🍽️ Taylor Swift has common sense

Hey Future Funders Family,

Happy Monday!

So our data is telling us that today might be a better day to send out our weekly content, but what do you think? 

Lastly, just a reminder that there are 13 days until we announce the winner of our $100 Amazon gift card prize. Refer at least 1 person to enter with the links at the bottom of this email to enter. 

Ok, let's get to it!

💬 Quote Of The Week 

📰  Headlines That Matter

Government 

The U.S. Debt Ceiling Debate (And Why You Should Yawn)

🚀 The quick version: So short story here is the donkeys and elephants in Washington seem to be unable to agree again on how to manage a budget (shocker).

The U.S. debt ceiling needs to be raised (for the 79th time)... so cue the media headlines because the sky is falling. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was even on Wall Street recently unveiling his plan and warning investors about the looming crisis if we don't bring debt levels down.

Turns out that he may not even have enough votes in his own party to pass his plan and may have to negotiate with the Democrats (who also don't seem to have anything constructive to say on the matter). 

Media headlines on this topic will likely pick up over the next few weeks as negotiations continue with the government to run out of funding sometime before July.

👪 How it affects you:  In terms of how this news affects real families, like most things the media hypes up, we would generally say: it doesn't.

The real immediate consequences of an agreement delay would be felt more by people who either A) work for a federal agency that has to shut down for a bit or B) would be inconvenienced by missing a trip to a national park or federally managed site because it was shut down for a brief period.

That said, this doesn't mean the U.S. government can go on without a balanced budget forever, we just wouldn't get too worked up right now. Instead, here are a few things you can do that are more productive that letting the media scare you:

• Talk to the kids about debt and credit scores. You can even give them a head start and raise their credit score before they turn 18.

• Talk about this headline at home as a way to have constructive conversations about the importance of balancing a budget (and get the kids involved).

• Don't let it deter you from investing! Continue to investigate things like a Treasury ladder if you are worried about near term stock market volatility.

Culture

Taylor Swift Has Common Sense  

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried went around convincing everyone from Tom Brady to Shaq that his crypto currency exchange was legit in exchange for a mix of equity and endorsements... but it seems that Ms. Swift was the only one who actually did her due diligence.  

Ms. Swift was considering an endorsement deal in the summer of 2021 reportedly worth up to $100 million, and during the discovery process asked, "Can you tell me that these are not unregistered securities?". In simple language this means, "do regulation agencies have supervision and insight into what you are doing?".

The FTX founder could not answer the question, and it saved Ms. Swift not only an investment loss but a class action lawsuit that is now aimed at other endorsers for up to $5 billion.  

Taylor Swift's father had a career in finance, so we can assume he may have taught her a thing or two... which makes this dad of two little girls very hopeful that just teaching our kids to ask questions and to have curiosity can help them make wise financial decisions down the road.

When it comes to investing, here are some topics to get the conversation started with your kids:

• Basic investing terms for the kids (and parents)

• Steps professional investors go through to invest in a stock

• Investing books for kids 12 and under

• Investing books for teens and parents

💡 Few People Know...

🧑‍💼 Not sure if you need to switch jobs? Answer these questions and find out for yourself.

⛽ Don't wait, fill up your gas tank today. GasBuddy notes that prices are on the rise again and several markets could see prices per gallon rise 15 to 40 cents in the next few weeks.  

✈️ Get a refund on the airline ticket you just bought. Google just rolled out a price guarantee on selected flights. So if you paid more for a ticket than it is currently selling for, they will cut you a refund check.  

🧾 Collect your check from Facebook now. Facebook just settled a $725 million lawsuit and if you used the platform from 2007 to 2022 you can get some of that. 

🙏 Case of the Mondays? Take a look through these rose colored glasses. This famous test created by legendary investor Warren Buffet will help you put things into perspective. (This is also a great dinner table discussion with your family!).  

🚸 Lock in your babysitter today. Don't believe us? Check out how much babysitter pay has risen due to labor shortages and inflation. Might be a good time to lock your babysitter into a long term deal (or get your older kids working asap). 

🍨 Ice cream for breakfast? Before you laugh off this request from the kids, it's worth checking out this study on ice cream and health.

🚗 Buying a car anytime soon? The Treasury Department just announced the 22 electric cars that qualify for all or part of the $7,500 tax credit under the new rules. 

🗓️ The Week Ahead

Week of April 24th 

Expect to see lots of headlines of companies reporting their quarterly earnings this week. Coca Cola, McDonald's, Google, UPS, Amazon, Visa, Microsoft and Facebook will highlight one of the heaviest earnings weeks of the season. Expect to hear continued caution on the future economic picture.  

April 27th 

National Teach Children To Save Day is a valuable part of Financial Literacy Month. We have some tips on how to do this creatively and get the whole family involved. 

April 27th

Today is also National Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work Day. Whether you like your job or not, this can be a great opportunity to start teaching the kids about the three main ways to earn money.

🔍 Topic of Focus

Teaching Tool of The Month: April

Every month we are highlighting one teaching tool that has our stamp of approval in helping parents or grown ups put the FUN in teaching the fundamentals of finance. For April we wanted to highlight our free college savings calculator as a way to teach the power of compound interest, investing, and how to properly save for your kid's education.