💸Summertime job blues revealed

Weekly Intel

Stay current with top news from the business, money, and investing world.

By the numbers

25.2 million: the number of Americans who live with their parents. (more)

7.2 weeks: the average US parental leave for birthing mothers (paid and unpaid), with 3 days for fathers. (more)

$365.5 billion: how much I have in my bank account after Q2, if my name was Berkshire Hathaway. (more)

Reader Poll

You're a 17-year-old who's been ghosted by 50 jobs this summer. These are your four options. Which one do you choose?

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The Financial Rebellion Way

You aren’t alone in your financial woes

Todd has been released back into the wild, this time on the campus of Ohio State University to talk to young people like you about their toxic money traits and their side hustle dreams.

This week he interviews Lizzie, who gets stressed out by budgets but would love to start a clothing company with her fashion design degree. She hears that investing is a good idea but doesn’t know where to start.

Sound familiar?

Lizzie isn’t alone. Thousands (maybe millions?) of young, smart and ambitious Americans across the country have financial dreams and doubts they aren’t sure how to tackle. Enter The Financial Rebellion.

Filed under → The Waiting Fee

Waiting has a price. Nobody sends you a bill.

Lizzie said the thing almost everybody says: she knows investing is a good idea, she just doesn’t know where to start. Here is the part nobody tells you. The cost of not knowing yet is not the money you fail to put in. It is bigger than that, and it grows while you decide.

$500 to start. $100 a month. Thirty years. Same plan, two start dates.

Start now

$235,967

You hand over $36,500 of it. The market does the other $199,467.

Start in 5 years

$138,712

Same deposit. Same market. Same finish line. You just began later.

The waiting fee

$97,256

Those five years cost you $6,000 in deposits you never made. They cost you $97,256 in the end. That is $16.21 gone for every single dollar you did not put in. Nobody charges it, nobody warns you, and it is the most expensive line item in your twenties.

Run your own number →

Move your own numbers, and see the three boring steps for where the money actually goes. Find your waiting fee.

Assumes a 10% average annual return, the long run S&P 500 number before inflation, compounded monthly. An illustration, not a promise. You can lose money.

Markets - stocks and crypto

In under 3 minutes, start investing spare change, saving for retirement, earning more, spending smarter, and more.

a real life picture of me writing this newsletter

Prices for the week ending August 7, 2026:

▲ S&P 500	7,752	+1.44%
▲ NASDAQ	26,648	+1.78%
▲ GOLD	4,397	+4.87%
▲ MCDONALDS (MCD)	272.2	+1.32%
▲ WALT DISNEY COMP (DIS)	103.12	+5.44%
▼ BITCOIN (BTC)	64,557	-0.02%
▼ ETHEREUM (ETH)	1,898	-0.43%

Stock and Crypto Moves

AI infrastructure & inflation week ahead: This week investors are watching new CPI and PPI reports (inflation data) and earnings from AI infrastructure companies to see whether the Fed will raise interest rates and how the AI spending boom is holding up. (more)
JPMorgan raises S&P 500 target: JPMorgan raised its price target for the S&P 500 stock index, saying strong company earnings and growing profits from AI are likely to keep pushing the stock market higher. (more)
Big Pharma merger rumor: News that drug companies AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb might merge into a $400 billion company confused analysts and sent AstraZeneca's stock down about 7%, which was weird since AstraZeneca has been doing well on its own. (more)
McDonald's ~~Shamrock~~ shakes up leadership: McDonald's replaced its U.S. business head after a series of value meal deals failed to boost sales, with U.S. growth slowing more than expected last quarter. (more)
Berkshire Hathaway, start! your! spendingggg!: Berkshire Hathaway's new CEO Greg Abel began spending down the company's huge cash pile, investing billions in Alphabet stock and buying back shares of Berkshire itself. (more)

Real Money Moves

Each week, we feature a reader’s smartest and dumbest money moves. We’re all in this together; let’s learn from each other.

Demetrius, 28 - Gary, Indiana

Best Money Move - Started building credit young

“My parent’s wanted to make sure I had a good credit score, so they co-signed on a credit card with me when I was in high school.”
“I learned how interest worked and made sure to keep on top of my payments.”
“It was a good lesson from a young age, and now my credit score is amazing.”

Worst Money Move - Skipping health insurance

“I got kicked off of my parent’s insurance but didn’t have a job that offered my own.”
“I figured I would be okay since I was pretty healthy and didn’t want to take the time to find my own insurance.”
“I had one biking accident and had to go to the hospital. Luckily I had an emergency fund, but I wish I had just gotten my own insurance!”

Got a money win or financial faceplant? Send it in. You might help someone dodge a mistake or make a smarter call.

Side Hustle Differently

Each week, we focus on money-making opportunities for a side hustle that could potentially become a full-time venture. No MLM schemes, no “passive income” lies, just real strategies for stacking cash outside your 9-5.

Music Teacher (But Online)

Teach guitar to kids whose parents will pay anything to stop hearing "Wonderwall."

Your notes-to-dollars blueprint:

Beginner gold rush: Advanced students are demanding. Beginners just want to play one song—and their parents want them occupied for 30 minutes.
Package the dream: Don't sell "lessons." Sell "Play your favorite song in 30 days." Same teaching, triple the price.
Digital band camp: Run group classes for beginners. Five kids at $25 each beats one at $60. They learn together, you earn more.

Big picture: Music stores charge $30 for dusty rooms and cranky teachers. You charge $60 for convenient online lessons in pajamas. Parents save drive time, kids stay engaged, you stack cash from your living room. Twenty students = full-time income.

Check out the Financial Rebellion podcast to learn about how to turn your passion into profit.

Bank Like a Rebel with a Credit Union

You Own the Place: As a member you're an owner, not a transaction.
David vs. Goliath Energy: Big traditional banks primarily exist to serve shareholders while credit unions exist to serve their members.
Better Loan and Deposit Rates: Lower rates on auto loans and mortgages and higher rates on checking and savings accounts.