Business

15 Ideas, Frameworks, and Lessons from 15 Years. The last lesson is the most important because if you have that in mind, you are more motivated to dig deeper and learn the other lessons and frameworks. However, I understand that it’s not always easy to admit that we are wrong. Well, neither is making money.

Mary Barra Spent a Decade Transforming GM. It Hasn’t Been Enough. It’s inspiring to read that the current GM CEO started out as a part inspector that went on to be a CEO assistant. We all have to start somewhere and no starting place is less than others. Back to the story at hand, it seems that Barra’s big bet on EVs hasn’t paid off. The company announced that it would miss EV delivery goals and phase off some investments. Some senior executives were already skeptical of the plan from the beginning. I can’t imagine this will assuage their uneasiness.

Why Europe Fails to Create Wealth. “While America may be consumerist at the micro-level, it is highly productive at the macro-level: the US makes tons of great stuff. From medicine to fundamental scientific research to technology to space travel, we’re leading the charge. European individuals may not be consumerists, but Europe is a macro-consumer: virtually everything of value comes from elsewhere. The European Union is so deep in Providerism that it does not recognize how far removed it is from the production of things of value. This myopia is a great peril for the citizens of Europe. Every year that passes, Europe slips deeper into complacency as goods and services are provided from abroad, while regulators are writing missives and assessing fines in impotent, play-acting gestures of agency. Europe is falling behind. It largely missed the internet and personal computing booms, and now it sits in danger of missing the coming AI boom. Today’s Europeans are not yet poor — they are still living off the prosperity created by prior generations, and that enables their passive consumption — but tomorrow’s Europeans may be.”

Buy Now, Pay Later Keeps People Spending—Without Credit Agencies Knowing. It is shocking to me that many people don’t know how to take care of their personal finance. As a consequence, I believe that the CFPB should require reporting of BNPL usage to the bureaus. I understand that the lack of knowledge on best personal finance practices is the root cause, but before we have a permanent fix (education), we should not have credit-trapped consumers have acces to credit. It’s not good at all for them. Now, since the lack of credit reporting is one of the main selling points of BNPL, how would the required reporting affect companies in this space? The Affirms or Klarnas of the world haven’t shared BNPL usage data with the bureaus, What if they really had to? How would that affect their business?

Other Stuff I Find Interesting

Charlie Munger’s Life Was About Way More Than Money. Two things that I did not know about Charlie before: 1/ how he was lucky not to be bit by that stray dog and 2/ he did not slow down even at 99 years old.

Sweden’s enduring love for cardamon and buns. “Buns are not the only Swedish sweet where green cardamom (elettaria cardamomum)is a key ingredient. Even though it is the third-most expensive spice in the world, cardamom is prolific in Swedish cuisine. It’s used year-round in waffles, pancakes, biscuits such as kardemummakakor (cardamom cookies), and cakes such as mjuk pepparkak (Swedish spice cake). It is consumed at Christmas in risgrynsgröt (rice porridge), baked rice pudding and found in drinks such as glogg (mulled wine), mumma(a Christmas drink featuring lager and stout), Falcons Julmumma (a brand of beer produced by Carlsberg Sverige) and Julmust (a seasonal soft drink featuring spices).”

This is your reminder to say “NO”. Ryan Holiday is a gifted writer who has the ability to talk about simple things in an engaging way. Here he wants to remind people that NO is a complete sentence and it is ok and even recommended to say NO more often.

The Problem With Being House Rich. This is the right take. Home ownership in an of itself is not a terrible decision because there are more factors involved than just money and returns. As a consequence, I do have a problem with people insisting that home ownership is the only rite passage and for immigrants, if there is no home ownership, it’s not possible to realize the American Dream or build wealth. It’s non-sense. You can build wealth without owning a home. You can realize an American Dream without building a home. Sure, if you think buying one is the right decision for you and your family, go for it. Just don’t do it because people say it’s the only right way.

Why It’s Taking So Long for Americans to Get Payments Instantly. One thing that people need to understand is that instant payments are prone to fraud. Hence, this major concern needs to be taken into consideration for participating financial institutions to adopt FedNow. Secondly, it’s challenging to work with 9,000 different entities with various needs and tech stacks. It takes time.

Stats

The magnificent 7 are up 105% year-to-date while the S&P 493 are up just 7%.

A restaurant owner observes that 35% of gift cards are not redeemed

“A quarter of consumers (26.5 percent) reside in a household charged either an overdraft fee or an NSF fee in the prior year”

“As of year-end 2022, 18.6 million individual taxpayers owed the IRS $316 billion in overdue taxes”

48% of Americans had a passport, up from 10% in 1990