The Big Picture

DECEMBER 13, 2023

Tyler Cowen and his colleague Alex Tabarrok write some interesting posts over at Marginal Revolution. Sometimes I agree with them, sometimes I disagree with them. Recently, a post utterly perplexed me: “One doesn’t get a favorable impression of crypto from Number Go Up but in fact one doesn’t learn much about crypto at all. Indeed, Faux’s book isn’t really about crypto it’s about the rise and collapse of a bubble and the consequent madness of crowds.

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Private Equity Insights

DECEMBER 15, 2023

EQT AB is leading the bidding as private equity firms compete for a stake in the media rights business of the Bundesliga, Germany’s main football competition, people with knowledge of the matter said. The Nordic investment firm has so far presented the highest offer with an initial proposal valuing the unit at about €12.7bn ($14bn), according to the people.

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Bidding Private Equity Firms Private Equity Firms Stakes 276

The Motley Fool

DECEMBER 13, 2023

When to sign-up for Social Security is a highly personal decision. It's also an important one. Your age at sign up determines how much money you get for the rest of your life. There's no wrong age, but there are definitely some that could give you a lot more money than others. Below, we'll look at some of the most popular claiming ages and who they're a good fit for so you can decide which one is right for you.

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A Wealth of Common Sense

DECEMBER 15, 2023

Robert Kiyosaki wrote one of the most-read personal finance books of all time — Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I read it early on in my career. It never really did it for me but I can see why people latch onto the allegory he shares about learning the right financial habits. It’s a good thing to get people interested in personal finance because no one teaches you this stuff.

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Financing Finance 140

The Big Picture

DECEMBER 11, 2023

No, “ nearly half ” of $94.5 billion in retail inventory losses in 2021 was not “attributable to organized retail crime.” That line is just another in a long series of falsehoods put forth by the professional b *s at the National Retail Federation. Here’s Reuters : “The main lobbying group for U.S. retailers retracted its claim that “organized retail crime” accounted for nearly half of all inventory losses in 2021 after finding that incorrect data was used for its analysis.

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Private Equity Insights

DECEMBER 14, 2023

India’s Tata Capital is looking to purchase a roughly 13% stake in premium domestic fashion brand Rare Rabbit at a valuation of $300m, as it seeks to bet on the country’s affluent shoppers, three sources familiar with the matter said. Tata Capital is the financial services arm of India’s $144bn salt-to-aviation Tata conglomerate, and its investment interest in Rare Rabbit comes at a time its rivals such as billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance are also gravitating towards

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FinSMEs

DECEMBER 12, 2023

Essential AI, a San Francisco, CA-based company which specializes in building partnerships between humans and computers, raised $56.5M in Series A funding. The round was led by March Capital with participation from AMD, Franklin Venture Partners, Google, KB Investment, NVIDIA, and Thrive Capital. The company previously raised an $8.3M seed funding round led by Thrive […] The post Essential AI Raises $56.5M in Series A Funding appeared first on FinSMEs.

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A Wealth of Common Sense

DECEMBER 12, 2023

Let’s walk through a quick thought exercise: How many homeowners could afford the monthly payment on their house at current levels of mortgage rates and home prices? Take the current value of your home, subtract 20% for a down payment and slap a 7% mortgage rate on it. Could you afford it? I did this for my house. The monthly payment would be nearly three times what we’re currently paying!

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Financial Symmetry

DECEMBER 11, 2023

When having conversations with individuals approaching retirement, but who have yet to reach age 65, one primary concern is often in the forefront of their mind: What am I going to do about health insurance before I reach Medicare age? … Continued The post Health Insurance Options to Consider When Retiring Pre-Medicare Age, ep #205 appeared first on Financial Symmetry, Inc.

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The Motley Fool

DECEMBER 11, 2023

Image source: Getty Images Electric cars are becoming increasingly popular, but their high price tags are enough to give even some of the most environmentally conscious drivers pause. Add in the cost of financing and auto insurance , and an electric vehicle can feel completely out of reach. But if you can stomach the initial costs, there are several ways that electric cars can save you money.

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FinSMEs

DECEMBER 15, 2023

Distributional, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a modern enterprise platform for artificial intelligence (AI) testing and evaluation, raised $11m in seed funding. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Operator Stack, Point72 Ventures, SV Angel, Two Sigma, Willowtree Investments and dozens of AI leaders as angel investors.

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A Wealth of Common Sense

DECEMBER 14, 2023

A reader asks: Ben in your recent blog post you said $1M investable wealth makes you rich. I would like to provide a counterargument to that. When you retire, $1M basically gives you $40,000 per year to live off of, assuming the 4% rule of thumb is a reasonable starting point to think about retirement income. So is $40k spend a year really rich? I would argue that it is middle class at best; probably lower middle class.

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Dear Mr. Market

DECEMBER 14, 2023

Dear Mr. Market: Can you imagine how you would be feeling if you had acted upon the advice from all the doom and gloomers the past year? How some of these financial “gurus” and economic pundits still have an audience is fascinating!?! Want to know why they still have a platform and hold many people’s attention? Fear sells. That’s it.

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The Motley Fool

DECEMBER 13, 2023

Nio (NYSE: NIO) and Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) both saw their shares skyrocket to all-time highs during the buying frenzy in growth stocks in 2021. However, both electric vehicle (EV) makers subsequently shed nearly 90% of their value as their revenue growth cooled off and rising interest rates popped their bubbly valuations. The broader slowdown of the EV market exacerbated that pain.

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Mergers and Acquisitions Stakes Returns Investors 262

FinSMEs

DECEMBER 14, 2023

Arbonics, a Tallinn, Estonia-based provider of a forest carbon removal platform, raised €5.5M in Seed funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $7.3M, was led by NordicNinja, Plural and Tilia Impact Ventures. The company intends to use the funds to further develop its product portfolio to cover the entire forestry lifecycle, grow its […] The post Arbonics Raises €5.5M in Seed Funding appeared first on FinSMEs.

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A Wealth of Common Sense

DECEMBER 10, 2023

Some things I’ve been thinking about lately: 1. I think this is the strongest labor market we’ll see in my lifetime. Since the Fed began raising rates in March 2022, the U.S. economy has added more than 6 million new jobs. This year we’ve added 2.5 million jobs. The whole idea of rate increases was to slow consumer demand which would cause companies to cut back which would lead to job cuts which would sl.

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Top 1000 Funds

DECEMBER 12, 2023

With Japanese stock prices reaching a 33-year high, the economy emerging from deflation, and the positive impact of corporate governance reforms over the past decade, it's not surprising that money managers, especially foreign investors, who previously showed little interest in Japan are now flocking to Tokyo.

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The Motley Fool

DECEMBER 15, 2023

The electric vehicle (EV) market is expected to grow at an exponential rate in the coming years. Analysts estimate that by 2030, two out of every three cars sold globally will be an EV. With such drastic growth, a slew of manufacturers have entered the EV race in an attempt to stake their claim. One of those is start-up Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ: RIVN).

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FinSMEs

DECEMBER 12, 2023

NeoCarbon, a Berlin, Germany-based company that leverages waste streams from existing industrial infrastructure to remove CO2, raised €3.2M in Seed funding. The round was led by RAISE Seed For Good, with participation from initial backers PT1 – Proptech1 Ventures, Speedinvest, and Antler, as well as angel investors like Christian Vollmann and Matthias Gotta.

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Financial Times M&A

DECEMBER 14, 2023

Banks are facing serious losses on the debt as social media platform’s business deteriorates

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Debt Banks 111

The Big Picture

DECEMBER 11, 2023

My back-to-work morning train WFH reads: • The Cybertruck Must Be Huge—or It Will Dig Tesla’s Grave : If Musk fulfils just 15 percent of Cybertruck preorders, it would equal the annual US truck sales of Toyota. If the polarizing EV flops, Tesla could be in big trouble. ( Wired ) • Claudia Sahm: it’s clear now who was right on Inflation : The economist on how to temper theory with judgment. ( Financial Times ) see also The Most Important Debate on Wall Street: Is Inflation Licked?

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Taxes Portfolios Funds Investing 98

The Motley Fool

DECEMBER 15, 2023

Warren Buffett manages a massive stock portfolio worth about $366 billion for Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) (NYSE: BRK.B) , but he's been slowly culling his equity positions in 2023. The Oracle of Omaha and his team sold $32.8 billion worth of shares during the first nine months of the year, and spent just $9.1 billion purchasing new shares in that same period.

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Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Conglomerates Stakes Portfolios 246

FinSMEs

DECEMBER 12, 2023

Durable, a Vancouver, BC, Canada-based AI-powered website builder and small business platform, raised $14M in Series A funding. The round was led by Spark Capital with participation from existing investors Torch Capital, Altman Capital, Dash Fund, South Park Commons, Infinity Ventures, and Soma Capital. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate its product […] The post Durable Raises $14M in Series A Funding appeared first on FinSMEs.

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Funds Capital Investors Companies 113

Financial Times M&A

DECEMBER 10, 2023

Merger would have been largest of year and created a $140bn healthcare insurer

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The Big Picture

DECEMBER 12, 2023

The transcript from this week’s, MiB: Joel Tillinghast, Fidelity’s Legendary Fund Manager , is below. You can stream and download our full conversation, including any podcast extras, on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube , and Bloomberg. All of our earlier podcasts on your favorite pod hosts can be found here. ~~~ This is Masters in business with Barry Ritholtz on Bloomberg Radio.

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Mutual Funds Funds Banks Companies 103

The Motley Fool

DECEMBER 15, 2023

Social Security is a vital source of income for millions of retirees, and many workers will one day depend on benefits. Yet Americans consistently score poorly on quizzes assessing their knowledge of Social Security, including aspects of the program that impact their income on an annual basis. For instance, Social Security benefits will get a cost-of-living increase in 2024, and some workers will pay more taxes into the Social Security program.

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FinSMEs

DECEMBER 11, 2023

Hoba Therapeutics, a Copenhagen, Denmark-based biotech company dedicated to developing novel therapeutic proteins for patients living with chronic neuropathic pain and hearing loss, raised EUR 23M in Series A funding. The round was led by Indaco Venture Partners and Medical Incubator Japan, and included investments from current investors Novo Holdings, Eir Ventures, and the Export […] The post Hoba Therapeutics Raises EUR 23M in Series A Funding appeared first on FinSMEs.

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The Motley Fool

DECEMBER 15, 2023

The start of a new year is a good time to focus on financial matters. And it pays to carve out some time at the beginning of 2024 to tackle a few key retirement moves. This holds true whether you're a few years away from wrapping up your career or still have decades to go. Here are a few specific tasks worth tackling in January. 1. Increase your retirement savings rate Getting a raise at work isn't a given.

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Taxes Financial Institutions Funds Assets 246

The Motley Fool

DECEMBER 15, 2023

Image source: Getty Images As we get closer to Dec. 25, you may still have a few gifts left to buy. But don't feel discouraged; there's still time to shop for presents your favorite people will adore. Before shopping online or driving to the mall, consider which retailers will have what you need. Not every retailer offers fast shipping or is open late, so keep that in mind to ensure your expectations are realistic.

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The Motley Fool

DECEMBER 15, 2023

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) tracks 30 large U.S. stocks. Inclusion is limited to companies that have excellent reputations, demonstrate sustained growth, and generate widespread interest among investors. To that end, the index is commonly regarded as a collection of blue chip stocks, though it also serves as one of three major barometers for the overall U.S. stock market, with the other two being the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) and the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXI

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The Motley Fool

DECEMBER 15, 2023

If you ask people what concerns they have about retirement, many will likely point to health issues cropping up. But there's another concern that tends to plague retirees, and it's running out of money. The unfortunate reality is that there's no 401(k) or IRA balance that guarantees that your money won't run out. You could whittle a $3 million nest egg down to $0 if you aren't careful enough.

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The Motley Fool

DECEMBER 15, 2023

MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) and Riot Platforms (NASDAQ: RIOT) represent two different ways to invest in Bitcoin 's (CRYPTO: BTC) rally of about 150% this year. MicroStrategy is a software company that started hoarding Bitcoin over the past three years. Riot is a leading Bitcoin mining company that mines BTC with its massive fleet of high-end miners.

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The Motley Fool

DECEMBER 15, 2023

The last couple of years have been brutal for social media giant Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META). After spending billions on its metaverse ambitions, Meta lost sight of its core advertising business -- and investors didn't like that. Specifically, famed venture capitalist Brad Gerstner of Altimeter Capital wrote an open letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the board of directors, urging the company to "get fit.

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The Motley Fool

DECEMBER 15, 2023

Bill Ackman is one of the best investors of our generation and he controls a $10 billion portfolio at Pershing Square. But this isn't just any portfolio, it's incredibly concentrated into only seven stocks and six companies. In this video, Travis Hoium goes through Ackman's portfolio and what he might be seeing in the allocations being made. *Stock prices used were end-of-day prices of Dec. 12, 2023.

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