Hey bb! From mood swings to market swings: mo' money, mo' inflation. A deep dive into higher cost of living, and what it means for your portfolio.

In other news… The private market and crypto 🍭 capital chill parties on Venice Beach 🏖 ft. our very own Vajresh Balaji who's helping creators launch their own economies through Ethereum Bitcoin, and more! 🤳🏾

What goes up, must come down, but not really…

Before we dive in, let's all just take a breather 🧘🏾‍♂️ and acknowledge it's felt like a real whirlwind with the many variants, remote life, IPO's, our friends chilling in Hawaii without us 🏝, and a big question mark as to what the beep our energy levels should be. 💤 They say markets are irrational because we make them up…well, we obvs be having mood swings with the market reflections. 🎢The truth is, there's been a lot going on. Early last week, we were in the red 🔻 only for us to quickly buy the dip 🍦 and see it go up to record highs. If you're thinking, so what? Think again.Just a couple hours ago, CNBC shared how the International Monetary Fund (IMF) 💰 warned of risk inflation potentially being more than just a quickie 😘 (transitionary) pushing central banks to take pre-emptive measures. As we've seen a recent rise in consumer prices, we wonder what the best course of action is to combat ~inflation~. 

Let's talk macroeconomics, shall we?

🧐In the U.S., the consumer price index (CPI) came in at 5.4% in June — the fastest pace in almost 13 years. According to In the U.K., the inflation rate reached 2.5% in June — above the Bank of England’s target of 2%. While Elon and Richard are selling rockets, if you're looking for a used car 🚘, know the biggest price increases were recorded for those and trucks (45.2%), fuel oil (44.5%), utility gas service (15.6%) and transportation services (10.4%). Why, bb?❓Well, there's been a lot of demand for goods and services yet little supply given rise in wages to attract new employees and constraints due to COVID. 

What it means for us ✌🏾

• What happens to our lives during inflation? Cost of living increases so we can't afford 💩

• How do we combat inflation? Central banks can use monetary policy to increase interest rates (i.e. higher mortgages but hold up - have any of you been living large in a house 😳 we want in for tea time 🍵)

• What can we do in the mean time? While we're not financial experts, Bankrate's Chief Financial Analyst, Greg McBride, CFA stresses to focus on short-term bonds, growth stocks 💻 , inflation-indexed bonds 📈, the most common being Treasury-Inflation Protected Securities, consumer staples 🧻, precious metals 💍 and more here.

So, bb, whatcha thinking about doing to protect yourself from inflation? If it's investing - what specific companies or stocks? 💵 If it's crypto 💎, why and how? If it's nothing (aka hiding your money in checkings account), what bank cuz those must be some high APRs 😳

Vajresh Balaji, 23, has been rallying Rally.io, as aa Community Ambassador where he works with creators to help their communities into economies. Once roaming the streets of NYC, to now paving a new path forward in India, we're wishing our cherie, the best! If you're a creator and want to learn more about social tokens, reach out to V on Twitter 🐦

Quick News Bites

Crypto Kings & Kweens: B Word Conference Recap 

We dialed in. Oh, don't gimme that. We somehow couldn't stay away from Jack Dorsey, Cathie Wood and Elon Musk chatting crypto. 💎 It's still a world everyone's trying to demystify, and the truth is, we didn't learn much.Whether you're a fan of Three Musketeers or not, the topic of conversation remained around Elon's ‘pumping and dumping’ of Bitcoin, the purpose or lack thereof for Dogecoin 🐶 and the kind of effect Bitcoin mining has on the 🌍 environment. 

So what's next for crypto?

As we looked for compelling crypto stories to share with you this week cheries 🍒, the Bloomy's of the world (Bloomberg) are just trynna to catch up. So, we'll have to figure out what's good, together. ⚡️ In the private market we see a world where cryptocurrency is democratized through accessibility. Lolli - the leading bitcoin rewards company - closed a $10 million Series A financing round led by early Chime backer, Acrew Capital. Imagine Rakuten cashback but instead of getting 💲 you get up to 30% back in 💎 bitcoin rewards when shopping at over 1000+ brand partnerships. Nike, Chewy, Groupon, eBay, Sephora, Microsoft, Staples and Postmates just to name a few! Congrats to the team and we'll be checking it out 🙏🏽

Where the parteh's at 🎉

It wouldn't be finance made social if we didn't report the hottest gatherings this week!

Passé

• Olympics: 🏊‍♀️ USA Swimming is stacked again winning more medals (16) than most countries with Australia (9) and Great Britain (4) coming in next 🤸🏿‍♀️ Simon Biles withdraws from the Olympic final and there's a lot being said (Piers Morgan, what's good?). Check out her IG stories for the looovee where even the Biebs chimed in ❤️

Don't miss out

• NYC 🗽 Gen Z'ers are taking over Upstream's social on Thurs, July 29th @ the Norwood Club with your fave brands from Olipop, Eat Off Limits, and Behave Candy.

• LA ☀️ LA Commerce x Fintech Happy Hr looks cute. Promised is rooftop drinks, sunset snacks, and boardwalk beats. We hear it's gonna be so poppin' that some of y'all are being asked out to these? Who knew finance could be so…social? 🥰 😜

• MTL 🇨🇦 There hasn't been a lot in CA given COVID restrictions but rooftop szn keeps on kickin' - Some of y'all even said this summer's new ‘Perche’ rooftop is > Nelligan

• On the lookout for 👀 MIA, T.O., VAN, SF, LON, and some of your fave spots 🌏

Soon…maybe, just maybe…Cheres will be out and about. Keep checking in, as we may be hosting our own series of in-person events 😉

Follow us on Instagram @my.cheres, and DM us your best Cheres' color picture. We feature them every Friday.

Hold up…what am I reading, who are you, and what have you done to my investing knowledge? You're blowing my mind.

BB, chill…I know you want me but get in line. 

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