Finance, Economics & Technology

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Olivia

Olivia has 76 articles published.

Where is the Economy Going?

in Economy by
Image by Tumisu

Over the past few years there’ve been many broad and very public predictions of an impending market downturn. I remember starting to hear them back in 2017 when people were guessing a recession might happen within 6–12 months. Obviously, that never happened. It still hasn’t, but predictions have only grown stronger in conviction.

Why? Because markets keep hitting high after high without the supporting operating fundamentals. Logically, there has to be a top; a point where markets pull back.

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Quick Take: Reading The Paper

in Blog by

Starting on Sunday, I stash my favorite sections in my bag and carry them with me. The Business section delves into IPO drama, company trends, executive leadership news, and what’s happening in finance. Sunday Review features more nuanced, human-interest stories, and lots of opinions – like the recent article discussing the likability trap for politicians. And finally, the Style section, for all of the obvious reasons and the fact that it’s a quick snap shot into what’s hot right now from the perspective of the Times.

These are the sections that travel with me, I read the front page at home, and all together ditch Sports, Arts, and Book Review. Sometimes Travel gets a little time.

Newspapers are like a curated Twitter. That sounds funny, given that newspapers were the original form of news media. But social media has become such a smash of interesting and annoying takes. I value social media, and certainly I value my own platform, but it’s difficult to determine what content is valuable and what is not. I think perhaps one of the worst things social media has done for the world is make everyone an authority. Not everyone should be an authority, and we’ve certainly seen what happens when audiences believe what people in the network publish and repost online. The consequences can be pretty serious. Newspapers, on the other hand, carefully conceive of ideas for articles, investigate them thoroughly, and then present us with a factual account of what is happening. It is not speculation, and when opinions are published they come from people who are legitimately deemed to have some expertise in their field to support what they are talking about.

While the New York Times is a constant around here, I also read the Globe and Mail and the Wall Street Journal – there isn’t time for much more. I want to know what the experts think, they provide a perspective I likely haven’t considered. Concise and condensed and easy to toss in your bag – with no screen time necessary. This is why I love newspapers.

Up or Down: Thoughts on Where the Market is Going

in Finance/Investing by

It’s really hard to know what the next right move is. On one hand, things seem to be going well, and the charts are pointing upwards. This is nice to see, but how long can it last when the markets continue to reach new highs?  Keep Reading

Just Quick: 5 Tech Things From Last Week

in Blockchain/Crypto/Tech by

This world is hard to keep up with, thb. I probably spend 2 – 2.5 hours a day on Twitter keeping up with as much as I can, at least within tech, politics, and finance – that’s what my feed is comprised of.

In an effort to distill the big tech stories that came out this past week, here are the top things I think you need to know now: Keep Reading

Cision’s List of Cryptocurrency Influencers to Follow on Twitter

in Crypto by

Thanks, Cision. Find me just after Anthony Di Iorio and Don Tapscott.

The description is partially outdated, but that’s cool. Life is changing pretty fast these days. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A Call for Reason, And Perspective

in Blog by

Politics can be such utter garbage. To evoke support, political marketers seek to further deepen the divide that determines political affiliations, but do it in such a way that elicits hatred for the other side. They virtue signal and point fingers, claiming that this game of political warfare is zero-sum. It is not, in my opinion. When one side wins and one loses, both sides ultimately lose – same as with personal relationships.

In the United States, both sides are boldly guilty of this. The rhetoric used to get points across is so hyperbolized, it’s as if every issue (portrayed by the mainstream media), is a call for another civil war. Frankly, I find politics insulting to the citizens who have to put up with it all. Keep Reading

How Can Bond Yields Predict an Economic Downturn?

in Economy/Finance/Investing by

Some economists are starting to worry about the future of the economy, pointing to a “flattening” of the yield curve, or term spread as it’s also referred to, of the bond market.

The bond market is looked at as an indicator of economic health because of how government bonds are typically in sync with interest rates and the economy at large. While not discussed as routinely as the stock market (the bond market is decidedly less sexy than the stock market), it’s about twice the size of the stock market with far more trading activity. Because bonds generally follow economic activity, they can be predictive of the stock market. And the stock market is a lagging indicator of the economy; once stocks start falling, it’s too late, just as we saw with the 2007/2008 recession. Keep Reading

My NYT Habit: It’s Not a Liberal Vs. Conservative Thing

in Blog by

I don’t read the newspaper everyday, there just isn’t time. You don’t pick up a paper with the intention of reading one article, as you would over on Twitter or Medium (speaking of which, I recently wrote a post explaining what the blockchain-powered tokenization of assets means). A newspaper is meant to give you an up-to-date look at what’s going on in the world, or country, or city, with observations on the markets, business stories, notes on social and civic activity, and opinions. Hopefully you walk away feeling educated and inspired.

This is how I always feel after I read The New York Times on Sunday, which is why I love the paper so much. Keep Reading

Why Don’t We Talk About Money

in Finance by

We talk about EVERYTHING ELSE. Why don’t we talk about money? The answer is actually so obvious, it’s just f*cking stupid. We don’t talk about money because as a society, we ascribe value to people based on their financial worth.

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