Happy Saturday Besties,

Look up at the sky tonight and say Hey Buck. It’s a Full moon (named the Buck moon). It’s also the 55th anniversary of humankind stepping on the moon — Happy Moon Day 🌚

☎️ ☎️ ☎️ NEW **HOTLINE** EPISODE just dropped yesterday — go watch The Hailey Bieber Smoothie (of Investing) & Your Boss’s Instagram. (Our favorite Takeaways and Bonus content at the bottom)

And…

✈️ ✈️ ✈️ WE NEED YOUR HELP: We’re recording our next Hotline episode early NEXT WEEK — So we NEED YOUR QUESTIONS. We’re bringing on a special guest who’s a guru in everything TRAVEL. Hit us up for what you need travel tips on (unless you’re Crowdstrike. Then just don’t).

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FACTS

The total cost has never come under budget (Sochi massively overshot it). Since the Paris Olympics start Friday, we thought we’d update ya that…

• The Frugal Games: Paris budgeted about $8B for these 2024 Games when it won its bid in 2017. If the final cost stays in that range, Paris will host the cheapest Summer Games in decades.

• How the French did it: Paris is relying almost entirely on existing venues, including one built for the annual French Open and the 2016 European Football Championship. Other French cities, including Lyon, Marseille, and Nice are also being utilized for stadiums. Plus, swimming in the (pre-existing) Seine River.

Note: The chart data includes operational & construction costs — It does not include wider capital costs, like investments in urban and transportation infrastructure, which can be huge.

ICYMI

$1000 Emergency: The IRS just changed rules so that people can treat their retirement fund like an “Emergency ATM” 🤑. You can now withdraw up to $1K from your IRA / 401k — interest-free, penalty-free, no questions asked (*at most every 3 years). Could be for emergency groceries… or emergency jeans.

So we found other ways that let you access retirement funds right now without penalty….

• 1st-time homeowners can take $10k from an IRA for a downpayment. Jack actually did this: When he bought his house, he took a $50k loan — from his own 401k — to pay for his downpayment.

• There are also hardship exceptions: Medical expenses, tuition expenses, funeral expenses, or if you get evicted — can use retirement funds now, with no penalty.

• Life gets in the way: We all want to put $ away for retirement, but sometimes ya need access early because #LIFE — but retirement funds actually understand that. Of course, make sure to note the fine print in your plan.

STOCKS

Harley Davidson doesn’t like Millennials. It’s not because of your (lack of) tattoo choices — It’s because of the company’s “Graybeard Strategy”… It’s focus on selling to Boomers. 🤙 

• The Numbers: Harley’s sales have fallen 9 of the last 10 years (they now sell almost ½ as many bikes as in 2006). So the stock is down more than 50% in those 18 years.

• What’s gone wrong? The Hog’s strategy is ignoring people under 40, by keeping bikes loud and prices high. As the WSJ noticed, Harley has stopped selling its cheaper entry-level bikes. #NoTrainingWheels

• Get this: In 1990, the average age of a Harley customer was 35. Today it’s 49.

• The big bet: Millennials will eventually turn into their parents. While you may not want a Harley now, you will when you get older. So instead of offering affordable bikes to young people, Harley’s just waiting ‘til you go gray (literally).

MARKETS

This week, we witnessed the biggest political shift in the history of tech — Silicon Valley is turning for Trump. We call it ConservaTech. And our Takeaway was one we’ve noticed for years about business, but hadn’t said yet on the pod: “Markets are a 1-issue voter: and that issue is profits.“

• First, on Wall Street stocks got a “Trump Bump” after polls showed his election chances rise. The simple reason? Trump’s policies are considered more likely to increase corporate profits, through tax cuts less regulation.

• Now, Silicon Valley (see: venture capitalists) are turning Trump for the same reason. We expected Elon to endorse Trump (he did last week). But then the founders of Andreessen Horowitz (the most influential VC firm in the world) said they would donate to Trump too.

• But their reasoning (we listened to it) was focused on one idea: The candidate willing to give the most support to the AI/crypto startups they’re invested in. The Biden Admin has tried to regulate both, Trump has said he won’t. 

• We’ve always noticed this and it’s worth remembering: Markets don’t vote on healthcare, climate, democracy, or reproductive issues. Whether it’s the public or private markets, they tend to vote on 1 issue — which candidate will more likely improve my profits the most.

HOTLINE BONUS CONTENT

BONUS: What do we disagree on? Whether or not to get dessert every meal. But while working together, we’ve also got disagreements on approaches: Nick likes periods of flow without interruption, Jack likes faster responses to limit deliverables. But we make it work.

….and for double-bonus here’s some This or That.

• Whole Food or Erewhon? (Jack’s Erewhon-ing)

• Espresso or Cruel Summer? (Nick’s that-me-espresso)

• Olympic Swimming or Gymnastics? (Jack’s on the balance beam)

• Vacay to Paris or Tokyo? (trick question - both).

 Plus, the best takeaways from our Hotline Pod — Our Q&A call-in show where we take your questions…

🥞 The best use of $100? “The Budget Brunch” — budget $100 for a monthly date where you go through your finances & credit card statements. Do this 1x/month with your S.O. to review your spending and make adjustments to make sure you’re on track for your financial goals (like saving for a downpayment or vacation). Get mimosas. Celebrate the financial wins, and comfortably talk about the challenges (“We spent $378 last month on Ubers?”).

✈️ “The Trip Test”: It’s the best way to determine if you should join finances. Go on a weekend holiday with your S.O., set a single budget for it, and see how you handle yourselves when finances are merged. The outcome determines if it is someone you want to make the financial leap with. Nick & Molly did it on a trip to Buenos Aires in 2007 - They’ve been on the same page about money ever since.

🥤 “The Hailey Bieber smoothie (of investing)”: Nick and Jack’s favorite thing to invest in? The S&P index, through an ETF. It’s like a smoothie of stocks because, like a smoothie, it includes lots of ingredients: each of the 500 most valuable companies int the US. And guess what? That simple investment performs better than the individual stocks they invest in. For all the complex trades we’ve done, the $SPY ETF has been our most boring… and best performing.

📚The best hiring tactic we learned in biz school: Give applicants an assignment (and pay ‘em for it). That will show you how they’ll do the actual job in a way that “tell us about a time you challenged yourself” can’t.

• The #1 thing we look for in hiring is an ownership mentality. Because technical skills can be taught, a mentality can’t be.

⚪️ The 3rd Circle: A lesson from Nick’s couple’s therapy for how to handle a disagreement that we use in biz (perfect for co-founders). Figure out the core need behind what you say you want and then overlap it with your partners. Here’s an example for choosing where to get dinner:

• 1st circle: Nick wants Vietnamese

• 2nd circle: Jack wants Mexican

• 3rd circle: What is the underlying thing they both want? Spicy. So the 3rd Circle is Spanish paella. A 3rd choice that satisfies both party’s craving for 🌶️ 

THINGS TO TELL YOUR BESTIE

• 🥤 Mountain Dew update: the iconic “Do the Dew” tagline is coming back.

• 🎵 Marg-Sabotage: The Beastie Boys sued Chili’s for using their song without consent in a recent ad.

• 😶 PSA for mouse-jigglers: Wells Fargo has fired employees go by using tech made to spot phony busywork.

• 👗 The Airbnb of Fashion: There’s an app that lets you rent high-end clothes from people’s closets. And it has a fantastic name — Pickle.

And one more thing. Reply to this email with your travel questions to get your voice & a shoutout on our next Hotline episode ✈️ ✈️.

Celebrate the wins, Yetis :)

—Nick & Jack