Good day valued readers,

We hope this week's carefully curated selection of news finds you well. In this edition, we cover the latest developments across investing, finance, crypto, AI, and other topics to help you stay informed.

As always, our goal is to provide you with a professional, unbiased roundup of noteworthy news to augment your understanding of what's happening in the world. We take pride in hand-selecting articles from trustworthy sources across a diverse range of industries.

Please enjoy this week's newsletter. We're grateful for the opportunity to share these insights with you and look forward to continuing to be a valuable resource.

Read time: 8 minutes

Sign Up to this newsletter.

Image of the week

Investing and Finance

This week we explore the economy and markets through lenses like strategic stock picks, risks of a 2024 recession, and impacts of consumer pushback on prices. As megacaps like Apple cancel electric car plans, Norway Cruises profit, Buffett warns of slower growth, and Wall Street layoffs begin. Meanwhile individuals renovate cheap Italian homes, students cash out meme stock windfalls, and hot honey builds a $40 million business.

Beyond the headlines, deeper truths emerge on avoiding fees, the tokenized economy, wealth distribution changes since the 1980s, and dividend strategy pros and cons. While markets seem irrational and the rich get richer, timeless wisdom around evaluating value, controlling costs, and innovative hustle still pays off. Now let's dive into this week's top financial articles to gain insightful perspectives on navigating uncertainty, building wealth sustainably, and achieving the lifestyle you desire.

1. Here’s how to avoid unexpected fees with payment apps - Read more

2. A recession in 2024 would burst the biggest stock bubble since the dot-com craze, sending the market down 40%, veteran strategist says - Read more

3. A nearly $3 billion net worth puts you among the richest 400 people in America - 40 years ago, that’d be No. 1 - Read more

4. These Americans bought abandoned homes in Italy for as little as $1 and spent thousands renovating: Was it worth it? - Read more

5. Top Wall Street analysts pick these dividend stocks for enhanced returns - Read more

6. Consumers are increasingly pushing back against price increases — and winning - Read more

7. The Case For and Against Dividend ETFs - Read more

8. Sony to lay off 900 workers from PlayStation division, or 8% of unit’s global workforce - Read more

9. Apple cancels plans to build an electric car - Read more

10. Cruise Stocks Rally After Norwegian Posts First Profitable Year Since 2019 - Read more

11. Warren Buffett: Berkshire’s boom days may be over as his company approaches $1 trillion in value - Read more

12. Just 4 Stocks Account For Several Sectors' Out-performance - Read more

13. A College Student Cashed Out a $110 Million Profit on Bed Bath & Beyond - After Piling $25 Million Into the Meme Stock - Read more

14. How Mike’s Hot Honey built a $40 million a year business with a single product - Read more

Crypto News

This week we analyze major developments across the crypto sector, as prices surge for assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum amidst growing institutional adoption. However, risks persist around hacks, fraud, and CBDCs, with MicroStrategy compromised and FTX authorized to sell its stake in Anthropic. Meanwhile, Binance settles federal charges for $4.3 billion, Ethereum hits 22-month highs pre-upgrade, and BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF breaks volume records. But questions linger on sustainability as crypto breaches mainstream finance, with bifurcating opinions on long-term trajectory.

Beyond the headlines, deeper trends emerge around security, regulation, investor sentiment shifts, and crypto's expanding utility and transparency. While speculation produces huge valuations, fundamental technology improvements continue to gather momentum despite market volatility. Now let's dive into the latest trends, risks, power dynamics and unknowns shaping the future of digital finance and blockchain adoption.

1. FTX Can Now Sell Its $1B Stake in Anthropic to Repay Creditors - Read more

2. Binance Settles Federal Case for Record $4.3 Billion - Read more

3. MicroStrategy’s X account appears hacked with phishing messages, at least $440,000 stolen - Read more

4. R. Kiyosaki warns of the dangers of CBDCs as ‘threat of war grows’ - Read more

5. Ethereum Hits 22-Month High, Where Will ETH Go Next? - Read more

6. Institutional investors show strong preference for Ether over Bitcoin: Bybit research - Read more

7. Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade officially activated on all testnets - Read more

8. BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Hits Record Volume of Over $1.3B for Second Consecutive Day - Read more

9. Bitcoin jumps above $60,000 for the first time since November 2021 - Read more

10. Bitcoin Crosses $60,000 as BlackRock Buys Half a Billion - Read more

Artificial Intelligence

This week we examine AI's broadening societal impacts, from transforming dating via Tinder's ChatGPT deal to reducing diverse humans to stereotypes. Controversially, AI threatens traditional math and jobs for accountants and translators, though new opportunities arise in generative design and training the models themselves. Major investments from Microsoft, Amazon and others fund advances, but also concentrate power as collaboration tightens between Big Tech and startups like Anthropic. However, risks around bias, job losses, and misinformation persist amidst the hype, requiring transparency.

Beyond the headlines, deeper questions emerge on AI's implications for identity, ethics, education, and employment as rapid change overwhelms governance efforts. While beneficial applications accelerate across industries, ensuring AI promotes inclusion and human dignity over harm remains imperative. Now let's analyze the latest breakthroughs, opportunities and pitfalls shaping this complex new chapter of human progress.

1. Tinder Owner Signs ChatGPT Deal. Enjoy the AI Dating Tidal Wave - Read more

2. How AI reduces the world to stereotypes - Read more

3. The Tiny Caribbean Island That’s Making A Fortune From AI - Read more

4. 12 New Jobs For The Generative AI Era - Read more

5. Microsoft strikes deal with Mistral in push beyond OpenAI - Read more

6. A.I. Is Coming for Mathematics, Too - Read more

7. Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, Arm, and Others Join Forces To Form AI-RAN Alliance - Read more

8. AI could make the four-day workweek inevitable - Read more

9. Intel puts 1nm process (10A) on the roadmap for 2027 - also plans for fully AI-automated factories with 'Cobots' - Read more

10. How ChatGPT turned generative AI into an “anything tool” - Read more

11. 7 Paradoxes Of Artificial Intelligence - Read more

12. Tech Boss Fears for Future of Work As AI Takes On 700 Human Jobs - Read more

13. Are we close to the holodeck? Google unveils Genie — an AI model creating playable virtual worlds from a single image - Read more

14. I analyzed 5M freelancing jobs to see what jobs are being replaced by AI - Read more

Top Article Picks this week

This week we explore thought-provoking life and career advice alongside scientific insights into health, psychology and the brain. Experts offer mid-career reflection strategies, small talk tips, the ideal income for happiness, and ways to sharpen persuasion. Neurologists reveal brain health tactics, while the benefits of biking for seniors and drawbacks of multitasking are examined. However, recruitment discrimination persists, sociopathic tendencies lurk within, and car insurance frustrations abound.

Beyond the headlines, deeper truths emerge on managing work-life balance, nurturing neural connections, and how inactivity enables creativity. While quick lifehacks entice, the wisdom of focus, presence, and Buffett's simplicity remind us of what matters most. Now let's dive into this week's top articles filled with insights and practical wisdom for living life to the fullest.

Today’s featured article is No.12 below. This interview with Patric Gagne, author of the memoir "Sociopath", explains that sociopaths are not simply monsters but have difficulty feeling emotions like empathy and remorse. Gagne describes her violent childhood urges and young adult criminal behavior before learning to control her impulses. She can experience love differently than neurotypical people and had to work to feel maternal love. Gagne suggests sociopaths find an external philosophy to create a moral framework.

She says she masks behaviors to make neurotypical people comfortable, not for bad reasons. Gagne became an effective therapist by offering clients an unemotional perspective. She sees her lack of guilt and shame as beneficial though acknowledges sociopathic traits can be destructive. Gagne advocates conversation between neurotypicals and sociopaths to understand the spectrum of human experience. Overall, this aims to provide a nuanced view of sociopathy beyond negative stereotypes through Gagne's first-hand account. The interview challenges assumptions and stereotypes about sociopathy. Read more in Art.12

1. 6 Questions to Ask at the Midpoint of Your Career (10 min) - Read more

2. How to improve your sense of direction (5 min) - Read more

3. The Best Small-Talk Topic (4 min) - Read more

4. How Much Money Is 'Enough' to Make You Happy (3 min) - Read more

5. 5 TED Talks that will make you smarter and more persuasive (5 min) - Read more

6. I’m a Neurologist. Here’s the One Thing I Do Every Day for My Long-Term Brain Health (5 min) - Read more

7. No, You Can’t Have It All (7 min) - Read more

8. How to Save Your Smartphone’s Battery Life (8 min) - Read more

9. Recruiting Firm Breaks Silence After Leaked Job Listing Asks for 'White' Candidates Only (2 min) - Read more

10. My Mother Got on a Bike. It Changed Her Life. (6 min) - Read more

11. What Your Brain Is Doing When You’re Not Doing Anything (6 min) - Read more

12. What It’s Like to Be a Sociopath (9 min) - Read more

13. Why car insurance rates are so high (4 min) - Read more

14. 7 Ways to Lower Your Blood Pressure Without Medication (9 min) - Read more

15. Warren Buffett's Simple Strategy to Improve Your Overall Happiness (3 min) - Read more

Weekly YouTube videos

Investment Bonus

🎇 DON'T MISS OUT ON THE OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME !!!

❄ This is Your Golden Opportunity with a Provably Fair draw to become a winner! The lucky winner will win a Lamborghini Huracan LP 580-2 with delivery to the USA. If the winner wants the car in any other country, they will need to pay the excess shipping costs and any applicable taxes or fees. The winner can also opt to receive US $200,000 in lieu of the car, paid in bitcoins using the exchange rate after the lottery drawing has been done.

FreeBitco.in - Exclusive Go & Grow birthday limit - Join Here!

Book of the week

Atomic Habits by James Clear is a #1 New York Times bestseller that provides a proven, practical framework for developing good habits and breaking bad ones. Drawing on ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience, Clear distills complex concepts into simple behaviors that can easily be applied to daily life. Through inspiring stories from elite athletes, business leaders, and entertainers, Clear demonstrates how small, consistent changes in our routines and environments can lead to remarkable results.

The problem with changing habits isn't you, it's your system - this book offers strategies for designing an environment where good habits are inevitable and bad habits are impossible. Clear explains how to find motivation, overcome lack of willpower, get back on track after falling off course, and make time for habit change even during busy, chaotic times.

Atomic Habits doesn't just tell you to change, but shows you exactly how to turn tiny shifts in daily routines into meaningful, long-term results, whether your goal is to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress or progress in your career. With over 15 million copies sold, Atomic Habits will reshape how you think about progress and give you proven tools to transform your habits.

And finally…

Do you want to get free shares worth up to €100?

Join Trading 212 Invest with this link, and we will both get FREE shares.

Thanks for reading!

If you like what you read, forward it to your friends, so they can sign up here.