Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - 3 Reasons To Be Optimistic About the Economy in 2024

Episode Date: December 21, 2023

In this week's round-up of the biggest headlines on Wall Street and how they affect your finances, Nicole unpacks: an early Christmas present from The Fed, good news on the housing market and why we're saying good riddance to exorbitant credit card late fees.

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every occasion, and every celebration. Be sure to check them out at justinwine.com and receive 20% off your order for a limited time. I'm Nicole Lappin, the only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. It's time for some money rehab. All right, here's your weekly roundup of the biggest headlines on Wall Street and how they affect your finances. Christmas is on Monday, and all I wanted for Christmas was some good financial news for you guys. And we got some. Three pieces of good financial news to be exact. Does the whole good things come in three apply to this economy? Maybe. And if so, I wouldn't hate it. Here's the first and most significant

piece of good financial news. In the Fed meeting last week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, also known as Jay Powell, announced that the Fed would be keeping, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, also known as J-POW, announced that the Fed would be keeping interest rates the same for now, which, by the way, I totally predicted in last week's headline roundup. Thank you very much. And for the cherry on top, the Fed also forecasted that it would begin lowering interest rates next year. The market loved this news. The S&P 500 jumped 1.4 percent and the Russell 2000 rose 3.5 percent. As you know from listening to Money Rehab, the stock market and the bond market operate like a seesaw. When one is happy, the other one is grumpy. So with the news that interest rates might start to decline next

year, Treasury yields dropped significantly. It was actually the biggest one day drop for Treasury since the SVP crash last March. And if you really want to know the tea here, the Fed specifically is forecasting that they will do three rate cuts of a quarter point each next year, which is a better outlook for 2024 than the last time Jay Powell gave us his predictions for the future. And again, when economists start beating their own expectations, the market basically throws a party. Good news numero dos. After some near impossible conditions in the housing market for three long years, average mortgage rates dropped to the lowest levels they have been since June of this year. The average interest rate for a 30-year

fixed rate mortgage went from 7.07% to 6.83%. And I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but this little drop would save you over 20 grand in interest over the lifetime of your loan. And let's state the obvious here, because why not? A 6.83% mortgage is still really high, much higher than what we were seeing during the pandemic. But the expectation is that if the Fed is able to continue to make progress toward a soft landing, mortgage rates will continue to decline. And good news, part three, we might be saying goodbye to extortion level credit card late fees. Right now, credit card companies make $14.5 billion on late fees. And obviously that $14.5 billion is being taken out of our pockets. The fee for not paying on time can be over 40 bucks, which is not an insignificant amount of money. For context here, if you invest that 40

bucks in the stock market today, assuming a historical rate of return, you could turn that 40 bucks into $800 in 40 years. So we want to keep that money very much where it can work for us. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been watching this and feeling like it's really not fair, especially because the people who get hit hard with late fees are the people who are having the hardest financial time to begin with. So last year, the CFPB announced a plan to limit credit card late fees to just eight bucks. Still not my favorite, but that's a 75% reduction in cost, which I will take any day of the week. So those are the headlines that should make all of us feel merry and bright and sugar

plums and whatever else folks feel on Christmas. Again, Jewish, so I'm projecting here. But the next story, though, is for my fellow podcast junkies who dabble in money news, but also in the ever-popular true crime genre. This story could change the way this multi-billion dollar industry operates, and it centers around this one question. Should spouses of convicted criminals be able to financially benefit from media portrayals of the crime? Two New York lawmakers, Senator Kevin Thomas and Assemblymember Fred Thiel, say heck no, and they want to write that into law. Thomas and Thiel are looking to expand legislation that actually already exists. It's called the Son of Sam law, and it's a law that prevents convicted criminals from profiting from book and movie deals connected to their crimes.

This law has been invoked a few times in high profile cases, like in the case of Henry Hill, a big time New York mobster who was paid 100K by Simon & Schuster for his role in creating a book based on his life called Wise Guy that turned into the movie Goodfellas. When the son of Sam Law was invoked, that paycheck was taken from Hill, and the victim's board ruled that the money should instead go to the families of Mr. Hill's victims. And the son of Sam Law was also invoked when Mark David Chapman, the man who killed John Lennon, was paid for contributing to an article about the murder. So historically, the son of Sam Law has only blocked convicted criminals from financially benefiting from the stories of their crimes. But now Thomas and Thiel are looking to expand this block to the spouses of convicted criminals. Conversations on this legislation heated up after Asa Elirup, the strange wife

of murder suspect Rex Heuermann, signed a contract with a production company and recently attended a court appearance with a full-fledged camera crew. Now, please, my DMs are open, always, but especially for what you think about this legislation. I really want to know your opinion here because, truthfully, I am kind of torn. On one hand, I think we can all agree that the people who are owed any sort of compensation from any public interest in a crime are the victims and their families, full stop. And historically, when the Son of Sam law has been invoked, the proceeds taken from the criminals have been redistributed to the victims, like in the case of Henry Hill. No complaints there. That sounds absolutely right to me. However, in some instances, the victim's families are compensated during the creation of a true crime project.

So for me, this starts to feel like a gray area in scenarios where there is a true crime project, the victim's family is involved in the project and getting compensated, crime project, the victim's family is involved in the project and getting compensated, and the criminal's spouse is also involved in the project. Should the spouse really not get compensated here? Because to be absolutely crystal clear, obviously, if the spouse was complicit in any crime, they should not financially benefit from any stories about that crime. But here's the most important part. As the law is written now, if a spouse was complicit in the crime anyway, then they would be convicted as an accomplice. And then they would not be able to financially benefit from any of the crimes anyway.

So really, the expansion of this law would probably end up harming mostly the spouses that were totally caught off guard by their partner's crimes, had their lives ruined, and become a different kind of victim. Am I crazy here? Don't answer that. Obviously, yes. But am I crazy in this particular scenario? Slide into my DMs and let me know. I am at Nicole Lappin on Instagram, but you already knew that. So if you're asking here, Nick, what does this story have to do with my wallet? Well, if your long-term financial plan was to frame your significant other for murder, Gone Girl style, and claim Netflix residuals for a true crime series based on your life, if this legislation expands to spouses, you're gonna need

a plan B. But also, all kidding aside, if people cannot be compensated for participating in projects about their spouse's crimes, then fewer spouses might come forward. And that might remove an important layer of narrative that has become incredibly important to the true crime genre. It's also possible that if a production company has fewer people to pay out, they might also have bigger budgets and get to double down on what's already pretty across-the-board awesome production value. And for the Wall Street gossip column, Bobby Kotick is stepping down from his position as CEO of Activision Blizzard at the end of the year. Activision Blizzard is a huge gaming company that has gigantic franchises on their roster like Call of Duty,

Guitar Hero, and yes, even Candy Crush. In October, after some hiccups, Activision was acquired by Microsoft for $69 billion. The last time we talked about this acquisition on the pod, Activision and Microsoft were in the thick of an antitrust case brought on by the FTC. The acquisition finally got the green light. It was signed, sealed, and delivered. After any big acquisition, executive turnover isn't so unusual. But Bobby Kotick wasn't just any latest executive in a long line. He has been the CEO of Activision Blizzard for 32 years. He wasn't just any latest executive in a long line. He has been the CEO of Activision

Blizzard for 32 years. He wasn't just part of Activision, he was Activision. And that might have been part of the problem. Two years ago, Activision Blizzard was named in a gender discrimination lawsuit that was just this week resolved in a $54 million settlement. And in Kotick's personal life, there's been allegations of discrimination and harassment as well. In 2007, Kotick was named in a sexual harassment suit. The story got really messy and really complicated, but the background is that Kotick and a finance exec named Andrew Gordon started a company, Cove Management, essentially to manage their private jet. One of the flight attendants on their jet filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Kotick, Gordon, and Cove Management. Cove ended up settling with the flight attendant.

At the time I'm recording this, Microsoft's valuation is $2.75 trillion. It was the second American public company to ever have a market cap over $2 trillion. The first was, you guessed it, Apple. Earlier this year, Activision had a phenomenal earnings call. They reported that they had made $2.38 billion in revenue over the first three months of the year with profits of $740 million. In the world of acquisitions, sometimes there are culture clashes that hurt the two parties when they become one. But with Microsoft's success in the tech world, I am not worried that this acquisition will be anything but valuable for the brand. But in the finance world is wondering how the games that were formerly Activision's will do

without their fearless leader of three decades. And if the properties perform even better, how that will impact Bobby Kotick's legacy. Lastly, I am just a sucker for a happily ever after money story. And here's one that made my week. A woman in Richmond sold a vase in auction for $107,000 after buying it at Goodwill for just $3.99. That's a return of 26,000x on an investment. Can you imagine? You know I'm always an advocate for treating yourself to small indulgences because I believe they will pay off in the long run. Although typically, I mean this more in a spiritual sense, this story takes it to a literal place, and I am living for it. For today's tip, you can take straight to the bank. If you've been charged a late fee by your

credit card company, you probably feel like that fee is set in stone. But it's not. You can call your credit card company and ask that they issue a statement credit reimbursing you for the late fee. You'll have the best success here if you can pay off whatever statement you're late on first before calling your credit card company. And then when you do make the call, just apologize. Say it was an honest mistake and that it won't happen again. And then when you do make the call, just apologize. Say it was an honest mistake and that it won't happen again. And then see if they'll throw you a bone to reward how awesome it is to have you as a customer. If they do take the fee off your statement, be sure to also report it to the credit bureau so that your credit score doesn't get dinged for

that late payment. Money Rehab is a production of Money News Network. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Money Rehab's executive producer is Morgan Levoy. Our researcher is Emily Holmes. Do you need some money rehab? And let's be honest, we all do. So email us your money questions, moneyrehab at moneynewsnetwork.com to potentially have your questions answered on the show or even have a one-on-one intervention with me. And follow us on Instagram at Money News and TikTok at Money News Network for exclusive video content. And lastly, thank you. No, seriously, thank you. Thank you for listening and for investing in yourself, which is the most important investment you can make. Thank you.