process your loan can feel laborious in today's fast-moving, competitive homebuying market, the documentation you submit for the underwriting process can have a major impact on how long it takes to process your loan," says Michael Innis-Thompson, Head of Community Lending and Development at TD Bank.
In a market where sellers are often receiving multiple offers, being prepared and responding quickly when your lender requests documentation can give you a competitive edge, Innis-Thompson says.
"The most prepared buyers – those who have their paperwork in order and can enter a contract with ease – are most attractive to sellers," he adds.
What documents are needed to apply for a mortgage?
The exact documents your lender will request depends on your situation. Self-employed borrowers, for example, will need to provide different documentation than someone who receives a W-2 as a full-time employee.
You may not have to dig up all these documents yourself. Some lenders have technology that can pull certain information on your behalf.
Here's a list of some of the most common items mortgage lenders will ask for. If you're borrowing with someone else, such as your spouse, remember that you'll both need to provide these things.
To confirm that you are who you say you are, your lender may ask for some form of identification, such as a driver's license.
Lenders want to see that you have a steady and predictable source of income. To prove this, some of the documents you may be asked to supply include:
One month of pay stubs
Two years of W-2s or 1099s
Two years of tax returns
Year-to-date profit and loss statement (if you're self-employed)
Verification of alimony or child support payments (including a copy of the legal agreement or court decree describing the terms of these payments and proof that you've received them)
Social Security award letter
Documentation verifying any other sources of income you want to use to qualify
Bank statements and other proof of assets
When you get a mortgage, you'll typically need to have some money for a down payment and closing costs . Your lender may also want to see that you have additional funds saved up that could be used to cover your payments for a few months if you were to lose your job suddenly. These funds are known as reserves.
To prove that you have the cash to close and cover reserve requirements, you'll probably need to give your lender:
Two months of bank statements for your checking and savings accounts
Two months of statements for any investment accounts you own, including retirement savings
Any other statements documenting assets you'll be using to qualify or put toward your down payment or closing costs
Gift letters documenting the receipt of gifts from family or friends toward a down payment
Verification of your debts
Mortgage approval doesn't just hinge on how much money you have in your bank, or how much you earn each month; how much money you're spending each month on debts and other obligations also plays a major role in your ability to qualify for a mortgage.
Lenders can gather a lot of this information by looking at your credit report. But you may need to provide additional documentation regarding certain obligations, such as your student loans or any alimony or child support you're required to pay.
Renting history
If you're currently a renter, your lender might want proof that you have a history of paying your rent on time. Be prepared to provide information about your rental history for the last year. This might include showing canceled rent checks.
Authorization to run your credit
Certificate of eligibility, if you're applying for a VA mortgage
Documentation surrounding previous negative credit events, such as a foreclosure or bankruptcy
Why do I need to show so many different documents to get a mortgage?
Most mortgage lenders are required to do a certain amount of due diligence to ensure that you can afford the loan you're taking out. This is known as the ability-to-repay rule.
To comply with the ability-to-repay rule, lenders need to document your income, assets, employment, credit history, and monthly expenses, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
More: Mortgages Mortgage Applications First-Time Home Buyers homebuying | 2022-05-20T19:50:31Z | www.businessinsider.com | What Documents Are Needed for a Mortgage Application? | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/documents-needed-for-mortgage-application | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/documents-needed-for-mortgage-application |
What is for sale by owner (FSBO)?
How does FSBO work?
Pros & cons of FSBO
How to buy a FSBO house
For sale by owner: Understanding the process of selling a house without a listing agent or broker
Jasmine Suarez
The biggest potential pitfall is trying to buy a home from an unscrupulous FSBO seller who either willingly or unknowingly misrepresents the home.
Dean Mitchell/Getty
For sale by owner (FSBO) is when a house is being sold without the involvement of a listing agent or broker.
Most sellers who list their homes as FSBO do so to avoid paying a real estate commission on the sale.
Buyers who are considering a home that's listed FSBO can work with a buyer's agent, but they may be on the hook for the agent's commission.
Homes have always been one of the biggest purchases anyone will make, and additional costs such as closing fees and taxes can really make things even more expensive. And selling a home can also cost money.
The typical real estate commission runs 5% to 6% of a home's final sale price. So if a home sells for $350,000, the commission would be $17,500 to $21,000, which is no small chunk of change. The seller's agent and buyer's agent usually split the commission 50/50, though the exact breakdown varies by agent, broker, and company.
Sellers are generally on the hook for the commission, so it's no surprise that some homeowners opt for a DIY approach. A for sale by owner (FSBO) — pronounced fizz-bo — listing is a way to sell a home without hiring a real estate agent or broker — or paying the traditional commission. But how does the process of buying a home being sold FSBO work? Here's what buyers and sellers need to know about for sale by owner listings.
What is for sale by owner?
An FSBO listing means the homeowner has listed their property without the help of a real estate agent or broker. A common reason homeowners go this route is to avoid paying the real estate commission in hopes of maximizing their sale profits. Sellers might also choose FSBO if they already have a buyer lined up — say, a friend or a relative — and don't need a real estate agent's help marketing the home.
While FSBO sellers don't hire a real estate professional, buyers can — and generally do — work with a buyer's agent when purchasing an FSBO home. That's because buyers have nothing to lose (and usually a great deal to gain) by working with a real estate pro.
"Just because the seller is declining the expertise, support, and know-how of an agent doesn't mean the buyer has to," says Tabitha Mazzara, director of operations at Mortgage Bank of California, a lender geared toward self-employed borrowers and investors. "An agent can help the buyer make a reasonable offer, help arrange the inspection, and be on hand to guide a buyer through any or all of the myriad issues that can, and often do, arise during escrow."
Quick tip: There's no standard commission percentage within the real estate industry. By law, real estate commissions are always negotiable (otherwise, it would be price-fixing). Still, your ability to get a lower rate will depend on your property, the listing price, demand in the area, and if you're using the same agent to buy and sell simultaneously.
If the buyer has an agent, the FSBO seller may be willing to cover the "buy" side of the commission since an agent can help ensure the transaction goes smoothly. However, some FSBO sellers will balk at paying any commission. In these cases, the buyer can either look for a different property or pay the agent's commission if they really want the home.
How does for sale by owner work?
An FSBO transaction works the same way as a traditional real estate sale, except the seller isn't represented by a real estate listing agent. Instead, the seller is responsible for a fairly long list of tasks that an agent traditionally handles. FSBOs can work well for sellers who have the time and experience to list on their own.
Here's a quick rundown of seller tasks in an FSBO listing:
Stage the home for sale. Good staging makes your home stand out and helps potential buyers picture themselves in the space. Be sure to clean, declutter, stash personal items, tidy the landscaping, and make the house look bright. Also, tackle minor repairs, update worn hardware, and hide valuables or irreplaceable heirlooms.
Determine the asking price. Setting the right asking price is essential: too high, and you won't attract buyers; too low, and you leave money on the table. "Most FSBOs overprice their home," says Kristina Morales, Realtor at eXp Realty. "As a result, the property will sit on the market and likely sell at a price much lower than it would have had it been priced properly at the start."
To set a reasonable asking price, sellers can research recently sold homes in the area using public records, ask a real estate friend for a comparative market analysis, hire an appraiser, or check out real estate websites for estimates.
Advertise and market the home. Most buyers look for homes online, so professional photos and an engaging listing description are a must. Several FSBO websites exist, and real estate aggregators like Zillow and Trulia allow sellers to list their homes for free. Sellers can also get the word out with street signs, Craigslist ads, Facebook posts, local magazines, and newspapers.
Schedule and host viewings. Another part of the process that FSBO sellers will be responsible for is scheduling viewings of the home. And showings can be tricky, especially if pets or small children are at home. Virtual tours are an option, but serious buyers (and inspectors) will eventually need to see the house in person. Try to be as accommodating as possible: the more people who view the home, the better the odds of finding a buyer.
Negotiate the price and terms of the sale. Many buyers want to include contingencies that make the purchase dependent on mortgage approval, the inspection, and the appraisal . If the buyer has a buyer's agent, any contingencies, offers, counteroffers, and other negotiations will go through that agent.
Prepare legal documents. Sellers have to prepare paperwork such as the sales contract and residential property disclosure form. Depending on the complexity of the sale, it might make sense to work with an attorney. "Unless a seller is a licensed agent or broker, an FSBO seller may not be aware of all the disclosures that are required to provide a buyer nor be aware of the local rules and regulations," says Morales. "This may open a seller to litigation risk."
Prepare the deed as well. The seller prepares the deed (e.g., warranty or quitclaim), signs it, and has it notarized in front of witnesses. The deed is the legal document that transfers ownership of the property to the buyer.
Close the sale. An FSBO transaction works the same as a traditional home sale, minus the listing agent. The buyer pays any remaining costs and signs a settlement statement, mortgage note, and mortgage or deed of trust. The seller signs documents transferring property ownership.
Important: In some states, an attorney must handle the transfer documents and closing.
Is for sale by owner a good idea?
While real estate commissions can seem expensive, good agents and brokers will earn that money. After all, most homeowners don't have the time, interest, or expertise to manage a sale.
"At the beginning, the biggest challenge is getting your listing seen, and at the end, it's correctly completing all of the paperwork," says Mazzara. "An FSBO home won't be in the multiple listing service, meaning it won't be as widely seen. And getting the paperwork right is a challenge for someone without the proper training."
There are also potential legal consequences. "A mistake could lead to a lawsuit," says Mazzara. "Anything you saved from not hiring an agent might be more than canceled out by the expense of hiring a lawyer.
Still, these challenges don't mean FSBOs are impossible, but sellers should be ready to work if they don't already have a buyer lined up.
From the buyer's standpoint, the transaction will be similar to a traditional sale, especially if the buyer is represented by a buyer's agent. Perhaps the biggest potential pitfall is trying to buy a home from an unscrupulous FSBO seller who either willingly or unknowingly misrepresents the home. Of course, a good inspection will uncover any defects, and buyers should always conduct their due diligence to avoid any surprises after leaving the closing table.
Here are a few pros and cons to consider when buying FSBO:
No listing agent fees, so the seller may be more willing to negotiate the price
The seller may set an unrealistic asking price
FSBO-dedicated websites and real estate aggregators to find homes
Listing descriptions and photos may be inaccurate
The owner can share details about the house and the neighborhood
Unscrupulous sellers may hide home defects like mold or roof damage
Efficient communication directly between the buyer and seller
Frustration if the seller doesn't know how real estate transaction works
How to buy a house for sale by owner
The steps for buying an FSBO home are generally the same as purchasing a traditionally listed home.
Step 1: Get approved for a mortgage. The lender will review your credit, assets, and income to determine how much you can afford to borrow. You can share the pre-approval letter with your real estate agent so they can focus on homes within your budget.
Step 2: Consider working with a buyer's agent. "An agent will help ensure that the buyer is not overpaying for the property, assist in negotiation throughout the transaction, ensure that the buyer has received all required disclosures, [and] assist the buyer with contractors and inspectors," says Morales.
Step 3: Make an offer. Once you decide to make an offer, you must submit a letter that includes the price you're willing to pay for the home and how much of an earnest money deposit you'll be making. The seller can accept your offer, reject it, or make a counteroffer. If you have a buyer's agent, they'll help with the negotiations.
Step 4: Take an in-depth look at the home. Once the seller has accepted your offer, it's time to do your due diligence to ensure there are no deal-breaking problems. Most home buyers get a home inspection and a survey, but you might also need to hire other professionals, depending on the property. For example, if the home is in a flood plain, you might want to get an erosion engineer's opinion. You'll also need an appraisal and a title search if you're financing with a mortgage.
Step 5: Close on the home. As mentioned earlier, an FSBO closing works the same way as a traditional home sale. You'll pay any remaining costs and sign a settlement statement, mortgage note, and mortgage or deed of trust (if a mortgage is involved). The seller signs documents transferring property ownership.
Estimate your monthly mortgage with our calculator
Buyers interested in an FSBO can still enlist the help of a buyer's agent to help ensure the process goes as smoothly as possible. So, the transaction is likely to be similar to a traditional sale from the buyer's standpoint.
However, FSBOs are extra work for sellers. As Morales points out, "there is coordination of the showings, being available for showings, hosting open houses, following up on all calls and emails, preparing all of the paperwork, etc." While it may be tempting to avoid the real estate commission, the effort and risk of going it alone could ultimately outweigh the benefits.
Senior Editor, Investing Reference
Jasmine is a senior editor at Insider where she leads a team at Personal Finance Insider, focusing on explainers, how-tos, and rounds-ups that help readers better understand the world of personal finance, investing, and economics. Previous to Insider, she was a senior editor at NextAdvisor, TIME Magazine's personal finance brand launched in partnership with Red Ventures. She was also a content marketing editor at Credit Karma.
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More: Personal Finance Insider PFI Reference Mortgage TOC-jump-to | 2022-05-20T19:50:37Z | www.businessinsider.com | For Sale by Owner (FBSO): What to Know | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/for-sale-by-owner | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/for-sale-by-owner |
Goldman Sachs is installing fancy new biometric fingerprint scanners in the lobby of its NYC headquarters, setting off privacy alarm bells
Goldman Sachs is set to install new biometric fingerprint scanners at its New York City headquarters.
Goldman Sachs is installing new biometric scanners in the lobby of its Manhattan headquarters.
Employees say it's unclear how far the data collection will go.
A person with knowledge told Insider that enrollment in the bank's biometrics program is optional.
A construction project to install biometric scanners in the lobby of Goldman Sachs' New York City headquarters is raising questions about employee privacy and data collection.
The project, which kicked off earlier this month at the building's Murray Street entrance, came with signs in the lobby announcing that a fancy new system for swiping into the building will soon be installed.
"No more rustling through your bag or looking for your ID," says one of the signs, according to a Goldman employee.
"Your fingerprints are converted using an algorithm," reads another sign. "Biometrics work in tandem with your Goldman Sachs ID," declares a third.
Two current Goldman Sachs employees told Insider, under the condition of anonymity, that they are uncertain about how the new system will operate, and how far the bank's data-collection efforts will go.
"What else other than fingerprints are they going to take? Are they going to start scanning our eyes too?" one nervous employee asked. "Why does Goldman Sachs need more from me than the TSA?" the person added.
"What happens if we don't consent?" this employee added.
A person with direct knowledge of the scanners confirmed that they will be installed in a project that will run through January. Their use by employees is entirely optional, the person said, adding that those who wish to continue scanning in with their badges will be able to do so.
The scanners won't retain fingerprint data, according to the person, who said that prints will be converted to an alphanumeric representation upon enrollment. "No personal information is stored, period," the person added.
The employees who opt in will only have to wave their hand to move through the turnstiles, expediting foot traffic and reducing the potential for a logjam. The bank is already using such technology in several of its other offices in Albany, New York; Utah; the UK; and India, the person added, describing the scanners as a "modernization" of facilities for a building that opened more than a decade ago.
Plus, the systems are "hygienic and touchless," the person added, "both at the point of enrollment and at the point of entry."
The 200 West Street construction will shift in August from the building's North End entrance to the bank's other Plaza entrance, in a leg of the project that will conclude in January.
'One less thing I need to bring in every day'
One employee told Insider that everyone at Goldman seems to be "talking about it and pissed about it." But another employee pointed out that US securities law requires the bank to take fingerprints of people who handle money when they are hired.
"Not sure why people are fussed," the person said. "We're all required to get fingerprinted when we join GS as part of the FINRA compliance process."
The ID badge scanners at Goldman's headquarters, a lower Manhattan skyscraper which opened in 2010, are notoriously slow, this employee said. This person said that the scanners have a "big lag" following swiping the badge before the entryway opens.
"Our current card readers are super slow," said the staffer. Ditching ID cards means "just one less thing I need to bring in every day."
Returning to the office has been a flashpoint at Goldman in recent months. The firm came under fire this spring over its use of ID swipe data to determine who is and isn't coming frequently enough, as Insider previously reported.
The internal frustrations continued to mount last month as Goldman wound down a series of pandemic-era benefits, including free access to the company gym, comped lunches in its cafeteria, and stipends for ground transportation to and from the office.
When asked about employee concerns over the new biometric scanners, the person with direct knowledge of the bank's efforts said that some employees "dramaticize" new company policies.
"We have absolutely nothing to hide here," the person said.
Are you an employee at Goldman Sachs? Contact this reporter. Reed Alexander can be reached via email at ralexander@insider.com, or SMS/the encrypted app Signal at (561) 247-5758.
More: Wall Street Goldman Sachs Finance | 2022-05-20T20:42:40Z | www.businessinsider.com | Goldman Is Installing New Biometric Fingerprint Scanners in NYC Office | https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-is-installing-new-biometric-fingerprint-scanners-in-nyc-office-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-is-installing-new-biometric-fingerprint-scanners-in-nyc-office-2022-5 |
A service member of pro-Russian troops stands guard on a road near a bus carrying Ukrainian soldiers, who surrendered at the besieged Azovstal steel mill in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict, near Mariupol, Ukraine May 20, 2022.
Russia's capture of Mariupol marks the end of a months-long devastating siege on the southern port city that officials say has left thousands of civilians dead.
More: Speed desk Breaking Mariupol Azovstal | 2022-05-20T20:42:46Z | www.businessinsider.com | Russia Claims to Capture Mariupol's Azovstal Steel Plant | https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-claims-capture-mariupol-azovstal-steel-plant-ukraine-resistance-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-claims-capture-mariupol-azovstal-steel-plant-ukraine-resistance-2022-5 |
19 great books for recent college grads that'll guide them through their next chapter
By Remi Rosmarin and Julia Pugachevsky
From inspiring memoirs and self-help bestsellers to important career and money how-to guides, these books will set your college grad up for success.
As college graduates ready themselves for the next chapter in their lives, books can provide insightful advice and research-driven tips on how to best move forward. Whether they're starting their first job or fellowship, paying the brunt of their own expenses for the first time, or unsure of what they want to do next, there are countless people who have been in their shoes before and have some wisdom to impart.
Below, we rounded up some of the best books to gift recent college grads, from relatable memoirs, straightforward financial guides, and self-help books on everything from forming healthy habits to finding one's ideal career path. And if you want to pair a book with another gift, be sure to check out our guides to the best college graduation gifts.
The 19 best books to gift college graduates in 2022:
"Congratulations, By the Way: Some Thoughts on Kindness" by George Saunders
"Congratulations, By the Way," available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $12.99
Best for: The grad who wants a short, inspirational read
Adapted from author George Saunders' commencement address at Syracuse University (where he teaches writing), this book is essentially a short, incredibly well-written speech that can be finished in one sitting. As a bonus, the core theme isn't about common graduation topics like career goals or perseverance, but about something even more important: kindness and empathy for others.
"Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life," available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $18.92
Best for: The grad who has no idea what they want to do for a career
Written by two faculty members of Stanford University's Design Program, this book uses design thinking to help the reader break down what they love to do and forge a life path that balances work with everything else. It's particularly great for grads who feel uncertain about what they want to do in their career and can help them discover new possibilities.
You can read our review of the "Designing Your Life" online course on the same topic here.
"Speak: How to Find Your Voice, Trust Your Gut, and Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be" by Tunde Oyeneyin
"Speak: How to Find Your Voice, Trust Your Gut, and Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be," available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $18.21
Best for: The grad who wants to grow into themselves more
Written by popular Peloton instructor Tunde Oyeneyin, this memoir doubles as a self-help book that teaches readers how to live a life with purpose. Oyeneyin chronicles her journey to figuring out what she wanted to do in life and how to pursue her dreams to live her most authentic life, leaving readers with a framework to do the same.
"The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter—and How to Make the Most of Them Now" by Meg Jay, PhD
"The Defining Decade," available at Bookshop and Amazon, from $7.98
Best for: The grad who feels nervous about their 20s
From graduating college to finding that first job or relationship, one's 20s pack a lot of change in a short amount of time. Weaving stories of hundreds of 20-something clients and students, Meg Jay's book is full of advice on how to navigate all these new developments to set oneself up for success later in life.
"Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones" by James Clear
"Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones," available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $11.98
Best for: The grad who wants to self-improve by doesn't know where to start
Whether your graduate wants to be better organized or stop procrastinating as much, this bestselling book offers clear, tangible tips on how to build tiny, approachable habits that snowball into larger, life-changing ones down the road.
"Untamed" by Glennon Doyle
"Untamed," available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $14.99
Best for: The grad on the precipice of some exciting-but-scary changes
This bestselling memoir reads more like a self-help book, offering lots of encouragement in being true to one's authentic self and most honest desires. It can especially be helpful to a graduate with big changes looming ahead, such as a cross-country move or a career path switch.
You can read our review of "Untamed" here.
"Get Good with Money: 10 Simple Steps to Becoming Financially Whole" By Tiffany Aliche (The Budgetnista)
"Get Good with Money: Ten Simple Steps to Becoming Financially Whole," available at Bookshop and Amazon, from $14.71
Best for: The grad who needs to learn how to budget
Whether your grad is dealing with student loan debt or difficulty finding work, they're sure to find meaningful advice from Tiffany Aliche, who dealt with the aftermath of the 2008 recession and a shady advisor who put her into a huge financial hole. Written in a straightforward way, this book offers simple, tangible ways for young graduates to save money, pay off debt, and plan for a financially secure life.
"Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As if Your Life Depended on it" by Chris Voss
"Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As if Your Life Depended on it," available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $17.99
Best for: The grad who will have to negotiate their salary soon
Written by a former FBI hostage negotiator, this book offers fascinating tips on how to negotiate everything from a raise at work to a compromise with a family member. It can especially be useful to grads going into fields where persuasion will be a big part of their job, such as law, politics, or non-profit work.
You can read our review of Chirs Voss's MasterClass on the same topic here.
"Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking" by Susan Cain
"Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking," available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $13.89
Best for: The grad who's self-conscious about being an introvert
As "Quiet" explores, much of American culture rewards those who are extroverted and talkative, which can make it difficult for more introverted people to feel like they can stand out. Written as part-memoir, part-self-help, this book offers inspiring anecdotes and tips on how to channel one's quiet side, instead of feeling forced to change it.
You can read our full review of "Quiet" here.
"Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar" by Cheryl Strayed
"Tiny Beautiful Things," available at Bookshop and Amazon, from $13.38
Best for: The grad who doesn't just want career advice
Cheryl Strayed, author of the bestselling memoir "Wild," also worked for years as the writer of a column called "Dear Sugar," where she offered advice to strangers by being incredibly vulnerable and honest about her own life experiences. This book is a collection of some of her best columns, tackling topics from grief and cheating lovers to pursuing your wildest dreams.
"The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters" by Priya Parker
"The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters," available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $14.49
Best for: The grad moving away from all their friends
The nice thing about college is how easy socializing is when you all live in the same dorm or apartment, have school-organized events to attend, and generally live by similar schedules. As we get older, making new friends (or hanging with existing ones) can get more challenging. This book teaches simple but mind-blowing tips on how to make gatherings more meaningful and bonding, from sending out an event invite to deciding who to invite.
You can read our review of "The Art of Gathering" here.
"I Will Teach You to Be Rich" by Ramit Sethi
"I Will Teach You to Be Rich," available at Bookshop and Amazon, from $12.87
Best for: The grad already interested in building their savings
This book gives grads some good news: they can spend all they want on lattes, so long as they still have money to invest and grow over time. It's a straightforward guide to building a robust savings account, and one of our personal favorite books to recommend (especially to those new to managing their money).
"What You're Really Meant to Do: A Road Map For Reaching Your Unique Potential" by Robert Steven Kaplan
"What You're Really Meant to Do," available at Bookshop and Amazon, from $14.39
Best for: The grad who doesn't know what to do next
In this book, Robert Steven Kaplan, a leadership expert and bestselling author, shares specific exercises and advice on how one can know themselves more deeply, from figuring out their true passions to setting goals to reaching them.
"What I Know Now: Letters to My Younger Self" edited by Ellyn Spragins
"What I Know Now," available at Amazon, $12.77
Best for: The grad who wants all the advice they can get
If you don't want to commit to one book by one author, this anthology features letters from 41 famous women to their past selves, with writers ranging from Madeleine Albright to Maya Angelou. Beyond offering invaluable advice, it's also just a fascinating glimpse into these iconic women's lives.
"Ask a Manager: How to Navigate Clueless Colleagues, Lunch-Stealing Bosses, and the Rest of Your Life At Work" by Alison Green
"Ask a Manager," available at Bookshop and Amazon, from $14.40
Best for: The grad who already has a difficult job
Alison Green, an internet-famous work advice columnist, is known for giving empathetic, straightforward, and honest career advice, whether you have an annoying coworker or have no idea how to ask for a raise. If your grad already has a job (or is struggling with the interview process), this book can serve as a guide through all stages of their work life.
"Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...and Maybe the World" by Admiral William H. McRaven
"Make Your Bed," available at Bookshop and Amazon, $11.94
Best for: The grad who wants some simple, straightforward life advice
Based on a commencement speech that Admiral William H. McRaven gave to the University of Texas, Austin in 2014, this book covers his career as a Navy Seal and what it taught him about which habits and outlooks make the most impact. It's a book that offers honest, direct tips on how to live a more successful life, no matter what you do for a living.
"The Gift: 14 Lessons to Save Your Life" by Edith Eva Eger
"The Gift: 14 Lessons to Save Your Life," available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $11.37
Best for: The grad who's gone through a rough patch lately
Recently updated to reflect on the COVID-19 pandemic, this book shares the story of Edith Eva Eger, a world-renowned psychologist and Holocaust survivor who argues that the only thing worse than living in a concentration camp was feeling imprisoned by her own fear, guilt, and anger. The core lesson of the book teaches readers that while we can't control our experiences, we can always change our perspectives.
"Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy" by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant
"Option B," available at Bookshop and Amazon, from $13.67
Best for: The grad who wants to be more resilient
When Sheryl Sandberg's husband suddenly died, she worried she'd never feel joy again. She worked on this book with her friend Adam Grant, a Wharton psychologist — together, they share tips on how to build resilience even in the most trying times. It's a skill every graduate needs, whether they're facing big changes or even just dreading big changes in the future.
"The Beautiful Chaos of Growing Up" by Ari Satok
"The Beautiful Chaos of Growing Up," available at Amazon, $14.99
Best for: The grad who loves poetry
"The Beautiful Chaos of Growing Up" is a beautiful poetry collection about young adulthood. it covers everything from college friendships and graduation to all the firsts of adulthood: first romances, first jobs, first apartments — all helping a recent grad get excited about what's to come next.
More: Features Books IP Graphics Alyssa Powell | 2022-05-20T21:13:05Z | www.businessinsider.com | 19 Best Books for Recent College Graduates in 2022 | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/learning/books-for-college-graduates | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/learning/books-for-college-graduates |
Changing jobs could get trickier as some companies slow hiring and as the process takes longer.
Robert Daly/OJO Images
Switching jobs is harder as some employers slow hiring and as the process itself is taking longer.
Talent Works' Jody Robie said hiring techniques that worked before the pandemic no longer do.
She said employers must be flexible and job seekers should be ready for fewer roles being available.
Job hoppers beware: Making the leap to a new gig is becoming harder as companies rethink whether to fill some roles and as the hiring process can take longer.
Some companies that had only recently been eager to snap up workers are slowing or even halting hiring amid signs that rising prices and other headwinds are sapping consumer spending, a key driver of the US economy. Stocks have been sliding as investors worry that growth will stall.
All of this means that some people looking to change jobs — and companies that had been hoping to hire — could have a tougher time.
Talent Works, which provides recruiting tools, found in an April survey of 500 HR managers in the US and the UK that a majority said bringing on new people has been taking two to three times as long as it did in 2019. Among the reasons was a lack of quality candidates. The sluggish pace of hiring can hurt companies' performance because roles are going unfilled for too long, the survey found.
The problem could ease, of course, if the economy slows and companies trim their job listings. Yet for now, unemployment is low, and many open roles remain unfilled, so some employers have been having to rethink their hiring processes.
Jody Robie, Talent Works' senior vice president and cofounder, said many of the HR procedures that worked before the pandemic, such as numerous in-person interviews, were no longer viable. Today, more of the process involves remote interviews. And communication and increased flexibility are more important than ever, especially as the economy shows signs it's shifting.
"Hiring freezes and pauses will happen, but it is how this is communicated internally to employees and externally to candidates that really makes the difference as far as causing a future recruitment challenge," Robie said.
She added that the changing landscape means companies need to be flexible with their recruiting strategy to quickly and efficiently hire, and job seekers should be aware that even though they still have many options in today's job market, there could be fewer roles available as companies reassess their needs.
In recent years spent navigating the pandemic, both big and small companies have realized how important it is to have a flexible recruiting process that can best match the demand for growth and slow when needed, Robie said. "You have to be able to have some agility to your hiring process," she added.
Some of the recent hiring challenges reflect stepped-up recruiting that started in 2021. There were so many open roles to fill that some HR departments got bogged down. That meant it often took longer to bring people aboard.
The slowdowns in hiring can be bad for business if companies can't meet their customers' demands.
"Even worse is the threat of losing business due to attrition and overworked, stretched employees who don't have the motivation to continue to put in the extra hours," Robie said.
"The speed and agility of the process, and being able to be flexible in the new world of recruiting, are the keys to success right now," she said. "You can't hold on to what worked in the past, because it isn't working now."
More: Careers Hiring Job Applications Job search | 2022-05-20T21:13:11Z | www.businessinsider.com | Jumping to a New Job Might Get Harder As Companies Cut Back on Hiring | https://www.businessinsider.com/jumping-jobs-might-get-harder-as-companies-cut-back-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/jumping-jobs-might-get-harder-as-companies-cut-back-2022-5 |
The Archbishop of San Francisco said that Speaker Nancy Pelosi should be denied communion.
Salvatore Cordileone said Pelosi should be denied communion until she repudiates her pro-choice views.
Cordileone's actions could renew debate within the church over how to treat pro-abortion lawmakers.
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said on Friday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be denied holy communion until she repudiates her pro-abortion views and her efforts to protect a federal right to an abortion.
"As you have not publically repudiated your position on abortion, and continue to refer to your Catholic faith in justifying your position and to receive Holy Communion, that time has now come," Cordileone wrote in a public notification laying out the reasons that Pelosi will be denied the sacrament.
Pelosi, who like President Joe Biden often references her Catholic faith, has helped marshall her party's efforts to enshrine a right to an abortion in federal law. The Democratic Party's push for abortion rights has received renewed vigor in the wake of a leaked draft Supreme Court decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade.
Cordileone's action will almost certainly renew the debate over whether Catholic public officials should receive communion. Pope Francis has repeatedly reiterated the church's strong anti-abortion beliefs, but he has also sought to tamp down the roiling debate over how priests should treat officials like Pelosi and Biden.
"I have never refused the eucharist to anyone," Francis told reporters last September. The eucharist is a reference to the Catholic belief that through transubstantiation the blood and wine used during communion become the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
At the time, Francis added a final plea for bishops to be faith leaders, not political figures.
"What must the pastor do?" he asked. "Be a pastor, don't go condemning. Be a pastor, because he is a pastor also for the excommunicated."
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops approved guidance last November that emphasized that bishops have a "special responsibility" to guide officials who advocate beliefs that are at odds with church policy. Ultimately, a local priest makes the final call on whether or not to grant someone communion. Priests are instructed not to deny communion to someone unless there is a serious reason.
Cordileone, in his letter, thanked Pelosi "for the time you have given me in the past to speak about these matters," but claimed that she had stopped responding to his questions since last September. A spokesperson for Pelosi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"That is why I communicated my concerns to you via letter on April 7, 2022, and informed you there that, should you not publically repudiate your advocacy for abortion 'rights' or else refrain from referring to your Catholic faith in public and receiving Holy Communion, I would have no choice but to make a declaration, in keeping with canon 915, that you are not to be admitted to Holy Communion," the archbishop writes.
Pelosi attended Trinity Washington University, a private- university that was once the nation's first Catholic liberal arts college for women. She frequently invokes her faith, including during a lengthy 2018 speech about the need to protect so-called Dreamers.
More: Nancy Pelosi Abortion Roe v Wade Congress | 2022-05-20T21:13:25Z | www.businessinsider.com | Pelosi to Be Denied Communion Over Abortion Rights, Catholic Official Says | https://www.businessinsider.com/pelosi-denied-communion-wanting-to-preserve-abortion-rights-roe-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/pelosi-denied-communion-wanting-to-preserve-abortion-rights-roe-2022-5 |
Savings rates at the largest banks in Colorado
Premier Members Credit Union
NuVista Federal Credit Union
Other institutions that didn't make our list and why
Are these banks and credit unions trustworthy?
How did we choose the best banks in Colorado?
Experts' advice on choosing the best financial institution
Best banks and credit unions in Colorado of 2022
Institution Editor's rating Category Savings APY Learn more
Best savings account
Best checking account
Best savings and checking account
Best local financial institution
We selected Ally, KeyBank, FirstBank, Premier Members Credit Union, and NuVista Federal Credit Union as the best banks and credit unions in Colorado.
Our favorite financial institutions are federally insured by the NCUA and FDIC, which means your money is safe even in the rare event that a bank shuts down. These banks also stand out because they have low bank fees and offer appealing features.
Below, you'll find the savings rates from the biggest banks in Colorado. In May 2022, the national average for interest rates on savings accounts is 0.07% APY, according to the FDIC.
Financial institution Savings APY Number of Colorado branches Next steps
Wells Fargo 0.01% APY 128 Learn more
US Bank 0.01% APY 104 Learn more
Chase 0.01% APY effective as of 5/18/2022. Interest rates are variable and subject to change 104 Learn more
FirstBank 0.01% APY 96 Learn more
Bank of the West 0.01% APY 72 Learn more
KeyBank 0.01% APY 58 Learn more
Community Banks of Colorado 0.01% APY 50 Learn more
ENT Credit Union 0.05% APY 45 Learn more
Bank of Colorado 0.01% APY 42 Learn more
Vectra Bank 0.01% APY 36 Learn more
None of these financial institutions paid a high interest rate, so we didn't end up choosing any of these large banks for our best savings account category. However, you may still decide one of these banks is a good match for you.
More on our top picks
Best bank for opening a savings account: Ally
Why it stands out: The biggest brick-and-mortar banks in Colorado pay low interest rates on savings accounts, so we've explored online banking options with high-yield savings accounts.
The Ally High Yield Savings Account might be a great choice if you are looking for a competitive interest rate. It also doesn't charge typical bank fees like monthly service fees and overdraft fees.
You also might find Ally appealing if you'd like a bank account with budgeting tools. The account lets you separate money into individual savings goals through savings buckets.
What to look out for: As an online-only institution, you can't deposit cash directly into this account. You'd have to deposit it into an account with a different bank, then transfer funds.
Best bank for opening a checking account: KeyBank
KeyBank Smart Checking Account
No minimum balance
Account alerts to avoid overdrawing
Over 900 branches in 16 states across the US
Over 50,000 free ATMs through the KeyBank and Allpoint ATM networks
To avoid overdraft fees, you may link your checking account to a savings account or get a a line of credit
Why it stands out: KeyBank has a strong, straightforward checking account — it has a low minimum deposit and charges zero monthly services.
The KeyBank Smart Checking Account stands out because it includes several ways to waive overdraft fees. For example, you can set up alerts to avoid overdrawing your account. You may also link your checking account to a savings account and make free transfers to restore a negative account balance.
What to look out for: KeyBank charges a $3 fee for using an out-of-network ATM. If you don't have overdraft protection set up, you'll also need to be mindful of a $33 overdraft fee.
Best bank for opening a checking and savings account: FirstBank
FirstBank Anywhere Checking Account
$20/year or $10/day overdraft transfer fee
Access to over 100 locations and 200 ATMs in AZ, CA, CO
Overdraft protection plans that lets you link your checking account to a savings account
If you utilize overdraft protection, there's either a $20/year or $10/day transfer fee
Why it stands out: If you prefer traditional banking to online banking, FirstBank could be a solid option. It's the fourth-largest bank in the state, and it has low fee bank accounts.
The FirstBank Anywhere Checking Account is a free checking account with a $0 opening deposit. You'll also have access to over 200 ATMs in Arizona, California, and Colorado.
Meanwhile, the FirstBank Personal Savings Account has a $5 quarterly service fee that's easy to waive — you won't pay a service fee if you keep at least $100 in your account daily.
What to look out for: You might have to deal with overdraft fees if you accidentally overdraw from your checking account. FirstBank has overdraft protection, but you'll have to pay a $20 annual overdraft protection fee or $10 daily overdraft protection fee.
Best credit union: Premier Members Credit Union
Premier Members Credit Union Earn Big Free Checking Account
Qualify to earn interest
Choose from an overdraft line of credit or sweeping money from savings for free
Does not reimburse any fees charged by out-of-network ATM providers
13 branches in Colorado, or open an account online from around the US
Over 5,000 shared branches in the US
30,000 free ATMs in the country in the CO-OP Network, and use 7-Eleven ATMs for free
There are many ways to become a member if you live in Colorado, or join Impact on Education if you don't otherwise qualify
Earn competitive interest rates each month that you 1) are enrolled in e-statements, 2) receive $500 in direct deposits, and 3) make at least 25 debit card transactions
If you don't meet qualifications for competitive interest rates, you'll earn 0.01% APY
Tiered interest rates with 7 tiers; earn the highest rate on balances under $2,000
Why it stands out: Premier Members Credit Union may ideal if you prefer banking with credit union over a bank or want to open a rewards checking account.
The Premier Members Credit Union Membership Share Savings Account is a decent free savings account option, and it has a $5 opening deposit.
Meanwhile, The Premier Members Credit Union Earn Big Free Checking Account is the bank's strongest product. You'll earn the high interest rate on balances under $2,000, but even higher balances offer solid rates.
To earn interest on your account, you'll need to meet the following requirements each month:
Enroll in e-statements
Receive $500 in direct deposits
Make at least 25 debit card transactions
What to look out for: Credit unions required membership to open a bank account. You'll need to meet one of the following requirements to be eligible for membership at Premiers Federal Credit Union:
Live or work in one of the following counties: Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Boulder, Delta, Denver, Douglas, Elbert, El Paso, Garfield, Jefferson, Larimer, Mesa, Montrose, Pueblo, or Weld
Be a student, faculty member, or staff member in either the Boulder Valley School District or Westminster Public Schools
Be an employee or family member of an employee of Ball Corporation, Boulder Community Health, IBM, Lexmark, or Medtronic
Be an employee or member of one of 750 organizations the credit union serves (Contact customer service to ask whether your company is listed)
Have a family member who already has accounts with Premier Members Credit Union
Join Impact on Education, a charity of the Boulder Valley School District
Best local financial institution: NuVista Federal Credit Union
NuVista Federal Credit Union Membership Share Savings
2 branches in Gunnison and Montrose, CO
Eligible for membership if you live or work in Montrose, Delta, Gunnison, Ouray, and San Miguel counties
Why it stands out: NuVista Federal Credit Union is a community development financial institution (CDFI) with two branches in Colorado.
A CDFI might be worth exploring if you prioritize a financial institution that's mission-driven and has close ties with its local community. The credit union has a second chance bank account, so you'll be able open a checking account even if you have a negative bank history.
The NuVista Federal Credit Union Membership Share Savings is also a good savings option. There are no monthly service fees and a low $25 opening deposit.
What to look out for: You must open the NuVista Federal Credit Union Membership Share Savings with at least $25 to become a member. You'll also need to live or work in Montrose, Delta, Gunnison, Ouray, and San Miguel counties.
Wells Fargo: Wells Fargo has the most branches in the state, but its accounts aren't as strong as our top picks. It's also received a poor rating from the Better Business Bureau and has been involved in several public settlements. Read the full review of Wells Fargo here.
US Bank: US Bank has a substantial branch and ATM network in Colorado, but our top picks have lower monthly service fees. Its savings accounts also pay low interest rates. Read the full review of US Bank here.
Chase: Chase has a variety of accounts and a large branch and ATM network. However, its monthly services are a bit higher than our top picks if you don't meet the minimum balance requirements. Read the full review of Chase here.
Bank of the West: Bank of the West might be worth exploring if you want to bank with a financial institution that supports sustainability. However, our favorite institutions may make it easier to waive monthly service fees. Read the full review of Bank of the West here.
Community Banks of Colorado: Community Banks of Colorado has a sizable branch and ATM network, but its bank account has higher monthly service fees than our top picks.
ENT Credit Union: ENT Credit Union has free checking and savings accounts. It pays a pretty low interest rate on the savings account, though.
Bank of Colorado: Bank of Colorado has a decent-sized branch and ATM network, but its bank accounts require higher minimum opening deposits than most of our top picks.
Vectra Bank: Vectra Bank has a variety of bank accounts, but other banks might make it easier to waive monthly service fees.
First Southwest Bank: First Southwest is a community development financial institution (CDFI), so it might be a good fit if you're searching for an institution that closely serves its community. Its bank accounts require relatively high minimum opening deposits, though.
Native American Bank: Native American Bank is a CDFI with a free checking account. Its savings account has a minimum balance requirement, though.
Columbine Federal Credit Union: Columbine Federal Credit Union has a free checking account, but our top picks offer more competitive interest rates and unique bank accounts.
Community Choice Credit Union: This CDFI might be worth considering if you are looking for a local institution with second chance banking. Other credit unions may have lower minimum opening deposits or higher interest rates on savings accounts.
Bellco Credit Union: Bellco Credit Union offers a great high-yield checking account, but you'll need to have an account balance of over $25,000 to earn a notable interest rate.
Canvas Credit Union: Canvas Credit Union has a free checking account, but its savings account isn't as strong.
We include ratings from the Better Business Bureau to evaluate how financial institutions address customer issues and handle transparency. See each institution's rating below:
Financial institution BBB rating
Ally C
KeyBank A+
FirstBank of Colorado A
Premier Members Credit Union A+
NuVista Federal Credit Union A+
All of our top picks have at least an A rating from the BBB, with the exception of Ally. Ally has a C rating because the BBB has received a high volume of customer complaints about the bank, and there are two unresolved complaints.
A great BBB rating doesn't necessarily mean you'll have a smooth relationship with a bank. Reach out to current customers or read online customer reviews to get a well-rounded perspective of a bank.
KeyBank is the only institution on our list that's been involved in a public controversy.
In 2021, the bank paid the State of New York Mortgage Agency $5 million in a settlement that claimed KeyBank had deceptive advertising regarding its "KeyBank Plus" program. The advertisements in the program said KeyBank would help New York residents who didn't have a bank account by helping them cash checks for low fees. However, the State of New York Mortgage Agency conducted an investigation and found the program wasn't being executed properly.
First, we reviewed the 15 biggest banks and credit unions in the state. Then we looked at CDFIs in the state.
We compared bank account features and fees until we narrowed down our top picks. Our top picks stood out from competitors for a variety of reasons. Some offered a competitive interest rate or had budgeting tools in addition to minimal bank fees. For our best credit union and best local bank, we selected financial institutions with easy membership requirements, low minimum opening deposits, and unique bank accounts.
Why trust our recommendations?
Personal Finance Insider's mission is to help smart people make the best decisions with their money. We understand that "best" is often subjective, so under each section, we outline the advantages and limitations of each account or institution. We spent hours comparing and contrasting the features and fine print of various products so you don't have to.
What is the No. 1 bank in America?
It depends on what you're looking for. Wells Fargo has the most branches in the US, followed closely by Chase and Bank of America. If you're looking for high savings rates and low fees, then you'll probably want to go with an online bank. (See our picks for the best online banks here.)
What's the safest bank to put your money in?
As long as an institution has federal insurance, your money should be safe. Banks need to be insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Credit unions need to be insured by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA).
An individual account is insured for up to $250,000, and a joint account is insured for up to $500,000. This means you won't lose all of your money should the bank go under.
To learn more about what makes a good bank or credit union and how to choose the best fit, four experts weighed in:
Tania Brown, certified financial planner at SaverLife
Roger Ma, certified financial planner with lifelaidout® and author of "Work Your Money, Not Your Life"
Mykail James, MBA, certified financial education instructor, BoujieBudgets.com
Laura Grace Tarpley, editor of banking, Personal Finance Insider
We're focusing on what will make a bank most useful, including customer service, fees, rates, and more. Here's what they had to say about finding a bank. (Some text may be lightly edited for clarity.)
How can someone determine whether a bank is the right fit for them?
Mykail James, CFEI:
"The No. 1 thing about a checking account is you should know what provider the debit card is coming from. And a lot of people don't think about that, because there are places that don't accept MasterCard or don't accept an Amex."
Laura Grace Tarpley, Personal Finance Insider:
"I would look for the bank that charges you the least in fees. This means either no monthly fees, or you qualify to waive the monthly fees. If you never overdraw from your account, then a bank's overdraft fees won't matter much to you. But if you occasionally overdraw, then I'd look at the fees or overdraft protection options."
What should someone look for in a brick-and-mortar bank?
Tania Brown, CFP:
"How can that bank grow with you? If you are 25, single or newly married, and all you need is a checking account, that's going to look very different 15 years from now when you may have had a couple of jobs, you may have an IRA roll over, or you may want a financial adviser."
"How accessible it is. So where are the branches? And if I am to go out of town or something, how accessible is my money to me?"
What should someone look for in an online bank?
"With an online bank, absolutely online customer service, because you do not have the advantage of walking inside and talking to a human being. How often are you able to get them? What are their hours?"
Roger Ma, CFP:
"How onerous the transfer process is, transferring money in and transferring money out. Is it same day, next day? Is it pretty easy to sync a brick-and-mortar checking account to this particular high-yield savings account?"
"When it comes to online banks, you want to be a little bit more strict about what type of interest rates they're providing. That's the biggest thing, because online banks are supposed to have the higher interest rate because they don't have the overhead of the brick-and-mortar. You want to make sure that it's well above the national average. What type of securities do they provide? Do they have two-factor identification? If it's an online bank, they should definitely have — at the bare minimum — two-factor authentication in how easy it is to change your passwords and things like that, because you want to be a little more hypersensitive about the cyber security for a strictly online bank."
PERSONAL FINANCE How banks can pay interest on your money
More: Colorado Banks Bank accounts online banks
local banks
FirstBank Personal Savings
NuVista Federal Credit Union Share Savings Account
Bank of the West
Community Banks of Colorado
ENT Credit Union
Vectra Bank | 2022-05-20T21:21:47Z | www.businessinsider.com | Best Banks and Credit Unions in Colorado of 2022 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/best-banks-credit-unions-colorado | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/best-banks-credit-unions-colorado |
Is Masterworks right for you?
Masterworks vs. Yieldstreet
Masterworks vs. Republic
Ways to invest with Masterworks
Masterworks: Is it trustworthy?
Masterworks — Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Masterworks review: Invest in or resell expert-vetted art pieces
Invest in blue-chip artwork vetted by experts.
Masterworks; Insider
Bottom line: Masterworks allows you to purchase shares from top-performing art markets and potentially resell those shares on the secondary market. The platform isn't the best option for risk-averse investors who want investments that they can easily exchange. Also keep in mind you'll need to hold assets for at least 3-10 years.
Masterworks
$0 (share price varies per offering)
1.5%/year plus 20% of profit
No minimum to begin (minimum share price varies per offering)
Masterworks vets each offering/handles due diligence process
Open to both accredited and non-accredited investors
Platform is easy to navigate
Extremely illiquid
Prospective members have to participate in phone interview to join platform
Holding periods can range from 3-10 years
No mobile app for Androids
Masterworks is an online investment platform offering blue-chip art investments that you can either hold onto or purchase and resell. Unlike traditional investments such as stocks and ETFs, Masterworks' key asset class is fine art, which falls under the category of "alternative investments."
Founded in 2017, Masterworks currently has more than 400,000 registered users, with 100+ total art pieces and at least $400 million in securitized paintings.
Yieldstreet
Varies; typically $500-10,000
1% to 2% for Prism Fund; other investments start at 0%
Multi-asset class funds, alternative investments, and short-term notes
Masterworks should be the go-to for art-focused investors who have a lot of time on their hands (its minimum holding period ranges from 3-10 years).
Overall, Yieldstreet has lower fees, and it offers a wider range of alternative investments (i.e., multi-asset class funds, short-term notes and debt securities, and more). Plus, it lets you purchase fractional shares in physical art pieces, and you can invest in artwork-backed loans that offer monthly income. Unlike Masterworks, it offers a much more limited selection of artwork (only six offerings), and you'll need a higher minimum to get started $10,000. Both platforms offer blue-chip pieces (those from top performing artists).
$10 (startup minimums vary)
Startups, real estate, video games, crypto
Masterworks and Republic are very different platforms when it comes to specific investment choices, but both provide assets that classify as alternative investments. Masterworks is best for long-term focused investors who have an appreciation for art, while Republic best suits those who want to invest in up-and-coming startups.
Though Republic doesn't specifically provide art investments, you can still use its platform to invest in startups that specialize in art.
Here's how it works: Masterworks' research team uses proprietary data to pinpoint the best artist markets. Its team then finds art pieces and purchases them. Once purchased, Masterworks collaborates with the SEC to get the art pieces securitized (this allows anyone to buy shares of the works). In other words, it converts artwork into securities that anyone can purchase.
Following this stage, the platform gives all members two options: (a) wait until the all shares within the art/opportunity sell (Masterworks typically holds the artwork for 3-10 years), or (b) sell your shares on the secondary market. Note that you'll have to wait for either option. Even if you decide to resell your shares, you can only do so at least 90 days after the offering has closed and all shares are sold.
The platform's secondary offerings are currently limited to US investors with US bank accounts, but those who qualify won't have to worry about transaction fees for buying and selling shares. In addition, secondary market opportunities typically have lower minimum requirements than primary market offerings.
There are several risks associated with using the Masterworks. The platform outlines these in its disclosures:
Unproven business model: Many of Masterworks' features are untested. In other words, success isn't guaranteed. The platform says it may have to auction off artwork if its business model ever fails.
Issuers are undiversified: Investments with single-asset issuers can be risky since you're investing in a single piece of art. In addition, issuers that offer investments in a collection of different art pieces may still only offer limited access to that particular art market, according to Masterworks.
Illiquidity: Masterworks issuers typically hold paintings for 3-10 years. However, there's still a possibility that investors won't be able to liquidate their shares after the holding period, and there isn't a guarantee that all shares will ever be tradable.
Potential Masterworks conflicts of interest: Masterworks doesn't have a fiduciary duty, and its interests (plus that of its Board of Managers) may not always align with client interests.
Ability to trade shares: The platform says there isn't an active public market for those who want to actively exchange their art shares. Masterworks also says such a market may never exist and that those using the resale secondary market might either pay excessive fees to resell shares, or may not be able to resell at all.
You can find more information on the risks of investing through Masterworks here.
The Better Business Bureau gives Masterworks an NR ("No rating"). BBB ratings typically range from A+ to F, but the bureau says it doesn't have enough information on Masterworks to issue a rating for the platform.
Ratings reflect the bureau's opinion of how well companies interact with customers, but the ratings also take into account things like type of business, time in business, advertising issues, customer complaint history, and licensing and government actions.
But it's nonetheless important to do your own due diligence before settling on an investment platform. The bureau's ratings don't guarantee performance or reliability.
Masterworks' record is clear of any major lawsuits or scandals, and its profile shows it has zero complaints filed against it at this time.
What is the minimum to invest in Masterworks?
There isn't a minimum investment to use Masterworks, but share price minimums will vary per offering.
How do you sell art on Masterworks?
To sell shares you've purchased on Masterworks, you'll need to first join its Secondary Market. You can do so by clicking "create wallet" in the Secondary Market section of its platform (note that Masterworks currently only offers this service to US investors).
In addition, you'll only be able to sell your art shares after 90 days have passed since the offering's final closing date. Plus, Masterworks has a minimum sell order requirement of five shares.
Is Masterworks a legitimate investment?
Yes. All of Masterwork's art offerings have been filed with the SEC, and the platform has been in business since 2017. However, prospective investors should note that the company isn't registered or licensed by the SEC, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), or any other regulatory authorities.
The platform says that certain equity owners act as principals to its art transactions in alignment with SEC Rule 3a4-1.
Alternative investments: These assets deviate from traditional investments — such as stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and other securities — that are usually easily converted to cash. Some common examples include real estate, art, and commodities.
Liquidity: This term refers to how easily an asset can be converted into cash. Assets like stocks and ETFs can be easily converted to USD or other fiat currencies, but investments like art or real estate usually require longer holding periods.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC): The SEC regulates all broker-dealers and investment firms. All SEC-registered individuals and firms are required to act as fiduciaries, meaning they must place client interests above their own.
PERSONAL FINANCE Alternative investments are exotic assets that can diversify your portfolio
PERSONAL FINANCE What is liquidity? It's how easily you can sell an asset for cash — here's when and why it matters to your finances
PERSONAL FINANCE Secondary markets are where most trading happens and give small investors the chance to participate
PERSONAL FINANCE A brokerage account is the first step to becoming an investor, allowing you to buy stocks, bonds, and other securities
More: Masterworks Fine Art alternative investments Personal Finance Insider | 2022-05-20T22:22:55Z | www.businessinsider.com | Masterworks Review: Pros, Cons, and Who Should Set up an Account | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/masterworks-review | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/masterworks-review |
Sara Khan and Mark Adam Miller
In New York, Ukrainian restaurant Veselka has seen 50% more customers than usual since the war began.
Meanwhile, the owners of Russian Samovar have gotten death threats for their association with Russia.
Customers tell us how the war in Ukraine has changed where they eat in New York City.
We take a look at how two restaurants in New York City, one Ukrainian and the other Russian, are faring as the war in Ukraine continues. | 2022-05-21T14:05:38Z | www.businessinsider.com | How the War Is Affecting Russian and Ukrainian Restaurants in NYC | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-the-war-is-affecting-russian-and-ukrainian-restaurants-nyc-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-the-war-is-affecting-russian-and-ukrainian-restaurants-nyc-2022-5 |
By Heart infant formula.
At least four babies have been hospitalized in South Carolina due to a national formula shortage.
The babies are receiving nutritional treatment at the Medical University of South Carolina.
Parents around the country are struggling to feed their children as the shortage continues.
Four babies in South Carolina have been hospitalized because of the nationwide formula shortage, according to local news outlet The State.
At least four babies were checked into the Medical University of South Carolina for nutritional deficiencies connected to the shortage, according to hospital spokesperson Heather M. Woolwine. Woolwine told The State that "pediatric dietitians are working with the individual child's care team to find a formula or nutrition that works for him or her based on allergy and caloric needs."
The hospital is one of several around the country responding to an increase in hospitalizations of babies seeking nutritional treatment due to the infant formula shortage.
Earlier this year, Abbott Laboratories closed its formula plant following complaints that infants had contracted infections after consuming bacteria found in Similac, Alimentum, and EleCare products. The Michigan-based company recalled the brands, plunging the country further into an infant formula shortage.
As parents struggle to secure formula for their infant children, some are attempting to substitute with homemade formula or other alternatives. Doctors, however, are warning against using substitutes because baby formula has to be made with certain specifications to ensure infants can digest it properly.
Last week, President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act, forcing suppliers to prioritize and manufacture baby formula.
"Directing firms to prioritize and allocate the production of key infant formula inputs will help increase production and speed up in supply chains," a statement from the White House said.
Part of the effort involves using military resources to fly in ingredients or supplies from overseas. Commercial aircrafts contracted by the Defense Department, for example, will bring in Nestlé S.A. formula from Switzerland.
More: Baby formula Formula shortage South Carolina | 2022-05-21T15:24:11Z | www.businessinsider.com | Four Babies Hospitalized in South Carolina Due to Formula Shortage | https://www.businessinsider.com/four-babies-hospitalized-in-south-carolina-due-to-formula-shortage-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/four-babies-hospitalized-in-south-carolina-due-to-formula-shortage-2022-5 |
CARDIFF, UNITED KINGDOM - MAY 25: A surgeon with surgical tools in an operating theatre on May 25, 2017 in Cardiff, United Kingdom.
Photo by Matthew Horwood/Getty Images
"If you think that's crazy then I think that maybe you understand how 50 percent of Oklahomans feel, as well," the Democrat said.
Dollens' remarks were made as the Oklahoma legislature debated HB 4327, a restrictive law that effectively bans abortion from the moment of "fertilization." The legislature on Thursday passed the bill, and Gov. Kevin Stitt is expected to sign it into law.
The legislation comes as the Supreme Court weighs overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark case that legalized abortion in the United States. Politico earlier this month published a draft Supreme Court opinion signaling a reversal of Roe v. Wade. In the draft, Associate Justice Samuel Alito characterized abortion as "egregiously wrong from the start."
More: Vasectomy Oklahoma Abortion Abortion bans | 2022-05-21T16:59:25Z | www.businessinsider.com | Oklahoma State Rep Proposed Legislation Mandating Vasectomies for Men | https://www.businessinsider.com/oklahoma-state-rep-proposed-legislation-mandating-vasectomies-for-men-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/oklahoma-state-rep-proposed-legislation-mandating-vasectomies-for-men-2022-5 |
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida has called himself "pro-life" but hasn't said what abortion restrictions Republicans should back if they gain a majority in November.
John Raoux/AP Images
Rubio wouldn't specify what restrictions on abortion a GOP-controlled Senate should back.
He called himself "pro-life" and has voted to restrict abortion late in a pregnancy.
Republicans haven't unified behind an approach on abortion.
MIAMI — Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida wouldn't commit to a specific abortion ban on Saturday when asked what types restrictions Republicans should promise to deliver if they gain control of Congress in November.
Instead he stressed that he was "pro-life" and predicted "each individual state would have different laws." In Florida, a law will take effect July 1 to ban abortions after 15 weeks, but this week Oklahoma passed a total ban on abortion.
Rubio is up for reelection in November and his answer suggests the GOP hasn't decided which approach to run on yet as they seek to expand their razor-thin minority in the Senate during the November midterm elections.
A leaked Supreme Court draft from Politico showing that the Supreme Court is poised to overturn its Roe v. Wade decision on abortion has pushed the issue to surface during a high-stakes election year.
Republicans have long said Roe should be overturned and have supported some type of abortion ban. But it's not clear whether they'll seek an all-out ban or a more incremental approach if Roe is overturned — which would give Congress more power to regulate the issue.
Some, such as GOP Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, are crafting legislation for a six-week ban, according to the Washington Post. Others have indicated the states should take the lead. When Republicans have been in charge of the Senate in recent cycles, they have brought bills to the floor to restrict abortions later in a pregnancy, including a bill that would have banned abortions after 20 weeks. The bill failed because they didn't have the 60 votes needed for passage.
When asked what specific bill Republicans should support, Rubio said "that's not the way it's going to work" and stressed that lawmakers should wait until an official Supreme Court decision is handed down.
Though President Joe Biden would veto any legislation that restricts abortion, Republicans could unify behind a ban that would be poised for passage if a Republican is elected president in 2024.
Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress have unified behind the Women's Health Protection Act, a bill that would enshrine Roe and undo state restrictions. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer forced a vote on the bill May 5 but Republicans and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia blocked it.
Biden has urged voters to go to the polls on the issue to elect "more pro-choice Senators and a pro-choice majority in the House."
Rubio's comments came during a press appearance at Trump National Doral, where he had just received the endorsement of the Florida Police Benevolent Association but took questions from reporters on other topics.
The senator indicated that his personal views on abortion might differ from what was politically feasible. Rubio, who is Catholic, has previously said he believes "life begins at conception."
"I'm pro-life and I believe that human life deserves protection and I'm in favor of laws that protect it," he said Saturday, "understanding that in a political process those laws would have to accommodate to reach a majority vote in different chambers depending who is voting on it."
Even if Republicans gain a majority in the Senate, they'd need 60 votes to pass an abortion ban. Senate Minority Leader McConnell initially said a national ban was "possible" but then said he wouldn't do it by abolishing the filibuster — meaning lowering the voting threshold to pass major legislation to 51 votes.
Ever since the Supreme Court leak, Democratic campaigns have been pressuring Republicans to say whether they support banning abortion even in cases of rape and incest, and Republican campaigns have been pressuring Democrats to say whether they believe abortion should be allowed even in the final stages of pregnancy.
Polling shows both positions are unpopular, and less than 1% of abortions happen in each of these circumstances.
The Women's Health Protection Act that failed would provide undefined "health" exemptions on abortions after viability. Rep. Val Demings of Florida, the Democratic frontrunner likely to face Rubio November, has called Rubio an "extremist" on abortion and voted for the abortion rights bill.
On Saturday, Rubio called the legislation "radical and outrageous."
The Supreme Court previously defined post-viability exemptions in its 1973 Doe v. Bolton decision, allowing for later abortions not just to protect physical health, but emotional and psychological health. The decision also permitted doctors to factor in familial circumstances and age.
Florida's law would allow later abortions if a pregnancy is life-threatening or would cause serious injury, or if the fetus has a fatal abnormality. It does not have exemptions for rape, incest, or human trafficking. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has dodged questions over whether the state should restrict abortion even further.
More: Abortion Abortion Ban Women's Health Roe v Wade | 2022-05-22T02:24:22Z | www.businessinsider.com | Marco Rubio Won't Say Which Abortion Ban He Supports | https://www.businessinsider.com/marco-rubio-wont-say-which-abortion-ban-he-supports-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/marco-rubio-wont-say-which-abortion-ban-he-supports-2022-5 |
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