Hey Rebels! Let's dive into this week's issue to help you become smarter about money, investing and business in less than 10 minutes.
Weekly Intel
Stay current with top news from the business, money, and investing world.
Top Stories
Please Please Please: A recent Reuters poll forecasts a Federal Reserve interest rate cut in September, and maybe another before the end of the year.
The he-cession?: In a historic reversal, new labor data shows that men aged 23 to 30 with college degrees are facing an unemployment rate of 6% - officially higher than men with only a high school diploma. But don’t worry! Your degree in basket weaving will totally be worth it.
Breaking Records (Taylor’s Version) - Taylor Swift announced her latest album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” on her boyfriend's podcast…smashing streaming records and producing intense envy from every podcaster around the world who didn’t think to date her sooner.
By the numbers
$0.55: how much the big four US airlines (Delta, United, American and Southwest) earned in profit per passenger this year’s first quarter. Airlines averaged about $5.51 profit per passenger from 2021 to 2024. Now I feel a little bad for taking an extra tiny bag of pretzels.
4 out of 10: the number of the highest subscribed YouTube channels in May featuring AI-generated material in every video.
20%: the percentage that NFL franchise valuations have risen in the last 12 months, with the Dallas Cowboys still the most valuable team in America.
The Financial Rebellion Way
Knowledge and action to help you achieve a life you desire.
“When you spend money on something, you’re saying, I choose this. Make sure what you choose reflects who you are.”
Follow The Money
A huge percentage of young people aged 18-34 say that they want to feel more in control of their money. Here's how to get there:
Track where you spend your money at the end of each day for 30 days.
This will take you 1-3 minutes per day, the equivalent of skipping like six TikToks (you’ll survive).
Add up variable expenses like food, drinks, subscriptions, memberships, entertainment, etc, at the end of the month.
Ask yourself which of these variable costs can be eliminated or trimmed.
Spend Your Money Intentionally
Align your spending with what you value (travel, health, education, saving for a house, giving, etc)
Less stress and a feeling of control will take shape for you.
Any guilt will subside as you have set a priority for how you spend your money going forward.
If you're still running tight on expenses versus what you make per month, see Side Hustle Differently below to earn more income.
Listen to Amanda share how choosing to become rebellious with her money has given her more confidence.
Markets: stocks and crypto
Prices for the week ending August 15, 2025:
▲ S&P 500 | 6,449 | +1.00% |
▲ NASDAQ | 21,623 | +0.87% |
▼ TESLA (TSLA) | 331 | -2.82% |
▲ CARVANA (CVNA) | 350 | +2.71% |
▼ BITCOIN (BTC) | 117,701 | -1.00% |
▲ ETHEREUM (ETH) | 4,404 | +4.10% |
Stock Moves
The new era of air taxi? Joby Aviation (JOBY) achieved a test flight between Marina and Monterey airports last week as the eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) company projects commercial air taxi service sometime in 2026. JOBY stock trades for about $16.50 per share.
Costly mistakes keep growing for Ford Motor Company (F). The car company announced it now has over 100 recalls to its auto fleet so far in 2025. Maybe they should pivot and open more Ford's Garage restaurants. FORD stock trades for about $11.50 per share.
Close the door on the CEO. Opendoor Technologies (OPEN), which provides all-cash offers to home sellers within minutes, CEO Carrie Wheeler has resigned. In response, OPEN stock climbed over 50% to $3.20 per share on the news last week.
Crypto Moves
Ethereum (ETH) ETF's (exchange traded funds) saw a record amount of inflow ($630 million) from individual and institutional investors last week. Crypto and blockchain are becoming as mainstream as the Chipotle chicken bowl.
Bitcoin (BTC) touched a record of $124,500, with many expecting higher highs from here.
Grayscale Investments files for a spot Dogecoin (DOGE) ETF to join Bitcoin and Ethereum with an ETF, so you don't have to buy the crypto on an exchange. We are not fans of DOGE as it has about the same utility as a flat tire.
Coming Soon: The Financial Rebellion investment portfolio. You will see where we invest our money via stocks, bonds, crypto and other opportunities.
Real Money Moves
Olivia - Boise, Idaho
Each week, we feature a reader’s smartest and dumbest money moves. We’re all in this together; let’s learn from each other.
Smartest move – not taking out student loans: “It wasn’t easy, but graduating without debt was the best thing I could have done for my finances.”
“I buckled down, lived on a tight budget, worked part-time, and went to a cheaper state school. It was tough, but graduating debt-free was worth every sacrifice.”
“Every semester, I applied for scholarships. It was like a part-time job, but when I pieced enough together, it paid for most of my tuition!”
“I saved every penny I could before college. It wasn’t glamorous, but starting school with a financial cushion made all the difference.”
Dumbest move – not starting my credit journey sooner: “I waited too long to get a credit card.”
“I didn’t realize how important credit was until I tried to rent an apartment and struggled because I had no credit history.”
“If I had known better, I would have started building my credit earlier. Waiting until after college made everything more complicated.”
“Seeing my friends navigate life more easily with good credit scores was a wake-up call. I missed out on building mine during those crucial years.”
The bottom line: Every money move teaches you something — whether it builds your net worth or humbles your ego.
Got a story? Send it in. You might help someone dodge a mistake or make a smarter call.
Side Hustle Differently
Each week, we focus on one or more money-making opportunities for a side hustle that may become a full-time hustle.
Riches in the Niches: Jack saw a need - marketing for small business owners - and turned a niche need into a thriving enterprise. Insulation Domination, his brainchild, now provides specialized marketing explicitly tailored for insulation and spray foam contractors.
Recognizing market gaps: Jack identified a specific gap in digital marketing for the insulation and spray foam industry. Realizing that these specialized services lacked targeted marketing strategies, he stepped in to fill that void.
Tailored marketing: Insulation Domination offers a suite of services, including website design, SEO, Meta Ads, and Google Ads, all fine-tuned to meet the unique demands of insulation contractors. This focus ensures that marketing efforts are not just generic pitches but are strategic, industry-specific actions that lead to tangible results.
Impressive Growth: Since launching in 2017, Jack’s efforts have significantly reshaped his clients’ businesses, generating hundreds of thousands of leads and millions of dollars in job contracts, proving the potency of niche-focused marketing.
The bottom line: Jack’s journey exemplifies how tapping into a niche market with tailored strategies can lead to substantial business success. His approach of focusing on specific industry needs demonstrates the vast potential in ‘niching down’, offering valuable lessons for entrepreneurs looking to find their edge in competitive markets.
Embrace Jack’s story as inspiration to explore specialized niches for your side hustle—it might just be your pathway to dominating your chosen field and achieving extraordinary growth.
Check out the Financial Rebellion podcast to learn about Jack and other side hustles young people are doing.
Invest With Acorns
In under 3 minutes, start investing spare change, saving for retirement, earning more, spending smarter, and more.
It's as easy as when you set up your Venmo, Paypal or Cash account.
Acorns automatically invests your money into one of five investment portfolios based on your age so you don't have to choose the stocks -phew!
The Acorns Round Ups feature also enables you to invest spare change from normal daily purchases.
Click the image above or this link to get started on your investment journey and earn a special $40 bonus when you set up at least a $5 or more weekly or monthly recurring investment.
Word of the Week - Blockchain
What it means: Blockchain is a digital ledger technology (think: digital notebook) that keeps a record of who owns what with a unique fingerprint of a block of data, or “hash.” Each block contains the hash of the previous block, creating a chain of linked blocks. This means that once a transaction is recorded, it can’t be erased or changed without everyone agreeing, making it super secure.
Instead of one person or company being in charge of the records, many people share control, which helps prevent cheating.
Everything written down is visible to everyone involved, so there’s nothing hidden. This builds trust.
It uses special codes to protect the information, making it really tough for hackers to mess with.
Why it matters: Blockchain is changing the way we do things by making transactions safe and open without needing a middleman like a bank or a lawyer. It’s important because it can make a lot of things safer and more trustworthy, from how we send money to how we vote.
Trusted Partners
Where you bank is a big deal. We are big fans of credit unions to help you become financially rebellious. Here's some of our current partners that we work with around the country so you can get to know them and the value of becoming a member to help you achieve your financial goals and dreams.
Did you know the myths about credit unions versus banks? Debunked here.
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We’ll catch you next week. Rebels OUT.
Disclaimer: The advice provided in Financial Rebellion is not considered to be financial or legal advice of any kind. It is your responsibility to dig deeper on any opinions or recommendations given.