On this special episode of the show, our hosts are in Portland, Oregon on the semi-annual Brooklyn FI company retreat. Let’s be honest, our hosts are having too much fun. The IPO market continues to be soft and the stock market is experiencing volatility that reminds some pundits of the March 2020 dip. We’ve got Elon and Twitter, a very generous gift from Snapchat founder Evan Spiegal, and a man who has been to every country in the world and also to outer space. In tax land, we’ve got the IRS destroying payroll records and a real estate investor who lost big time. Oh, and the Mexican pizza is back at Taco Bell. This one is mildly spicy.

Links

Musk says $44 billion Twitter deal on hold over fake account data

Bright Green direct listing

Snapchat co-founder pays off college debt of new graduates at L.A. art and design school

Travel Tips From the Man Who’s Visited Every Country on Earth—and Space

Tax professionals ‘horrified’ by IRS decision to destroy data on 30 million filers

Hopkins students create edible burrito tape as part of a design competition

In this extra-long episode of The Liquidity Event, our hosts find themselves down a Bitcoin rabbit hole. There’s the news that a stable coin that was supposed to be stable took a fantastic dive and created panic amongst investors. Not a good look. We’ve got not one, but two electric vehicle companies going public this week. These are small fish compared to Tesla and Rivian, but mighty nonetheless. Shane is mad that AJ blew up his spot about his X Box but she’s also riled up about some early 2000s children’s video game called Neopets. Anyways, this episode is chock-full of bad takes, drunken debauchery, and some financial commentary. This one is pegged.

Links

Warren Buffett gives his most expansive explanation for why he doesn't believe in bitcoin

Joe and Jill Biden made more money, paid less tax in 2021 than ‘20, returns show

Injury on way from bed to home computer is a workplace accident, German court rules

‎Mailin’ It! - The Official USPS Podcast on Apple Podcasts

How Dare Neopets Taint My Childhood With NFTs

Controversial stablecoin UST — which is meant to be pegged to the dollar — plummets below 50 cents

Low-wage earners to get high-speed Internet for $30 in Biden program

Shane’s back from Mexico and the world appears to be falling apart. The hedgefund dude who shorted GameStop and was bested by Redditors walked back a light promise to give investors their money back. Our hosts predict the mid-term elections will dictate student loan forgiveness and borrowers will hopefully see some much-deserved relief. We’ve got a big olde IPO in Bausch + Lomb, the eyecare supplier that will forever make contact lens wearers buy those stupid tiny travel-sized bottles. In other news, the fed hiked interest rates and someone hacked a big merger. And finally, big ups to AirBnB for doubling down on allowing employees to work from anywhere. This one is inflated.

Links

Melvin Capital’s Gabe Plotkin apologizes for losses to investors — who want their money back

How to Figure Out if You Can Actually Afford That New Home

Biden’s Student Loan Dilemma

Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

Someone Hacked a Merger

In this episode of the Liquidity Event, we’ve got Shane on vacation and John in the hot seat. We’ve got tons of scams this week. Mortgage scams, NFT scams, bitcoin scams, 401(k) scams, and more. Brex made a very interesting acquisition of Pry, a financial forecasting company aimed at early-stage start-ups. Also in the news is that news organization CNN is killing their short-lived CNN+ streaming service, it only lasted a month. Sad face. We also discover the maniacal term “stresslaxation” which basically sums up the modern human condition. This one is on vacation.

Links

Fidelity is offering 401(k) investors access to bitcoin, the first retirement-plan provider to do so

Fraud Is Flourishing on Zelle. The Banks Say It’s Not Their Problem.

CNN+ will shut down at the end of April

Billionaire Trade Desk CEO Gets $830 Million in Pay to Fight Google

Treasury makes a plea for more I.R.S. funding on Tax Day.

Here’s why Brex just paid $90M for 10-person software startup Pry Financials

Fintech giant Stripe jumps into crypto with a feature that lets Twitter users get paid in stablecoin

‘Stresslaxation’ is real. Science explains why it happens and how to get past it

Today is our birthday! This week’s episode is filled with fun jabs at billionaires and financial knowledge that’s mostly useless to you. We’ve got news stories on AriZona iced tea, old ladies, Elon Musk, and Airbnb cleaning fees. And you know it wouldn’t be The Liquidity Event without a rant about the IRS. This one is celebratory.

Links

As inflation soars, how is AriZona iced tea still 99 cents?

Why Airbnb Cleaning Fees Cost So Much Now

Elon Musk Makes $43 Billion Unsolicited Bid to Take Twitter Private

Princess Mako Has a New Title: the Unpaid Intern

Treasury makes a plea for more I.R.S. funding on Tax Day.

Welp! We finally have a big olde IPO in 2022 folks! Excelerated Energy Energy, a Texas-based natural gas company took advantage of market fears around rising gasoline prices to have a very successful IPO on Tuesday. We’ve got the first successful Amazon union at a warehouse in Staten Island. And in other union-ish news, Etsy sellers are not happy with the company’s decision to raise their transaction fees. We’ve got a great scam of the week with a former Yale administrator. This one strikes hot.

Links

Excelerated Energy’s IPO

Why Etsy Sellers Are Going on Strike

Amazon workers in Staten Island vote for the company's first unionized warehouse in U.S.

A former Yale employee admits she stole $40 million in electronics from the university

Meta employees look to ditch jobs amid stock crash: ‘Feeling like s–t’

There are big changes afoot in the retirement space and Roths are about to get a big glow-up. Our hosts discuss the SECURE ACT 2.0 and the implications for boomers and millennials alike. Student loans are back in the news with payments and interest on pause through August 31st which leads us to believe there may be forgiveness in the future. We’ve got a killer interview with French economic bad-boy Thomas Piketty who has some spicy things to say about income inequality. And finally, Yellowstone National Park is selling annual park passes for use 150 years in the future. This one is electric!

Links

Your 401(k) Statement Will Soon Have Lifetime Income Estimates. What to Know.

Secure 2.0 Retirement Bill Mandates Roths And More

Thomas Piketty Thinks America Is Primed for Wealth Redistribution

It’s a Perfect Time for EVs. It’s a Terrible Time for EVs

The New Tax Playbook for Draining Your 401(k) in Retirement

White House Is Said to Pause Student Loans Again, Pushing Payments to September

How Your Shadow Credit Score Could Decide Whether You Get an Apartment

Yellowstone National Park wants you to plan ahead for the year 2172

In this week's episode, The Onion weighs in on the housing market and England’s first witch gets to write off her spells on her tax forms. We’ve got OnlyFans making a second attempt at going public via SPAC, good for them. In the IPO space, we finally have a little action: a teeny tiny company in California called Hempacco filed their S-1 last week with just over a million dollars in revenue last year. Our hosts are on the fence about The Routing Company, a Boston-based start-up producing management software to re-route public transportation for private users. This one is magical.

Links

New Zillow Feature Lets Users Track Happy Lives Of People Who Outbid Them For Dream House

Why your student loan payments may be delayed (again)

Here comes the sun: Senate agrees on permanent daylight saving time

The Routing Company lets you hail a ride — on public transit

Tax Pros Preparing 46 Percent of E-filings - CPA Trendlines

Britain's 'first official witch' files tax returns and claims expenses on potions and spells

Ukraine authorities say seized Russian tanks don’t need to be declared on tax form

Biden’s Budget Would Reshape His International Tax Plan to Match Global Deal

Scoop: OnlyFans wants to go public through a SPAC

Another week, another lifeless IPO market. Come on tech bros! Get it together. Our hosts are back on their soapbox and ranting and raving about clients who won’t sell their dang stock just because they don’t like the price. There’s the awful news that romance scams reached a 5-year high, made even more popular by the devious Tinder Swindler. Folks, never send a wire to someone you don’t know. Speaking of wire transfers and therefore banks, Wells Fargo is in hot water for a damning report that shows they denied mortgages to black borrowers at a much higher rate than other lenders. And finally, we’ve got Forbes’ list of the 500 best startup employers. If you’re not offering remote work, what are you even doing. This one is highly motivated.

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Links

Why Selling Your Equity at a Low Still Makes Sense

Something Has to Give in the Housing Market. Or Does It?

America's Best Startup Employers 2022

Mortgage Rates Rise Above 4% for the First Time Since 2019

Romance scams reach five year high

Wells Fargo Rejected Half Its Black Applicants in Mortgage Refinancing Boom

MacKenzie Scott donates $3.8 billion to 465 organizations

Tax Pros Preparing 46 Percent of E-filings - CPA Trendlines

In this episode of the Liquidity Event we’ve got inflation fears, interest rates spikes, 3D printed homes, another Grimes baby, gin martinis, and Dolly Parton. And that’s just the first ten minutes. With the IPO market a little slow, our hosts are left with the scraps of the internet. Wall Street is kvetching about a 0.25% interest rate hike and our hosts display their disdain for fear-mongering. But the high priestess of country music, Dolly Parton wrote a novel, so that’s nice. This one is a little bit country.

Links

AJ’s glass olive martini glass

Why the Fed is Poised to Raise Interest Rates

Dolly Parton and James Patterson team up for a novel about an aspiring country singer

Go read this Vanity Fair piece about Grimes and her secret baby with Elon Musk

When It Comes to Taxes, Being Tracked Can Be a Good Thing

Wingstop has filed a trademark to sell chicken wings in the metaverse

Luxury 3D-printed homes debut in Texas