Latest / The Curve / TCW88: Why LVMH is still the king of luxury.

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TCW88: Why LVMH is still the king of luxury. · The Curve

0:00
So if do you remember when I did my loud budgeting at the beginning of the year?
0:06
It's a viral trend on TikTok that's all about personal finance, so what you're doing
0:10
is you are effectively saying your budget out loud.
0:13
One of them was to remove Uber Eats from my life, so I don't know why but I'm not feeling
0:18
convinced you've done that.
0:19
I know, I was honestly spending a fortune on it, but then I actually found out, nearly
0:24
40% of Kiwis buy takeaway meals for dinner at least once a week.
0:29
They spend $70 a week on average on takeaways, so I felt a bit less alone.
0:35
$70 on one meal, even spending that much going to a restaurant is a lot.
0:40
If I'm having it delivered to your house, that feels like such a waste of money.
0:44
Convenience, I know, I know.
0:47
That's the thing, right?
0:48
And that's exactly why we've teamed up with Thermomix because it's all about the preparation.
0:54
People don't want to spend that much money on food when you're having like a last minute
0:57
God I need dinner, because that's not an experience.
1:00
You're not going to a restaurant and being like, oh, it's a lovely meal out.
1:04
You're just probably at your wit's end, it's been a busy day and you just haven't prepared
1:08
your dinner.
1:09
And so we've teamed up with Thermomix.
1:11
The amount that you'll be saving on takeaways if you had a Thermomix is just under $145
1:17
a month.
1:18
Just by having a Thermomix in your kitchen, which is crazy, I know it's saying, my mum
1:22
has actually got one.
1:23
They're quite incredible.
1:24
Wow.
1:25
Yeah, so just by investing once in a Thermomix, you can save for a lifetime.
1:31
We've got to give away that we're running for all of the Curve community.
1:34
It takes two seconds to fill the form out and you can be walking away with some wink,
1:39
wink.
1:40
Thermomix goodies.
1:41
So to find out all the details you can head to the show notes of this podcast, the winner
1:47
will be announced in two weeks' time.
1:49
The competition starts today and it ends at the end of October, which is when we'll
1:53
be announcing the winner.
1:54
So keep listening to the Curve Weekly to find out if you win.
2:00
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2:01
If you are listening to the Curve Weekly for the first time or you've just found this
2:05
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2:15
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2:33
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2:51
Have you caught me financial updates for us, Vic?
2:54
Just that I'm really broke and I hate it.
2:57
How broke are we talking?
2:58
Just like, I'm not saving it London.
3:00
Are you not?
3:01
Are you investing?
3:02
Yeah, but I'm just like, I'm not.
3:03
I'm like counting down the days to pay day.
3:04
Saying, actually, I take transfer money from my New Zealand account because I just know
3:08
that if something comes left field, oh, you haven't paid your rate and they're two
3:12
and a half grand.
3:13
So you're essentially feeling, yeah, just a bit, toyed.
3:16
Okay.
3:17
And is this because of mortgage rates, like what is it that, what's the main draining expenses
3:23
in your account?
3:24
Just lifestyle.
3:25
Just everything costs money.
3:27
Every time I swap my card, it's like, oh, oh, do you, are you spending things like
3:31
discretionary money?
3:32
Yeah.
3:33
Is that included in that?
3:34
Yeah.
3:35
So you just feel as though above the investing money you put aside, all the things that you
3:40
have to pay for, and also the things you enjoy doing in London, you don't have a surplus.
3:44
Yeah.
3:45
As soon as I'm like, whoa, this month's going to be a good month.
3:47
It's like, whew, there's something you don't think about.
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Boom.
3:51
Yeah.
3:52
Which is fine.
3:53
It's just like, every month I think, like, this is the month I'm going to save.
3:55
It ends up being not the month that I'm going to save more.
3:58
So, yeah.
3:59
I just need to understand when you say save because if you're investing, do you mean on
4:04
top of that?
4:05
I mean, like just having surplus.
4:06
Okay.
4:07
Yeah.
4:08
So.
4:09
Yeah.
4:10
It's knowing that it's just...
4:11
Also, welcome to the life of most people.
4:12
Not to be rude.
4:13
Welcome to the club.
4:14
No, but seriously.
4:16
Most people that listen to this podcast, I imagine, are not getting to end of the month
4:20
and being like, shit, yeah, I've saved 500.
4:23
No, it's actually really expensive to live right now, and you are more used to being
4:28
on a salary where there is a bit more fluidity and movement for things, whereas I'd
4:34
say a lot of people have never experienced the feeling of being able to have lots of
4:39
money outside of what they need to pay for.
4:41
And by the way, I think it's important that you feel like you can vent about that.
4:45
I'm not trying to undermine the feeling.
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It's more just I have felt that my entire adult life, I've never got, I've never been
4:55
in a position where I felt a head financially and that I have all this money left over
4:59
and I'm proud of my saving amount.
5:01
So, sorry.
5:02
That's right.
5:04
One thing that I am trying to do is eat more at home, because I've actually noticed
5:09
you doing that, even bringing a luncheon and stuff.
5:11
Yeah, it's also like a healthy thing, because otherwise I get to like one o'clock and I'm
5:15
starving and I just grab the closest thing and it's usually, hey, cost me an almond
5:19
leg and B is a maple and bacon croissant.
5:23
How good are that one?
5:25
Oh my gosh.
5:26
So, yeah, so it's just like, yeah, being a bit more prepared, but I also think it's
5:31
just like a healthy eating thing as well.
5:34
Before we get into the finance chair of this podcast, like the proper news, what's happening,
5:38
etc.
5:39
I would just like to say thank you to Sheena who filled in last week, the Curve Weekly
5:44
and genuinely was kind of concerned, listening, how good she was.
5:48
She was great.
5:49
Yeah, I was like, do I have a job?
5:51
Am I replaceable?
5:52
No.
5:53
Yes.
5:54
You are irreplaceable, babe.
5:55
No, no, no.
5:56
Me?
5:57
That's so sarcasticly.
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You are irreplaceable.
5:59
Don't worry, babe.
6:00
But also, thank you so much, everyone that seemed invoiced and I said, it was so many people
6:04
that the dinner was really cool.
6:05
And hopefully we can do it again sometime because I also bought pastry for her, just
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FYI.
6:11
And she told me off-mic afterwards, she's like, thanks, but I'm gluten intolerant.
6:16
And I was just like, it's one of those moments where you're like, I've bought pork to a
6:18
butt mitzvah.
6:19
You know?
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You're just like, oh god.
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Here I was.
6:25
And then I just, did you eat all of them yourself?
6:26
Yeah.
6:27
I think maybe if we do at the carhouse in the future, we just give them.
6:29
We need to get some diatries before they come in, so we don't present them with stacks
6:33
that they're not going to eat.
6:34
Very presumptuous of myself as well, that you would just be able to eat when I could
6:38
eat.
6:39
Yeah.
6:40
No, you were being kind and generous.
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It was the thought that we did.
6:42
Yeah.
6:43
This is Vic's love language.
6:44
Yeah.
6:45
Is buying people food.
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LVMH.
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This is a company.
6:48
I feel like I talk about all the time, but I do love it.
6:50
You haven't spoken about this in a while, I feel.
6:52
Yeah.
6:53
We did last week when you were in here.
6:54
Oh, we did.
6:55
I was going to say it.
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Listen to it.
6:58
I remember when we first spoke about this stock, and it was years ago.
7:03
Actually, if you want to go back and listen to that episode, oh my, okay, so we just quickly,
7:07
sorry, we just did quickly Google when we spoke about this properly, because we did a
7:11
full deep dive.
7:13
It was raising the curve 27, which seems like, I was so baby, I know, a big, less
7:21
interesting to listen to that again.
7:23
Yeah.
7:24
So it was raising the curve.
7:25
Oh my God, I want to say 127, but it was only 27.
7:28
The stock has delivered over 300% in the last five years.
7:32
I think that was the title of it.
7:34
And we did a whole, like we talked about all of the brands that are under the umbrella,
7:39
why it's such a defensive company.
7:41
So if you want to go back and listen, you can.
7:43
So LVMH stands for Louis Vuitton Moe, Tennessee.
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And it is a luxury brands company that's a massive consumer, isn't it?
7:51
Their founder is one of, oh, I know his name.
7:54
Who nod?
7:55
Yeah, he's the wealthiest guy in the world.
7:57
Oh, yeah.
7:59
So anyway, it's got 72 brands under its umbrella.
8:02
And there's a cycling.
8:04
Saline.
8:05
Yep.
8:06
Obviously Louis Vuitton.
8:07
Yeah, Moe, Tennessee, it's now acquired a 10% stake in Montclair, which is the outdoor
8:12
clothing, real bougie, bougie brand of clothing.
8:15
Is it bougie?
8:16
It's like expensive.
8:17
Well, it's pub.
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I mean, they wouldn't buy it.
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Like a luxury.
8:20
They're not buying shares in Hitman Do.
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That's a main example.
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But it's not as high-end.
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I love Hitman Do.
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I know.
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But Montclair and Hitman Do puffers are quite differently priced.
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It's what I was getting at.
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Hitman Do.
8:33
But I know what you mean.
8:35
Basically, it's a really luxurious outdoor brand, which is quite rare.
8:40
Yeah.
8:41
It's not a pedagonia.
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It's not a Hitman Do.
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It's not.
8:44
Hmm.
8:45
Bit of a whack.
8:46
Is that even a bit of a whack thing?
8:47
That's a thing.
8:48
Yep.
8:49
It's kind of on the same track.
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But yes.
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She is a Montclair.
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We're up about 15% after this news.
8:54
So I think the learning from this is that LVMH has been so acquisitive.
9:02
And by that, I mean, buying companies to help itself grow and be more defensive against
9:07
competition.
9:08
So, like I said, it's got 72 brands under its umbrella now.
9:11
If you look at curing, which owns Gucci, it's only got 16 brands.
9:16
So it's kind of like 72 brands.
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One doesn't do well.
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It doesn't matter too much.
9:20
It's diversifying.
9:21
It's almost, you know what they're saying when they say money makes money.
9:25
The reason they're able to acquire other brands is because they're doing so well and there's
9:30
so many brands.
9:31
Yeah.
9:32
And it's like if you owned four handbag brands, the contract that you can negotiate for
9:38
leather, for example, would be so much greater than someone who just has one handbag brand
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that doesn't sell much because the price you're going to get.
9:45
So there's scale benefits, but there's also the diversification.
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So if you're, if quite a few brands do well, but if you don't, it's not impacting the
9:53
whole portfolio.
9:54
It's exactly the same when we invest.
9:56
The more different things you can invest in means the video going to be if one or two
10:01
doesn't do well.
10:02
So LVMH has how many brands, 72, 72 of the 72, do they own many of those outright or
10:10
do they have shares like 10% and what was this one called again?
10:15
Monclier.
10:16
Monclier.
10:17
Yeah.
10:18
So that's 72 that they own or have shares in.
10:20
So there's still been a fit if Monclier does well.
10:23
Like for example, they're both off-white.
10:25
Oh my gosh.
10:26
Yes.
10:27
But they're quite a 60% stake in that.
10:29
In 2021, they bought the whole of Tiffany.
10:32
Back in 2020.
10:33
Yeah.
10:34
So that was for $16 billion.
10:37
But the learning from this is that this is why I like to invest in companies with large
10:42
cash balances because they can not only buy growth, by buying additional brands, that also
10:50
creates like a defensiveness for competition, but it also diversifies their portfolio.
10:56
So they just go from strength and strength and strength and strength.
10:59
When you say cash balances, another way to think of that is the idea of having a company
11:04
if you fund.
11:05
Yeah.
11:06
So if something was going wrong or their growth wasn't keeping up with where they were
11:11
hoping, they've got money that is there and available to use to, as you say, purchase
11:17
other companies, purchase other brands, spend money on marketing, whatever.
11:20
They have their kind of emergency fund is pretty decent.
11:25
Yeah.
11:26
Yeah.
11:27
Exactly.
11:28
And then if one of those brands doesn't do well, they can invest that cash into making
11:30
that brand to do well again, they can buy a new brand.
11:33
So it just gives you a lot of flexibility as having an emergency fund.
11:36
So there's one little activity I want you to do, which is, yeah, if you do hold any direct
11:43
investment.
11:44
So this is not, this is meaning you, not just investing in the S&P 500, which is the
11:48
top 500 companies in the US through an ETAF or, you know, like a fund.
11:53
But if you own direct stocks, so if you've bought Amazon or you've bought Apple or you've
11:59
bought companies like that, I want you to go to Yahoo Finance.
12:03
So just Google Yahoo Finance and go on there and type in the company and see how much cash
12:08
it has or just Google, how much cash does LVMH have?
12:12
And then what's a threshold for good?
12:14
Well, if it's negative, that means that they're in debt, which is not good.
12:19
So that's kind of a guess a bit of a quick green red flag.
12:22
If they've got cash, that's good.
12:23
If they've got debt, not so good.
12:25
Also quite a good action point.
12:26
If you don't own individual stocks and you want to take part and have a bit of fun
12:30
homework, maybe just for fun.
12:33
Use LVMH as an example, use Yahoo Finance or Google and see how much is on their balance
12:38
sheet, how much cash they hold, or another company that you're interested in and you want
12:42
to go and have a look.
12:43
And if you do want to invest in LVMH, then you can sign up to a trading platform of your
12:49
choice, whatever country you're in, and then just search in the search bar, LVMH and
12:54
see if it's available on your trading platform.
12:57
Now this is kind of not really fine, it's not as fine as in news.
13:00
But it's female empowerment news.
13:03
I love that.
13:04
You know, sometimes we get like, no, I think it's important also.
13:07
Sometimes we need to bang on about things like the motherhood penalty and the fine eye.
13:11
You can just get sick of hearing about it.
13:13
It's nice.
13:14
Okay, we've got it tough.
13:15
Yeah.
13:16
Yeah, yeah.
13:17
Yeah, it's like, so this is quite exciting news, HSBC, which is one of the biggest
13:21
finance and banking institutions companies in the world, Hong Kong, Singapore banking
13:27
corporate is what it stands for.
13:28
Cool.
13:29
So it's an Asian bank.
13:30
They have been around for 160 years.
13:33
So a long time, and it might, this is a might, it might be about to a point, it's first
13:41
female CFO.
13:42
So it's chief financial officer, Eva, oh, is she.
13:47
So her name is Pam Kerr, she's been probably pronouncing wrong because they've pronounced
13:51
every single name wrong on this podcast.
13:53
But there's two reasons why this is important.
13:55
Firstly, the lack of woman in the finance and banking industry, particularly in senior
14:00
leadership roles.
14:02
And secondly, she's in a role of managing the company's money.
14:07
Her sole role as CFO is to manage the company's money.
14:12
And we've just had the first chancellor in the UK.
14:17
So the chancellor in the UK is managing the country's money.
14:20
And it's the first one we've ever had here in the UK.
14:23
And now this company, which is 160 years old, is having the first ever CFO.
14:27
That's amazing.
14:28
So I think it's like, yes, we can be like, oh gosh, you know, first, Eva, that's terrible.
14:32
But I think it's also like, look where we've come from, you know, we're still trying
14:36
to play catch up in a field where we've systematically been excluded for generations.
14:42
And I think the fact that we've come so far, we couldn't even have credit cards by ourselves
14:46
50 years ago is quite, quite amazing.
14:49
Oh, I'm really, I feel really proud and kind of emotional.
14:53
And that is just amazing.
14:54
I'd love to, should we send her a congratulations or something?
14:58
Yeah, maybe when she gets appointed.
14:59
So this is going to be a preemptive.
15:01
Yeah, she's in line to be selected.
15:04
So we'll just hold fire with those flowers.
15:08
I love that.
15:09
And how exciting to see women in positions of power where they can make decisions
15:14
as to where money is spent is just changing that perception that we have.
15:19
Even as woman that we're not good with money, because the more that you see people
15:23
in those roles, managing massive companies or in leadership roles of whatever description,
15:29
the more that we change that underlying mindset or belief that we're not good at it,
15:33
or we don't know how or that this is a man's job, because it's not true.
15:36
No, but it is, it's the representation that changes that perspective.
15:40
And the notion that women aren't suited to managing money has been like so deep rooted
15:46
historically and so resilient that these changes like this might seem not important
15:52
or insignificant, but they're pretty significant.
15:53
No, I think most people would listen to that.
15:55
I think most people would just listen to that and be surprised that it's the first person.
15:59
And Mexico has appointed its first female prime minister as well.
16:03
Look at us go.
16:04
Oh my god, this is really cool.
16:06
We should be celebrating.
16:07
They these are big ones.
16:08
They are big ones, yes, definitely.
16:10
But I think this is a good learning of like if you're in the banking and finance industry
16:14
or any job that you are starting, it's like asking things like do they have good support
16:21
and mentoring initiatives to help younger women get to those senior leadership roles,
16:27
whether it's whether you are working banking finance or if you're working in law,
16:30
if you're working in marketing, whatever industry you're working in, it's like what do you do?
16:35
And ask them before you even start there because you want to pave the way
16:39
for younger women coming behind you.
16:42
I love that and I think that regardless of if you're young or not,
16:45
ask it for the ones that are coming through.
16:48
It might not even directly benefit you.
16:50
But if you're a 45 year old woman and you're going to a leadership role,
16:55
still ask the question, do you have a someplace for people coming through?
16:59
I don't want to be there on in a leadership role as a woman.
17:02
And don't take things as they're just given to you.
17:05
Do you know anything?
17:06
It's like no, we don't have a mentoring or support program for young females.
17:09
It's like why not?
17:10
You know, like don't just take the fact that there's a shitty maternity leave policy
17:14
that's not going to support you if you have to step away.
17:17
Be like, well, why is it not better?
17:19
Can we make it better?
17:20
I feel really empowered and excited.
17:22
I think that's just such.
17:23
Because it's brilliant advice.
17:24
Yeah, it's not just for you, it's for the generations of women to come.
17:27
And like Pam Kerr, yes, she's stepping into a role
17:30
which she probably feels very comfortable in,
17:32
but she doesn't realize the repercussions that her representation as CFO of a large,
17:38
one of the largest banking and finance institutions in the world is going to have
17:41
for younger girls, being like, I want to be her.
17:43
And also, I think I read something the other day.
17:46
And it was, in fact, I think it was the Elizabeth Daybook you gave me for my birthday.
17:51
And she was talking about how the woman who came before her put her into position
17:56
where she could go to university, she could think about what job she wanted to do.
17:59
And it was just the wording of the woman before
18:02
have fought for us to even have the right to be educated,
18:06
to be going into the workforce.
18:07
And actually celebrating the slog that they all went through for us to be here
18:12
and the fact that we need to play our part too for the ones coming later.
18:16
You know, we're not there yet.
18:17
And that's fine.
18:18
Celebrate the wins, but also push forward so that we've got grandchildren
18:22
that feel proud of the changes that we made happen so that they can benefit from it.
18:27
And anytime you accept something, whether it's a deal that might feel not that empowering
18:32
or you're taking a lower salary and you don't feel valued,
18:36
it's like that's not just for you, that's going to impact generations to come.
18:40
So it's not just a U-problem, it's a or a solution.
18:44
Let's collect it, it's collective, it works together, et cetera.
18:47
Now, they say romance is dead.
18:50
Do they?
18:51
God, what's been happening in your life?
18:54
Not my romance, my romance is alive.
18:56
Yes, oh my God.
18:58
Actually, we had a team dinner last night and we had all six of us there.
19:01
And we've been kind of made everyone give their gots.
19:05
Is there so much?
19:06
Are you single?
19:07
Are you taking, are you single?
19:08
What's going on here?
19:09
It was so good.
19:10
It was fun and actually really cute.
19:11
You don't have to, if you don't want to though, but tell us.
19:14
Anyway, the point is romance is not dead.
19:16
No, no one sees that.
19:17
But what's the point of that segue?
19:19
Sorry, I know, I was trying to thank you for a good one and sorry.
19:22
They say romance is dead.
19:24
It's like, no, they don't.
19:25
It's like, okay.
19:26
But there was a recent study that showed how many people are buying houses with friends
19:33
versus their partners.
19:35
Oh, yeah.
19:36
And I think it's a case of being in one of the periods of like the most unaffordable housing
19:40
markets we've ever had.
19:42
Plus things like not being able to find a significant other.
19:45
This has been a lockdown pandemic for so many years.
19:47
There's also some interesting stats around how many women are going to be either single
19:54
or definitely childless by whatever data is.
19:57
And that there's this huge lack.
19:59
I think it was maybe there was something you wrote as well.
20:01
Maybe in the curve, weekly newsletter about, and I do feel like there's a sort of collective
20:07
energy of women educating themselves and pairing themselves, learning more about how
20:11
they can be better humans and more emotionally intelligent, blah, blah, blah.
20:15
And kind of just not settling for relationships that don't match that and therefore a lot
20:19
of people are ending up not in relationships with men or not having kids or whatever.
20:24
And that probably also plays into this whole, well, I still want to buy a house and I'm
20:29
not going to be not doing that just because I'm not in a romantic relationship.
20:32
Yeah.
20:33
And it's like a combination of the market's harder to actually buy property.
20:37
So let's combine with the friend.
20:38
But it's also a combination of women are now earning more.
20:41
So they're like, I can buy it.
20:43
I don't need a man, but there still might be someone that they need to partner with because
20:48
they don't have enough.
20:49
So there's a lot of things going on, but the studies show that 14% of millennials have
20:55
reported buying homes with friends versus 1% when our parents were at age.
21:00
It's so interesting because when we were on breakfast the other days, we had this conversation
21:06
about money and relationships.
21:09
And I've written an article about how there's this sort of whole dichotomy and bizarre thing
21:14
where I don't want to romanticize money, but then sometimes I really like having a
21:19
treat bought for me or by being generous.
21:22
Anyway, when we finished the segment, we were listening to the host talking afterward.
21:27
Let's just kind of like when someone forgets to hang up the phone and they were talking
21:31
about pre-nabs and he asked the female co-host, would you get a pre-nab and she said, no,
21:37
gosh, I wouldn't.
21:38
She said, but maybe that's just the generational thing.
21:40
And I think that's true.
21:41
I think that has not been a narrative that the boomers have followed.
21:46
It's very much been.
21:47
Money is your money.
21:48
It's so interesting.
21:49
Whereas now I think it's a bit, there's a bit more education around what having a lack
21:54
of money and your own wealth does to your future freedom and confidence.
21:59
And so it's like, I want to protect what's mine because I've earned it and built it up
22:04
over the years.
22:05
And you should have every right to protect yours.
22:07
And if we want to combine, that's great, but the default shouldn't be to combine.
22:11
Yeah.
22:12
But I just think it's great that there's so many different alternatives.
22:15
It's not.
22:16
This is right.
22:17
This is wrong.
22:18
It's like, what's ever right for you?
22:19
So one thing I take away from this statistic when I read it in this research is like also
22:25
how important it is to make sure that you've got your correct documents in place from
22:29
a legal perspective.
22:30
You hear about when couples have to separate assets when they divorce or separate and how
22:35
ugly it can get.
22:36
And I would hate for that to happen with friends or family members.
22:39
So it's really important.
22:41
Make sure that you get good legal advice.
22:43
Use a mortgage broker.
22:45
It's honestly Google mortgage brokers in your area where we are in the world, they'll
22:50
be able to tell you the right things that you need.
22:52
And they don't charge you anything.
22:54
They're paid by the banks and other people.
22:56
So they don't charge you anything.
22:58
So I think we should definitely do more on this because I'm still talking to my friend
23:01
about buying with her.
23:03
So potentially we could look at putting something together where it's like how to approach buying
23:07
a house with a friend.
23:09
What kinds of conversations do you need to have with them?
23:11
What kind of contracts do you need to have in place between you and your friend because
23:14
there's also the idea of, I guess the reason for a long time people have bought houses
23:18
with their significant other is because they live in it together.
23:22
Whereas the difference is with a friend, you have probably quite different lifestyles,
23:27
different needs at different times in your life, so someone might want to sell or live
23:30
in it and you need to be really aligned with what are the decisions that you're going
23:35
to make on this asset you're going on together.
23:38
Yeah, there's also some really good articles and blogs that we've written in conjunction
23:42
with Traini property, which we will link in the show notes of this podcast, which will
23:46
be super helpful.
23:49
Okay, what are some quick headlines that I've also spotted?
23:54
Firstly, OpenAI, which owns ChatGBT, is going through a big kerfuffle.
23:59
Are they?
24:00
Yeah.
24:01
I'm not a falafel.
24:02
I'm so impressed.
24:03
You didn't say falafel.
24:04
Oh, I love it.
24:05
I love it.
24:06
On a weekly basis.
24:07
Let's play that.
24:08
That was so funny.
24:09
For anyone that missed it, this is what we're referring to.
24:12
Yeah, and there was a whole falafel.
24:15
Falafel?
24:16
It was a delicious falafel.
24:18
What was I trying to say?
24:22
You trying to say kerfuffle.
24:24
So there's been a bit of a mess exodus of founders, chief technology officers, really,
24:32
really key people at a band.
24:34
They got a competitor, like, competitor coming out that they were going to.
24:37
No, what's happened is that, like, this kind of thing, you know, they're going to
24:39
just come.
24:40
This company was founded back in 2015.
24:41
So a while ago now, nearly 10 years ago, although literally in the last two years, it's
24:45
just, like, become a household name in terms of ChatGBT.
24:49
And it was founded as the company set up was a not-for-profit.
24:54
And this means that your mission driven, you know, you're not profit-driven.
25:00
And the whole preface of setting up open AI as a not-for-profit was their mission was
25:04
to ensure that artificial intelligence benefits all humanity.
25:09
So they didn't want it to become a profit-making thing.
25:11
Now, they've decided to convert the organization into a company and make it full profit.
25:16
When did this happen?
25:17
This is happening as we speak.
25:18
So they have been a non-for-profit up until now.
25:22
Is that why everyone's had access to ChatGBT?
25:24
Yeah.
25:25
It's been, it's almost like setting up a charity.
25:27
So people still get paid and everything.
25:29
There's just not profits.
25:30
There's no shareholders.
25:31
There's no investors.
25:32
Wow.
25:33
And you get, like, tax, you don't have to pay tax because you're not making a profit.
25:37
But you have to rely on donations and grants, you know, because you're not selling anything.
25:42
I get it.
25:43
So surprised it.
25:44
I mean, this is going to sound awful, but I would never have expected that many people
25:49
to be on board with such a mission driven, but also cross over into the tech space.
25:54
But like, it's a pretty conflicting ideology.
25:58
And this is why heaps people have left because they're like, hang on, we set this up as
26:01
a mission to benefit all humanity.
26:02
And that was, it would be like changing the mission of the curve now.
26:05
You know, like people sign up to a company and join the company because you're on a journey
26:10
on a mission.
26:11
And if we were like, we're actually going to start educating men.
26:13
Yeah.
26:14
This is a finance pro platform.
26:15
I mean, that's still, that would still be in line with our mission of like financial
26:18
empowerment.
26:19
Okay.
26:20
But if we were like, we want to make baked beans.
26:21
We want to feed the world.
26:22
Okay.
26:23
Hang on.
26:24
So anyway, it's just now everything to do with the company is profit driven.
26:28
The founders that are still there.
26:30
So they've had more than 20 people leave this year, which is several co-founders, executive
26:36
anyway.
26:37
It's just like, it's interesting to see what's happening when you take something from
26:40
being a mission driven place that's, yeah, just all about purpose and solving a problem
26:48
for a bigger, bigger need to let's make money, let's make profits.
26:52
But it would change everyone's psyche in the business and really impress at the amount
26:56
of people that up and left because the opportunity from a financial benefit for all those people
27:01
that are there that have been a part of the journey would be huge.
27:04
Yeah.
27:05
But for them to take a stand and leave, really says something about the underlying ethos
27:10
and culture and everything that's happening.
27:12
Totally.
27:13
Yeah.
27:14
And also what I take from this is, you've got the chief technology officer leaving.
27:18
You know, what are they going to do?
27:19
They've got all this knowledge about artificial intelligence and chat GPT.
27:23
They're going to go start something else that's going to arrive.
27:25
Oh, this is really exciting.
27:27
Quickly two other things.
27:29
Kamala Harris has been impacting Netflix.
27:31
What?
27:32
Yeah.
27:33
No, the co-founder, Reed Hastings, who we were talking about before actually.
27:37
He came out and endorsed Kamala Harris.
27:39
So he was like, I'm going to vote for her and I've given her $7 million to help her campaign.
27:45
Wow.
27:46
And Netflix cancellations spiked.
27:49
What?
27:50
Yeah.
27:51
Spiked.
27:52
People canceled.
27:53
Yeah.
27:54
People obviously who were supporting Trump were like, no, screw this.
27:57
What?
27:58
Yeah.
27:59
That is so gaffling to me.
28:01
Yeah.
28:02
I know.
28:03
That also really shows how much people are like emotionally connected to the businesses they
28:10
support.
28:11
Yeah.
28:12
Because Netflix and having access to your Netflix account, the fact that that annoys you
28:15
that much that you're going to cancel, kind of surprises me to be honest.
28:18
Yeah.
28:19
But she feels kind of proud to be a part of a generation where people who are not involved
28:24
in politics are using their voice in whatever way they feel.
28:29
Because I think that as we all know, someone like, that was sort of sorry to bring her up.
28:35
But she speaks openly about her support for Kamala Harris too.
28:40
And it sort of feels like we're at this precipice where, and maybe it's because of our age,
28:47
we all are taking part in conversations about politics much more than we were before,
28:51
because the risk of what could happen feels larger.
28:55
So someone that's a co-founder of an online streaming platform to think that they're taking
28:59
a public stand is huge.
29:02
Yeah.
29:03
Yeah.
29:04
But it's also, there's risks to business, but there's also benefits.
29:08
You know, yes, there was a spike in cancellations, but he's probably thinking long-term.
29:12
Personally, he probably doesn't want to live an environment where it's run by a Trump
29:16
or operate in a country that's run.
29:18
You know, there could be more depth to mental impacts if Trump gets into power, then his
29:21
$7 million donated to Kamala and the spikes that happen.
29:25
I also wonder though for him, he's like, I don't want Trump supporters on the platform
29:29
anyway.
29:30
So if you want to leave, good riddance, you know, I wonder if when you get that big or
29:34
where you have companies that have that much money, if you do have personal values that
29:37
come in to who your clienteleans.
29:39
And if there's also policies as well, there's probably policies that
29:41
Trump and Kamala have in place that could really impact his business.
29:45
So if Kamala has a policy that's maybe about it tax benefit, there could be an
29:50
effect big corporates like Netflix, then of course he's going to endorse that because
29:54
he wants more people to vote for her.
29:55
So therefore his business, there's always, there's always,
29:57
there's always, there's always, there's a conflict of interest that's not coming from
30:01
what I want as best for the world.
30:03
It could be coming from what I want as best for my business, which makes it different.
30:06
And we are going to do a US election episode, which we're coming out very shortly,
30:11
talking all about this and the impacts and why people endorse what the policies are
30:16
of each party and yeah, because it had quite a few questions on it.
30:19
So watch this space.
30:20
Everyone should experience for us class at least once in their lives.
30:23
And Annie shouldn't miss out just because she can't afford it.
30:25
Help me own core.
30:27
I have a financial flex and it was pre-paying for my holiday a head of going.
30:33
I hadn't done that before ever because I've never really done a big trip in terms of
30:38
with other people where it's like, you go on a big safari and you pre-pay, do you know
30:42
what I mean?
30:43
That's never been the style of holiday I went on, but my family, we all chipped in to go
30:48
on a holiday on a boat in Croatia.
30:51
And because I paid for that months and months ago, it was such a hack just to be able to
30:57
get there and enjoy it and not be feeling super close to the emotional spend of an amount
31:02
of money.
31:03
Yeah.
31:04
I think the idea of having a holiday fund that you contribute to, that you can pay rather
31:09
than having to take that out last minute when it's the middle of summer and you haven't
31:13
planned for it.
31:14
Yeah.
31:15
I just think it's a much better way to take out the financial stress of being on holiday
31:19
costing too much because it's on that you planned for.
31:21
Yeah.
31:22
It's almost like you've forgotten you've spent it.
31:24
Kind of.
31:25
Yeah.
31:26
Yeah.
31:27
So that was my flex for the week.
31:28
Nice.
31:29
I think your financial flex for the week was a stunning episode.
31:31
Thank you.
31:32
That's it.
31:33
So you put into that was amazing.
31:34
I found it like incredibly interesting.
31:35
So thank you.
31:36
I know that would have taken a short load of time.
31:38
Thanks.
31:39
Seriously, that was amazing.
31:40
I hope you've run out of time.
31:41
Interesting too.
31:42
Thank you.
31:43
Thank you so much for listening to The Curve Weekly.
31:45
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31:48
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31:49
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31:53
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31:54
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31:55
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32:01
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32:05
Monday.
32:06
Bye.
32:07
Bye.
32:08
See you next Tuesday.
32:10
Wow.
32:11
See you next Tuesday.
32:12
I mean Monday.
32:13
No, actually though, new episodes out every Tuesday.
32:19
Okay, quickly, The Curve was created to empower and educate you about investing, but we
32:25
are not financial advisors.
32:27
Our platform exists for educational purposes only and it doesn't provide personalized investing
32:32
advice for your individual needs and should not be relied upon to make an investment or
32:36
financial decision and always remember to do your own research before making any investment
32:40
or financial decision.
32:42
We're here for any knowledge and support you need, but the final call is always yours.
32:46
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32:47
You got this.
32:48
Yeah, we know you got this.