Welcome to our #233 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

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From The Purse

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In this week’s newsletter, we profile the legendary Sharon Lechter who we interviewed on The Purse Podcast.

Sharon is responsible for building the world’s largest personal finance brand.

Few may know that she is the co-author of Rich Dad Poor Dad (with Robert Kiyosaki), and she ran the organisation for 10 years.

She is a force of nature…at 70 years of age: she is not done yet.

We talk about her journey, women and money, financial education for kids, investing in crypto and much more.

You can listen to the full interview here.

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And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

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Sharon Lechter: how money works for women and why financial education is key

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Sharon Lecher built the world's largest personal finance brand, Rich Dad Poor Dad.

Sharon co-authored Rich Dad Poor Dad, which has sold over 40m copies since it was published in 1997 (globally).

She ran the organisation for 10 years: 15 books, 110 countries in 51 languages... In her own words: ‘money was flowing, and we were making millions of dollars a month…”

But she had to leave the organisation as she no longer aligned with her business partner, Robert Kiyosaki.

Sharon’s most challenging “money lesson” was actually about life: her happiness and personal growth was more important than her bank account.

And this is why she believes that it is “…really important for women to stand in their own power and not allow yourself to be in a situation that is not supportive and not conducive to growth.”

After she left the organisation, Sharon was asked to reinvigorate one of the world's biggest personal development brands, Think and Grow Rich, by the Napoleon Hill Foundation.

Her best-selling books with the Foundation include Three Feet from Gold, Outwitting the Devil, Think and Grow Rich for Women and Success and Something Greater.

Sharon also got a call from President Bush.

And she was invited to join the Presidential Advisory Council for both President Bush and President Obama to advise on financial literacy.

This led to passing the Credit Card Act in 2009, which includes a clause that prevents credit card companies from soliciting kids on university campuses.

Her own ‘definiteness of purpose’ came after her eldest son returned from his first term at university with credit card bills.

It was then that Sharon decided to dedicate the rest of her career to providing financial literacy for kids.

She’s as passionate about it today as she was in 1992.

And as Sharon often says: she is not done yet…

Listen to the full interview with Sharon Lechter.

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News in Brief

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Financial news

• Nasdaq 100 fared worst weekly drop since Nov 2022 as US 10 years yields pushed 4.6%+.

• The S&P 500 is down 5.9% from its peak on March 28, the first pullback of the year. This is the 28th correction 5%+ off of a high since the March 2009 low. They all seemed like the end of the world at the time.

• To put things into perspective: fewer than 30% of S&P 500 members trading above the 50-day moving average.

• US equity valuations are still high relative to the macro environment, Goldman says. Shiller P/E predicted by Goldman macro model of equity valuations, US stocks are 40% overvalued.

• With markets moving to price out future rate cuts (rate cuts of less than 40 basis points are priced in until the end of the year), the US Treasury curve continues to shift higher.

• US 10 year yields jump to 4.6% after hot US retail sales. March retail sales rose 0.7% MoM on the headline vs +0.4% expected, while the control group beat by even more: +1.1% vs +0.4%.

• A Bank of England deputy governor has predicted that UK inflation will fall back close to the official 2% target in April, for the first time since the summer of 2021 (CPI inflation fell to 3.2% earlier this week).

• Retail sales in Great Britain flatline as households continue to feel squeeze. Shoppers cut back in March, with data likely to increase pressure on Bank of England over interest rates.

• An exciting statistic from Goldman Sachs: just 10 years ago, the collective market cap of the Mag 7 was $1.5tn. Today, that stands at $13.5tn.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

• Bitcoin completed its fourth halving on Friday (and remained steady), ushering in new era for BTC. After the 840,000th Bitcoin block was created, successful miners now earn 3.125 BTC per block completed, in addition to network transaction fees. Bitcoin is currently trading at $65,074

• The bitcoin price fell dramatically, after it got battered last weekend by massive liquidations and trouble in the Middle East. At one point, it dipped below $60,000 for the first time since late February.

• Runes Protocol launches on bitcoin, sending fees soaring as users rush to mint tokens.

• Ethereum's price has dropped by more than 6%, currently trading at $3,184. A report earlier in the week showed that investors were fast cashing out of digital asset investment products tracking Ethereum.

• Pepe, Bonk, and Dogecoin all down significantly—12%, 13%, and 10% respectively over the last week.

• ApeCoin got shredded earlier in the week when the wider crypto market took a hit, but it has since recovered from nearly hitting an all-time low.

• Worldcoin unveils World Chain, a Layer-2 network ‘built for humans’. World Chain is scheduled to launch later this year in the summer.

• Former a16z partner Kathryn Haun to retire from Coinbase board, focus on venture portfolio.

• Institutional adoption in blockchain and crypto at its highest point, says BlockDaemon strategist.

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The Purse Podcast

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We cover the following in this conversation:

• The importance of financial education

• Women's relationship with money

• What are the three biggest financial challenges for women?

• What is the money mindset?

• How money works for women

• Building financial resilience

• Creating multiple streams of income

• Investing in crypto and digital assets

• More+

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

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Coffee Break? Read This

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• Why career transition is so hard

• ‘Shagging and shoes’: why Gen Z has fallen in love with Sex and the City

• Saudi Arabia is rebranding itself as a moderate country, but what’s the truth? Just ask our female activists

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We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka. We do no provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

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Welcome to our #232 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

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From The Purse

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In this week’s newsletter, we focus on tennis star Serena Williams and her venture firm which has invested in 85 startups, 14 of which have since achieved unicorn status.

***

And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

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Tennis star Serena Williams invests in 14 unicorns

Serena Ventures funds female and diverse founders in underserved and underfunded markets. Out of 85 investments, 14 startups have achieved unicorn status.

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It's a good idea to have a 'Plan B'.

In the case of Serena Williams, considered one the greatest tennis players of all time, setting up a venture capital fund was it.

Aptly named "Serena Ventures", her VC firm is on a mission to champion diverse, creative founders who are changing the world with their ideas and products across a wide array of industries.

And as she told us in her Tik Tok video recently, 14 of the companies she invested in have reached unicorn status ie they are valued at $1bn+, since she launched the fund in 2014.

Today, Serena's VC firm has invested in 85 startups, 79% are underrepresented founders, 54% are women, 47% at Black and 11% are Latinx.

Less than 2% of VC funding goes to women...

...even though women make up more than 50% of the global population, make 85% of all consumer purchasing decisions and tend to be the CFO of their household.

In other words, there is an entire economy which mostly white male VC investors are ignoring, oftentimes addressed by the products and services introduced by female and diverse founders.

But wait for it, this VC statistic is even more dire for black women:

in 2021, 0.34% of VC money was directed to their startups. And this figure increased only marginally from 0.27% in 2018.

In an op-ed published in 2020 on the CNN website, Serena commented:

“Without the network necessary to raise critical starting capital, most Black female founders close shop before their product even reaches the market. By building exclusive spaces and systems, we are missing out on the innovation and genius of so many..”

Silicon Valley, therefore, does not have a talent pipeline problem; it has a network selectivity and resource allocation problem.

Wise words, Serena.

But she's not stopping there...Serena has a Plan C, Plan D, Plan...

..On 4 April, she launched a new make-up brand called "Wyn Beauty" you can move in.

And she is one of the female investors who backed the US 'Angel City Football Club' (which may now be on sale) along with other female investors including actress Natalie Portman and retired US football player, Abby Wambach.

Even Serena's daughter is a 'co-owner'.

Investing in Serena's daughter and her future by setting her up as an investor early, might just be the the Ultimate Plan-we love it!

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News in Brief

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Financial news

• Iran launched a series of drone strikes on Israeli territory, firing 185 drones, 36 cruise missiles, and 110 surface-to-surface missiles, with the majority originating from Iran and smaller portions from Iraq and Yemen.

• S&P 500 dropped 1.6% this week, logs the worst week since Nov 2023 while fear index Vix jumped to highest since November.

• Gold sets a fresh historic record, while the volume in Gold-ETFs keeps falling.

• ECB keeps interest rates on hold for fifth meeting as expected. Leaves deposit Rate at 4.00%, ECB prepares markets for first rate cut in June.

• ECB's Christine Lagarde: we won't wait for 2% everywhere to make decisions. Also, says: we are not Fed dependent; can't assume Eurozone inflation will mirror US inflation.

• The UK continued to grow in February, boosting hopes that the economy is escaping recession.

• BlackRock is eating the world: hits record $10.5tn in assets under management in Q1 2024, +15% YoY, boosted by $57bn of total net inflows to its investment products.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

• Bitcoin falls 8%, drops below $62K before rebound, after Iran attacks Israel.

• Other major digital assets saw similar falls over the past 24 hours, including ether (ETH), which fell 7% to just under $3,000, BNB (BNB) (down 9%) and Solana (SOL) (down 12%), according to CoinGecko.

• Bitcoin’s halving countdown continues with one week to go. The estimated time remaining would see Bitcoin’s fourth halving arrive on April 20, with the block subsidy dropping from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.

• Coinbase files interlocutory appeal in its case against the SEC. In its motion, the exchange will be appealing the issue of whether the SEC has authority over digital asset transactions as investment contracts. 

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Coffee Break? Read This

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• ‘It’ll be a massive saving’: why more people in the UK are downsizing home

• ‘You can make meaningful relationships’: how does friendship change in older age?

• I told a friend about my husband’s poor finances and now he secretly mocks him. What should I do?

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We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka. We do no provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

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Welcome to our #231 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

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From The Purse

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In this week’s newsletter, we spotlight a short extract from our interview on The Purse Podcast with Pierre Rolin, who founded Ankh Impact Ventures in 2020.

Pierre invests in female and diverse founders globally and has a very powerful message for male investors about why they need to back women.

Listen to the full interview here.

***

And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

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Investing in female founders and why male investors need to back women

We interviewed gender lens, angel investor Pierre Rolin who founded Ankh Impact Ventures in 2020.

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We interviewed Pierre Rolin on The Purse Podcast.

Pierre N. Rolin is Founder and CEO of Ankh Impact Ventures. A Canadian entrepreneur with over 35 years of real estate investment advisory as well as venture capital experience, Pierre was previously based in London, Frankfurt, and New York and has closed more than 550 real estate investments valued in excess of $17 billion and delivered an average 20% net IRR for his clients.

Pierre has shared his experiences at numerous conferences and events globally, such as The World Economic Forum in Davos, The Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles, and the Young Presidents Organisation in London.

In the podcast interview we talk about: Ankh Impact Ventures, investing in female and diverse founders, the investment thesis, female pitch competitions, why female founders are a better investment and why male investors need to back women.

Below is a short extract from the interview. (We have made slight adjustments to the below for ease of reading only).

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Pierre Rolin:

“…50% of the planet's consumer is a woman, yet less than 2% of capital goes to them. And the irony is that some of these businesses are “women founder advantage” businesses where men have no idea about, say, women's health … and as a result, women don't get the capital to build these businesses.

So there are vacuums…

I'll give you a very good example… of one of our companies that we invested in very early, and it is called “Mission Driven Tech”. It’s an American company founded by a Google executive who was diagnosed with cervical cancer and was pregnant six months with her second child and left Google.

The female founder had to take on a very difficult process of radio oncology with medical equipment which is antiquated from the seventies. So together with her radio oncologist, they formed a company after she recovered and applied her experience and mission to expanding global access to quality cervical health care.

How is a man going to do that? And her business partner and Chief Medical Officer was the one who effectively saved her in the hospital. And then the hospital backed her.

So you've got a cervical cancer survivor who quit her job and decides to dedicate the second chance in life…

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…She had a horrendous experience on a medical instrument, which I've been told by her was designed in the seventies and the hospitals globally haven't put a dime into advancing this medical instrument (I won't get into too much detail), but there's I think about five procedures and a third of women pass away because they don't complete the procedures because the pain and the mental and the surrounding medical effects of that cause enormous issues, internal bleeding, huge mental Issues and physical issues. And you combine those three and apparently a third of women don't complete it.

I think 300, 000 American women pass away for that reason.

…But the fact of the matter is, there has been no advancement in global cervical cancer for this particular procedure and medical instruments since the 70s because the resources haven't gone into it…”

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News in Brief

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Financial news

• Gold has hit fresh all-time-high despite a rise in US real yields. At the current 2%, 10 year real rate, Gold at $2,300/oz is ~$270/oz expensive, Jefferies has calculated. The fundamental reasons are increased government spending and indications of a willingness to accept higher inflation.

• Gold is soaring while Bitcoin digital Gold – is slumping? Bitcoin has shown itself to be more correlated w/risk-sensitive assets.

• The return of volatility? The fear index Vix jumped >14%, most since October.

• Bond yields jump and US dollar rises on hot US jobs report: US added 303,000 jobs in March, way higher than Street estimates of +214,000.

• The odds of a June US Federal rate cut are now almost a coin toss (59%) following hot jobs report with ok inflation.

• Brent oil jumped >$90/bbl for the first time since October as the conflict in the Middle East showed signs of escalating.

• Eurozone inflation cools, setting stage for June rate cut: headline CPI slowed to 2.4% year-on-year in March from 2.6% in February below consensus forecast of 2.5%.

• House prices across the UK fell by 1% last month following five months of growth, according to Britain’s biggest mortgage lender.

• Shares of Donald Trump’s social-media business wiped out their gains from IPO last week after company disclosed that it lost $58m+ in 2023 while generated just $4.1m in revenue, underscoring how richly valued Trump Media is relative to peers.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

• Markets ended the week in the red, with the Bitcoin price below its old 2021 high of $69,044. Today is is trading slightly higher at $69,422. The price drop—the coin is now down nearly 3% over the week—is likely due to crypto fund manager Grayscale shifting even more crypto

• Bitcoin’s next halving now just two weeks away. The estimated time remaining would see Bitcoin’s fourth halving arrive on April 20, with the block reward dropping from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.

• Bitcoin Cash had its halving this week. As a result, it's up big—14% over seven days. Right now, its price stands at $695.71. The 14th biggest digital asset rocketed up to its highest price since 2021 but has since retreated.

• Solana has lost out the most: it's now priced at $176.82, having dropped by nearly 10% over seven days.

• Popular meme token Dogwifhat (WIF) dropped by close to 25% in a week and is now trading hands for $3.38.

• While popular Solana-based Bonk is also down by over 18%. The meme coin was on a good run last week as one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies.

• JPMorgan anticipates SEC approving spot Ethereum ETFs after litigation process.

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The Purse Podcast

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We cover the following in this conversation:

• Why Pierre started Ankh Impact Ventures

• Investing in female and diverse founders

• Investment thesis- patient capital

• Female pitch competitions

• Female founders are a better investment

• Why male investors need to back women.

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

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Coffee Break? Read This

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• Why I’m yet another woman leaving the tech industry

• The joy and freedom of a solo holiday as an older woman

• Perimenopause has brought chaos to my life – but also peace

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We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka. We do no provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

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Welcome to our #230 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

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From The Purse

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In this week’s newsletter, we highlight the Labour government’s plans to tackle the ‘funding issue’ for female and ethnic minority founders. They also aim to address the financial exclusion of women.

In the meantime, a new taskforce has been set up to create a £250m fund aimed at providing capital to female founders. This is music to our ears!

***

And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

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Solving the funding issue for female founders

The Labour government has announced plans to direct more funds to female founders and review the financial exclusion of women. Meanwhile, a new taskforce has been setup to help launch a £250m fund aimed at female founders in the UK.

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The funding stats are dire for female founders: only 1% of VC capital is directed to their startups in the UK.

But the Labour party has announced plans to change that as the UK prepares for a General Election end of this year or in early 2025.

If the Labour party wins the next General Election, their aim is to set targets for funding female-led businesses through the state-owned British Business Bank (BBB) and to launch a review of the financial exclusion of women, as reported by The Guardian.

The initiatives announced by the shadow City minister Tulip Siddiq, will include:

• An ‘overall investment allocation target’ towards businesses led by women, as well as those led by ethnic minority founders.

• The BBB will also be required to issue reports on the diversity of applicants it considered for funding.

• Launch a review of the female financial exclusion to identify the barriers to women for reaping the benefits their male peers receive. And this will be aimed at tackling poor take-up of financial advice and the root causes of the ‘gender pensions gap’.

Meanwhile, a new taskforce was announced…

…to create a £250m funding pot for female founders. The aim is to address the shortage of equity capital and debt available to women who are building businesses.

Led by Debbie Wosskow (a serial entrepreneur) and Hannah Bernard (Head of Business Banking for Barclay’s Bank) the Invest in Women Taskforce will aim to raise capital from a combination of pension funds and other private sector investors, as well as government monies.

This follows similar initiatives including the Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship and the women-led high growth enterprise taskforce, chaired by Starling bank founder, Anne Boden.

According to Debbie Wosskow:

“Nobody has had funding as the front and central problem to solve in any of these initiatives and that is the one thing this Invest in Women taskforce is set out to do… to create the biggest funding pot in the world, £250m, to back female entrepreneurs and to make the UK the biggest place in the world to be a female founder.”

Solving the ‘funding issue’ which is a systemic problem experienced by female and ethnic minorities founders, should finally start to move the needle (we hope!).

What next? (Re) listen to The Purse Podcast:

• #74: Women's relationship to money, budgeting vs investing and working with a financial planner with Victoria Ross

• #90: Fintech, building a scale-up, female founders and fundraising with Sabrina Del Prete

• #99: Female angel investors, UK vs US startup culture, investing for impact and levelling the playing field for female founders with Maya Ghosn

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News in Brief

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Financial news

• Gold jumps $2,220+/oz, hitting a fresh ATH although money continues to flow out of the Gold ETFs. With an 9.1% increase in March 2024, this marks Gold’s best monthly performance since July 2020, when it climbed 10.9% amid massive monetary & fiscal stimulus during COVID-19 pandemic.

• US economy grew faster than first thought at 3.4% annual rate. The BEA said the faster growth was thanks to upward revisions to consumer spending and non-residential fixed investment.

• US and European equity market volatility is at multi-year lows. But traders bet the US election will unsettle the market calm.

• The recent brutal rise in commodity prices is perhaps a harbinger that stock market is now seeing a rotation from highly valued Tech into value commodity stocks.

• UK recession confirmed after weakest non-pandemic year since 2009. Excluding the year 2020, which was affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, this is the weakest annual change in real GDP since the financial crisis in 2009.

• Reddit has already warned in its S-1 filing about its own meme stock status. And that's exactly what happened. Reddit is the new meme stock. It rose by 30% on Monday and pulled other meme stocks up with it. GameSt

• Donald Trump's net worth has jumped $4.7bn this year to $7.8bn. Trump is now richer than George Soros. Trump Social’s public debut puts all other meme stocks to shame

• No ESG and 'energy pragmatism.' The focus has changed completely: BlackRock’s Larry Fink warns about a retirement “crisis” in this year's annual letter to CEOs. The miracles of technology have extended our lives but there is no dialogue in America or most places about, ‘Can we afford that?

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

• Bitcoin is up over the week, having risen over 10% the past seven days. Its price now stands at $69,966, per CoinGecko—still below the nearly $74,000 all-time high it touched earlier this month.

• Ethereum and Solana have also risen in price over the past week. Ethereum is up by slightly over 4% and is now priced at $3,494. Solana is up over 12% and is coming in at $196.23.

• Dogecoin, the ninth biggest digital asset is up nearly 45% in seven days and is now priced at $0.208.

• Bitcoin Cash, the 15th biggest coin, has shot up in value over the week by over 30% and by over 50% in 30 days.

• Dogwifhat, which is this week's best-performing cryptocurrency. The Solana-based token is up nearly 100% over the week and is priced at $4.52.

• Shiba Inu, the Dogecoin-competitor has jumped over 10% in value the past seven days, sitting at $0.00003 early Saturday.

• Other memes comandeering the spotlight include Solana-based Bonk and Pepe, which are up 23% and 6%, respectively.

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Coffee Break? Read This

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• Garrick Club asked to consider membership for seven leading women

• Texas woman charged with murder in 2022 abortion sues prosecutors for $1m

• The Guardian view on global women’s rights: Saudi Arabia isn’t the only problem

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We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka. We do no provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

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Welcome to our #229 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

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From The Purse

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In this week’s newsletter, we highlight that the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) released their final report Thursday which said ‘thousands of women may have been affected by the Department and Work Pension’s (DWP) failure to adequately inform them that the state pension age had changed’.

Whilst the Waspi campaigners are calling for a £10,000+ payout, the ombudsman has recommended payouts of between £1,000 and £2,950 per person. However, the DWP has clearly indicated that they ‘refuse to comply’.

And don’t forget to the listen to The Purse Podcast interview with Vanessa Northway, who is the Deputy Vice-Principal for Learning and teaching at Heriot-Watt University Dubai. We talk about the role that schools, universities and parents play in teaching kids and young adults about money.

***

And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

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Thousands of women are owed pension payout

Ombudsman Waspi ruling confirms that thousands of women born in the 1950s are owed compensation because of government failings.

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On Thursday, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) issued its final report, which said ‘thousands of women may have been affected by the Department and Work Pension’s (DWP) failure to adequately inform them that the state pension age had changed’, as reported by The Guardian.

Women’s pension claim

Almost 4 million women born in the 1950s (UK) had their retirement plans “plunged into chaos”, with many of them left thousands of pounds out of pocket after the DWP increased the state pension age from 60 to 65, and then to 66. Some say they received only 12 months’ notice of a six-year delay to their pension.

The PHSO recommended payouts of between £1,000 and £2,950 a person fall far short of the £10,000-plus that the WASPI campaigners were calling for.

It is unclear how many women are due compensation and the report stated that paying out all 3.5m+ women, born in the 1950s, at the recommended payout level would cost £3.5bn to £10.5bn in public funds. PHSO also added: ‘We understand not all of them will have suffered injustice’.

However, the DWP had clearly indicated it would ‘refuse to comply’, which was ‘unacceptable’. As a result, the PHSO would be asking the government to intervene.

Angela Madden, the chair of Waspi, said:

“The DWP’s refusal to accept the clear conclusions of this five-year-long investigation is simply unbelievable. One of the affected women is dying every 13 minutes, and we just cannot afford to wait any longer.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has hinted at help for Waspi women who were hit by changes to the state pension age. But currently neither the Conservative or Labour party has committed to compensating the Waspi women.

Funding your retirement

According to Retirement Living Standards, you need £31,300 a year to fund a ‘moderate’ retirement. Even a ‘minimum’ standard of living would require an annual income of £14,400.

Currently, the full level of the state pension is £203.85 per week, giving an annual income of £10,600.

What next? Donate to the Waspi women here.

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News in Brief

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Financial news

• Global stock market rally: Japan’s Nikkei hit record highs this week, and the main US share indices also hit record levels.

• FTSE 100 approaching record high amid interest rate cut hopes this year.

• Japan raises interest rates for first time in 17 years amid higher inflation and rising wages.

• The US Federal Reserve signals three cuts still likely in 2024, despite inflation uptick. Powell says Fed likely to slow asset runoff ‘fairly soon’ Officials lift forecasts for growth, core inflation in 2024.

• A day after leaving UK interest rates on hold again, the governor of the Bank of England has dropped a hint that cuts are coming.

• Saudi Arabia plans $40bn push into AI. The planned tech fund would make Saudi Arabia the world’s largest investor in AI.

• Apple loses $115bn in market value as regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are training their eyes on the iPhone company, unnerving investors w/fears over fines & threatening its market dominance.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

• After setting a new ATH, bitcoin struggles to retake $69k. Grayscale was again shifting crypto to its custodian as investors redeemed their shares. It is likely ‘leftover holders desiring to leave this vehicle for a cheaper ETF.’ Bitcoin is currently trading at $64,336.

• Outflows from spot bitcoin ETFs overpowered new capital on each day this past week, with record-low inflows for BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC.

• Ethereum isn't faring much better, either. ETH has dropped 10% over the week and is now worth $3,342. The news of a ‘voluntary enquiry from a state authority that included a requirement for confidentiality’ didn't do the asset any favours.

• Popular meme coins—which earlier this month piqued investor interest again—took a battering. The biggest ones experienced the biggest dips: Pepe, Dogwifhat, and Bonk are the week's biggest losers. The assets are down 16%, 21%, and 28%, respectively.

• A Monday report from Standard Chartered, claimed that Ethereum could hit $8,000 by the end of this year, and $14,000 is possible by the end of 2025.

• Global investment firm AllianceBernstein continues to be bullish on Bitcoin, and now predicts that the coin will hit $90,000 this year.

• Kraken UK Managing Director says he would 'absolutely' like to see a bitcoin ETF in the UK.

• EU committees approve ban on anonymous crypto transactions via hosted wallets.

• SEC delays decision on Grayscale's Ethereum futures Trust ETF, again.

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The Purse Podcast

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We cover the following in this conversation:

• Financial education as it relates to children, teenagers, and young adults.

• The role of schools and universities in teaching our kids about money.

• Why parents play a crucial role in how kids grow up thinking about money and how to manage it too.

• The impact of teaching girls about entrepreneurship and financial management.

• Why teaching financial independence and how to invest is crucial.

• How technology can be used to encourage children and young adults to become financially literate and financially confident.

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

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Coffee Break? Read This

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• Beyond burnout

• Fashion is going through a golden age of understatement. And I’m all for it

• Half of the world goes to the polls in 2024. Let’s ensure women’s voices are heard

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