Harsh conditions
China's cracking system, livable wages, and Bobby Lee
What’s up guys, it’s Graham here. If it’s your first time here, hit the subscribe button below to join 40,100+ smart investors and never miss an update on the market again. It only takes a second.
For the last 30 years, China has been at the forefront of production, international investment, and rapid productivity – but last year, we saw some cracks in the financial system when China’s real estate bubble started popping and consumers started rushing to banks to withdraw their funds. I had written earlier about the disaster waiting to happen and how it might all go down.
Well, those fears are now growing again with the world’s second-largest superpower hitting unprecedented levels of debt putting its financial infrastructure under extreme strain. The situation is so bad that the government has withheld youth unemployment data as they look for a solution in the meantime. Here’s everything you need to know about the current crisis, my thoughts on where this is headed, and most importantly, what it means for your money:
“Livable” wage
With the cost of living and minimum wage becoming a talking point over the last year, NBC News has been digging into the question of what a “livable” wage is – how much the average American would need to make every year to cover their bills in different parts of America. Obviously, this is going to vary a lot, depending on whether you live in a place like Ohio vs. a place like Manhattan where just rents could set you back by $50,000 a year. Here’s what I discovered from the report, and my thoughts on what this means for you and your money:
What region of the country do you live in and what’s the minimum a household needs to earn to cover living expenses there? Does the NBC video resonate with your experience?
Job hopper
I used to think that Caleb Hammer’s show is a financial audit show, but I’m beginning to realize that it’s something else – it’s a diagnosis of all the reasons Americans struggle with financial stability. A lot of those reasons are actually under their control. This week, Caleb had on 27-year-old Ben from Austin, Texas who had switched 5 jobs in a span of 3 months and was on his way to his next job interview. Before this, he had tried to start his own T-shirt business and hit meditation retreats in Eastern Europe. I’m not going to lie, he does seem like an adventurous guy, but when it comes to building wealth, his approach is a disaster. Here’s Caleb’s breakdown of his finances and what I think:
How the rich get richer
If you’ve heard statements like “The rich keep getting richer” and that the system favors the rich, but didn’t know what these were based on, you might be interested in this one. I stumbled upon a documentary titled “Why the rich get richer: Money in the World Economy” and decided to give it a watch… The documentary turned up a lot of interesting stats and data that I had missed before this, but also some things that didn’t match with my experience. Here’s my take on the documentary and what you need to know about how the system works:
The Iced Coffee Hour
On last week’s episode of the Iced Coffee Hour, we had a guest unlike any we’ve had before. Comedian Bobby Lee turned up on the show and had zero filters, having fun and putting us on the spot with uncomfortable questions that went in directions I could have never anticipated. Hearing how he built his career and audience by doubling down on his strengths and being persistent was really inspiring. Here’s the full, unedited episode:
So that’s it for my weekly round-up. See you next week with another bunch of exciting videos!
And force of habit – Smash that like button to help others find this newsletter. Hit that subscribe button if you haven’t done so already!
Our “common heritage”. Never forget that you belong to an economy that allows wealthy people, enjoying first class freedoms, to invest in companies that repeatedly misuse our science, our tax dollars, our highway and healthcare systems, even our sunlight, water, plants, and soils while exploiting our labor, too, all of this only to help sweeten, for instance, a highly addictive drug and package it the into a small, stylish container, then give it a cool name like “Tyson 2.0 Heavy Weight 7000 Puff disposable vape pod system from Mike Tyson” to better guarantee their tobacco industry a new generation of young people dependent on useless products, smoking nicotine every day for the rest of their shortened, lung-crusted lives.