Good morning. It's Monday, April. 29 and we're covering saving money, having a low-spend month, from first-class to super prime, and much more. | First time reading? Sign up here. | Stock Market Update | | | | | Market Performance: April 26, 2024.
US stocks bounced back on Friday as Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT) earnings revived hopes for a sustained Big Tech-led rally, even as a reading on the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge showed price pressures remain sticky. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) climbed 2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI), which includes fewer tech stocks, rose 0.4% or 150 points.
Gains for Alphabet and Microsoft gave stocks a lift, with rises of around 10% and 2%, respectively. The stellar results from the "Magnificent Seven" duo showed how growing demand for AI can boost cloud revenue and signaled that both companies stand to benefit from that boom. Alphabet's market cap surpassed $2 trillion, joining an elite group.
The performance fired up confidence that earnings from the Magnificent Seven techs can lift the broader market out of the doldrums. Those hopes had taken a knock from Meta's (META) disappointing forecast earlier in the week. |
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| | Financial Maverick Insights | | | | | Ways I Learned to Save Money While Living in Italy | Sharing household expenses and building a life together meant we were always watching our budget. And while things like clipping coupons or asking stores to price-match items may be smart ways to save money in the United States, those practices are virtually nonexistent here.
So I had to find new ways to save money on groceries, kids' clothes and other necessities. Here are money-saving tricks I picked up from living in Italy—most of which can apply to wherever you live too!
Buy fewer groceries at a time
If you ever visit a friend or family member in Europe, you will likely notice something very different about their kitchen: a small refrigerator. How do they manage with such a tiny fridge? They don't stockpile food, and now, I don't either. I can't speak for other countries, but Italians tend to buy more fresh food—and buy it in smaller quantities. We don't have big-box stores like Sam's or Costco, so buying in bulk isn't really an option anyway. But even if it were, I've learned to buy less at a time, especially when it comes to perishable items like fruit and vegetables.
Eat seasonally
I love strawberries, cantaloupe and watermelon, but in Italy, I can only get them in the summer, when they're ripe. The same goes for fall and winter fruits and vegetables like Brussels sprouts, winter squash, just about every kind of apple and those delicious blood oranges from Sicily. Most stores don't sell these items out of season, in part because Italians prioritize seasonality, as well as locally and regionally grown produce, but also because of price. Out of season, these fruits and vegetables would have to be imported. They'd be a lot more expensive, of lesser quality and quite possibly grown in an industrial greenhouse. Instead, enjoying them seasonally helps me appreciate them more.
Cook more meals at home
I live in a small town where we have no fast-food restaurants other than a pizzeria that does carry-out. (Can you imagine?!) Ordering food for delivery or carryout, or even going out to dinner on the spur of the moment, isn't something we can do easily, mostly due to a lack of options. And it turns out, that's really OK! Not only do we save money on expensive restaurant meals, overpriced wine and huge portions of calorie-laden carryout food that goes uneaten, but we get more quality family time by cooking, eating and cleaning up together. We also end up eating less and having healthier meals.
Avoid credit card debt
Here's a surprising thing about the Italian economy: It's harder to accumulate consumer debt here, especially credit card debt. In Italy, credit card balances are linked to your bank account and paid off every month, with payments automatically withdrawn from your account. If you charge more than you have in your account, your bank balance will be overdrawn. That's a sobering reason not to overuse your card! It also prevents consumers from racking up debt that might take them years to pay off, avoiding the vicious cycle of tamping down and then reaccumulating credit card debt. |
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| | | | | | How to Have a Low-Spend Month | Living in New York City, which has the highest cost of living in the United States, has left Hannah Yoo all too aware of how easily expenses can add up. "You step outside your house and you've already spent $200," she says. "It's crazy how quickly things can get out of control." To better track her spending, Yoo, 26, decided to try out a "low-spend month"—a budgeting trend in which participants aim to spend only on essentials, like rent or car payments, while limiting or cutting out discretionary spending entirely.
Here are some tips for how to have a successful low-spend month.
Set your intentions
Before starting a low-spend month, it's important to identify why you're doing one. The reason can vary by person—maybe you're hoping to pay down debt or save up for a new car— but setting your intentions will help you stick to your goal even when you're tempted to stray.
Be mindful about purchases
Next, take a hard look at your monthly budget—even if the prospect seems scary. "A lot of people don't know what their normal monthly spending is," says Sarah Paulson, a financial planner with Valkyrie Finance. Paulson recommends that, rather than cutting out all discretionary spending, you start the challenge by cutting back on one category you overspend on—like making coffee at home rather than buying it daily, or refraining from food delivery orders.
"Maybe now you think Whole Foods is necessary for groceries, but it doesn't have to be at that level," says Paulson. "You can be more frugal about your purchases without cutting yourself off."
Don't be too restrictive
Sometimes cutting back too much in a low-spend month can result in overspending as soon as the challenge is over. "It's like a rubber band snapping back," says Paulson. "You do really well for a month, and then you go overboard." The key, Paulson says, is to be honest with yourself about where you might be overspending, without completely depriving yourself of joy. If you look forward to your monthly facial or treat yourself with takeout on a Friday night, it's okay to personalize the rules to reflect that.
Repurpose your savings
To avoid overspending once the month is over, Jack Heintzelman, a financial planner at Boston Wealth, suggests putting the extra money in your budget towards your savings goal. "If you find that you can spend $100 less in a certain category, the next month, take that $100 that you were spending in that category and immediately save it somewhere," he says.
Automating the saving process, whether towards a retirement or savings fund, or to paying down debt, can help you keep your goals front of mind and prevent you from impulse spending the extra cash you learned how to save during your low-spend challenge. |
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| | Alternative Investing |  | Musk makes surprise visit to Beijing as Tesla's China-made cars pass data security rules | Big tech companies are sitting on huge piles of cash. Investors are judging them by how they plan to use it. |
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