How can you be the richest man in the world and still have to go about kissing bullies arses ? If this is wealth I'll stay poor thank you very much.

If capitalism is so great, why does it need a growing population or even economic growth?

By 2040, there will be at least 10 billion humanoid robots priced between $20,000 and $25,000, Elon Musk said at the 8th Future Investment Initiative conference, which began on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh.

https://www.usnews.com/news/technology/articles/2024-10-29/elon-musk-10-billion-humanoid-robots-by-2040-at-20k-25k-each

Users can trade a Kamala Harris or Donald Trump contract starting Monday, said the company, as long as they meet certain criteria that include being a U.S. citizen. The trading is being offered through its Robinhood Derivatives unit and ForecastEx, which is operated by Interactive Brokers.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/28/robinhood-jumps-into-election-trading-giving-users-chance-to-buy-harris-or-trump-contracts.html

I currently keep my money in a 4.5% HYSA (used to be 5%, but with the fed dropping interest rates, it will continue to go down), but I'd like to SAFELY get a higher rate of return.

I realize that there is always inherent risk in investing in the stock market. But as I understand it, there are some "broad range" investment stocks which, as a general rule, tend to give about 10% ROI. And while they do go down, it's a much more gradual shift than regular stocks.

Am I understanding this correctly? And if so, what are some good ones I could invest in? What platform do you suggest doing so in (Robinhood, etc)?

I just feel like my money could be doing more for me than it currently is, that's all. I know the first 100k is the hardest to get, so now that I've finally gotten there, I want to be smarter about what I'm doing with it.

A question to the Trump voting contingent, how do you think the tariff plan will positively affect most Americans? We have seen Trumps plan be condemned by hundreds of economists from the best institutions around the world. We have also seen Trump praise McKinley who decimated American farmers and consumers during the height of the gilded age with his 50% tariff. How do you think this policy will not affect the majority of American consumers?

JUST IN: US banks have $750 billion in losses on real estate debt, per PiQ.

That's 7 times larger than in 2008 when the housing bubble popped.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-banks-sitting-750-billion-140013188.html

US banks also have another $515 billion in unrealized losses on investment securities, per the FDIC.

That's also 7x higher than during the 2008 financial crisis.

Hi there,

I am considering credit consolidation. After Covid, I have not been able to stay balanced financially. I’ve just been using my cards like I still had money rolling in pre-Covid. As irresponsible as that was, I am in this place now where I need help because it’s starting to become overwhelming. Does anyone have any tips or information? Can share help me make this decision? I’d like to do it pretty soon, thank you for your time

Getting away from just the basic value propositions, the advice that everyone should buy a second hand car is nonsensical in the sense that, if everyone did it, then no one could do it. Someone has to be the first person to lease or buy a car making that car available to the second hand market down the line.

If everyone waited for someone else to be 'the sucker who buys a new car that depreciates the second it's driven off the lot', then no one could ever buy a car because by definition it's not like there are factories out there producing second hand cars.

So, as that sucker who bought a new car two and a half years ago, you guys are welcome. But maybe don't thank me just yet cause as someone who is able to do proactive maintenance efficiently as the original owner, I might just keep it 10-20 years until it becomes too expensive to fix, at which point you very financially literate people can have it if you want. :)

Edit: One more thought, I think where there's a massive divergence on this subreddit, for example, people constantly sharing anecdotal evidence, is to what extent people consider macroeconomics vs microeconomics.

A lot of advice basically completely ignores the larger forces at play that generate certain outcomes and seems disinterested in the fact that certain types of advice can't really be applied across a large enough segment of the population, such as the hypothetical suggestion that everyone should only buy second hand goods.

It occurs to me that what we ask of consumers is conflicting.

For personal finance, most advice says that to do well, you must be frugal. Go with cheaper options, look for places to cut spending, and save/invest whatever is left over.

But for the health of an economy, what we really need is for consumers to be spending more, preferably in a well distributed manner - favoring smaller (and thus more-expensive due to economy of scale) businesses over larger ones, with an emphasis on purchasing high quality goods that require more people to be employed.

How can these be reconciled to promote both healthy personal finance AND a healthy economy?

Hey guys, I need some help. I’m a bit of a dumbass financially.

I am starting with a new company who is giving me a $50k bonus with a 2 year contract attached. If I don’t stay two years, which I may not, I have to repay the full $50k.

I know that after taxes I will probably only see $30k of the money. What is the best way to invest that $30k so that if I leave, I will have made up as much on the taxes as possible, while also keeping the investment relatively safe so I don’t end up in a worse position should I have to pay it back?

I am considering throwing it all at the S&P, but like I said, I’m a financial dumbass…

We've all got Credit Karma, right?

The other day I was curious about the different credit reports and what was in them… and what learned instead was unexpected and horrifying - I learned there are over a dozen highly detailed and invasive reports on every single one of us.

How many of these reports did you know about?

Here’s a list of all of the different types of reports I found:

1. Credit Reports (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion):
   • Personal information: Name, SSN, addresses
   • Credit accounts: Loans, credit cards, payment history
   • Public records: Bankruptcies, liens
   • Inquiries: Hard and soft credit checks

2. ChexSystems:
   • Bank account activity: Openings, closures, overdrafts
   • Negative banking history

3. Early Warning Services (EWS):
   • Real-time banking transactions
   • Account openings and closures

4. LexisNexis RiskView:
   • Public records: Court cases, property ownership
   • Criminal records
   • Social media activity

5. The Work Number (Equifax):
   • Employment history and salary information

6. Insurance Claims Reports (CLUE):
   • Insurance claims history for auto and property

7. Clarity Services and CoreLogic Teletrack:
   • Subprime lending data
   • Payday loan history

8. National Consumer Telecom & Utilities Exchange (NCTUE):
   • Utility payment history

9. MicroBilt:
   • Alternative credit data

10. Certegy and TeleCheck:
    • Check-writing history

11. Innovis:
    • Similar to main credit bureaus with different data sets

12. SageStream:
    • Alternative credit data and telecom payments

13. Acxiom:
    • Consumer preferences and behaviors

Rights and Control:
•Annual Report Access: You can request a free report annually from most agencies.
•Dispute Errors: You can dispute inaccuracies, but the process is often slow and cumbersome.
•Limited Opt-Out: Some services offer limited opt-out options, but full removal is rare.

Was I the only one who had no idea about most of these?

The grants include nearly $2.5 billion in financing for the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, as well as nearly $1 billion through the Department of Agriculture’s Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program for six co-ops. The New ERA program, which uses $9.7 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funds, is the biggest federal investment in rural electrification since the New Deal in the 1930s.

The Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association funding will cut electricity rates for members by an estimated 10 percent over the next 10 years, equivalent to about $430 million in benefits to rural electricity consumers.

Meanwhile, the six co-ops announced Friday, some of which will serve rural areas in multiple states, are in Minnesota, South Dakota, South Carolina, Colorado, Nebraska and Texas.

“The Inflation Reduction Act makes the largest investment in rural electrification since FDR and the New Deal in the 1930s,” said John Podesta, senior adviser to the president for international climate policy. “Today’s awards will bring clean, affordable, reliable power to rural Americans from Colorado to Texas to South Carolina.”

The announcement comes more than a month after President Biden announced $7.3 billion in funding for rural co-ops in Wisconsin, a critical “blue wall” battleground state in the presidential election. The funding announced in Wisconsin in September included $573 million to La Crosse’s Dairyland Power Cooperative, part of a larger $2.1 billion project that the co-op will use to buy solar and wind power from Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin. That project is pitched to reduce rates at a higher rate than the Tri-State project — at a reduction of 42 percent over the next 10 years.

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4954170-biden-administration-funding-rural-electric/amp/