“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we highlight the key findings from the latest Pipeline report: “Women Count”.

Female representation on FTSE 350 executive committees has declined from 33% to 32% in 2024.

So what are the implications on businesses and investors? And what are the solutions? Read on..

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

FTSE 350 Women in Leadership: A Step Back in 2024

The latest "Women Count" report by Pipeline reveals a concerning trend in gender diversity among FTSE 350 companies, with implications for investors and company performance.

The report emphasises how men continue to predominate in leadership jobs even though women make up 50%+ of the workforce in the UK.

There is no room for complacency: businesses that prioritise gender equity have a 60% higher chance of experiencing increased productivity and profits.

Key findings

Female representation on FTSE 350 executive committees has declined from 33% to 32% in 2024. This setback is particularly notable in key leadership positions:

* Only 9% of CEOs are women. The figure has hardly changed in the past eight years.

* 18% of CFO roles are held by women. This is despite making up 44% of chartered accountants.

* A mere 19% of commercial boardroom positions are occupied by women. These roles are really important stepping stones to CEO and CFO positions— filled by women.

The Pipeline chair Professor Geeta Nargund has said:

“Female leadership is good for business. Organisations which are performing the best in terms of gender parity are 22 per cent more likely to have improved profits versus those that perform the worst. Gender parity means economic prosperity, and so fair representation is not just a ‘nice to have’ or a tick-box exercise – it is a business imperative…”

Implications for lack of gender parity

* Performance concerns: research consistently shows that companies with diverse leadership teams tend to outperform their less diverse counterparts. This decline may signal potential underperformance for affected companies.

* Risk management: lack of diversity can lead to groupthink and poor decision-making, potentially increasing investment risks.

* ESG considerations: as Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors become increasingly important to investors, companies with declining gender diversity may face scrutiny and potential divestment.

* Long-term value: the stagnation in female CEO representation (only increasing twice in eight years) suggests a systemic issue that could impact long-term value creation.

So what are the solutions?

Business leaders must actively demonstrate personal commitment to gender parity and link gender diversity to business strategy. Women must be sponsored and promoted to senior positions.

Company culture should accommodate women’s life and health changes. And robust and clear data must be captured to track progress and hold leaders accountable.

The recruitment process must be improved and high-performing women developed as part of a talent programme.

And whilst mentorship and sponsorship programmes are important, specific targets for female representation need to be set, and linked to performance.

Workplace policies need to improve and greater focus being given to increasing the number of women in in profit and loss-accountable roles.

***

It's crucial to recognise that gender diversity is not just a social issue but a key indicator of a company's ability to innovate, adapt, and perform in an increasingly complex business environment.

The decline reported by Pipeline should serve as a wake-up call for both companies and investors to redouble efforts in promoting women to leadership positions.

News in Brief

Financial news

* Global public debt to pass $100tn this year, IMF warns. “Risks to the debt outlook are heavily tilted to the upside”.

* S&P 500 bulls drive the longest weekly winning streak in 2024. On the 37th anniversary of the “Black Monday” market crash, the S&P 500 is up for the sixth straight week.

* Assets in US money market funds have hit a fresh ATH at $6.5tn, although the relevant Fed Funds Rates have fallen and are likely to fall further.

* Gold tops $2,700 for the first time to extend its record-breaking run. It is now up 31% YTD and on course for its best year since 1979.

* China’s $562bn loan push for unfinished homes disappoints as Chinese home prices in worst slump on record.

* Euro drops on dovish rate cut. ECB says inflation may reach 2% sooner than previously thought. Lagarde says economy somewhat weaker than expected.

* ECB cut the key rates by 25bps as expected. Depo rate to 3.25%, Main Refi to 3.4%.

* UK employer national insurance hike threatens jobs and pay rises, firms warn.

* Pay growth in Great Britain falls below 5%, making interest rate cut more likely. Gap between wages and inflation narrows in August, as UK unemployment rate dips to 4%.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* Bitcoin's price has also risen by 8.33%+ in the past week. The current price is $68,374.22 per BTC

* US spot bitcoin ETFs reach highest recorded total asset value after six-day inflow streak.

* US SEC gives green light for options listing for spot bitcoin ETFs to NYSE.

* ETH held in accumulation wallets jumps 65% since the start of 2024. A crypto analyst highlighted a 65% increase in Ethereum held in accumulation wallets since the start of 2024, arguing that it's no longer just for "tech enthusiasts."

* SEC doubles down on allegations against Solana in amended Binance lawsuit.

* BlackRock pitches Binance, OKX and Deribit on using its BUIDL token for derivatives trading.

* DeFi can complement centralised financial systems, says Federal Reserve's Christopher Waller.

* Kamala Harris crypto regulation plans spark criticism—but also optimism.

Coffee Break? Read This

* Do you want kids? It’s finally OK to simply say no

* The 7 types of people you need in your life to be resilient

* Guilt, worry, resentment: how the ‘club sandwich’ generation juggles caring for parents, children and grandparents.

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we spotlight our interview with Ayesha Ofori on The Purse Podcast. Ayesha is the founder and CEO of Propelle: a pioneering investment platform designed to empower women to achieve financial independence.

We focus on why women need to invest in order to build their wealth. And start early. And in the interview we talk about women’s relationship with money, closing the gender investment gap, launching Ayesha’s startup Propelle, what’s next and more+

Please enjoy! Listen to the full interview here.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Women, money and closing the gender investment gap

We interviewed Ayesha Ofori, founder and CEO of Propelle on The Purse Podcast to talk about women and money, closing the gender investment gap, starting a business, fundraising from female investors and more+

We interviewed Ayesha Ofori on The Purse Podcast.

Ayesha Ofori is the founder and CEO of Propelle, a pioneering investment platform designed to empower women to achieve financial independence.

As a former Executive Director and Private Wealth Adviser at Goldman Sachs, Ayesha personally managed over £500 million in client assets, working closely with ultra-high-net-worth individuals.

In this interview, we talk about women’s relationship with money, closing the gender investment gap, how women invest, the financial services industry, launching Ayesha’s startup Propelle, fundraising, female investors, challenges raising from VC, what’s next and more+

Here is a short extract from the interview

Jana: “…how would you describe women’s relationship with money in the UK and globally..”

Ayesha’s response: (this has been lightly edited for ease of reading)

“…So things are changing: Propelle exists.

There are other companies out there, even existing financial services companies are now starting to focus on women. So it's definitely an area whereby a lot of companies and a lot of people have woken up.

I think that generally around the world… one of the issues has been that, historically, money was never something that we (women) were encouraged to look at, to focus on, or really to be part of…

I can't remember the exact date, but I think it was in the 1970s, (when) women still needed permission to be able to buy properties and without their husband's permission.

It's just crazy.

That's not that long ago. So when I sit back and think, I'm just like, how on earth?

So then it's hardly surprising if you look at where we are today and our relationship with money, given that not too long ago, we had to go and seek someone else's permission to do certain things…

So we have made progress, but there's still a long way to go.

And I say that some of the myths that do exist around money and finances aren't helping.

And there are lots of them.

So (for example), a lot of women assume that investing is something that wealthy people do. Or it's something that rich people do..

A lot of women say, ‘oh, investing is not for me: you know, that's for wealthy people….maybe one day, when I have lots of money, then I'll start investing’.

Absolutely not. That is not the case.

You can open an account and get an ISA (Individual Savings Account) with a little as a pound. And what's really important is that we have to start investing as early as possible.

So it's not about waiting until you've accumulated wealth.

Investing can help you accumulate that wealth. But you've got to put the money that you have to work as soon as you possibly can.

There's actually a graph that I love to show, which has two women investing at different times. And essentially what it shows is, if they're both getting the same return from the investment, the woman who invests earlier, even though, she only invests for say five years and then stops.

The woman who starts investing later but invests for like 10, 20 years, she ends up with less money than the woman who started earlier but stopped.

And when you see that chart, it blows your mind because you're like: ‘But this woman only invested for a tiny amount of time versus the other woman. How on earth does that woman have more money?’

It's the power of compounding. And it works when you start as early as possible. So it's not about waiting until you become wealthy, whatever that is.

If you have a pound, you can invest.

It's about finding that amount that works for you and investing, ideally on a regular basis.

But as I said, even if you have to stop, it doesn't matter.

Starting is the crucial thing…”

Listen to the full interview here

News in Brief

Financial news

* Chinese stocks tumbled as Beijing stopped short of launching more major stimulus, disappointing traders looking for more fuel for a world-beating stock rally.

* To put US dominance into perspective: In 2009, the market cap of the US stock market was 30% of the global stock market cap. Today it is almost 50%, Apollo's Slok has calculated.

* Brent oil soared $80/bbl+ – its highest price since August – as mounting tensions in the Middle East raised speculation that Israel may attack Iran’s oil infrastructure.

* US September consumer price inflation data is hotter than predicted by a tenth of a percentage point for both headline CPI and core CPI (2.4% and 3.3% YoY).

* Blowout US jobs report: US economy created 254k jobs in Sept way above the estimated 150k, according to Establishment survey.

* UK economy returns to growth in boost to Rachel Reeves before budget. GDP rises by 0.2% in August after flatlining in June and July but rate of expansion slower than first half of year.

* Rachel Reeves considers raising capital gains tax to 39%. Rates of 33% to 39% being tested as Treasury source says tax-raising plans are in ‘complete disarray’.

* Ex-Darktrace CEO Poppy Gustafsson appointed UK investment minister.

* Meta's co-founder Mark Zuckerberg became the 2nd richest person in the world, taking the title from Amazon chairman Jeff Bezos. Zuck is worth $210bn and has become $83bn richer since the beginning of the year alone.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* BTC price eyes sub-$65K hurdles as metric hints Bitcoin 'going to rip'.

* ETH reclaims $2,395 support but risks inflationary pressure.

* S&P 500 has climbed more than 60% since a bear market in equities petered out two years ago. Over the same period of time, Bitcoin’s price has risen around 220%.

* MicroStrategy aims to be ‘Bitcoin Bank’ with trillion-dollar valuation. With nearly $16 billion worth of Bitcoin in the bank, MicroStrategy's Michael Saylor shares big plans ahead for BTC.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following on our conversation:

* Women's relationship with money

* The gender investment gap

* How women think about investing

* Challenges in financial services for women

* Introducing Propelle: a female-focused investment platform

* Fundraising challenges and successes

* Understanding the gender gap in investment

* Bootstrapping and early funding challenges

* Navigating the VC landscape

* Building a strong team

* The importance of advisors and mentors

* Future roadmap and vision for Propelle

* Encouraging women to invest

* Final thoughts

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* Labour’s employment rights bill: what key changes will it bring?

* Women’s health tech ‘less likely’ to get funding if woman is on founding team

* Global cost of failing to invest in women and gender equality is $10tn a year – UN.

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we highlight the recent study by Fidelity Investments (US) which indicates that women are investing more of their money. And whilst younger women invest in higher numbers, Gen X and Boomer women have shown the most significant year-over-year growth in stock market participation.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Research: 70% of women own investments in the stock market (US)

A recent study by Fidelity Investments (US) highlights that women are investing more of their money.

According to a recent study by Fidelity Investments (US), the number of women owning stock market investments has surged by 18%+ compared to 2023, with 70% of women now participating in the stock market.

Gen X and millennial women lead the charge

While younger generations continue to invest in higher numbers, Gen X and Boomer women have shown the most significant year-over-year growth in stock market participation:

* Gen X women: 18% increase

* Boomer women: 23% increase

Millennial women are particularly motivated by building generational wealth, while older generations focus more on affording future goals.

Key findings

* 71% of women agree that investing is a way to build generational wealth.

* Top motivators for women to invest include ensuring quality of life for children, maximising earnings, and affording goals like retirement.

* More than half of women admit their financial situation causes stress at least monthly.

* Gen Z women continue to lead in embracing investing, with 77% owning stock market investments (up 6% from 2023). This group is also most likely among women to say they consider themselves an investor.

Persistent challenges

Despite progress, women still face a financial confidence gap. They are nearly twice as likely as men to describe their investing knowledge as "non-existent" and more likely to feel overwhelmed by investing and day-to-day financial management.

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

* #104: Why every woman needs a financial plan with Kristine Beese

* #113: How to start investing and the secret to building a rich life with Chloe Lin

News in Brief

Financial news

* US jobs report: US economics created 254,000 jobs in Sept way above the estimated 150k, according to Establishment survey.

* Goldman Sachs has raised the year-end 2024 S&P 500 target from 5600 to 6000, implying a 4% gain in Q4. The 12-month price target is lifted to 6300 from 6000, which means a 10% return.

* Eurozone inflation slowed below ECB's 2% target for the first time since June 2021. CPI rose 1.8% year-on-year in September, down from 2.2% in August as energy costs fell sharply. Core inflation eased to 2.7%.

* Pound heads for biggest fall in 18 months after Bank of England governor hints at ‘more activist’ rate cuts.

* BlackRock is eating the world. Since its IPO in Oct 1999, the share has returned an average of 20.7% per year, completely outperforming the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100, which have only returned 8.2% and 9.7% per year respectively. BlackRock even outperformed Amazon and Microsoft, with only Apple and Nvidia doing better.

* To put things into perspective: Since 2008, the US has continued to increase its share of the MSCI ACWI index, now standing at 64.7%, and exceeding levels last reached during the tech bubble. (via SRP)

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* Analysts say that Friday's strong U.S. jobs report could be bullish for Bitcoin and other risk assets after a middling start to the month. Bitcoin is currently trading at $62,005.

* Bitcoin whale's transfers of BTC mined in 2009 to Kraken hits $3.6m.

* Investors have gotten quite a scare so far in October, with Bitcoin ETFs marking three straight days of losses to start the month.

* Ethereum whales scoop up $66m in ETH during price dip, sentiment remains cautious. Ethereum is currently trading at $2,418.

* Asset manager Bitwise will combine three Bitcoin and Ethereum futures ETFs into a single offering with a momentum-based strategy.

* Grayscale launches Aave fund for Ethereum lending token. The Grayscale Aave Trust allows investors to buy shares that track the price of the asset.

* Coinbase to delist EU non-compliant stablecoins in December. EU to implement new rules to oversee the crypto industry.

Coffee Break? Read This

* Amanda Abbington was brave enough to complain. She shouldn’t shrink from admitting it

* When you start a new job, pay attention to these 5 aspects of company culture

* Let’s stop calling them ‘soft skills’ — and call them ‘real skills’ instead

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on research by Scottish Friendly which highlights that women are far more likely to hold their long term savings outside of tax-efficient ISAs or pensions. But women can take proactive steps to ensure their savings work harder for them.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

The gender savings divide: are women missing key tax benefits?

Women are far more likely to hold their long term savings outside of tax-efficient ISA or pensions.

A recent study commissioned by Scottish Friendly, in partnership with the Centre for Economics and Business Research, has revealed a significant trend: women are more likely to keep their long-term savings in basic savings accounts rather than in tax-efficient vehicles like ISAs or pensions.

According to The Standard, nearly half (46%) of women, compared to 39% of men, are opting to hold money earmarked for long-term goals in savings accounts instead of taking advantage of the benefits offered by pensions or stocks and shares ISAs.

What counts as long-term savings?

Long-term savings typically refer to plans that extend beyond five years, such as retirement funds, a deposit for a property, or capital to start a business. By relying on basic savings accounts, women miss out on higher potential returns from stocks and shares ISAs and are not fully utilising the £20,000 annual tax-free allowance ISAs offer.

The cost of missed opportunities

Additionally, by investing in a pension, individuals can benefit from tax relief, meaning that part of what would have been paid in taxes is instead directed to their pension. This helps reduce the overall tax burden and increases the potential for long-term savings growth. The amount of tax relief you receive is based on your income tax rate.

A gender wealth gap issue

For women, this trend is particularly concerning.

On average, women earn less, save less, and consequently have less money to invest. This tendency to keep long-term savings in low-interest accounts not only limits their potential for wealth accumulation but also exacerbates the already significant gender wealth gap.

This financial behaviour is costing women significantly, which as we know, extends well into their retirement years.

What can women do to close the gap?

Women can take proactive steps to ensure their savings work harder for them in the long term. A good starting point is reviewing where your savings are currently held.

Consulting with a financial adviser or using online tools can help determine whether a pension, stocks and shares ISA, or even a Lifetime ISA might offer better returns.

Setting up automatic transfers into these accounts can also help ensure regular contributions without the need for constant monitoring.

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

* #85: Closing the gender wealth gap and managing your money with Vicky Pryce and Victoria Ross

* #117: How money works for women and why financial education is key with Sharon Lechter

* #122: Financial psychotherapy, money habits, money avoidance and crisis points with Vicky Reynal

News in Brief

Financial news

* World stocks hit record high after China stimulus push.

* China CSI 300 on course for its biggest weekly advance since 2014 or 2008.

* BCA's Marko Papic sees Chinese monetary & fiscal stimulus as a ‘fairly big deal’: this is Beijing’s 'Whatever It Takes' moment. He bets, that we are at the start of a major rotation out of US assets.

* Europe's new debt problem child: France’s 10 year yields surpass Spain’s for first time since 2007.

* UK government debt has hit 100% of GDP for the first time since 1961. As a Deutsche Bank chart shows, it is now the third debt super cycle since 1700 given the OBR expects debt to rise to 274% by 2073-74.

* Hedge Fund legend David Tepper is buying ‘everything’ related to China, telling CNBC that “I didn’t know that they were going to bring out the big guns like they did.

* The IPO conundrum: While the S&P trades at ATH, IPO activity has been almost nonexistent, when measured as a percentage of S&P 500 market cap.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* Bitcoin increased marginally in value this week, currently trading at $65,508 despite supportive macroeconomic conditions, including China’s recent stimulus measures and a US Federal Reserve rate cut.

* US spot Bitcoin ETFs log highest inflow day since June, two-month high in total value.

* Ethereum has extended its rally this week and it is currently trading at $2,650+.

* BlackRock's spot Ethereum ETF has surpassed $1bn in value for the first time. Last week was only the second week since the funds launched that net inflows were positive, signaling renewed enthusiasm for the token. 

* Leveraged MicroStrategy ETFs are a 'Ghost Pepper' bet on Bitcoin—and they're booming.

* Binance founder CZ walks free from US prison. He served four months in federal prison for charges including alleged violations of United States Anti-Money Laundering rules.

Coffee Break? Read This

* A self-care checklist for leaders

* How to learn from your mistakes and make better decisions

* Kamala Harris now knows what strong women before her knew: the true enemy is always misogyny

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we spotlight the UK Chancellor, Rachel Reeves and her support for the Invest in Women Taskforce and ‘women in the economy’.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Rachel Reeves backs Invest in Women Taskforce and commits to ‘improving life for women’ in the UK

On Wednesday, UK’s Chancellor provided her full support for ‘women in the economy’.

On Wednesday, UK’s Chancellor Rachel Reeves, announced the government’s support for the Invest in Women Taskforce, as per the press release.

Reeves also said she intends to use her position as the first female Chancellor to ‘improve life for women’ which includes closing the gender pay gap, strengthen rights at work and invest in childcare.

The taskforce is aiming to create a funding pool of more than £250m for female-founded businesses through private capital. This will make it one of the world’s largest investment funding pools aimed solely at female founders.

Reeves is expected to take an active role in steering the taskforce’s priorities and objectives. She said:

“And by backing the Invest in Women Taskforce we can establish one of the world’s largest dedicated investment funding pools for female-powered businesses, helping grow our economy.

“This event gathers together some very powerful women, but the truth is everyone can do something for women’s equality – whether that’s supporting the women and girls in their lives with their ambitions or making their workplace a fairer playing field.”

According to The Rose Review, if the UK were to have the same share of female entrepreneurs as similar countries, £250bn of value would be added to the UK economy.

News in Brief

Financial news

* China doom deepens with CSI 300 drops to lowest since 2019.

* Wall Street hits all-time highs after Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut. S&P 500 climbs 1.7% for highest close since July, while Dow Jones and Nasdaq also welcome rises.

* The global bond rally continues. The value of global bonds increased by $91.6bn this week, reaching a new all-time high of $69.9tn.

* Gold hit a fresh ATH following the Fed's 0.5% (or 50bps) rate cut.

* The Fed cut interest rates by 50bps, opting for a more aggressive move amid worries the job market is slowing.

* ECB cuts benchmark rate by a quarter point. Depo rate now at 3.5%, ECB depo-MRO spread to narrow 15bps as of Sep 18.

* The idea of a "soft landing" is dominant narrative in stock markets. Acc to latest BofA Fund Manager Survey, the percentage of investors expecting a soft landing has increased from 76% to 79%.

* Interest rates ‘on path down’ despite hold at 5%, Bank of England chief says. Bank voted on Thursday not to change borrowing costs – but Andrew Bailey says cuts likely to resume.

* UK consumer confidence falls sharply amid fears of ‘painful’ budget.

* UK debt hits 100% of GDP, the highest level since 1960s. Debt pile increases by 4.3 percentage points in year to August, adding to challenge for chancellor Rachel Reeves.

* August saw the biggest equity fund outflow since 2022, according to JPM. This points to the abrupt downshifting of the retail impulse into equities.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* Bitcoin shot up this week following long-expected cuts from the Federal Reserve Wednesday. Bitcoin is now trading at $62,900+

* Ethereum is up by almost 6% over the past week. The coin rose despite investors continuing to cash out of the newly-approved exchange-traded funds (ETFs). 

* Solana has continued to surge, adding 8% to its value over the week. Solana is now trading at $146.99.

* But Avalanche is this week’s winner, having jumped 11% in seven days, and currently trading hands for $27.57.

* Donald Trump finally launched his crypto project: dubbed World Liberty Financial, would offer borrowing and lending services for cryptocurrencies on Ethereum’s network. 

* MicroStrategy continued buying Bitcoin, adding another $458.2m in orange coins to its balance sheet.

* A judge threw out Ethereum software giant Consensys’ lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

* Coinbase announces plan to bring cbBTC to Solana network.

Coffee Break? Read This

* I earn a good wage but still want a wealthy man – what’s wrong with that?

* ‘I earn £2m – my partner £20k. It’s a bit ridiculous’: the truth about wealth-gap relationships

* The Observer view on Mohamed Al Fayed: despite #MeToo, women are still at the mercy of powerful predators

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we spotlight our interview with Ida Tin on The Purse Podcast. Ida coined the term ‘femtech’ in 2016 and co-founded Clue, the most trusted female health app.

We focus on why starting Clue was important to her. And in the interview we cover Ida’s personal journey, the rise of femtech, the challenges in the women’s health market, the impact of gender in leadership, fundraising, ethical challenges in tech and much more+

Please enjoy! Listen to the full interview here.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Femtech, fundraising and future aspirations

We interviewed Ida Tin on The Purse Podcast to talk about femtech, the women’s health market, fundraising, ethical challenges in tech and why we need to design ‘a new system’.

We interviewed Ida Tin on The Purse Podcast.

Ida Tin coined the term ‘femtech’ in 2016. And she is the co-founder and former CEO and chairwoman, of Clue; the most trusted female health app. Clue has more than 10m active users in over 190 countries.

In the interview, we talk about Ida’s personal journey, why she decided to start Clue, the women’s health market, the gender health gap, fundraising, the impact of gender in leadership, ethical concerns in tech, transparency and trust in organisations, building a new system and more+

Here is a short extract from the interview

Jana: “…you're the co-founder of Clue. Can you share what led you to launch your startup and why was starting what was initially a period tracking app important to you?”

Ida’s response: (this has been lightly edited for ease of reading)

Well, I had tried to be on the pill in my twenties, and I didn't feel great. And I was sort of puzzled that nobody had come up with something else. You know, the pill is great for a lot of people, a lot of the time, but not for everybody all the time.

So I felt there needed to be more choice. And it was around 2008 and ‘quantified cell’ was a big thing: you can collect data and you can kind of optimise your body and your life and your health.

And I thought, what if my phone… (because the iPhone came out in 2008 and I didn't have one. I was pretty poor. I did not have an iPhone)…what if my phone could tell me: ‘Ida, today you cannot get pregnant’ and I would not have to worry?

And the days it told me… I could get pregnant, I could use a condom. And I thought that is really smart. And I had this idea that if you could measure hormones and saliva, it would be this really fast sort of home diagnostics and it would be data driven, completely scientific…

And the more I thought about it, the more I thought that could literally change the world.

If every single woman on this planet knew exactly when she got pregnant, oh my gosh, that would be so powerful. So I really had this sense of like, oh, all the big diagnostic companies, they must be working on this. I better hurry up!

And I started trying to build this and I didn't have anything. I was not a scientist or a doctor or, you know, a lawyer or anything, but I just, ‘solving a problem’. Another part was the sense of having seen women's lives all around the planet.

I knew that having more children that you want to have. It's brutal and it's not good for the kids. It's not good for society. It's not good for anything. It's not good for the planet and for, you know, ecological systems. So I had the sense of my own need. I had a global sense. I knew that overpopulation is a thing on the planet.

So I was like, this would be a meaningful thing to work on as well. And I also thought it must be a good business case.

We need to not get pregnant for most of our lives, for most of our reproductive lives, 40 years. So, I thought, somebody must be working on this now, fast forward, I don't know, almost 15 years.

I was like, wow, they were not even trying to build this. They literally were not thinking about it!

And that blows my mind to this day. It really does. That's a long conversation. We can get into it…”

Listen to the full interview here

News in Brief

Financial news

* China doom deepens with CSI 300 drops to lowest since 2019.

* August saw the biggest equity fund outflow since 2022, according to JPM. This points to the abrupt downshifting of the retail impulse into equities.

* Oil prices tumble to their lowest level since Dec 2021 on global growth worries.

* Investors dialled back their expectations for a 50bp Fed cut next week after a somewhat hot CPI report.

* ECB's Lagarde: ECB decision on the size of the depo rate cut to 3.5% was unanimous. Says inflation will drop to 2% in course of 2025.

* Former ECB President Mario Draghi called on the EU to invest as much as €800bn extra a year to make the bloc more competitive and to commit to the regular issuance of common bonds to compete with China and the US.

* UK debt projected to almost triple over next 50 years, watchdog warns. Public finances under pressure from ageing population, climate crisis and security risks, OBR report says.

* UK economy unexpectedly flatlines for second month in row. Pre-election slowdown continues in July despite economists predicting growth of 0.2%.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* Bitcoin is now trading above $60,000. That’s a 12% rise over seven days, and a threshold unseen since last month. The price rise came as traders grew more confident that the Fed might slash interest rates by 50 basis points instead of 25.

* MicroStrategy buys an additional 18,300 bitcoin for $1.1bn, taking its holdings to 244,800 BTC.

* Etherum now stands at $2,442 after jumping nearly 11% in seven days. It had recently struggled and hit its lowest level of the year but is now climbing up again.

* There was more drama for Tether this week after Consumer protection group Consumers’ Research said in a report that the company behind the biggest stablecoin, USDT, was a “disaster for consumers waiting to happen.”

* The price of XRP, the seventh biggest digital asset, shot up following news that Grayscale had launched a new product that gave investors exposure to the Ripple-aligned asset.

* Solana applications can “prioritise real humans” with Wormhole’s latest World ID integration.

* Stablecoin issuers freeze $5m worth of stablecoins tied to Lazarus Group by ZachXBT.

* And on Friday, Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers filed to get the ex-FTX boss and convicted criminal’s fraud charges overturned. 

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following on our conversation:

* Meet Ida Tin: the pioneer of femtech

* The birth of Clue: a revolutionary femtech startup

* Challenges and vision in femtech

* Addressing the gender health gap

* The importance of diversity and inclusion

* The impact of gender in leadership

* The rise of femtech

* Flo Health

* Ethical concerns in tech

* Building trust and transparency

* Imagining a new system

* Leadership and emotional intelligence

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* Why I’m not pretending I haven’t lost my breasts to cancer

* Revolut founder sells shares ‘worth up to $300m’ in fintech company

* Oily skin, body parts misbehaving: how perimenopause feels like puberty

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we spotlight Selena Gomez and how she has grown her successful business empire and her personal wealth to billionaire status.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Selena Gomez: how she became a self-made billionaire

Selena Gomez is worth $1.3bn, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a first time ranking, as reported by Bloomberg.

Gomez, who is an actress, singer and entrepreneur, has become wealthy from a mix of businesses that leverage her talent and hundreds of millions of social media followers.

The majority of Gomez’s wealth is linked to Rare Beauty Brands Inc., the cosmetics line she founded five years ago, which has gained immense popularity among influencers and teens.

She has also secured brand partnerships, acting contracts, and a mental health startup Wondermind, creating a diverse portfolio that will help sustain her wealth even if she chooses to step back from the spotlight.

But there is an underlying key component to her success: authenticity.

Selena Gomez combines her ‘influence and expertise to both do good and create good business’.

Social media

With 424m followers, she’s behind only soccer legends Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as the most popular person on Instagram.

Her influence has made her a powerful figure, enabling her not only to elevate her own brand but also to collaborate with major names like Puma SE, which signed her to a two-year deal valued at approximately $30m in 2017. Gomez also earned $10m as the face of Coach in 2016 and had a similar $10m agreement with Louis Vuitton.

Rare Beauty cosmetics

Selena Gomez's substantial wealth, estimated at around $1.1bn, primarily stems from her majority stake in Rare Beauty. The brand's only known external investors are Nikki Eslami's New Theory Ventures and CEO Scott Friedman, who has a successful track record in the cosmetics industry. The business generated $350m last year, based on Pitchbook’s data. And Bloomberg's analysis suggests Gomez holds a 51% controlling interest in the company.

As reported by Bloomberg:

“I really tried my hardest to create a product that were beyond just me putting my name on something,” she said in a 2023 radio interview. “I wanted the products to be great, and I also wanted the message to be that makeup is meant to be fun”.

Gomez leveraged her celebrity status to generate social media buzz for Rare Beauty. She created content for platforms like TikTok and incorporated product usage into her other projects, such as her cooking show "Selena + Chef".

Mental health awareness

A key aspect of Rare Beauty's appeal is its commitment to mental health awareness. Gomez, who has been open about her own mental health struggles, pledges 1% of all sales to the Rare Impact Fund, which supports mental health services and education. This philanthropic element has resonated strongly with consumers and contributes to the brand's success.

Wondermind

Gomez co-founded Wondermind with her mother, Hollywood producer Mandy Teefey, and Daniella Pierson, the founder of the newsletter, The Newsette.

The platform includes mental-health tools, interviews and a newsletter was valued at $100m in 2022. It attracted investments from, including Serena Williams’s venture fund, Serena Ventures.

Gomez’s powerful formula

Industry experts praise Gomez's approach: the combination of celebrity endorsement, a mission-driven focus, and quality products creates a powerful formula for success in the beauty industry.

Gomez's strategy of diversifying her business interests and aligning them with her personal values is why she has been able to build such a successful business empire.

News in Brief

Financial news

* The Nasdaq 100 plunged 5.9% in worst week since November 2022, S&P 500 dropped 4.3% in worst week since March 2023.

* US 10 year yields dropped to their lowest point since Jun 2023 as markets worried about growth following the soft US jobs report.

* US jobs data mixed or "could have been worse, but not great". This release more than justifies the Fed going 50bps on the 18 September.

* The lender Halifax has reported that the average price of a house sold in August rose to £292,505, the highest since August 2022. That is only £1,000 shy of the record high set in June 2022.

* UK state pension to rise by more than £400 a year, say reports. Figures reportedly seen by BBC show men born after 1951 and women after 1953 will get £12,000 in 2025 and 2026.

* Nvidia has wiped out $400bn+ in value this week, weighing on key equity benchmarks.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* Bitcoin continued to drop this week. Over the past seven days, the price of the asset has descended by more than 9% and—after dipping as low as $52,690 on Friday. Bitcoin is currently trading at $54,400.

* Ethereum’s price was hit harder: the coin hit its lowest price of 2024 and ended the week priced at $2,178 after tumbling more than 11%.

* Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs drop to new lows after week of bearish price action.

* The price of TON, the cryptocurrency closely associated with the app, is one of the worst-performing coins, having dipped by 14% in seven days. It’s now priced at $4.59.

* Magic Eden's multi-chain NFT dominance surges with $60m daily volume amid ME token hype. This resurgence in NFT trading volume on Magic Eden could carry significant implications for the broader crypto ecosystem. 

* Crypto advocates to rally in Washington D.C. alongside The Chainsmokers for upcoming 'Stand with Crypto Day'.

Coffee Break? Read This

* The hidden toll of micro-stress

* ‘It felt shameful’: the profound loneliness of modern motherhood

* Victoria Beckham losses shrink as sales soar 50% at fashion brand

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on research by Pantera Capital about gender compensation in the crypto sector (US).

Women in crypto tend to earn 15% more on average than men, according to their research. However this can largely be explained by the fact that these women are more experienced and join at a more senior level, compared to most men.

Based on the most recent data from 2023, the median gender pay gap in the UK is 13.26%. And in the US, the median gender pay gap is 16.39%.

But keep in mind that the financial services industry has one of the worst gender pay gaps across all industry sectors, especially as it relates to bonuses.

In the UK, in financial services, the median gender pay gap is around 30%. Whilst the median bonus gap is around 59%+.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Women in crypto: new insights on compensation

Research from Pantera Capital highlights gender compensation trends in the crypto industry (US).

Recent research from Pantera Capital has revealed some intriguing trends regarding women's compensation in the crypto sector (US).

Key Findings

* Women in crypto earn 15% more than men based on median base salaries.

* The study surveyed 502 participants across the crypto industry.

* For every pound a man earns, a woman in crypto generally earns £1.15.

Analysing the Data

Experience and Seniority

Pantera Capital's research suggests that women in crypto tend to be:

* More experienced

* Often in mid-level to senior positions

* Typically have over five years of experience in similar roles

In contrast, a larger proportion of men occupy entry-level positions in the industry.

The "Lindy Effect" in Crypto

The study introduces an interesting concept:

* Women in crypto are considered "Lindy" – a term suggesting that women who have overcome industry hurdles possess valuable qualities.

* These qualities include resilience and high competence, which may contribute to higher compensation.

Why This Matters

* Industry leadership: The crypto sector is showing a promising trend in addressing gender pay disparities, setting an example for other tech and finance industries.

* Attracting talent: These findings could encourage more women to consider careers in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.

* Diversity and innovation: Increased gender diversity in the crypto space could lead to more innovative solutions and broader industry growth.

Looking Ahead

While this research is encouraging, it is important to remember that the crypto industry is still evolving. We need to:

* Continue monitoring these trends to ensure they persist and expand.

* Encourage more women to explore opportunities in crypto and blockchain.

* Support initiatives that provide education and resources for women in this field.

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

* #27: Report: Women in crypto with Marina Spindler

* #31: Blockchain, crypto, DeFi and how women are innovating with Bridget Greenwood

* #45: Why women need to design, build and invest in crypto and Web 3.0 with Fiona O'Donnell McCarthy

News in Brief

Financial news

* Fear Index Vix dropped 27.3% this week, most since Nov 2023 as recession fears have faded and bulls are firmly back in control of the narrative.

* Gold prices hit ATH of $2,500 fuelled by a lower US dollar and lower US Treasury yields. Year-to-date, Gold is up 20.7%, setting the stage for its strongest annual performance since 2020 when it gained 25.1%.

* US 2 year yields plunge to 3.95% as the Federal Reserve’s Jay Powell says ‘time has come’ to cut interest rates. Says Fed doesn’t seek, welcome further cooling in labor market.

* US payrolls marked down by 818,000 for the 12 months through March or around 68,000 less each month; the most since 2009.

* The US Treasury has become a key driver of stocks and other asset markets through its pro-cyclical issuance of debt and the increasing depth and liquidity of repo markets.

* The pound was up at its highest level in over a year, based on the growing prospect of a US interest rate cut next month.

* ETFs are eating the world: Active mutual funds have continued to experience outflows YTD. There have been $220bn of outflows from active mutual funds YTD, compared with $284bn of inflows to passive ETFs. Notably, “active” ETFs have experienced $48bn of inflows.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* Bitcoin rallies as the Federal Reserve’s Jay Powell’s remarks sink bond yields and the US dollar. Bitcoin is now trading at $63,000+

* Ethereum's price also jumped on the news from the Fed-the price of the second-biggest coin ended the week at $2,750 after increasing 6% in seven days.

* The price of Solana also jumped on Friday. SOL is up nearly 10% over the week to $153 per coin.

* TON Price plunges 17% after Telegram CEO Pavel Durov arrested in France.

* BlackRock's Ethereum ETF hits $1bn in net gains, nearly tripling Fidelity.

* Grayscale launched a new crypto trust, giving investors exposure to Avalanche. The asset is now trading for $26.30, having jumped 28%.

* Kamala Harris supports policies to expand crypto industry, aide says.

Coffee Break? Read This

* Why you feel under-appreciated at work

* Let’s stop calling them “soft skills” — and call them “real skills” instead

* The end of menopause: would women be healthier and happier if they menstruated for ever?

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on research by nudge global which highlights the persistent gender disparity in financial wellbeing. For example, 50% of women globally report financial anxiety, compared to 41% of men.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Research: breaking down financial barriers for women

A recent study from nudge global has spotlighted a persistent gender disparity in financial wellbeing.

Here’s what you need to know:

* Anxiety gap: 50% of women globally report financial anxiety, compared to 41% of men. The disparity is most pronounced among 25-34-year-olds, where women feel less hopeful and more anxious about their finances than their male counterparts.

* Short-term planning: Over half of the women aged 25-34 rely on short-term financial plans of three years or less, compared to 52% of men who plan long-term.

* Cultural factors: The gender pay gap continues to impact women's financial stability. Women globally earn 24% less than men, often balancing financial planning with family responsibilities, which exacerbates financial stress.

* Employer opportunity: The report suggests that employers have a crucial role in addressing these disparities. By offering tailored financial education and support, they can empower women to achieve long-term financial security and reduce anxiety.

It’s clear - addressing financial education and planning is vital to closing the gender gap and ensuring that women feel as confident and hopeful about their financial future as men do.

News in Brief

Financial news

* The UK stock market has posted its best week since May. The FTSE 100 has climbed by 1.75% this week, or 143 points, to close at 8,311 points.

* Gold prices hit ATH of $2,500 fueled by lower US dollar and lower US Treasury yields. Year-to-date, Gold is up 20.7%, setting the stage for its strongest annual performance since 2020 when it gained 25.1%.

* Fear Index Vix dropped 27.3% this week, most since November 2023 as recession fears have faded and bulls are firmly back in control of the narrative.

* It looks like the ‘carry trade’ – that blew up markets – is attracting Hedge Funds again. Japan’s currency has weakened more than 5% against the dollar since August 5. Yen shorts have risen ~30-40% in past week.

* Count corporate America as one of the big dip-buyers last week as US stocks fell into their worst correction since October. Goldman buyback desk flooded w/record orders amid stock swoon.

* Strong US retail sales raise hopes of ‘soft landing.’ Retail sales leaped 1% in July MoM, the most in 1.5yrs and far above economists’ forecasts for a 0.4% increase.

* UK economy continues recovery from recession with GDP growth of 0.6%. ONS data shows strong performance in second quarter with service sector helping drive growth.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* Bitcoin crashed to as low as $57,787 end of the week, and is now trading at $59,595 per coin, a seven-day dip of 2% and more than 8% below this time last month.

* Increased spot bitcoin ETF inflows from institutional investors is a 'promising' indicator.

* The price of ETH barely moved over the past week and is now priced at $2,607. The flat line is probably good news for holders, as it's down 23% over the past 30 days.

* Solana ended the week priced at $139, a seven-day drop of 9%.

* BlackRock's ETFs surpass Grayscale's in assets, crowning new crypto fund king

* Franklin Templeton files S-1 for 'Crypto Index ETF' holding BTC and ETH, following Hashdex.

* Trump’s family teased more crypto projects when Eric and Donald Trump Jr. told the New York Post in an exclusive interview that they were getting ready to drop "digital real estate."

* Crypto.com announced it was now sponsoring the UEFA Champions League, boosting its brand in the European sports scene.

* Foresight Ventures: AI x Crypto Report.

Coffee Break? Read This

* Beyond burnout

* The future of flexibility at work

* One invisible barrier holding back women at work: the conformity bind

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we spotlight a short excerpt from the interview with Ozge Dogan on The Purse Podcast. Ozge is the Founder of Karman Beyond, Türkiye’s first independent multi-family office - democratising wealth management for families.

We focus on how women (and the next gen) lead on money decisions in a family office setting. In the podcast interview we also talk about the definition of wealth, what is a family office, generational wealth and the dynamics at play, women and money, sustainability and more+

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

How women and the Next Gen lead on money decisions

We interviewed Ozge Dogan, Founder of Karman Beyond to talk about generational wealth, how women and the next gen lead on money and how the world will benefit.

We interviewed Ozge Dogan on The Purse Podcast.

Ozge Dogan is the Founder of Karman Beyond, Türkiye’s first independent multi-family office - democratising wealth management for families.

We talk about the definition of wealth, what is a family office, generational wealth and the dynamics at play, the impact of women and the next gen leading on money decisions, sustainability and more+

Here is a short except from the interview:

Jana: “Yes…because we are seeing more women coming into this leadership role and making financial decisions or certainly engaging far more than than they used to. And there is a difference…when a woman leads a family office versus when she co-leads with a male family member.. versus when men are leading..”

Ozge’s response: (lightly edited for ease of reading)

Absolutely…the investment perspective is changing a lot.

There's more inclusivity and there's more diversification when a woman is leading the financial decisions. And also they tend to be more impactful because her decisions are more aligned to her values.

Women also consider who is going to benefit from these investments, therefore what she invests in is important; the type of companies they are, what they bring back to society.

And I think these are the really important concepts. Men, on the other hand, have historically focused just on the outcome.

Women are more interested in the journey and are more likely to consider the entire process, that is: what they invest in and how they do it.

Basically it is not just about making money or turning a profit. It's also about how are you making these profits and who is this going to benefit along the way?

So I think more women should be involved in financial decision making, in any business, in any family office, anywhere in the world, in any sector…

This really will change everything…

Listen to the full interview.

News in Brief

Financial news

* European markets recover as Bank of Japan (BoJ) calms markets. Bank of Japan deputy governor Shinichi Uchida’s speech – saying the BoJ would not hike rates when markets are unstable, has given a proverbial “green light” to carry traders to resume shorting the yen and buying higher-yielding currencies and assets.

* Rebound in tech stocks continues despite disappointing earnings from AirBnB and controversial earnings from Super Micro Computer (highest profile AI component stock after Nvidia). Nasdaq 100 Future +0.7% while ABNB -17% and SMCI -11%.

* US bond vigilantes managed to turn the stock market around. Investors shunned a $42bn auction of benchmark 10 year US securities, which drew a yield that was well above the pre-sale indicative level. That horrible bond auction pushed stocks lower.

* JP Morgan boosts US recession chance to 35% by the end of this year, up from 25% as of the start of last month. JP Morgan economists kept the odds of a recession by the second half of 2025 at 45%. Bank follows Goldman Sachs in raising risk of a downturn.

* Rebound in tech stocks continues despite disappointing earnings from AirBnB and controversial earnings from Super Micro Computer (highest profile AI component stock after Nvidia). Nasdaq 100 Future +0.7% while ABNB -17% and SMCI -11%.

* UK house prices ‘to rise through rest of year’ after jump in July. Halifax says average property price in July was £291,268 as lower mortgage rates expected to lead growth.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* Bitcoin was at one point trading below $50,000, after news of the US jobs market, the phenomenon dubbed the ‘carry trade’ coming undone when the Japanese yen started rising against the US dollar and tensions in the Middle East. BTC is currently trading at $61,150+.

* Ethereum was knocked harder by the early week volatility losing more than 12% over the last 7 days. ETH investors appear to be less loyal to the coin than Bitcoin or Solana, and therefore it’s prone to bigger sell-offs. ETH is currently trading at $2,666.

* Sui surged on news that crypto asset manager Grayscale was launching a fund for the asset. The coin has surged over 35% in seven days and is now priced at $0.87.

* Ripple, the company whose founders created XRP, had been ordered to pay a $125m fine to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Over a 30-day period the coin is up over 30%.

* Crypto.com, Gemini join Coinbase in opposing CFTC proposal that could ban prediction markets.

* Crypto executives meet White House officials to discuss policy, grievances during virtual roundtable.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following on our conversation:

* The definition of wealth

* What is a family office?

* How have family offices evolved over the last 10 years?

* Generational wealth: the dynamics at play

* Female inheritors vs female founders

* The impact women and the next gen have on money decisions

* Succession planning

* Women and money

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* DIY smear tests are on their way? I’ll be first in the queue

* Young women are telling each other to ‘date rich’. How terrifyingly retro

* Women – don’t get larger, don’t get older, don’t have fun, don’t dare to wear a bikini

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we spotlight Female Invest and their whopping £8.7m fundraise. The startup, founded by three female entrepreneurs, also secured $1m in 4mins via crowdfunding. This campaign had the highest number of female investors with 94% participation.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Female Invest secures £8.7m in Series A funding, sets new records in crowdfunding

Female Invest, a finance app dedicated to empowering women through financial education and community support, has just closed its Series A funding round with a whopping £8.7m. This landmark achievement propels the company further in its mission to bridge the financial gender gap and inspire a new wave of female investors, as reported by EU Start-ups.

Community-driven focus

Founded in 2019 by Emma Due Bitz, Camilla Falkenberg, and Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen, Female Invest was born from a shared frustration with the glaring gender disparities in finance. Today, the global platform has over 73,000 paying members spanning 123 countries and a vibrant online community of more than 512,000 followers.

The Series A round, led by venture capital firms Educapital and Rubio Impact Ventures, also featured a groundbreaking crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs. In just four minutes, Female Invest raised $1m, setting multiple world records:

* The highest number of pre-registrants with over 12,000.

* The fastest to raise $1m.

* The highest number of female investors in a crowdfunding campaign, with 94% participation.

Co-founder Camilla Falkenberg said:

“We are absolutely blown away that our community invested $1 million in just four minutes! Our members have been asking for a crowdfunding campaign for years, but we never expected such a rapid response”

Smashing the gender gap in finance

Female Invest is on a mission to tackle the financial literacy and investment disparities that women face.

70% of stocks are owned by male investors, and female workers retire with about two-thirds less in their pensions compared to men. This is despite women being better investors than men.

“Women are falling financially behind everywhere. They earn less, save less, and invest less. Our mission at Female Invest is to close this gap as quickly and effectively as possible,” explained Co-founder Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen.

Sky's the limit: future plans and expansion

Female Invest is on an impressive growth trajectory, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 240%.

Currently, 40% of its users are based in the UK, and with fresh capital in hand, the company is gearing up to launch in the US, expand its trading offerings, and scale its operations even further.

Celebrating endorsements and accolades

The co-founders, who have been included in the Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list for finance, have also received endorsements from the likes of Hillary Clinton and Emma Watson.

They participated in the prestigious Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator in 2021 and co-authored the Sunday Times Best Seller “Girls Just Wanna Have Funds.”

“Traditional financial advice for women often focuses on saving money on beauty, clothes, food, and entertainment. But there's a massive gap in resources that help women grow their wealth through investments…” said Camilla Falkenberg.

Emma Due Bitz, a certified stockbroker since the age of 20, added, “The financial industry has long been dominated by men, often excluding women through its communication style and corporate culture…”

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

* #104: Why every woman needs a financial plan with Kristine Beese

* #117: How money works for women and why financial education is key with Sharon Lechter

* #124: Investing through a gender lens with Marypat Smucker

News in Brief

Financial news

* The Nasdaq 100 is now in correction territory: it is down 11.4% from the recent high.

* US Federal Reserve liquidity falls for another week, offering no support for stocks and crypto.

* Fear index Vix jumped 25.8% to hit its highest level since March 2023 as S&P 500 has its worst jobs day since October 2022.

* There is kind of convergence between Nasdaq 100 and Russell 2000 YTD as investors shift their money out of big tech and into smaller stocks.

* Global bonds have gained a whopping $1.2tn in value this week, most since December 2023, as bonds – at least government bonds.

* Sahm Rule Recession Indicator jumped to 0.53 from 0.43 following weak US jobs data, triggering a recession warning.

* Eurozone July inflation gives the ECB no green light to cut in September yet, but markets still price 96% probability for another 25bps ECB cut.

* The Bank of England has cut interest rates from 5.25% to 5%, the first drop since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020.

* Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway halves stake in Apple from 789m shares at end-Q1 to 400m Apple shares now. Cash holdings hit a record $277bn – about ~30% of the market – cap as billionaire investor dumps $76bn of stocks

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* The crypto market has experienced over $272 million in daily liquidations amid a stock market downturn. 

* US spot bitcoin ETFs logged a daily net outflow of $237 million on Friday, the highest single-day outflow level since May 1 and the fourth highest since the launch of the ETFs in January. 

* Morgan Stanley tells wealth advisors they can pitch bitcoin ETFs in a first for a big bank.

* Bitcoin touched $70,000 following Donald Trump’s pro-Crypto speech. The Republican presidential nominee Trump pledged at a weekend conference to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet and the Bitcoin superpower” if he returns to the White House following November’s election.

* Bitcoin has over the week dropped by more than 9% to $61,358—dipping as low as $60,704—according to CoinGecko.

* The price of Ethereum also dropped over the week, despite exchange-traded funds launching last month and proving popular with Wall Street.

ETH dropped by 8% in seven days and is currently trading at $2,915.

* Solana also had a rough week, down over to $143. Indeed, essentially all of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap were down over that span.

* Dogwifhat, the largest meme token running on Solana, has dropped the most by over 35% since this time a week ago.

* Crypto policy was still the talk of the town with politicians, though. Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) formally introduced a bill to establish a national Bitcoin reserve.

* And Republican nominee and ex-president Donald Trump said the federal government could wipe out its $35 trillion in debt with Bitcoin.

Coffee Break? Read This

* Why are we so drawn to the ‘tradwife’ fantasy?

* We should embrace our inner goddess – but let’s not create another test for women to fail

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we highlight the interview with Marypat Smucker on The Purse Podcast. We talk about gender lens investing and what’s changed in the market since 2022.

Listen to the full interview here.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Gender lens investing: an update

We interviewed Marypat Smucker on The Purse Podcast about gender lens investing and what’s changed in the market since 2022.

We interviewed Marypat Thenell Smucker on The Purse Podcast.

Marypat is a CFA, MA Economics, MSc Finance, is Co-Founder and Principal of Parallelle Finance. She has published a range of research pieces on sustainable and gender lens investing, including Parallelle’s in-depth quarterly reports on sustainable investing and women in the global workplace.

We talk about (including) gender lens investing, why invest through a gender lens, gender bonds, women in leadership and how to accelerate the pace of change.

Here is a short excerpt from the interview

Jana: “What would you say has changed in the market since 2022? Is there anything that sticks out for you in addition to the growth that we're seeing?

Marypat’s response:

‘… we've talked about the AUM growth in gender lens equity funds. Which is one of the areas that we track and cover. And we are also seeing a steady growth in the number of equity funds.

So 18 of the 42 equity funds in our data set have a history of less than three years. That is really steady growth.

And in terms of significant trends: there's definitely one that merits highlighting and is in both public and private market gender lens investing.

This is a focus on investing in women's leadership in climate solutions. So in the private markets, this is a focus on investing in women founders of climate solutions and products. This is another growing area of focus for women-led funds ie to invest in women founders of climate solutions, women as the agents of the actors of addressing climate change.

In the public markets, this is also happening. The gender lens equity funds do tend to include a pretty strong ESG screen, most of these funds. In equity funds gender lens is essentially a thematic ESG strategy.

And recently the asset class is experiencing a gender plus climate trend that goes beyond this ESG foundation to focus on investing in companies, displaying both climate and gender equality leadership.

So one example of this is two suites of funds that are offered by Morgan Stanley. They are Calvert funds that have been launched in Europe and the US. And they employ unique gender and climate investment criteria.

The Calvert principles for responsible investment are a well-known framework for sustainable investment criteria, and these funds are constructed within that framework.

And the European suite of these funds are domiciled in Luxembourg, and they are in scope with Article 9 of the European Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation.

And this suite also includes an emerging markets gender lens equity fund. It was exciting to see that entry into our data set. The other suite of funds is domiciled in the US and both of these groups of funds employ unique gender lens, investment criteria and climate criteria.

So they are a good example of this gender plus climate trend that we are seeing in many corners of gender lens investing.

Another trend is something that we are seeing in gender bonds again, back to the gender bonds. And that is that these bonds are in growing numbers being listed on local exchanges.

Also there is a trend toward international exchange listings and cross listings for some of these bonds cross listed on the local exchange and also an international exchange.

So that is really going a long way toward developing this asset class….

Listen to the full interview here.

News in Brief

Financial news

* On Wednesday, Wall Street suffered worst day since 2022 as Tesla and Google earnings disappoint.

* India quickly catches up to China as the world’s largest emerging market. Indian stocks comprise nearly 20% of the MSCI Emerging Markets index, while China has dropped to a quarter from 40% in 2020.

* China surprised markets by cutting interest rates, its first such move since Aug 2023.

* Russell 2000 outperformance vs S&P 500 continues. RTY vs SPX break out is at its widest levels since Feb 2000, > +9% MTD

* The US yield curve steepener trade continues with US 2s/10s yield spread rises to -14bps, highest level since Jul 2022.

* US GDP growth accelerated to 2.8% in Q2 from 1.4% in Q1, outpacing expectations of 2.0%.

* Rachel Reeves expected to reveal £20bn shortfall in public finances. Chancellor may raise some taxes in the autumn due to what Labour describes as its ‘shocking inheritance’ from Tories.

* UK business activity expands in ‘encouraging start to second half of year’. S&P Global flash composite purchasing managers’ index shows July rise for manufacturing and services sectors.

* The comeback of active? ETF share of total trading declines as investors have turned away from index-tracking funds.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* Donald Trump says he will create a ‘Bitcoin national stockpile’, calling cryptocurrency ‘the steel industry of 100 years ago’, as he courts the cryptocurrency crowd at Nashville conference. Trump said he'd lay out a plan ‘to ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet and the bitcoin superpower of the world’.

* Over the week, BTC is up close to 2% and trading hands for $67,920. Thousands of people were in Nashville for the annual conference dedicated to Bitcoin.

* Ether ETFs trade Over $1bn in strong crypto-fund debut. Several of the funds are finishing the day among the top 50 highest-traded US ETF debuts of all time.

* Ethereum is down 7% over the week, despite the sought-after funds finally launching. Investors have been cashing out of the main Grayscale ETF.

* Solana rose nearly 8% to enter the weekend at $183.80.

* A formerly dead Solana-based meme token Brat Summer (BRAT) shot up in value after pop star Charli XCX endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

* Sen. Cynthia Lummis announces bill for US Treasury to buy 1m bitcoin worth $68bn.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following on our conversation:

* What is gender lens investing?

* Market update

* Gender bonds

* The gender lens scorecard

* Investing in gender equality

* Women in leadership

* Directing capital to gender lens funds

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* 6 ways to give that aren’t about money

* Credit at last for female screenwriter airbrushed from Hollywood history

* Sundresses and rugged self-sufficiency: ‘tradwives’ tout a conservative American past ... that didn’t exist.

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on Spotlight Pathology which has raised £125,000 from LYVA Labs based in Liverpool.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Spotlight Pathology secures £125,000 in funding from LYVA Labs

Spotlight Pathology has raised £125,000 from its Health and Life Sciences pre-seed fund LYVA Labs, as reported by UK Tech Investment News.

Liverpool-based LYVA Labs is taking the lead in investing in under-served founders and CEOs. And this week the company backed its fourth female-led business.

What problem is Spotlight solving?

Blood cancer diagnosis is currently time-consuming due to the shortage of highly trained pathologists. This leads to delayed diagnosis, treatment and poor patient outcomes.

What is Spotlight’s solution?

Spotlight has developed AI tools to streamline the diagnosis process for blood cancer representing a $15bn global market opportunity.

Spotlight has already secured a £900,000 grant from Innovate UK which has allowed the startup to build up a significant data bank of blood tissue sample.

And they recently recruited Dr Sam Perona as CEO in April, who is joining co-founders Dr Martin Fergie and Prof Richard Byers to lead the business to commercial success.

The CEO of LYVA Labs, Lorna Green is dedicated to tapping the potential of ambitious female entrepreneurs and she chairs Liverpool City Region’s new Female Founder Regional HIGH Growth Board.

And according to Akshay Bhatnagar, Head of Investment, LYVA Labs:

“LYVA Labs is delighted to back Sam, Martin and Richard in their mission to help reduce the number of people dying from blood cancer by providing the technology to allow more rapid diagnosis which will enable earlier treatment for the condition. We look forward to working with the team and seeing the product come to market over the next 12 months.”

News in Brief

Financial news

* Nasdaq 100 plunged 2.9% in biggest drop since December as trade angst hit chipmakers and because Trump is not a friend of Big Tech.

* Five day outperformance of Russell 2000 vs S&P 500 biggest in US history.

* Gold hit a fresh all-time high (ATH) as hopes for Fed rate cuts grow, and some traders ramped up bets on a second Donald Trump presidency.

* It seems that investors are buying that Trump wants a weak US Dollar. Speculators have increased their bets against the Greenback.

* Speculators have ramped up their bets against long-dated US bonds due to the rising prospects of Trump 2.0.

* ECB's Lagarde: what we do in September is wide open. Current interest rates stay the same. Markets are much clearer in this respect. Market participants are pricing in a further interest rate cut with an 80% probability.

* UK jobs market cools again as wage growth slows. Interest rate cut hangs in balance after ONS figures show annual pay growth eased to 5.7% in three months to May.

* BlackRock is eating the world: world's biggest money manager hits $10.6tn asset record, driven by ETF boost. Total net inflows were $82bn.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* Bitcoin tops $67,000, highest price in over a month. The uptick in Bitcoin’s price comes after a punishing stretch. Earlier this month, it dipped as low as $54,000.

* Former president Donald Trump’s slated appearance at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville this coming week is an especially bullish factor.

* Ethereum and Solana, rose 3.9% and 9.2%, respectively, to $3,500 and $170. Spot Ethereum ETFs are expected to begin trading on Tuesday, 23 July.

* JPMorgan analysts say that any rebound in crypto prices from this point is likely to be tactical — temporary and strategic — rather than the start of a lasting upward trend.

Coffee Break? Read This

* The hidden toll of microstress

* What one piece of advice would you give your younger self?

* Can you prepare for a good menopause? Perhaps start by thinking of it as a ‘second spring’

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we highlight an excerpt from the interview with the Christina Teo on The Purse Podcast.

Christina is the chief builder of SHE1K, which is the world's first C-suite executive angel syndicate.

We talk about Chris’ successful corporate career, how she immersed herself in the startup community, launching an angel syndicate, important lessons in investing and how more women can engage with their money.

Listen to the full interview here.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

SHE1K: how to launch the world’s first C-suite executive angel syndicate.

We interviewed Christina Teo, founder of SHE1K on The Purse Podcast.

We interviewed Christina Teo on The Purse Podcast.

Christina Teo is the chief builder of SHE1K, which is the world's first C-suite executive angel syndicate. She has built a community of 170 C-suite and senior executives who have invested $6m+ in 30 startups.

We talk about Christina’s successful corporate career, how she immersed herself in the startup community, launching an angel syndicate, important investing lessons and how more women can engage with their money.

Here is a a short excerpt from the interview.

Jana: “…Now you have an angel network and an angel syndicate. I'm curious to hear how you got it off the ground. And how you continue to grow this and fund startups? What's the investment thesis?”

Christina’s response:

“…But after attending that (Slush) event and speaking to female founders…I started to understand what these startups are looking for. And I realised that I had something to offer.

I was already 53 at that time, so it was still a little bit unnerving. I thought: what am I doing here? And will I be always introducing myself as ex-Yahoo! GM, you know? An ex-person who launched the world's first Windows platform; it just didn't resonate with me that way (anymore).

Therefore I said: I need to create something where I pull people to me, instead of me doing ‘push’; I've been a marketeer almost my entire career, so I should know this. So then I Googled women startups, female founders.

I couldn't find a lot of communities; in fact, none at that time in Singapore. So I said, okay, I'm going to start one, right?

So I wanted to get people to talk to me. And it was actually for my own learning, and to make friends, because I came back to nothing. I never really had to organise events myself in my, in my corporate career.

And in those days, we don't even have networking, right? Networking wasn't a thing. And the word community doesn't come up. I wouldn't say I have a smartphone community or an O2 community.

We didn’t have such concepts at that time.

So this community thing was also new to me, and I had been someone who was not social media friendly. Plus, I really don't like talking that much, you would be surprised! A lot of people say, we don't believe it, right?

And so for me to start a community was not something that was just like that. But I did. And then, my first event, I still remember it was January 17, 2017, and it was like bad timing to even have any events at all, straight after New Year's.

But guess what? More than 150 people registered and I had an 80 percent show, no, 90 percent show up rate.

I don't need a lot of things to encourage me, right? That's a good MVP right there! Visualisation again, you know, I'm onto something. And that was it.

So I actually invested a lot of time in understanding the startup ecosystem and putting myself out there and all the people that I was meeting were half my age.

So it's really not the same. It's not the same as in New York today either. In New York today, actually everybody is so open and so friendly. But thinking back to 2017 in Singapore, it was very different.

It’s not the same kind of culture. So I had to really invest a lot of time and energy. And then I staged a lot of events myself.

That gave me an opportunity to know who's who in the industry, right? VCs and successful founders and so on. So I learned the game and all that.

Then after three and a half, four years, I said, this was getting boring…”

Listen to the full interview here.

News in Brief

Financial news

* Betting odds for the Trump presidency rose after photos showed Trump, blood on his face, pumping his fist after an incident at his rally. The incident was triggered by gunshots.

* On Thursday, the Russell 2000 has biggest one day gain since November 2023 and the Nasdaq 100 had the biggest drop since October in 2023.

* US June CPI (inflation) undershoots headline and core, making the case for a September cut even stronger.

* The pound is hovering near a one-year high after stronger-than-expected GDP data, which showed the UK economy returned to growth in May with a 0.4% expansion.

* UK stocks, sterling, bond prices rise as business calls for ‘fresh start’ under Labour.

* Rachel Reeves to announce economic advisory council to boost UK growth.

* UK risks tech ‘talent drain’ to US if pension funds fail to back sector. Nigel Toon, the co-founder and chief executive of Graphcore, said domestic pension funds were giving inadequate support to private businesses in the UK.

* Big Tech is eating the world. Apple once again the undisputed number one. Apple gained 2% after bullish Bloomberg report about the upcoming AI-enabled iPhone sales prospects. Now worth almost $3.6tn, Microsoft number two with $3.5tn ahead of Nvidia with $3.3tn.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* Bitcoin price climbs and meme coins spike after Trump attacked at rally. Plus prediction market bettors think it's helped his campaign.

* Bitcoin ETFs log over $300m in net inflows to reach record level following six-day streak.

* German government's bitcoin selloff may have come to end as wallet emptied. (50,000 bitcoins were seized from the now-defunct film piracy website Movie2K).

* Donald Trump meme coin TREMP has maintained the largest gains, up 71% over the last 24 hours at a price of $0.66. TRUMP is up 39% on Saturday.

* Cypherpunk's new CEO Bets on Blockchain's 'picks and shovels’. This approach, investing in firms like Coinbase, Galaxy Digital, Anchorage, and ConsenSys, could offer a less volatile way to capitalize on the crypto industry's growth.

* SEC drops investigation of Bitcoin L2 Stacks and builder Hiro, filing says. This is another win for the crypto industry in its years-long struggle with the regulator.

* Biden's veto stands: what it means for crypto's regulatory future. The situation also brings to mind the SEC's lawsuit against Telegram in 2020. Both cases reflect the assertive stance of regulatory bodies in ensuring compliance within the crypto industry.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following on our conversation:

* Chris's successful corporate career

* How Chris immersed herself in the startup community

* Launching an angel syndicate

* The investment thesis

* Engaging female angel investors

* How to invest

* Important investment lessons

* And how do we encourage more women to engage with their money?

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* The big split: why divorce rates were soaring in 1976

* Angela Rayner’s suit and Victoria Starmer’s secret power: why do I suddenly smell sexism?

* Reducing Labour women to the sum of their outfits is suddenly all the rage

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on Pitchbook’s data on female founders in the US and Europe.

Female-founded startups secured 2% of the total VC capital in 2023, the lowest since 2016. But European female-founded companies with at least one female founder generated a record high proportion of total VC deal value at 20.5% and deal count at 25.8%​.

However, angel investment participation by female investors has declined by almost half in 2023, which has impacted deal flow for female-founded companies​.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Venture capital has been surging, but female founders are not experiencing an uplift

They say that ‘change is not linear’ and female founder capital raising was more challenging in 2023, on average, than in recent years.

This is despite venture capital funding overall surging in recent years.

However, VC funding for female-founded or co-founded companies has been trending up in recent years, and 2023 saw the creation of several women-led funds, incubators for female founders and more new companies.

Here is a summary of the key stats on US/European female founders in 2023 from Pitchbook:

Key Stats:

* Overall VC Funding Trends:

* Female-founded startups secured 2% of the total VC capital in 2023, the lowest since 2016.

* Companies with both male and female founders received 20.7% of the total US VC funding, the highest on record​.

* Mixed-founder companies raised approximately 33% more capital than in 2020 but completed fewer deals​.

* Industry Breakdown:

* Female co-founded startups saw significant funding in sectors like B2B services and pharmaceuticals/biotech, with B2B services accounting for 27% of all capital raised for these startups​.

* Female-only founded startups received notable funding in software, contributing over a fifth of the total capital invested in both female-only and mixed-gender founder groups​.

* Exit Activity:

* Exit activity for female-founded companies declined to its lowest since 2016, although those that did exit accounted for a record 23.3% of total exit activity​.

* The cumulative exit value for female-founded companies decreased by more than one-third year-over-year​.

* Valuations and Deal Counts:

* Pre-money valuations for female-founded companies have increased significantly over the past decade, with three-quarters of all venture rounds in 2023 based on higher valuations than previous rounds​.

* Female-founded companies closed more deals than any pre-pandemic year but recorded the lowest annual deal value since 2017​.

* Regional Insights (Europe):

* European female-founded companies with at least one female founder generated a record high proportion of total VC deal value at 20.5% and deal count at 25.8%​.

* Angel investment participation by female investors has declined by almost half in 2023, impacting deal flow for female-founded companies​.

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

* #114: Male allies, eradicating 'bad behaviour' in VC, investing in female founders and how to build a startup investment portfolio with David Fogel

* #116: Female founders are a better investment and why male investors need to back women with Pierre Rolin

News in Brief

Financial news

* World stocks at fresh record highs, euro hits three-week high ahead of French election run-off

* If it feels like the market has been very well-behaved of late: the last time the S&P 500 lost more than 2% was in December.

* Betting odds for US President Kamala Harris are now higher than for Biden's re-election.

* Latest US jobs numbers show economic momentum keeps cooling: unemployment rate rose to 4.1% from 4.0% due to higher labor participation rate.

* UK stocks, sterling, bond prices rise as business calls for ‘fresh start’ under Labour.

* The rise in the relative size of the US equity market has reflected the dominance of the US economy. But US equity valuations have become stretched, implying US ‘exceptionalism’ is already expected to continue well into the future, Goldman says.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* After ten years, the Mt. Gox bankruptcy’s Bitcoin distributions have officially begun—and the crypto market is spooked.

* On Friday, the price of Bitcoin collapsed as low as $53,898, its lowest price since February, according to CoinGecko. That’s a 27% drop from its all-time high of $73,700 registered in March, and the largest pullback from a local high since the asset’s bottom at $15,500 in November 2022.

* Ethereum has slid way down and closed out the week at $2,989 for an 12% weekly drop.

* Ethereum will soar against Bitcoin after ETF approvals: K33 Research

* Solana down only 4% this week-and is actually up a modest 3% over the past 24 hours. The asset is potentially next to get the digital asset ETF treatment

* Investment firm Multicoin Capital promises to match SOL up to $1m to back crypto friendly candidates.

Coffee Break? Read This

* How a solo retreat helped relight my creative fire

* Sunday with Louise Minchin: ‘I’m an activity addict’

* All the rage: women are furious – and repressing it can ruin our live

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we highlight a short excerpt from the interview on The Purse Podcast with financial psychiastrist Vicky Reynal.

We talk about how financial psychotherapy can help address money issues, evolving gender roles, money habits, money avoidance, the impact on relationships, crisis points, and how women can engage more with their money. Please enjoy!

Listen to the full interview here.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Financial psychotherapy, evolving gender roles and money habits.

Financial psychotherapist, Vicky Reynal joined us on The Purse Podcast to talk about money, money behaviours, how this impacts our relationships and more.

We interviewed financial psychiatrist, Vicky Reynal on The Purse Podcast.

Vicky runs a London-based private practice that specialises in financial psychotherapy.She is the author of Money on your Mind: the Psychology behind your Financial Habits, which recently won Best Book at The Money Awareness and Inclusion Awards.

With a dual background in psychology/psychotherapy and an MBA from London Business School, she has worked with people from a range of industries, public sector, and creative professions.

She has years of experience as a psychotherapist in the private and public sectors, including the British NHS and has lived and worked in nine different countries across three continents.

We talk about gender roles and money, childhood influences on money behaviour, money avoidance and crisis points, money dynamics in relationships, therapy sessions about money issues and how women can engage more with their money.

Here is a a short excerpt from the interview:

Jana: “…How are gender roles evolving as a result of women earning more, inheriting more, owning more…?”

Vicky’s response:

..Things are evolving, they are changing, but how much that translates into different dynamics within couples? It's slow.

And I think many women… might have had the arguments with their partner at home around… why does the childcare and household responsibilities still default to her, even though they're both in full time employment?

Despite having similar salaries, I might still see the man managing the investments and assets, and then the woman managing more the household and holiday budgets, for example.

It is not an uncommon scenario, and it's taking time to shift because as humans, we default to what's familiar.

And even if a part of us would rationally not agree with how we're handling things and would rationally think that yes, we should both manage investments and we should both equally contribute we default to what we know.

And that's because many of us grew up in a ‘traditional model’; it is hard to fight against those tendencies and those stereotypes that we carry internally.

In Money On Your Mind, I talk about the paradigm of money equals power, and one couple in particular has gone to couples therapy, and the partner confesses that they feel entitled to less housework because they earn more money.

But I have seen cases in which even when they earn the same or the woman earns even more, she's still burdened with those responsibilities.

And so you can see that at one level, we believe one thing, but at another level, it's hard to apply it.

Jana: “It is hard to apply it. And I can understand how we want to have harmonious relationships… but it becomes difficult if you really want…(something) to change and the other partner won't let you…”

Vicky’s response:

But I've heard many times women say: ‘oh, but you know, he takes charge of it. He doesn't let me do anything’.

And I think in order to shift dynamics, we need to take some responsibility for are half of it, are half of the dynamic.

And sometimes I challenge that a little and I say": well, when was the last time you asked to do more, or you took some initiative, or even tried, or even simply just brought it up that you think it should be balanced differently and you want to learn how to manage the investments”.

And the answer is, often not.

Often we sit comfortably and that dynamic on the one hand and then maybe complain about it on the other hand, but we haven't really taken the steps to allow it to shift.

Jana: “Right we haven't really done the work. So for example, I love this idea of a ‘money date’ with your partner and maybe suggesting a money date once a week initially..and you can decide what you cover… that's a positive step, isn't it?”

Listen to the full interview here.

News in Brief

Financial news

* Japan's Yen weakens beyond 160 per dollar, the weakest level since 1986. A weaker yen squeezes households by increasing import costs.

* Financial markets at risk of 'sharp correction', warns Bank of England. In its latest financial stability report, the BoE says that high inflation, or geopolitical risks, could trigger a selloff.

* Global wave of elections could hit UK financial system, warns Bank of England. Central bank raises concerns over newly elected governments as more than 80 countries go to polls this year.

* The assets in Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF have shrunk by $22.2bn. Just ~$11bn came from cumulative outflows, the rest from price losses.

* The descent is as fast as the ascent: Nvidia is now only number 3 and again worth less than $3tn.

* Amazon enters elite $2tn club as AI optimism fuels rally. Amazon up ~27% this year, driven by improving growth trends as AI re-accelerates its cloud-computing business. The milestone puts Amazon into an exclusive club of comps worth $2tn or more: Alphabet crossed the level in April, while Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple are all worth north of $3tn.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* Bitcoin plunges 5%+ as funds see most outflows over 2 weeks since ETF approval. Bitcoin investment products saw ~$600m in outflows for a second consecutive week. It is currently trading at $60,890.

* Ethereum has dropped 3%+ over the past week, it is currently trading at $3,365.

* Solana leaped by an impressive 6% this week to over $142 thanks to VanEck pitching the first-ever application for a U.S.-based Solana ETF. It’s a prevalent bullish thesis for altcoin investors, eager for a taste of the Wall Street inflows that Bitcoin ETFs enjoyed earlier this year. And 21Shares followed up with its own Solana ETF filing on Friday, continuing the buzz.

* Alternative runner-up smart contract platforms including Cardano (ADA), Avalanche (AVAX) and Polkadot (DOT) also rose approximately 5.5%, 11%, and 7% respectively.

* The Telegram-linked Toncoin (TON) recovered some of its gains from earlier this month following a steep correction last week, rising over 5% in the last seven days. It has now successfully eclipsed Dogecoin as the 9th largest crypto by market cap.

* Kaspa (KAS)—a top 25 crypto by market cap exploded 23% this week after Marathon Digital announced that it was mining the cryptocurrency.

* Blast (BLAST) was a major focus for traders this week, as the token tied to the Ethereum layer-2 network finally launched alongside a sizeable airdrop that put $354 million into the wallets of users.

* The Solana-based Joe Biden “Jeo Boden” (BODEN) token plummetted 52% in a single day whilst Donald Trump’s, “Doland Tremp” (TREMP) token plunge late Thursday into Friday—though it's still up 13% on the week.

* SEC returns S-1 forms to Ethereum ETF issuers, with at least one more round to go. ETH ETF go-live expected on 4 July.

* On Thursday, Coinbase sued the SEC agency and the FDIC over its handling of FOIA information requests.

* On Friday the SEC sued MetaMask-maker Consensys over the $250m in fees it's collected.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following on our conversation:

* What is financial psychotherapy

* Gender roles and money

* Generational differences in women's financial behaviour

* Childhood influences on money habits

* Money avoidance and crisis points

* Money behaviours and self-sabotage

* Money dynamics in relationships

* Therapy sessions and overcoming financial issues

* How women can engage more with their money

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* 6 ways to give that aren’t about money

* Geriatric millionaires: why boomers keep getting wealthier

* My husband died, and now I can’t access our savings or sell our house

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we share a short excerpt from the interview with Adeo Ressi, CEO of Decile Group, on The Purse Podcast.

Adeo is revolutionising global entrepreneurship and venture capital (VC). As CEO of Decile Group, he helped launch nearly 50% of all new VC firms worldwide in 2023, and he serves as Chairman and Co-Founder of the Founder Institute, which runs startup accelerators in over 300 cities worldwide and has over 7,000 portfolio companies.

We talk about ethical investing, backing female and diverse founders, the changing landscape of VC and startups, the impact of AI on humanity, Adeo’s investment thesis and more+

Listen to the full interview on The Purse Podcast.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Investing in ethical managers to address the world’s most pressing problems

We interviewed Adeo Ressi, CEO of Decile Group on The Purse Podcast.

We interviewed Adeo Ressi on The Purse Podcast.

Adeo Ressi is revolutionising global entrepreneurship and venture capital. As CEO of Decile Group, he helped launch nearly 50% of all new VC firms worldwide in 2023, and Adeo serves as Chairman and Co-Founder of the Founder Institute, which runs startup accelerators in over 300 cities worldwide and has over 7,000 portfolio companies.

He is committed to solving the world's problems by having visionary limited partners back ethical investors to fund pioneering entrepreneurs. Adeo previously served on the Board of the X PRIZE, created the original SAFE note, drafted the Mensarius Oath for ethical investing, and founded companies with over $2bn in exits.

Here is a a short excerpt from the interview:

Jana: “… can you share how your experience as an entrepreneur has shaped your approach and how you support emerging fund managers and founders…”

Adeo response:

Yeah, I think, actually a lot of people say there are two sides of the table, but there's actually three sides of the table.

There's the investors in funds that are called Limited Partners (LPs). They're the people that run the funds that are either Managing Partners or General Partners or different terms. And then of course they're founders. So there's actually three sides of the table and I am now on all three sides of the table.

I have a company, so I'm an entrepreneur. I am an investor as an angel, and I do some venture investing as well, and I'm an LP.

And that holistic view really changes your perspective on the innovation ecosystems worldwide, right? Because what we need to fix the world right now are visionary LPs that really care about things.

Right, we can't just invest in stuff because it's gonna sound cool or maybe makes a lot of money, we need people at the top which are the LPs who are visionary and care about things.

And they need to back ethical managers, ethical Managing Partners, ethical General Partners: they're not investing again only to make money, but they're investing with purpose, with passion.

They care, they want to do things the right way. They don't want to treat founders wrong. They don't want to treat female founders wrong. They want to treat everyone with dignity and respect that they deserve.

And then last but not least, all the way down, you need entrepreneurs that are passionate about problems that are going to make the world a better place.

And if we can line those three things up, then we can really make a dent in fixing some of the fundamental problems that the world is facing today. Because this is a kind of all hands on deck moment for humanity right and we need entrepreneurs that care, we need investors that care, and we need capital sources that care and that alignment is what's gonna change things.

So you know my experiences as an entrepreneur allows me to see all three sides of that equation and see how important alignment between all the stakeholders are, in order to move humanity forward….

Listen here to the full interview.

News in Brief

Financial news

* S&P 500 hit its 30th record this year, defying concerns about high valuations & narrow breadth that could make the market more vulnerable to surprises.

* The 10 largest stocks in the S&P 500 now account for 37% of the market’s total capitalization, far exceeding the prior peak of 26% in 1999.

* Citi downgrades Europe stocks on political turmoil, upgrades US after Stoxx600 underperformed most since the 2023 banking turmoil. Strategists cite political risks as they lower Europe view.

* To put things into perspective: the US currently has a total debt of $34.7tn, $24.9tn is marketable to the public.

* Sterling is weakening on the foreign exchange markets, as traders anticipate that the Bank of England may cut interest rates in August.

* UK inflation falls to 2%: Rachel Reeves warns cost of living crisis is not over, as inflation hits official target for first time in three years.

* Nvidia now accounts for almost 6% of the total US market capitalisation. And Nvidia is now worth more than the entire stock market in France or the UK.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* CryptoQuant noted that the broader crypto market is starting to lose momentum due to a lack of new investor demand.

* Bitcoin chopping sideways below $64,500, notching another 2.6% loss in the last seven days.

* Most momentum-based meme coins like PEPE, DOGE, SHIB, and WIF are all down 5%, 9%, 13%, and 25%, respectively, on the week.

* Bitcoin will soar thanks to failing Japanese banks, says Arthur Hayes. Freshly printed U.S. dollars will be needed, so “buy the fucking dip,” he urges.

* MicroStrategy bought another $786m in BTC this week. Michael Saylor’s software firm purchased another huge sum of Bitcoin, widening its lead as the top corporate holder.

* Spot Ethereum ETF issuers post fee and seed investment disclosures in latest wave of amended filings. The ETH ETF products are expected to launch by July 2. 

* Pantera Capital is raising funds for second TON token investment. The form notes that the minimum investment per backer is $250,000. The firm is currently also raising a $1 billion new crypto Fund V to invest in venture equity, early-stage tokens, special opportunities and liquid tokens.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following on our conversation:

* What is ethical investing

* Backing female and diverse founders

* The changing landscape of VC and startups

* The impact of AI on humanity

* Adeo Ressi’s investment thesis

* How to encourage more women to invest in the startup ecosystem.

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* 6 Common Leadership Styles — and how to decide which to use when

* No dating apps, no dates, no exes, no hookups: what’s driving the ‘boy sober’ trend?

* We should embrace our inner goddess – but let’s not create another test for women to fail

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we highlight the top paid women CEOs in the S&P 500, but only 25 women are included in the list, and men continue to significantly out earn women at the most senior level.

Even though studies show women outperform in 17 out of 19 leadership skills, they are up against gender bias and discouraging trends including the “glass cliff’.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Top paid women CEOs, women in leadership and the “glass cliff”

Out of 341 CEOs included in the AP’s annual compensation survey, only 25 are women in the S&P 500, as per The Associated Press.

Shocking, right?

But this is the highest number of women making the list since the AP survey began in 2011. The second highest tally of women CEOs was in 2017 ie 7 years ago.

This includes CEOs at S&P 500 companies who have served at least two fiscal years at their companies, which filed proxy statements between Jan. 1 and April 30, 2024.

However, overall trends are discouraging. And according to Christy Glass, a professor of sociology at Utah State University:

“We’ll see a year where there’s kind of a banner year of women CEOs,” she said. ”But then a year or two down the road, we’ll see a significant turnover.”

The median pay package for female CEOs rose 21% to $17.6m. That’s better than the men fared whose median pay package rose 12% to $16.3m.

However, the highest paid men still make far more than the highest paid women.

Broadcom CEO Hock Tan raked in $161.8m — the vast majority of that in stock awards.

In contrast, Lisa Su, CEO and chair of the board of chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices, was the highest paid female CEO in the AP survey, with a total compensation worth $30.3m.

The others in the top five highest paid female CEOs include:

* Mary Barra: General Motors-

* total compensation of $27.8m

* Jane Fraser: Citigroup

* total compensation $25.5m

* Kathy Warden: Northrop Grumman Corp.

* total compensation $23.5m

* Carol Tome: UPS Inc.,

* total compensation $23.4m

Gender bias is embedded in the cultural and social fabric of our society.

And women are up against systemic bias in the workplace, which only becomes more pronounced the higher up you go.

The gender pay gap is therefore significant at the C-suite level.

Women in leadership and the “Glass Cliff”

In the first quarter of 2024, CEO appointments and departures worldwide reached a record high.

There were 52 departures and 68 new appointments among corporations listed on global stock markets such as the FTSE 100 and S&P 500.

But women CEOs are 4x as likely to leave their position in under a year.

That's 24% of women CEOs leave within a year, compared to 10% of men.(Data from Russell Reynolds Associates).Here's why:-Studies show that companies in turmoil are more likely to appoint women to leadership roles. This represents far more 'risk of failure' for women CEOs.

-The board usually signals 'change' and 'transformation' to investors by hiring a woman CEO. But male CEOs are not labelled with the same. (LSE research)

- Women face harsher scrutiny and criticism, with less support. Especially during a market downturn.

-A board which lacks gender diversity, will flip back to 'what they know' and 'what they are comfortable with' ie a male CEO.

-Women's authority is more likely to be undermined, because she challenges gender stereotypes. See "The Authority Gap" by Mary Ann Sieghart.

-Senior level women are leaving due to micro-aggressions, promotion gaps and 'the burden of overseeing diversity and inclusion programmes'. (Leanin & McKinsey research).

However, studies show women outperform in 17 out of 19 leadership skills, leading to better team retention and build better company culture.

This leads to greater profit. Women are good for business.

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

* #119: Pink Chip Index: challenging investor bias against female CEOs with Grace O'Brien and Sam Rowlands

* #120: The double X economy, the cost of sexism and what to do about it with Professor Linda Scott

News in Brief

Financial news

* Big Tech is eating the world: the outperformance of Nasdaq 100 vs Nasdaq 100 Equal Weight burst higher again extending a remarkable trend.

* The US labour market looks completely schizophrenic. While the Establishment survey by BLS reports 272,000 new jobs for May, the Household survey shows a large drop in the number of employed, down 408,000 jobs.

* ECB cuts rates by 25bps as expected despite higher inflation projections for 2024 and 2025. Main rate now at 4.25%

* Halifax’s latest house price index, just released, shows that average prices were little changed month-on-month in May. The average house prices slipped to £288,688 last month, a 0.1% drop compared to £288,862 in April.

* Roaring Kitty’ YouTube livestream fails to lift GameStop stock as shares tank by ~40%. Gamestop had announced before the livestream to dump 75m shares into the recent meme mania, just days after completing a 45m share offering.

* Nvidia becomes third member of $3tn market value club as AI rally steams ahead. Stock rallied 147% this year, adding about $1.8tn. Chip giant passed Apple in market cap, is now 2nd most valuable public company.

* To put things into perspective: the market cap per employee of Nvidia has hit almost $100,000,000.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other top cryptocurrencies plunged in price suddenly Friday afternoon, yielding a still-growing pile of liquidations that includes almost $300m worth of long positions.

* Bitcoin dipped from a price above $71,000 to under $69,000 in a matter of about 40 minutes, while Ethereum plunged from $3,800 to under $3,650. Both coins are starting to rebound.

* Looks like Bitcoin is a potential beneficiary of Trump. Trump has been very pro-crypto in recent months.

* Friday: the Solana-based BONK had fallen 9% over the past hour to $0.00002745, showing a 16.7% decrease in price over the past day. Dogwifhat and the Ethereum-based Pepe had each fallen 13% during that same span.

* The Bitcoin-based BRC-20 token ORDI had increased 1.7% over the past day, while the decentralized storage protocol Filecoin’s native token had increased around 1% to $6.03.

* Arthur Hayes says crypto bull market is 'reawakening' amid BOC and ECB rate cuts.

* Silicon Valley courts Trump in latest crypto campaigning push: report. Trump raised $12m from a San Francisco fundraiser that saw prominent crypto leaders in attendance.

* Arbitrum DAO votes to approve $215m gaming ecosystem fund proposed by Arbitrum Foundation.

Coffee Break? Read This

* No equality for working women in any country in the world, study reveals

* Power, patriarchy, victimhood, denial: three experts on why men hurt women

* I got married knowing I didn’t want children, and that my husband felt the same. Then he had a change of heart

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on Melinda French Gates’ announcement on Tuesday that she will be donating $1bn to women and girls over the next 2 years.

We highlight why this is important and how Melinda has decided to allocate the money over a two year period.

(Re) listen to The Purse Podcast interview with Nicole Sykes, who leads Pro Bono Economics' communications and influencing work in the UK. We discuss how women and women with wealth are reshaping the charity sector.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Melinda French Gates is backing women and girls by donating $1bn

On Tuesday, Melinda French Gates announced that she would be leaving as Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which she co-founded almost 25 years ago.

And she embarks on a new chapter in her philanthropy: to donate $1bn in new spending to women and girls over two years, as per her opinion piece in The New York Times.

This is the second billion-dollar commitment Melinda has personally made in the past five years.

Why focus on women and girls?

Because ‘the second the global agenda gets crowded, women and girls fall off’. And Melinda has been a gender advocate for nearly 20 years.

***

Melinda follows on the heels of billionaire philanthropist, MacKenzie Scott, who has donated $16.5bn since her 2019 divorce from Amazon's Jeff Bezos. And this year has more than doubled her previously planned donations for the year to $640m.

Why is Melinda donating $1bn to women and girls?

* In the US, only about 2% of charitable giving in the United States goes to organisations focused on women and girls. And only about 0.5% goes to organisations focused on women of colour.

* Decades of research on economics, well-being and governance make it clear that investing in women and girls benefits everyone.

* Economies with women’s full participation leads to GDP growth and economic resilience.

* Women’s political participation leads to decreased corruption

* Reducing the time women spend in poor health could add $1tn to the global economy by 2040.

* And yet, around the world ‘women are seeing a tremendous upsurge in political violence and other threats to their safety.’ And in ‘many low-income countries.. the number of acutely malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women is soaring’.

* ‘In the US, maternal mortality rates continue to be very high, with Black and Native American mothers at highest risk. Women in 14 states have lost the right to terminate a pregnancy under almost any circumstances. The US remains the only advanced economy without any form of national paid family leave.’ And teenage girls’ mental health is under threat.

This is how Melinda’s $1bn donation will be allocated:

* $240m will be devoted to partnerships with a diverse group of 12 global leaders.

* Each leader will be provided with a $20m fund to distribute to charitable organisations they consider to be doing urgent, impactful and innovative work to improve women’s health and well-being in the US and around the world.

* $250m will be awarded through an open call, launching later this year, with Lever for Change to identify organisations working to improve women’s mental health and physical health worldwide.

* $200m in grants aimed at supercharging the work of organisations that are fighting the US to advance women’s power and protect their rights.

Overall, Melinda has received $12bn from Bill Gates for her philanthropy.

Teresa Younger, the president and CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women, who also received a grant, has said:

"If philanthropy took lessons from the way that women are moving money, we would see more money in the field having greater impact..”

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

* #109: How more wealth in the hands of women will reshape the charity sector with Nicole Sykes

News in Brief

Financial news

* Hang Seng Tech Index, the benchmark for Chinese tech stocks listed in Hong Kong, down 10% from May high, entering correction territory.

* China’s economic miracle is ending, leaving President Xi Jinping with a challenge none of his predecessors faced: how to govern after the boom.

* On Friday, software stock prices dropped: iShares Tech Software Sector ETF finished -5.8% (biggest daily drop since the pandemic with Salesforce down 20% (worst session in ~20 years), UiPath -35%, Okta -6%, Mongo DB -24%.

* US liquidity has increased for the third week in a row. This also explains the recent winning streak on the Nasdaq 100 and the crypto rally.

* US Q1 GDP growth was slower on soft consumer spending. The US economy expanded at 1.3% pace versus initial estimate of 1.6%. Consumer spending was lower on outlays for goods like autos.

* Eurozone's inflation rose faster than expected in May ahead of ECB meeting. Overall CPI accelerated to 2.6% in May year-on-year, up from April's 2.4%. Even worse: downtrend in core inflation reversed with core CPI ticked up to 2.9% in May from 2.7% in April.

* UK house prices return to growth as market ‘shows signs of resilience’.

Rate more than doubles to 1.3% in May and average property price rises to £264,249, Nationwide says.

* Nvidia is now worth $2.8tn after the recent rally, a whole $300bn more than the German stock market. (Nvidia rises to $1,000+ per share in all-high following blowout numbers and 10:1 stock split announcement).

* To put things into perspective: the bulk of the S&P 500 performance came from the 5 tech heavyweights Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Nvidia. The tech combo gained 27% YTD.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* The price of Bitcoin broke above $70,000 on Monday but is now trading for $68,000+.

* It looks like bitcoin is a potential beneficiary of Trump. Trump has been very pro-crypto in recent months.

* In a historic first, Donald Trump is now the first U.S. President to ever accept Bitcoin Lightning Network payments.

* Ether turned positive, gained 0.3% after SEC approves 8 #Ethereum ETFs including BlackRock and Fidelity. But ETF issuers must have their S-1 registration statements go effective before trading can begin. It's unclear how long this process will take but some analysts are speculating that it could take weeks.

* Ethereum's price currently stands at $3,810 according to CoinGecko. Analysts did say that the coin was due a bull run soon, though.

* President Biden vetoes pro-crypto resolution, defends SEC's judgement. The White House said the bipartisan-passed bill would “jeopardise the well-being of consumers and investors.”

* Trump ethereum meme coin price hits new high after post-verdict dip. The token's price has nearly doubled over the last week, up more than 84% during that span and pushing its 30-day gains to 274% as of this writing.

* Sahil Arora, a promoter who works with celebrities to launch crypto projects, launched a meme token with Caitlyn Jenner. The Solana-based project sent crypto Twitter into meltdown on its launch. The token, JENNER, has since plunged and is trading at a big loss since its launch.

* This helped drive up other meme coins including Dogwifhat and FLOKI are both big winners this week, having surged by 15% and 14%, respectively.

* Crypto exchange Gemini said Wednesday that it will pay out over $2bn worth of digital assets to customers of its Earn lending program.

Coffee Break? Read This

* Dame Shirley Conran obituary

* Women paying up to £8,000 for private midwives amid frustration at NHS care

* ‘I just want to be equal’: female angler takes on elite men-only flyfishing club

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we highlight a short excerpt from the interview with Professor Linda Scott on The Purse Podcast.

Linda Scott is Emeritus DP World Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, University of Oxford, as well as a visiting professor at Brown University where she teaches gender and economics. 

We talk about sexism, the gender pay gap, the UK Equality Act, women in leadership, male allies, female entrepreneurship, why women stabilise economies and how do we put a stop to sexism?

Listen to the full interview on The Purse Podcast.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

The Double X Economy and the cost of sexism

We interviewed Professor Linda Scott on The Purse Podcast: we talk about the Double X Economy, sexism, women in leadership, male allies, women in entrepreneurship and why women stabilise economic growth.

We interviewed Professor Linda Scott on The Purse Podcast.

Linda Scott is Emeritus DP World Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, University of Oxford, as well as a visiting professor at Brown University where she teaches gender and economics. 

She is the author of The Double X Economy, a 2020 book that deeply documents the worldwide and historical pattern of women’s economic exclusion and makes a passionate argument for the economic and humanitarian reasons to eliminate this destructive inequality. 

Recognised as an outstanding work of science and economics, the book has been translated into 14 languages. Scott continues her work as a gender consultant for a wide range of major world institutions, such as USAID and the World Bank.

Here is a a short excerpt from the interview:

Jana: “…And I think women reach a point where they think, you know what? I'm just going to start my business. I'm fed up of this. I'm going to do things my way. I'd rather take a 50 percent pay cut, start my own business, get away from all the nasty sexism, politics, what have you, but be in control of my destiny, then hang on within this very toxic culture….”

Linda’s reponse:

Right. I think in the research they don't ever ask that question, but it is my opinion that that is the primary driving factor.

Women do show entirely different reasons than men do. Or substantially different reasons than men do for starting a business I think. And I can completely understand why women want to do that.

However, I teach a course on gender economics and entrepreneurship at Brown University and have done that for quite a while. And.. I saved the entrepreneurship until almost the end of the class. And the reason I tell them on the first day is all the sexism, economic sexism, we're going to learn throughout the course of this term is going to come home to roost every bit of it when we get to entrepreneurship.

… You not only get discrimination in terms of investment, discrimination in terms of customers, in terms of suppliers, you still have to deal with sexism in your own workplace. And it's very, very high risk for anyone, male or female.

Now nations really need for women to start more businesses. (The) UK being very much in that category.

And so, it does have a very, very negative impact on economies because it very much retards growth, but also when they innovate, they tend to innovate more to the market.

And, mind you, then the number one reason why startups fail is because the market doesn't want whatever it is.

 But women are more likely to innovate in a way that their thing is they look to the market and they say this fits in the market, right?

And so there it's a very different kind of fit. And they're more realistic about, both the upsides and the downsides of entrepreneurship and investment than men are.

So we do, we go more to a high risk strategy- intrinsically, when we go always after the male model of entrepreneurship, if we include in a dignified way, the way women run those startups.

…It's much more stable way for an economy to be built.

It also is the case that because of the variety of innovation that women bring to entrepreneurship.

 The IMF shows that, economies as a whole are much more resilient in a downturn if they have a good base of female owned businesses.

And the thing is about the women and senior leadership, there's also a lot of research there to show that product performance, financial performance, all kinds of things are, better when you have mixed teams.

But it's also true that accountability and transparency is better.

Risk management is better if you have mixed teams.

And I don't think this is because women are, somehow being more noble…They are more attuned to the long term, they're more attuned to the environment, social damage, things like that.

But it's really because you have the mix, right?

Because the men bring something that's valuable.

Sometimes you have to take risks, right?

So the men bring something that's valuable, but the combination of them kind of brings some fresh air in, let some sunshine in, makes people do their due diligence with more emphasis.

And so I think that's why. You know, as a whole businesses do better and societies do better where those are more balanced…”

Listen to the full interview here on The Purse Podcast.

News in Brief

Financial news

* China’s economic miracle is ending, leaving President Xi Jinping w/a challenge none of his predecessors faced: how to govern after the boom

* US liquidity has increased for the third week in a row. This also explains the recent winning streak on the Nasdaq 100 and the crypto rally.

* US 2 year yields jump as Fed minutes show higher rates still on table.

* Pound surges as summer rate cut hopes vanish. Traders have drastically reduced bets that the Bank of England could begin cutting interest rates over the summer after inflation figures came in higher than expected in April.

* UK inflation falls by less than expected to 2.3%, reducing chance of June rate cut. Drop in April is smaller than forecast but level is still lowest in almost three years.

* UK house prices in first annual rise since June; rents up 8.9%. Average home prices climbed by 1.8% in March, the first annual increase since last June, according to the Office for National Statistics.

* Solar stocks are rallying, with a boost from China. China's Solar Industry Group calls on members to crack down on low-price competition to stop a price war. Invesco Solar ETF (TAN) jumped almost 9%.

* Nvidia rises $1,000+ per share in All-time high following blowout numbers and 10:1 stock split announcement.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* ETH ETF is approved by the SEC. Ether turned positive, is now trading for $3,792, a more than 20%+ seven-day jump. after SEC approves 8 Ethereum ETFs including BlackRock and Fidelity. But ETF issuers must have their S-1 registration statements go effective before trading can begin. It is unclear how long this process will take but some analysts are speculating that it could take weeks.

* Analysts at Standard Chartered predict a surge in Ether prices to $8,000 by the end of 2024 if an ETF is approved.

* Bitcoin rode off the back of the ETH approval rumours on Monday and passed the $70,000 mark for the first time in more than a month.

* Number of new Bitcoin wallets drops to lowest level since 2018. Only an average of 275,000 addresses were added to Bitcoin network each day in the past week, compared to 625,000 6 months ago. Bitcoin nevertheless rises by 2% in the ‘Everything rally’ to ~$67.5k.

* Other coins and tokens have risen over the past week, with Chainlink, Avalanche, and Bitcoin Cash making gains of 4.8%, 3.1%, and 3% respectively.

* Dogecoin is the best-performer out of the top assets, having jumped by 7% in one week.

* Yuga Labs will 'no longer touch' CryptoPunks amid new collection backlash. ‘Super Punk World’ is a 500-piece collection developed in collaboration with artist Nina Chanel Abney, who has been criticised for ‘diluting’ the CryptoPunks brand.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in this conversation with Professor Linda Scott:

* What is sexism?

* UK: The Equality Act -how effective is it?

* Financial services industry: the 'Sexism in the City' report

* How sexism shows up for women:

* the gender pay gap, the motherhood penalty, women in leadership and as women entrepreneurs

* Men becoming allies

* Startups: female founders vs male founders.

* Investing in AI vs fixing organisations for women

* Economies grow by investing in women.

Please listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* I feel the strongest I’ve ever been. Menopause hasn’t slowed me down

* Meryl Streep: it’s ‘hardest thing’ for men to see themselves in female characters

* I stopped chasing the Hollywood vision of female friendship – and embraced the person I am.

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we spotlight the interview on The Purse Podcast with Grace O’Brien and Sam Rowlands, creative leaders at AKQA and co-founders of Pink Chip:

a collection of indices which measures the outperformance of women-led companies against global benchmarks such as the S&P 500.

The aim of the Pink Chip Index is to prove how economically powerful female leadership is, and how much gender bias is hurting women and investors.

Listen to the full interview here.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Pink Chip: investing in women CEOs makes money for investors

We interviewed Grace O’Brien and Sam Rowlands, creative leaders at agency AKQA, to talk about the launch of Pink Chip and the Pink Chip Index.

(Image source: generated by ChatGPT).

Women CEOs generate superior returns for investors.

And the data backs this up.

But only 7% of CEOs are women. And when a female CEO is appointed to a publicly listed company, the stock price drops by 2-3%. Why? Gender bias.This is not only hurting women, but investors are losing money too.

***

Grace O’Brien and Sam Rowlands, creative leaders at AKQA, decided to do something about it.

They launched Pink Chip: a collection of indices which measures the outperformance of women-led companies against global benchmarks such as the S&P 500.

The aim of the Pink Chip Index is to prove how economically powerful female leadership is, and how much this bias is hurting women and investors.

It tracks 44 women-led US publicly listed companies. And benchmarks these against the S&P 500 and TM Large, the male equivalent of the criteria, to show how much better they are doing.

The Index helps to focus investors attention on the data, not on the CEO’s gender.

Bear in mind, this isn’t just another DEI initiative.

The Pink Index is an investment tool which highlights the strong performance of women-led companies.

It's about making money for investors.

Check out these jaw-dropping stats:

The Pink Chip Index has outperformed traditional indices with a 184% increase over four years, beating the S&P 500 by 80%+

What companies make the cut?

* companies with women CEOs

* $2bn market cap

* 8% annual growth over 3 years.

***Sam Rowlands shares how she initially came up with the concept, on The Purse Podcast:

"It all started with this (competition) brief that really got under my skin: 'How do we get more women to invest?’

It annoyed me because, let's face it, women are already better investors. So, I decided to flip the brief on its head.

Instead of focusing on getting women to invest more, why not create a category of female-led companies you could invest in and put that on an app?

Plus women are more likely to invest in what they know, trust, and align with their values personal goals, like climate change.”

She goes on to say:

“We pitched the concept to financial services companies multiple times, but it never seemed to be the right time, or it was too difficult to get off the ground…”

But Sam and Grace doubled-down: they were determined to bring this concept to life. They reached out to Thematic, an indices and financial calculator company and they loved the idea.

This gave Sam and Grace the momentum they needed:

“It was like: 'Screw it, we're doing it ourselves.'

If no one else was going to let us make it, we'd do it on our own."

According to Grace:

"It was actually really freeing to just decide to go for it.

We believed in the idea and knew it had to be made. Not pitching it out anymore and just making it ourselves was probably the best decision we made. It was tough, but addressing market bias was our goal, and taking control of the project was key."

"We're not a financial company, so being able to tackle this as a story-led initiative was quite interesting. It's lovely to have such a strong brand story.

It's not just an Index on a website; it's a narrative that influences and encourages people. There are other index products out there, but what makes Pink Chip unique is our storytelling and branding.

We're advocates, raising awareness and changing behaviour."

And here they are: proving that female-led companies not only perform well, but outperform traditional indices.

“It’s about showing the financial world that investing in female leadership is not just a moral choice, but a smart financial one”.

Listen to the full interview on The Purse Podcast.

News in Brief

Financial news

* Dow Jones Industrial Index blew through a new historic milestone: 40,000. (The Index needed 908 trading sessions to hit 40,000, much shorter than the 999 sessions it took to first reach 30,000 from 20,000).

* The next meme thing to ride? Silver rises to $30.5/oz, highest level since 2013.

* Dollar rally falters as falling inflation raises hopes of rate cuts. US currency on track for first negative month of the year after end to months of above-forecast CPI data.

* US core inflation cools for first time in 6 months in relief for the Fed and financial markets. April core CPI (excl food and energy costs), increased 0.3% from March MoM after +0.4% MoM previous month.

* US: May Fund Manager Survey (FMS) sentiment is at the most bullish level since Nov’21, BofA says. The average cash level of FMS investors fell to 4.0% of AUM from 4.2%, lowest since Jun’21.

* Three UK banks announce cuts to cost of fixed-rate mortgages. Barclays Bank, HSBC and TSB reveal reductions, reversing some of price rises seen in recent weeks.

* GameStop is trying to profit from the retail investor hype. May sell up to 45m shares of class A stock through “at the market offering.” Shares crash another 27%.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* Bitcoin has returned to over $66,000, marking its best week since the early days of March.

* Ethereum price rallies above $3,100 after unexpected regulatory victory. The document stated that “Ethereum is a decentralised blockchain […] without the need for a trusted intermediary” and added, “No central actor runs the Ethereum Network.” These statements boosted Ether investors’ confidence.

* Daniel Cheung, co-founder of Syncracy Capital, expressed confidence in the strength of Solana (SOL) and its potential to reclaim the $200 mark.

* ShibaSwap 2.0 goes live on Shiba Inu’s Layer 2 blockchain. Shiba Inu’s ecosystem has been among the most active in the past year or so, and this week marked the migration of the native decentralised exchange to Shibarium in the form of ShibaSwap 2.0.

* Morgan Stanley reveals $269 million investment in Grayscale’s GBTC. Publicly listed US giants had to disclose their financial activities during the first quarter of the year in separate filings to the US SEC.

* Wisconsin State £164m BTC investment could cause chain reaction from other States. One of the other notable and perhaps surprising names on the BTC bandwagon list was the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB).

* CME Group plans spot Bitcoin trading amid rising Wall Street demand. CME Group, a traditional finance giant that has a rich history with the cryptocurrency industry, is reportedly looking into entering the spot Bitcoin trading market.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in this conversation:

* Investor gender bias

* The outperformance of female CEO leadership

* The Pink Chip Index -why we need it

* The journey to launch

* The criteria used for the Pink Chip index

* Performance vs standard indices

* The impact on promoting gender diversity and inclusion

* What's next for the Pink Chip?

* What do companies need to do to be included in the Pink Chip Index?

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* Protesters, pop stars and pioneers: 38 images that changed the way we see women (for better and for worse)

* ‘I felt like I was losing my mind’: how to keep your career on track during menopause

* Meryl Streep: it’s ‘hardest thing’ for men to see themselves in female characters

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we highlight a talk by Ali Crossley who is a Managing Director of Distribution at Legal & General. She focuses on the barriers that hold women back in the financial services sector and what can be done to change that.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

“Helping women achieve their full potential is good for us all..”

Ali Crossley, MD at Legal & General talks about what holds women back at work in the financial services services sector, and what can be done about it.

Ali Crossley, Managing Director of Distribution at Legal & General, outlined three barriers for women in the workplace:

* the authority gap

* the achievement penalty

* and the menopause scrapheap. 

Speaking at the Women in Protection conference in early May, Ali explained what we know only too well:

“Helping women doesn’t just mean that things only get better for women or that men have to lose out in some way… Helping half of our workforce achieve their full potential is good for us all…”

But because our culture regards authority as a male quality, rising through the ranks becomes much more difficult for women.

Women also face an achievement penalty. Their success is more likely to lead to relationship breakdown or divorce. Male partner stress goes up when women earn 40% or more of the total household income.

And menopause can ‘hit women hard’.

But without the support required at work, the highly experienced senior female talent pool will opt out or underperform. The menopause currently costs the UK economy 14m working days every year.

And 1bn+ women globally will be in menopause by 2025.

The data says it all…

…helping women reach their full potential will make businesses 25% more likely to earn above average profits. Not to mention add 14m of the otherwise lost working days in the UK economy.

Ali called for more support of gender equality in the workplace; she wants to:

“… see more men challenging their own biases and supporting their partners through the achievement gap..”

But ultimately, it is the CEO and executive team in every business which must be held responsible for building a workplace which works for both men AND women.

Continuing to apply a ‘male only lens’ in an environment which employs a growing number of women, especially into senior roles, renders it inadequate.

This is one of the reasons many women decide to start their own business or seek flexibility via a ‘portfolio career’.

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

* The menopause: an underserved market

* #32: the menopause, Gen M, and how businesses drive change with Heather Jackson

* #59: the menopause and how the female brain gets stronger and better in midlife with Dr Louann Brizendine

News in Brief

Financial news

* Global debt rose by $1.3tn to a new ATH of $315tn in Q1 2024. Moreover, after 3 consecutive quarters of decline, global debt-to-GDP resumed its upward trajectory in Q1 2024. Emerging market debt topped $105tn in Q1 2024, w/largest increases coming from China, India, Mexico.

* The FTSE 100 is set to close at another record high after the prospects of a summer interest rate cut grew larger. 

* The ratio of the Magnificant 7 vs the S&P 493 (S&P 500 ex Mag 7) has just hit another ATH.

* Liquidity is the biggest driver of risk assets, particularly growth assets, crypto and technology trades more or less in lockstep with US net liquidity.

* Stanley Druckenmiller gives Biden's economic policies an 'F,' blames the Fed for reigniting inflation.

* Bank of England keeps interest rates at 5.25% but hints at a June cut. Policymakers say they want to see more evidence that price pressures are easing before reducing rates.

* UK economy exits recession with fastest pace of expansion in two years of 0.6%. This growth surpassed economists’ expectations of 0.4% and reversed the 0.3% contraction observed in the final quarter of 2023.

* Berkshire Hathaway’s cash pile hit another record at $189bn as billionaire investor Warren Buffett sold ~13% of its stake in Apple in Q1 2024. Buffett said he didn’t mind amassing the cash and said it could reach $200bn by the end of Q2

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* Most cryptocurrencies are down this week, as the price of Bitcoin and other major coins and tokens struggled to gain ground.

* Bitcoin is now trading for $60,730, according to CoinGecko—a seven-day drop of more than 3%+.

* Ethereum struggled more than other major cryptocurrencies, dropping by close to 7%+ over the week. It's now priced at $2,906. The asset has been gradually declining since a high-profile lawsuit by software company Consensys alleged that the SEC was deliberately trying to make things difficult for those in the Ethereum sphere.

* Solana-based Bonk is down nearly 15%, trading for $0.00002342. Dogwifhat, which also runs on Solana, took a dip of more than 7% over seven days. It's now priced at $3.12.

* Coinbase can't force the SEC to write new rules, SEC argues in new brief. The SEC's filing argues that it's unreasonable to call existing digital asset regulation "unworkable," and denied that a whole new regime is needed,

* ARK Invest and 21 Shares cut staking component from latest spot Ethereum ETF filing.

* Mark Cuban slams SEC's Gary Gensler, says 'crypto voters will be heard' in the 2024 election

Coffee Break? Read This

* Compliments – why can’t we just accept them?

* The hot years: the truth about what happens during menopause – and the best ways to get through it

* Soya, nuts and yoghurt: the diet tweaks that can ease the symptoms of menopause

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we spotlight the interview with Rachel Cook, who is the Founder and CEO of Seeds. It is a Web3 startup which allows contributors to build their wealth through crypto by giving.

After working as a stock trader and encountering gender discrimination, Rachel decided to start building a new economic ecosystem which values women’s contribution.

Listen here to the full interview on The Purse Podcast

****

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Seeds: build wealth with crypto by giving

We interviewed Rachel Cook, Founder and CEO for Seeds about the new economic ecosystem she is building in Web3.

Seeds is a Web3 startup which turns the existing economic ecosystem on its head.

Rachel Cook, who runs and founded the startup, used to be a professional stock trader in Chicago and Wall Street until the misogyny forced her to quit.

She did all the right things:

* attended a good university

* received good grades

* and eventually got a job as a trader.

Growing up, she was told she would be rewarded for her achievement.

But at 24 years of age, she discovered she was paid a lower base salary than all the men who had started with her. Despite having more for-profit trading experience.

This was the first time she bumped up against sexism in the workplace. Why was she being devalued within the system?

But she managed to outperform all the men on her team anyway. And received a much larger bonus.

However this forced her to question the design of the system itself.

Why was it that if she made a dollar, it meant someone else had to lose that dollar by design?

“It was this manufactured sense of zero sum”.

And this didn’t make sense because “money is not scarce”. Money is everywhere and governments continue to print money.

There are 180 different fiat currencies in the world generated by governments plus add crypto into this ‘money equation’.

It didn’t take long for Rachel to start waking up to the misogyny baked into the entirety of the financial system.

And she started thinking about building a new economic ecosystem.

The context for Seeds:

We should have a system that brings yin and yang, masculine and feminine energies, present in people of all genders, into balance which contributes to making healthy individuals and healthy societies.

The current economic system overly prioritises toxic masculine energies. We chase productivity at all times.

And it is about continual linear growth, which isn't the way things work in nature. We move through cycles in nature.

It devalues divine feminine traits, like nurturance and creativity. These values do not really have a place within the current economic system.

For this reason, Rachel wants to make sure she speaks to women and to make sure women are acknowledged and feel heard.

“If you're a woman, you've experienced discrimination because that's what this world does to us. And that has to be acknowledged and addressed”.

Also, speaking in terms of energies that impacts all of us, could be a more useful way to frame conversations so that they don’t become about identity.

Moreover, the design of capitalism dictates…

… that those who have more money can make more money passively. If you don't have that money, you can't do it.

So part of the design of Seeds is meant to prevent other people from having that experience. You can redeem a SEED to ask for help when you need it and receive those funds in thanks.

What is Seeds and how does it work?

Seeds is meant to present an alternative economic ecosystem and which doesn't ignore and devalue feminine contribution.

It is a global, digital giving circle in Web3.

So anyone who would like to help someone in need through Seeds can do so as easily as you would give to a charity on any site. It's just a donation, but it is called a contribution because Seeds is not a non-profit.

A user will need to have one SEED to redeem; to ask for help. You can receive a SEED by helping someone else in need and then you'll receive SEEDS in thanks.

Anyone can make a gift to someone in need through the Seed site.

The aim is to have ‘giving people’ to hold SEEDS so that they benefit, when and if the cryptocurrency markets go up and in that way, giving is a net neutral for the contributor because it does not cost anything.

And it can be for literally anything you need it to be so long as it is legal…

A SEED has been redeemed to fill up a tank of petrol. And SEEDS paid for a cornea surgery for a young man who had gotten into a car accident in Nigeria. And they helped pave the area around a well in South Sudan…

Listen to the full interview with Rachel Cook

News in Brief

Financial news

* Stocks and bonds rally following soft US jobs data. Hiring slows to 175,000 jobs in April way below the forecasted 240k+, lowest figure since October 2023’s +165k+.

* US Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady as inflation ticks up. Fed announces it will keep interest rates at 5.25% to 5.5% as rate of inflation remains above target of 2%.

* The US Fed to slow pace of balance-sheet runoff starting in June. Central bank to lower Treasuries runoff cap to $25bn, from $60bn. Reduction was larger than market observers had expected. This will inject ‘liquidity’ into the market.

* Traders pull forward first US rate cut to September from November following soft US jobs data. Price in 2+ cuts this year.

* UK will be worst performer in G7 next year, OECD forecasts. UK constrained by high interest rates, price rises and staff shortages but thinktank offers optimistic outlook for global economy.

* S&P affirms Tesla 'BBB' rating; outlook stable although free cash flow fell to -$2.5bn in Q1 2024 from +$2bn in Q4 2023.

* The AI boom is set to drive a rally in what's traditionally the most boring corner of the stock market: utilities. Utilities to see booming demand as more data centers go online.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi

* Bitcoin plunged almost 16% in April, most since FTX collapse in November 2022 as Crypto ETF flows are reversing as Fed rate-cut hopes fade. The price of Bitcoin is now at $63,700.

* US Bitcoin ETFs see highest daily outflow. Investors pulled $564m from Bitcoin ETFs on Wednesday. The current lull is likely to be followed by a new wave from a different type of investor. The coming months could see financial institutions such as sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and endowments start to trade in the spot ETFs.

* Meme coins continued their run, with Ethereum-based Pepe striking big gains and Solana-based Bonk having a good week too. Despite a bumpy seven days, they are up over 20% and 15%.

* Other alts, like Ordinals-based ORDI and Toncoin, started a rally on Friday. ORDI is now priced at $41, a 24-hour jump of 10%, and Toncoin at $5 is up 9%.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in this conversation:

* Why did Rachel transition into crypto and Web3?

* Context: what is Web2 vs Web3?

* Bitcoin halving and the crypto market

* Seeds: building a new economic ecosystem based on abundance

* The challenges of being a female founder

* What is the future of Seeds?

* How do more women engage in Web3 and invest in crypto?

* More+

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* Saudi Arabia activist sentenced to 11 years in prison for ‘support’ of women’s rights

* Becoming a mother was impossibly hard during Covid. Has anything changed since?

* A moment that changed me: I made my own wedding dress – and learned to embrace imperfection

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

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

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

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

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

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

You can listen to the full interview here.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sharon also got a call from President Bush.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Listen to the full interview with Sharon Lechter.

News in Brief

Financial news

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in this conversation:

* The importance of financial education

* Women's relationship with money

* What are the three biggest financial challenges for women?

* What is the money mindset?

* How money works for women

* Building financial resilience

* Creating multiple streams of income

* Investing in crypto and digital assets

* More+

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* Why career transition is so hard

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

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

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

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

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Tennis star Serena Williams invests in 14 unicorns

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wise words, Serena.

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

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

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

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

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

News in Brief

Financial news

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

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

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

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

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

Coffee Break? Read This

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

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

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

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

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

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

Listen to the full interview here.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

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

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

We interviewed Pierre Rolin on The Purse Podcast.

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

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

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

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

Pierre Rolin:

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

So there are vacuums…

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

News in Brief

Financial news

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in this conversation:

* Why Pierre started Ankh Impact Ventures

* Investing in female and diverse founders

* Investment thesis- patient capital

* Female pitch competitions

* Female founders are a better investment

* Why male investors need to back women.

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

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

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

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

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

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

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

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Solving the funding issue for female founders

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meanwhile, a new taskforce was announced…

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

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

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

According to Debbie Wosskow:

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

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

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

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

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

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

News in Brief

Financial news

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Coffee Break? Read This

* Garrick Club asked to consider membership for seven leading women

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

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

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

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

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

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

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Thousands of women are owed pension payout

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

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

Women’s pension claim

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

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

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

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

Angela Madden, the chair of Waspi, said:

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

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

Funding your retirement

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

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

What next? Donate to the Waspi women here.

News in Brief

Financial news

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in this conversation:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* Beyond burnout

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

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

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on a recent study in Norway which suggests that traditional gender patterns and stereotypes in financial investments persist in the crypto sector: men are more than twice as likely to invest in cryptocurrencies compared to women.

However, this highlights a need (and an opportunity) for further education and support for women regarding crypto and how to invest.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Study: how willing are women to invest in crypto?

Despite the initial promise of gender equality in cryptocurrency investment, significant disparities persist 15 years after Bitcoin's introduction.

A recent study conducted in Norway, a country known for its advanced gender equality, shows that men are more than twice as likely to invest in cryptocurrencies compared to women.

However, this highlights a need for further education and support for women regarding crypto and how to invest.

As we are at the start of the next crypto bull market (until the end of 2025 or early 2026), women have an opportunity to start learning about crypto, develop their investing skills and grow their net worth.

Here are some key crypto stats (UK)

* 11% of Brits (5.6m people) have invested in cryptocurrency as of 2024.

* Two-thirds (66%) of Brits who have invested in cryptocurrency are men, while around a third (34%) are women.

* 9% of UK millennials have invested in cryptocurrency.

* 70% of crypto investors are aged between 18 and 44. Almost half (47%) of Brits who invested in cryptocurrency bought Bitcoin.

* In 2024 (UK), around 1 in 7 men (14.5%) have invested in cryptocurrencies at some point in their lives compared to around 1 in 15 women (7%).

For context, research published in 2021…

…by Gemini (UK) suggests that investing in crypto is becoming more diverse, and specifically women are engaging as investors.

Out of the 13.5% of 2,000 respondents that are current or previous cryptocurrency investor, 41.6% were women. This represents a significant shift where women made up just 21%–22% of crypto investors.

And even though only 15% of Bitcoin traders were women, this was up from 10% in 2020.

Study Overview

* The research, published in Psychology & Marketing, aimed to understand the attitudes towards cryptocurrency investments among adults in Norway, focusing on gender, financial knowledge, and personality traits.

* Findings reveal a low overall willingness to invest in digital currencies, with a marked gender difference: 12.5% of men vs. 5.6% of women.

Psychological Mechanisms and Personality Traits

* Researchers investigated the influence of psychological mechanisms and personality traits on the willingness to invest in cryptocurrencies.

* Key traits examined included financial self-efficacy, overconfidence, emotional stability, extroversion, curiosity, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.

* Notable gender differences: men demonstrated higher ‘financial mastery’ and women displayed greater overconfidence.

Gender Differences in Personality Traits

* Gender differences extended to other personality traits: men were found to be less social, agreeable, and conscientious but scored higher on emotional stability.

* These findings align with other research on personality traits.

Impact on Investment Willingness

* Financial overconfidence, more prevalent among women, correlated with a higher willingness to invest in cryptocurrencies.

* Conversely, men, scoring higher in financial mastery and lower in agreeableness and conscientiousness, showed a more positive attitude towards cryptocurrency investments.

Implications and Actions

* The study suggests that traditional gender patterns and stereotypes in financial investments persist in the cryptocurrency sector.

* It highlights a need for further education and support for women regarding cryptocurrency investments.

Reference

* Nyhus et al., "Crypto cravings: Gender differences in crypto investment intentions and the mediating roles of financial overconfidence and personality," Psychology & Marketing, 2023. DOI: 10.1002/mar.21921

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

* #45: Why women need to design, build and invest in crypto and Web 3.0 with Fiona O'Donnell McCarthy

News in Brief

Financial news

* Money-market fund assets rose to a fresh record high on expectations short-term rates will remain elevated for longer. Total assets rose to $6.108trn from $6.077trn the week prior.

* US 10 year yields jump almost 10bps to 4.29% after another inflation disappointment. Producer Prices for Feb ran hot, w/headline +1.6% YoY, up from +1% in January and above the consensus forecast of 1.2%.

* It looks like the markets (at least the option markets) perceive inflation as more sticky than the Fed.

* Looks as if retail investors shifting from gold to bitcoin. Bitcoin funds saw an inflow of $10.6bn YTD vs. an outflow of $7.6bn for physical gold ETFs. But, according to JP Morgan, this outflow trend does not reflect an aversion to Gold by private investors such as individuals & family offices but rather an instrument shift away from physical Gold ETFs to bars & coins.

* Nvidia posts 10th straight weekly gain, longest on record, BBG has calculated. The chipmaker rose 0.4% this week. The stock has gained nearly 80% over the 10-week rally.

* Reddit aiming for $6.5bn valuation from New York flotation. Company plans to raise up to $748m from sale of 22m shares, some of which have been set aside for users.

* Tackling inequality vital for next century of growth, IMF head says. Kristalina Georgieva invokes John Maynard Keynes as she says fostering fairer economy would raise living standards ninefold.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Monday: Bitcoin topped $72,000 for the first time and on Thursday morning Bitcoin nearly touched $74,000, surpassing the market cap ($1.4trn+) of silver. The cryptocurrency has surged amid strong demand and ahead of its halving event in April. Bitcoin will 'eat' gold, MicroStrategy's Michael Saylor says.

* Bitcoin retreated from its latest record high amid intensifying debate about whether the latest bull run in cryptocurrencies is evidence of speculative froth in global markets. Bitcoin has dropped below $66,000, down 11% from ATH.

* Bitcoin’s tumultuous Thursday apparently caught traders unawares, with the token’s sudden plunge triggering nearly $300m worth of BTC-specific liquidations in 24 hours, and over $800m worth of liquidations across the broader crypto market. 

* Ethereum plummeted off yesterday’s dim inflation news, to $3,457 at writing. In a trend parallel to that of BTC, more than $100m worth of ETH long positions were liquidated in the aftermath, along with over $30m worth of short positions on the token.

* Layer 2 blockchains become cheaper after ethereum's Dencun upgrade. The upgrade allows layer 2 solutions to store data in "blobs" instead of the expensive call data.

* The Solana price marked new yearly highs at $197.95. Currently, the price has dropped below $190 but has sustained within the key-resistance levels between $175 and $196.28. Until the SOL price sustains within the range, the traders may remain bullish on Solana, which may smash a new ATH above $300 very soon. 

* SHIB has witnessed a decent downturn this past week, shedding 21% of its value, despite a 26.8% increase in the preceding two weeks and a 177% upswing over the last month.

* ‘Maybe I should buy some Bitcoin’, Bill Ackman, the founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, sparked a lively discussion within the cryptocurrency community with a hypothetical scenario where the price of Bitcoin could escalate dramatically.

Coffee Break? Read This

* Are progressive politics the real reason why US lawmakers are spooked by Tiktok?

* As I slide into my ninth decade there are many things I regret, and some days the list is endless.

* I feel for women misled over egg-freezing. If I’d believed doctors during my transition, my kids wouldn’t be here

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

We hope you had a chance to celebrate International Women’s Day!

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on research by Boring Money which highlights the growing gender investment gap in the UK. Although women’s risk aversion and lack of money confidence is often used to explain why women invest less than men, we know the reality is far more complex.

And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with David Fogel. We talk about angel investing, why we need male allies, how to eradicate ‘bad behaviour in VC’, investing in female founders, raising capital as a female founder and how to build a startup investment portfolio.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Women, money and the gender investment gap

According to investment research house Boring Money, the gender investment gap rose by £54bn to £567bn between January 2023 and January 2024, as reported by the Financial Times.

More men than women, aged 25-44 years, have invested their money over the last 12 months. And the disparity in investing has become even more pronounced for 18-25 year olds.

Overall, just 19% of women aged 25-44 were investors, up a mere 1% from January 2023. And the average amount held by male investors is £102,000, compared with £66,000 for women.

The survey also highlighted that only 18% of women preferred a higher risk pension compared to 33% of men.

Moreover, female investors keep 29% of their assets in cash, compared with 25% for male investors. This means women lose out on compound interest and equity growth overtime, which limits how fast their net worth can grow.

Cryptocurrency investing

According to HM Revenue & Customs, 13% of men own cryptocurrencies compared with 6% of women. This may also explain why more than twice as many men invest aged 18-25 years of age, than women.

Women, risk and money confidence

And whilst this can suggest that women are less tolerant to risk, overall research shows that women are in fact risk-aware, as opposed to being risk averse.

A lack of confidence is also cited as a reason why women may be investing less than men. But the reality is far more complex.

Social and gender norms dictate that ‘money making’ continues to be the domain of men. Women tend to be exposed to far less education and information regarding investing. And they often feel alienated by an industry dominated by ‘white bros’ chasing alpha, speaking in technical jargon few understand or can relate to.

Gender bias and parental conditioning continues to play into how girls and women are talked to about money and investing (if at all), not just in the home, but also by the financial services industry.

The gender pay gap also means that women have less money to save and to invest. And if women decide to start a family, they are more likely to take a career break, work part-time which impacts their income level.

If follows that women are in fact exposed to far more financial risk over the course of their life than men.

Which is why women should be investing more money, more often and taking on far more (calculated) investment risk.

Crucially, their financial plan should look very different to a man’s.

What next? (Re) listen to The Purse Podcast

* #86: How women manage risk as investors, at work and in life with Michele Wucker and Barbara Stewart

* #93: How women can become financially independent with Holly Morphew

* #102: Why is money a taboo topic for women, gender norms, how to 'break the money silence', and what is a financially successful life with Kathleen Burns Kingsbury

News in Brief

Financial news

* Jeremy Powell says the US Fed is ‘not far’ from the point of cutting interest rates.

* On Tuesday: bad day for fiat money: not only has Bitcoin reached an ATH today, Gold is also trading at a record high.

* ECB’s Christine Lagarde signals June rate cut with 2% inflation in sight. Markets agree and price in 97bps cut for 2024.

* Gold has hit another record, but the volume of gold ETFs keeps falling. This indicates that demand is not coming from private or institutional investors, but that other players are stocking up on the precious metal.

* Goldman's CIO says don't invest in China. This chart shows why: over the last 30 years the MSCI China index has posted a total return of 0%.

* UK Budget: see here for a summary

* UK interest rates: the latest Monetary Policy report says rates are expected to remain around 5.25% until autumn 2024 and then decline gradually to 4.25% by the end of 2026.

* UK to have first parliament in modern history with fall in living standards, says thinktank. Household incomes on course to fall despite national insurance cuts in budget, says Resolution Foundation.

* In Friday's intraday reversal, Nvidia has lost $250bn of market cap in 2 hours.

* Morgan Stanley warns Tesla could lose money this year. Adam Jonas is the latest analyst to raise some concern with Tesla and slash price target. In the bear case, the share could fall to $100.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* On Tuesday, Bitcoin briefly passes $69,000 to hit new record price for first time since November 2021. And on Friday, reached an new all-time high at $70,105. This is remarkable, considering that the coin was trading for below $17,000 in January 2023.

* Ethereum hit $4,000 for the first time since 2021. Over seven days, it has soared by 13% and the price of ETH stands at $3,894.

* Shiba Inu jumped nearly 135% over the week.

* Dogecoin had a very good week—it nearly doubled in price. It has since dropped and is now priced at $0.1749. It touched $0.19 on Monday, and the Elon Musk favorite is still up over 27% the past seven days.

* Solana, rose above the $150 price point on Friday for the first time since January 2022. The token behind the Ethereum-competing blockchain is now up more than 13% over the past week and is priced at $145.82.

* Bitcoin transaction volume skyrockets as the halving approaches and miners cash in.

* SEC Chair Gary Gensler skirts questions about agency's stance on spot ETH ETFs.

* Coinbase shares top $250 direct listing price for the first time in over two years. Up more than 350% in the past 12 months, Coinbase surpassed its initial direct listing price of $250 for the first time in more than two years.

* Bitwise says Coinbase tech issues similar to Facebook's past, bitcoin ETFs unlikely affected.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in this conversation:

* Angel investing: US vs UK

* Male allies and eradicating 'bad behaviour' in VC

* Investing in female founders

* Gender bias in VC

* Raising capital as a female founder

* How to build a startup investment portfolio

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* How men can confront other men about sexist behaviour

* The Women’s prize for fiction is a success – now it has a nonfiction sister

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

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

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

It’s good to be back!

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on a recent survey by Ellevest (US) which centres on women being the beneficiaries of ‘The Great Wealth Transfer’ in this decade.

In the UK, women will own the majority of private wealth by 2025-which is less than one year away.

And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with Chloe Lin. We talk about how to start investing and the secret of building a rich life.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Survey: women’s money confidence will continue to surge in this decade

According to a recent survey by Ellevest, the imminent transfer of wealth to women will not only make them more affluent, but women will become more confident about money.

This goes against outdated money myths and stereotypes which claim women lack money confidence and ‘find investing too risky’.

Crucially, women will continue to reshape our society in ways which reflect their values and goals.

What is the Great Wealth Transfer?

Baby boomers have built historically unmatched wealth. The good news is that women will be the primary beneficiaries as they outlive their partner, followed by Millennials and Gen Z.

By 2030, it is estimated that women will manage $30 trillion of private wealth, which is more than the GDP in America.

In the UK, women will own the majority of private wealth by 2025, which is now less than one year away.

And according to the Ellevest survey, women will experience a significant boost in their financial confidence.

Here is a summary of the key findings:

* Receiving a financial windfall increases women’s confidence 1.8 times — from 45% reporting that they’re confident with money, to 81%.

* And it means that they become more confident about their ability to manage their money than even men are (at 77%).  

* 77% of women giving or receiving a financial windfall say they're comfortable talking about money with their families.

* About 1/4 of women who have received or expect to receive a financial windfall say they're likely or very likely to leave their partner when or if they receive a financial windfall. That’s ~2x more than women who don’t expect to get a financial windfall. 

What is interesting to note is that ‘more Gen Z and Millennial women stated that receiving a financial windfall would make them (or made them) feel “powerful” versus women from older generations’.

What next? (Re) listen to:

* #104: Why every woman needs a financial plan with Kristine Beese

* #109: How more wealth in the hands of women will reshape the charity sector with Nicole Sykes

* #110: (Repost) Closing the gender wealth gap with Vicky Pryce and Victoria Ross

News in Brief

Financial news

* “The Casino Crowd” is back across markets with soft echoes of 2021. Speculative stocks, crypto rise as retail traders embrace risk. Bearish investors get punished as most-shorted companies rally.

* S&P 500 makes history. It has now advanced for 16 of the last 18 weeks. The last time that happened was in 1971, shortly before the end of the Bretton Woods system. Achieving 16 out of 18 positive weeks is also be a joint record since the index’s creation. (via DB)

* Global debt surged by $15tn+ in 2023 reaching a new record high of $313tn. 55% of this rise originated from mature markets, mainly driven by US, France, & Germany. BUT global debt-to-GDP ratio saw a decline of ~2ppts to 330% in 2023, acc to IIF. This marked the third consecutive annual drop.

* Eurozone CPI slowed less than anticipated in February, highlighting stickiness in inflation. Headline inflation eased to 2.6% YoY in Feb, above 2.5% consensus estimate in BBG survey.

* Bonds are “safe”? Think again, they have also had large, extended drawdowns, UBS Yearbook shows.

* UK interest rate cut ‘remains some way off’, says Bank of England chief economist. Huw Pill needs to see more compelling evidence that the underlying persistent component of UK CPI inflation is being squeezed.

* UK house prices rise for first time in more than a year as mortgage costs drop. Average cost of a home increased to £260,420 in February, up by 1.2% on a year earlier, says Nationwide.

* The UK stocks to watch ahead of Chancellor Hunt’s Spring Budget. Retail and leisure, homebuilders, NatWest shares in spotlight. And British ISA could boost demand for wider London stock market.

* There is no better teacher than history in determining the future, Charlie Munger once said. If that is the case, investing is a no-brainer. Just put your money into an S&P 500 ETF.  The US has been the best-performing of the major stock markets over last 124yrs. After inflation, it's generating returns of 6.5% per annum, according to UBS Yearbook 2024. Globally, stocks over 124 years have generated an inflation-adjusted return of 5.1%.

* Berkshire’s cash hoard jumped to a record at $167.6bn in Q4 as Warren Buffett struggled to find deals at attractive valuations: “There remain only a handful of companies in this country capable of truly moving the needle at Berkshire, and they have been endlessly picked over by us and by others.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* The combined value of the cryptocurrency market has jumped to around $2 trillion for the first time on almost two years on the back of the ETF-fueled rally in Bitcoin.

* The price of Bitcoin reached as high as $64,000 on Tuesday, (currently, it is trading at $61,666): a seven-day jump of more than 21%+. The newly approved Bitcoin funds trading on Wall Street are wildly popular - especially BlackRock's- and are experiencing record inflows and trading days.

* Ethereum also surged in price. ETH is now priced at $3,400. It's up 18% over seven days as its network approaches its long-awaited Dencun upgrade.

* Solana jumped to a 22-month high on Thursday but is now slightly below that level, trading for $126.92, a seven-day rise of 30%.

* Shiba Inu, the 19th biggest digital asset, has shot up by nearly 50%.

* Smaller memes stole the show, though, with Pepe in particular making astronomical gains—the Ethereum-based coin has shot up by 200% over seven days and is just 14% below its all-time high.

* Dogwifhat outperforms memecoin market after Robinhood Europe listing. The Solana-based dog-themed token is up nearly 30% over the past 24 hours.

* Minecraft-based crypto project NFT Worlds charts comeback with node sale and rebrand.

* SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce slams regulator's 'unproductive' approach to overseeing crypto.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in this conversation:

* Why investing in relationships is the key to a richer life

* Money mindset and money habits

* How Chloe invests her money

* Difficult but important investing lessons

* How do Millennials and Gen Z think about investing?

* And how do we encourage more women to invest?

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* Looking back over previous generations of revolutionary feminists, 1976

* Abused, raped, ignored: how ‘invisible’ female British military veterans are fighting back

* How many more women will die as UK police forces ignore sex offenders in their ranks?

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on the rising childcare costs in the UK/US, and how this continues to impact women who bear the burden of childcare.

But change is afoot in the UK-read on for more.

And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with Roxane Sanguinetti and Marla Shapiro. We talk about the introduction of the new financial thresholds for high net worth individuals and how this disproportionately impacts women, ethnic minorities and female-founded startups.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Childcare costs are rising and women continue to bear the burden

Rising inflation is pushing childcare costs to levels never seen before.

But governments around the world are not doing enough. And women are being forced to opt out of work, reduce their hours which means they lose out on promotions.

All of which impacts how much personal wealth women can grow over time. And how much money they have available for their retirement, despite living longer than men and with poorer health.

Also referred to as the motherhood penalty:

* a mothers's salary falls by approximately 40%+

* ten years after having a child (UK).

Conversely, men who are married with kids get a wage bonus of 21%+ (according to TUC study).

Study after study shows that increasing female participation in the workplace promotes GDP growth, reduces levels of inequality and poverty. However women continue to bear the burden of childcare because it is so expensive.

The average day care fees went up 6% in 2023 from the previous year, according to mobility company ECA International, as reported by Bloomberg.

In the US, an estimated $237bn a year vanishes due to women paring back their workloads to care for kids. In the EU, that number is around €242bn ($255bn).

And some women have fewer children or decide to have none at all, simply because of the expense. Many are now being forced to return to the workplace, limiting flexible or remote working.

OECD data shows that parents in the UK spend on average 29% of their household income.

However, the UK government has started to make inroads:

…all working parents with children under the age of five should be able to access 30 hours of subsidised child care a week by September 2025, when the full measures will be implemented.

Whilst childcare affordability is an issue, so is the low take up by fathers of shared parental leave. This was estimated at only 2-8% in 2019.

Societal and gender norms continue to influence who takes up the majority of childcare.

What next?

* Report: UK women are priced out of work by the cost of childcare (plus the low take up of shared parental leave by fathers)

* Re-read our blog post The GDP measure: and why we need to move beyond it

* Re-listen to The Purse Podcast with Anam Parvez Butt, Head of Research for Oxfam GB on why the GDP measure is damaging to women and how to move beyond it.

News in Brief

Financial news

* China rout continues w/CSI 300 down >1% after Apple's shocking China sales numbers.

* S&P 500 plunged 1.6%, the biggest decline since September, after Federal indicated March rate cut unlikely and on underwhelming Tech earnings.

* Assuming Nvidia meets estimates, the Magnificant Seven generated $523bn in sales during 4Q, +14%YoY. Revenue growth for remaining 493 S&P 500 stocks was a comparatively paltry 2%.

* Dollar gains and US yields jumped on huge US jobs data beat. US NFP at 353k way above the estimated 185k, wages came in hotter than expected +4.5% year-on-year vs +4.1% expected. Unemployment rate held flat month on month at 3.7%.

* Meta shares jump 10%+ to fresh ATH of $443 after blowout numbers and buyback boost by $50bn + initiates quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share.

* It was only a couple of years back Meta suffered single biggest market value destruction in stock market history. Now stock rose 20%, gain added $197bn to its market cap, biggest single-session market value addition, eclipsing $190bn gains made by Apple and Amazon in 2022.

* Bank of England sticks with 5.25% interest rate but hints at coming cut. Inflation forecast to temporarily fall below 2% in May as policymakers’ vote on base rate splits three ways.

* UK looks increasingly isolated in its anti-crypto ETF stance: Spot bitcoin exchange-traded products are already available in the US, Europe, Australia, Brazil and Canada.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin, ethereum end the week strong after a rocky start. The price of bitcoin is now $42,778.

* The price of ethereum, dropped earlier in the week—facing bigger losses than BTC—before making gains. Ethereum (ETH) is now up a meager 2% over the week and is trading hands for $2,289.

* Over the past week, it's one of the biggest gainers, the price of Solana jumped by more than 10% for the week ending yesterday. It's now trading hands for $96.48

* Bitcoin 'Power Law' predicts $1m BTC price by 2033. Bitcoin's price is a ‘force of nature’ that scales over time much like a city, according to this astrophysicist.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in this conversation:

* Angel investing: how Roxane and Marla got started

* Why invest in female founder startups

* The difference between an angel network and an angel syndicate

* The changes to the Financial Promotions Exemptions

* How women and ethnic minorities will be disproportionately impacted

* How can we encourage more women to invest in the startup ecosystem and back female founders?

* More+

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* My life with Shere Hite: the forgotten feminist who changed sex for ever

* Does having babies really make women more productive? I felt as if I had been dismantled

* Young women are turning their backs on body positivity. It’s time we all stopped obsessing about how we look

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we spotlight homeownership (US) of single parents and the impact on their net worth, compared to single non-parents. And we highlight homeownership data for women in the UK.

And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with David Hayman, Campaign Director for Make My Money Matter. We talk about investing with your values and how to make your pension green!

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Why single parents have more wealth and female home ownership in the UK

According to a survey from the Federal Reserve (US), single parents are richer, or have a higher net worth, than single non-parents, as reported by Axiom.

This is despite single non-parents earning more than their counterparts with children (from 2013-2022). It makes sense that parents seek certainty when they have children, and buying a home enables this stability.

Whilst single parents homeownership remained steady at 50% from 2007, single non-parents fell to 29%.

In 2022, the median single parent was worth $50,750 (almost three times the $18,023 of nine years previously), in contrast to the single non-parent with assets valued at no more than $20,900.

As the value of assets have gone up during this period, single parent homeowners have in turn become more wealthy.

With more social pressure on parents to own, they acquire an asset which goes up over time.

Having said that, single non-parents who do not own a home, can grow their net worth by investing in other asset classes like equity or even crypto like Bitcoin.

The question is, why don’t they?

***

In the UK, only 33% of all mortgaged owner occupiers are women (data to 2020).

By contrast, the majority of social renters are women (58%) while private rentals to women come in at 40%, as per Saville’s data.

And the number of female mortgaged owner occupiers has barely changed, rising just 2.7% since 2011 (to 2020).

According to new research by property technology company iPlace Global, it takes a London woman 5.3 years longer than her male counterparts to buy a property in the capital.

Even before they’ve had children, the average woman’s income is 16% less than that of a man and she saves 35% less on average.

But homeownership has changed for middle-aged and older women. This may in part be a result of divorce or inheritance.

And the data shows that retired women tend to be more property rich, with 3.3m women over 70 owning their homes outright – approximately 40% of all outright ownership in the UK. 

As per the FT Advisor: as women get married later on in life, are in senior roles with an increasing salary over time, this might lead to a sharper spike in mortgaged and outright female ownership in the years to come.

News in Brief

Financial news

* Nasdaq Golden Dragon index jumps almost 5% on China PM Li Qiang’s order to calm markets and a fresh stabilisation fund. But China’s boldest plan yet to stem current stock market rout is facing a wall of skepticism

* India’s stock market has overtaken Hong Kong’s for the first time in another feat for the South Asian nation whose growth prospects and policy reforms have made it an investor darling.

* Tuesday: the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 closed at fresh ATH, but the Nasdaq 100 has consistently outperformanced the S&P 500 over the last 20yrs.

* The S&P 500 surpassed 4,867: the average level where forecasters in a Bloomberg survey pegged it 11 months from now. Ed Yardeni is getting nervous about the speed of S&P 500’s rally.

* Borrowing from the Fed's emergency lending programme rose to a fresh record, just before Fed raised the facility’s interest rate to stop financial institutions from taking advantage and arbitraging on its attractive terms. Demand for Bank Term Funding Program rose $6.3bn to an ATH of $167.8bn.

* US 4Q GDP grew 3.3%; above all estimates, following the 4.9% Q3 clip.

* Europe is building its own Magnificent Seven. Rally in megacaps SAP, ASML, Siemens, TotalEnergies and LVMH boosts Euro Stoxx 50 to highest since 2001. Diversification by sector and geography seen as tailwinds.

* Eurozone M3 money supply growth turned positive at the end of the year. M3 Money Supply rises 0.1% YoY in December, the first rise since June of last year. Analysts expected a 0.7% fall.

* ECB's Lagarde says rate cut debate is premature. Says she stands by her comments on ECB rate-cut timing summer. Markets price 1st cut for June.

* Jeremy Hunt has room for £20bn tax cuts after borrowing halves year on year. December deficit is less than expected at £14bn – the lowest for the month since 2019.

* Tesla shares plunged 12% in worst trading day since 2020 after automaker warns of slowdown.

* There are now seven companies in the Trillion Dollar Club again. Meta has passed the $1tn mark, and Microsoft is now worth $3tn for the first time ever.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Monday: Bitcoin fell below $40,000 for first time since early December as enthusiasm over launch of ETFs that directly invest in largest cryptocurrency ebbs. Bitcoin price has since bounced back above $42,000, causing spike in short liquidations.

* Ethereum (ETH) was a big loser, dropping to $2,186 on Tuesday and never really recovering, logging an 8% loss over the week. It’s now trading for $2,264.

* ETH’s drop came following the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision to delay ETH ETF proposals from both BlackRock and Grayscale. 

* Solana (SOL) took a beating. It was, at the start of the week, one of the worst-performing cryptocurrencies. It has since picked up and is trading for $92.60, a more than 1% seven-day rise. 

* Dogecoin (DOGE)—the original meme coin and 11th biggest cryptocurrency—pumped at the start of the week over speculation that it might be used for payments on Twitter, it slowly drifted back to where it started.

* Bitcoin's price gains push BlackRock's ETF above $2bn in assets under management.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in the conversation:

* The organisation: Make My Money Matter

* Where do banks and pensions put our money?

* How to make your pension green?

* How do we become more active and hold non-green businesses to account?

* More+

Please enjoy! You can listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* Improving women’s health ‘could add at least $1tn a year to global economy’

* ‘Horrifying numbers’ of women and girls will die because of UK aid cuts, say MPs

* ‘I had to find a way to survive’: ultrarunner Sabrina Pace-Humphreys on racing, racism and learning to love the outdoors

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on new legislation (UK) being introduced on 31 January which will negatively impact female investors in the startup ecosystem.

But there is an option for women to qualify as a ‘sophisticated investor’ if they do not meet the financial threshold as a high net worth investor. Read on!

And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with Vicky Pryce and Victoria Ross about closing the gender wealth gap. We decided to repost this interview from early 2023 as it is an important one.

Here’s to women continuing to build their personal wealth. Please enjoy!

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

New legislation (UK) negatively impacts female investors. But women can qualify as 'sophisticated investors' instead

From 31 January, the annual income and net assets thresholds for high net worth individuals will increase making it more difficult for women investors (UK).

On January 31, new legislation will be introduced which will negatively impact female investors.

As reported by The Times, the annual income and net assets threshold used to define what it means to be a high net-worth individual, will increase. The changes are as follows:

* the annual income will increase from £100,000 to £170,000

* and the net assets threshold, will also increase from £250,000 to £430,000 (excluding primary residences and pensions).

According to the Treasury, this is the first time in more than 20 years the threshold has been increased. And (this) is in line with inflation to:

“…ensure exemptions from the financial promotions regime apply only to those who are ‘high-net-worth’ or ‘sophisticated…’

In a Linkedin post, UK entrepreneur Emma Sinclair MBE shared the research carried out by Marla Shapiro from HERmesa Angel Syndicate and Roxane Sanguinetti from Alma Angels, which concluded that the changes to the Financial Promotion Exemptions will result in making early-stage investing in the UK more white, more male and more London-centric.

In the UK, only 14-17% are female angel investors, compared to 33% in the US.

Accredited high net worth individuals in the US need to earn $200,000 in annual income in the last two recent years (or $300,000 with a partner), which equates to approximately £157,000.

Or their individual net worth, or joint net worth with that person's spouse or partner, needs to exceed $1,000,000 (excluding the person's primary residence), which equates to approximately £787,000.

And as we know, it is not easy for women to raise capital for their startups…

…only 2% of VC funding goes to female founders. For this reason, women are more likely to rely on angel investors for funding.

Therefore raising the annual income and net assets threshold may not only deter women investors in the UK, but it will reduce the number of existing women investors who are allowed to invest.

The change comes into force nearly two years after…

… the Treasury ran a consultation into proposed changes to the Financial Promotion Order exemptions for high net worth individuals and so-called ‘sophisticated’ investors.

Whilst the UK Business Angels Association was consulted, it remains to be seen who else was involved in this ‘consultation’ process and to what extent female investors and their views were taken into account.

Women can qualify as ‘sophisticated investors’ instead

If a female investor does not meet this financial threshold, she can still qualify as a ‘sophisticated investor’, assuming she has been a member of a network of business angels for more than 6 months.

We interviewed Gillian Fleming, Co-founder and CEO of Mint Ventures to discuss this (back in July 2022).

By joining, female investors can take a 6 month (online) angel investing course, which will qualify them as a ‘sophisticated investor’.

This in turn will allow women to invest in the startup ecosystem.

So good advice for female investors: seek out angel networks or female angel networks which offer a 6 month angel investing training course.

News in Brief

Financial news

* Davos: Argentina’s Javier Milei says west ‘in danger’ in fiery Davos speech. Libertarian leader accuses international organisations of embracing ‘collectivism’.

* China’s economy spooks markets, and stocks sink. The CSI 300 has underperformed the S&P 500 by >40ppts over the year.

* Wall Street returned to record heights to cap a punishing 2 year round trip dogged by high inflation and worries about a recession that seemed inevitable but hasn’t arrived.

* The S&P 500 rallied 1.2% to 4,839.81. It erased the last of its losses since setting its prior record of 4,796.56 at the start of 2022.

* The value of global bonds has dropped by almost $500bn this week as US 10-year yields have jumped 4%+ again.

* The Red Sea's inflation threat: The disruptions in the Red Sea have roiled global supply chains and pushed up freight costs.

* Use of Fed funding tool jumps most since April to fresh record: Banks borrowed record sum of $161.5bn from Fed's Bank Term Funding Program.

* UK inflation unexpectedly rises as cost of tobacco and alcohol increases. Surprise uptick to 4.0% complicates forecasts of interest rate cut, while FTSE slumps 1.5%.

* UK housing market sees ‘respite’ as mortgage rates ease. Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors says falling inquiries from new buyers approaching a ‘flatter trend’

* Oxfam warns of first trillionaire. The 5 richest men saw their fortunes rise by 114% between Mar 2020 and Nov 2023, Oxfam found. This elite group's net worth rose to $869bn from $405bn between 2020 and 2023, the organisation said - translating to $14m an hour.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Little over a week since the launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF), and the crypto markets are suffering.

* Bitcoin has shed more then 10% since the ETF launch and continues to hover around $41,000 as Grayscale's fund dominates spot ETF volumes. (Last week, it closed at $49,000).

* Bitcoin ETFs now hold nearly $4bn in assets, with Fidelity and BlackRock’s ETFs neck-and-neck for the top slot, according to preliminary data shared by Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas. 

* Meanwhile, Ethereum (ETH), has lost 8% of its value in the past week. It's now priced at $2,466.

* Solana (SOL) has shed over 7% of its value in the past week and is priced at $92.38.

* While Avalanche (AVAX) is down by more than 14%, trading hands for $32.82.

* Wall Street's top regulator on Thursday pushed back its deadline for a decision on Fidelity's proposed spot Ethereum ETF to March 5, leading to a price dip in the asset.

* Trump dips into bitcoin Ordinals as his NFT ambitions fizzle. The 2024 presidential hopeful’s latest project involves 200 NFTs inscribed on the Bitcoin blockchain.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in our conversation:

* What is the gender wealth gap?

* Why is closing the gender wealth gap important?

* How do we close the gender wealth gap?

* How can women manage their money to protect and grow their long term financial wealth?

* How can women engage more in long-term investing?

* What can the government and employers do to close the gender wealth gap?

* What books, blogs or podcasts can inspire or educate women on how to invest?

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* Why have I so little memory of my daughter’s birth?

* A moment that changed me: my husband and I split up – and I started walking 15,000 steps a day

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we highlight new research by Columbia University which has calculated the penalties for motherhood (US). Drawing on two decades’ worth of earnings and employment data for hundreds of thousands of families, the research is the most statistically powerful of its kind.

It follows that the motherhood penalty accounts for the vast majority of the gender earnings gap. So what are the solutions? Read on..

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

New study (US): women earn 50% less after having children

Researchers from Columbia University calculate the true cost of motherhood.

Researchers from Columbia University have calculated the true cost of motherhood (US), as reported by Columbia Magazine.

Drawing on two decades’ worth of earnings and employment data for hundreds of thousands of families, the research shows that women’s wages fall by 50% after having children and their wages remain low for many years after.

The study, by Columbia economist Douglas Almond and graduate student Yi Cheng ’20GSAS, along with Cecilia Machado ’10GSAS of Fundação Getulio Vargas’s Brazilian School of Economics and Finance, is the most statistically powerful of its kind.

Whilst previous studies have shown that mothers lose earnings largely because they work less, either dropping out of the labour force or reducing their hours, the Columbia researchers have identified new insights:

* Even women who were breadwinners before having children, tend to pause their careers and endure huge income losses afterward.

* One of the largest motherhood penalties in ‘female-breadwinner’ families, where higher-earning women experience a 60% drop from their pre-childbirth earnings relative to their male partners.

* Women are less likely to switch to a higher-paying firm post-childbearing than men and are substantially more likely to quit the labour force.

* Strikingly, women out-earning men in the United States are insufficient to alter the within-couple dynamic so as to generate fatherhood penalties, as rudimentary economic theory would predict.

* Women are more penalised in firms where the leader is a woman ie the firm’s ‘female-friendly’ gender characteristics do not protect female employees from the motherhood penalty, nor do they create a more ‘family-friendly’ working environment as we might expect.

* We suspect the gendered culture and social norms surrounding parenting would need to change if the large motherhood penalties are to be eliminated.

* While challenging, changes to established norms are not unprecedented and may hold more promise in reducing the motherhood penalty than proximate policy tools, like “family-friendly” worker policies.

* The motherhood penalty accounts for the vast majority of the gender earnings gap.

According to Almond, this undercuts a theory that many economists have used to try to explain the motherhood penalty in the past, which states that couples strategically decide to have the lower-earning partner:

The data suggests that many dads who ought to be stepping up and taking charge of the childcare, for the economic well-being of their families, aren’t doing so…

In her own research, Jane Waldfogel, a Columbia professor of social work and public affairs, ‘has shown that many women, if given the opportunity to stay at home with their baby for six to twelve months and then return to their jobs, choose to take it, thus maintaining their careers and avoiding significant wage loss.’

She also adds that: another priority should be to provide universal access to high-quality, publicly subsidised childcare….’where both women and men are able to contribute their full talents to society and the economy’.

The UK has the largest motherhood penalty out of all OEDC …

…countries at 40%, which is in line with the US. According to a report by consultancy PwC, women continue to be priced out of work and suffer from a growing gender pay gap because families can not afford childcare in the UK. What follows is often less career advancement and lower pay in a woman’s career.

Based on the PwC report, net childcare costs represented almost a third of the income of a family on the average UK wage, compared with as little as 1% of income in Germany.

However, whilst childcare affordability is an issue, so is the low take up by fathers of shared parental leave. This was estimated at only 2-8% in 2019.

What is clear is that societal and gender norms continue to influence who takes up the majority of childcare.

And this in turn affects women’s career trajectories and earnings; how much they can save and invest in order to grow their personal wealth.

Therefore, women must become intentional about their money and finances from the beginning.

They must focus on protecting and growing their personal wealth even before they embark on having children; in fact, especially so. Crucially, this applies to who they select as their life partner.

The right life partner will not only play an active (equal) role in looking after the children, but they will engage in open and honest conversations about money, financial planning and how to invest from the get-go.

So what are the solutions to the motherhood penalty?

* Affordable childcare

* US: increase maternity (& paternity leave) from 12 weeks to 6-12 months

* A redesign of parental leave policies to support a ‘dual earner-dual carer model’

* An effective Equal Paid Parental Leave system in the UK

* And fathers taking more parental leave.

News in Brief

Financial news

* The Red Sea's inflation threat: the disruptions in the Red Sea have roiled global supply chains and pushed up freight costs. The Houthis have pledged a “big” response to airstrikes. Iran wins either way with US airstrikes on Houthis in Yemen.

* Mind the gap: Taiwan Semi is trading at a political discount, which is unlikely to narrow after the election of the China-critical candidate Lai Ching-te.

* To put things into perspective: Japan's Yen is 46% undervalued vs the Euro when measured by Big Mac Purchase Power Parity.

* US inflation ran hotter than expected on both the headline and core. Headline CPI climbed 3.4% YoY, a 30bp acceleration vs +3.1% in Nov (above Street’s +3.2% forecast). 

* Economists: UK still at risk of technical recession. Several economists are warning that the UK could have slid into a technical recession at the end of last year, even though the economy grew by 0.3% in November.

* The "multipolar world" will remain a major topic in 2024 as the rewiring of the global commerce system creates geopolitical risks & business model shifts that will last decades. The Dollar’s & Euro's share in global CenBank reserves dropped.

* While it's true that a record high 58% of American households do own stocks via mutual funds or as individual shares, in the aggregate the amount of stock most of these folks own is tiny. The wealthiest 10% of U.S. households now own nearly 93% of the stock market.

* The head of JP Morgan has warned of the risk of disruption from wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.

* Nvidia hit fresh ATH after the chip company unveiled new products and partnerships at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

* Microsoft dethrones Apple as most valuable stock in the world. Windows software maker’s value last topped Apple in 2021. The stock has gained 3.3% in 2024, adding $92bn in value.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* SEC approves the spot bitcoin ETF: bitcoin trades at $46k while ether jumps 9% to $2,500.

* The nine spot bitcoin ETFs (including BlackRock, Fidelity, Bitwise) saw over $4.5bn in the first day of trading, much of it again from BlackRock and Grayscale. The preliminary data marks a "monster start" for spot bitcoin ETFs, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

* Trading just below $43,000 now, Bitcoin is down about 2% from where it was seven days ago. Over the past month, BTC is totally flat. But hodlers are still happy to see Bitcoin up over 120% since this time last year.

* Speculation of the ETH ETF is upon us: Ethereum hit an 18-month high of nearly $2,700. But according to TD Crowen, the SEC unlikely to approve spot Ethereum ETFs 'any time soon’.

* ETH is changing hands at $2,555 today. But over the last week, it's up over 14%, and up more than 12% for the last month. The one-year return is about 80%.

* Ethereum scaling networks also had a strong week, with Arbitrum (ARB) up 22% and Optimism (OP) popping 16%.

* Tezos (XTZ) and Stacks (STX), both posting double-digit percentage gains over the past week.

* Morgan Stanley: Spot bitcoin ETF approvals are a 'potential paradigm shift' in global view of crypto.

Coffee Break? Read This

* ‘Gender inequities are important’: why couples fall out of love

* Women’s sex lives were a mystery to men. Then along came Shere Hite

* Biopic woman: move over Napoleon, Ferrari and Oppenheimer … here come the wives

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

Happy New Year! It’s good to be back…

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on the expected SEC approval this week of the first spot bitcoin ETF (US) and revisit research on how engaged women are in crypto.

There continues to be limited data on women investors in crypto. Since 2021 and 2022, we could not find new research on women investing in crypto. However, this is also likely to be the result of the crypto winter and a very difficult year in 2023 due to the fallout from FTX going bankrupt.

Despite this, Bitcoin was the best performing asset class in 2023. And we are now at the start of the next crypto bull run. So will you be investing in crypto? Or are you already a crypto investor? Let us know! Leave a comment below or tweet Janicka or jointhepurse.

***

And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast with Nicole Sykes. Nicole leads Pro Bono Economics' communications and influencing work, in addition to overseeing a number of key policy themes in relation to the effectiveness of civil society, philanthropy and relationships between civil society, business and government.

We talk about the Women and the charity sector report. Please enjoy!

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

The launch of the spot bitcoin ETF (US) and how engaged are women in crypto investing?

This week, we expect the SEC to approve the first spot bitcoin ETF in the US. So how engaged are women in crypto investing?

This week, we expect the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) to finally approve the spot Bitcoin ETF (exchange traded fund) in the US.

Unlike futures contracts, Bitcoin spot ETFs directly hold bitcoin as an underlying asset and track its prices.

It’s fair to say that the crypto community has been waiting for this for years.

Not only does this signal ‘acceptance by Wall Street’ and therefore an imminent influx of institutional money, but it is also a nod to Bitcoin coming of age, despite its volatility.

This carries even more significance as we come out of a long crypto winter. And it follows a series of crypto company bankruptcies, including Sam Bankman Fried’s FTX, Celsius, Three Arrows Capital and BlockFi.

But, wait for it: Bitcoin was the best performing asset class in 2023.

According to Charlie Bilello, bitcoin’s annual total returns last year were 156%. Compare this to the US Nasdaq 100, where the annual returns were a 55% or to gold which returned 12.7%.

What is even more impressive: bitcoin has outperformed all asset classes since its inception in 2008.

The crypto bulls predict a big year as we enter the next crypto bull run, this time with the ‘backing’ of asset managers like BlackRock, Van Eck, Ark Invest, Fidelity+ and their spot bitcoin ETF applications.

So how engaged are women in crypto investing?

According to Crypto News, women now represent 30% of crypto owners.

In 2021, Gemini shared research which confirmed that 40% of crypto investors were women. The figure represented a ‘significant shift’ from earlier findings that suggested women in the UK made up around 21%–22% of crypto investors.

Gemini’s research further stated:

* Men tended to hold more cryptocurrency than women in categories over £10,000/$13,694 (65.8%) and below £500/$685 (62.1%). However, women made up 53.4% of those holding £1,000–£5,000 ($1,369–$6,847).

There is still so little data on women in crypto, that we will reference more detailed research by the now bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi released in 2022.

***

Based on their research, 10% of women chose crypto as their first investment compared to 33% of women investing in retirement funds, as their first point of entry.

For 17% of Millennial women and 11% of Gen Z women, crypto was their first (ever) investment. And even though Gen X women have had more time to enter other asset classes, only 7% invested in crypto as their first investment.

But overall, 25% of women said that they have yet to invest (in any asset class).

Wealth building strategy

BlockFi’s research also found that 1 in 4 women said they are not confident in their wealth-building investment strategy. And less than half (45%) feel financially secure.

The good news is that 1 in 3 women talk about money in their social circles, although this seems more common in younger generations. Gen X and Baby Boomers are less likely to talk about money with their friends.

And while most women have heard about crypto, nearly 81% of women still report crypto to be confusing and 77% view crypto as a risky investment. 

Women, bitcoin and the HODL

1 in 5 women regard crypto as a good hedge against inflation. And 20% of Gen Z women see bitcoin as the best long-term investment compared to every other potential asset class. Whilst only 10% of Gen X think the same.

The survey indicates that women regard investing in crypto as a long term investment strategy. And the majority of female crypto owners (69%) said they hold crypto and remain hold-only.

Knowledge and community is key

Women are keen to engage more around money and invest. Research across the board suggests that women want to learn and be educated on how to make their money work for them.

This is less about ‘tactics’ and ‘chasing alpha’ and more about building knowledge and confidence within a community. That is not to say women are not interested in performance. They are, but their approach to money and investing differs to men.

Seek out role models, mentors or likeminded women who share a similar interest in learning about crypto.

Sign up to newsletters (like this one), listen to podcasts and commit to furthering your knowledge on the topic every week.

Or better yet, decide to invest, even if this is £10 or $10 a month.

Once you’re invested, even if this is a small amount, you will start to pay more attention and learn as you go.

What next? Re-read this:

* Women: why invest in crypto and how to de-risk your investment

* Women: why NOT investing is risky

Disclaimer: invest only what you are prepared to lose. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser. I invest in BTC, ETH and other altcoins.

News in Brief

Financial news

* China's President Xi vows to strengthen economic momentum and deliver on job creation after a disappointing underperforming 2023.

* This isn’t how Wall Street hoped to ring in 2024: stocks and bonds fares worst New Year kick-off since 2003.

* Bond sell-off continues on pared rate bets with US 10 year yields now back at almost 4%.

* Money-market fund assets rise to fresh record $5.965tn. With the UK interest rate sitting at 5%, and many believing this could rise to 6.25%, savers are looking to make the most of this 15-year high rate.

* US debt eclipses $34tn for first time roughly three months after the debt first hit $33tn.

* US economy adds 216,000 jobs in December (well above the roughly 170,000 jobs economists expected), ending 2023 with a bang.

* Eurozone inflation rises to 2.9% after increase in energy costs. December data comes amid speculation over when European Central Bank will cut interest rates.

* UK house prices rise again but Halifax forecasts up to 4% drop in 2024. Growth rates driven by shortage of properties on market, says mortgage lender, with typical home worth £287,105.

* Mark Zuckerberg sold nearly half a billion dollars of Meta shares in the final 2 months of 2023. The Meta CEO sold shares on every trading day between Nov. 1 and the end of the year, unloading nearly 1.28m shares for $428m.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* The rise of digital gold: in 2012, one ounce of gold was still worth 400 BTC now less than 0.05.

* Bitcoin plunged as much as 9% as jitters around the anticipated approval of a spot bitcoin ETF began to enter the market. The slump retraced the entire upside move that occurred on Jan. 1, spurring the liquidation of $500m worth of positions across derivatives exchanges.

* BlackRock expects spot Bitcoin ETF approval Wednesday, according toFox Business.

* VanEck pledges 5% of bitcoin ETF profits to brink's bitcoin core devs. The firm has already made an initial $10,000 donation to the organisation.

* SEC 'implicitly' accepts ETH as commodity, paving way for spot ethereum ETF.

* Celsius to unstake ETH holdings for creditors to ‘ensure ample liquidity’ at $466m. The crypto lender filed for bankruptcy in the summer of 2022. According to a court filing from last September, about 58,300 users held $210m in what the court categorised as “custody assets.”

* Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest offloads additional $4m in Coinbase shares. The ETF bought 132,955 shares of Recursion Pharmaceuticals, a deal valued at around $1.48m, on the same day. The firm’s ETFs have offloaded over $200m in Coinbase shares over the past few weeks.

* Financial advisors are still skeptical SEC approves bitcoin ETF, Bitwise says. Only 39% of 437 financial advisors polled said they think we'll see a Bitcoin ETF available to U.S. investors in 2024.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in our conversation:

* Report: Women and the charity sector

* Why we need more funding of women and girls sectors

* Women giving more to the charity sector

* How the charity sector will be reshaped by women owning the majority of wealth in the UK in 2025+

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* My mother can’t accept that I don’t want children

* ‘The investment industry is just a wall of men’: Tessa Clarke of Olio on the battle facing female entrepreneurs

* ‘I had to find a way to survive’: ultrarunner Sabrina Pace-Humphreys on racing, racism and learning to love the outdoors

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2024 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we spotlight the changing relationship women have with money in the 2020s.

And don’t forget to The Purse Podcast interview with Professor Dame Heather McGregor. We talk about COP28, climate finance and why investing in climate change is also investing in gender equality. Please enjoy!

***

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

***

And The Purse will be back in early 2024! Thank you for being on this journey with us. We wish you all ‘Happy Holidays’ and a very Happy New Year.

See you next year!

Jana

Women and their changing relationship with money

By 2030, American women are expected to control much of the $30 trillion in financial assets that baby boomers will possess.

Significant sums of money is due to change hands this decade, as women stand to inherit wealth, in large part, from their spouse, as reported by Yahoo Finance.

According to research by McKinsey:

By 2030, American women are expected to control much of the $30 trillion in financial assets that baby boomers will possess — a potential wealth transfer of such magnitude that it approaches the annual GDP of the United States.

Younger women are becoming financially savvy

However, another demographic shift is that younger women are putting themselves in a financially strong position.

They are engaging far more with their money and starting to invest using investment platforms or mobile apps. In fact, there was a surge in the number of women who started investing during the pandemic.

For example, Fidelity investments recently added 48% more new women customers in 2023 compared to 2019. And the good news is that today, an average of 60% of women invest in the stock market.

This is how it breaks down across each generation (ie women who invest):

* 71% of Gen Z

* 63% of millennial

* 55% of Gen X

* 57% of Baby boomers.

However, there is still an enormous financial gender gap.

A recent Varo Bank survey found that women are significantly more likely than men to be living pay cheque to pay cheque, (59% of women vs 41% of men). In addition, 67% of women said they consider themselves financially fragile, according to the survey.

Changes in the financial services industry

As a consequence of this ‘wealth shift’, financial advisers are having to adapt to meet the needs and preferences of female clients.

The data shows that when a woman’s spouse dies, they move on from their existing financial adviser within the year.

As reported by Yahoo Finance, some experts suggest that the upcoming transfer of wealth needs to be tempered by an understanding of wealth disparities and healthcare costs.

As people live longer, and women in particular outlive men by 5-7 years (on average), the concern is that a significant portion of this wealth will be consumed by healthcare costs.

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

* #102: Why is money a taboo topic for women, gender norms, how to 'break the money silence', and what is a financially successful life with Kathleen Burns Kingsbury

* #103: Women's growing economic power and how the financial services industry needs to change with Sarah Courtney Dockett

* #104: Why every woman needs a financial plan with Kristine Beese

News in Brief

Financial news

* Nasdaq 100 closes at a record high for first time since Nov 2021.

* Dow Jones rose to its highest level ever following latest Fed meeting—which left rates unch & predicted 3 possible cuts in the coming year.

* The Fed keeps interest rates at a 22 year high for the third straight meeting and signalled it expects to make three cuts next year. Markets price 5.1 cuts for 2024.

* ECB policymakers are largely united in expecting to cut interest rates later than financial markets currently anticipate.

* ECB's Lagarde: We did not discuss rate cuts at all but markets price in 5.3 cuts for 2024.

* Bank of England holds rates at 5.25% as it gives inflation warning. Threadneedle Street says Britain faces tougher job to crush inflation than other advanced nations.

* UK house prices to ‘fall up to 4%’ in 2024; business activity picks up in December.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin is down nearly 4% over the past seven days and is trading for $41,190 as hype surrounding the approval of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) seems to have calmed.

* Solana was up over 6% during the past week and is now trading for $74.11, a more than 20% gain since the start of December.

* BONK (running on Solana), dog-themed meme coin is trading for $0.00002364 has risen 67% over the past seven days, and an utterly bonkers 441% rise over the last two weeks.

* Avalanche this week rose to become the 10th biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, overtaking DOGE. It's trading at $41.77 now, with solid green across the calendar: up 3% since yesterday, up 27% since last week, and up 78% for the last 30 days.

* Bloomberg analyst explains plan forward for spot bitcoin ETF: The SEC has been 'backed into a corner'.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in our conversation:

* COP 28: the UN Climate Summit (in Dubai)

* Climate finance: what is it and why should we care?

* What role do entrepreneurs play?

* How do female founders fare in this space?

* Why investing in climate change is also investing into gender equality

* How to start investing in climate change?

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* Sienna Miller says younger men are wiser. Me? I’m not convinced

* Feminism in pictures: illustrated stories of women’s rights around the world

* ‘Millions of women are suffering who don’t have to’: why it’s time to end the misery of UTIs

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we highlight the research by Carta which tracks the state of equity in the startup ecosystem (US). And whilst we are seeing overall improvement, women continue to be underrepresented in executive positions and receive a smaller slice of the equity pie.

It goes without saying that women owning less equity impacts how much personal wealth they can grow overtime.

And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with UK economist Vicky Pryce. We talk about the House of Lords report on the Bank of England and its ‘inflation failures’, what could they have done differently, the UK economy in review, what’s ahead in 2024 and CBDCs and bitcoin.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Carta report: women and equity in startups

Carta reports on the state of equity in the startup ecosystem (US). And women continue to hold minority positions at executive level and are awarded less equity.

Every year, Carta reports on the state of equity in the startup ecosystem (US). Over the past year, rising interest rates and a pullback in venture capital investment has made it harder for all founders. However this has had an outsized impact on women founders and founders of colour.

As we know, how much equity women have in a startup, impacts how much wealth they can generate over time. Unsurprisingly, women are less represented as executives in startups where the most equity is awarded. And data and engineering has the least female representation.

Gender:

The proportion of new equity-receiving hires who are women dipped slightly to 35% in 2023, the first annual decline in the past decade. Cumulatively, over the past 11 years, 34% of new hires who received equity are women.

Women and equity:

Over the past five years, 35% of new hires who receive equity as part of their compensation are women. But that 35% received just 24% of all total equity issued. On the plus side, the equity gaps between men and women have narrowed over the past five years compared to the previous 19.

Women in senior positions

Among employees in HR hired to non-executive positions in the past five years, 72% are women. In every other major job function, the rate of executive women lags behind the rate of women in non-executive roles.

The gap is particularly stark in the functions where women are least represented in the first place: In both data and engineering, the proportion of women in non-executive roles is nearly twice as high as that of executives. 

We know that women in executive positions hire more senior women. And this is also where the most equity is awarded. It goes without saying that women being awarded less equity impacts how much wealth women can earn over time.

Women hires and equity: on the rise (but it is still less than a third)

Regarding equity compensation, individual contributors and managers have both seen significant gains, with individual contributors going from 18% of equity received to 26% and managers from 24% to 31%. 

Even with those recent gains, however, women are still hired much less frequently than men and receive a much smaller slice of the equity pie.  

So what can women do to own more equity in a startup?

* Become a female founder and ensure you retain a majority percentage of equity. As you raise funding and give equity away in exchange for a capital injection, this will decline, but women should look to retain control at 50% or above.

* Women executives with P&L (profit & loss) experience and responsibility, have greater decision-making power, tend to get paid more and are more likely to negotiate (and be awarded) a bigger slice of the equity pie.

* Women who join early or as a co-founder, will have access to more equity than if they join as an employee, a few years after the startup was founded. Timing and risk level often drives decisions about how much equity is allocated.

* However it is important to bear in mind, that equity allocation follows existing trends that women, in general, are renumerated (or rewarded less) favourably then men in similar or the same roles. Collect as much data as possible in preparation for your negotiation.

News in Brief

Financial news

* China falls deeper into deflation: China’s consumer prices dropped 0.5%, the most in 3 years, a sign the country's economic recovery remains weak.

* Japan 10 year yields jump 11bps on policy talk. Head of the Bank of Japan stoked speculation it will tighten its ultra-loose monetary policy.

* #India stock value tops $4tn. India added $1tn in market cap in less than 3 years. Key benchmarks are set for eighth-straight year of advances.

* US dollar and US yields jump as US November labour market a lot hotter than expected.

* Investors beware: ‘Magnificent Seven’ are starting to resemble ‘Nifty 50’ stocks that got crushed in the 1970s market crash.

* Jeremy Hunt’s post-Brexit City shake-up is ‘damp squib’, say MPs. Treasury select committee says Edinburgh reforms launched a year ago have had little impact on UK economy.

* Peak Big Tech? #Nvidia insiders unload shares after 220% AI rally: Insiders sold or filed to sell about 370,000 shares last mth worth ~$180mln. Zuckerberg sells 1st Meta shares in 2yrs after 172% surge. Meta co-founder unloaded $185m of stock in November.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin's (BTC) rally halted Thursday and has dipped to $43,000 following its breakneck climb to near $45,000 earlier this week. Experts told Decrypt that the rally was mostly due to hype around the ostensibly imminent approval of the long-awaited spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) product.

* Ethereum has popped 5% over the same period and hit $2,372, its highest level since May 2022.

* Ether classic (ETC) appreciated 6%, while liquid staking protocol Lido's governance token (LDO) increased by over 11%.

* Native tokens of Ethereum scaling networks Optimism and Arbitrum also gained 22% and 9%, respectively, during the day.

* Solana (SOL) jumped over 8% to $69, the highest since May 2022, following a three-week cool-off since its mid-November local top.

* One meme coin is continuing to explode: Solana-based Bonk. The dog-themed meme coin is now at $0.0000128—a 7-day rise of 188%, and up 635% for the last 30 days.

* Fidelity held meeting with SEC about spot bitcoin fund, submitted presentation about ETF workflows.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in our conversation with economist Vicky Pryce:

* The House of Lords report on the Bank of England inflation failures

* What could they have done differently?

* The UK economy in review

* What's ahead in 2024

* Crypto, bitcoin and CBDCs.

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* Move over, lads! How the world turned girly

* We need rituals to help ease the pain of unwanted periods

* Overcoming your need for constant validation at work

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we highlight new figures which show that women in their thirties are £4,000+ per year worse off than they were in 2010.

We calculate if women had invested this amount per year at a 7% return, how much additional investment income they would have today.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Falling wages: women in their thirties are worse off since 2010

New figures suggest that women in their thirties are £4,000+ per year worse off.

New figures show that women in their thirties are £4,000+ per year worse off then they were in 2010, as reported by Sky News.

The median full-time salary for women aged 30-39 dropped from £37,899 (April, 2010) to £33,740 (April, 2023), leaving them on average £4,159 or £350 per month worse off (in real terms).

The calculation was made using the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which tracks the average change in prices paid by consumers over a period of time for a basket of goods and services.

As the price of goods and services go up, purchasing power (or how much we can afford to buy) is eroded.

What is often missed in these calculations is the opportunity cost of not investing this money and losing out on compounding interest over time.

If we assume a 7% return on £4,200 per annum over the thirteen year period, this totals £58,422 of lost potential income.

Given that the average pension for women in the UK is typically just £43,117 (which is almost half of a man’s pension), the £58,422 represents a substantial financial loss to women.

And if we extend the time period to twenty years, assuming the same 7% return per annum, this comes to £89,880 of lost income.

We know that women have a different life trajectory to men and as a result are exposed to greater financial risk.

Women are paid less than men (on average), they are more likely to interrupt their career, take on part-time work and they live longer, which costs more.

Without an adequate ‘financial buffer’, women continue to suffer the impact of inflation which negatively compounds over time and limits their financial strength.

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

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

* #85: Closing the gender wealth gap and managing your money with Vicky Pryce and Victoria Ross

* #104: Why every woman needs a financial plan with Kristine Beese

News in Brief

Financial news

* Mind the gap: Since 2000, the MSCI World has outperformed the MSCI World ex USA by a whopping 90ppts. Excluding dividends, the MSCI World ex USA is now at the same level as in 2006.

* UK shoppers expected to buy fewer Black Friday goods amid cost of living crisis. Spending predicted to be up just 0.4% on 2022 as inflation and Amazon warehouse strikes hit discount event.

* Nvidia stock hits All-Time High ahead of earnings: the stock has gained 24% in Nov, on pace for its best month since a blowout earnings report in May. Nvidia has gained 245% in 2023, pushing its market value above $1.2tn.

* Microsoft is now clearly ahead of Alphabet again in the AI race on the stock market.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin price breaks past $38,000, carried on by ETF hype. This comes in the wake of more work being done on the current wave of spot bitcoin ETF applications.

* Ethereum also hit an 18-month high before dipping again on Friday. It's right now trading for $2,090, having risen 6.5% in seven days.

* Bitcoin jumps as Argentina's Pro-Bitcoin candidate Javier Milei won election.

* Solana, which was on a tear for most of November, slowed right down: the coin is now priced at $58.59.

* Cosmos community approves capping Atom inflation rate at 10%. The approved change would bring Atom's annualized staking yield from approximately 19% to about 13.4%, according to the proposal.

* Coinbase stock price rises to highest value since May 2022. After starting the month at $77, Coinbase rose to $116.4 today, an increase of 50%, according to TradingView. It's now trading at the highest price since mid-2022.

* MicroStrategy—which trades as MTSR and is the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin—also shot up. Its shares are at $520.24 a pop right now. They haven't been that high since December 2021.

* UK investment funds have been given the green light for tokenization by a government working group, according to trade body The Investment Association.

Coffee Break? Read This

* Choosing childlessness for the sake of the planet

* Fidelity says it increased women clients by 48% since 2019

* US women now live six years longer than men. American life expectancy is still dire

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we summarise the key points from the survey by The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting in 2023. And we highlight women investors and trends in adding more female artists to collections.

But investing in art need not only be for high-net worth individuals. For early investors or investors with limited funds, there are a number of ways to get started.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Survey: women powering the art world and trends in the art market

A survey by The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting in 2023 reveals insights into high net worth collectors. But there are ways that early art investors with limited funds can get started too.

A survey by The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting in 2023 has revealed the following trends of high-net worth (HNW), including women investors and female artists:

General Overview of the Art Market:

* HNW collectors showed strong spending in art during the first half of 2023, with a cautious approach and optimism for 2024​​​​.

* International trade in art and antiques was vibrant, with record-high levels of imports and exports in 2022 and early 2023​.

Spending Trends Among HNW Collectors:

* Median expenditure on art and antiques remained stable in 2023 compared to 2022, with significant spending from collectors in Mainland China​​.

* Allocation to art in wealth portfolios decreased slightly in 2023, indicating a more cautious approach to collecting​​.

* A substantial share of HNW collectors used credit or loans for purchasing art, with a higher average for ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) collectors​​.

* Majority of spending was on paintings, with a notable decrease in expenditure on digital art and NFTs.

Women in Art Collecting:

* Women outspent men for the third consecutive year, with a median expenditure higher than their male counterparts ie at $72,500.

* However, more men were high-spenders compared to women​​, with double the number of men than women in the narrow segment of respondents spending more than $1 million in each period.

* The share of works by women artists in HNW collectors' collections decreased in 2022 and 2023, reverting to levels seen in 2020.

* Collectors spending over $10 million annually had a higher share of female artists' works in their collections.

Collecting Behaviours and Channels:

* In-person buying saw a resurgence, with dealers being the most widely used channel for purchasing art in 2023​​.

* HNW collectors were selective about event attendance, with a reduction in the number of art-related events attended in 2023 compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Experts' Insights:

* Economic and political uncertainty influenced the art market in 2023, leading to more risk-averse approaches and less impulse buying among collectors. Self-focused motivations remained the biggest drivers for buying art​​.

* HNW collector confidence remained strong in 2023, with a notable shift towards more careful spending and a resurgence of in-person buying​​.

* Consumer spending growth pivoted from goods towards services in 2023, with art collectors becoming more discerning and intentional in their choices, focusing on meaningful connections and quality over quantity

Overall Trends:

* The art market, including participation by women collectors and representation of women artists, is influenced by broader economic and geopolitical conditions.

* There is a continued interest and investment in the art market by women, albeit with varying degrees of spending relative to their male counterparts.

* The trend reflects a nuanced and evolving landscape for women artists and collectors within the global art market.

Why invest in art?

Art provides a way to diversify investment portfolios beyond traditional stocks, bonds, real estate and even crypto.

Unlike financial markets, the art market often does not correlate directly with stock markets, which can protect personal wealth against market volatility.

Overtime, art can significantly increase in value and it can often hedge against inflation (which erodes wealth). So as the value of money decreases, the value of art can remain stable or increase.

For many investors, art goes beyond financial gain. Many HNW individuals are passionate about art and derive personal satisfaction and prestige from owning valuable pieces.

Investing in art is often a part of an individual’s legacy and forms a significant part of estate planning for HNW individuals.

And in some cases, investing in art can offer tax benefits. For example, donating art to a museum may provide a tax deduction, or certain tax advantages may apply when selling an artwork at a profit.

Investing in art need not only be for HNW individuals

Early art investors who may have less funds to invest, can access more afforable art via for example, Battersea Affordable Art Fair or check out Frieze London for inspiration.

And, via companies such as Masterworks, it is now possible to buy shares in the artwork selected without needing to choose and purchase the ‘physical art’.

This not only reduces risk for inexperienced investors who has less knowledge of the space, but makes this asset class more accessible to early investors.

News in Brief

Financial news

* Global bond market rally continues with 10 year US yields now at 4.44%, German 10y at 2.56% and Japan 10y at 0.79%.

* In nominal dollar terms China’s GDP is shrinking – making the economy a tough sell to foreign investors.

* US 10 year drops 18bps to 4.46% after inflation data which should eliminate any expectation that the Fed will raise rates again in Dec or thereafter.

* US inflation data for October undershoot consensus. Headline dropped to +3.2% from 3.7% in Sep vs 3.3% expected, Core CPI dropped to 4.0% from 4.1% vs 4.1% expected. Dollar and Yields plunge.

* EU cuts Eurozone 2023 GDP forecast to 0.6%, down from a September forecast of 0.8%. Sees 1.2% growth in 2024, a downward revision from 1.3%, and 1.6% in 2025.

* Euro jumped 1.7% following cooler-than-expected US inflation data.

* Barbie ‘contributed over £80m to the UK economy’ says Warner Bros. Hollywood studio reported figure to a parliamentary committee investigation into how to support the British film industry.

* Value Trap Small Caps? Normally, the share of unprofitable firms rises during recessions. But even before the economy has entered a recession, the share of comps in the Russell 2000 w/no earnings is at 40%, Appolo's Slok has calculated.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Right now, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading for $36,648 a 24-hour jump of 2%. Over seven days, it has essentially been flat. It started the week strong, regularly flirting with the 18-month high of $37,000 per coin it touched last week, but it has since struggled to sit comfortably above that figure.

* Elsewhere, altcoin star Solana (SOL) saw its long-running rally slow down. The Ethereum-competitor had hit another yearly high Monday but cooled its run. It is now priced in at $58.31 per coin, and is up 5.6% over the past 24 hours

* If Solana goes ahead, the creditors of FTX will be fully compensated. The Delaware Bankruptcy Court approved the sale of the failed exchange’s assets, which included 55.75m SOL, in September 2023.

* And Avalanche (AVAX) surged after J.P. Morgan said it had used the blockchain to tokenize portfolios. AVAX, the 12th biggest digital asset by market cap, is priced at $22.12, having shot up by more than 46% over the week—making it this week's winner.

* Worldcoin price drops 6% after Sam Altman unseated as OpenAI CEO. The token fell over 12% in the last 24 hours, according to The Block’s Price Page. 

* Fidelity files for spot Ethereum ETF, says approval would be 'major win' for US investors.

* South Korea's National Pension Service (NPS), the world's third-largest pension fund by assets, has made a significant foray into the cryptocurrency space by purchasing $19.9m worth of Coinbase shares.

Coffee Break? Read This

* The unseen forces that can cause your great new idea to crash and burn

* US women now live six years longer than men. American life expectancy is still dire.

* ‘You can’t send them to their room’: the tensions and challenges of parenting adult children

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we spotlight new research which outlines what women look for in financial services products. And therefore how they can feel more included by the financial services industry which typically targets the male customer.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Report: what women want from financial services products so they engage more

New research by Solaris highlights what needs to change in the financial services industry so women engage more with financial products.

A new report by Solaris, a card company, highlights women’s needs when it comes to using financial products and how to ensure women feel more included by the financial services industry.

Not surprisingly, women prioritise long term security over short term gains. As we know, women experience more career breaks or interruptions than men, on average are paid less and invest less (although this is changing now).

By implication, women have less wealth compared to men (on average).

When asked what women look for when obtaining financial services, they listed security, openness and inclusion as key.

What financial services products do women use most (and least)?

96% of our survey respondents said they use online banking services. Unsurprisingly, the most used financial services are everyday products including debit cards and mobile banking.

But retail investment continues to be low. In 2022, only around 18% of Germans aged 14 and over owned shares or equities, compared to 33% in the UK and over 50% in the US. The least popular financial services products for women are listed below:

Often the way ETFs, stocks, and other investment products — especially cryptocurrencies and NFTs — are designed, and other barriers to entry, often put women off from buying them.

The barriers holding women back in how they use financial products

According to Alicia Close, senior manager, cards business at Solaris:

There is at least $330billion annual global revenue waiting to be unlocked by giving women better access to finance..

…It’s time to ask the question, ‘Where are the products that serve them?’ This research reveals refreshingly simple yet powerful solutions that providers can start turning to in order to remove the barriers for women within current financial services products.”

So what are the barriers preventing women from using financial services?

So what do women want from their financial products?

Given the low uptake of ETFs, stocks, and other investment products, long-term financial health is our respondents’ single most important priority.

The low number of respondents who are marginally interested in increasing their social status is especially significant because this continues to be at odds with the marketing in the majority of financial services firms

Increasing financial literacy is key

* 85% of respondents believe there needs to be a bigger push towards educating women about money

* 80% believe that the earlier in women's lives this happens, the better.

* And 68% of the respondents said that women should be more open about money. Normalising these kinds of conversations makes it easier to share knowledge and, in turn, for women to learn the best ways to manage their finances.

Looking ahead

Based on the report:

…personalisation is increasingly becoming a strategic imperative for businesses, including banks, fintechs, and other financial services providers. Unfortunately, the fintech workplace is still very much a man's world, and women's perspectives are all too often overlooked or, at best, dismissed as 'niche'.

But women are the opposite of a niche market.

They're an extremely diverse group of individuals making up over half of the world's population. And that means putting them at the heart of financial services product design isn't just the right thing to do.

It's smart business.

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

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

* #103: Women's growing economic power and how the financial services industry needs to change with Sarah Courtney Dockett

* #104: Why every woman needs a financial plan with Kristine Beese

News in Brief

Financial news

* China slid back into deflation in October, suggesting domestic demand remains sluggish even after recent stimulus efforts to shore up growth.

* Year-end rally? What year-end rally? S&P 500 Equal Weight Index lost 1.8% this week, while S&P 500 showed a 1.3% gain. That boost was all thanks to Magnificent 7, surging 3.8%.

* Friday, the FTSE 100 index was now down just over one hundred points, or 1.35%, at 7354, on track for its biggest one-day loss since August.

* Moody's changes outlook on US rating to negative citing massive fiscal deficit & political polarisation which exacerbates fiscal risks. But affirms AAA rating.

* US debt interest bill rockets past a cool $1tn a year. It is 4% of annual US GDP. It has doubled in 19 months. It is equivalent to 16.3% of the entire Federal budget for fiscal year 2022.

* The UK economy flatlined between July and September, compared with the previous three months, as the impact of high interest rates and inflation weighed on consumers and businesses.

* Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway continues to sell stocks. Conglomerate offloads more than $5bn worth of US & international shares.

* Over the last 120 years 98% of all countries where sovereign debt/GDP hit 130% ended up defaulting.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin rallies past Terra crash level. Rises to highest level in 18 months, before Terra collapse. Bloomberg analysis sees the chance for a Spot Bitcoin ETF at 90% by January 10. But Bitcoin is only halfway to reclaiming the heights of 2021 crypto mania when it peaked at $69,000. Over the past seven days, BTC is up nearly 8% and trading hands for $37,369, according to CoinGecko. 

* Ethereum crossed the $2,000 mark for the first time since July; it is currently up over 14% over the week. 

* Solana (SOL) has soared above $50 per coin, and priced at $54.54—a more than 38% weekly rise. 

* Chainlink (LINK) has experienced a 33% seven-day rise—making it the next best gainer after SOL out of the top 20 coins and tokens. It is currently trading for $15.10 per token. 

* CoinShares Head of Research James Butterfill has said that investors have poured over $1.07 billion into digital asset investment products so far this year.

* JPMorgan says 'crypto rally looks overdone'. They are “cautious on crypto markets going forward.”

Coffee Break? Read This

* High-earners need 25% payrise to cover loss of childcare support

* In this neverending news cycle of violence, art speaks to our shared humanity

* Marriage is an inherently misogynistic institution – so why do women agree to it?

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we highlight new research which indicates that male workers saved an average 30% more than in 2022, whereas women only increased their savings by 7% over the same period.

For this reason, the cost-of-living crisis is having a more profound affect on women’s mental health.

***

Don’t forget to the listen to The Purse Podcast interview with CEO/Founder, Kristine Beese. We talk about why she founded Untangle Money, why every woman should have a financial plan and how the financial services industry is ripe for change.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Women have added only 7% more to their saving pots

New research by The Exeter highlights the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on women.

According to new research by UK health and protection insurer The Exeter, there is a rapidly growing divide between the saving power of men and women, as reported by IFA Magazine.

Whilst over a third of UK workers (12 million people) – are saving less than £100 per month in 2023, male workers saved an average 30% more than in 2022, whereas women only increased their savings by 7% over the same period.

Moreover, women are more likely to experience adverse mental health effects because of the ongoing squeeze on incomes.

More than eight out of ten women (81%) are worried about the spiralling cost-of-living, compared to a smaller proportion of men (69%).

And unlike men, women are less likely to access insurance products that could protect their incomes in the event they are unable to work due to an accident or long-term illness.

According to Emma Thomson, Head of Protection Development at Sesame Bankhall Group and Chair of the Women in Protection Network:

“While it is important to recognise that many people are struggling, it is equally important to acknowledge that women and their finances are more impacted by the current cost-of-living crisis.  In a time where money is tight, this gender savings gap is depleting the reserves of the UK’s female workforce and hampering their efforts to plan for their future or safeguard their finances against illness. 

It is so important that protection advisers and providers work together to ensure women can access quality protection during one of the most challenging personal finance periods in modern history. Women should not feel alone during this crisis, and we must ensure they benefit from the financial reassurance and wider support that we can provide as an industry.” 

On average, women in the UK have savings of £11,698, while men have almost twice the amount, £23,951.

However, it is important to note that although more men have savings when compared to women, the women that do tend to have more significant amounts saved than men.

News in Brief

Financial news

* Global stocks are on course for their biggest weekly gain in a year as investors are betting that there won’t be any more interest rate rises in major economies, while bonds rallied.

* Global bonds have gained $793bn in value as we are seeing cooling across US employment, global inflation, global manufacturing sentiment, and global monetary policy.

* Japan Yen weakened to 160 per Euro for the first time since August 2008 as the Bank of Japan is sticking to its negative key interest rates.

* The US Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at a 22-year high on Wednesday, with inflation continuing to fade from its highest level in a generation,

* Gold back ~$2k/oz. as US 10 year real rates plunge to 2.16% following weak US jobs data.

* US yield curve bull steepens following disappointing US jobs data w/US 2s/10s yield spread ticked up 2bps to -31.6bps.

* Eurozone inflation sinks to 2 year low as Eurozone economy shrinks: CPI slowed to 2.9% in October, down from 4.3% and better than expected 3.1%. But Core CPI – that excluding food & energy is retreating less rapidly. It moderated to 4.2% in October from 4.5% the previous month.

* X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, is worth less than half of what Elon Musk paid for it a year ago. X is worth $19bn a year after the $44bn purchase.

* Bank of England's Pill: Inflation won't necessarily fall fast as demand slows. He spoke a day after the central bank held its benchmark interest rate at 5.25% (the highest since the 2008 financial crisis) for a second meeting in a row.

* Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway sits on record cash pile. The conglomerate’s quarterly net loss widened to $12.8bn, stung by the stock market downturn mainly an 11.7% drop in the Apple share price.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Another “Uptober” for Bitcoin: the largest cryptocurrency gained 28% in October, most since Jan2023.

* Bitcoin (BTC) tried and failed at holding above $35,000 this week, with one analyst arguing traders likely took their BTC profits and rotated into altcoins, pushing those prices higher.

* Large-cap tokens of layer 1 networks (L1) such as Avalanche (AVAX), Cardano (ADA) and Polkadot (DOT) jumped 10%-15% over the same time frame and Solana (SOL) hit a 14-month high Wednesday and Friday afternoon remained higher by 25% over the previous seven days.

* The CoinDesk DeFi Index (DCF) jumped almost 10% in a week, driven by double-digit rallies by tokens of decentralized exchange UniSwap (UNI), SushiSwap (SUSHI), as well as lending platform Aave's native token (AAVE).

* Magic Eden, Yuga Labs launching Ethereum NFT marketplace to enforce royalties.

* Nike-RTFKT's crypto universe nears $1.4 billion in NFT trading as sneakerheads swoon.

* Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty of defrauding FTX customers out of billions. The prosecutor said that ‘while the cryptocurrency industry might be new … this kind of corruption is as old as time’.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in our conversation:

* Women's experience with money

* Why language is important

* Why Kristine started Untangle Money

* Her journey as a founder

* The vision for Untangle Money

* And how we do encourage more women to invest in the startup ecosystem.

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* Jezebel and the question of women’s anger

* Working mothers in UK twice as likely as fathers to consider quitting job over childcare costs.

* ‘We need more women,’ says only female winner of Millennium engineering prize

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on a recent study by Fidelity Investments (US) which shows that women are leaning into their money and investing more than ever before.

Fidelity added 48% more new women customers in 2023 compared to 2019.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Fidelity study: women are investing more than ever before

A new study by Fidelity Investments shows that women are leaning into their money.

Recent research from Fidelity Investments (US) suggests that women are engaging much more with their money and starting to invest more too.

Fidelity added 48% more new women customers in 2023 compared to 2019. And the good news is that today, an average of 60% of women invest in the stock market.

This is how it breaks down across each generation (ie women who invest):

* 71% of Gen Z

* 63% of millennial

* 55% of Gen X

* 57% of Baby boomers.

Moreover, women are modelling healthy money behaviours: 51% of women who invest in the stock market stay the course. And 68% of women are saving for retirement in 2023, compared to 66% in 2019.

The top 5 financial stressors for women were identified as:

* Thinking I should be doing more with my finances than I am (40%)

* Saving enough to retire (39%)

* Paying off debt (37%)

* Tackling the cost of health care in retirement (29%)

* Knowing how to invest my savings to reach my financial goals (24%)

We know that women have a different life trajectory to men.

The most common factors which impact a woman’s financial journey are caregiving, extended retirement years and higher health costs, which is why women must plan their financial money journey differently.

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

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

* #102: Why is money a taboo topic for women, gender norms, how to 'break the money silence', and what is a financially successful life with Kathleen Burns Kingsbury

News in Brief

Financial news

* China President Xi signals that a sharp slowdown in growth and lingering deflationary risks won’t be tolerated, making a series of rare policy moves to boost sentiment.

* Stocks and bonds suddenly correlate positively w/each other again. Are we back in the 1980s/1990s, and what does that mean for the 60/40 portfolio?

* S&P 500 tumbles 10%+ from July 31 closing high. Now down 14.2% down from Jan 2022 ATH.

* Nasdaq 100 dropped 1.9%, now down 11% from Jul high, so Big Tech now in correction territory.

* Gold topped $2,000 an ounce for the first time since May amidst market chaos and as Israel-Hamas clash raises haven allure. KBW bank index sinks past SVB crisis.

* ECB leaves rates on hold, key rate at 4.5%, depo at 4%, pausing cycle of hikes for first time since start of hiking cycle.

* ECB's Christine Lagarde: Rate cuts weren't discussed, would be totally premature. Markets see the first ECB cut at April 2024 meeting.

* Amazon profits nearly triple as company reports $143.1bn in revenue. Retailer predicts robust margins for rest of year despite rise in interest rates and people returning to bricks-and-mortar stores.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Spot crypto trading volumes surge to levels not seen since March.

* Bitcoin gained over 14% in a week, recently consolidating at around $33,700 after it hit fresh yearly highs at $35,000 but failed to break through that price level.

* Arthur Hayes says BTC is rallying over US military spending, not ETF hype. BitMEX co-founder says investors are offloading bonds for gold and crypto.

* Ethereum's price is stabilising around $1,800, a psychological resistance level for months, amid growing ETF approval buzz.

* VanEck predicts a 10,600% Solana price rally by 2030. The report also delves into a potential scenario where Solana becomes the first blockchain to accommodate applications with over 100 million users.

* Polygon deploys POL token on Ethereum. New POL token will facilitate restaking for multi-chain Polygon ecosystem.

* Vodafone Partners with Chainlink to demonstrate blockchain’s potential in global trade

* No, Hamas isn’t raising millions through crypto. Leading blockchain forensics firms dispel myths surrounding role of crypto in terrorist financing.

Coffee Break? Read This

* How great companies think differently

* Posters charting the feminist fight-in pictures

* Climate crisis is ‘not gender neutral’: UN calls for more policy focus on women

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we spotlight a short extract from The Purse Podcast interview with Sarah Courtney Dockett, who is Managing Director for Citi Private Bank, Women in Wealth for EMEA.

We talk about women’s growing economic power, how the financial services industry needs to change, female entrepreneurship and women’s relationship with money.

Listen to the full interview here.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Women’s growing economic power and how the financial services industry needs to change

We interviewed Sarah Courtney Dockett, Managing Director at Citi Private Bank, Women in Wealth for EMEA on The Purse Podcast.

We interviewed Sarah Courtney Dockett on The Purse Podcast.

Sarah is Managing Director for Citi Private Bank, Head of Women in Wealth, EMEA. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion.  

Sarah is also a Senior Private Banker in the UK Ultra High Net Worth Team based in London. She is responsible for managing 30 client and Family Office relationships. While they may be resident in the UK, Sarah’s clients span the globe and she has a specialism in dealing with US connected clients. Sarah has 23 years of experience working with Private Clients, 12 of which she has spent with Citi.

In the podcast interview we talk about: why money continues to be a taboo topic (especially in the UK), women’s growing economic power, the financial services industry and what needs to change, investing in female founders and more+

Below is a short extract from the interview.

Jana: “How do you think the financial services industry needs to prepare for this mindset shift, which is obviously from the male customer to the female customer?

We've seen the research, we know the financial services deems the default customer to be male. They've spent very little time thinking about the female customer (although this is changing now, of course). I guess I'm curious…why is it taking such a long time to change?”

Sarah Courtney Dockett’s response:

I think it's taking a long time because…wealth management has been such a male dominated endeavour.

Most of the financial advisors were men. Most of the decision makers where men. The recent study I quoted was that two thirds of affluent households, men are still the key decision makers.

So it's just been because of who are the people in the industry and who are making the decisions. But a woman has the same need and right to access financial resources as men do. I think where the industry needs to wake up is that due to a number of differences, psychological, cultural, societal and so on.

Women will approach problem solving and assess products in different ways. For example, it's a common misconception that women are not risk takers and men are more aggressive with their investment decisions. I have often found my female clients tend to ask more questions than my male clients, but this is merely to ensure they actually understand the proposition in detail before they proceed.

Many women report lower financial self-confidence.

What was quite interesting in the McKinsey study is only one quarter of affluent women say they're comfortable making investment and saving related decisions on their own. And that's 15 percentage points lower than their male counterparts.

Therefore, that's why I think it's important advisors do a better job of helping women meet their goals and build trust in their own financial literacy.

Roughly half of all female financial decision makers say they feel unprepared for their financial goals despite having a financial advisor. So even those women that do have an advisor, only 50% say they feel prepared. So we really do have a long way to go.

And I think advisors and the wealth management community need to bear in mind that women really do have a greater focus on real life goals.

Yes, of course, they'd be delighted to outperform the stock market, but planning for retirement, health, not being a burden on the family in later years. Their children and giving back to society are all really, really important.

I'll quote a study here in the UK from Wealthier Report in 2019. Women told us exactly what they want from their financial services:

more openness, more education, personalised service, access to networks. And more women in finance…

Listen to the full interview here.

News in Brief

Financial news

* Looks like we are back in the pre-2009 days in the bond market. The MOVE volatility index – a kind of VIX Index for bonds – has been at elevated levels for weeks.

* China has cut its holdings in US Treasuries to $805bn, the lowest level since 2009.

* UK 30 year bond yield rises to highest since 1998. And The iShares 20+ year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) now down 51% from ATH.

* Greece has to pay less than the US for 10 year bonds. The markets had already priced in the return of Greece to investment-grade status.

* The Eurozone’s next crisis is already approaching in Italy. 10 year risk spread over German bunds have spiked >200bps. Debt ratio of 140% of GDP is a real challenge for a ‘sub-sovereign’ borrower that no longer prints its own currency.

* The UK’s FTSE 250 index has dropped to a new one-year low.

* UK inflation stays higher than expected after oil price jump. CPI rises 6.7% in September, the same pace as previous month. UK 10 year yields jump by 7bps to 4.58%.

* World's banks earned $1.3tn in 2022, in the best period for global banking overall since at least 2007, acc to McKinsey. Estimate for 2023 profits, at $1.4tn, is even higher.

* Returns this year in the S&P500 have been driven entirely by returns in 7 biggest stocks, and these 7 stocks have become more and more overvalued

* Record US stock ownership: the share of American households that own stock either in mutual funds, retirement accounts, or as individual shares hit a new high in 2022 at 58%.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin extended its weekly gains on Friday, briefly topping $30,000 for the second time this week, as confidence a spot bitcoin ETF will soon be greenlit grew and crypto investors continued weighing uncertainty in the U.S. and abroad.

* Bitcoin’s dominance in the cryptocurrency market has surged to over 49%, its highest level in more than two years, according to The Block’s data dashboard.

* The biggest rallies this week came from two altcoins: Solana (SOL) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Bitcoin Cash blew up 11.6% and currently trades at $239.40, while Solana mushroomed a staggering 25% to hit $26.89

* CoinTelegraph 'tweet hoax' shows spot ETF is the 'only one game' in crypto market.

* Ledger CEO says Recover service expected to go live by end of year

* Vitalik's biggest worries: Crypto stagnating and AI risks, says Ethereum co-Founder.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in this conversation:

* Sarah's most memorable experience with money growing up

* Why is money a taboo topic, especially in the UK?

* Women's growing economic power

* The financial services industry and what needs to change

* Citi’s approach to gender diversity and inclusion

* The rise of female investors

* Female founders and raising capital

* Women's relationship to money

* And how can women engage more with their money?

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* Female entrepreneurs need better support

* I’d love to make some new pals. But why is it so hard?

* 6 tips from a financial planner to make retirement saving easier for single women like me

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we highlight the new UN Report “The Gender Snapshot 2023” which warns that if current trends continue, over 340m women and girls – an estimated 8% of the world’s female population – will live in extreme poverty by 2030, and close to one in four will experience moderate or severe food insecurity.

An additional $360m of investment per year is required to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment by 2030.

***

And don’t forget you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

UN Report: an additional $360bn investment per year is needed to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment by 2030

According to this new report, the world is failing women and girls.

This year’s edition of the UN Women and UN DESA “Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The Gender Snapshot 2023” launched recently, paints a worrisome picture halfway through the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (see the press release here).

The Gender Snapshot 2023 warns that, if current trends continue, over 340m women and girls – an estimated 8% of the world’s female population – will live in extreme poverty by 2030, and close to one in four will experience moderate or severe food insecurity.

With a special focus this year on older women, the report finds that older women face higher rates of poverty and violence than older men:

* in 28 of the 116 countries with data, less than 50% of older women have a pension;

* in 12 countries less than 10% had access to a pension.

The Gender Snapshot 2023 underscores the urgent need for concrete efforts to accelerate progress towards gender equality by 2030, revealing that an additional $360bn per year is needed to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment across key global goals.

The report also calls for:

* an integrated and holistic approach

* greater collaboration among stakeholders

* sustained funding

* policy actions to address gender disparities and empower women and girls worldwide.

Crucially the report concludes that failure to prioritise gender equality now could jeopardise the entire 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Further facts and figures highlighted in the report include:

* Under a worst-case climate scenario, food insecurity is projected to affect as many as 236m more women and girls, compared to 131m more men and boys, due to climate change.

* No country is within reach of eradicating intimate partner violence and only 27 countries have comprehensive systems to track and make budgetary allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment.

* The labour and earnings gap remains persistently high. For each dollar men earn in labour income globally, women earn only 51 cents. Only 61.4% of prime working age women are in the labour force, compared to 90 % of prime working age men.

According to Maria-Francesca Spatolisano, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs of UN DESA:

“Gender equality is not just a goal within the 2030 Agenda. It is the very foundation of a fair society, and a goal upon which all other goals must stand. By breaking down the barriers that have hindered the full participation of women and girls in every aspect of society, we unleash the untapped potential that can drive progress and prosperity for all.”

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

* #91: Gender lens investing: an update with Angela Atherton

* #92: Human economics and why it matters, gender bias in economics, the impact on women and why economists need to be more radical with Julie Nelson

* #101: Why the GDP measure is damaging to women and how to move beyond it with Anam Parvez Butt

News in Brief

Financial news

* We are one miscalculation short of a Middle East firestorm and the next world oil crisis, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard writes: The strange calm on world oil markets is unlikely to survive blockade of Gaza.

* The Israeli economy has shown resilience to a series of shocks in the past, Moody's says.

* Global bond yields rising again after mixed US inflation data. US 10y yields jump 10bps to 4.66%.

* China on brink of deflation again. September inflation slowed to 0% YoY, after edging up 0.1% in August and vs +0.1% expected. PPI dropped 2.5% YoY in September. Consensus was -2.4%.

* US inflation is cooling, but only slowly. From the perspective of the Fed, the figures are probably not worrying enough to trigger another interest rate hike.

* Full force of interest rate hikes is yet to be felt, says Bank of England official. Swati Dhingra says economy has flatlined and millions of mostly young and poorer people could be affected if rates stay high.

* World's banks earned $1.3tn in 2022, in the best period for global banking overall since at least 2007, according to McKinsey. Estimate for 2023 profits, at $1.4tn, is even higher. Spike in global interest rates has broadly been great for banks.

* Another setback for the IPO market: Birkenstock opens 11% below $46 IPO price in trading debut flop.

* Harvard's Claudia Goldin won 2023 Nobel Economics Prize for work on gender differences in the Labour market.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin dropped 3.7% over the last seven days and currently changes hands at $26,928, according to CoinGecko. 

* Ethereum (ETH), had a setback this week of 5.4%. It currently trades for $1,554—its lowest price level since March. 

* Several coins depreciated substantially more including Polygon (MATIC), which fell 8.6% to $0.521054, and Polkadot (DOT), which fell 8% to $3.76.

* On Wednesday, Cathie Woods’ Ark Invest refiled its application for a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF).

* Bitcoin ETFs could come soon as SEC declines to challenge court loss.

* Ferrari to accept crypto as payment for its cars in the US and will extend the scheme to Europe following requests from its wealthy customers, its marketing and commercial chief told Reuters.

* MetaMask crypto wallet briefly pulled from Apple app store. The app was restored within hours, while other wallet apps remained available.

Coffee Break? Read This

* 6 things people do around the world to slow down

* Are women getting angrier? Maybe they’re just giving themselves permission to show it.

* ‘Eat your broccoli and don’t listen to Andrew Tate’: fighting misogyny is now part of everyday parenting

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we highlight the new report published by The Alan Turing Institute which states that female-founded AI startups account for under 3% of VC funding in the UK.

A key issue in the industry is the fact that VC firms continue to be dominated by men who prefer to invest in founders ‘who look and sound like them’.

Only 5% of VC firms that participated in funding deals have an equal or majority representation of women at decision maker level.

As women investors tend to invest in women up to three times the rate of men, their role in the startup ecosystem is vital, as they help to diversify investing decisions (which may better serve the world we live in today and in the future).

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

New report (UK): female-founded AI startups account for under 3% of VC funding

A new report by The Alan Turing Institute highlights the underinvestment in female-founded teams in the booming AI industry.

A new report, Rebalancing Innovation: Women, AI and Venture Capital in the UK, paints a concerning picture of gender diversity in AI-focused VC investing.

Female-founded companies account for under 3% of venture capital (VC) funding deals involving AI startups.

And between 2012 and 2022, 80% of total capital invested by VCs in AI was raised by all-male teams. In contrast, all-female teams raised a mere 0.3%.

Here are the key points from the Alan Turing Institute report:

* Female-founded AI startups raised 6 times less capital than their male peers.

* All-female teams raised £1.3m per deal compared with an average of £8.6m raised by all-male teams.

* Most of the teams who make these funding decisions are men.

* Only 5% of VC firms that participated in funding deals have an equal or majority representation of women at decision maker level.

As we know, VC funding plays a crucial role in technological innovation. They determine who and what gets funded, the growth trajectory and shape the culture of the startup.

White, male VCs tend to invest in founders who ‘look and sound like them’ and very often this does not align with female founders who continue to bump up against gender stereotyping and gender bias.

With the explosion of generative AI, there is an urgent need for women have an equal place in the VC ecosystem as investors and entrepreneurs.

Based on research, women investors..

..tend to invest in women entrepreneurs up to three times the rate of men investors. They share in the same lived experience as women entrepreneurs which can reduce the resistance women experience during the fundraising process.

Many reports point to women entrepreneurs needing to contend with outdated stereotypes from mostly male VCs, who continue to mistake ‘gender difference’ with a more risky startup or a lack of competence and experience.

As a result, we continue to see VC investment funding very similar startups, which may no longer be ‘fit for purpose’ in a high-interest world, grappling with fiat currency debasement, climate change and wealth inequality issues.

Moreover, they do very little to mitigate the risk of embedding bias and gender discrimination in AI-based products.

The Alan Turing Institute Report outlines some key recommendations including:

* improving the recruitment and promotion processes at VC firms

* fostering an inclusive culture

* monitoring investment practices

* and diversifying the ecosystem.

According to Dr Erin Young, Research Fellow and Project Co-Lead at The Alan Turing Institute:

“The stark figures in our report show the extent of gender inequality in venture capital funding.

Making sure more female-founded AI companies receive investment is crucial for encouraging responsible AI and fostering innovation.

One can only imagine what technical products and services might have been invented if women had equal participation in the VC and entrepreneurial ecosystem. We hope that our report offers a crucial starting point for these conversations.”

What next? (Re) Listen The Purse Podcast:

* #79: Why women need to build their wealth, investing in female founders, diverse boards and startup investing lessons learnt with Barbara Clarke

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

* #97: Sie Ventures, investing in female founders and what female investors bring to the table with Triin Linamagi

News in Brief

Financial news

* Who has the losses on the books? Value of global bonds has lost another $1.04tn. This brings the total losses to $3.9tn since mid-July.

* 10 year yields jump 12bps to 4.84%, driven by a jump in real yields. US 10 year real yields now at 2.53%.

* The 5% Bond market means pain is heading everyone’s way. The impact will be felt in everything from shoppers’ pockets to company balance sheets as there’s a lot of debt out there.

* The interest rate on a 30 year fixed-rate mortgage is on course to 8%, highest level in 23 years. By contrast, the yield on 30 year US govt bonds is only at ~5%, which is the highest level since 2007.

* US jobs report looks a bit hot, at least the BLS headline jobs number: US economy added 336k jobs in September, double the Wall Street consensus; but household survey told a different story.

* Buyer’s market fuels fastest fall in UK house prices in 14 years. High mortgage costs result in sixth straight month of sellers being forced to reduce prices, says Halifax.

* UK businesses still ‘reluctant to invest’ over Brexit and interest rates. British Chambers of Commerce survey finds EU trade barriers and high rates have ‘flattened’ investment.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Market leader Bitcoin (BTC) grew a modest 2.7% over the seven days and now changes hands at $27,952. It briefly hit a two-month high on Sunday night when it crossed the $28,000 threshold. 

* Ethereum (ETH) had a comparably harder week and lost 2.1% to trade at $1,636 at the time of writing.

* Only two cryptocurrencies posted any notable price movements, rallying around 15% this week: Avalanche (AVAX), which currently trades for $10.39, and Solana (SOL), which is currently worth $23.31.

* On Monday, the Solana network's total value locked (TVL) hit a new 2023 high of $338.82m.

* Grayscale announced on Monday that it hopes to convert its Ethereum trust into a spot ETF.

* A UBS asset tokenisation trial supported by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) was launched and nine Ethereum Futures ETFs were introduced in the U.S. on Monday.

* Going Infinite: SBF's hairbrained schemes in new Michael Lewis book.

* Both Starbucks and the Museum of Modern Art launched NFTs.

Coffee Break? Read This

* ‘Can’t we have a funny joke?’ Why #girlmath is dividing TikTok

* The past is soaked in sexism. But how will we look back on today?

* Nearly one in three female NHS surgeons have been sexually assaulted, survey suggests

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we highlight a report by the National Partnership for Women & Families in the US.

The new data analysis confirms a startling result: the gender pay gap costs women $1.6 trillion per year (US). There are a few reasons for this.

But crucially, women must keep tabs on the going rate for their role and actively seek to increase their income every two years.

Don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with Kathleen Burns Kingsbury. We talk about why money is a taboo topic, common money mistakes, how gender norms hold women back and what makes for a financially successful life?

Listen to the interview here.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Report: the gender pay gap costs US women $1.6 trillion per year. And how do you negotiate more money…?

New data analysis of census bureau data (US) confirms that women earn 78 cents their male peers do.

According to new analysis of census bureau data in the US by the National Partnership for Women & Families, women continue to make just 78 cents their male peers earn.

The pay gap costs women $1.6 trillion every year.

And the data includes all women who worked, whether full- or part-time, as well as those who may have taken time off during the year for illness or to care for a family member.

The wage gap for women overall is $11,450, which is more than one year of childcare (US). And the impact on women of colour is even greater:

* Latina women workers are paid 52 cents for every dollar white, non-Hispanic men workers are.

* Black women workers are paid 66 cents for every dollar white, non-Hispanic men workers are.

* Asian American women workers are paid 89 cents for every dollar white, non-Hispanic men workers are.

* Compared to white women workers, who are paid 74 cents for every dollar white, non-Hispanic men workers are.

Key factors behind the gender wage gap

According to Jocelyn Frye, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, there are three main reasons for the gender wage gap:

* Caregiving responsibilities:

* Women on average tend to work fewer hours because they assume many of the caregiving responsibilities in their families.

* Occupational segregation:

* Women are concentrated in jobs that pay less and are often shut out from higher-paying jobs through occupational segregation

* Workplace discrimination:

* Women continue to face gender bias and discrimination. Based on research, we know that women do ask for more money, but get turned down more often than men.

So what can women do to keep growing their income?

It is so important to keep track of your market value. Speak to recruiters, male and female peers, research salaries on sites including Linkedin and Glassdoor.

And every two years, if you are not getting a raise, seek out a new employer who is likely to offer you a 20-30%+ increase on your existing salary (+ package).

Don’t forget to leverage a new offer with your existing employer if your preference is to stay on. And you have an actual offer to fall back on, should your employer choose not to match your new offer.

In a salary negotiation, it is important to ‘go first’ and set the negotiation at a high level. Your employer is likely to ‘low ball’ and you need to do the reverse; so start as high as you can stomach.

Keep talking to your female and male peers about their salary (and overall package), so you keep tabs on what the going rate is. Make sure you do speak to your male peers, as they are getting paid more.

What next? (Re) Listen here on The Purse Podcast:

* #50: How women take charge of their money and invest for the long-term with Heather McGregor

* #93: How women can become financially independent with Holly Morphew

* #102: Why is money a taboo topic for women, gender norms, how to 'break the money silence', and what is a financially successful life with Kathleen Burns Kingsbury

News in Brief

Financial news

* Market rout continues with S&P 500 plunges 1.5%. Wall Street’s fear gauge — the Cboe Volatility Index or VIX — jumped 12%, reaching the highest since late May.

* To put things into perspective: Nasdaq 100 now down ~9% from high, largely in the ‘zone’ of recent NDX drawdown episodes over the last 1 year. (HT GS).

* European stock markets hit six-month low. The Stoxx 600 index, which tracks companies across continental Europe and the UK, has fallen by almost 0.5% this morning to 444.7 points, the lowest since the end of March.

* Stress in the financial system is rising: The value of global bonds dropped another $428bn this week as the interest rate world keeps repricing for a higher for longer. In past quarter, bonds lost ~$1.8tn in value and everyone is puzzling over who has the losses on their books.

* Fed more hawkish than anticipated: Holds benchmark rate in 5.25-5.5% target range. 12 Officials see one more hike this year, 7 see on hold. Fed ‘23 median rate forecast stays at 5.6%; ‘24 rises to 5.1%.

* The Great Reset on Wall Street builds as stock traders sober up: financial conditions become the tightest this year. ‘Higher for longer’ most dangerous words for markets. Equal weight S&P 500 flat for the year.

* Bill Ackman says Treasury yields are going higher in a hurry, and that investors should shun US govt debt. His short bet on 30y Treasury bonds paying off in dramatic fashion over the past few weeks.

* The world may not be prepared for a worst-case scenario of Fed rates hitting 7%, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said. Difference between 5% and 7% more painful than 3% to 5% was.

* UK 5-year mortgage rate drops below 6%, first time since July. UK mortgage rates have dropped again, data provider Moneyfacts reports, with the five-year fixed mortgage below 6% for the first time since July.

* Childcare costs ‘soaring by £600-plus a month’ as firms insist on return to office. Survey finds parents under pressure, as second study finds some are leaving workforce because of costs

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin is trading at $27,200+. While that's only 2%+ higher than last week, it's about 60%+ more valuable than at the start of the year.

* Ethereum (ETH), added 4.7% over the last seven days and currently trades for $1,680+, or about 40%+ higher than its New Year's Day price of $1,200.

* Bitcoin Cash (BCH), rallied 11.8% to $234.13, and Chainlink (LINK), surged 14% to $7.72. 

* VanEck’s Ethereum Futures Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) was officially confirmed on Thursday.

* The SEC announced that it was putting four major Bitcoin spot ETFs on the backburner: BlackRock, Bitwise, Invesco Galaxy Digital, and Valkyrie.

* Finally, Stablecoin issuer Circle launched its fiat-backed euro-pegged EURC stablecoin on Stellar, the third blockchain to host the coin after Ethereum and Avalanche.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in this conversation:

* Why is money a taboo topic, especially for women?

* Common money mistakes

* Gender norms and how this holds women back

* Financial services and the wealth management industry

* What is a financially successful life?

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* I have started HRT. So why am I still in an absolute seething rage?

* Modern culture has ripped away girls’ childhood, taking their joy with it

* ‘Eat your broccoli and don’t listen to Andrew Tate’: fighting misogyny is now part of everyday parenting

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we spotlight a short extract from The Purse Podcast interview with Anam Parvez Butt, a Pakistani feminist economist who currently works as the Head of Research at Oxfam GB.

We talk about the GDP (gross domestic product) measure, why it is problematic and how we should move beyond it.

Listen to the full interview here.

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

The GDP measure: why we need to move beyond it

We talk to Anam Parvez Butt on The Purse Podcast about the GDP measure and why we need to move beyond it.

We interviewed Anam Parvez Butt on The Purse Podcast.

Anam is a Pakistani feminist economist who currently works as the Head of Research at Oxfam GB where she works with others to develop and implement Oxfam’s research agendas on care and informal work, fragility and conflict and climate justice.

In particular, the focus areas of her research include gender and macroeconomic policies, the care economy, feminist economic alternatives including metrics that challenge the neoliberal logic of growth, social norms and ending violence against women and girls (eVAWG).

She is deeply committed to integrating intersectional feminist and decolonial approaches in research, learning from and supporting others to do so.

She has co-authored two of Oxfam’s flagship inequality reports including “Time to Care”, the “Care Policy Scorecard” and recently published paper on “Radical Pathways to move beyond GDP”. 

In the podcast interview we talk about: the GDP measure: what is it, why this is problematic for women and for women's wealth, why Oxfam has added its voice to move beyond the GDP, the recently published report called ‘Radical Pathways Beyond GDP’, why and how we need to pursue feminist and de-colonial alternatives urgently, and how do we accelerate the pace of change?

Below is a short extract from the interview:

Jana: “…And moving on to why it's problematic, in addition to the inequality and sustainability issues or environmental challenges that we're faced with today- it is especially problematic for women because 65% of women's work on a weekly basis is essentially unmeasured by the GDP.

And this has significant consequences for 50%-51% of the population globally…”

Anam Parvez Butt’s response:

Yes, absolutely. As you said, it's (GDP: gross domestic product) not even a good measure of what it's supposed to measure, which is economic activity.

And the stat that you quoted, which is a really staggering one, that 65% of women's working hours globally are excluded from GDP.

And this is due to unpaid care, which accounts for 45% of all adults working hours each week globally, not being captured in GDP calculations.

Women carry out three quarters of unpaid care globally, nearly 90 billion hours a week, dedicating on average 4.5hrs a day to it compared to 1.02hrs for men.

As well as the low paid informal work that women, particularly black and brown women do, is a hidden subsidy to the global economy, without which the system as we know it would collapse.

We count 1.3 billion women worldwide who do this work and whose effort, contribution, and value is hardly reflected in GDP's definition of the economy.

And why does this matter?

We know that what isn't seen or counted doesn't only impact what is measured, but critically affects policies around what gets invested in and who benefits and loses around the world.

Public care provisions are sorely lacking, pushing women deeper into time and income poverty, even more so for women who are already experiencing inequalities based on race, ethnicity, income, or age.

Only 44% of countries meet the ILO's minimum standard on maternity leave.

In the U. S., which, tops the world in terms of GDP and spent over 800 billion US dollars on its military in 2021.

There is no federal paid leave policy. In other parts of the world, large deficits and basic kind of physical infrastructure, piped water, electricity, sanitation continue to persist.

In sub Saharan Africa, only 55% of households are within 15 minutes of a water source. And women spend sometimes over four hours a day just collecting water.

And this lack of universal care policy coverage in part rests on this assumption that households and within households, particularly women and girls, will provide these services for free.

And instead of greater investments in these services, we instead see austerity policies, in the form of cuts to public services and employment.

And these are sponsored by the likes of the World Bank and the IMF, and are soon to affect 85% of the world's population and directly harm women who are found facing a triple burden.

Firstly, welfare cuts on which they depend. Then, stepping in to fill the gaps with their unpaid labor. And then thirdly, cuts to jobs and pay in the public sector where women workers predominantly make up the workforce.

Now, 10 years of austerity in the UK has been accompanied by a fall in life expectancy among women in the most deprived areas, largely from minority ethnic and racial groups.

One of the key arguments that we make in the report is that it is no surprise or accident that GDP leads to policies that harm women and girls.

Because it is embedded in an extractive, patriarchal, and neocolonial economic system, which, in the words of eco feminist Vandana Shiva, reduces the society to the economy.

The economy to the market and systematically invisibilises and exploits care work, but also nature.

And its a model and way of thinking that creates the sort of artificial symmetry between the market economy and the non market economy, or what, feminist economists call, the maintenance or sustenance economy, which consists of care activities, ecological processes on which all human life depends.

But the market economy is considered the entire economy.

What is productive, what sits inside the primary focus of economic thought and policymaking, whereas the maintenance economy, is considered unproductive, valueless and lying outside of this focus.

And I also wanted to mention that, apart from unpaid care, GDP doesn't tell us anything directly about social and ecological wellbeing at large; our health, our happiness, life satisfaction.

It ignores the value of peace and clean air, in fact, oil spills through cleanup efforts can actually increase GDP whilst not polluting the ocean counts for nothing.

It doesn't distinguish how growth is happening and who it is harming or benefiting. So a dollar spent on coal is valued the same as a dollar spent on public health.

And the environmental cost of burning that coal is not even factored in.

It also takes no account of inequality. A country can have high GDP growth, yet all the benefits accrue to the richest people.

One of the examples we give is of Equatorial Guinea, for instance, which has one of the highest figures for GDP per capita on the African continent, at one point even higher than Spain, I think.

But despite this, primary school enrollment rates remain lower, infant mortality remains higher than the sub-Saharan African average.

And analysis by scholars in the country has shown that this is largely a result of widening inequalities and the capture of GDP by wealthy elites, something that does not feature in, in GDP accounts.

So in summary, it really does a very, very poor job of really measuring what matters…

Listen here to the full interview.

News in Brief

Financial news

* Beyond AI euphoria is a worrying stock signal on US growth. Stocks sniffing out something data isn’t showing: Russell 2000 has fallen behind an index of 1000 largest-cap stocks for 2nd month in a row, on track for its second-worst annual underperformance since 1998.

* A bank liquidity indicator sounds the alarm. Emergency loans from the Fed's #BTFP facility rose to $108bn this week – a new high – as long-term US government bond yields keep rising.

* US Fed quantitive tightening (QT) continues with balance sheet shrank by another $2.5bn to $8,098.8bn, lowest since July 2021. Fed's total assets now equal to 30.2% of US's GDP vs ECB's 51.5%, SNB's 111.5% & BoJ's 126.8%.

* The US inflation for August ran a bit hot, with headline CPI coming in at +3.7% YoY above Street’s +3.6% forecast) while the Core CPI was inline on a year-on-year basis (+4.3%, down from +4.7% in Jul) but hot on a MoM view (+0.278% vs. the Street +0.2%).

* European Central Bank (ECB) raises rates by 25bps, depo rate to fresh all-time high of 4%.

* EU cut its outlook for Eurozone economy, predicting it will be dragged down this year by a contraction in Germany.

* UK mortgage war ‘under way’ as lender offers 4.99% fixed rate. Brokers say borrower confidence likely to lift after the first below 5% deal surfaces since June with more offers likely soon.

* UK economy shrinks by 0.5% in July amid wet weather and strikes. Manufacturing, services and construction sectors contract for first time since summer of 2022.

* Arm Holdings jumps 25% from IPO price in trading debut. Hotly-anticipated IPO was 12-times oversubscribed w/the top 10 clients taking half of the 95.5 million ADRs at $51 each, the top of a marketed range.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin at $26.4k set for weekly gain, but rallies might continue to be sold. The world's largest crypto has bounced from a 3-month low below $25,000 hit on Monday.

* Ethereum (ETH) remains more or less at the same price it was seven days ago at $1,636. 

* Two tokens rallied: Bitcoin Cash (BCH) grew 11.5% to $213.79, while Toncoin (TON) blew up 23% to trade at $2.20. 

* On Monday, Sony subsidiary Sony Network Communications announced it was developing a blockchain network in collaboration with crypto tech firm Startale Labs.

* American payments giant PayPal launched crypto to USD off-ramps on Tuesday. The move came after PayPal launched a crypto On Ramp integration last month, enabling direct crypto purchases to MetaMask and Ledger users.

* On Wednesday, Taurus–a Swiss crypto fintech firm—announced an agreement with Deutsche Bank. Deutsche Bank will also use Taurus’ infrastructure to offer custody and tokenisation services for its customers

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in this conversation:

* The GDP measure: what is it?

* Why this is problematic for women and for women's wealth

* Why Oxfam has added its voice to move beyond the GDP

* The recently published report called Radical Pathways Beyond GDP

* Why and how we need to pursue feminist and decolonial alternatives urgently

* And how do we accelerate the pace of change?

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* I feel like I’ve wasted by 20s, what is holding me back?

* Spanish court imposes restraining order on Rubiales after kiss allegations

* Women in Afghanistan are fighting an unequal war. We need your support

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on UK-based bladder health startup founded by Peony Li which has raised $4.24m from female and impact investors.

Peony founded this startup based on her personal experience of chronic bladder infections from a young age-which were frequently ignored by the healthcare system.

We know that women’s health suffers from chronic underfunding and a lack of research.

And here again we see a female founder addressing an underserved but very large market and raising funding from female and impact focused investors.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Jude: female founded startup raises $4.24m from female and impact investors

The UK-based bladder health startup will expand its offering and launch in the US.

Jude, a London startup focused on bladder health has raised $4.24m in seed funding to support US expansion plans. And to further develop the company’s range of services aimed at promoting healthy aging and enhanced bladder health.

The startup was founded in 2022 by Peony Li, the former Head of Investments at Founders Factory and Head of Operations at Daye.

Peony founded this startup based on her personal experience of chronic bladder infections from a young age-which were frequently ignored by the healthcare system.

The problem

2.3 billion people are affected by bladder-related issues. And the bladder health market surpasses that of diabetes, as well as the combined market of menopause, erectile malfunction and endometriosis.

And according to Peony:

"We know women’s health suffers from chronic underfunding and a lack of research, there’s little medication and not enough training for healthcare professionals in bladder health specifically. We want to make the entire journey - from symptom to solution - better for people with poor bladder health…”

Based on data, we know that 80%+ of health VCs have never invested in women’s health.

The solution and expansion

Jude has set out to improve the entire clinical pathway where there are limited solutions available for patients.

Jude will launch in the US at the beginning of 2024, through direct-to-consumer (retail). And the startup will expand its offering to launch symptom tracking, prescriptions and advance research into the underserved area of nutrition and urinary health.

The startup has served 16,000 patients to date. And introduced innovative products, including a new natural treatment for lower urinary tract issues that reduces incontinence, being prescribed by doctors to patients across Europe.

Jude’s focus is on offering a holistic approach to treatment, through personalised consultations and delivered directly to the patient’s home, via a digital subscription.

Female and impact investors

The seed round was led by Eka VC and Joyance, with June Angelides at Samos VC and Dr. Fiona Pathiraja of Crista Galli Ventures continuing their support. Angel syndicate, Sie Ventures has also invested in the startup.

Eka VC describe themselves as working“with founders building category-defining technology companies that positively shape the world, making it more sustainable, healthy and inclusive”.

And Joyance “is investing in the emerging science of happiness: Joyance Partners, (along with sister fund Social Starts), is the first venture fund focused on individual health experience, not process”.

Jude has also received a grant from Innovate UK, and existing backers include Access VC, Reckitt’s innovation fund, Echo Pharmacy founder Stephen Bourke, and David Rowan, founder at Voyagers and founding editor-in-chief of Wired UK.

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

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

* #97: Sie Ventures, investing in female founders and what female investors bring to the table with Triin Linamagi

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

News in Brief

Financial news

* Brent Oil hits $90/bbl for 1st time since November as Saudi Arabia extended its unilateral oil production cut by another three months.

* Mind the gap: The valuation of S&P 500 has become cheaper but attractiveness vs interest rates has decreased massively as US 10 year real yields now at almost 2%. (Chart via Goldman)

* The value of global bonds drop another $273bn this week as the interest rate world is just repricing for higher real yields given high level of government debt in the US.

* US jobs market continues to slow. Unemployment rate jumped to 3.8% as household survey showed the number of unemployed people up 514k.

* Eurozone inflation remained stuck at 5.3% in August, higher than the 5.1% that economists expected.

* UK house prices tumble 4.6% in year to August. The price of a typical UK home dropped to £279,569, down by around £14,000 over the last year, back to the level seen in early 2022.

* Bank of England governor expects ‘quite marked’ fall in UK inflation. Pound falls as Andrew Bailey’s comments call into question need for further interest rate rise.

* The KBW Bank Index fell by 8.8% in August, the weakest bank in the index is Citi w/-13.4%.

* Billionaire Bernard Arnault has bought €215mn of LVMH shares since the luxury firm's disappointing earnings in late July contributed to a drop in the stock price.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin has jumped back above the $26,000 mark, after languishing in $25,000 territory for over one week.

* Ethereum was up 0.8% and is trading at approximately $1,630.

* Payments giant Visa has said it will ramp up its use of Circle's USDC stablecoin on its network, potentially opening the door to future bitcoin and crypto expansion.

* G20 moves forward with international crypto framework. The upcoming framework will affect users in several countries by automatically exchanging information about crypto transactions between jurisdictions on an annual basis.

* The London Stock Exchange Group announced that it is using blockchain technology to build an exchange offering tokenized versions of traditional financial assets.

Coffee Break? Read This

* 15 rules for negotiating a job offer

* ‘It’s going to cost billions’: UK councils face huge bills over equal pay claims

* ‘We all identify with Jenni’: Spanish women share their shocking stories of sexism

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we cover the gender pension gap and a recent report which forecasts that women’s weekly income will be half of their male peers, by 2045.

The gender pension gap in private pensions is currently estimated at 35%, according to the Department of Work and Pensions.

It’s never been more critical for women to engage and take ownership of their financial future.

And The Purse Podcast is celebrating 100 episodes since launch!

Thank you to all of my listeners and for being on this journey with me. To celebrate, I decided to record an audio journal so I could share my journey with you and to talk about what led me to founding the The Purse and The Purse Podcast. Please enjoy!

Listen to the podcast here.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Gender pension gap: women to take home half of weekly income by 2045 (compared to men)

A report forecasts that the gender pension gap will remain at 35%+ for 20 years.

According to a report, women’s workplace pensions are forecast to narrow only slightly to men’s in the next 20 years, as per The Financial Times.

And whilst an improvement is expected in women’s state pensions, Lane Clarke & Peacock has projected that women will take home a weekly income of half the size of their male peers by 2045 due to the shortfall in private pensions.

The gender pension gap in private pensions is currently estimated at 35%, according to the Department of Work and Pensions.

As we know, this can be largely attributed to:

* the gender pay gap

* women have less disposable income to save and invest

* women interrupting their career to start a family

* rejoining the workplace on a part-time basis or on a reduced full-time salary

* (later) shouldering elderly care

* and many leaving the workforce early.

Many women leave the workplace in their 50s because of the menopause. Ironically, this is often at the peak of their career when, in theory, women should be maximising pension contributions.

For this reason, many women are at risk of losing out to a comfortable retirement. And in some cases, without the necessary support, they may fall into poverty.

The data shows that older women who might be widowed or unattached, perhaps have been a single parent, have higher poverty rates than men.

Not only do women form three-quarters of those excluded from automatic enrolment because they earn below £10,000 per year, but when a marriage breaks down, women do not usually receive a percentage of their partners’ pensions.

Although it depends on how a divorce is negotiated, private pensions are often ‘forgotten’ by lawyers, and many do not properly evaluate the size of a pension pot.

According to Office for National Statistics, pensions are often the biggest marital asset after property, making up 42% of household wealth.

Research published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, has said more support was needed for women on maternity leave, including measures to boost child benefits to support parents. Much of the pension difference still hinges on issues in the labour market. 

However, whilst childcare affordability is an issue in the UK, so is the low take up by fathers of shared parental leave. This was estimated at only 2-8% in 2019.

Societal and gender norms continue to influence who takes up the majority of childcare, which affects women’s financial health in the long-term.

It’s never been more critical for women to engage and take ownership of their financial future.

What next? (Re) read these articles on The Purse:

* Working women and the gender pension gap

* Report: UK women are priced out of work by the cost of childcare (plus the low take up of shared parental leave by fathers)

* The 'feminization of poverty': 90% of single parents who live in poverty are women

News in Brief

Financial news

* China has cut its holdings in US Treasuries to $835bn, lowest level since 2010.

* The valuation of S&P 500 has become cheaper but attractiveness vs interest rates has decreased massively as US 10 year real yields now at almost 2%.

* Oil prices have risen to the highest level since November. If you're looking for an explanation as to why US bond yields suddenly rose again on Friday, here's one.

* Fed terminal rate nudged higher following Powell's Jackson Hole speech. Markets are now pricing in another 15bps of rate hikes.

* US jobs market continues to slow. Unemployment rate jumped to 3.8% as household survey showed the number of unemployed people up 514k.

* Eurozone inflation remained stuck at 5.3% in August, higher than the 5.1% that economists expected.

* Eurozone M2 money supply shrinks at an increased rate. M2 money supply shrank 1.4% in July, most in history, in a promising sign for inflation.

* UK economy recovered to pre-pandemic level in 2021 - earlier than thought. The ONS has revised up GDP growth in 2021 by 0.9 percentage points to an 8.5% increase.

* The KBW Bank Index fell by 8.8% in August, the weakest bank in the index is Citi w/-13.4%.

* Growth stocks are missing in Europe: that's why European indices are trading like value stocks.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin jumps as court clears way for Bitcoin ETF: Grayscale Investments could soon convert its Bitcoin Trust product into an ETF. However BTC has since dropped sue to SEC’s delay in approving the spot BTC ETF. (Currently trading ay $25,900+)

* Ether’s rebound off the strong support at $1,626 fizzled out at $1,745 on Aug. 29. This indicates that bears remain active at higher levels.

* SEC delays spot Bitcoin ETF decision for all applicants including BlackRock, Fidelity, until October.

* In an Aug. 30 post on X (formerly Twitter), Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas bumped up the approval possibility of a spot Bitcoin ETF from 65% to 75%.

* Vitalik sells MakerDAO stake after CEO Christensen suggests Solana-based blockchain.

* Cathie Wood bullish on Bitcoin and AI convergence. The ARK Invest CEO shares her views on the intersection of Bitcoin and artificial intelligence, highlighting its economic implications.

The Purse Podcast

To celebrate 100 podcasts, Jana Hlistova talks about:

* Her background

* Women's economic empowerment

* Why start The Purse and The Purse Podcast

* Fundraising as a female founder

* Women, money & investing

* Startup failure

* The financial services industry

* Women investors

* Money lessons learnt

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* The connection between exercise and high performance

* 6 Habits That Hurt Your Career — and How to Overcome Them

* Will you marry me – or will you embarrass me? The unstoppable rise of the public marriage proposal

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, a spotlight a short extract from the interview with Maya Ghosn on The Purse Podcast.

Maya is a Lebanese/Brazilian investor and advisor to purpose-driven organisations with a focus on mental health and sexual health.

We talk about (including) female angel investors, Maya's investment thesis, how Maya invests in startups, how to level the playing field for female founders and how do we encourage more women to invest?

Listen to the full interview here.

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Female angel investors and how can more women invest?

We talk to Maya Ghosn on The Purse Podcast about female angel investors, levelling the playing field for female founders and how more women can invest in startups.

Maya Ghosn has joined us on The Purse Podcast.

She is a Lebanese/Brazilian investor and advisor to purpose-driven organisations with a focus on mental health and sexual health.

Maya is an active angel investor, investing personally and through Sequoia's scout program, as well as a Principal at Bridge Builders Collaborative, a US-based investment group focused on mental health.

We talk about (including) female angel investors, Maya's investment thesis, how Maya invests in startups, how to level the playing field for female founders and how do we encourage more women to invest?

Below is a short extract from the interview.

Jana: In the UK, only about 14%-17% of women invest in startups. But only half a percent of female angel investors have achieved a portfolio of 10 startups or more, which comes to about 157 women (in total)..out of a pool of approximately 3,500 or so angel investors. What are your thoughts on this? Why do you think that is?

Maya’s response:

I'll speak about the status quo more generally in terms of this paradigm of women investing far lower rates than men at the angel level.

I think that applies to both geographies (UK & the US). And I think there are a couple of very similar reasons.

One of them is just awareness.

I think that socially, this is very data driven in addition to qualitative from my own life experience, but collectively, women don't tend to talk about a business and certainly not their personal investments as much as men do.

It is not something that is a socially encouraged. It's not something that I think women are conditioned to do or supported in doing from a very early age.

If you think about the kinds of questions that parents or extend family members or teachers ask young girls versus the kinds of questions that are asked to young boys.

They're very, very different, right? I think that for girls, it's questions around maybe beauty or connection or social lives.

Versus with boys, it's what are you building? What did you create? I'm using this because I think it's important to understand that the roots come from very, very, very early days.

It doesn't mean we can't change them, but I think a lot of women are conditioned to not see that as something that is worth sharing…

So I think awareness is a really big one.

And speaking from my own lived experience, the facts that I learned in a very opportunistic way, just inspired by somebody I wanted to back.

The second is the risk. So angel investing in objective terms is extremely high risk, but there's a difference in how men versus women perceive the risk and I'd say internalise the risk in the sense that.

Generally speaking, women and men invest in risk differently.

So men, when they invest money, they see it as their money and they're more happy to take a risk with it.

Versus women (who) tend to think of money to invest as belonging to the household. And so they have a higher bar for responsibility and therefore I think tend to be less risk loving. So I think that's an important dynamic that's at play because again, angel investing is subjectively a very risky thing. 

The third thing is honestly a confidence and kind of stigma question.

The idea of women having a higher bar for feeling like they have the permission to do something professionally is not specific to this issue, right?

We see that in a lot of different areas where we see that women have placed the higher bar on themselves for asking for a promotion, asking for a raise, applying to that job. Whereas men are much more willing to just kind of jump into it.

And so we see that here in the sense that I was reading research that was interviewing UK women and said that fewer than a third of women in the UK rate themselves as a six or above out of 10 as it relates to their confidence in choosing even an investment account.

So literally only one third of women have any sort of confidence of 6 or above out of 10 in reading their ability. So I think that there is this self perception that is really holding women back.

And I don't personally like to extrapolate from that and say women have less knowledge. I don't think that's necessarily true. It's that women have a higher bar for the knowledge they need to feel confident or to feel adequate investing versus men.

Do you see what I mean? I think that's really where the issue is…

Listen to the full interview with Maya Ghosn.

News in Brief

Financial news

* US Federal Reserve terminal rate nudged higher following Jay Powell's Jackson Hole speech. Markets are now pricing in another 15bps of rate hikes.

* Debt is becoming more and more expensive: US 10y real yield briefly exceeds 2%, highest since 2009.

* European Central Bank (ECB) QT continues with balance sheet shrank to €7,153bn, lowest level since March 2021. Total assets now equal to 53% of Eurozone GDP vs Fed's 30%, BoE's 33% and BoJ's 126%.

* UK retailers plan to cut jobs as spending slump deepens, says CBI. Barometer of retail activity falls for fourth consecutive month to lowest level since March 2021.

* After the outstanding Nvidia figures and outlook, analysts have raised the average price target for the chip giant from $520 to $620.

* It really looks as if a new computing era has begun: Nvidia reports Q2 Data Center revenue of $10.32bn, up 171% YoY. "During the quarter, major cloud service providers announced massive Nvidia H100 (artificial intelligence) infrastructures," CEO Jensen Huang said. 

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin has dipped below $26k, smaller cryptos head lower on Fed's Powell's hawkish remarks. BTC is currently trading at $26K+

* Ethereum (ETH) matched Bitcoin’s pace. At its current price of $1,647, it is down 1.6% from last week.

* The only notable depreciation over the last seven days fell upon holders of Uniswap (UNI) and Avalanche (AVAX). AVAX fell 7.2% to $10.02, while UNI crashed 7.9% to $4.58.

* Pepe confirms former team members stole $15 million from multisig wallet. The theft was allegedly orchestrated by three ex-team members who accessed the Pepe multisig wallet, later deleting their social accounts and distancing themselves from the memecoin project.

* Sweeping U.S. tax proposal met with boos from the crypto world. Minutes after the U.S.’s long-awaited proposal for taxing crypto gains went public, objections erupted from those tied to decentralised operations counted as “brokers.”

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in our conversation:

* Female angle investors

* The UK vs US startup culture

* Maya's investment thesis

* How Maya invests in startups

* Angel networks and syndicates

* How female founders raise funding

* Investing lessons learnt

* How to level the playing field for female founders

* How do we encourage more women to invest

* More+

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* Trinny Woodall: ‘I didn’t stop caring when I turned 50 – I stopped worrying’

* A new start after 60: I’m a short, greying woman – and the world’s oldest battle rapper

* Ending the tampon tax has just made retailers richer. Can we stop weaponising periods?

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on women’s football, closing the World Cup gender pay gap and why investors are finally paying attention.

Good luck to the Lionesses (England women’s national football team) playing in the Women’s World Cup final today!

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Women’s football: closing the World Cup gender pay gap and why investors are finally paying attention

The gender pay gap is still significant in most tournaments.

Despite the prize pool increasing from $30m to $110m since the last Women’s World Cup in 2019, the gender pay gap is still significant in the most recent tournaments.

In fact, recent reports have suggested the Lionesses (England women’s national football team) are currently unhappy with their performance-related bonuses at the World Cup. This is as they play in the Women’s World Cup final today in Sydney.

The gender pay gap is not uncommon to see in what has been an underinvested market. Women’s football has struggled after being overlooked for decades by the sports male dominated authorities. Without significant investment and media attention, you can not grow a new market, and women can not get paid what they deserve.

Sounds familiar? Yeah, we’re tired of it too.

But here’s the good news:

* The route for national associations to plug the gap is being paved by the United States. Thanks to a 'historic' pay deal finalised last year, the U.S. Soccer Federation has pledged to pool all prize money won by the men's and women's team for competitions they both compete in, and share it out equally.

* Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said that the Women's World Cup has ‘changed sport in Australia forever’ as he detailed a $200m boost for women's sport and an overhaul of broadcast rules.

* Barclays has made a £30m commitment to the women’s game from 2022-25.

* And according to Nicole Saharsky, a lawyer who helped the US women’s football team secure equal pay, the Lionesses ‘have ‘significant power’ to bargain with the FA and Fifa over their own salaries and bonuses’.

Ms Saharsky has gone on to say:

“I think that for many years, there was a perception by the Federation’s and from Fifa that the women’s sport was just not going to make as much money as the men’s sport or get the global attention of the men’s sport.

What has happened in the last few years has shown that that’s just not true.

The Euros got incredible viewership, got incredible ticket sales – the Lionesses have been selling out Wembley Stadium. When you sell out Wembley Stadium, you just have a lot more bargaining power in terms of being able to meet with the Federation and get equal pay and get good working conditions and everything else…

…People are interested in women’s sports, that women’s sports sell jerseys, they sell tickets, they sell broadcasting rights…

They make money and when the public is there wanting to get involved and watch the teams, it just is going to mean more and more success in terms of the women getting equal pay and better benefits.”

And so women’s football has been capturing the attention of investors..…but unlike the men’s leagues, women’s are increasingly being funded through venture capital and special purpose vehicles, as reported by the Financial Times.

* In 2022, the WNBA raised $75mn at a more than $1bn valuation, while the Los Angeles-based football team Angel City FC was valued at $100mn after its series A funding round.

What do investors look for?

* ‘Being digital-first’ from the beginning, ‘with a growth strategy focused around social media, online advertising and fan networks’.

* ‘Teams and leagues that are stable, where we know there is consumer demand and (where) we are at the beginning of a real media revenue cycle”.

Kara Nortman, a managing partner at global sports venture fund Monarch Collective and a founder of Angel City FC summarises it well by saying:

“Women’s sports is culture, and investors are starting to notice that potential..”

What next?

* (Re) read the article on The Monarch Collective raising $100m to invest in global women’s sports.

News in Brief

Financial news

* Do bloated revenue multiples make Big Tech risky? Nasdaq 100 comp trades at 4.6 times sales, far above the historical average.

* More China doom: China Yuan is close to a 14 year low, and far cheaper than in the summer of 2015, when a badly communicated devaluation prompted a minor global crisis. Their 10 year yields keep falling now at 2.6%.

* Russia’s central bank raises its key interest rate to 12% from 8.5% at an emergency meeting called after the Ruble crashed.

* 30 year US Treasury yield rises to 4.42%, highest since 2011.

* UK facing ‘high’ risk of recession despite inflation dropping to 6.8%. UK inflation has dropped to its lowest since February 2022, following cut in energy price cap, but IPPR warns economy could fall into recession

* Retail sales in Great Britain fell by 1.2% last month, more than expected, as people bought fewer summer clothes during the wet weather but also less food.

* News that Chinese property giant Evergrande filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in a Manhattan court prompted institutional investors and big holders to dump riskier assets.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin plunged briefly <$26k on news that Elon Musk's SpaceX has sold all its holdings of the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin ends the week at $25,935, posting a seven-day drop of 11.9%.

* Ethereum (ETH) fared similarly, with an intraweek drop of 10.2% to $1,662.

* Altcoins generally tumbled harder, with most other leading cryptocurrencies posting losses of between 10% and 20%, including BNB, XRP, Dogecoin (DOGE), Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT), Polygon (MATIC), and Avalanche (AVAX).

* Losses of over 20% were felt by holders of Uniswap (UNI), Litecoin (LTC), and Shiba Inu (SHIB), which dropped over 23%. 

* Yuga Labs slams OpenSea's shift to optional royalties. Yuga Labs intends to sever ties with OpenSea over the NFT platform's shift to a royalty-optional model. 

* Coinbase International volumes pick up, topping $280m in one day.

Coffee Break? Read This

* 3 ways our brains undermine our ability to be a good leader

* ‘I love you’: why men are much quicker to declare their feelings than women

* A new start after 60: I came out of my shell when I retired. Now, I’m a podcast star at 67

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we highlight the interview with the independent UK economist Shaun Richards who rejoins us on The Purse Podcast.

We talk about the Bank of England (BoE) and how credible are they, having increased interest rates 14 times in a row? We also talk about inflation, the cost of living crisis, CBDCs, the energy debate and what can we be optimistic about in the UK economy?

Listen here to the full interview.

***

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

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

The BoE, rising interest rates and is inflation under control?

We talk to the independent UK economist, Shaun Richards on The Purse Podcast about the UK economy and what’s ahead.

Shaun Richards rejoined us on The Purse Podcast.

Shaun is an independent economist who specialises in inflation measurement and monetary economics. This follows a career in the City of London where he specialised in derivatives (mainly options) on interest rates and bonds.

He is a Bank of England watcher which covers the issues of monetary policy and money printing or quantitative easing (QE).

In this podcast interview we talk about the Bank of England (BoE)-are they doing a good job? Rising interest rates, is inflation under control, the cost of living crisis, CBDCs (digital currency), the energy debate and what can we be optimistic about in the UK economy?

Below is a short extract from the interview:

Jana: …And of course, here we are, the Bank of England has increased the base rate again to 5.25%. And it's probably going higher. The good news is that inflation has dipped a little bit in June to 7.9%. It was 8.7% in May. The obvious question, Shaun, is how effective do you think increasing interest rates in this market and economy is?

Because it doesn't really feel like we do have inflation under control in the UK or anywhere, although in the U.S. they're doing a lot better…

Shaun’s response:

Well, it depends how you measure it.

It's one of my specialist areas, but going back to your question: interest rates. You see what we've lost is what I would call the delta of an interest rate rise.

What happens in response to it?

Because the world's changed since the last time anyone did this, for a start. In the UK, last time interest rates were anything like this was back in 2007. We haven't seen a rise like this (which I think is also an important point, how quickly they've done it) for decades.

And then it was at very different levels and very different times. So there's quite a bit of uncertainty in that.

I run an analogy which goes as follows:

Interest rate rises are like a brick on a piece of elastic: nothing happens, nothing happens, nothing happens, nothing happens. Whack!

Where this time around, I think the risk is, they’ve done this in a rush ie 14 times in a row they've raised interest rates.

So the risk is, in the future, that we'll be hit by the brick. And then we will be wondering, what's happened?

And that's the problem.

What has changed in the meantime? I can give you two specific things which have slowed things up. You see, the old theory was you change interest rates and the full impact is felt about 18 months to two years later.

This time around things were different. Why?

In the UK there are a lot more fixed rate mortgages. Now they doesn’t last forever ie they are usually two, three, four or five year terms but that means to some extent people have bought time.

Now that's actually a good thing if you think about it.

Because central banks were saying all sorts of things when interest rates were very low, but it shows people were brighter than that… and it was best to get a bit of insurance.

…So there's a slower reaction function. And there's been some research in the United States saying that quite a lot of companies, particularly the bigger ones, borrowed when things were cheap.

They need to borrow less now. So the point of those two factors is that they're slowing the impact and that's probably why.. in these circumstances, the economy is doing quite well.

…We're doing better now, I think partly because of those two factors.

I think there's a third one. And the Bank of England won't like me for saying this:

I don't think people actually believe them and think that they'll cut again as soon as they can. So they're seeing this as a temporary phase. Of course, the problem is how long that lasts…

So they are the factors. I have a bit of relative optimism.

Now, I don't know what the Friday GDP numbers are saying this, but it looks as if there'll be positive for the second quarter (note: it was reported Friday that the UK GDP grew by 0.2% between April and June). It's quite tight.

..So we're moving forward, whereas… the Bank of England and the Office for Budget Responsibility were incredibly negative. I think that was wrong… And the risk was some sort of downward spiral, which hasn't happened…

Listen to the full interview with Shaun Richards.

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