💁♂️ May I Take Your Order?
One of the conversations I had with Rickie* this week was on the topic of serving our community in the right way. The initial goal of creating social channels was to help and share personal financial knowledge with more people.
As part of this journey, I realized that eventually, most content creators get to a point where they start to measure their success with the main metric they have available to them: subscribers. And that’s because the journey is long & difficult, and it’s hard to gauge how “successful” your message is getting through to other people. One often defaults to “subscribers” to gauge their success - since it’s the easiest metric to point to. And I’ve been guilty of this in the past. Once this happens, it’s easy to get caught up in making content just for the views.
Instead, a better gauge of success are the comments and DMs I receive from the community saying that they took action after watching or reading the content we put out.
I’m writing this to you now to let you know that while views and subscribers will always exist as metrics, our true goal is to inspire you to take action with your own personal finances. Some will be vocal and leave a comment or DM, but the majority do not - but I am still hoping that the message is getting to you regardless :)
I also want to ask YOU for your input - what types of content are YOU trying to see? What parts of Personal Finance do you feel like intimidate you still? You can reply directly via to this email (I’ll get it), or comment on this thread.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know what was on my mind - and what’s been happening this week. We’ll still be releasing content on a weekly cadence, lately I’ve been shooting for 2 videos a week (Monday/Friday) but upcoming are some holiday weekends that may slow down the content schedule a bit.
Thanks! -Humphrey & Rickie
* Rickie is part of the team and helps with this Newsletter, Editing here and there, and Patreon.
RH: Hey all, glad to have the chance to provide value to all you newsletter/YouTube subscribers! My background is accounting and finance and through this, I hope to help Humphrey create content that ignites a passion for personal finance.
In the Markets
Weekly News Roundup
Here’s What Your Budget Should Look Like If You Make $50,000 A Year (CNBC)
A good 2 minute video on the illustration of the 50/30/20 Rule of Budgeting. 50% Needs, 30% Wants, 20% Savings.
HY: This is a pretty good beginner rule of budgeting. The example in the video isn’t the BEST, the “Needs” in the video seem too low for a metropolitan area, but the way the video categorizes expenses and spending is great if you’re a visual learner. Give it a watch if you’re struggling with budgeting ideas.
Amazon’s Planned Purchase of MGM Faces FTC Scrutiny (WSJ)
In an effort to boost its Prime Video streaming platform, Amazon announced a deal to acquire MGM. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) pushed to be the agency to review the acquisition in addition to their already ongoing antitrust investigation into Amazon’s business practices.
HY: No surprise here. Amazon already owns too many parts of our every-day lives. Eventually some of these mega-corps are going to be asked to spin off some of their acquisitions if deemed to be monopolistic. Still, the timeline on that is probably a long-way away (5+ Years).
Supreme Court Allows More Athlete Compensation in NCAA Loss (BBG)
The Supreme Court ruled in favor that would allow student-athletes to be compensated. Schools will now be able to provide more education-related benefits, including computers, internships and academic achievement awards.
RH: They should have been compensated a long time ago but better late than never!
HY: Agreed. NCAA Players get a lot of views / provide a lot of entertainment. Some compensation is needed.
In Case You Missed It
Two YouTube videos this week - one on budgeting and one on the differences between Vanguard and Fidelity! Enjoy.