Hey there weekday warriors,

(TLDR: Please complete this survey that will help shape the future of TWC.)

Huge thanks to everyone who has completed the survey already. You guys went hard yesterday.

And since I know your time is valuable, I’m giving a $250 Amazon gift card to one random person who completes the short survey this week.

In addition to treating yo self, you can sleep easy knowing your input will give me valuable insight into everything from the types of content you want to see, to how I should monetize TWC 2.0.

So, it’d be incredible if you would fill out this quick and completely anonymous survey.

Thanks in advance, all.

Keep on snapping necks and cashing checks,

- tyler

+ US stocks "closed mostly lower on Friday, losing momentum as investors digested a hectic week of mixed earnings, and economic data that seemed to support the "higher for longer" interest rate scenario." (Investing.com)

+ The 10-year Treasury yield "rose on Friday following a slew of economic data, as traders weighed their impact on the Federal Reserve's interest rate path." (Reuters)

+ Oil "climbed about 3% to a one-week high on Friday on worries that tensions in Israel and Gaza could spread into a wider conflict that could disrupt global crude supplies." (Reuters)

+ Bitcoin climbed towards $35k over the weekend, which isn’t exactly shocking given its massive October moves (so far).

+ The three most talked about stocks on WallStreetBets in the past 24-hours were: 1) Tesla +0.75% 2) Visa -0.82% 3) Nvidia +0.43%.

“Shut up and take my money, Elon.”

Stop trying to make X.com happen…

Elon is the Uncle Rico of the tech space. Dude just won’t let go of the glory days. Except instead of leading the team to States, he only cares about bringing X.com to life… well, the original X.com.

Quick history lesson: Elon bagged up the first time with a payments company called X, which eventually became PayPal. And he’s been trying to recapture that magic ever since…

Elon has been pretty blunt about wanting to make X (the current version… stay with me here, guys) into an everything app. Like, say, China’s WeChat.

Plus, the company has been landing money transmission licenses across the country.

The future is now…

At a meeting on Thursday, Elon told his employees that they’ve got a year to make X into a fintech. On second thought, maybe laying off 80% of the company wasn’t such a great idea…

But Elon doesn’t just want X to be able to replicate basic Venmo capabilities. In typical Elon fashion, he said at the all-hands “I’m talking about, like, you won’t need a bank account.” ​

And just in case you thought, “maybe Elon isn’t living in the year 2000”… the world’s richest man-child referenced the PayPal roadmap he laid out with David Sacks like 23 years ago: “for some reason PayPal, once it became eBay, not only did they not implement the rest of the list, but they actually rolled back a bunch of key features, which is crazy. So PayPal is actually a less complete product than what we came up with in July of 2000, so 23 years ago.” Spoiler: he plans to finish the job.

Shares of PayPal were down 2.6% on the day… but it probably didn’t have to do with Elon’s idea that’s so crazy it might just work (but probably won’t). You see, PYPL’s European competitor, Worldline, has been a drag on the entire payments space following its warning that consumer discretionary spending is plummeting.

Help me… help you.

Complete the quick, anonymous TWC survey now.

+ For the second Halloween in a row, U.S. candy inflation hits double digits (Read)

+ A-Rod regrets not investing in Amazon, Microsoft or Starbucks in the ’90s: ‘I wouldn’t have to work so hard today’ (Read)​

+ ICYMI yesterday... Want to retire at 65 with $2 million? Here’s how much to save each month (Read)

+ *Michael Burry has entered the chat*. The S&P 500 fell ~0.5% on Friday, meaning it’s now down more than 10% from its most recent peak. That’s what some people like to call a market correction. Woof. (Read)

+ Listen, I don’t know about you, but if I was going to gear up for a major life change, I’d certainly make sure my money was right. Isn’t that right, Jamie Dimon? The JPMorgan CEO announced he plans to unload 1M shares worth about $141M. That’s the first time he’s sold shares as CEO. Probably nothing. JD has been teasing retirement since the financial crisis, but he did say in 2020 he’s got 5 years left in him. Or, of course, he could be gearing up for that Presidential run. Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

Shares fell about 3.5% on the day. (Read)

+ Welp, nothing to see here. Case closed. Call off the dogs. Sam Bankman Fried cleared up this whole FTX misunderstanding when he took the stand on Friday for the first time in front of a jury. Were mistakes made? Sure, he admitted. But there was no fraud committed… by him. He made sure to blame literally everyone else. Like Caroline Ellison, who he said was a good manager but wasn’t well versed in “risk management.” To which the jury replied… “no sh*t.”

He also threw former pal Gary Wang under the bus. SBF ordered Wang to build a computer program that would ensure there wasn’t a liquidity event at Alameda (because, you know, the jig would be up). Sammy Snake Oil claims, “he did not know at the time that what his colleagues put in place was a feature that allowed Alameda to carry a negative balance on the exchange.” Ignorance really is bliss. (Read)

+ Define nothingburger. The Fed’s preferred inflation data dropped Friday AM… and it was right in line with expectations. Core PCE rose 0.3%. That was higher than last month… but it matched the Street’s consensus. Arguably the one concerning aspect of the report was that personal spending jumped 0.7%, above expectations. But markets were all like “meh” considering the report isn’t likely to impact the Fed’s upcoming decision. (Read​)

+ In arguably the least surprising news of the day, Taylor Swift is now a billionaire. My only question is what took so long? Bloomberg’s calculation took into account “five homes, earnings from music sales, streaming deals, concert tickets and merchandise, as well as the value of her music catalog.” (Read)

+ And then there was one. Stellantis aka Chrysler has reached a tentative deal with the UAW to end a nearly two-month-long strike. You might recall that last week, Ford grabbed its ankles and inked an agreement with the United Auto Workers. That means GM is the only man left standing. Unsurprisingly, another GM plant was hit by a strike over the weekend. (Read)

Here's what I'm keeping an eye on today...

+ McDonald’s, VF Corp., and Pinterest report

+ Apple’s holding its ‘Scary Fast’ event. Spoiler: Tim Apple is expected to unveil new (faster… obviously) chips and Macs

Friday, I asked What’s your immediate reaction to this viral video of a woman complaining about having a 9-5?

There were a ton of variations of “we are doomed,” “she’s what’s wrong with society” etc. And there weren’t a small number of people that responded “would.”

There were even a few of you who said, “she’s got a point.” Which I tend to agree with. I mean, no one actually loves working 9-5 and trying to fit life into the leftover hours. And everyone loves commuting, even less. We just don’t make TikToks… we drink, like adults.

Here's today's question...

We talked about a few billionaires today: Taylor Swift, Elon, and Jamie Dimon (he joined the tres comas club thanks to JPM shares mooning like 250% during his tenure…). And one former one (RIP SBF). So…

Who isn’t a billionaire, but probably deserves to be?

I’ll go first: Nickleback. The American people have put them through it.

Respond directly to this email and I'll share the best answers tomorrow.

Oh, and I have one more question…

Have completed the TWC survey yet?

Does this look like the face of a guy you should take financial advice from?

No, it’s the face of a God-fearing family man with sh*t-for-brains. So, act accordingly...

This is not financial advice. Nothing in this newsletter is an investment recommendation. All content is created for entertainment, educational, or informational purposes only. Do your own research, or do yourself a favor and hire a professional.