The Purse

Welcome to our #226 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

It’s good to be back!

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on a recent survey by Ellevest (US) which centres on women being the beneficiaries of ‘The Great Wealth Transfer’ in this decade.

In the UK, women will own the majority of private wealth by 2025-which is less than one year away.

And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with Chloe Lin. We talk about how to start investing and the secret of building a rich life.

***

And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Survey: women’s money confidence will continue to surge in this decade

According to a recent survey by Ellevest, the imminent transfer of wealth to women will not only make them more affluent, but women will become more confident about money.

This goes against outdated money myths and stereotypes which claim women lack money confidence and ‘find investing too risky’.

Crucially, women will continue to reshape our society in ways which reflect their values and goals.

What is the Great Wealth Transfer?

Baby boomers have built historically unmatched wealth. The good news is that women will be the primary beneficiaries as they outlive their partner, followed by Millennials and Gen Z.

By 2030, it is estimated that women will manage $30 trillion of private wealth, which is more than the GDP in America.

In the UK, women will own the majority of private wealth by 2025, which is now less than one year away.

And according to the Ellevest survey, women will experience a significant boost in their financial confidence.

Here is a summary of the key findings:

* Receiving a financial windfall increases women’s confidence 1.8 times — from 45% reporting that they’re confident with money, to 81%.

* And it means that they become more confident about their ability to manage their money than even men are (at 77%).  

* 77% of women giving or receiving a financial windfall say they're comfortable talking about money with their families.

* About 1/4 of women who have received or expect to receive a financial windfall say they're likely or very likely to leave their partner when or if they receive a financial windfall. That’s ~2x more than women who don’t expect to get a financial windfall. 

What is interesting to note is that ‘more Gen Z and Millennial women stated that receiving a financial windfall would make them (or made them) feel “powerful” versus women from older generations’.

What next? (Re) listen to:

* #104: Why every woman needs a financial plan with Kristine Beese

* #109: How more wealth in the hands of women will reshape the charity sector with Nicole Sykes

* #110: (Repost) Closing the gender wealth gap with Vicky Pryce and Victoria Ross

News in Brief

Financial news

* “The Casino Crowd” is back across markets with soft echoes of 2021. Speculative stocks, crypto rise as retail traders embrace risk. Bearish investors get punished as most-shorted companies rally.

* S&P 500 makes history. It has now advanced for 16 of the last 18 weeks. The last time that happened was in 1971, shortly before the end of the Bretton Woods system. Achieving 16 out of 18 positive weeks is also be a joint record since the index’s creation. (via DB)

* Global debt surged by $15tn+ in 2023 reaching a new record high of $313tn. 55% of this rise originated from mature markets, mainly driven by US, France, & Germany. BUT global debt-to-GDP ratio saw a decline of ~2ppts to 330% in 2023, acc to IIF. This marked the third consecutive annual drop.

* Eurozone CPI slowed less than anticipated in February, highlighting stickiness in inflation. Headline inflation eased to 2.6% YoY in Feb, above 2.5% consensus estimate in BBG survey.

* Bonds are “safe”? Think again, they have also had large, extended drawdowns, UBS Yearbook shows.

* UK interest rate cut ‘remains some way off’, says Bank of England chief economist. Huw Pill needs to see more compelling evidence that the underlying persistent component of UK CPI inflation is being squeezed.

* UK house prices rise for first time in more than a year as mortgage costs drop. Average cost of a home increased to £260,420 in February, up by 1.2% on a year earlier, says Nationwide.

* The UK stocks to watch ahead of Chancellor Hunt’s Spring Budget. Retail and leisure, homebuilders, NatWest shares in spotlight. And British ISA could boost demand for wider London stock market.

* There is no better teacher than history in determining the future, Charlie Munger once said. If that is the case, investing is a no-brainer. Just put your money into an S&P 500 ETF.  The US has been the best-performing of the major stock markets over last 124yrs. After inflation, it's generating returns of 6.5% per annum, according to UBS Yearbook 2024. Globally, stocks over 124 years have generated an inflation-adjusted return of 5.1%.

* Berkshire’s cash hoard jumped to a record at $167.6bn in Q4 as Warren Buffett struggled to find deals at attractive valuations: “There remain only a handful of companies in this country capable of truly moving the needle at Berkshire, and they have been endlessly picked over by us and by others.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* The combined value of the cryptocurrency market has jumped to around $2 trillion for the first time on almost two years on the back of the ETF-fueled rally in Bitcoin.

* The price of Bitcoin reached as high as $64,000 on Tuesday, (currently, it is trading at $61,666): a seven-day jump of more than 21%+. The newly approved Bitcoin funds trading on Wall Street are wildly popular - especially BlackRock's- and are experiencing record inflows and trading days.

* Ethereum also surged in price. ETH is now priced at $3,400. It's up 18% over seven days as its network approaches its long-awaited Dencun upgrade.

* Solana jumped to a 22-month high on Thursday but is now slightly below that level, trading for $126.92, a seven-day rise of 30%.

* Shiba Inu, the 19th biggest digital asset, has shot up by nearly 50%.

* Smaller memes stole the show, though, with Pepe in particular making astronomical gains—the Ethereum-based coin has shot up by 200% over seven days and is just 14% below its all-time high.

* Dogwifhat outperforms memecoin market after Robinhood Europe listing. The Solana-based dog-themed token is up nearly 30% over the past 24 hours.

* Minecraft-based crypto project NFT Worlds charts comeback with node sale and rebrand.

* SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce slams regulator's 'unproductive' approach to overseeing crypto.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in this conversation:

* Why investing in relationships is the key to a richer life

* Money mindset and money habits

* How Chloe invests her money

* Difficult but important investing lessons

* How do Millennials and Gen Z think about investing?

* And how do we encourage more women to invest?

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* Looking back over previous generations of revolutionary feminists, 1976

* Abused, raped, ignored: how ‘invisible’ female British military veterans are fighting back

* How many more women will die as UK police forces ignore sex offenders in their ranks?

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jointhepurse.substack.com

Welcome to our #222 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on the rising childcare costs in the UK/US, and how this continues to impact women who bear the burden of childcare.

But change is afoot in the UK-read on for more.

And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with Roxane Sanguinetti and Marla Shapiro. We talk about the introduction of the new financial thresholds for high net worth individuals and how this disproportionately impacts women, ethnic minorities and female-founded startups.

***

And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Childcare costs are rising and women continue to bear the burden

Rising inflation is pushing childcare costs to levels never seen before.

But governments around the world are not doing enough. And women are being forced to opt out of work, reduce their hours which means they lose out on promotions.

All of which impacts how much personal wealth women can grow over time. And how much money they have available for their retirement, despite living longer than men and with poorer health.

Also referred to as the motherhood penalty:

* a mothers's salary falls by approximately 40%+

* ten years after having a child (UK).

Conversely, men who are married with kids get a wage bonus of 21%+ (according to TUC study).

Study after study shows that increasing female participation in the workplace promotes GDP growth, reduces levels of inequality and poverty. However women continue to bear the burden of childcare because it is so expensive.

The average day care fees went up 6% in 2023 from the previous year, according to mobility company ECA International, as reported by Bloomberg.

In the US, an estimated $237bn a year vanishes due to women paring back their workloads to care for kids. In the EU, that number is around €242bn ($255bn).

And some women have fewer children or decide to have none at all, simply because of the expense. Many are now being forced to return to the workplace, limiting flexible or remote working.

OECD data shows that parents in the UK spend on average 29% of their household income.

However, the UK government has started to make inroads:

…all working parents with children under the age of five should be able to access 30 hours of subsidised child care a week by September 2025, when the full measures will be implemented.

Whilst childcare affordability is an issue, so is the low take up by fathers of shared parental leave. This was estimated at only 2-8% in 2019.

Societal and gender norms continue to influence who takes up the majority of childcare.

What next?

* Report: UK women are priced out of work by the cost of childcare (plus the low take up of shared parental leave by fathers)

* Re-read our blog post The GDP measure: and why we need to move beyond it

* Re-listen to The Purse Podcast with Anam Parvez Butt, Head of Research for Oxfam GB on why the GDP measure is damaging to women and how to move beyond it.

News in Brief

Financial news

* China rout continues w/CSI 300 down >1% after Apple's shocking China sales numbers.

* S&P 500 plunged 1.6%, the biggest decline since September, after Federal indicated March rate cut unlikely and on underwhelming Tech earnings.

* Assuming Nvidia meets estimates, the Magnificant Seven generated $523bn in sales during 4Q, +14%YoY. Revenue growth for remaining 493 S&P 500 stocks was a comparatively paltry 2%.

* Dollar gains and US yields jumped on huge US jobs data beat. US NFP at 353k way above the estimated 185k, wages came in hotter than expected +4.5% year-on-year vs +4.1% expected. Unemployment rate held flat month on month at 3.7%.

* Meta shares jump 10%+ to fresh ATH of $443 after blowout numbers and buyback boost by $50bn + initiates quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share.

* It was only a couple of years back Meta suffered single biggest market value destruction in stock market history. Now stock rose 20%, gain added $197bn to its market cap, biggest single-session market value addition, eclipsing $190bn gains made by Apple and Amazon in 2022.

* Bank of England sticks with 5.25% interest rate but hints at coming cut. Inflation forecast to temporarily fall below 2% in May as policymakers’ vote on base rate splits three ways.

* UK looks increasingly isolated in its anti-crypto ETF stance: Spot bitcoin exchange-traded products are already available in the US, Europe, Australia, Brazil and Canada.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin, ethereum end the week strong after a rocky start. The price of bitcoin is now $42,778.

* The price of ethereum, dropped earlier in the week—facing bigger losses than BTC—before making gains. Ethereum (ETH) is now up a meager 2% over the week and is trading hands for $2,289.

* Over the past week, it's one of the biggest gainers, the price of Solana jumped by more than 10% for the week ending yesterday. It's now trading hands for $96.48

* Bitcoin 'Power Law' predicts $1m BTC price by 2033. Bitcoin's price is a ‘force of nature’ that scales over time much like a city, according to this astrophysicist.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in this conversation:

* Angel investing: how Roxane and Marla got started

* Why invest in female founder startups

* The difference between an angel network and an angel syndicate

* The changes to the Financial Promotions Exemptions

* How women and ethnic minorities will be disproportionately impacted

* How can we encourage more women to invest in the startup ecosystem and back female founders?

* More+

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* My life with Shere Hite: the forgotten feminist who changed sex for ever

* Does having babies really make women more productive? I felt as if I had been dismantled

* Young women are turning their backs on body positivity. It’s time we all stopped obsessing about how we look

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jointhepurse.substack.com

Welcome to our #221 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we spotlight homeownership (US) of single parents and the impact on their net worth, compared to single non-parents. And we highlight homeownership data for women in the UK.

And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with David Hayman, Campaign Director for Make My Money Matter. We talk about investing with your values and how to make your pension green!

***

And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Why single parents have more wealth and female home ownership in the UK

According to a survey from the Federal Reserve (US), single parents are richer, or have a higher net worth, than single non-parents, as reported by Axiom.

This is despite single non-parents earning more than their counterparts with children (from 2013-2022). It makes sense that parents seek certainty when they have children, and buying a home enables this stability.

Whilst single parents homeownership remained steady at 50% from 2007, single non-parents fell to 29%.

In 2022, the median single parent was worth $50,750 (almost three times the $18,023 of nine years previously), in contrast to the single non-parent with assets valued at no more than $20,900.

As the value of assets have gone up during this period, single parent homeowners have in turn become more wealthy.

With more social pressure on parents to own, they acquire an asset which goes up over time.

Having said that, single non-parents who do not own a home, can grow their net worth by investing in other asset classes like equity or even crypto like Bitcoin.

The question is, why don’t they?

***

In the UK, only 33% of all mortgaged owner occupiers are women (data to 2020).

By contrast, the majority of social renters are women (58%) while private rentals to women come in at 40%, as per Saville’s data.

And the number of female mortgaged owner occupiers has barely changed, rising just 2.7% since 2011 (to 2020).

According to new research by property technology company iPlace Global, it takes a London woman 5.3 years longer than her male counterparts to buy a property in the capital.

Even before they’ve had children, the average woman’s income is 16% less than that of a man and she saves 35% less on average.

But homeownership has changed for middle-aged and older women. This may in part be a result of divorce or inheritance.

And the data shows that retired women tend to be more property rich, with 3.3m women over 70 owning their homes outright – approximately 40% of all outright ownership in the UK. 

As per the FT Advisor: as women get married later on in life, are in senior roles with an increasing salary over time, this might lead to a sharper spike in mortgaged and outright female ownership in the years to come.

News in Brief

Financial news

* Nasdaq Golden Dragon index jumps almost 5% on China PM Li Qiang’s order to calm markets and a fresh stabilisation fund. But China’s boldest plan yet to stem current stock market rout is facing a wall of skepticism

* India’s stock market has overtaken Hong Kong’s for the first time in another feat for the South Asian nation whose growth prospects and policy reforms have made it an investor darling.

* Tuesday: the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 closed at fresh ATH, but the Nasdaq 100 has consistently outperformanced the S&P 500 over the last 20yrs.

* The S&P 500 surpassed 4,867: the average level where forecasters in a Bloomberg survey pegged it 11 months from now. Ed Yardeni is getting nervous about the speed of S&P 500’s rally.

* Borrowing from the Fed's emergency lending programme rose to a fresh record, just before Fed raised the facility’s interest rate to stop financial institutions from taking advantage and arbitraging on its attractive terms. Demand for Bank Term Funding Program rose $6.3bn to an ATH of $167.8bn.

* US 4Q GDP grew 3.3%; above all estimates, following the 4.9% Q3 clip.

* Europe is building its own Magnificent Seven. Rally in megacaps SAP, ASML, Siemens, TotalEnergies and LVMH boosts Euro Stoxx 50 to highest since 2001. Diversification by sector and geography seen as tailwinds.

* Eurozone M3 money supply growth turned positive at the end of the year. M3 Money Supply rises 0.1% YoY in December, the first rise since June of last year. Analysts expected a 0.7% fall.

* ECB's Lagarde says rate cut debate is premature. Says she stands by her comments on ECB rate-cut timing summer. Markets price 1st cut for June.

* Jeremy Hunt has room for £20bn tax cuts after borrowing halves year on year. December deficit is less than expected at £14bn – the lowest for the month since 2019.

* Tesla shares plunged 12% in worst trading day since 2020 after automaker warns of slowdown.

* There are now seven companies in the Trillion Dollar Club again. Meta has passed the $1tn mark, and Microsoft is now worth $3tn for the first time ever.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Monday: Bitcoin fell below $40,000 for first time since early December as enthusiasm over launch of ETFs that directly invest in largest cryptocurrency ebbs. Bitcoin price has since bounced back above $42,000, causing spike in short liquidations.

* Ethereum (ETH) was a big loser, dropping to $2,186 on Tuesday and never really recovering, logging an 8% loss over the week. It’s now trading for $2,264.

* ETH’s drop came following the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision to delay ETH ETF proposals from both BlackRock and Grayscale. 

* Solana (SOL) took a beating. It was, at the start of the week, one of the worst-performing cryptocurrencies. It has since picked up and is trading for $92.60, a more than 1% seven-day rise. 

* Dogecoin (DOGE)—the original meme coin and 11th biggest cryptocurrency—pumped at the start of the week over speculation that it might be used for payments on Twitter, it slowly drifted back to where it started.

* Bitcoin's price gains push BlackRock's ETF above $2bn in assets under management.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in the conversation:

* The organisation: Make My Money Matter

* Where do banks and pensions put our money?

* How to make your pension green?

* How do we become more active and hold non-green businesses to account?

* More+

Please enjoy! You can listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* Improving women’s health ‘could add at least $1tn a year to global economy’

* ‘Horrifying numbers’ of women and girls will die because of UK aid cuts, say MPs

* ‘I had to find a way to survive’: ultrarunner Sabrina Pace-Humphreys on racing, racism and learning to love the outdoors

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jointhepurse.substack.com

Welcome to our #220 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on new legislation (UK) being introduced on 31 January which will negatively impact female investors in the startup ecosystem.

But there is an option for women to qualify as a ‘sophisticated investor’ if they do not meet the financial threshold as a high net worth investor. Read on!

And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with Vicky Pryce and Victoria Ross about closing the gender wealth gap. We decided to repost this interview from early 2023 as it is an important one.

Here’s to women continuing to build their personal wealth. Please enjoy!

***

And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

New legislation (UK) negatively impacts female investors. But women can qualify as 'sophisticated investors' instead

From 31 January, the annual income and net assets thresholds for high net worth individuals will increase making it more difficult for women investors (UK).

On January 31, new legislation will be introduced which will negatively impact female investors.

As reported by The Times, the annual income and net assets threshold used to define what it means to be a high net-worth individual, will increase. The changes are as follows:

* the annual income will increase from £100,000 to £170,000

* and the net assets threshold, will also increase from £250,000 to £430,000 (excluding primary residences and pensions).

According to the Treasury, this is the first time in more than 20 years the threshold has been increased. And (this) is in line with inflation to:

“…ensure exemptions from the financial promotions regime apply only to those who are ‘high-net-worth’ or ‘sophisticated…’

In a Linkedin post, UK entrepreneur Emma Sinclair MBE shared the research carried out by Marla Shapiro from HERmesa Angel Syndicate and Roxane Sanguinetti from Alma Angels, which concluded that the changes to the Financial Promotion Exemptions will result in making early-stage investing in the UK more white, more male and more London-centric.

In the UK, only 14-17% are female angel investors, compared to 33% in the US.

Accredited high net worth individuals in the US need to earn $200,000 in annual income in the last two recent years (or $300,000 with a partner), which equates to approximately £157,000.

Or their individual net worth, or joint net worth with that person's spouse or partner, needs to exceed $1,000,000 (excluding the person's primary residence), which equates to approximately £787,000.

And as we know, it is not easy for women to raise capital for their startups…

…only 2% of VC funding goes to female founders. For this reason, women are more likely to rely on angel investors for funding.

Therefore raising the annual income and net assets threshold may not only deter women investors in the UK, but it will reduce the number of existing women investors who are allowed to invest.

The change comes into force nearly two years after…

… the Treasury ran a consultation into proposed changes to the Financial Promotion Order exemptions for high net worth individuals and so-called ‘sophisticated’ investors.

Whilst the UK Business Angels Association was consulted, it remains to be seen who else was involved in this ‘consultation’ process and to what extent female investors and their views were taken into account.

Women can qualify as ‘sophisticated investors’ instead

If a female investor does not meet this financial threshold, she can still qualify as a ‘sophisticated investor’, assuming she has been a member of a network of business angels for more than 6 months.

We interviewed Gillian Fleming, Co-founder and CEO of Mint Ventures to discuss this (back in July 2022).

By joining, female investors can take a 6 month (online) angel investing course, which will qualify them as a ‘sophisticated investor’.

This in turn will allow women to invest in the startup ecosystem.

So good advice for female investors: seek out angel networks or female angel networks which offer a 6 month angel investing training course.

News in Brief

Financial news

* Davos: Argentina’s Javier Milei says west ‘in danger’ in fiery Davos speech. Libertarian leader accuses international organisations of embracing ‘collectivism’.

* China’s economy spooks markets, and stocks sink. The CSI 300 has underperformed the S&P 500 by >40ppts over the year.

* Wall Street returned to record heights to cap a punishing 2 year round trip dogged by high inflation and worries about a recession that seemed inevitable but hasn’t arrived.

* The S&P 500 rallied 1.2% to 4,839.81. It erased the last of its losses since setting its prior record of 4,796.56 at the start of 2022.

* The value of global bonds has dropped by almost $500bn this week as US 10-year yields have jumped 4%+ again.

* The Red Sea's inflation threat: The disruptions in the Red Sea have roiled global supply chains and pushed up freight costs.

* Use of Fed funding tool jumps most since April to fresh record: Banks borrowed record sum of $161.5bn from Fed's Bank Term Funding Program.

* UK inflation unexpectedly rises as cost of tobacco and alcohol increases. Surprise uptick to 4.0% complicates forecasts of interest rate cut, while FTSE slumps 1.5%.

* UK housing market sees ‘respite’ as mortgage rates ease. Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors says falling inquiries from new buyers approaching a ‘flatter trend’

* Oxfam warns of first trillionaire. The 5 richest men saw their fortunes rise by 114% between Mar 2020 and Nov 2023, Oxfam found. This elite group's net worth rose to $869bn from $405bn between 2020 and 2023, the organisation said - translating to $14m an hour.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Little over a week since the launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF), and the crypto markets are suffering.

* Bitcoin has shed more then 10% since the ETF launch and continues to hover around $41,000 as Grayscale's fund dominates spot ETF volumes. (Last week, it closed at $49,000).

* Bitcoin ETFs now hold nearly $4bn in assets, with Fidelity and BlackRock’s ETFs neck-and-neck for the top slot, according to preliminary data shared by Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas. 

* Meanwhile, Ethereum (ETH), has lost 8% of its value in the past week. It's now priced at $2,466.

* Solana (SOL) has shed over 7% of its value in the past week and is priced at $92.38.

* While Avalanche (AVAX) is down by more than 14%, trading hands for $32.82.

* Wall Street's top regulator on Thursday pushed back its deadline for a decision on Fidelity's proposed spot Ethereum ETF to March 5, leading to a price dip in the asset.

* Trump dips into bitcoin Ordinals as his NFT ambitions fizzle. The 2024 presidential hopeful’s latest project involves 200 NFTs inscribed on the Bitcoin blockchain.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in our conversation:

* What is the gender wealth gap?

* Why is closing the gender wealth gap important?

* How do we close the gender wealth gap?

* How can women manage their money to protect and grow their long term financial wealth?

* How can women engage more in long-term investing?

* What can the government and employers do to close the gender wealth gap?

* What books, blogs or podcasts can inspire or educate women on how to invest?

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* Why have I so little memory of my daughter’s birth?

* A moment that changed me: my husband and I split up – and I started walking 15,000 steps a day

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jointhepurse.substack.com

Welcome to our #219 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we highlight new research by Columbia University which has calculated the penalties for motherhood (US). Drawing on two decades’ worth of earnings and employment data for hundreds of thousands of families, the research is the most statistically powerful of its kind.

It follows that the motherhood penalty accounts for the vast majority of the gender earnings gap. So what are the solutions? Read on..

***

And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

New study (US): women earn 50% less after having children

Researchers from Columbia University calculate the true cost of motherhood.

Researchers from Columbia University have calculated the true cost of motherhood (US), as reported by Columbia Magazine.

Drawing on two decades’ worth of earnings and employment data for hundreds of thousands of families, the research shows that women’s wages fall by 50% after having children and their wages remain low for many years after.

The study, by Columbia economist Douglas Almond and graduate student Yi Cheng ’20GSAS, along with Cecilia Machado ’10GSAS of Fundação Getulio Vargas’s Brazilian School of Economics and Finance, is the most statistically powerful of its kind.

Whilst previous studies have shown that mothers lose earnings largely because they work less, either dropping out of the labour force or reducing their hours, the Columbia researchers have identified new insights:

* Even women who were breadwinners before having children, tend to pause their careers and endure huge income losses afterward.

* One of the largest motherhood penalties in ‘female-breadwinner’ families, where higher-earning women experience a 60% drop from their pre-childbirth earnings relative to their male partners.

* Women are less likely to switch to a higher-paying firm post-childbearing than men and are substantially more likely to quit the labour force.

* Strikingly, women out-earning men in the United States are insufficient to alter the within-couple dynamic so as to generate fatherhood penalties, as rudimentary economic theory would predict.

* Women are more penalised in firms where the leader is a woman ie the firm’s ‘female-friendly’ gender characteristics do not protect female employees from the motherhood penalty, nor do they create a more ‘family-friendly’ working environment as we might expect.

* We suspect the gendered culture and social norms surrounding parenting would need to change if the large motherhood penalties are to be eliminated.

* While challenging, changes to established norms are not unprecedented and may hold more promise in reducing the motherhood penalty than proximate policy tools, like “family-friendly” worker policies.

* The motherhood penalty accounts for the vast majority of the gender earnings gap.

According to Almond, this undercuts a theory that many economists have used to try to explain the motherhood penalty in the past, which states that couples strategically decide to have the lower-earning partner:

The data suggests that many dads who ought to be stepping up and taking charge of the childcare, for the economic well-being of their families, aren’t doing so…

In her own research, Jane Waldfogel, a Columbia professor of social work and public affairs, ‘has shown that many women, if given the opportunity to stay at home with their baby for six to twelve months and then return to their jobs, choose to take it, thus maintaining their careers and avoiding significant wage loss.’

She also adds that: another priority should be to provide universal access to high-quality, publicly subsidised childcare….’where both women and men are able to contribute their full talents to society and the economy’.

The UK has the largest motherhood penalty out of all OEDC …

…countries at 40%, which is in line with the US. According to a report by consultancy PwC, women continue to be priced out of work and suffer from a growing gender pay gap because families can not afford childcare in the UK. What follows is often less career advancement and lower pay in a woman’s career.

Based on the PwC report, net childcare costs represented almost a third of the income of a family on the average UK wage, compared with as little as 1% of income in Germany.

However, whilst childcare affordability is an issue, so is the low take up by fathers of shared parental leave. This was estimated at only 2-8% in 2019.

What is clear is that societal and gender norms continue to influence who takes up the majority of childcare.

And this in turn affects women’s career trajectories and earnings; how much they can save and invest in order to grow their personal wealth.

Therefore, women must become intentional about their money and finances from the beginning.

They must focus on protecting and growing their personal wealth even before they embark on having children; in fact, especially so. Crucially, this applies to who they select as their life partner.

The right life partner will not only play an active (equal) role in looking after the children, but they will engage in open and honest conversations about money, financial planning and how to invest from the get-go.

So what are the solutions to the motherhood penalty?

* Affordable childcare

* US: increase maternity (& paternity leave) from 12 weeks to 6-12 months

* A redesign of parental leave policies to support a ‘dual earner-dual carer model’

* An effective Equal Paid Parental Leave system in the UK

* And fathers taking more parental leave.

News in Brief

Financial news

* The Red Sea's inflation threat: the disruptions in the Red Sea have roiled global supply chains and pushed up freight costs. The Houthis have pledged a “big” response to airstrikes. Iran wins either way with US airstrikes on Houthis in Yemen.

* Mind the gap: Taiwan Semi is trading at a political discount, which is unlikely to narrow after the election of the China-critical candidate Lai Ching-te.

* To put things into perspective: Japan's Yen is 46% undervalued vs the Euro when measured by Big Mac Purchase Power Parity.

* US inflation ran hotter than expected on both the headline and core. Headline CPI climbed 3.4% YoY, a 30bp acceleration vs +3.1% in Nov (above Street’s +3.2% forecast). 

* Economists: UK still at risk of technical recession. Several economists are warning that the UK could have slid into a technical recession at the end of last year, even though the economy grew by 0.3% in November.

* The "multipolar world" will remain a major topic in 2024 as the rewiring of the global commerce system creates geopolitical risks & business model shifts that will last decades. The Dollar’s & Euro's share in global CenBank reserves dropped.

* While it's true that a record high 58% of American households do own stocks via mutual funds or as individual shares, in the aggregate the amount of stock most of these folks own is tiny. The wealthiest 10% of U.S. households now own nearly 93% of the stock market.

* The head of JP Morgan has warned of the risk of disruption from wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.

* Nvidia hit fresh ATH after the chip company unveiled new products and partnerships at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

* Microsoft dethrones Apple as most valuable stock in the world. Windows software maker’s value last topped Apple in 2021. The stock has gained 3.3% in 2024, adding $92bn in value.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* SEC approves the spot bitcoin ETF: bitcoin trades at $46k while ether jumps 9% to $2,500.

* The nine spot bitcoin ETFs (including BlackRock, Fidelity, Bitwise) saw over $4.5bn in the first day of trading, much of it again from BlackRock and Grayscale. The preliminary data marks a "monster start" for spot bitcoin ETFs, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

* Trading just below $43,000 now, Bitcoin is down about 2% from where it was seven days ago. Over the past month, BTC is totally flat. But hodlers are still happy to see Bitcoin up over 120% since this time last year.

* Speculation of the ETH ETF is upon us: Ethereum hit an 18-month high of nearly $2,700. But according to TD Crowen, the SEC unlikely to approve spot Ethereum ETFs 'any time soon’.

* ETH is changing hands at $2,555 today. But over the last week, it's up over 14%, and up more than 12% for the last month. The one-year return is about 80%.

* Ethereum scaling networks also had a strong week, with Arbitrum (ARB) up 22% and Optimism (OP) popping 16%.

* Tezos (XTZ) and Stacks (STX), both posting double-digit percentage gains over the past week.

* Morgan Stanley: Spot bitcoin ETF approvals are a 'potential paradigm shift' in global view of crypto.

Coffee Break? Read This

* ‘Gender inequities are important’: why couples fall out of love

* Women’s sex lives were a mystery to men. Then along came Shere Hite

* Biopic woman: move over Napoleon, Ferrari and Oppenheimer … here come the wives

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jointhepurse.substack.com

Welcome to our #218 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

Happy New Year! It’s good to be back…

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on the expected SEC approval this week of the first spot bitcoin ETF (US) and revisit research on how engaged women are in crypto.

There continues to be limited data on women investors in crypto. Since 2021 and 2022, we could not find new research on women investing in crypto. However, this is also likely to be the result of the crypto winter and a very difficult year in 2023 due to the fallout from FTX going bankrupt.

Despite this, Bitcoin was the best performing asset class in 2023. And we are now at the start of the next crypto bull run. So will you be investing in crypto? Or are you already a crypto investor? Let us know! Leave a comment below or tweet Janicka or jointhepurse.

***

And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast with Nicole Sykes. Nicole leads Pro Bono Economics' communications and influencing work, in addition to overseeing a number of key policy themes in relation to the effectiveness of civil society, philanthropy and relationships between civil society, business and government.

We talk about the Women and the charity sector report. Please enjoy!

***

You can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

The launch of the spot bitcoin ETF (US) and how engaged are women in crypto investing?

This week, we expect the SEC to approve the first spot bitcoin ETF in the US. So how engaged are women in crypto investing?

This week, we expect the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) to finally approve the spot Bitcoin ETF (exchange traded fund) in the US.

Unlike futures contracts, Bitcoin spot ETFs directly hold bitcoin as an underlying asset and track its prices.

It’s fair to say that the crypto community has been waiting for this for years.

Not only does this signal ‘acceptance by Wall Street’ and therefore an imminent influx of institutional money, but it is also a nod to Bitcoin coming of age, despite its volatility.

This carries even more significance as we come out of a long crypto winter. And it follows a series of crypto company bankruptcies, including Sam Bankman Fried’s FTX, Celsius, Three Arrows Capital and BlockFi.

But, wait for it: Bitcoin was the best performing asset class in 2023.

According to Charlie Bilello, bitcoin’s annual total returns last year were 156%. Compare this to the US Nasdaq 100, where the annual returns were a 55% or to gold which returned 12.7%.

What is even more impressive: bitcoin has outperformed all asset classes since its inception in 2008.

The crypto bulls predict a big year as we enter the next crypto bull run, this time with the ‘backing’ of asset managers like BlackRock, Van Eck, Ark Invest, Fidelity+ and their spot bitcoin ETF applications.

So how engaged are women in crypto investing?

According to Crypto News, women now represent 30% of crypto owners.

In 2021, Gemini shared research which confirmed that 40% of crypto investors were women. The figure represented a ‘significant shift’ from earlier findings that suggested women in the UK made up around 21%–22% of crypto investors.

Gemini’s research further stated:

* Men tended to hold more cryptocurrency than women in categories over £10,000/$13,694 (65.8%) and below £500/$685 (62.1%). However, women made up 53.4% of those holding £1,000–£5,000 ($1,369–$6,847).

There is still so little data on women in crypto, that we will reference more detailed research by the now bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi released in 2022.

***

Based on their research, 10% of women chose crypto as their first investment compared to 33% of women investing in retirement funds, as their first point of entry.

For 17% of Millennial women and 11% of Gen Z women, crypto was their first (ever) investment. And even though Gen X women have had more time to enter other asset classes, only 7% invested in crypto as their first investment.

But overall, 25% of women said that they have yet to invest (in any asset class).

Wealth building strategy

BlockFi’s research also found that 1 in 4 women said they are not confident in their wealth-building investment strategy. And less than half (45%) feel financially secure.

The good news is that 1 in 3 women talk about money in their social circles, although this seems more common in younger generations. Gen X and Baby Boomers are less likely to talk about money with their friends.

And while most women have heard about crypto, nearly 81% of women still report crypto to be confusing and 77% view crypto as a risky investment. 

Women, bitcoin and the HODL

1 in 5 women regard crypto as a good hedge against inflation. And 20% of Gen Z women see bitcoin as the best long-term investment compared to every other potential asset class. Whilst only 10% of Gen X think the same.

The survey indicates that women regard investing in crypto as a long term investment strategy. And the majority of female crypto owners (69%) said they hold crypto and remain hold-only.

Knowledge and community is key

Women are keen to engage more around money and invest. Research across the board suggests that women want to learn and be educated on how to make their money work for them.

This is less about ‘tactics’ and ‘chasing alpha’ and more about building knowledge and confidence within a community. That is not to say women are not interested in performance. They are, but their approach to money and investing differs to men.

Seek out role models, mentors or likeminded women who share a similar interest in learning about crypto.

Sign up to newsletters (like this one), listen to podcasts and commit to furthering your knowledge on the topic every week.

Or better yet, decide to invest, even if this is £10 or $10 a month.

Once you’re invested, even if this is a small amount, you will start to pay more attention and learn as you go.

What next? Re-read this:

* Women: why invest in crypto and how to de-risk your investment

* Women: why NOT investing is risky

Disclaimer: invest only what you are prepared to lose. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser. I invest in BTC, ETH and other altcoins.

News in Brief

Financial news

* China's President Xi vows to strengthen economic momentum and deliver on job creation after a disappointing underperforming 2023.

* This isn’t how Wall Street hoped to ring in 2024: stocks and bonds fares worst New Year kick-off since 2003.

* Bond sell-off continues on pared rate bets with US 10 year yields now back at almost 4%.

* Money-market fund assets rise to fresh record $5.965tn. With the UK interest rate sitting at 5%, and many believing this could rise to 6.25%, savers are looking to make the most of this 15-year high rate.

* US debt eclipses $34tn for first time roughly three months after the debt first hit $33tn.

* US economy adds 216,000 jobs in December (well above the roughly 170,000 jobs economists expected), ending 2023 with a bang.

* Eurozone inflation rises to 2.9% after increase in energy costs. December data comes amid speculation over when European Central Bank will cut interest rates.

* UK house prices rise again but Halifax forecasts up to 4% drop in 2024. Growth rates driven by shortage of properties on market, says mortgage lender, with typical home worth £287,105.

* Mark Zuckerberg sold nearly half a billion dollars of Meta shares in the final 2 months of 2023. The Meta CEO sold shares on every trading day between Nov. 1 and the end of the year, unloading nearly 1.28m shares for $428m.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* The rise of digital gold: in 2012, one ounce of gold was still worth 400 BTC now less than 0.05.

* Bitcoin plunged as much as 9% as jitters around the anticipated approval of a spot bitcoin ETF began to enter the market. The slump retraced the entire upside move that occurred on Jan. 1, spurring the liquidation of $500m worth of positions across derivatives exchanges.

* BlackRock expects spot Bitcoin ETF approval Wednesday, according toFox Business.

* VanEck pledges 5% of bitcoin ETF profits to brink's bitcoin core devs. The firm has already made an initial $10,000 donation to the organisation.

* SEC 'implicitly' accepts ETH as commodity, paving way for spot ethereum ETF.

* Celsius to unstake ETH holdings for creditors to ‘ensure ample liquidity’ at $466m. The crypto lender filed for bankruptcy in the summer of 2022. According to a court filing from last September, about 58,300 users held $210m in what the court categorised as “custody assets.”

* Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest offloads additional $4m in Coinbase shares. The ETF bought 132,955 shares of Recursion Pharmaceuticals, a deal valued at around $1.48m, on the same day. The firm’s ETFs have offloaded over $200m in Coinbase shares over the past few weeks.

* Financial advisors are still skeptical SEC approves bitcoin ETF, Bitwise says. Only 39% of 437 financial advisors polled said they think we'll see a Bitcoin ETF available to U.S. investors in 2024.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in our conversation:

* Report: Women and the charity sector

* Why we need more funding of women and girls sectors

* Women giving more to the charity sector

* How the charity sector will be reshaped by women owning the majority of wealth in the UK in 2025+

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* My mother can’t accept that I don’t want children

* ‘The investment industry is just a wall of men’: Tessa Clarke of Olio on the battle facing female entrepreneurs

* ‘I had to find a way to survive’: ultrarunner Sabrina Pace-Humphreys on racing, racism and learning to love the outdoors

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jointhepurse.substack.com

Welcome to our #216 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we spotlight the changing relationship women have with money in the 2020s.

And don’t forget to The Purse Podcast interview with Professor Dame Heather McGregor. We talk about COP28, climate finance and why investing in climate change is also investing in gender equality. Please enjoy!

***

You can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

***

And The Purse will be back in early 2024! Thank you for being on this journey with us. We wish you all ‘Happy Holidays’ and a very Happy New Year.

See you next year!

Jana

Women and their changing relationship with money

By 2030, American women are expected to control much of the $30 trillion in financial assets that baby boomers will possess.

Significant sums of money is due to change hands this decade, as women stand to inherit wealth, in large part, from their spouse, as reported by Yahoo Finance.

According to research by McKinsey:

By 2030, American women are expected to control much of the $30 trillion in financial assets that baby boomers will possess — a potential wealth transfer of such magnitude that it approaches the annual GDP of the United States.

Younger women are becoming financially savvy

However, another demographic shift is that younger women are putting themselves in a financially strong position.

They are engaging far more with their money and starting to invest using investment platforms or mobile apps. In fact, there was a surge in the number of women who started investing during the pandemic.

For example, Fidelity investments recently added 48% more new women customers in 2023 compared to 2019. And the good news is that today, an average of 60% of women invest in the stock market.

This is how it breaks down across each generation (ie women who invest):

* 71% of Gen Z

* 63% of millennial

* 55% of Gen X

* 57% of Baby boomers.

However, there is still an enormous financial gender gap.

A recent Varo Bank survey found that women are significantly more likely than men to be living pay cheque to pay cheque, (59% of women vs 41% of men). In addition, 67% of women said they consider themselves financially fragile, according to the survey.

Changes in the financial services industry

As a consequence of this ‘wealth shift’, financial advisers are having to adapt to meet the needs and preferences of female clients.

The data shows that when a woman’s spouse dies, they move on from their existing financial adviser within the year.

As reported by Yahoo Finance, some experts suggest that the upcoming transfer of wealth needs to be tempered by an understanding of wealth disparities and healthcare costs.

As people live longer, and women in particular outlive men by 5-7 years (on average), the concern is that a significant portion of this wealth will be consumed by healthcare costs.

What next? (Re) Listen to The Purse Podcast:

* #102: Why is money a taboo topic for women, gender norms, how to 'break the money silence', and what is a financially successful life with Kathleen Burns Kingsbury

* #103: Women's growing economic power and how the financial services industry needs to change with Sarah Courtney Dockett

* #104: Why every woman needs a financial plan with Kristine Beese

News in Brief

Financial news

* Nasdaq 100 closes at a record high for first time since Nov 2021.

* Dow Jones rose to its highest level ever following latest Fed meeting—which left rates unch & predicted 3 possible cuts in the coming year.

* The Fed keeps interest rates at a 22 year high for the third straight meeting and signalled it expects to make three cuts next year. Markets price 5.1 cuts for 2024.

* ECB policymakers are largely united in expecting to cut interest rates later than financial markets currently anticipate.

* ECB's Lagarde: We did not discuss rate cuts at all but markets price in 5.3 cuts for 2024.

* Bank of England holds rates at 5.25% as it gives inflation warning. Threadneedle Street says Britain faces tougher job to crush inflation than other advanced nations.

* UK house prices to ‘fall up to 4%’ in 2024; business activity picks up in December.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin is down nearly 4% over the past seven days and is trading for $41,190 as hype surrounding the approval of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) seems to have calmed.

* Solana was up over 6% during the past week and is now trading for $74.11, a more than 20% gain since the start of December.

* BONK (running on Solana), dog-themed meme coin is trading for $0.00002364 has risen 67% over the past seven days, and an utterly bonkers 441% rise over the last two weeks.

* Avalanche this week rose to become the 10th biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, overtaking DOGE. It's trading at $41.77 now, with solid green across the calendar: up 3% since yesterday, up 27% since last week, and up 78% for the last 30 days.

* Bloomberg analyst explains plan forward for spot bitcoin ETF: The SEC has been 'backed into a corner'.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in our conversation:

* COP 28: the UN Climate Summit (in Dubai)

* Climate finance: what is it and why should we care?

* What role do entrepreneurs play?

* How do female founders fare in this space?

* Why investing in climate change is also investing into gender equality

* How to start investing in climate change?

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* Sienna Miller says younger men are wiser. Me? I’m not convinced

* Feminism in pictures: illustrated stories of women’s rights around the world

* ‘Millions of women are suffering who don’t have to’: why it’s time to end the misery of UTIs

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jointhepurse.substack.com

Welcome to our #215 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we highlight the research by Carta which tracks the state of equity in the startup ecosystem (US). And whilst we are seeing overall improvement, women continue to be underrepresented in executive positions and receive a smaller slice of the equity pie.

It goes without saying that women owning less equity impacts how much personal wealth they can grow overtime.

And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with UK economist Vicky Pryce. We talk about the House of Lords report on the Bank of England and its ‘inflation failures’, what could they have done differently, the UK economy in review, what’s ahead in 2024 and CBDCs and bitcoin.

***

You can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Carta report: women and equity in startups

Carta reports on the state of equity in the startup ecosystem (US). And women continue to hold minority positions at executive level and are awarded less equity.

Every year, Carta reports on the state of equity in the startup ecosystem (US). Over the past year, rising interest rates and a pullback in venture capital investment has made it harder for all founders. However this has had an outsized impact on women founders and founders of colour.

As we know, how much equity women have in a startup, impacts how much wealth they can generate over time. Unsurprisingly, women are less represented as executives in startups where the most equity is awarded. And data and engineering has the least female representation.

Gender:

The proportion of new equity-receiving hires who are women dipped slightly to 35% in 2023, the first annual decline in the past decade. Cumulatively, over the past 11 years, 34% of new hires who received equity are women.

Women and equity:

Over the past five years, 35% of new hires who receive equity as part of their compensation are women. But that 35% received just 24% of all total equity issued. On the plus side, the equity gaps between men and women have narrowed over the past five years compared to the previous 19.

Women in senior positions

Among employees in HR hired to non-executive positions in the past five years, 72% are women. In every other major job function, the rate of executive women lags behind the rate of women in non-executive roles.

The gap is particularly stark in the functions where women are least represented in the first place: In both data and engineering, the proportion of women in non-executive roles is nearly twice as high as that of executives. 

We know that women in executive positions hire more senior women. And this is also where the most equity is awarded. It goes without saying that women being awarded less equity impacts how much wealth women can earn over time.

Women hires and equity: on the rise (but it is still less than a third)

Regarding equity compensation, individual contributors and managers have both seen significant gains, with individual contributors going from 18% of equity received to 26% and managers from 24% to 31%. 

Even with those recent gains, however, women are still hired much less frequently than men and receive a much smaller slice of the equity pie.  

So what can women do to own more equity in a startup?

* Become a female founder and ensure you retain a majority percentage of equity. As you raise funding and give equity away in exchange for a capital injection, this will decline, but women should look to retain control at 50% or above.

* Women executives with P&L (profit & loss) experience and responsibility, have greater decision-making power, tend to get paid more and are more likely to negotiate (and be awarded) a bigger slice of the equity pie.

* Women who join early or as a co-founder, will have access to more equity than if they join as an employee, a few years after the startup was founded. Timing and risk level often drives decisions about how much equity is allocated.

* However it is important to bear in mind, that equity allocation follows existing trends that women, in general, are renumerated (or rewarded less) favourably then men in similar or the same roles. Collect as much data as possible in preparation for your negotiation.

News in Brief

Financial news

* China falls deeper into deflation: China’s consumer prices dropped 0.5%, the most in 3 years, a sign the country's economic recovery remains weak.

* Japan 10 year yields jump 11bps on policy talk. Head of the Bank of Japan stoked speculation it will tighten its ultra-loose monetary policy.

* #India stock value tops $4tn. India added $1tn in market cap in less than 3 years. Key benchmarks are set for eighth-straight year of advances.

* US dollar and US yields jump as US November labour market a lot hotter than expected.

* Investors beware: ‘Magnificent Seven’ are starting to resemble ‘Nifty 50’ stocks that got crushed in the 1970s market crash.

* Jeremy Hunt’s post-Brexit City shake-up is ‘damp squib’, say MPs. Treasury select committee says Edinburgh reforms launched a year ago have had little impact on UK economy.

* Peak Big Tech? #Nvidia insiders unload shares after 220% AI rally: Insiders sold or filed to sell about 370,000 shares last mth worth ~$180mln. Zuckerberg sells 1st Meta shares in 2yrs after 172% surge. Meta co-founder unloaded $185m of stock in November.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin's (BTC) rally halted Thursday and has dipped to $43,000 following its breakneck climb to near $45,000 earlier this week. Experts told Decrypt that the rally was mostly due to hype around the ostensibly imminent approval of the long-awaited spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) product.

* Ethereum has popped 5% over the same period and hit $2,372, its highest level since May 2022.

* Ether classic (ETC) appreciated 6%, while liquid staking protocol Lido's governance token (LDO) increased by over 11%.

* Native tokens of Ethereum scaling networks Optimism and Arbitrum also gained 22% and 9%, respectively, during the day.

* Solana (SOL) jumped over 8% to $69, the highest since May 2022, following a three-week cool-off since its mid-November local top.

* One meme coin is continuing to explode: Solana-based Bonk. The dog-themed meme coin is now at $0.0000128—a 7-day rise of 188%, and up 635% for the last 30 days.

* Fidelity held meeting with SEC about spot bitcoin fund, submitted presentation about ETF workflows.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in our conversation with economist Vicky Pryce:

* The House of Lords report on the Bank of England inflation failures

* What could they have done differently?

* The UK economy in review

* What's ahead in 2024

* Crypto, bitcoin and CBDCs.

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* Move over, lads! How the world turned girly

* We need rituals to help ease the pain of unwanted periods

* Overcoming your need for constant validation at work

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jointhepurse.substack.com

Welcome to our #214 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we highlight new figures which show that women in their thirties are £4,000+ per year worse off than they were in 2010.

We calculate if women had invested this amount per year at a 7% return, how much additional investment income they would have today.

***

And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Falling wages: women in their thirties are worse off since 2010

New figures suggest that women in their thirties are £4,000+ per year worse off.

New figures show that women in their thirties are £4,000+ per year worse off then they were in 2010, as reported by Sky News.

The median full-time salary for women aged 30-39 dropped from £37,899 (April, 2010) to £33,740 (April, 2023), leaving them on average £4,159 or £350 per month worse off (in real terms).

The calculation was made using the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which tracks the average change in prices paid by consumers over a period of time for a basket of goods and services.

As the price of goods and services go up, purchasing power (or how much we can afford to buy) is eroded.

What is often missed in these calculations is the opportunity cost of not investing this money and losing out on compounding interest over time.

If we assume a 7% return on £4,200 per annum over the thirteen year period, this totals £58,422 of lost potential income.

Given that the average pension for women in the UK is typically just £43,117 (which is almost half of a man’s pension), the £58,422 represents a substantial financial loss to women.

And if we extend the time period to twenty years, assuming the same 7% return per annum, this comes to £89,880 of lost income.

We know that women have a different life trajectory to men and as a result are exposed to greater financial risk.

Women are paid less than men (on average), they are more likely to interrupt their career, take on part-time work and they live longer, which costs more.

Without an adequate ‘financial buffer’, women continue to suffer the impact of inflation which negatively compounds over time and limits their financial strength.

What next? (Re) listen to The Purse Podcast:

* #74: Women's relationship to money, budgeting vs investing and working with a financial planner with Victoria Ross

* #85: Closing the gender wealth gap and managing your money with Vicky Pryce and Victoria Ross

* #104: Why every woman needs a financial plan with Kristine Beese

News in Brief

Financial news

* Mind the gap: Since 2000, the MSCI World has outperformed the MSCI World ex USA by a whopping 90ppts. Excluding dividends, the MSCI World ex USA is now at the same level as in 2006.

* UK shoppers expected to buy fewer Black Friday goods amid cost of living crisis. Spending predicted to be up just 0.4% on 2022 as inflation and Amazon warehouse strikes hit discount event.

* Nvidia stock hits All-Time High ahead of earnings: the stock has gained 24% in Nov, on pace for its best month since a blowout earnings report in May. Nvidia has gained 245% in 2023, pushing its market value above $1.2tn.

* Microsoft is now clearly ahead of Alphabet again in the AI race on the stock market.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin price breaks past $38,000, carried on by ETF hype. This comes in the wake of more work being done on the current wave of spot bitcoin ETF applications.

* Ethereum also hit an 18-month high before dipping again on Friday. It's right now trading for $2,090, having risen 6.5% in seven days.

* Bitcoin jumps as Argentina's Pro-Bitcoin candidate Javier Milei won election.

* Solana, which was on a tear for most of November, slowed right down: the coin is now priced at $58.59.

* Cosmos community approves capping Atom inflation rate at 10%. The approved change would bring Atom's annualized staking yield from approximately 19% to about 13.4%, according to the proposal.

* Coinbase stock price rises to highest value since May 2022. After starting the month at $77, Coinbase rose to $116.4 today, an increase of 50%, according to TradingView. It's now trading at the highest price since mid-2022.

* MicroStrategy—which trades as MTSR and is the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin—also shot up. Its shares are at $520.24 a pop right now. They haven't been that high since December 2021.

* UK investment funds have been given the green light for tokenization by a government working group, according to trade body The Investment Association.

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* Choosing childlessness for the sake of the planet

* Fidelity says it increased women clients by 48% since 2019

* US women now live six years longer than men. American life expectancy is still dire

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jointhepurse.substack.com

Welcome to our #213 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we summarise the key points from the survey by The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting in 2023. And we highlight women investors and trends in adding more female artists to collections.

But investing in art need not only be for high-net worth individuals. For early investors or investors with limited funds, there are a number of ways to get started.

***

And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Survey: women powering the art world and trends in the art market

A survey by The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting in 2023 reveals insights into high net worth collectors. But there are ways that early art investors with limited funds can get started too.

A survey by The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting in 2023 has revealed the following trends of high-net worth (HNW), including women investors and female artists:

General Overview of the Art Market:

* HNW collectors showed strong spending in art during the first half of 2023, with a cautious approach and optimism for 2024​​​​.

* International trade in art and antiques was vibrant, with record-high levels of imports and exports in 2022 and early 2023​.

Spending Trends Among HNW Collectors:

* Median expenditure on art and antiques remained stable in 2023 compared to 2022, with significant spending from collectors in Mainland China​​.

* Allocation to art in wealth portfolios decreased slightly in 2023, indicating a more cautious approach to collecting​​.

* A substantial share of HNW collectors used credit or loans for purchasing art, with a higher average for ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) collectors​​.

* Majority of spending was on paintings, with a notable decrease in expenditure on digital art and NFTs.

Women in Art Collecting:

* Women outspent men for the third consecutive year, with a median expenditure higher than their male counterparts ie at $72,500.

* However, more men were high-spenders compared to women​​, with double the number of men than women in the narrow segment of respondents spending more than $1 million in each period.

* The share of works by women artists in HNW collectors' collections decreased in 2022 and 2023, reverting to levels seen in 2020.

* Collectors spending over $10 million annually had a higher share of female artists' works in their collections.

Collecting Behaviours and Channels:

* In-person buying saw a resurgence, with dealers being the most widely used channel for purchasing art in 2023​​.

* HNW collectors were selective about event attendance, with a reduction in the number of art-related events attended in 2023 compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Experts' Insights:

* Economic and political uncertainty influenced the art market in 2023, leading to more risk-averse approaches and less impulse buying among collectors. Self-focused motivations remained the biggest drivers for buying art​​.

* HNW collector confidence remained strong in 2023, with a notable shift towards more careful spending and a resurgence of in-person buying​​.

* Consumer spending growth pivoted from goods towards services in 2023, with art collectors becoming more discerning and intentional in their choices, focusing on meaningful connections and quality over quantity

Overall Trends:

* The art market, including participation by women collectors and representation of women artists, is influenced by broader economic and geopolitical conditions.

* There is a continued interest and investment in the art market by women, albeit with varying degrees of spending relative to their male counterparts.

* The trend reflects a nuanced and evolving landscape for women artists and collectors within the global art market.

Why invest in art?

Art provides a way to diversify investment portfolios beyond traditional stocks, bonds, real estate and even crypto.

Unlike financial markets, the art market often does not correlate directly with stock markets, which can protect personal wealth against market volatility.

Overtime, art can significantly increase in value and it can often hedge against inflation (which erodes wealth). So as the value of money decreases, the value of art can remain stable or increase.

For many investors, art goes beyond financial gain. Many HNW individuals are passionate about art and derive personal satisfaction and prestige from owning valuable pieces.

Investing in art is often a part of an individual’s legacy and forms a significant part of estate planning for HNW individuals.

And in some cases, investing in art can offer tax benefits. For example, donating art to a museum may provide a tax deduction, or certain tax advantages may apply when selling an artwork at a profit.

Investing in art need not only be for HNW individuals

Early art investors who may have less funds to invest, can access more afforable art via for example, Battersea Affordable Art Fair or check out Frieze London for inspiration.

And, via companies such as Masterworks, it is now possible to buy shares in the artwork selected without needing to choose and purchase the ‘physical art’.

This not only reduces risk for inexperienced investors who has less knowledge of the space, but makes this asset class more accessible to early investors.

News in Brief

Financial news

* Global bond market rally continues with 10 year US yields now at 4.44%, German 10y at 2.56% and Japan 10y at 0.79%.

* In nominal dollar terms China’s GDP is shrinking – making the economy a tough sell to foreign investors.

* US 10 year drops 18bps to 4.46% after inflation data which should eliminate any expectation that the Fed will raise rates again in Dec or thereafter.

* US inflation data for October undershoot consensus. Headline dropped to +3.2% from 3.7% in Sep vs 3.3% expected, Core CPI dropped to 4.0% from 4.1% vs 4.1% expected. Dollar and Yields plunge.

* EU cuts Eurozone 2023 GDP forecast to 0.6%, down from a September forecast of 0.8%. Sees 1.2% growth in 2024, a downward revision from 1.3%, and 1.6% in 2025.

* Euro jumped 1.7% following cooler-than-expected US inflation data.

* Barbie ‘contributed over £80m to the UK economy’ says Warner Bros. Hollywood studio reported figure to a parliamentary committee investigation into how to support the British film industry.

* Value Trap Small Caps? Normally, the share of unprofitable firms rises during recessions. But even before the economy has entered a recession, the share of comps in the Russell 2000 w/no earnings is at 40%, Appolo's Slok has calculated.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Right now, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading for $36,648 a 24-hour jump of 2%. Over seven days, it has essentially been flat. It started the week strong, regularly flirting with the 18-month high of $37,000 per coin it touched last week, but it has since struggled to sit comfortably above that figure.

* Elsewhere, altcoin star Solana (SOL) saw its long-running rally slow down. The Ethereum-competitor had hit another yearly high Monday but cooled its run. It is now priced in at $58.31 per coin, and is up 5.6% over the past 24 hours

* If Solana goes ahead, the creditors of FTX will be fully compensated. The Delaware Bankruptcy Court approved the sale of the failed exchange’s assets, which included 55.75m SOL, in September 2023.

* And Avalanche (AVAX) surged after J.P. Morgan said it had used the blockchain to tokenize portfolios. AVAX, the 12th biggest digital asset by market cap, is priced at $22.12, having shot up by more than 46% over the week—making it this week's winner.

* Worldcoin price drops 6% after Sam Altman unseated as OpenAI CEO. The token fell over 12% in the last 24 hours, according to The Block’s Price Page. 

* Fidelity files for spot Ethereum ETF, says approval would be 'major win' for US investors.

* South Korea's National Pension Service (NPS), the world's third-largest pension fund by assets, has made a significant foray into the cryptocurrency space by purchasing $19.9m worth of Coinbase shares.

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* The unseen forces that can cause your great new idea to crash and burn

* US women now live six years longer than men. American life expectancy is still dire.

* ‘You can’t send them to their room’: the tensions and challenges of parenting adult children

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jointhepurse.substack.com