🏈 Don’t Fumble Your Finances

TL;DR: See you in Miami? Airlines points investigation, Lululemon flops & Wolverine Bitcoin

Happy Saturday friends, 

It’s officially the best part of the year, spooky season, fall, and football. 

If you are in the Miami area, we’d like to invite you to come to the Startup World Cup regional finals. This competition gives us a chance to represent Miami on the global stage (and a chance for $1 million prize)! The event will take place on Saturday, Sept 14th. We’d love to see you there; sign up here: https://www.startupworldcupmiami.com/

Now, onto the fun stuff. On Friday, jobs data reported that 142k new jobs were added, but the unemployment rate is 7.9%, the highest since January 2021. I don’t want to spook you, but this is a sign of a slowdown. BUT - this is expected every few years (everything is cyclical). But you will want to prepare for a slowdown in a couple of ways, first with an emergency high-yield savings account and second by getting some new skills. Remember, the best players get to the 🏈 Super Bowl because they are constantly learning and practicing (with great coaches) throughout the years.

Markets had a tough time this week with questions around big tech, AI, earnings, the political drama, but as we always say, when in doubt,  Zoom out. The S&P -3.64%, Nasdaq -5.44%, Dow -2.47%. 

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Market Watch👀

Lululemon’s Stretch Test - Remember when Lululemon was THE brand for yoga wear? Well, they’re still growing, with revenue rising steadily. So, why has their stock dropped nearly 50% since its 2023 high? Cooling growth expectations, a missed product launch (hello, Breezethrough leggings), fierce competition from Vuori and Alo Yoga, and the departure of their Chief Product Officer have raised concerns. The pandemic-fueled athleisure boom has also cooled, leaving Lululemon navigating a saturated market. While their fundamentals remain strong, investors are questioning how much room they have left to grow?

Got miles? - The U.S. Department of Transportation is digging into Delta, American, United, and others for potential shady practices in their loyalty programs. Customers are fed up with constantly shifting rules like airlines hiking up the points needed for flights and limiting the number of reward seats. If you rely on miles for your vacations, this investigation could shake things up big time.

Billionaire Beauty - Selena Gomez just hit billionaire status, and most of it comes from her beauty brand, Rare Beauty. With 424 million Instagram followers, Selena’s influence has skyrocketed sales, proving the power of a loyal following. She’s part of a growing trend of celebrities building wealth through brands.

💰 Crypto Corner

Bitcoin’s Meh Moment 😐 Four months after the latest halving, Bitcoin’s price is actually down yes, down by about 8%. Compare that to previous halvings, where we usually saw a 22% boost, and you might be wondering. What's changed?

For those new here, the Bitcoin halving is an event that happens every four years, cutting the reward miners get for adding a block to the blockchain in half. The idea is that less Bitcoin being created should make the existing Bitcoin more valuable. Simple supply and demand, right?

However, it’s evident that the halving isn’t yielding the same impact this time.

Why the Halving Effect is Fading:

📈 The Real Movers: This year, Bitcoin had a nice rally, but that wasn’t thanks to the halving. Nope, it was the Bitcoin ETF approval back in January that got everyone excited. It’s more of a demand story than a supply one.

🛠️ Tiny Miner Impact: Even if all miners sold their rewards right away, it would barely make a dent in the market. So, the scarcity effect? Not as big as it used to be.

🌐 It’s Not Just About Bitcoin: The market’s maturing. There’s a whole lot of other digital assets out there now, which means Bitcoin’s dominance isn’t what it used to be.

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In Abundance,
Joyce and Laura