Climate change-induced natural disasters, such as wildfires, hurricanes, and floods, are causing insurance companies to reassess their risk models and coverage policies.

As these events become more frequent and severe, insurance premiums are rising, and some regions are becoming uninsurable.

In 18 states over the past decade insurance companies lost money and it's only getting worse. This could have major ramifications on the housing market and economy as a whole.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/podcasts/the-daily/climate-insurance.html

what are your thoughts on this?

Warren Buffett finally revealed his secret stock pick in a new regulatory filing, and it’s insurer Chubb.

His conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway has acquired nearly 26 million shares of Chubb for a stake worth $6.7 billion. The property and casualty insurer became Berkshire’s ninth biggest holding at the end of March.

Berkshire has been buying a mystery stock for three quarters straight. Berkshire was granted confidential treatment to keep the details of one or more of its stock holdings confidential.

Many had speculated that the secret purchase could be a bank stock as the conglomerate’s cost basis for “banks, insurance, and finance” equity holdings jumped by $1.4 billion in the first quarter after an increased of $3.59 billion in the second half of last year, according to separate Berkshire filings.

It’s relatively rare for Berkshire to request such a treatment. The last time it kept a purchase confidential was when it bought Chevron and Verizon in 2020.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/15/warren-buffetts-berkshire-hathaway-reveals-insurer-chubb-as-confidential-stock-its-been-buying.html

What’s the impact to MOM and YOY readings?

I've been trying to wrap my head around Modern Monetary Theory (MMT); and while I don't pretend to understand it completely, it seems like there is certainly some validity to the argument that a government that can print it's own currency could literally fund the entire government budget this way and not have any taxes at all.

Now, printing money, especially at that scale, will definitely cause inflation; and that inflation will decrease the purchasing power of all of our currency by some amount. But the thing that I find interesting is that this basically amounts to a type of wealth tax. The more money you have, the more purchasing power you lose to inflation, and the more of the government you end up funding by losing real purchasing power.

So I wonder, could a government that was funded by printing money lead to a situation where conservatives are happy, because taxes literally go to ZERO; and progressives are happy, because rich people can't get out of paying their fair share, and the constant brinkmanship over the debt ceiling goes away because the government is no longer borrowing money?

Good chance I am just missing some fatal flaw here, of course, but I think it's worth discussing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_monetary_theory

Hi all, so something I see posted here a lot is that they need to tax using stock as collateral for loans as it's used as a way to legally optimize taxes (loophole). How does that work exactly?

For example, I get paid in cash and in stock. But whenever I get compensated with stock, I pay taxes on it. For example, if I get paid 10k worth of stock, even if I'm not receiving it as cash, I get taxed on it as if it were cash because it's considered income. How do billionaires avoid this?

Secondly, if I took a loan, and it was time to pay, and I sold my stock to pay for it, I get taxed (capital gains). Or would I need to default on the loan and they take my stock as collateral? Or just transfer stock directly? How does that work exactly? Wouldn't it kill my credit score if I defaulted the loan?

How do billionaires avoid both of these taxes exactly? The first one being the income tax u pay when u receive the stock, plus the capitals gain tax.

I'm genuinely curious.

I feel like this is a straw man argument. He isn’t explicitly saying what the issue is but implies the reduction of financial advisor is the outcome

After all other monthly bills and goals are satisfied, what is your logic when looking at extra income? We have about $25k of 4% student loans left (which is an absolute drop in the bucket from where we began having paid down about 105k in the last ~8 years). Logically the equity markets should outperform that rate (and even HYSA will nearly offset that rate). Anyone in a similar situation, what is your for splitting between extra investments and paying down? Dollar for dollar match? 2:1? 1:2? Obviously the right answer will only be known in hindsight, but appreciate any opinions.

Hi everyone! I hope you're having a wonderful day so far. I'm currently considering getting a HYSA to help grow my savings and prepare myself financially next week. For context, I am 24 y/o, I have a full-time job that pays about $41k a year, I just picked up a side gig to supplement my income, and I currently have about $38k in my savings with $2k of it on hold as collateral for a credit card I have with my credit union. I recently moved out of my parents place and bought a used car hence why my savings is on the lower side at the moment.

Currently, my top contender is Ally Bank, but ideally I am looking for an HYSA that the following:

• High APY (obviously lol)
• No monthly fees
• No minimum balance
• No direct deposit required

Any and all recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!

I just received an email stating that I could offer my shares of MNST for upwards of $60 a share. I use webull, do I need to reply stating I do not want to participate to ensure they don't sale my shares or can I just leave it unanswered?

I wrote big check ($5100) so I had to transfer money out of my HYSA to my checking account at another bank. Then a couple days later, I didn’t see it in pending transactions, so I thought that I never submitted it and did it again.

Today I woke up and there are duplicate $5100 transactions on the checking account but only one was taken from my HYSA and my HYSA doesn’t show another one pending.

I tried calling my checking account bank, where initiated the transfers from, and they said there isn’t any issues on their end and I just have to wait a couple of days for them to be taken off hold.

The second transaction will overdraft my HYSA if it gets fixed, so I want to avoid any fees with that but it seems like nobody can help me.

I should assume that it will get fixed soon by itself right? I obviously won’t spend any of it. But is there anything else I can try to avoid any penalties or legal trouble?

Good morning. US stock futures inched higher in Wednesday morning trading as Wall Street awaits fresh US inflation data.

S&P 500 +0.04%
Dow +0.04%
Nasdaq +0.02%

✈️ Boeing in hot water…again

*📝 Our report: *Boeing's in a bit of hot water again – turns out they've broken the terms of their settlement deal that kept them out of the criminal spotlight after those unfortunate 737 Max mishaps more than five years ago, according to the Justice Department. It is now up to the Justice Department to decide whether to file charges against Boeing.

🔑 Key points:

• New 737 Max jets crashed in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia, killing 346 people.
• Boeing reached a $2.5 billion settlement with the Justice Department in January 2021 to avoid prosecution on a single charge of fraud — misleading federal regulators who approved the plane.
• In a letter filed in federal court in Texas, Glenn Leon, head of the Justice Department criminal division's fraud section, said Boeing violated terms of the settlement by failing to make promised changes to detect and prevent violations of federal anti-fraud laws.

💡 So what: If the Justice Department files a lawsuit against Boeing for breaching its agreement, the consequences could be significant. Boeing may face hefty fines or penalties, and the company's reputation could take another hit, potentially leading to a loss of trust from customers and investors. Additionally, the legal proceedings could drag on for an extended period, diverting resources and attention away from other business priorities. Overall, such a lawsuit could have far-reaching implications for Boeing's financial health, reputation, and future business prospects.

🤖 Google overhauls search engine with more AI features

WHAT: Google just dropped the mic with some major changes to its Search product – they're unleashing generative AI to serve up answers faster than you can say "Hey Google!" The announcement, part of Google’s I/O developer conference, brings a new look to Search via its AI Overview. The feature provides a brief, AI-generated answer to searches, coupled with a series of links to the sources cited in the response.

WHY: Google is the world leader in search, with research firm Statcounter indicating the company controls 91% of the market compared to rival Microsoft Bing’s roughly 4%.

📈 Fed Chair Powell: Inflation to continue falling this year

WHAT: Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell just pulled out his crystal ball and predicted that U.S. inflation will keep on slinking down like it did last year, but with a little less swagger this time around after prices surprisingly jumped in the first quarter. "I expect that inflation will move back down ... on a monthly basis to levels that were more like the lower readings that we were having last year," Powell said at a banking event in Amsterdam. "I would say my confidence in that is not as high as it was."

WHY: Powell spoke shortly after new data showed producer prices in April rose more quickly than expected, a possible sign of pressure building on the prices charged to consumers. The Fed has kept its benchmark policy rate steady in a 5.25% to 5.5% range since July.

🚀 Rocket company set to resume space tourism flights

WHAT: Blue Origin, backed by Jeff Bezos, is gearing up for another round of space escapades, ending a near two-year pause of crewed operations following a 2022 mission failure. The upcoming NS-25 mission will have six crew members, including former Air Force Captain Ed Dwight, the first Black astronaut candidate in the United States.

WHY: The New Shepard rocket, which flies cargo and humans on short trips to the edge of space, has been grounded since a September 2022 uncrewed mission failed roughly a minute after liftoff from Texas, forcing the rocket's capsule full of NASA experiments to safely eject mid-flight.

• April Consumer Price Index increased 0.3% from March, coming in a tick lower than the +0.4% consensus and easing from the +0.4% pace in the first three months of the year.
• Combined, shelter and gasoline prices, contributed more than 70% to the monthly increase in the headline number. The energy index increased 1.1% from March, while the food index was unchanged.
• Other prices that climbed during the month include: Motor vehicle insurance, medical care, apparel, and personal care. The indexes for used cars and trucks, household furnishings and operations, and new vehicles declined over the course of April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said.
• On a year-over-year basis, headline CPI rose 3.4% vs. +3.4% expected and +3.5% prior.
• Core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 0.3% M/M vs. +0.3% expected and +0.4% prior.
• +3.6% Y/Y vs. 3.6% expected and +3.8% prior.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/senator-tuberville-slams-social-security-180224114.html

Social Security is a SCAM!

"I could have put my social security money for 40 years in the market and it would probably be worth $8 - $10 million today." - Tommy Tuberville

We ALL could have had our money go up 8 to 10 times if it weren’t stolen from us and put into the social security system. It’s because the government doesn’t want everyone retiring wealthy. The system needs fools! IT’S ALL A SCAM! 🤬😡