This weeks trend: BRICS Currency

According to the Twitter and Reddit experts, the US dollar is going to lose its status as the world’s reserve currency imminently.

Haven’t you heard? The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, Indian, China and South Africa) have hooked up a new deal that will allow them to trade without the need to get the Yanks involved.

It’s been a big news story that these nations now have a larger combined GDP than the G7. What utter bollocks. The real stat is that they have a larger share of global GDP on a purchasing power parity basis. What that does is adjust the actual output of an economy to take out the fact that some are poorer than others.

Fine I guess if you’re an economist wanting to look at details of how an economy is growing or whatever, but if you’re using it to show that one group of countries has more ‘power’ or relevance than another, it’s stupid.

Here are the actual GDP figures on nominal (unadjusted) basis.

And of that BRICS figure, here is the current and projected GDP share between those countries. It’s basically just China.

No only that, but China, India and Brazil combined hold 21% of all US dollar denominated debt, and the BRICS combined have over $5.5 trillion in foreign currency reserves, most of which is in US dollars.

Is it really feasible that they would want the US dollar to collapse?

So yeh. This is dumb. The US dollar isn’t going to collapse or be relegated to backup status anytime soon. And that’s without getting into the issues with a supposed ‘new guard’ that are so broadly different from a cultural perspective.

This weeks trend: Interest Rates 📉

The ADP private payrolls report came out yesterday, and the numbers were way below estimates at 145,000 against 210,000 projected. Unemployment benefits claims were up a bit as well, and the Fed’s favourite inflation measure, PCE, came in lower than expected last week too.

Don’t fall asleep!

There’s a point here, and that is that I’m calling it now, the Fed are going to pause rates at the next FOMC meeting in early May.

They would have done it last month if they could have gotten away with it without the market totally panicking. Now that we’ve got a couple of pieces of data showing things are cooling off, they’ll be gagging to take some of the pressure off the financial sector.

I’m expecting Jerome Powell to announce a pause to the hikes for the next couple of months, and we could even see a rate cute before the end of Summer.

Of course if CPI happens to come in way above expectations (though I don’t think it will), then all that goes out the window. For next month at least.

The UK is a little further behind, with inflation still much higher than in the US. I’d expect to see a number of additional rate hikes until a turnaround in policy from the Bank of England.

This weeks trend: The AI Bubble

I don’t know about you, but I am so bored of hearing about AI.

I get it, new technology is exciting. But we are in a massive hype cycle here. Now I’m not saying that AI and machine learning is not amazing tech. It is. But what we’re seeing now is nothing new.

ChatGPT has sent Twitter threadbois over the edge, but the reality is that language processing technology has been around for ages. We’ve had predictive text since the days of the Nokia 3310 (what a time to be a teenager btw).

Google Docs has had it for years and Grammarly was founded in 2009. Spotify recommends you songs based on your listening history. Tons of financial apps categorise your monthly spending and provide a personal budget projection for next month. The first version of Siri was created back in 1993!

All of this is machine learning. It’s all really cool. And none of it is new.

Not only that, but now Web3 and NFT grifters have another get rich quick scheme to latch on to. Great.

So, my prediction? AI will keep trending up, and then very quickly down. Unicorns like Jasper will die, and we’ll be left with some great tech integrated into the products and services we already use.

Useful? Yes. OMG ThE WorLD HaS ChAnGeD FoReVeR!!!!?? No

This weeks trend: Bank Consolidation

Credit Suisse has been sold off for a knockdown price this week. Swiss regulators changed the law so that shareholders didn’t get a vote, but it was looking like the options were either sell for a massive discount — or get nothing.

In the coming months, I think we’ll see this play out a number of times.

Twitter tweet

This Tweet is satire, but the point hits the nail on the head. Many small bank risk management executives will be quietly panicking right now. The bond duration problem that undid SVB and Signature Bank is impacting banks all over the world, and many of them will be looking for a sugar daddy to get them through this liquidity crisis.

An orderly sale now at a discount price is still likely to be a better result for shareholders than a potential failure or emergency sale in the future.

Welcome to FinTrends.

It’s the evolution of The Hedge, focusing on bringing you the latest trends in the world of finance, business and the wider economy.

Every week, you’ll receive a email, outlining one trend to watch.

Your inbox is full enough as it is, so every email will be short. Usually less than 150 words.

This weeks trend: Counterparty Risk

In the 2020/21 boom times, no one gave a shit how secure a company was. All anyone wanted was rockets to the moon and massive yields.

Robinhood shutting down trading on GME for liquidity reasons, while big brokers stayed open, was one of the first examples we saw of this.

Then the crypto collapse accelerated it. Depositors with Celsius, FTX and the long list of others saw what can happen when a company dies.

Now we’ve seen the same thing happen in the mainstream banking system with Silicon Valley Bank.

Sure, depositors got bailed out.

But people are starting to realise what counterparty risk really means. Expect this to become a much more important selling point for financial institutions going forward.

And expect to see a wave of new fintechs ‘solving the problem’ of counterparty risk.

This is The Hedge, the newsletter that serves up investing and business knowledge that's just like Tesco. Every little helps.

Reading Time: 3m 07sec

• Prices accurate as of approximately Wednesday 4:30PM BST.

👑 The Queens Estate

It's always sad when someone dies. But honestly, I don't really comprehend the level of 'mourning' that is taking place for the Queen. She was 96. She had a great life. We all have to go sometime.

Anyway, now that I've guaranteed at least a little bit of hate mail, let's talk about the money.

As you might expect, the normal rules don't apply to the House of Windsor. For starters, they don't have to pay inheritance tax. That's right, back in 1993 the government agreed that the royal family would get a pass on the hefty 40% IHT bill, forever.

Not a bad deal.

Especially when you consider that the IHT bill could have been in the region of £170 million. While the financials of the queen aren't a matter of public record, there have been a number of estimates made through the years.

Forbes and The Sunday Times Rich List have both put her wealth in the region of £400 - £430 million. And that's just her own personal wealth.

The Crown Estate

If you include all of the wealth of the Crown itself, the number skyrockets to almost £25 billion. While these assets are owned by the royal family, they are technically under the control of the British Government.

Kind of like when your parents bought your first car. It was yours, but if you acted like too much of a little shit it could have been taken off you.

The income generated from this £25 billion is paid to the Government, and they then give the royal family back about 25% of the profit. Last year, that was about £85 mil.

On top of that, the government also pays for the security costs for the royal family, which has been a real pisser for Harry and Meg's because they're now having to foot the bill themselves now they're not 'in' the royal family.

The Duchy of Lancaster

Just like late-night infomercials say, but wait, there's more. The monarch also owns this estate, which covers land holdings a bloody massive area that includes various castles, estates and even care homes, hotels and schools.

The whole lot is worth over £800 mill and generates almost £25 mil in additional income for the queen, and now the King.

This property is automatically passed to King Charles, and in turn the Duchy of Cornwall goes to Will.

By the way, all of this income is tax free, as are any capital gains they make.

🏠 What Income Level is Needed for a £500k Mortgage?

Replying to @flavianis_official #mortgagetips #ukmoney #ukmoneytiktok #ukmoneytips #firsthomebuyer

Jason Mountford (@Jason Mountford) has created a short video on TikTok

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🎈 Inflation is....Down!

Well, kind of. It's still a sky high 9.9% over the past 12 months, but that's out of the double digits 10.1% that it was last month.

The main driver in the decrease is the fact that fuel prices have come back down to earth, after the price jumped over £2 for a while there.

It's not all good news, with food, drinks and clothing all continuing to rise. It's important to keep in mind that these figures are based off a select basket of goods that may, or may not, match what your household spends money on.

For example, in 2022 they Office of National Statistics added some new items to the basket, which included sports bras and dog collars, while removing coal (why the fuck was coal in there in the first place?) and mens suits.

Still, the Bank of England remains in a tight spot with raising rates the default option to lower inflation, but the economy not necessarily going gangbusters either.

🌏 Snippets

• Center Parcs performs quick u-turn on kicking guests out for the day of the Queen's funeral, even if they'd already checked in.

• No sausage McMuffins on funeral day guys. All McDonald's will be shut until 5pm.

• Tesla releases the Cyberwhistle which you can only buy with Dogecoin. It's already fuckin' sold out 😂

• The US stock market has tanked with the latest inflation figures higher than expected.

• Google has had their £3.5 billion fine upheld by the European Court after their appeal failed. The anti-trust fine stems from them forcing Android users to install Google Search and Chrome apps in order to use the Google Play Store.

See you next week 🚀

Jason

This is The Hedge, the newsletter that delivers like Amazon Prime. On time, as advertised and courtesy of a guy with no hair.

Reading Time: 3m 35sec

• Prices accurate as of approximately Wednesday 7:15PM BST.

⚡️ Will Liz Freeze Energy Bills?

We can't get away from talking about energy prices, because it's just about all that's in the news right now. Now that Liz has won, I'm expecting we're going to see a big move on bills.

My expectation is that we'll see a scheme implemented in the UK which mirror the one that's already gone through on the Isle of Man. I talked about it a couple of weeks ago, and it's looking more and more likely that we'll all see the same thing happen elsewhere.

The details obviously aren't out yet, but the rumours suggest that the relief will come in the form of a loan to the energy companies (that doesn't fuckin' sit right, for a start) and we'll then pay it back via our bills over the next 10 or 20 years.

I'm not convinced this is a great idea, because it's going to mean inflated bills for potentially decades to come. I was on the bandwagon of using energy company profits as a solution to the problem, but it’s not that simple.

While it's still bullshit that energy companies are making billions and their CEO's are making millions while everyone else is struggling to make ends meet, it's pretty clear that knocking £63 off that figure won't make a toss of difference.

Obviously some suppliers are also producers, and that profit is bundled into the wholesale costs part of the graphic, but it all gets very bloody messy.

🏠 Your Home is Not an Investment

Do you agree? #ukrealestate #investing #firsthome #firsthomebuyer #uk

Jason Mountford (@Jason Mountford) has created a short video on TikTok

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🐻 Bitcoin Getting Crunched

The price of Bitcoin has been getting slammed lately, and it's down over 14% over the past month. That's nothing out of the ordinary for an asset that's down over 53% since the start of the year, but until recently it had been trending slowly upwards.

The most recent falls have seen the price drop back to levels last seen in late 2020, right at the beginning of the epic pandemic bull run.

More noteworthy is the trajectory for Bitcoin dominance. This is the percentage of Bitcoin's market cap relative to the entire crypto sector. It's recently fallen below 40% for the first time since 2018, which, combined with the trend in the Bitcoin price, is used as a buy or sell signal for some investors.

Regardless, the downturn in crypto markets is testing the resolve of hodlers.

🩳 Hargreaves Lansdown One of the UK's Top Shorts

You remember Citadel Advisors? Maybe not, but they were one of the main companies behind the short interest that set off the bonkers Gamestop meme stock frenzy. They've not given up their short game, and they (along with Blackrock) are two of the latest big investment houses looking to profit of of Hargreaves downfall.

This comes off the back of HL's 2022 figures, which saw revenue drop 8% and assets under management drop 9%, and they're now one of the top 10 most shorted companies in the UK.

Stocks are out of the public eye right now because they're not hitting all time highs. We're not seeing content all over social about millionaires being made over night, and this means less cash for companies like HL.

They're also an old school, stuffy player in the retail investing game, which has increasingly become slick and modern. Companies like Trading 212 and eToro are eating their lunch big time.

Rest assured if you have money invest via their platform, they are simply the custodian of your assets. No one is saying they're likely to go bankrupt, but if they did, your money would be safe from the administrators.

🔺 The Hedge Community

Want to chat with likeminded people about money and investing? Want somewhere you can ask your financial questions? I got you. The Hedge Discord server has some great discussion on all things to do with money and investing.

It's not just me rambling on either, we've got some awesome contributors in there who are sharing their resources and thoughts. Click below to join.

Join the The Hedge Discord Server!

Check out the The Hedge community on Discord - hang out with 32 other members and enjoy free voice and text chat.

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🌏 Snippets

• Liz Truss has announced Kwasi Kwarteng as the new Chancellor, and Therese Coffey as the new health minister. She smashes the cigars, so I'm not sure about that one.

• London craft brewer Beavertown has been fully bought out by Heineken after taking minority stake in 2018.

• The average UK house price hit an all-time high of £294,260 in August.

• Pound sterling slides further, hitting its lowest level against the US Dollar since 1985.

• Fracking ban could be lifted in package to bring down energy prices.

See you next week 🚀

Jason

This is The Hedge, the newsletter that buys the first round. If you've got mates who'd like to read this every week, hit that forward button and let 'em know!

Reading Time: 3m 02sec

• Prices accurate as of approximately Wednesday 8PM BST.

💷 Pound Takes a Pounding

Pound Sterling has had a rough trot lately. It's had its worst month against the US dollar since 2016, dropping 4.5% since the start of August.

So what do currency movements mean for you? Well, there's the obvious one. If you're going on holiday to the US then your shit beer and incredibly delicious-yet-diabetes-inducing food is going to cost you a bit more.

Outside of that, the strength of the pound impacts the economy in a pretty major way. Countries all over the world import certain goods and services and export others. In the UK, we don't exactly have the right climate for growing mangoes, so we import them.

We do have a world class higher education and financial services sector, so attract foreign money to those, which is classed as an export.

This relationship between imports and exports is what's known as the trade deficit or trade surplus. If a country has a trade deficit, it means that they import more than they export. In that case, you want to have a strong currency because it means buying stuff from other countries costs you 'less'.

A weak currency means you have to convert more of it to buy stuff in USD or EUR or anything other currency.

The UK currently has a trade deficit, of around £28 billion. It means that if the pound falls in value against our major trading partners, the price we pay goes up, even if the producers haven't changed their prices.

The US is our largest single trading partner with £70 billion in annual imports to the UK so this currency move isn't great. With that said, if you combined the European Union, it makes up a way bigger piece of the pie with £340 billion worth of imports.

Thankfully, the pound has held strong against the Euro, and is up just over 5% over the past 5 years.

🤝 How Much Does a Financial Advisor Charge?

#investinguk #ukmoneytiktok #investigng #financialliteracy #financialadvice

Jason (@Jason) has created a short video on TikTok

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📈 Nothing Lasts Forever

Here are some really interest graphics from Genuine Impact. The first looks at the biggest companies in the world from 2000, and the biggest companies now. Some huge names that didn't even exist back then, and some equally big names that have fallen from grace.

Pretty interesting to see China effectively take the place of Japan. Especially when you consider their demographics. Japan is ageing and their population actually declined by 628,000 last year. China has obviously gone through massive population growth and has become an economic powerhouse.

Who knows what the future might hold, but another graphic had some info that surprised me.

India is expected to be the world's most populous country by 2050. I'm not surprised at that. But look at Africa. Nigeria, Ethiopia, DRC, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, Ghana, Cameroon, Angola, Cote D'Ivoire, Morocco, Burkina Faso, Algeria, South Africa, Niger and Tanzania. 16 out of the top 50 are in Africa. That's crazy.

🌏 Snippets

• Snapchat is struggling and they've announced plans to layoff 20% of their workforce.

• JP Morgan Chase (the world's biggest bank) has had their German offices raided as they're under investigation for tax evasion.

• Brent Crude oil is back down below USD$100 a barrel, continuing the downward trend from its peak of almost USD$128 in March.

• UK based renewable energy company Sea Wave Energy have created basically a big lilo that generates power. They claim it's the "cheapest clean energy ever."

• The Issa brothers (Owners of EuroGarages and Asda) continue their takeover in the UK, with a new £600m deal done to purchase Co-Op's petrol stations.

See you next week 🚀

Jason

This is The Hedge, the newsletter that's like a personal chef who serves up nuggets of money and investing knowledge, instead of omelettes.

Reading Time: 3m 07sec

• Prices accurate as of approximately Wednesday 4:30PM BST.

🏠 London Rents May Be Easing

No, that's not a typo. Apparently the rents in London are actually starting to chill the F out. This is a classic supply and demand issue, and it appears that the rental properties available on the market are finally coming back to manageable levels.

The number of available properties are up 60% since the start of the year and, more interestingly, are up 24% since before the start of the pandemic.

The exodus out of the cities that was predicting on the outset of the 2021 work from home revolution doesn't appear to have completely come to fruition, but this may be partly a result of fewer people needing to live in Greater London than before.

It's likely that this trend will be replicated across the country, but it will happen on different timescales.

Not only that, but some analysts are predicting that the London property market will actually fall 12% over the next two years.

🏛 Will You Pay More Tax Under Rishi or Liz?

#ukpolitics #ukpol #uktax #taxuk #uknews #uknewsheadlines #financialfreedom #financialplanning #foryoupage #fyp

Jason (@Jason) has created a short video on TikTok

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🇮🇲 Isle of Man Freezes Electricity Prices

This is an interesting one. Obviously energy prices are a big story right now. Seems like it's the only fuckin' story if I'm honest.

The Isle of Man is expected to approve a freezing of electricity prices until April 2023. The mechanism of this price freeze is pretty interesting. The plan is to provide a loan to the utility provider (singular, there's only one) to cover the difference between the cap and the amount charged to residents.

This loan will then be repaid from household bills over the next 20 years. It's kind of like Rishi Sunak's original Klarna-style plan, but on a much bigger scale.

It will be interesting to see whether the pollies in Westminster are taking notes, and Scottish Power is already lobbying the government to do something similar for the rest of the UK.

🥽 Invesco Bets on the Metaverse

Funds management giant Invesco is setting up a fund to specifically target companies going hard on the Metaverse. The most obvious of these is the blue juggernaut in the room, Facebook, who are so high on the bandwagon they even change their bloody name.

Even with one of the biggest budgets on Earth, this is what they've come up with so far.

I dunno about you guys, I'll probably leave this one off my buy list.

🔺 The Hedge Community

Want to chat with likeminded people about money and investing? Want somewhere you can ask your financial questions? I got you. The Hedge Discord server has some great discussion on all things to do with money and investing.

It's not just me rambling on either, we've got some awesome contributors in there who are sharing their resources and thoughts. Click below to join.

Join the The Hedge Discord Server!

Check out the The Hedge community on Discord - hang out with 33 other members and enjoy free voice and text chat.

https://discord.gg/dPPkn3JaKA

🌏 Snippets

• Citibank reckons inflation is going to hit 18.6% in early 2023.

• Amongst all the doom and gloom, at least energy and banking shareholders are having a win. They've paid out record dividends last quarter, well ahead of pre-pandemic levels.

• For the first time ever, Britain has imported no energy from Russia, down from almost £500m of the stuff.

• If you want to have a pint and a dry steak with the expected new Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, it'll run you £3k at the Tories Autumn fundraiser. Might get a PPE deal out of it though.

• The US government is considering cancelling student debt. They won't be wiping out the full $1.7 trillion (yes, with a T), but they'll be paying off $10k of the loans for people earning under $125,000.

See you next week 🚀

Jason

This is The Hedge, the email that gets to you every week, even when the guy who writes it is sunning himself in Portugal. Yeh, you know.

Reading Time: 3m 18sec

• Prices accurate as of approximately Wednesday 8:30PM BST.

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⚡️Energy Price Fear Porn

I'm on one this week. I'm sick to death of analysts and consultants constantly trying to one up themselves with a new scary figure that gets splashed across the news. First it was £2,000 then it was £3,000 and now we're seeing that prices are supposedly going to be hitting £4,000+ for the average household next January.

The scaremongering is bullshit, and I'm sick of it.

Even the nations money saint, Martin Lewis, is part of this problem. It's fear porn. Maybe it drives engagement, clicks and likes, but it makes everyone scared, nervous and afraid.

Every time there's a new figure from a different firm of analysts, the media latch on to it and splash it across the headlines. Ofgem themselves provide forward estimates, which are much lower than the figures doing the rounds.

Also remember that these figures are for the average household. That's generally going to mean a family with a couple of adults who are likely both earning money. An increase to the levels they're talking about will be shit, but it's nothing to be scared of for most people.

The discussion about pensioners living in a flat, who will need to choose between heating and food this winter is bullshit in my opinion too. They aren't going to be paying £4,000+ a year, because they're not the average user.

Yes, some people live on very tight budgets. But if an extra £30 a month is the difference between life and death, that's a totally different issue than just energy prices.

Right, rant over. Just remember, headlines don't say anything about your personal financial situation. Do your own numbers. Make your own plan. Take control of your own circumstances.

Could be worse👇

Twitter tweet

💬 Incredible AI text to speech

Ok, now for something fun. AI is showing up on tech everywhere from warehouses to streaming services to our cars and obviously in our phones. Some of the applications are bloody incredible, and I came across this one the other day that has blown me away.

Text to speech is nothing new, but it's always been super robotic and awkward. That's all going to change.

Unreal Speech is one company making AI text to speech that can match anyones speaking style. The business applications are huge. You could use the tech to change languages on foreign TV shows. like Squid Game in full English, but using the real actors accents and unique delivery style.

For the vision impaired, it could bring new life to the content they consume on a daily basis and people who develop speech impairments later in life could potentially use technology to keep their own voice.

Check out the Unreal Speech website here. They have a few examples you can try with your own text, including Gary See and Jordan Peterson.

🚀 I'm on TikTok Now

Not going to lie, it's actually awesome. You can follow me there if you want.

🌏 Snippets

• Boris Johnson takes second foreign holiday this summer. Sorry, second foreign holiday, so far.

• 600,000 UK households cancel their Amazon Prime subscription after the announcement of the price hike.

• UK inflation hits 10.1% in the year to the end of July.

• Crypto scams are down significantly this year, with the total amount scammed over 65% lower than this time last year. Likely because investors have lost interest given the lower prices.

• Cineworld stock has crashed over 60% and they're seeking a financial rescue package.

See you next week 🚀

Jason

This is The Hedge, the weekly email that's like your friend that recommends new TV series for you to binge, and they're actually good. Mr Inbetween. Disney+. Thank me later.

Reading Time: 4m 22sec

• Prices accurate as of approximately Wednesday 8PM BST.

🚧 Don't Pay Campaign

Ok, we all know that energy prices are going nuts. It is actually a joke and it's going to cause households some real problems when winter rolls around. One solution doing the rounds is the 'Don't Pay' campaign, which aims to get 1 million people to agree to cancel their energy direct debits in October.

The idea isn't to not pay the bill at all, but rather to cause some major headaches for the energy providers. If their cashflow plunges in a given month, they'd struggle to pay their staff wages and their own costs, which would make them put pressure on the government to intervene.

That's the thinking anyway.

I feel like this is the same as when you're trying to organise a holiday with your mates. Everyone blows up the group chat and sounds super keen, until the time comes to get the wallet out and pay the deposit. I can't see enough people doing this to make a difference. So far they've not yet cracked 100,000 signups on the website.

As always, I could be wrong! If you're thinking of doing this, just be careful with the timing of it. If you fall behind on your bills it might get reported to credit agencies which could cause problems for you later.

You don't want to end up being the one screwed rather than the energy companies

🤑 Crypto Boy

This is the funniest shit I have seen in a long time, and it's a banger to boot! It's a mashup from Tik Tok of Crypto Boy by salem ilese and it's amazing. Enjoy.

When bootleg Post Malone comes towards the end 🤣 so good. This kind of thing makes me feel weirdly optimistic. The creativity that people have and the way strangers can work together on something as silly and pointless as this and yet execute it so well. It's fuckin' impressive.

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🎒 Mixed Bag for UK Company Earnings

Just like much of the economic data going around right now, the latest earnings reports for UK listed companies has been a real mixed bag. There have been some big beats as well as some big misses with inflation driving record profits for some sectors and punishing others.

Basically, we're all spending so much on essentials like fuel and groceries that we're bailing on the cheeky Nando's delivery and the new trainers.

Deliveroo

The hungover or busy parent's best friend Deliveroo is a great example. The company did better than expected, in that they only lost £147 billion in the first half of 2022. Bloody hell. I thought it was already getting expensive, but looks like we might see those service charges going up a bit!

That's a whopper of a loss, but it wasn't as bad as analysts expected, so the stock is up over 7% since the announcement. The stock market's weird hey.

Tui

Airline and travel operator Tui is another company that's struggling, with the mass flight cancellations and airport chaos costing them serious coin. They've stated that the whole shit show has cost them £63 million.

They're expecting better things ahead though, with bookings back to pre-pandemic levels and compensation being sought from the airports for their part in the mess. Again, investors feel it could have been worse, with the stock up over 5% over the past 5 days.

Aviva

On the other side, Aviva has killed it so far this year, with profits up 14%, beating estimates by almost £90 million. The stock has cranked off the news, up over 15% from 5 days ago.

Shareholders chasing income will be pretty happy, with Aviva announcing a 40% increase to their dividend payment for the year.

Energy Companies

I mean, we know they're making bank don't we. We're all paying through the nose for our energy and fuel right now, and producers are fuckin' loving it. Here's a snapshot of the recent profit announcements.

The takeaway? The market's not all bad. Plenty of sectors of the economy are actually doing alright. That doesn't really help us with our day to day budgets, but it does make it clear that how important it is to have a long term view with your investments and to stay invested through the ups and downs.

It's time in the market not timing the market.

🌏 Snippets

• Wildcat strikes (unofficial walkouts) are gathering steam with many workers protesting over wages not keeping up with the rising cost of living.

• Elon Musk has dumped almost $7 billion in Tesla stock to help defend the lawsuit from Twitter. It brings his total sales to over $32 billion in the last 12 months.

• Domino's Pizza is leaving Italy after trying for 7 years (and failing) to crack the home of pizza.

• Crypto exchange Coinbase announced a huge earnings miss, with revenue, profit and trading volume down significantly. Maybe the Crypto Boy song will help turn things around 🤷‍♂️

• Head of John Lewis Dame Sharon White wants Boomers to get back to work in order to fix the labour shortage.

See you next week 🚀

Jason

This is The Hedge, the newsletter that will let you know you've got some food stuck in your teeth, without being an asshole about it.

Reading Time: 4m 52sec

• Prices accurate as of approximately Wednesday 4:30PM BST.

📚 Textbook NFTs

University is one of the biggest rackets on Earth, and the textbook game is the fuckin' pinnacle. The more I learn about this, the more unbelieveable I find this whole industry.

Since 1977, the average cost of text books for UK students has increased by 1,041%. That's four times the rate of inflation. Students are a resourceful lot, especially when it comes to saving money. That's why there's always been an active market for second hand books, but the big publishers have been snotty about that for a while.

With the textbook publishing industry dominated by just four companies, they try heaps of dirty tricks to make students buy new books each year. Stuff like changing page numbers around, adding or removing chapters, requiring codes to access certain information and reducing the update cycle from an average of five years down to three or even two.

It's all fair game to them, and now they're jumping on the NFT bandwagon.

That's right, one of the big dogs in this space, Pearson, has announced that they'll be using NFTs in their digital books to receive ongoing royalites from second hand sales. You might be surprised to hear me say this, but I think this could actually be a good idea, and a win/win for the company and for students.

Essentially, this will work by having a digital contract which will automatically pay Pearson a percentage of any future sale on the book. So if you sell a book to your mate for £50, Pearson might take a tenner of the sale.

There's no detail on exactly how this will be implemented, but it could mean that there is less bullshit and fewer attempts to screw students over. Books could remain in circulation for longer if companies like Pearson are receiving a continuing revenue stream from second hand sales.

It means they can have less pressure on their annual profits, and students will actually be able to use second hand books, rather than being forced into buying new ones.

This is one of the first use cases for NFTs I've seen that that isn't totally fuckin' stupid.

🦁 The Lioness Business

The 'It's Coming Home' song is the cringiest shit ever, but then again, it's still better than 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi Oi Oi.' You obviously already know that the England women's football has won this year's Euro's, which is the first major trophy since 1842 or something. I dunno, I don't really care about football (cue 438 unsubscribes).

What is cool though, is the growth in women's sport in general.

It's making huge strides, and the best part is that the commercial side is catching up to the men's game. The final at Wembley was watched by 17.4 million people on the BBC, the biggest audience for a women's football match ever.

It was also the most watched TV broadcast this year. Yep, it even beat out the Love Island final.

Even more impressive was the attendance at Wembley itself, which at 87,192 is the highest figure for any England match, men or women! This is big. This is millions of eyeballs and they're the kind of numbers that make advertisers and TV networks stand up and take notice.

It's also how the women are going to get paid. Both men and women only receive £2,000 per game to play for England, but at the club level it's a different story. The average Women's Super League player receives £47,000 per year.

That's not awful, but right now it appears to be significantly underpriced based on the interest and growth in women's football. Compare that to the men's game, where estimates are that the average player receives in the region of £5 million per year.

My old neighbour from Perth, Australia, Sam Kerr, is the highest paid Women's Super League player, earning around £400,000 per year. Great money, but the Premier League's highest paid star, Christiano Ronaldo, earns that every week.

The total rights package for Premier League tops £10 billion including commercial rights and TV broadcast, whereas the Women's Super League recently signed a deal worth just £24 million.

I reckon we'll see some massive growth in this space over the next five years.

🚀 The Latest Reddit Meme Stock - AMTD Digital

21,426%. That's how much this random Hong Kong based financial services startup has gained since it's IPO on the 15th July 2022. At one point it was up over 30,000%. Tasty.

AMTD Digital is the last Reddit meme stock and the price is going berserk. Some days it's gaining almost 200%. The company IPO'd on the New York Stock Exchange at $7.80, and as of the US market close on Tuesday it had hit $1,679.

As of the market close on Tuesday it had a market cap of $310 billion, more than Shell, Costco, Pfizer, Chevron and Coca-Cola.

Even funnier, AMTD Digital is 97% owned by parent company AMTD Idea, and the market cap of that is only $2.6 billion.

What's the lesson? The stock market be fuckin' crazy. Meme stocks are fun, but there's no way this isn't going to crash harder than Wayne Rooney on a Friday night in Alderley Edge.

🔺 The Hedge Community

We've had some great discussion over in The Hedge Discord server. Want to join? It's free.

Discord - A New Way to Chat with Friends & Communities

Discord is the easiest way to communicate over voice, video, and text. Chat, hang out, and stay close with your friends and communities.

https://discord.gg/NpCNUjJ7

🌏 Snippets

• Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri is relocating from Silicon Valley to London, joining an ever growing UK-based Meta workforce of over 4,000.

• A sophisticated WhatsApp scam is targeting Mum's and Dad's and has swiped £1.5 million in less than 6 months.

• Nancy Pelosi pissed off the Chinese with her official visit to Taiwan. The Chinese responded by conducting live fire military exercises which just happened to surround the disputed island. Subtle.

• Airbnb announced a 58% increase in revenue off the back of soaring booking post that virus thing.

• Warner Bros is axing the Batgirl movie, even though the movie is completely finished and ready for release and they've already spent $90 mil on it.

See you next week 🚀

Jason

P.S. There's some cool swag and extra free content for Hedge ambassadors. All you've got to do is share this email 👇

This is The Hedge, the newsletter that winds down the window as you pull into a car park and hands you a ticket that still has 2 hours on it. 

Reading Time: 5m 07sec

• Prices accurate as of approximately Wednesday 4:30PM BST.

✈️ Heathrow Airport Loses £312m

Investing in the airline industry is a hell of a game. Whether it's terrorist attacks, crazy fuel prices or a fuckin' pandemic, the airline industry is a right bastard to be in. It's gotten to the point where a lot of the companies in the space are barely even worth anything anymore.

Case in point is British Airways. There's a running joke that the company is actually a pension fund with an airline attached. That's because International Consolidated Airlines (the parent company of British Airways, plus Iberia, Aer Lingus, Air Europa and Vueling) is worth around £5.6 billion, while the British Airways Pension Scheme is worth almost £27 billion! Mad, huh?

Heathrow Airport is in the news this week as they've lost £312 million in the first half of this year. Airports have been a nightmare this year, with Brits keen as hell to get some sunshine overseas after a couple of years of mostly missing out on summer holidays.

The problem is, there aren't enough staff to run the airports properly, and they're struggling to hire more. A large part of the problem is that holiday makers are using up vouchers and credits from previously cancelled holidays, as well as booking new ones. 

Time is money for airlines, with thousands of pounds in costs and lost revenue adding up every minute that delayed aircraft sit waiting on the tarmac. Add in compensation for flights that are cancelled altogether plus a huge surge in lost luggage, and you've got yourself another expensive summer for the airline industry.

Rishi and Lizzo's Plan for Your Money

I can't think of much that's more boring than the fuckin' Tory leadership vote. Why is the media coverage acting like we have a say in it? It's not a general election. There are 160,000 Tory party members in this country, and they're the ones who'll choose the next PM. That's 0.24% of the UK Population. Awesome.

So why are they showing debates on prime time TV?

Surely just putting the whole thing on Kirstie Allsop's Twitter feed and a feature in the Waitrose Magazine would cover all the bases? For fuck's sake.

So why am I even bringing this up then? Well even though we (well, maybe you can, I dunno) can't vote for the next PM, whoever wins is going to impact our hip pockets. So here's the cliff notes:

Rishi Sunak

• Will reduce taxes "once we've gripped inflation".

• Wants to make "radical reforms" to the way businesses are taxed.

• Will cut income tax "before the next parliament".

• Planned company tax increase to 25% from 19% will go ahead in 2023.

• Wants to support insulation as a way to combat energy prices. Insulate Britain would applaud that but they've glued their hands to a motorway in Milton Keynes.

• He's been the Chancellor since the start of 2020, so it's not too surprising that he's not planning on changing much if he wins. It would make him look like a bit of an idiot.

Liz Truss

• Will reverse the recent increase 1.25 percentage point increase in National Insurance.

• Will scrap the planned increase in company tax and keep it at 19%.

• Would change the tax system to make it easier for people to stay home and care for kids or old people. No details on how she'd do that.

• Would introduce "low and no-tax zones" to encourage innovation and business.

• No cuts to public spending.

• Will pay for all this by spreading the Covid Debt over a longer period of time.

So basically, Rishi is playing Sensible Sam and trying to convince the country that we need to tighten our belts. Easy to say coming from a guy with a net worth of £750m. His belt's probably made from the skins of baby iguanas.

Liz, on the other hand, is playing the general election vote getters by cutting tax whilst not cutting spending. I'm not sure how it's going to play with Tory members.

Cue the cat calls from the old, grey haired Tory voter base "how are we going to pay for that?" "Money doesn't grow on trees you know!" without recognising the irony of the fact that the whole system is made up, we control our own printing press and for wealthy people money does, in fact, grow on trees.

🍔 McDonald's Cheeseburger Price Hike

The humble and delicious McDonald's Cheeseburger is getting a price increase for the first time in 14 years. No longer will a single pound coin buy you the world's greatest hangover cure, now you'll need to part with £1.19 to get your fix. That's a 20% increase.

The price of Macca's burgers is actually watched pretty closely around the world, and since 1986 The Economist has been tracking The Big Mac Index. It started as a bit of a joke, but it's now used as a semi-serious way to compare currency valuations around the world. It's pretty fascinating.

🔺 The Hedge Community

Ok so my vision for The Hedge isn't just me shouting into the void, but I'm sick to death of social media. So I want to create a place where we can discuss ideas, investments and news. With that in mind, I've set up an online community where you can join me for these discussions.

I'm using Discord, which is awesome but I'm still learning the in's and out's of it. Here's the link if you want to join.

Join the The Hedge Discord Server!

Check out the The Hedge community on Discord - hang out with 3 other members and enjoy free voice and text chat.

https://discord.gg/dPPkn3JaKA

As well as ad-hoc text discussions throughout the day, my plan is to jump into the video and voice channels from time to time when there's something particularly big to talk about.

Warning: There is a strict "No Dickheads" policy. I want it to be a positive and interesting place to be, so bring those optimistic vibes and come and have a chat. I'll be on there every day!

💷 Make More Money

Quit Your Job

We're in a tight job market right now. Companies are struggling to find great candidates to fill open positions, just like Heathrow Airport. There's never been a better time to look for something that pays you more money.

Maybe you've gotten comfortable. Maybe you like your coworkers. Maybe you don't need to work too hard. But are you earning what you're worth? Change jobs. Look at this shit 👇

Whether it's your car insurance, mobile phone contract, grocery shopping or your job - loyalty does not pay. Get out there and see what's what.

🌏 Snippets

• Shopify announces layoffs with a plan to reduce headcount by 10%.

• Primark and Greggs are hooking up for the hottest collab of the summer. You can get bum bags, shirts and hoodies with your steak bake from August 5th.

• British tourists will need to have proof of funds of at least £760 to enter Spain under new post-Brexit travel rules.

• Users are pissed about Instagrams latest move to emulate TikTok, and even the Kardashians aren't keen.

• British satellite company OneWeb is set to merge with French counterpart Eutelsat, giving them the firepower to take on Elon Musk's Starlink.

See you next week 🚀

Jason

This is The Hedge, the newsletter that's like a mate who turns up with a spare fan, when Tesco, B&Q and Argos are all sold out.

Been forwarded this email? 👇

Reading Time: 4m 28sec

• Prices accurate as of Wednesday approx. 4PM BST.

🔥 It's Hot

Obviously, this week's blazing hellscape is great news for Corona (the beer, not the other thing), paddling pool manufacturers and deodorant makers, but does it help the economy as a whole?

The scorcher summer of 2018 (remember, the Love Island and the "It's Coming Home" World Cup one) was credited with dragging up the UK economy off the back off the Brexit vote. So it that a pattern?

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) actually looked into this back in 2018, and they found that the warm weather in the second quarter of the year had a notable positive impact on the economy over the cold, wet, dark and shitty first quarter.

But, other studies have found that at a certain point, it just gets too bloody hot and that trend reverses.

Researchers at Stanford University have suggested that economic growth per person peaks with an annual average temperature of 13 degrees celsius, with anything above that making us less productive. For comparison, the UK’s average annual temp is around 9 degrees.

So yes, warm weather appears to be good for the UK economy, but a heatwave probably isn’t. I've sure as shit been less productive the last few days.

Obviously, individual industries can fare better or worse.

The dairy industry in particular isn’t loving the heat, as milk sales are down compared to this time last year. That’s not surprising.

🚨 Profit Warnings All 'Round

Earnings season is upon us and there have already been a number of UK businesses who've issue profit warnings. Every quarter, public companies are required to provide the market with an update on their performance.

If things haven't gone too smoothly, they'll often issue a 'profit warning' a couple of weeks before the full announcement. This gives investors a heads up that the figures might not be looking too rosy.

It's like whenever I attempt some DIY at the house. I don't just wait for my wife to walk through the door and see the massive hole in the wall, I get ahead of that shit. I make sure to go find her and let her know, "Look, it's not gone 100% according to plan in here, but don't worry, I'll get it fixed and you won't even notice."

Sure, she still thinks I'm a numpty, but it's less of a shock.

That's what companies like, Deliveroo, Direct Line and Made.com have all done this week. They're getting ahead of the bad news.

In total there have been 136 profit warnings issued by UK companies in the first half of 2022, which is up significantly from the 82 that were issued in the first half of 2021. Almost all of these are related to crazy rates of inflation, which are impacting consumer spending and direct costs for companies.

💸 Shadow Bank Celsius is Bankrupt

So in an announcement that shocks no one at this point, Decentralised Finance (DeFi) company Celsius has declared bankruptcy. Yes, the company that was offering "risk free" yields of 18%+ has run out of cash, and they're going to use their customers money to bail themselves out.

That's because despite all the marketing material designed to make us suckers believe they're just like a regular high street bank, they're a long fuckin' way off it.

Celsius are (or were) what's known as a Shadow Bank, which is a financial institution that looks like a bank, quacks like a bank, but is not actually a bank.

Because they aren't a bank, they don't have to follow normal banking rules. You know, the ones that make sure your bank actually has the money to fund your £9 pack of Lurpak when you swipe your card.

Here's the crazy part. The terms of service for Celsius state that deposits made with the company are actually just loans to Celsius, which they can do whatever they want with. They've put these 'loans' into high risk crypto 'investments' which have now gone to shit as the crypto markets have crashed.

Because they aren't a proper bank they don't have deposit insurance, and according to their terms of service, in the event of bankruptcy they can use client money to pay off their own debts.

So remember, just because a company has a slick website and a few influencers on the take doesn't mean it's not shady as fuck. We can slag off 'red tape' all day, but when it comes to our money, it can be pretty helpful.

💷 Weekly Side Hustle

Freelancing

This is a side hustle that could turn into something much more if you want it to. There is a massive, global marketplace for you to charge good money for skills you already have. Some of the most common areas for freelancers are:

• Writing

• Video Editing

• Graphic Design

• Programming & Coding

• Marketing

• Accounting

A great place to start is Upwork. There are plenty of shit, scammy jobs on there but there are also a huge number of legit, high paying contracts too.

There are even people looking for more niche help for things like voice over work and translation services. Seriously, you can monetise just about any skill. It's pretty nuts how much opportunity there is once you start to look!

🌏 Snippets

• Winston Churchill's old apartment in Pimlico is available to rent for a cool £20k a month.

• Ex-Northern Rock mortgage customers are suing TSB Bank for £800m, saying they've been locked into expensive mortgages.

• Petrol prices are finally falling with the AA predicting the average tank will drop by £10 over the next couple of weeks.

• Netflix loses 1 million subscribers in Q2 as they announce a partnership with Microsoft to introduce ads to a new lower tier plan.

• The UK's inflation rate (CPI) is up again, hitting 9.4% compared to 9.1% last month. It's the highest rate in 40 years.

📃Survey Says

See you next week!

Jason 🚀

P.S. Don't forget to share The Hedge with your mates 👇

This is The Hedge, the newsletter with reviews from Reddit like, "I expected it to be dogshit to be honest, but I was happily surprised. It's really good."

Reading Time: 4m 39sec

• Prices accurate as of approximately 4PM BST on Wednesday 13th July.

🏛 BoJo on the Go

So Boris is on the way out after his Cabinet disappeared quicker than the foie gras at Waitrose. I'm staying away from the actual politics, but it got me thinking. How does the stock market react to a new Prime Minister?

We often see a bounce in opinion polls when there's a new leader at the helm.

It's like when you trade in an old shitty Toyota Corolla for an old shitty for Ford Fiesta, just for a bit of a change. It feels kinda nice to begin with, but before long you realise it's still just a crap car that smells weird.

So does this translate to bigger returns for investors?

Probably not.

As you can see from the figures below, there's no rhyme or reason to the stock market's performance for the 12 months after the UK gets a new leader. One thing it does tell me though, is that the narrative of the Conservatives being great for public markets and Labour being shite doesn't seem to hold much water.

🚜 Can the Price of Copper Predict a Recession?

This is interesting. Recently I read about this idea that the price of copper can be a decent indicator of the health of the economy. It's not that obvious unless you take a close look, but copper is used really widely in all sorts of applications.

Some examples are the copper electrical wire in your house and in power stations, it's used in cars and in electronics, medical devices, heating and cooling elements and heaps of industrial machinery. It has a shitload of uses across all different sectors of the economy.

So with that in mind, it kind of makes sense. If economic activity is on the up, if more stuff is getting made, then more copper will be needed which will bid up the price.

Big Dutch bank ABN AMRO did a study on this in 2014, and they found that there is actually a strong correlation between the price of copper and GDP growth in Europe, the US and China.

Interesting stuff.

So what are the copper tea leaves telling us now?

Not looking great according that recent price chart. BUT, it's not perfect. There are all sorts of issues that can mess with the price of a commodity like copper.

Right now, I think it may be a case of the tail wagging the dog. There are a lot of concerns about a potential recession, which could mean that investors are selling copper in anticipation of a recession.

It's not the whole picture by any means, but it's an interesting data point to consider.

💥 Economy Cranks in May

And here is a great example why the copper price doesn't tell the whole story. The UK economy fuckin' killed it in May, growing by 0.50%. That doesn't sound like a lot, but annualised out that's 6.0%, which is really high for a developed economy like the UK.

Analysts were predicting it to be zero, so this is a big improvement. It's a pattern I'm seeing a lot right now. So much doom and gloom in the media, when the reality is actually not bad at all.

What's the lesson? Don't be sucked into the bullshit narratives. Look at how things are in your own world. Yes, cost of living is crazy high, but are people still going on holidays, moving to better paid jobs and buying new cars? That's what I'm seeing.

💷 Weekly Side Hustle Idea

Estimated Take: £1,500+ over the next year

I've made over £1,500 in the last 12 months from three YouTube videos that are all less than 5 mins long. But this isn't about grinding out a YouTube channel for 5 years. Let me explain.

I made the videos for fun and to practice videography, and I've been contacted four seperate times by companies who want to licence the footage. Two of those were from The Real Housewives of Cheshire, one was for a documentary about a murder and the other was from a posh spa that was opening up in the area.

I'll share what I did.

🏘 Think of a nearby town/village/suburb that is either upmarket and expensive or a tourist 'hidden gem' that gets visitors but isn't mega popular. NOT a city. I live near Manchester, so I chose Alderley Edge, Wilmslow and Knutsford. These are the types of areas where Manchester United and Manchester City players live.

📺 Type in the name of the place on YouTube and see what the results are like. They are probably shit, like stuff from 9 years ago from the local primary school. That's great for you.

🎥 Get a camera and go and make a short video with some cool cuts and footage, timed to some modern, "YouTubey" music. There are lots of free options for this.

✈️ If you have a drone or you can borrow one, this will 10x the earning potential.

📲 Upload the video, then share it to the local Facebook groups for the areas. Just say, "hey everyone, I made this video of the area. It's a hobby of mine. Hope you like it!" They will eat it up.

📩 Make sure you have a contact email in the description. Just put, "for licensing inquiries, email me at......

⏲ Wait

📑 At some point, a producer from somewhere will contact you to license the footage. Give them a quote, sign their release and profit.

Camera quality doesn't really matter. I sold 10 seconds of static GoPro footage for £200. Your phone will probably be fine. The drone I use is just the Mavic Mini II.

The more towns/places you do, the wider the net and the more money you make.

If you want to see the videos I made, here's the link.

By the way, yes, the Reddit review is real 👇

🔺Want More Hedge?

I've started a referral program, which gives you some awesome rewards for sharing The Hedge.

The first reward is access to my regular, supporters-only bonus newsletter, The Hedge Monthly. 

Just get 3 friends, colleagues, family members or parole officers to sign up to The Hedge!

All you have to do is click the link below and enter their email addresses.

💥Boom! You're a legend. 🚀

See you next week.

Jason

Good morning, this is The Hedge, the newsletter that's like a packet of Monster Munch Pickled Onion. A bit weird, big on personality, but really bloody good.

Reading Time: 5m 11sec

• Prices accurate as of approximately 4PM BST.

🎾The Economics of Wimbledon 

With the world in lockdown and Wimbledon cancelled in 2020, the All England Tennis Club (the posh lot that run the tournament), posted a profit of £40.5 million. 

WTF? How does an organisation who exists to set up games of tennis make bank without setting up games of tennis? The strawbs and cream are fuckin' extortionate but they're not going to get £40 mil worth across the channel, what with Brexit and all.

The reason? Insurance. That's right, someone picked up a whopper of a sales commission from the All England Tennis Club, because they took out an insurance policy in 2003 that would cover them in the event of a global pandemic. That old battle axe always knocking round a few on Court 23 must be Mystic Meg.

The Prize Money

It's a big potential pay day for the players, with both the men's and women's winner taking home a cool £2 mil cash. Players get paid more the longer they last through the tournament (obviously), with quarter finalists picking up £310,000 and even first rounders pocketing £50k.

If you're thinking of entering the mixed doubles, I wouldn't bother. Go out in the first round you and you're partner will have to split just £3,750. That wouldn't even cover the tube fare and a jug of Pimms.

Still, it's better than the ball boys and girls. While Boomers (in tennis years) like Novak Djokavic and Rafael Nadal will be picking up a few hundred k, the hard working teens will be paid......in experience. Yep. 

🛢Oil is Going Down, But Fuel Keeps Going Up. WTF?

You feel it, right? That swift kick to the groin as you insert the fuel pump into your car? It used to be that the biggest rip off on a motorway services were the £4 Lion bars, but not these days.

We're paying upwards of £2 a litre in some places at the moment, which is weird because the price of crude oil (the stuff they pump out of the ground in the Middle East which gets turned into petrol and diesel) has been dropping for about a month now. 

So what gives?

Well, in a situation that is entirely on brand for 2022, no one's taking the blame. Some are saying the government is keen to keep the price up because they get a shitload of tax revenue (which they do), others are blaming the retailers and others still are blaming the refineries who turn crude oil into usable fuel.

One point to keep in mind is that the energy industry relies heavily on long term price contracts known as futures, which is an agreement to buy or sell a commodity at a set price in the future. Oil is a commodity, and so is stuff like wheat, cotton, beef, coal and sugar.

This works well for Farmer Jezza who wants to lock in a price for next year's crop, and it works well for Warburton's who want to know how much the wheat for their bread is going to cost.

What this means is that just because the price of oil is going down now, there are plenty of companies along the supply chain who are paying high prices they locked in ages ago.

All we can say is that with no end in sight for the war in Ukraine, energy producers like Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Saudi Aramco are likely to keep cashing in for some time, while us plebs get shafted at the bowser.

🏛Rishi Resigns

By now you've surely heard the news that the Chancellor Rishi Sunak has resigned. He's still an MP, but he's no longer balancing the books for the country.

I read his resignation letter, and one part stood out.

Reading between the lines, Rishi seems to have wanted to raise taxes to try and get the country's finances under control, whereas Boris wants to cut taxes to get people to like him again.

Honestly, I've re-written this section about 9 times because new ministers keep resigning. It's 2:44pm on Wednesday 6th July right now. I'd be shocked if Bozza is still PM by the time you get this tomorrow morning.

💷 Get That Money

Estimated Take: £200+ in the next few weeks

Times are right. You know this. I know this. The media knows this. The problem is that every time there's a story on "surviving the cost of living crisis," it's just penny pinching bullshit like switching your appliances off at the wall or wearing an extra jumper inside 🙄

Fuck that. I don't want your life to suck just so you can survive. I want you to earn more money.

So, every week I'm going to bring you an idea. Some of these will be as basic as a Dacia dashboard, and others will be a big hitters that will take more effort but give you a bigger pay off. They won't all be for you. But some of them might be.

Here's number 1.

Sell stuff on Ebay. Oh, cringe. I know. Basic, right? It is. But you know what? You've got more money lying around your house than you realise. Trust me, I've picked up hundreds of pounds doing this. Here's the steps.

• Download the eBay app for your phone.

• In the top right hand corner, there is a camera button. Select it.

• At the top, you can choose 'Barcode Scanner'.

• Now walk around the house and scan everything with a barcode that you don't use.

• eBay has sold a bazillion items in it's history, so chances are it will bring up the selling prices for loads of the exact item you've just scanned.

• The stuff that surprised me the most? Books and old phones - even ones with broken screens.

• And you know what else is cool about the barcode scanner? You can use it to find items outside your house that are underpriced that you could sell on eBay for a profit. In posh finance talk this is called arbitrage.

• Next time you're at Aldi and they're selling some random kids toy or a calculator for cheap, scan that bad boy and see what they're going for on eBay. You might be surprised.

• Final tip. Stick to small items where you can. Way easier to post.

📃Survey Says

🎁 Share The Love

If you liked this new look version of The Hedge, share the love! Honestly, I'm pumped as hell about this and I want to build this into something big. But I need your help.

All I ask is that you send this to 1 friend. Here, I'll even give you the email text.

Just copy and paste this ➡️ "Hey! I came across this awesome newsletter, thought you might want to check it out."

💥Boom! You're a legend. 🚀

See you next week.

Jason