Morning Download from Invincible Money

Personal finance + economics + markets

Finance in 5 minutes a day to help you make better money decisions.

Good morning investors! The Fed may pause, ChatGPT to get more personal, a16z opens an office in London to focus on crypto and the importance of a personal emergency fund.

📊 Economy 

The next Fed meeting is tomorrow. Odds are at 76% the Fed pauses rates at 5.00% - %5.25%.

• Fed is also expected to revise growth estimates upward and expects less joblessness, as well as shrink the Fed balance sheet.

Big Week

Today: CPI inflation number will be announced.

Tomorrow: PPI inflation number and Fed meeting.

Thursday: Retail Sales Data and Initial Jobless Claims numbers released.

📰 News

ChatGPT Leak

Bill Gates recently said that the A.I. that can be your personal assistant will win the game. The company that builds it will be an incredible stock to own and there are several big contenders working on it.

ChatGPT is currently the frontrunner. In a Reddit post, it was leaked the team is working to add 2 features that will remember who you are so it can be more useful and move 1 step closer to being a personal assistant:

1. My profile where you input key facts about yourself.

2. My files where you upload documents ChatGPT should be familiar with.

Why it’s important: The more an assistant knows you without you needing to prompt it, the better it will be able to help you. A.I. assistants are moving toward remembering what you tell it and knowing who you are, which will unlock innumerable possibilities.

Quick headlines

Grubhub lays off 400 (15%) of its employees due to higher costs and declining orders. Parent company Just Eat Takeway.com reported North American orders fell by 17% in Q1.

Twitter is refusing to pay its Google Cloud bill as they’ve been trying to renegotiate their contract since March.

14 year old Software Engineer prodigy hired by SpaceX to work on Starlink.

📈 Stocks

Carnival Corporation [CCL +12.45%] up big as Wall Street sees the cruise industry turning around on stronger demand and Bank of America upgraded it from Neutral to Buy with a $20 price target (up from $11).

Oracle Corporation [ORCL +5.99%] up after releasing their earnings report showing they beat Q4 earnings with $1.19 EPS on $13.8 B in revenue, which was up 17%.

Intel Corporation [INTC +5.52%] closed up despite Germany denying Intel’s request for additional subsidies for a new $18 billion microchip plant.

🔐 Crypto

a16A opens London office

Venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has chosen London as the site for its first office outside the U.S.

• Chris Dixon, a16z’s crypto founder and managing partner, stated that a “predictable business environment” and the U.K. government’s willingness to create policies that encourage startups to pursue decentralization was one of the main factors behind its decision to expand.

• a16z is one of the most active venture capital firms in the world, and its decision to open an office in London is a major coup for the U.K. tech industry.

• The U.K. government has been working to make the country a more attractive destination for startups, and a16z's decision is a sign that its efforts are paying off.

The company stated, "While there is still work to be done, we believe that the U.K. is on the right path to becoming a leader in crypto regulation. It is home to more 'unicorns' than Germany, France, and Sweden combined; to some of the world’s largest financial markets and pools of capital; and to highly-sophisticated, world-class regulators."

Our take: Lately, we’ve seen the media talking about how VC are focusing from crypto/web3 to the new hot thing, A.I. As if crypto wasn’t worth investing in anymore.

This move by A16A shows that narrative is false as Chris Dixon said, “Crypto/web3 is still in the early innings.”

Add to that the fact that BTC addresses are at an all time high, showing broader adoption and Ethereum staking is also at an all time high.

Not every country is hostile to crypto as the U.S. and crypto isn’t going anywhere (except out of the U.S.).

A.I. + Crypto

UK-based Gensyn raised $43 million in a Series A round let by A16z to empower developers to create A.I. tools using a cryptographic verification network to double check that machine learning work shared on the protocol was done correctly.

Gensyn's platform uses blockchain to securely and efficiently connect buyers and sellers of compute power. This could help to make A.I. more scalable and reliable.

The company's platform has the potential to make A.I. more affordable and accessible to developers, which could lead to the development of new A.I.-powered products and services.

Quick Headlines

How Lido will only grow and why this is a problem for Ethereum. A Ethereum consultant’s take in a Tweet thread.

Polygon responds to SEC's claim MATIC is a security saying it’s “a necessary part of the Polygon technology from Day 1” and was "developed outside the U.S., deployed outside the U.S. and focused to this day on the global community that supports the network.

Watch: Coinbase CEO discusses crypto regulations with the Wall Street Journal.

💵 Personal Finance

Emergency Funds are Step #1

If you’re just starting your financial journey, the top priority and first step is building an emergency fund.

Why? Have you ever played a board game like Monopoly and you’re doing so great until you draw the card that sends you back to the beginning to start over again? That’s what it’s like not having an emergency fund.

Building a sizable portfolio isn’t easy, especially when unexpected expenses arise (and they always do) and knock you back to square one. The emergency fund will prevent you from putting those unexpected costs on your credit card, drawing out of your brokerage or 401k.

Here are the steps to get going:

1. Set a goal. How much money do you want to save? The general rule of thumb is to have three to six months' worth of living expenses saved.

2. Make a budget. This will help you track your income and expenses so you can see where you can cut back.

3. Automate your savings. Set up a recurring transfer from your checking account to your savings account on payday. This will help you save money without even thinking about it.

4. Avoid using credit cards. If you use credit cards, pay off your balance in full each month. This will help you avoid interest charges and build your credit score.

5. Don't touch your emergency fund. The only time you should touch your emergency fund is in an actual emergency. If you use it for something else, you'll have to start saving all over again.

Building an emergency fund takes time and discipline, but it's worth it. Having a financial safety net can give you peace of mind and help you avoid going into debt.

💰 Be a Better Investor

👩🏽‍⚖️ Legal Stuff
Nothing in this newsletter is financial advice. Always do your own research and think for yourself.