Laminate Money

By Laminate MoneyBusiness Investing

Laminate Money episodes

April 26, 2023 Automation, Strange Markets, and America’s Unwinding Labor Market
On this week’s episode Tom, Jacob, and Dan talk about automation, lifestyle creep, housing prices, today’s interesting market, Apple’s India play, the undoing of America’s labor shortage, and earnings (with a key point on profit margins).
Email us at [email protected] for questions or suggestions for future topics.
Subscribe to the Weekend Reads at www.fjellcapital.com/weekend-reads
Become a client at www.fjellcapital.com/start-here
Suggestion
Focus on Automation (fjellcapital.com)
What Went On
How Much Lifestyle Creep is Okay?
Will We Ever See Affordable Housing Prices Again? What is an affordable house? Current housing market update.
Thoughts on today’s markets and what could lie ahead.
Hedge funds are ultra-bearish on US Treasuries (substack.com) - taking the contrarian view?
Apple unveiled its first store in India, Bloomberg reported earlier this week that Apple reported nearly $6 billion in sales in the year ending in March.
US prime-age labor force participation rate (the preferred metric) is back to 2019 levels
Margins are getting pressed, and it’s most prevalent in Tesla (29.1% in q4’22 and 19.3% in q1’23 on higher revenues), but its because of price reductions. Producer prices tell this story all to well. Those seller prices have been falling and that ultimately means companies are getting compressed on margin.
Quote of the Week
“If you can convince people to pay $40 for $4 boxes of cereal, maybe, just maybe, you can convince strangers to live with each other,” - ⁠Paul Graham on Airbnb’s unlikely success⁠
43 min
April 19, 2023 Following People, AI’s Market Abilities, and the Fed’s Unhinging
On this week’s episode Tom, Jacob, and Noah talk about success and how deep convictions lead to massive gains, AI’s nondominance in market performance, US bank outperformance, the Fed minutes, and de-dollarization.
Email us at [email protected] for questions or suggestions for future topics.
Subscribe to the Weekend Reads: www.fjellcapital.com/weekend-reads
Become a client of Fjell Capital: www.fjellcapital.com/start-here
Suggestion
https://www.fjellcapital.com/posts/follow-no-one
What Went On
What is the ultimate level of wealth?
AI is meant to mimic humans, and that makes it have the same emotional biases we have. It won’t beat the market… inverse AI ETF here we come.
Rising rates? Good for some but not for others
The Fed is unhinged… talks about how there will be a recession in there rate decision meeting and doesn’t pause rates
Let’s talk about de-dollarization… it’s a joke who’s going to provide the world with assets if not the US government *for the time being
Quote of the Week
“⁠but it feels like that’s moving in the right direction.⁠” - Chicago Fed President Goolsbee on inflation
48 min
April 12, 2023 A Tale of Tails
On this week’s episode Tom, Jacob, and Dan talk about how your biggest asset should be your best assets, the job numbers, what central banks around the world are doing, Jamie Dimon’s annual letter shareholders, the broad commodity rally, and a fresh perspective on how to choose people in your life.

Email us at [email protected] for questions or suggestions for future topics.

Subscribe to the Weekend Reads: www.fjellcapital.com/weekend-reads

Suggestion
Your best assets should be your biggest assets (fjellcapital.com)
What Went On
Where are the jobs going…
Australian CB > The Federal Reserve… Declining yields should tell investors recession not bull market
Take a second to reflect on Jamie Dimon’s composure in his annual letter
Commodities started ripping higher gold and oil
It’s a funnel not a filter
Quote of the Week
⁠“We [JPMorgan Chase & Co] are champions of banking’s essential role in a community - its potential for bringing people together, for enabling companies and individuals to attain their goals, and for being a source of strength in difficult times.” - Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co⁠
45 min
April 05, 2023 Keep Profit Margins High
On this week’s show Tom, Jacob, and Noah mix it up by leaning into a new show structure. We talk about how high fixed costs can lead to the death of your financial life, why the stock market makes you feel bad, home prices across the US, Apple’s buy now pay later product launch, the dying metaverse, and what to pack when the weather turns bad.

Email us at [email protected] for questions or suggestions for future topics.
Subscribe to the Weekend Reads here.
Suggestion
Treat your financial life like a tech company
What Went On
Why the Stock Market Makes You Feel Bad All the Time - A Wealth of Common Sense
The housing market is rising in the east and setting in the west, just like the sun
Apple Pay Later and AI’s potential effect on marketing, will you be spending more money involuntarily.
The Metaverse goes dark
Donald Trump gets indicted on 30 some accounts of document fraud
There will be losers, the first to feel the tension are using the first to fall
Quote of the Week
“When the weathermen pack umbrellas, the forecast is for rain.” -Will Robbins, Equity Portfolio Manager at Capital Group
49 min
March 29, 2023 Thank you, Thank you very much
On this week’s episode Tom, Jacob, Dan discuss what credit default swaps are and why they are so heavily watched (especially today), the tech market’s insane 2023 rally, the Fed’s decision, the bond market’s volatility, and Hindenburg Research’s latest attack on Block.
Email us at [email protected] for questions or suggestions for future topics.
The Good
Was the Techcession in 2022 good for the Tech market in 2023, or is it fake?
The Bad
What are CDS and why are they heavily watched in the banking sector.

The Comical
Movies and TV depictions of destinations is a key factor in travel plans
The Headscratcher
Small banks hold nearly 70% of commercial real estate loans (axios.com)
A shock to lending standards - The Reformed Broker
What went on
The Fed raised rates
Bond market swings are the most volatile since '08 — just look at the ICE BofA MOVE Index (axios.com)
Google Launches Bard AI Chatbot to Counter ChatGPT - WSJ
Block: How Inflated User Metrics and “Frictionless” Fraud Facilitation Enabled Insiders To Cash Out Over $1 Billion – Hindenburg Research

Win of the week
Old economy companies

Time Machine
Remote work is starting to hit office rents (axios.com)
Quote the week
“I mentioned with rate cuts, rate cuts are not in our base case and so, that's
all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you very much.” -Jerome Powell
Subscribe to the Weekend Reads here
42 min
March 22, 2023 Is Your Money Safe?
On this week’s episode Tom, Jacob, and Noah talk about updates in the financial sector, the mass inflows to CDs and money market funds, the safety of your money, AI, and more layoffs.
Email us at [email protected] for questions or suggestions for future topics.
• An interesting question to ponder
o Does more money make you better at managing your money.
• The Good
o While the stock market may be down, our current situation caused a historic bond rally
• The Bad
o Credit Suisse went down and was acquired by UBS for $2 billion $0.28/share; the Saudi’s lose $1 billion on CS
o Is your money actually safe, record CD and money market inflows
• The Comical
o Beloved and debated, French bulldog becomes top US dog breed
• The Head Scratcher
o The yield curve moves towards uninversion on the news of a banking crisis…
• What Went On
o Josh Brown called the top of interest rates, and I’m inclined to believe him
o Three million US households making over $150k are still renters
o Tiger global wrote down its venture portfolio by 33%
o SVB filed for Chapter 11, Moody’s downgraded the US banking system to negative
• Win of the Week
o AI is coming to your office suite, and with ChatGPT - 4
• Time Machine
o Meta lays off another 10,000 employees, which put them below prepandemic hiring trends
• Quote of the Week
o “In both cases success became less about a series of victories and more about going big or going home.”- Ben Thompson
28 min
March 15, 2023When the Banks Fail
Description: On this weeks episode Tom, Jacob, and Carissa talk about the recent rout of banks that experienced major drawdowns and mini crises, the Powell Congressional testimony, as well as the Friday payrolls report.

Email us at [email protected] for questions or suggestions for future topics.

Subscribe to our newsletter: Weekend Reads
The GoodI believe this last week will prove to be a pivot in the 2022 saga
We finally broke something - by Genevieve Roch-Decter, CFA (substack.com)

The Bad Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate Capital, First Republic, Charles Schwab, big and small banks alike

The Comical The market cared zilch about the payrolls report on Friday (unlike anticipated, hell week for different reasons)

The Head Scratcher What will the Fed do now?

What Went On - Jacob
Jerome Powell testified to Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday
Used vehicle prices rising at an unseasonably strong rate (cnbc.com)
Nvidia grew from gaming to A.I. giant and now powering ChatGPT (cnbc.com)
Home prices experience their 3 worst drawdown (and experiencing year over year declines for the first time since 2012)

Win of the Week
Short form streaming, Spotify is making its feed look more like tiktok, joining the gang of TikTokesq feeds

Time Machine
New Drugs Are Coming to Market at Sky-High Prices - WSJ

Quote of the Week
"There are recent developments that concern a few banks that I'm monitoring very carefully and when banks experience financial losses, it is and should be a matter of concern," Ms. Yellen
40 min
March 08, 2023Healthcare is Changing in 2023
On this week's episode, Jacob, Tom, and Carissa talk about Eli Lilly's announcement of a 70% reduction in insulin costs, which is a huge deal as about 1 in 10 Americans have diabetes. We also discuss Americans piling on debt, the moon's new time zone, the Chinese lab leak, Arm listing on the NY Stock Exchange, and once-in-a-generation snowfall in California.

Email us at [email protected] for questions or suggestions for future topics.
Show Notes
The Good
Eli Lilly's Insulin Price Cap Squeezes Other Drug Makers | Barron's (barrons.com)

The Bad
Americans in Their 30s Are Piling On Debt - WSJ

The Comical
Should the moon have its own time zone? (nbcnews.com)

The Head Scratcher
A Lab Leak in China Most Likely Origin of Covid Pandemic, Energy Department Says - WSJ

What Went On
U.K. Chip Designer Arm Plans New York Share Listing, in Blow to London’s Stock Market - WSJ
Home foreclosures are ticking back up (axios.com)
Key Fed inflation measure rose 0.6% in January, more than expected (cnbc.com)
Berkshire Hathaway 2022 annual report - The Reformed Broker

Win of the Week
Activist investors are a good thing for shareholders (not so much for the founders)

Time Machine
Unusually heavy snowfall on US west coast is ‘once-in-a-generation’ event | Extreme weather | The Guardian

Quote of the Week
“Best career advice I've heard on how to make money: Lie to people who want to be lied to, and you’ll get rich. Tell the truth to those who want the truth, and you’ll make a living. Tell the truth to those who want to be lied to, and you’ll go broke. Choose wisely.” - Nick Maggiulli
48 min
March 01, 2023A Cold Front in Markets
On this week’s episode we welcome Carissa Geske back to sub 0 temperatures from her long vacation to Thailand. On today’s show we talk about how the weather may affect jobs, how the seasonality of jobs may have changed, reviewing the anniversary of the war in Ukraine, big tech’s latest lawsuit, and a ton of other super interesting topics that happened in the markets last week. Email us at [email protected] for questions or suggestions for future topics.
The Good The strong job report could’ve been caused by warm weather and seasonal factors

The Bad 1 year after the war started in the Ukraine (more sanctions on Russia)

The Comical Would you drink olive oil infused Starbucks Coffee?

The Head Scratcher Google is getting sued because YouTube was recommending ISIS recruitment videos that got a woman killed

What Went On
Office landlords are defaulting
Meta is Launching Paid Verification
Twitter has 14 million in unpaid bills
There are cracks forming in the auto loan market

Win of the Week Nvidia delivered on its expectations of being economically immune

Time Machine 2021’s Booming IPO market is 2023’s Booming Going Private Market

Quote of the Week “Progress is great. There’s this pervasive fear that productivity gains will take everyone’s jobs, but as we wrote about in our piece on Formic, what actually happens is that people find new, more interesting jobs. A much lower percentage of us work on farms to feed our families than we used to; now some people get to do silly things like write newsletters for work.” - Packy McCormick

Key Takeaways
Dan - People are awesome. Invest in them.
Jacob - Market psychology sometimes matters more than the actual numbers
Carissa - We live in a big, small world

Best Part of Last Week
Dan - First gig in 7 weeks
Jacob - It happened new “truck”
Carissa - Being back in Thailand after 7 years of being gone was a dream.
57 min
February 22, 2023The Economy That Won't Stop Spending
On this week’s episode Jacob, Dan, and Noah discuss this week’s key economic data points including retail sales, employment, and inflation. They also discuss US debt, the housing market, the Ohio chemical spill, and more on Q4 earnings.
Email us at [email protected] for questions or suggestions for future topics.
Show Notes:
The Good: Consumers are spending us into a no landing scenario

The Bad: Household debt jumped at the fasted quarterly pace in 20 years - jumped to $16.9 trillion

The Comical: At least one car per day crashes into a 7 Eleven out of 100 daily storefront crashes

The Head Scratcher: Where are the workers in NYC

What Went On
Inflation - 0.5% on the month 6.4% on the year
The US is on track to add 19 trillion in new debt over 10 years
Single family housing starts nosedive and building permits tumble
Ohio chemical spill
Win of the WeekAirBnB on it’s first profitable quarter

Time MachineCompany earnings transcripts

Quote of the Week“We live in a time that the Golden Age sci-fi storytellers from the 1930s to the 1960s could have only dreamed about, and yet, if you polled the average person on the street, most would tell you that things aren’t looking good. There’s the stat – according to a 2021 Pew Survey, 68% of Americans believe their children will not be better off than they are.” - Packy McCormick
49 min

About Laminate Money

From the publisher's feed

Your financial life, your neighbors financial life, the companies you invest in, our economy as a whole, is built layer by layer. Come learn how each week what the team at Fjell Capital is thinking as new layers unfold and how you can design and build your dream financial life. Email us at [email protected].

Share Laminate Money

Sign up to save your podcasts

Laminate Money

Laminate Money episodes

About Laminate Money