Hey All,
Welcome to Talk Money Weekly - where I cut through the noise and curate the best money-related topics from the web.
We're taking a mid-season break of the podcast, but we'll be back with the rest of Season 3 in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, you can listen to the first six episodes of here.
📈 Markets & Business
Is the Roth IRA One of the Best Investment Tools?
I still think that all of this is relatively still confusing. There are so many different accounts for all different reasons. I do have plans to cover the history of these accounts in a stock market series we're planning and provide education around them. To sum this up, ROTH IRA's are great provided that your income is below $140K, or $208K as a married couple. I suggest reading the thread to learn more.
An HSA is a health savings account that you can use towards medical expenses, and lowers your taxable income. As Sheel suggests, you can use a company like Starship, to invest those "savings" but still use funds from that account towards medical expenses. This is new to me, but I find it fascinating.
$100 Billion is the New $1 Billion
A few reasons why I think this comment is interesting. As more and more companies go public, and their TAM's grow (Total Addressable Market), it creates more value for the stock market. Think about how the biggest companies of the last decade are now worth over $1 TRILLION- Amazon, Apple, Microsoft & Google. They are all tech companies that created entirely new markets. As the stock market grows, so does wealth, provided that you're invested.
In terms of early-stage investing, or investing in private companies before they go public, success is measured by how many unicorns (companies worth $1B+) you can invest in. They are called unicorns because they are rare. Now, unicorns are becoming more common and it's about investing in companies that can become $100B companies. This is why I believe we need to educate more people on how these companies grow, how the stock market works, and why all of us should be invested in them. All of us should be able to take part in this growth.
The Fastest Way to Lose Money is by Being in a Hurry
There's no getting rich overnight. Are getting on the next crypto crazy like DogeCoin or NFTs, or maybe you want to trade options or currencies? Don't do it because you think you're going to make that mansion money. Long-term growth and patience always win. There's no getting rich quickly. Even people who invested in Bitcoin early. They've been waiting patiently for about a decade and they're still holding on. This is why Casinos and the Lottery make so much money. They prey on our desperation to get rich.
Unfortunately, social media and gamified apps push our FOMO and force us to want more. There is so much room for education here, and we need it.
Doctors & Lawyers Still Dominate Earnings in the US
No wonder parents want their kids to be lawyers and doctors. Nothing has changed here. 58.6% of surgeons and 33% of all doctors are in the top 1% of earners in the US. Barriers to entry are high because it takes 11 years to become a doctor. Once you've made it, you're then protected by state laws that restrict competition from lower-cost workers. 18% of GDP flows through a small number of doctors in the US according to this article.
I'm very interested in doing a mini-season on the US healthcare system and diving in deeper.
Want Help with Your Website?
Julian Shapiro is an expert in growing tech companies. Having a great website that drives sign-ups and engagement is a major part of having a successful website. Julian is so giving with knowledge. If you want to get some tips on how to make your website better, read this thread. I will be doing so to see how I can make the Talk Money website better.
How NFTs Will Empower Artists to Earn More
Chris Dixon is a partner at the venture capital firm a16z and wrote this amazing piece on NFTs. Read it! We covered NFTs (non-fungible tokens) in our last issue. Here Chris explains how NFTs can allow creators to monetize directly with their fans by offering some digital media- art, video, gifs etc. He explains why this is better than traditional methods because the intermediaries are cut out. You don't need to reach millions of people to make a great living. You only need a small few who really love your work.
That's all the news from this past week! If I was to make this newsletter into a Youtube show, would you watch it?
If you haven't already subscribed to my podcast, Talk Money, do so here. New episode next Wednesday!
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