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  • #87: Cutting Rates & Content for October's Commutes

#87: Cutting Rates & Content for October's Commutes

Plus: A Fall 2-DO To Rejuvenate Your Health

Welcome back, and welcome to October 🍂 

Once again, peeling back the OTF curtain:

Normally at week’s end, when prepping the following week’s edition, I sit down with my team and hash out the lineup for the newsletter. Which sections will we include this week? When was the last time we included ________? Do we have room to squeeze in ________? Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera…

But no more. Moving forward, you will see the same lineup each week of the month, rotating like clockwork. So the first edition of each month will have the following lineup (tho perhaps not always in the same order):

  • Making Cents

  • Hustle Hub

  • Content for Your Commute

  • Expert Advice

  • 2-DO

It benefits us from an efficiency standpoint, and my hope is that the consistency makes your readings experience that much more enjoyable.

Let’s get to it.

Kick-Starting October With 🍂 

Elevating Your Brand 🤝 

  • Hustle Hub: Going Heavy on Entrepreneurship

Boosting Your Productivity 📊 

  • A October 2 DO For a Health Boost

Fattening The Wallet 💰️ 

  • Making Cents of Interest Rates

  • Expert Advice on How to Handle the Rate Cut

  • An All-Finance Content for Your Commute

Making Cents 💰️ 

What Is Going On With Interest Rates?

Short and Sweet: The Federal Reserve has cut interest rates 🎉, and you may be have some questions. Let’s start with some basics

Q: What is the Federal Reserve?

A: The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States, responsible for the country's financial system.

Q: Who runs it?

A: This guy 👇️ 

Bankrate

His name is Jerome Powell, and he first took the reins as Chairman of the Fed in February 2018. He was sworn into a second term in May 2022, which keeps him in the driver’s seat until May 2026.

The Most Important Q: What’s up with the rate cut?

A: Since inflation appears to be (somewhat) under control, according to Bankrate, Interest Rates were cut by 50 basis points by the Federal Reserve over the last two weeks.

Why It Matters: Because lower interest rates now make it cheaper for both consumers and businesses to borrow money, which can encourage spending and investing.

Courtesy of The Federal Reserve Website:

Lower interest rates, for example, often encourage more people to obtain a mortgage for a home or to borrow money for an automobile or home improvements.

Lower rates also can encourage businesses to borrow funds to invest in expansion, such as purchasing new equipment, updating plants, or hiring more workers.

Conversely, higher interest rates can restrain such borrowing by consumers and businesses, which can prevent excesses from building in the economy.”

O.T.F. 
O.F.T - One Final Thought

I am not at the lunch table with a buncha bankers, and I certainly don’t sit on the board alongside Jerome Powell at The Federal Reserve. But I do have a passion for understanding what’s going on in the world of finance because I was raised in a household that didn’t pay nearly enough attention to it.

Obviously, once I present you with the information, which I always attempt to present in the most accessible way possible, it is up to you to decide how you want to use it. But my hope is that you do use it. Everything the Fed and other financial institutions do affects us in some way; assuming that you can ignore it because it won’t impact you is not the way to fatten your wallet. In fact, the exact opposite is likely to occur.

Hustle Hub 📈 

Content For Your Commute 🚶🚆 🚗 

  • ON FOOT: Get better with money during your short walk to the office with either of the following podcasts:

    - Optimal Finance Daily (10 minutes per episode, every day)
    - Planet Money (15 to 30 minutes per episode, Wednesdays and Fridays)

  • TRAIN TIME: If your commute is longer than a half hour, check out Prof G Markets Podcast (a recent favorite of mine), where Scott Galloway breaks down what’s going on in the financial world (like interest rates). Disclaimer: the pod often employs humor that some may find questionable, so consider yourself warned 🤣

  • FIRST CLASS: Want to learn more about the Federal Reserve, one of the “most powerful and least understood American institutions?” The next time you get on a plane for work, dive into Limitless: The Federal Reserve Takes on a New Age of Crisis, one of NPR’s Best Books of 2023.

Expert Advice 💭 

 What is The Today Show?
  • We don’t need to do that, do we? Morning show on NBC that’s been on for almost 75 years?

O.T.F. 
O.F.T - One Final Thought

My main takeaway from this video is that there is no need to rush. You don’t have to run out and buy a house or secure a car loan ASAP. In fact, the Fed is scheduled to meet again after the election, where they may lower rates some more. Seems to me that January 2025 might be the time to act.

2 DO FOR YOU: OCTOBER 💡🍁 

1. Enjoy That Fall Foliage

We regularly use this space to encourage some form of outdoor activity because of all the benefits to your physical and mental well-being. As October progresses, those fall colors are gonna start to set in, so we’re recommending that you take some time for yourself and your family to enjoy them. To assist you, here is a list of the best fall foliage destinations in every US state.

2. Eat Healthier Over the Next Few Weeks

Halloween is 30 days away. When it arrives, there’ll be Halloween parties and trick-or-treating and all sorts of opportunities to satisfy that sweet tooth. And when November sets in, you’ll probably have a bunch of leftover candy tempting you for the foreseeable future. So in the weeks leading up to Halloween, do your best to cut down on the treats.

Before You Go

We hope you enjoyed this week’s edition. Next week, we’ll be back with Cool Communicator, Food For Thought, and much more.

See you then!

You are now On The Fly and In The Know.