Money

The 2024 Olympics have officially arrived! 🥇 Did you know? Gold medals aren’t made of gold. Not entirely, anyway. A report from the Olympic Studies Centre explains that only 6 grams of gold are used in first-place Olympic medals. The rest is silver. The melt value of 6 grams of gold is a bit under $500, while the remaining 523 grams of silver are worth roughly $550. That adds up to a little over $1,000 in precious metals alone. Bobby Livingston, executive vice president at RR Auction, estimates that a gold medal won by a low-profile athlete at the 2024 Olympics in Paris would sell in the range of $15,000 to $30,000 right after the games ended. “The exact value depends on several factors, including the athlete's profile, the sport and the uniqueness of the achievement,” Livingston writes. Learn more 👉 https://bit.ly/4bZEMua

Around the world, the number of millionaires is on the rise — and the boom is only expected to continue. While the United States has more millionaires than the next seven countries combined, some other markets are quickly gaining ground. There are about 22 million people in the U.S. with at least seven figures of wealth, according to a new global wealth report from UBS, an investment bank. The other markets with the most millionaires are mainland China (6 million), the United Kingdom (3.1 million), France (2.9 million), Japan (2.8 million) and Germany (2.8 million). Here are the 10 markets expected to gain the most millionaires (in absolute numbers) through 2028. 🇺🇸 U.S.: 3,474,000 🇯🇵 Japan: 797,000 🇨🇳 Mainland China: 492,000 🇫🇷 France: 454,000 🇨🇦 Canada: 411,000 🇩🇪 Germany: 408,000 🇦🇺 Australia: 398,000 🇹🇼 Taiwan: 369,000 🇰🇷 South Korea: 348,000 🇨🇭 Switzerland: 199,000

While more money may have meant more problems for Notorious B.I.G., for most Americans, it means more happiness. 🤑 A broad body of research has long shown that money and happiness are closely related, though it was largely believed that once someone earns enough money to afford a modest, comfortable life — usually around $75,000 — the happiness benefit trails off. However, this “happiness plateau,” as researchers call it, could be nothing more than a convenient myth. According to a new study by Matthew Killingsworth, a senior The Wharton School fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, the ultra-rich are far happier than people earning $500,000 a year, who are themselves notably happier than low- and middle-income earners. Read more from Adam Hardy 😊 https://bit.ly/4ftCaI7

Millions of American workers have made a costly mistake when they rolled over their 401(k) money into an individual retirement account, according to new data. Some 28% of savers who rolled over their retirement funds into an #IRA in 2015 did not reinvest the money — leaving it to sit as cash in the new account — for at least seven years, Vanguard found in an analysis. “Cash is the de facto default for individual retirement account contributions, despite being generally prohibited as a default investment option in 401(k) plans,” the researchers wrote. “Unless individuals voluntarily invest IRA assets, they tend to stay in cash indefinitely.” Vanguard estimated that the mistake costs retirement savers a collective $172 billion per year in retirement wealth. Per person, that equates to more than $130,000 of forgone wealth by the time the person reaches retirement age. It's a widespread problem: IRS data shows that about 5 million Americans roll over retirement savings into IRAs each year. Of them, Vanguard study suggests that at least 1.4 million aren’t reinvesting their rollover contributions. Adam Hardy has more 👉 https://bit.ly/3YehJZe

If you've been thinking about slimming down your wardrobe, good news: Depop just removed its selling fees. Previously, sellers paid a 10% fee on every sale. As of this week, that fee is totally gone for U.S.-based sellers, Depop announced in a news release. In a news release, it said that “the removal of selling fees is part of a wider update to Depop’s fee structure, which also includes the introduction of a small marketplace fee for buyers in the U.S. from July 18th onwards.” Sellers will continue to pay a payment processing fee of 3.3% of the price (including shipping and tax) of each item plus 45 cents. According to Depop’s updated terms of service, this marketplace fee will be up to 5% of the price and an additional fixed amount of up to $1. Buyers will see the fee in the checkout process, and they'll only pay the fixed amount once per transaction if multiple items from one seller are purchased together. (Depop calls these “bundles.”) Depop has been owned by Etsy since 2021 and claims sellers have made $3.5 billion to date. https://bit.ly/3W2t8Zm

Between the 2024 Olympics on the horizon, and the explosion in popularity of women's sports, it's never been a more exciting time to be a sports fan. Instead of just investing your time watching sports, here are three ways you might consider investing your actual money in the games. Jordan Chussler gives us the scouting report 👉 https://bit.ly/4d1qXNj

Amazon #PrimeDay is one of the biggest shopping events of the year, but figuring out what’s a deal and what’s just marketing can be confusing. As with any sale, consumers should keep in mind that a large discount doesn’t necessarily equate to a good deal. Here are some strategies to use to figure out if Amazon discounts are truly good deals — and if the product at hand is worth buying, period. https://bit.ly/3WrcHYh

One of the themes of the Republican National Convention this week is 'Make America Wealthy Again." For the third year in a row, Americans told Gallup that the increasing costs of living are the worst financial problem facing the country. And many worry that inflation will only get worse after the 2024 election. Adam Hardy gives us a look at the historical and global perspective 👉 https://bit.ly/3WmNXjB

Managing your finances can be so stressful that you lose sleep, but new research suggests a solution: putting money into a #saving account every month, even if it’s just a small amount. According to a July report from the University of Bristol's personal finance research center, people who save regularly get higher-quality shut-eye than those who don’t. Folks who save money are also much more likely to feel relaxed most of the time. "Regular savers tend to feel more optimistic, are more satisfied with life, and sleep better," Susan Allen, chief executive officer at the Yorkshire Building Society, which sponsored the research, said in the report. Pete Grieve has the lowdown 😴 https://bit.ly/3zC00AI

More than a dozen cities, two states and Washington, D.C., raised their minimum wages on July 1, the halfway point of the calendar year. The increases mean tens of millions of residents are now covered by stronger minimum wage laws. Here are 15 cities and two counties that increased their minimum wage on July 1, according to a roundup by ADP: Alameda City, California: $17 per hour Berkeley, California: $18.67 per hour Chicago: $16.20 per hour Emeryville, California: $19.36 per hour Fremont, California: $17.30 per hour Los Angeles: $17.28 per hour Los Angeles County: $17.27 per hour Malibu, California: $17.27 per hour Minneapolis: $15.57 per hour (for small employers) Montgomery County, Maryland: $15.50 or $17.15 per hour Milpitas, California: $17.70 per hour Pasadena, California: $17.50 per hour Renton, Washington: $18.29 or $20.29 per hour (depending on employer size) San Francisco: $18.67 per hour Santa Monica, California: $17.27 per hour St. Paul, Minnesota: $12.25, $14 or $15.57 per hour (depending on employer size) Tukwila, Washington: $19.29 per hour (for mid-size employers)