šš· Pfizer, Moderna or Other?
The delta variant continues to threaten our āhot vax summerā, and our economy. I saw a fascinating chart from WSJ that Iāll link below that shows counties with high vaccination rates have lower death rates than those that donāt, which means that the vaccine is in fact working or at least lessening the blow of COVID if one were to get it.
According to the data, roughly 50.6% of the US is fully vaccinated and 59% have at least one dose as of August 6th, 2021. On June 1, 41.4% of the US population was fully vaccinated. That means in the past 2 months, only an additional 9% of the population got fully vaccinated. Adoption rates for vaccines are slowing down. I guess this is normal human behavior, all the people that would have gotten it already have gotten it, and the remainder are those who sit on the fence about the science or the health effects of the vaccine. I have plenty of friends who have confided that they have not received it yet, and most of them do not want it. To answer the emailās subject line, I received Moderna back in April/May and am being cautious when I can, but I also live in a cautious area of the nation (the Bay Area).
Whether or not you get vaccinated is up to you but from a financial perspective if the delta variant continues to uptick, and our government reacts in some way or another, then our economy and markets could be threatened again, we just donāt know by how much, or how long.
Anyway, I was going through my finances for the year so far and calculated that as of today, Iām spending 42% of my income, and 58% of it is being saved/invested. Sounds good enough right? I want it to be better. Iād like to get to a place where Iām living off 10-20% of my income. It may be a good time to check how much of a % of income youāre saving vs spending as we head into Q3/Q4. In Q4, consumer spending naturally goes up due to the holidays. Also, with things being reopen for the past 2 months in the US, spending has naturally gone up for most people. Take a moment to check on your finances this week.
More YouTube content on the way! I am getting back into it, hope to see you on the channel :)
Humphrey
In the Markets
Upcoming Earnings
Weekly News Roundup
Exxon Considers Pledging āNet Zeroā Carbon by 2050 (WSJ)
In what would amount to a significant strategic shift by the oil company, Exxon CEO described the potential for ambitious carbon reduction targets going as far as considering a pledge to have net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
HY: Speaking to a PhD level researcher on carbon emissions, the #1 thing people can do to reduce carbon footprint is to not take air-travel. However, seeing companies pledge to get to carbon net zero is a good thing, will it be too late by 2050 though?
Walmart, Among Other Companies, are Requiring Employees to get Vaccinated by October (CNBC)
A number of companies including Walmart and Disney are requiring employees to be vaccinated by a certain date. Equinox and SoulCycle are requiring proof of vaccination and Vanguard is offering $1,000 to employees to get vaccinated.
HY: Wow can I work at Vanguard? Lmao. I think no surprise here, and we may see more and more companies take this approachā¦ compliance from employees on the other hand, is questionable.
Target to Pay 100% of College Tuition and Textbooks in Bid to Attract Workers (CNBC)
In the midst of the highest unemployment we have seen in years, companies are taking to never before seen measures to entice people to work for them. Target is only the latest company to dangle perks with hopes of wooing candidates.
HY: This speaks more to how expensive textbooks are. We have a high unemployment rate but we also have a record number of job openings. The problem is that the skills of the unemployed and the job recs arenāt aligned.
In Case You Missed It
Last week I got the chance to go to NYC to interview Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev. I did get some flack for this interview (because people online hate Robinhood), but it was a good opportunity and hopefully it means we can bring more special guests on the channel for you all in the future.