#104 Financial Lessons and Front-Page Trends

Welcoming you back with a milestone!

OTF celebrated its 2nd birthday last Friday. Don’t worry if you didn’t get us a present or anything. We’re not into the standard birthday party sort-of celebration. No presents. No party hats. No cake.

Unless we’re talking about CAKE 💰💰

In that case, LET’S EAT!

Kicking Off Year 3 With…

FATTENING THE WALLET 💰️ 

• Making Cents of 7 Lessons From My 20’s

ELEVATING YOUR BRAND 📈 

• Insider Secrets, China’s AI Slayer, and an Equation for Success in this Week’s Did You Know
  

• The Search Bar: Business, Crypto, and Product Trends
  

• Companies Making Major Moves, Including a Startup Merging with TikTok?

BOOSTING YOUR PRODUCTIVITY 🚀 

• Investing, Inspiration, Acceleration in Today’s Hustle Hub

MAKING CENTS 💰️ 

7 Lessons I Learned in My 20s

Short and Sweet: There are many lessons I’ve learned, but I’ve boiled them down to 7.

• Network With Intention (Opportunities come from people)

• Invest Early, Even If It’s Small (Time is your greatest ally)

• Build an Emergency Fund (Security feels good)

• Diversify Income Streams (Become recession-proof)

• Negotiate Everything (Your pay, bills, and even purchases)

• Ask for Financial Advice (From mentors, experts, friends)

• Stay Up-to-Date on Markets (Make informed decisions)

Q&A Time:

Why is networking with intention so powerful?

• Intention means connecting with people who align with your goals, values, or industries of interest. Go beyond collecting LinkedIn connections and focus on genuine relationships.

How can I invest early if I feel like I don’t have enough money?

• Start with $20. Start with whatever you’d buy coffee for. Whatever it is, just start. The earlier you put your money into the market, the longer it has to grow. Don’t know what stocks to start with? Check out the best index funds for January (from Bankrate).

Why is building an emergency fund important?

• As you get older, you will take more risks. But even scarier? The unexpected will happen. A random medical bill, your transmission fails, home repairs, etc. It’s advised to have at least 6 months of your current monthly expenses saved so you can have peace of mind, especially if (worst case scenario) you part ways with your employer.

What’s the best way to start diversifying income streams?

• Think of skills or hobbies you already have. Could you freelance, start consulting, or monetize something you enjoy doing? I love this takeaway from The Algebra of Wealth by Scott Galloway - follow your talents, not your passions.

Why is it so important to negotiate everything, and how do I do it effectively?

• Every dollar you negotiate is another dollar in your pocket. Approach negotiations with research and confidence.

How can asking for financial advice improve my financial literacy?

• Other people’s experiences are shortcuts to your success. Whether it’s a mentor, a friend who works on Wall Street, or a professional you hire, their insights can help you avoid costly mistakes and uncover opportunities you didn’t know existed.

How do I stay informed about markets without feeling overwhelmed?

• Curate your feed. Follow trusted newsletters (*cough, cough* OTF, cough*) and Instagram accounts that align with industries you want to stay informed on. Don’t know where to start? Ask someone who works in finance and take it from there.

O.T.F. 
O.F.T - One Final Thought

These lessons are the results of various experiences I had and mistakes I made throughout my 20s. I’m 31 now, so that’s 11 years of learning. If you’re younger, you don’t need to have everything about personal finance figured out already. And there will be lessons you learn that are crucial for you but didn’t make my Top 7. We all require and value different things.

But if you can use my experiences as a shortcut to your success, that’s a step in the right direction.

Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready.

THE SEARCH BAR 🔎 

January 2025

• 9 Top Business Trends (courtesy of Exploding Topics) - OTF’s favorite trends newsletter put out this post recently, and it is a banger. Relatively deep dives on nine different trends, including Generative AI and Growth in E-Commerce.
  

• Top Trending Cryptos (past 24 hrs) - Rumor has it that crypto’s gonna be unleashed soon (but who knows 🤷‍♂️). In the event that’s true, I prefer CoinMarketCap to stay up-to-date on my crypto risers and fallers. Here’s what’s trending right now:

• Top-Selling Items on Amazon (as of 1/13) - As with all these categories, knowing what’s trending can help you in a variety of ways. It may give you inspiration for a small business or side hustle; it may help you find a product or service that’ll make your life easier; and it gives you conversation topics for networking. Staying informed on what’s popular is always a good thing, even if you don’t take part in it.

HUSTLE HUB 🤝 

YOUR SUCCESS:

Get Invested - Navigating the stock market can be tough if you don’t know where to start. Check this out, courtesy of Motley Fool.

THEIR SUCCESS:

Get Inspired - A garage side hustle that brought in over $200K in three months? Let’s learn from it!

YOUR SUCCESS:

Get GOING - Want to accelerate your success? There’s a daily 1-minute activity that can help get you there. Check it out.

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DID YOU KNOW 🕺

• Self-Interest: Did you know there’s a tried-and-true, 89-year-old equation that’s “the key to lifelong success?”
  

• Human Interest: Did you see those former employees - some from MAJOR companies we frequent - sharing insider secrets?
  

• Artificial Interest: Did you hear about the Chinese AI company that singlehandedly tanked American tech stocks this week?

MAJOR MOVES 🗞️ 

AI, Tech & Retail

• perplexity ai - Fans of TikTok were relieved when the shutdown ended only hours after it began, but that doesn’t mean the saga behind the shutdown is over. There are still concerns about the Chinese parent company, but one of 2024’s hottest AI startups is trying to offer a solution.
  
  “U.S. search engine startup Perplexity AI has revised a merger proposal…to create a new entity combining Perplexity and TikTok U.S. The proposal calls for the U.S government to own up to 50% of the new company…once it goes through an IPO of a valuation of at least $300 billion.” 
  
  So the majority owner would be…the US government? There’s literally too much to unpack here 🤣
  

• APPLE - One tech stock that dodged the DeepSeek slump? The immortal, invincible 🍎
  
  “On a bad day for the US technology sector, Apple was a notable outperformer…the company’s relatively low spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure might make it a defensive pick for those worried about an AI bubble.”
  
  While the stock is down over the past month, the future, unsurprisingly, looks bright.
  

• WALMART - The last time Walmart graced one of our editions, it was the CEO expressing worry over tariffs, admitting that their prices would go up. This most recent move, however, projects confidence as opposed to concern.
  
  “Walmart is adding $25K in stock grants to market managers…[making] the managers eligible for $100K in stock grants annually. They also raised the minimum salary for market managers, who typically oversee about a dozen stores, from $130K to $160K…additionally, these managers may now earn an annual bonus of up to 100% of their salary.

  
  The article goes on to say that the total compensation for Walmart market manager could reach 620K. 👏 (Good for them)

Before You Go!

Thanks for joining us for another edition of OTF.

Next week, we’ll be back with February’s 1st edition, which will include Making Cents of Crypto, a brand new 2-DO fit for our shortest month and more.

In the meantime, please respond to our latest poll on your way out!

Community Poll 📊 

Last Week’s Poll Results:

DO YOU USE AI IN YOUR DAY-TO-DAY JOB?

• YES - 37.5%

• NO - 62.5%

See you next Tuesday 🤝 

Find me on LinkedIn & Instagram

You are now On The Fly & In The Know.