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Nothing happens on Friday. This means more internet surfing, more texting your group chats about what you’re getting into this weekend, and more talking with your coworkers. So read this before throwing down at the water cooler and you might finally be able to impress that new marketer that joined last month.
Giving Credit where Credit is Due
You guys may or may not have noticed, but people are using their credit cards… A LOT . And why wouldn’t they: it’s swipe first, pay later. Ipso facto everything you buy is free as long as you cut up your credit card before month’s end. The debt then disappears (trust me, I know #business). Users of Visa credit cards spent $1.93 Trillion just last quarter as individuals go away from using cash and checks to instead receive cash back and airline miles from their credit card provider. Visa beat EPS estimates for the eighth straight quarter as EPS rose to $0.90. Profits beat their projections and as of Wednesday evening Visas stock is at a record high. [via Reuters]
You’ll Literally Never Get to Retire
Do you ever get depressed while looking at your bank account? How about your 401k? Well, Trump’s tax plan might make your 401k plan even worse (if you’re lucky enough to have one that is). Americans have historically had a problem saving for retirement. The Trump Tax plan, nicknamed just now as TT plan, would potentially provide massive cuts to the corporate tax rate. To offset these losses in revenues the government needs funding from elsewhere. Currently, there is a limit of $18,000 an individual under the age of 50 can put into their 401k pretax but it’s rumored that this plan would cut that number down to a measly $2,400. Just a friendly reminder since we’re talking about Trump and taxes that we still haven’t seen his taxes yet… That is all. [via Reuters]
ABCs of Earnings
Earnings season is in full swing as Alphabet, Google’s parent company, crushed estimates again this quarter. Adjusted EPS beat the street by over a dollar and came in at $9.57 per share. Revenue was also over $500MM higher than estimates at $27.7 Billion. Google earns most of its revenue through people accidentally clicking on ads. These companies that advertise on Google then have to pay them a certain amount per click. Other sources of revenue are for Google are YouTube, Maps, Chrome, and DVD sales of The Internship just to name a few. If you need any more information on this topic I would ask Jeeves. [via CNBC]
iScream for iPhone
Not that any of you can afford it, but there may not be enough supply of iPhone X’s available to meet demand this holiday Christmas (thank you Trump) season. iPhone X went on sale the first thing this morning for a bargain price of $999. Apple was having an issue where they would not make it to market in time for the holiday season so changes had to be made. They cut the quality of the phone’s facial recognition technology so suppliers could produce the phones at a faster pace. Apple may only end up shipping 25-30 million units for the season, which is down from the projected 40 million. Nearly 2 times that amount of new iPhones sold at the same time last year. So best of luck saving up 2 weeks’ pay to purchase the new iPhone X. I just hope that it will recognize you.. [via Bloomberg]
Image via Shutterstock
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@ellisnd02
@ellisnd
Decided to leave Apple and go over to Android. There’s nothing new in iPhone 8 and I’m not paying $1,000 to be able to send moving poop emojis that imitate my facial movements. My Pixel 2 came yesterday and I’m pretty satisfied so far.
But as an Apple shareholder, please buy all the iPhone Xs!
Again, I don’t want to completely tank my brand but the Pixel 2 looks dope as hell.
That being said, I bought an iPhone X last night.
Just imagine the possibilities of yelling take a selfie at any *moment*.
Of course you did. My portfolio returns thank you.
In terms of credit cards, invest in IPAY. It is a fund that focuses on mobile payment transaction platforms (Apple Pay, Visa Checkput, AMEX Express Checkout, Square, Level Up, PayPal/Venmo, etc.) Cash and physical credit cards won’t be needed soon but credit companies will be the beneficiaries of mobile transaction ecosystems. Mobile payments are much more secure due to transaction tokenization and encryption which also limits your personal information. This mimic block chain technology except the commodity is still cash based credit rather than crypto currency. Everyone has their cell phones on them at all times and since they are password/finger print/facial recognition protected, paying with these devices will be the future since it’s the most secure way of paying
If you say so, Nived…. I’ll put 5k in YOLO
You’ll thank me in 5 years
Just thinking out loud here, but would a push by major credit card companies into epay formats begin to spur a business in which a physical credit card becomes an additional fee on top of yearly fees and the like? I’m thinking instant approval and instant receipt of the card (electronically), for something like a discounted annual fee as lenders will no longer have to purchase as much material for creating the cards.
Future generations will never know the sweet relief of the bar they were at last night still having their card, and the immediately following shame of stumbling back in to retrieve it.
I can def see that happening and it would be another revenue stream/incentive offered to customers. Plus they’re chalk it up as “saving the environment with less plastics”
I can’t wait till it is universally supported at merchants; it’s just spotty enough right now that I don’t use it since I’m not sure if the place 1) claims to support it 2) they actually have the reader set up and in use.
Also, Nived, why the hell are their a bajillion different checkouts instead of just Apple Pay / Android Pay?
There are so many because it allows people to diversify their linked cards to a mobile platform. Most ppl have multiple cards for different rewards/cash back and interest %’s. Apple Pay and Android Pay allow you to link 1 cars at a time. You can still add cards but it’s a pain point for users.
Say you have a mobile app that integrates all these different types of mobile payment options at checkout, you allow them to link all their cards/accounts to your app which gives them the freedom to choose which one they use depending on the rewards/points amounts that correspond to the apps brand/industry or products/services.
Also, these individual credit card companies are working to get these platform proprietary so they add another revenue stream and appease shareholders who own stock in these individual credit companies. They are also smart to do this because they are learning the basics of Blockchain by testing the use case. This sets them up nicely to make a pivot in the future Incase crypto currencies become a norm and democratized. Think of these platforms as ghost tech that has a greater future use case. Right now they are just proving it out
Thank god my iPhone doesn’t have enough room for iOS11. Heard it was BAD
I mean, if you don’t actually need to use your phone at all, it’s a pretty good OS.
That being said, go buy a new iPhone, I could use the dividends.
I’ll speak for all of my fellow Visa shareholders that all the card swiping is most appreciated.
RE 401(k) contribution limits: Politicians may not be the sharpest tools in the shed but it’s hard to believe they’d be dumb enough to actually reduce the cap to $2400. With SS and Medicare in such poor shape they need people retiring who are able to support themselves. Otherwise they’ll eventually have to freeze or cut benefits, AKA the biggest fear of most politicians.
From what I understand, the purpose of lowering the 401(k) max contribution is to push the people who would contribute over that $2400 cap into Roth IRAs, which would just be a way of getting more tax money now instead of later. It’s an accounting trick to make their tax “reform” bill look less like the deficit buster it’s inevitably going to become.
Roth IRA’s are capped at $5,500 and the contribution limit is reduced starting at $118k. You’d still be losing out on about $10k you could have put into your 401k and the reduction on your taxable income
Agreed. You’d then have to throw it into another capped regular IRA, and eventually into other investments. Either way, there’s more tax revenue coming in sooner rather than later compared to the 401(k) option.
Dude if you’re just going to use every installment in this series to throw shade at Trump, take yourself over the the HuffPo/Buzzfeed echo chambers.
Glad your takeaway from your tax deferred deduction limit being reduced by 80% is “LEAVE DONALD TRUMP ALOOOONE!”. Dumbass.
Someone’s upset about never being able to retire. It’s okay man, if we don’t figure shit out as a species within the next 20 years, none of us are going to be here. Think positively
Maybe that is the case and the Man just wants us to spend that extra $15k a year on vices which will soon become legalized giving the Man even more in tax revenue at the end of the day/20 years.
He’s the president and things he does impact the world around you. Thus, he is newsworthy. If you prefer an article that will felate him instead, check out Breitbart, or better yet RT.
To the*