Latest / The Curve / Silver’s Skyrocketing, Netflix Is Under Pressure, & Loneliness Is Costing $154 Billion.

Transcript

Silver’s Skyrocketing, Netflix Is Under Pressure, & Loneliness Is Costing $154 Billion. · The Curve

0:00
Welcome to the Curve Weekly, where we read the finance news so that you don't have to.
0:05
I'm Sophie Hallwright.
0:06
I am usually joined by my co-host, Vic Carras, but today we have a very special guest.
0:11
Hi, I'm Ivy Foster, I'm a chartered accountant, finance content creator, and usually referred
0:16
to as that finance girl with the hat.
0:18
In today's episode we're speaking about silver, it's going absolutely bananas.
0:23
In case you missed it, gold had its moment.
0:25
We're breaking down what's actually fueling it.
0:28
And what is next if we've had gold, now we've had silver, what is the next potential
0:32
investment that's going to go crazy?
0:34
We also spoke about Netflix and the 40% drop, but also the fact that it's sort of like
0:38
a startup, and what does that really mean for us?
0:41
And after that, we went slightly off-tangering.
0:44
I mean, there was a very big story that we wanted to unpack.
0:47
Should we just give a quick top line as to what we spoke about?
0:50
Yes, so we talked about how 52% of the US workforce have been reported as lowly and it's costing
0:55
around $154 billion to the US.
0:59
We talked about the Chris Williamson and the Steven Bartlett for cars, and then we also
1:02
talked about habits that we have put into our lives that stop us from feeling so lonely.
1:08
This episode, full disclaimer, slightly longer than usual.
1:12
I think when you have a very good guest on, who knows how to get, it gets a little bit
1:15
longer, but it's packed with so many insights, we had some really funny chats, and actually
1:21
it was so impressed at how easily you were able to be vulnerable, so I hope you loved
1:26
the episode, and let's dive in.
1:31
So this is the first time that you've been on the Curve Weekly.
1:34
Very exciting.
1:35
We've actually never had, we've had one other person fill in for Vic, and it was someone
1:39
from the community.
1:40
Actually, bless her heart.
1:41
She just had a baby, and she spent about 20 hours researching, and then came in and it
1:44
was actually amazing.
1:46
She was so great.
1:47
But we've never had another finance professional expert in the chairs.
1:53
Very exciting.
1:54
Today, we're going to be speaking about all the news that's been happening globally.
1:57
Can you just tell us, is this the kind of thing that you keep an eye on closely?
2:01
Yeah, obsessed.
2:02
Where do you get your news?
2:03
How did you become interested in it?
2:05
Do you listen every morning to podcast about money?
2:08
A little bit.
2:09
A mix, really.
2:10
I think when I first started social media, I was trying to look for something that I could
2:13
do every day that would help people.
2:16
And I created this thing called the Morning Money News, where I do these three stars on
2:20
my stories, and I just go through all the finance news.
2:23
Sometimes I'll look at the night before, but mostly I'll just look at it first thing
2:25
in the morning, want to wake up, and then I just summarise it.
2:28
And I go, this is the headline, this is what it is, and this is how it impacts you.
2:32
And I try and do that for three stories a day.
2:35
It helps me as well, because I think so many people disassociate themselves from finance,
2:40
and therefore disassociate themselves from the finance news.
2:43
And that's really dangerous, because some of these things that are happening have direct
2:46
impact on your life.
2:47
Like, even some of the topics we're talking about now, you know, investing, everyone goes,
2:51
oh, but I don't invest.
2:52
I'm like, you have a pension, that's investing, like that's an investment, and therefore
2:57
you have to be really careful that you're not completely disassociating from every part
3:01
of your financial world.
3:02
And since you've started posting Morning Money News, which I love, do people get in touch
3:08
and say, oh, it's so nice to be finally understanding this as it's starting to sink in,
3:12
because I mean, we obviously are originally from New Zealand, and moved over here.
3:16
I don't even, I feel like I've said a year and a half for about five and a half years,
3:20
but I do feel like the UK is further behind than Australia, Australia and New Zealand.
3:27
I think are quite far forward with the way that they think about money and investing,
3:31
pensions, et cetera.
3:33
I look around and don't see hardly any woman talking about financial news.
3:37
You are one of the only people that decode it, yes, similar way to us.
3:41
And I guess I'm interested to know if your audience have started to get excited,
3:45
interested, invested in it, or if it still kind of feels like a too hard basket.
3:49
I think people are getting better at it.
3:52
I get messages every day being like, thank you so much for doing this.
3:54
This is how I take on my news now.
3:56
I literally don't look at the news, because that's the other thing.
3:58
The news has been so grim for such a long time that people just didn't want to look at it.
4:02
And so one, and I think that's dangerous.
4:04
So I wanted to give them something that was a bit easy to consume.
4:08
Is it actually one story?
4:09
You can hold it and read it, or you can just wipe past it if you don't want.
4:12
But do you know what happens most days?
4:14
If I'm ever late, so I wake up at 5.20 every morning,
4:17
and the stars are usually out by about 5.40.
4:20
If, you know, God forbid, I have a little bit of a lion.
4:24
People will message me being like, where's the news?
4:26
I'm like, I don't work for you.
4:28
Sorry.
4:29
I know.
4:30
People are like, where is my social life?
4:31
Come here, hold on.
4:32
And so people have got really reliant on it, which I, but it's fine.
4:36
I love it.
4:37
And I'm so glad I'm there to help people.
4:38
That's a whole reason I started social media.
4:40
And the whole reason why I do what I do is because I think anyway I can help someone else
4:44
makes me feel good selfishly.
4:46
And also, yeah, it's just a good thing to do each day, isn't it?
4:49
It's just like a gratitude journal, you know, it's just another habit.
4:52
There's something about the ritual of having stuff that goes out all the time, too.
4:56
And I think that's what you're really, really good at.
4:59
So if anyone who would like to follow your content online at Abigail Rose Foster,
5:04
so I do the morning stars, I do finance Fridays with Foster,
5:07
where I like answer finance questions and I do the Sunday quiz,
5:10
where I like do a quiz on each Sunday at seven.
5:12
It kind of keeps me on track because social media can be really overwhelming.
5:18
And actually, if I have these like rules in place, it just helps me deliver content to people.
5:22
Let's say, think about it like a TV show almost.
5:24
Yes, your account is the show.
5:25
Yeah.
5:26
So today, we've got lots of stories to get through.
5:29
The first thing we're going to talk about is silver is the new gold.
5:32
So silver prices are up 60% this month.
5:35
Yes.
5:36
And it's the kind of thing we've spoken about gold quite a lot in the last few months,
5:40
particularly because it went up and it was like having a big moment.
5:44
And I feel like silver is kind of just like quietly been creeping along
5:48
and now all of a sudden, some of these stats and being kind of an all time
5:52
like, okay, what's going on?
5:54
So can we chat about it?
5:55
What's actually happening?
5:57
Yeah, I think the first thing to think about is actually not even the commodity itself
6:03
is to think about what's been happening in politics,
6:05
because when people head to commodities like gold, like silver,
6:10
even things like wheat and like just random things,
6:14
you, it's obviously because people are fleeing from something else.
6:18
Like, and it's usually because we are nervous, the market's getting stressed out,
6:22
and it's mainly the geopolitical tensions coming from the US right now.
6:26
People have worried they're nervous.
6:28
You've got people being unsure of where they should put their money
6:31
and so they're looking for safety.
6:32
You know, they can't rely on the safety of governments anymore,
6:35
because they're becoming quite erratic.
6:37
And so they're going, well, where is safe?
6:38
And, you know, assets or commodities like silver,
6:41
like gold tend to be safer.
6:44
They're also usually really boring.
6:46
And so that's what people want is in times like this,
6:49
we revert to things like cash or commodities,
6:51
because they're safe, they're boring.
6:53
You sort of know what you're going to get.
6:55
But yeah, with silver,
6:56
we've seen huge rises, and I think it's a knock-on effect from gold prices.
7:01
Really, gold prices have been staggering over the last few years.
7:04
They have gone up just extraordinary amount.
7:07
And I think people are then looking,
7:09
okay, well, what's next?
7:10
And often when it comes to jewelry,
7:12
it's like the stages of...
7:13
I guess like Bitcoin, you know?
7:14
You had like Bitcoin and Ethereum,
7:16
almost like they've flocked the next thing.
7:18
Yeah, it's like you fill up
7:20
and everything's kind of been like blown up in one essay,
7:22
and it's like that's the next closest thing people can jump to in silver.
7:26
Exactly, but obviously the main concerns,
7:28
or see geopolitical potential,
7:31
tons of other things, conflict,
7:33
just loads of reasons why people head to safety,
7:35
like cash, like commodities.
7:37
But the knock-on impact, I think, that we will see,
7:40
because I don't...
7:41
I don't necessarily think it's going to be a bubble,
7:43
because we don't know if it's a bubble until birth anyway.
7:46
But I think we need to be careful
7:47
that the knock-on impact of this massive rise in silver price
7:50
is the inflation, like the flationary effect
7:53
is going to have on everything,
7:55
because silver is used in AI,
7:59
it's used in solar panels,
8:00
it's used in so many products
8:02
that we don't even think about.
8:03
And it means that all of those products
8:04
are going to become more expensive,
8:06
and therefore it's going to increase those prices,
8:09
which we will all then feel the effects of.
8:13
I think that's such a good example,
8:14
when we're talking about the idea of financial news
8:17
being really important to everyone,
8:20
whether or not you buy individual stocks
8:22
or you invest in the stock market or not,
8:25
understanding how things are all so interconnected
8:27
is fascinating.
8:29
You know, the idea that silver is up
8:31
more than 100% since last year.
8:33
Yeah, and if you also put that in perspective,
8:35
the S&P 500, which is the top 500 companies in the US,
8:38
that's up roughly 15% over the last year.
8:42
So it's enormous.
8:44
Yeah, but yeah, I think the interconnectedness
8:46
between silver being so expensive,
8:48
but the knock-on effects of where silver's used,
8:50
which means all those products and services
8:53
become more expensive, because they all need silver,
8:55
and they're having to buy it at a higher price,
8:57
which means all of the prices are getting pushed up,
8:59
and that comes back to us as consumers.
9:02
It's so important to understand that,
9:04
but I do think unless you peel back
9:07
the layers on the news,
9:09
people don't link those things together,
9:11
so I think that's a really good explanation.
9:13
I think people think as well when it comes to commodities,
9:15
like, well, how do I own that?
9:16
You can go and buy silver, or your gold jewelry.
9:19
You can also go and invest in gold bars,
9:22
or silver bars, things like that.
9:23
That's a very gossip girl, isn't it?
9:25
Yeah, you could.
9:26
That'd be great, actually.
9:27
Sorry, but do you remember Chuck Bess opening his safe,
9:29
and there's like seven bars of gold?
9:32
Yeah, we love that.
9:32
It's so sexy.
9:33
Yeah, I remember when I found out he was English,
9:35
I was devastated.
9:37
I love an English person.
9:38
I was like, oh, that was so excited.
9:40
I love the British accent.
9:42
Oh, yeah, when you're British, not so much.
9:45
Yeah, and then you think,
9:45
but you can also invest through things like ETFs,
9:48
like you can buy gold on silver in very different ways now.
9:52
True, as you don't have to buy the physical thing,
9:54
because I think a lot of people will hear the story and think,
9:56
oh, I've got a few silver bangles.
9:58
That's very exciting.
9:59
Yeah, silver rings, maybe I'll flip those onto a pawn shop.
10:03
Yeah.
10:03
Which I could do.
10:04
To be fair, you could, right?
10:05
Like, because it is, it's worth so much more now.
10:08
So, you know, if you don't want to sell.
10:09
But the non-stressful way is just holding it in like an ETF form.
10:13
A hundred percent.
10:14
What are your thoughts?
10:15
You know, I really loved that you touched on the geopolitical,
10:19
I mean, just the general overwhelm and stress
10:21
that people are feeling right now,
10:22
and the fact that it's making people essentially scared,
10:25
and therefore trying to look for places
10:27
that they can put their money that are safer.
10:30
When you see prices going up this much,
10:32
for example, gold going up as much as it has,
10:34
and now silver, you mentioned the bubble.
10:37
And for people who don't understand what the bubble is,
10:40
it's essentially the idea that something gets bigger
10:42
and bigger and bigger, whether it's an asset or it's worth hate,
10:45
and the bubble gets bigger and people are waiting for it to pop.
10:49
As someone that is not, you know, a political journalist
10:52
with a huge amount of acumen in this space,
10:55
I don't feel like it's going to be getting much better
10:57
in the next six to 12 months,
11:00
probably going to be a few years of like roller coaster feeling.
11:03
So, but gold and silver can't continue going up
11:07
at such an extreme amount.
11:08
So, what do we?
11:09
Well, or can it?
11:11
We don't know.
11:11
This is, I think to be honest,
11:13
I was having this conversation this time last year
11:14
as gold was starting to rise,
11:16
and I was like, oh, well, I wonder when it will,
11:18
and then it's just going and going and going.
11:20
And like you said, because political tensions have been so high,
11:23
people are looking for safety,
11:25
and so we are falling into a place
11:28
where people don't know where to go,
11:29
and so they're just going where they know,
11:31
which is often cash and commodities.
11:34
So, yeah, and the bubble, the pop element,
11:36
no one knows until it's happened.
11:38
It happens because you basically get to a stage
11:41
where people go hold on.
11:42
This is seriously overvalued now.
11:43
It's not, it cannot be worth this.
11:45
Like, even speculation and all the rest of it,
11:48
it can't be worth this amount of money for what it is.
11:51
And that's when people go, oh, okay,
11:53
duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, and it all like ripples down.
11:55
But you can't time, so I would never be able to say to someone,
11:58
like it's a good time or it's a bad time to get in
12:00
because a year ago, I think people were saying to me,
12:03
like, oh, is it too late to invest in gold?
12:05
Look now, like you would have done really well in the last year.
12:08
So, I don't know if I'm honest,
12:10
and I think anyone that says they do know is lying.
12:12
So, I think we're going to just see,
12:14
because you never know, Trump could just,
12:17
there is a lot of things, I feel sometimes he just wakes up
12:19
and chooses what's his thing, truth, social.
12:23
He's like, bam, bam, bam, yeah, and he just,
12:25
he twit, oh, what's it called on truth, social,
12:27
where he puts a message out on there,
12:29
and it's just like the whole economy is terrified.
12:32
But then the next day, he might do something
12:33
where people are feeling great.
12:35
Like, you know, last week's Curve Weekly,
12:36
you were talking about how all of these
12:38
like massive entrepreneurs, like Zuckerberg, Elon Musk,
12:42
they're all benefiting massively off of this Trump situation.
12:47
So, I don't know, like who really knows what's going to go on,
12:51
because everyone's sort of benefiting from it,
12:53
well, those people are.
12:54
So, will those people be integral
12:57
in trying to take that down? I don't know.
12:59
Like the Nicki Minaj thing this week,
13:00
if you say, can you tell me what's going on?
13:02
I keep saying people doing an Nicki Minaj face,
13:04
and I have no idea what's going on.
13:05
It's giving me X. So, Nicki Minaj has come out
13:08
and done like a speech where she's saying she supports Trump
13:10
so that she could get a golden visa.
13:12
You're joking.
13:13
I didn't even realize that she wasn't American.
13:14
I was getting really confused.
13:15
But anyway, she's, yeah, so she's given her and her kids golden beat,
13:18
or he's given her and her kids golden visas now.
13:20
And she's come out and publicly said, I support Trump.
13:22
But I'm like, what, how?
13:25
Like, she must clearly have gone.
13:27
Wow. My music career is done.
13:30
I don't need any more support from anyone.
13:31
I'm just going to, like, what?
13:33
It blows my mind.
13:35
I know. I was devastated.
13:37
Because it's like, how can you support someone
13:39
that the situation around ICE?
13:41
Like, you know, it is what it is.
13:43
Like, you can't explain your way out of ICE being okay.
13:45
Like, it's not okay.
13:46
You know, and how can, and he supports that
13:48
and therefore, by supporting him,
13:49
you're saying that's okay.
13:50
What?
13:51
Like, everyone saw the picture of the boy,
13:52
the little boy that had been taken from school
13:55
so that they could capture his parents.
13:56
In what world are we all just sitting around
13:58
and being like, yeah, okay.
14:00
But he's making the economy better,
14:01
so let's just pretend he's fine.
14:03
No.
14:03
And then when celebrities come out and basically endorse him,
14:05
I think that is horrific.
14:07
Now, before we move on to the next story,
14:09
I would like to ask you one final thing
14:11
on this whole commodity's flying through the roof.
14:13
So, we've said gold has had an absolute, you know,
14:17
time in the sun as they would say.
14:19
Silver's having its big old moment.
14:22
What is next?
14:22
Like, is bronze a thing?
14:25
You know, like, what is sort of the next commodity
14:27
that people could go to?
14:28
Because it's like kind of a way to think about it,
14:30
rather than buying something when it's super high
14:32
and already really, really overvalued.
14:35
The best thing you can do when it comes to investing
14:37
is find the thing that has room to grow.
14:39
Yeah.
14:39
So, like, are there, what are the commodities?
14:41
And I know it's not saying like,
14:42
this is what's going to happen,
14:44
but I don't really know other commodities.
14:45
I know, to be honest,
14:47
and other commodities can get very boring,
14:49
because also don't forget,
14:50
the lower you go down effectively
14:51
in the grades of the value of it,
14:53
the more likely it is to be used in everyday services,
14:57
everyday production, basically.
14:58
Right.
14:59
So, when you think about bronze,
15:00
it's most likely stuff that's being copper,
15:02
all of that's being used to build things all the time.
15:06
So, you all are high-valued, basically.
15:08
No, if we then all start jumping on that bandwagon
15:10
and driving bandwagon even,
15:12
and driving that price up,
15:13
the prices of everything else is going to go up.
15:15
It's just, you know, supply and demand inflation.
15:18
So, I think it's important that we're aware
15:20
of the knock on impacts of all of that.
15:22
Maybe people just start to look for like cash
15:24
or maybe, I don't know.
15:25
I really, honestly,
15:28
I wish I had a crystal ball
15:29
when it came to all of this stuff,
15:30
because I think I get asked a lot,
15:33
what should I invest in?
15:33
I'm like, it depends on so many factors.
15:36
Like, this is why people can't give out financial advice online,
15:39
because it depends if you were a single girl
15:44
on like a median salary based in South London
15:47
versus a family woman based up in the north
15:52
that has, like, the earns really well,
15:54
but, like, dispose of incomes slightly different.
15:56
Join me in, like, all of those factors play a part
15:58
and say, like, what you should or shouldn't invest in.
15:59
Yeah.
16:00
Which is why it should be individual.
16:02
And it's super annoying,
16:03
because I remember when we first started the curve,
16:04
I would just be begging for it to tell me what to do.
16:07
Yeah.
16:07
And she's like, well, it totally depends on your situation.
16:10
You're like, oh, shut up.
16:11
Just tell me what to invest in.
16:13
Yeah, yeah.
16:13
And it would get so frustrating.
16:14
And now I totally understand the concept of that, really.
16:17
And also, it's not just your own situation,
16:19
like, you might have 10 kids,
16:20
like, what you invest in is very different
16:22
to someone that's single and focused blah, blah, blah.
16:24
But it's also a values thing.
16:26
And to your point about, you know,
16:27
you may want to invest in bronze,
16:29
but actually, what's that going to do?
16:30
What does the flow on?
16:31
And starting to think like a conscious investor,
16:33
I think is a really important element too.
16:35
Yeah.
16:36
OK, let's move on to Netflix.
16:38
Unless you've been living under a rock,
16:39
you may have missed the story.
16:41
But there's, it's honestly, like,
16:43
this story is a Netflix show in itself.
16:46
In fact, maybe they'll do that.
16:47
I 100% they will.
16:49
They will.
16:50
Fascinating what's happening.
16:51
So essentially, if you've missed it,
16:54
Netflix shares it down about 40% since last June.
16:57
So it's had an absolute tanking.
17:00
Up until then, Netflix was doing so well.
17:03
I actually invested in it like three years ago
17:06
and doubled my money.
17:07
And it was insane.
17:09
Anyway, the company is having a bit of a wobble.
17:12
What do you take from the story?
17:14
What are some of the things that you all know?
17:15
Like, I mean, we can do an update
17:17
on what's happening with the big acquisition.
17:19
Yeah.
17:19
But maybe we could chat about just Netflix
17:22
as a company and the industry within media.
17:24
Yeah.
17:25
Because it's super interesting.
17:26
Like, Stranger Things has just come out.
17:28
You would have thought that that would have given it
17:31
a massive boost, but it's still struggling.
17:33
It's still a startup, really.
17:35
It's still constantly reinvesting in itself,
17:37
which I think is really good sign.
17:40
Like, it's still trying, like, I know we say,
17:41
we'll talk about the acquisition in a minute,
17:42
but it's still trying to acquire
17:43
it, still investing in products all the time.
17:45
It's still navigating its way throughout.
17:48
Because obviously, it replaced Blockbuster, didn't it?
17:50
Like, did you have Blockbuster?
17:52
Yeah, we did.
17:53
Honestly, going to a DVD store was like,
17:55
the highlight of my life.
17:57
Do you remember the sealed section?
17:58
And there would be, like, at the back of the DVD store,
18:00
I was like, dark, and it was all porn,
18:02
and like, I just remember trying to slide in
18:04
and have a look, quick look.
18:05
And then, well, no one was watching.
18:07
No, I don't actually remember that.
18:09
Really?
18:10
There was, like, an adult-only section.
18:11
There must have been.
18:12
But, honestly, I've always been a bit like,
18:14
things, if I'm, it's not happening in my vision right here.
18:17
It's, it's not happening in my life.
18:19
So, that's probably why I feel like I've always been a bit like that.
18:21
But, yeah, with Netflix, obviously, it was the,
18:24
it's what beat Blockbuster.
18:25
Blockbuster didn't diversify, and Netflix came along and went,
18:28
right, we're just going to make this easier.
18:29
And each year, it's having to invest more and more into, like,
18:32
well, what's coming next?
18:32
What does, what do people want?
18:34
It's having to compete with YouTube on a huge level.
18:37
Like, the next generation, don't watch Telly.
18:40
They just watch YouTube.
18:41
It's how Mr. Beast has got where he has.
18:44
Because he is effectively the presenter to the world.
18:47
When I was young, I remember that you knew
18:49
this morning presenters, like, they were your friends.
18:51
Because it was always on the Telly.
18:53
Your mum watched them every day.
18:55
That kind of thing.
18:55
Whereas, like, Mr. Beast has become that,
18:57
but to the world.
18:58
Like, in world, we ever have that in the past.
19:01
For anyone that doesn't know, he's a huge YouTuber.
19:04
Yeah.
19:05
I'd be amazed if, like, even I don't ever watch this stuff.
19:07
I know who he is.
19:08
And I think Netflix are trying to navigate their way
19:11
through how do they compete with YouTube the whole time,
19:14
you know, and also on a global level.
19:16
So I think, yes, it's down 40%.
19:19
But, you know, the stat was that it still only has
19:23
an under 10% of everyone's watch time.
19:25
So there's still a long, large part of the market
19:27
that they can still tap into.
19:29
But how are they going to do that?
19:31
I think is the big question.
19:32
I think what you said before about it being a startup
19:35
is really worth pausing on for a second.
19:36
Because most people would hear Netflix.
19:39
And think it's one of the biggest companies in the world
19:41
as if it's a startup.
19:42
But that's the fact that it's only got 10%
19:46
of essentially, like, total addressable market.
19:48
Yes.
19:49
It shows how much growth there is
19:52
for just to still infiltrate the world.
19:54
You know, it's early doors.
19:55
And when you think about investing,
19:57
if you're looking at something, for example,
19:58
if Netflix had 80% rather than 10,
20:02
it only has 20% of the population to try and target.
20:05
That's not a huge amount of growth.
20:06
But if, think about it, if it's at 10%,
20:09
and it has 90 to go, it's got a huge amount of work to do.
20:13
I think it made a few weird decisions
20:15
this year as well, or in the last year.
20:17
Especially when, obviously, it did its transition from, like,
20:19
if you had one...
20:21
Oh, my God.
20:22
If you had one account...
20:23
Yeah.
20:24
The account log out was so annoying.
20:26
Oh, just so many people.
20:27
And I think that they had to think, kind of, logically,
20:29
about where the future was going.
20:31
And so they really do want money.
20:33
But they're like, all right, we need to set our stance out now.
20:36
Because even I was using my dad's account,
20:39
who my brother was using it, and my mom was using it.
20:42
I'm glad that you admitted that.
20:43
I feel like no one else over the age of 24
20:45
has admitted that except for me.
20:47
Well, no, but now I have to pay for it as well.
20:49
Because we're not in the same house.
20:50
And it's so strange.
20:51
I've not upgraded.
20:52
I'm like, this is how you're watching it now.
20:54
Yeah, I mean, I'm kind of...
20:56
Different me.
20:56
I'm not going to lie to you.
20:57
I've swapped from, like, to Disney Plus.
20:59
I've been watching other ones.
21:01
And this is what I think they're navigating
21:03
is that everyone else is getting on board now.
21:05
Like, it doesn't matter where you look.
21:07
TV is trying to look like YouTube and Netflix.
21:09
Whatever they have, they're trying to get hold of.
21:11
Like, if you look at the BBC News app,
21:14
you don't have to scroll down very fast
21:16
for it to start showing you videos that look like TikTok.
21:19
Because it's trying to tap into this new market.
21:21
And I think Netflix is trying to navigate its path
21:25
to what does this look like.
21:26
And like, you know, the fact that like Netflix
21:28
do their own, like,
21:30
Lester Square releases and things now.
21:31
Do you remember, like, if a film came out,
21:33
they're on the red carpet?
21:34
Oh, that's it, premier.
21:36
God, sorry, some words.
21:38
You should hear my voice note to my girlfriends.
21:40
I'm like, what's that word?
21:41
And they're like, hello?
21:42
I'm like, yeah, let's go with that.
21:43
Hey, I'm still going 14 minutes in there.
21:45
You're still there. Yeah, cool.
21:46
Let's keep chatting.
21:47
My voice notes are getting out the gate long.
21:49
And someone sent me this passive aggressive message the other day.
21:52
It was like a video of someone saying
21:53
it's selfishness in a voice note.
21:55
Because you're the one, it's quick for you.
21:56
But it's long for someone else to listen.
21:58
And I thought, oh, can we not bring that in?
22:00
I'd rather, no.
22:01
Rather than we didn't bring it in.
22:02
No, I've got all voice note friends.
22:03
If you're not a voice note friend,
22:05
you're not a friend, because you're not getting a message perfect.
22:07
Perfect. Perfect.
22:08
I think voice notes are flipping brilliant.
22:11
Because I, but just 1.5 stayed me if you have to.
22:14
Well, do you know what my problem is?
22:16
And I'm worried that your listeners are going to comment this.
22:19
Is you don't really have to 1.5 me?
22:21
I talk ass to these.
22:22
Oh, they're using it to see if it's coffee's anyway.
22:24
And I'm like, and they're like, oh my gosh, this girl.
22:27
So some of my girlfriends are like, I can't 1.5 you
22:29
because I can't hear you.
22:30
It's like, you should not take shit, Mark.
22:31
You literally, but there are times where I'll send like a long voice.
22:35
No, I don't know if anyone else does this.
22:37
And I get to the end and I go, I'm really sorry that this was a podcast,
22:40
but I hope you enjoy it.
22:41
And like, I just like, click, click, go.
22:43
Or like at the moment, I'm living a life where there's a lot of plots going on.
22:47
And I'll voice note, and I'll like, do it to the masses.
22:49
So I'm like, hi, everyone.
22:51
Oh, too good to my, yeah, I'm like, welcome to the 5 minute podcast
22:53
of what is going on in Abby's life now.
22:55
And then I just put it to loads of people.
22:57
Yeah, it's such a good idea.
22:59
And then I've messaged them all being like,
23:01
you can listen to this like on the toilet.
23:03
It's not a, it's not a like one way you have to like be focused.
23:06
It's like, listen to it on the toilet.
23:08
If you have time, it's not urgent.
23:10
Especially within female groups is the way in of different opinions.
23:13
Because I have a lot of different girls.
23:15
I send this voice note to women, sorry.
23:17
And like some of them are mums.
23:19
Some of them are single.
23:20
Some of them are married.
23:21
Some of them, they're all in a different stage of their lives.
23:22
So you get really different opinions on characters.
23:25
They'll weigh in with their viewpoint.
23:28
And sometimes they'll like a character or they won't like character.
23:31
And I find that really interesting.
23:32
I love to put them characters when they're differently people.
23:34
Oh, no, no, yes.
23:35
I'm stunning.
23:35
Someone else told me off of this yesterday,
23:37
but I just call everyone here to it.
23:38
Because you're the main character.
23:39
Everyone else is just,
23:40
well, everyone's life is just a film or a play, isn't it really?
23:44
And we're all just like navigating our way through it.
23:46
I have thought, and we're going to get to the whole loneliness epidemic soon.
23:50
But thanks.
23:51
That's where you know.
23:52
Actually, what I was going to say is that I do think that
23:55
that's the thing guys struggle with is they don't have heaps of female friends
23:58
to all friends in general to give them lots of different perspectives.
24:01
We do, you know, we can talk to so many of our
24:03
girl friends about things.
24:05
It's like having 15 therapists.
24:07
Yes, but they don't have that.
24:09
And I do think that not only the different perspectives
24:12
gives us a way more holistic view on how we're thinking about different situations.
24:17
But also that sense of friends being in it with you
24:20
and knowing what's happening in your life.
24:21
They don't have that.
24:22
Can you imagine a guy sending a group of voice note to 15 of their friends?
24:26
Like, no.
24:27
No, they should just be better.
24:29
Okay, right.
24:30
Back on track.
24:30
Back to Netflix, back to Netflix.
24:32
Now, one of the things that I noticed in this research
24:35
was the fact that the ad revenue is over 1.5 billion.
24:39
And they're expecting that to double by 2026,
24:41
which I thought was quite fascinating because
24:44
I didn't think Netflix would be going down the advertorial route.
24:48
Do you think that's maybe because that's how YouTube makes money?
24:51
It's almost like trying to replicate the same business model.
24:54
But with different content.
24:56
Yes, there will be people in that team that are going,
24:58
well, what can we look at that's a close competitor
25:00
and how do we mirror or make that better.
25:03
I think they've for a long time got away with them being the front runners.
25:08
And now they're probably not.
25:09
And obviously they've got a huge bill coming up
25:11
because obviously they are about to require
25:13
or they're trying to acquire someone else.
25:15
And therefore they've got to find ways to make money.
25:17
They cannot.
25:18
It can't be like Uber where they're just constantly lost making.
25:21
But we'll see.
25:22
Lots of businesses.
25:23
So for people who are like, wait, what?
25:24
I thought Uber was one of the most profitable business
25:26
it's massive.
25:27
How is it lost making?
25:28
There's different types of businesses.
25:30
Some of them operate in debt because they're not chasing
25:33
being like positive from a profit perspective.
25:36
And then others are, you know, there's different milestones.
25:38
And this all comes down to the way businesses are funded.
25:41
I don't know if you wanted to add more here.
25:42
But I do think it's a lot.
25:44
People would have heard that and been like, what?
25:45
Oh, sorry.
25:46
Yeah, sometimes I can throw away a comment.
25:47
So Uber, I don't, I think it is now, I think,
25:51
from reading the news.
25:52
It was the end of last year.
25:53
It started to become profitable.
25:55
But for years and years and years,
25:57
for as long as we've been going, it has been not making.
25:59
It ran at a loss purely because that was how it was going to get
26:02
to where it was going to get to when people invested in Uber.
26:05
They knew that was how it was just going to be
26:07
because they needed volume to make profit.
26:10
And they didn't have that volume yet.
26:12
So it was just about spending money, basically.
26:14
It was basically spending the on growth.
26:15
They were spending spending spending to grow, grow, grow,
26:18
even though they were spending more that the more was coming in
26:20
because they knew their future plans were going to be.
26:22
Which is why I'd love to say like to anyone listening as well about
26:25
because sometimes I think people go like, oh,
26:27
everyone makes, especially America and Silicon Valley
26:29
make running a business look so easy.
26:31
And it's like, yes, but don't forget,
26:33
some of these massive companies have not never made profit.
26:36
But they're allowed to because they're so massive.
26:38
And there's a lot of other things going on at play here.
26:41
So when you're running a business,
26:43
it's never, never that simple.
26:46
You know, it's like the whole 24 hours in day,
26:48
that money may thing where it's like we all get the same 24 hours.
26:50
I'm like, yes, but I'm not allowed to run my business.
26:53
Loss, H.Mossy will shut me down.
26:55
Like, it's a very different concept.
26:56
So yeah, I think your Uber is slightly different.
26:58
Well, different businesses just have different approaches
27:01
and their success models are different.
27:02
So a loss making business, for example, Uber,
27:05
their investors are expecting that.
27:07
So when they come out with their results,
27:09
it's not a shock for everyone in that business
27:12
because they're purposely running it in a certain way.
27:15
So Netflix subscribers have gone up to 325 million paid subscribers,
27:21
which is the most that they've ever had.
27:23
And I think that it's probably worth just saying,
27:26
if you're looking at this and you're looking at Netflix shares
27:28
and you're thinking, holy shit, they're down 40% that's enormous.
27:32
Remember that some of these milestones are bigger than they've ever done.
27:36
So like the fact they've crossed that milestone
27:38
from over 300 million paid subscribers,
27:40
but that's only 10% of the total addressable 100%.
27:44
Remember that people freak out when there's uncertainty in the stock market, right?
27:49
And so as Netflix is looking to acquire a new business,
27:53
which in case you missed it,
27:54
basically they're trying to buy Warner Brothers,
27:55
there's this whole thing going on right now where Warner Brothers
27:59
and as a paramount are basically trying to buy it.
28:01
It's this big bidding war.
28:03
Netflix are going to have to use huge amounts of the cash
28:05
on their balance sheet to acquire this business.
28:08
So the idea of something going wrong
28:10
with it being a hiccup, whatever, investors are like,
28:12
oh, you don't have your emergency fund or your FU fund.
28:14
So like maybe it's going to be a tumultuous few years,
28:18
which is why the share price has gone down.
28:19
It's not that all of a sudden the business is this really bad business model
28:23
or they've had these awful results come out.
28:26
It's just that people panic when things are uncertain.
28:28
So if I look at this, I think,
28:30
I mean, I'd be really interested to hear what your thoughts are,
28:33
particularly because I know YouTube,
28:34
you're so on board with what's happening there.
28:37
And I agree I know YouTube has a huge amount of growth,
28:39
but I still look at Netflix and think there's so much growth
28:43
that this business can do.
28:44
And I don't think the share price is down
28:45
because they're running it badly.
28:47
It's just the fact that, yeah,
28:49
there's a bit of turbulence at the moment.
28:50
Exactly.
28:51
Just like earning reports come out, people go,
28:53
hmm, okay, maybe it's not as safe as I want it to be.
28:56
People's, you know, people's risk appetites different.
28:58
They might just go, this isn't really the safety I wanted.
29:00
I'm just going to move away and it can drop a price,
29:02
but it can be just the opposite of basically a bubble
29:06
where people look back and go, oh my god, this is not worth this.
29:09
People can look at the Netflix price and might think,
29:11
it's definitely worth more than that.
29:13
It's just that people are undervaluing at the moment
29:14
because they might feel like for them, it's overvalued,
29:18
but it's personal, it's so personal.
29:21
Now, the biggest, most interesting, potentially controversial story
29:27
that we'll be speaking about today is the cost of loanliness.
29:30
So, US companies have spent a really long time treating loanliness
29:36
as like a personal problem and productivity
29:40
as a sort of spreadsheet business problem.
29:43
And there's been new stats that have basically come out
29:45
to prove that otherwise and essentially make businesses realise
29:49
that lonely employees equal poor output
29:53
and therefore extremely expensive to businesses.
29:56
Where do we even start with this story?
29:59
Well, the start, so 52% of US workers feel lonely for,
30:04
so the cost of loanliness is £154 billion.
30:08
What was the end of that start?
30:09
That is wild.
30:10
US employers are approximately £154 billion a year
30:14
at costing companies based on the way loneliness is impacting its workers.
30:19
So, it's things like, yeah, they're not,
30:21
they're showing up to meetings with their cameras off,
30:23
they're disengaged, they're not trying low energy,
30:26
brain fog, that kind of thing.
30:27
It's essentially the idea that mental health or loneliness
30:31
is directly impacting companies' abilities to make money
30:36
or be as profitable as they could be
30:38
because they're spending £154 billion a year.
30:41
And I think also things like hybrid working, working from home,
30:45
lots of those things obviously are exacerbating loneliness
30:47
because people are way more segregated than they have been before.
30:51
But I just find, yeah, I find this whole conversation
30:54
really fascinating, particularly as I'm sure most people
30:59
who listen to this podcast have seen Reels and all sorts of
31:04
women clapping back at the Stephen Barlett podcast around.
31:08
And I can't remember, who was the guest?
31:09
Chris Williamson.
31:10
Right.
31:11
And so there were like yellow glasses.
31:13
Yeah, and so if you've missed this,
31:15
just give a very quick overview as to what
31:17
their face is like, don't get me started.
31:20
Very quick overview.
31:21
It's basically Chris Williamson and Stephen Bartlett,
31:23
which two childless men have come out and said that
31:26
there is a pandemic of lower childbirth rates
31:29
and it is down to women.
31:32
Effectively is what they said.
31:33
It's our fault, basically,
31:35
that there's not more babies being born.
31:37
Yeah.
31:37
And the uproar that as a woman, I'm like,
31:43
I don't even know where to go with this.
31:47
I know, I'm like, how do I start it?
31:49
There's such a huge part of me that's like,
31:51
it's really difficult when you see all this stuff online,
31:53
where it's like men are lonely.
31:54
And I'm like, could there be some reasons like,
31:58
have we dived into why they might be?
32:00
And it's like, why are women not having as many children?
32:03
Well, okay, why don't we step back and figure out
32:06
that like having a child now is wildly expensive?
32:09
It's not like it was years ago.
32:11
We don't have a village society anymore,
32:12
where your mom was down the road
32:13
or your auntie lived next door
32:15
and you need a childcare, cool, just pop next door.
32:17
Your mom probably lives so far away from you now
32:20
because you've got to live in the city
32:21
because you have to live near work.
32:22
Because if you want a decent job,
32:24
you have to be near your office
32:25
so you can get in on time.
32:26
Like, there's all these barriers
32:28
that make it so hard.
32:29
And also, as women, we're being told,
32:31
you can have it all, but not all at once.
32:34
And so therefore, you've got to make decisions.
32:36
And often, the biggest times in your career
32:39
are your childbearing years.
32:41
I hate the childbearing.
32:42
I know, it makes me...
32:43
The word, I just can't.
32:44
I know, but sorry, but that is,
32:45
and that's what's happening.
32:46
And so we're going, we're having to decide
32:48
between our career and children.
32:51
And then we go, well, to get children,
32:53
we probably, not for everyone,
32:55
but you might need another guy involved, right?
32:57
And then you go,
32:59
well, my career gives me stability, income.
33:02
I feel in control of that.
33:03
And then you look for a man,
33:04
and you go on to a dating site,
33:06
and you think, sorry, have you been on her?
33:07
Exactly. I'm like, that's not giving me stability.
33:10
It's not giving me control.
33:11
I'm like, do you know what it comes down to?
33:14
What are they bringing to the table?
33:16
That I can't give myself.
33:18
That is the essence that we're kind of getting to here.
33:21
And also, we're the ones that have to put our bodies
33:23
on the line, our careers on the line.
33:25
Sorry, what is it for us?
33:27
Is that kind of confused with why I'm having to sacrifice
33:29
everything?
33:30
And you're concerned about your genes
33:33
not making its way into a baby.
33:35
However, what I'm more concerned about
33:37
is the fact that if I did have a child
33:39
with one of these people that I see on her,
33:41
I'm most likely my career will be down the toilet
33:45
because you're not going to support me enough
33:46
so that the kids are going to then meet me
33:48
because it's not going to be a fifth.
33:49
Like, I think that there's a huge amount
33:51
of pressure being put on women to have the babies.
33:55
And it's like, if there were men
33:57
that were showing up and doing the laundry and making dinner
34:00
and doing all of the things that are not inherently feminine,
34:04
however, we've had to do for so long
34:06
because it's sort of that you're running the household.
34:09
Now that we've stepped into careers,
34:11
the household and the children,
34:13
that should be a shared responsibility
34:15
in the same way that child care should be split.
34:17
But you shouldn't be thinking,
34:18
oh, they already earned 40,000 a year.
34:20
My female partner, obviously,
34:22
this is very heteronormative.
34:24
So that's how much it's going to cost for childcare
34:27
so you should give up your job.
34:28
But it's like, actually, let's split that.
34:30
It's going to be half of my cellar and half of yours.
34:32
You know, I just,
34:33
I think that the way we're looking at this is so wrong.
34:35
My motherhood genuinely is one of the biggest issues
34:38
that causes the gender pay gap to be what it is.
34:40
And it's a global issue.
34:41
Like, the gender pay gap is effectively when women are starting off
34:45
at the same level as men,
34:46
but not finishing at the same level as men.
34:49
Like, we're not getting to those
34:50
present and see sweet roles,
34:52
because something happens in the middle.
34:54
There are, and also, I would like to caveat,
34:56
there are so many women that should
34:59
can be want to be mothers,
35:01
and that's what they want to be.
35:02
And they should be entitled to do that.
35:04
They should be financially supported.
35:05
They should feel in control.
35:06
And that's what they want to do.
35:07
Amazing.
35:08
There are also a ton of women
35:09
that don't want kids,
35:10
don't want anything to do with it.
35:11
And so don't think about it.
35:13
Great.
35:13
But it's that middle group
35:14
where we're having to decide, or people,
35:16
I'm single, so it's not something I'm thinking about right now,
35:18
but people are having to decide if it's their career
35:21
or if it's children.
35:23
And like you said, what normally happens
35:25
if they're in like a relationship
35:27
as they look at salaries and go,
35:28
well, you earn more so therefore I should give up work.
35:30
That's not how it works.
35:31
Like, we should be splitting all of this
35:33
and going, okay, but is going out of the job force now
35:38
going to long-term impact you?
35:40
The sure answer is yes.
35:41
Are you putting into your pension?
35:43
No, whilst you're on maternity most of the time.
35:45
And therefore, you're going to have a pension gap issue.
35:47
The ripple knock-on effects of this is huge.
35:52
I feel like we've walked away from the loneliness element,
35:54
but I think it's like people feel,
35:56
like I generally fall honesty,
35:58
like as a single girl at 31,
36:01
there are so many times where I,
36:02
and I worked really hard to like live on my own
36:05
and have like all of my own things
36:07
and like not need a man vibes
36:10
and be strong and all of that.
36:11
But I turn around and I feel so lonely.
36:13
Like I have to go to dinners
36:15
and be constantly,
36:16
I have to be like an 11th wheel at the dinner table
36:18
because everyone's got their partner.
36:20
And then I always get put on the end
36:21
and like the weird massive seat at the end.
36:23
So if I'm like the party actor the evening
36:26
and usually given my job,
36:28
I sort of sit there
36:29
and I often get sat next to like a reform voter
36:32
and they just like put me there for the lulls
36:34
to be like, debate with my husband
36:36
and I'm like, right, fine, I thought I was finished for the day.
36:39
But come on, let's talk about Nigel Farage.
36:41
Pull up a seat, let's go.
36:43
And I think that's the parts of the loneliness
36:46
that we forget even when you are with people in the room.
36:48
You can still feel lonely
36:50
because you're not in a relationship.
36:51
And all I like,
36:52
and I think when I, if I'm looking for someone,
36:55
I'm just looking for someone
36:56
that can support me through my career.
36:58
But because I have a weird career
36:59
and so many women have weirder careers now.
37:01
We've had like squiggly careers
37:03
and we're in roles that are traditionally masculine.
37:07
We feel like, or I have felt in the past
37:10
that men just don't really get it
37:11
and therefore don't want to be around it.
37:12
I hear all the time from men
37:15
like at these like dinner parties
37:17
where I'm usually the only single one there.
37:19
Men are like, I'm so impressed by what you do.
37:21
And I'm like, oh, thank you.
37:22
But they're almost like minimizing it.
37:24
And then their wives are like,
37:26
oh, I could never do what you do.
37:27
Like I'd never, when do I have time to do
37:29
like the washing and this and that?
37:31
And like, we were talking about before.
37:33
We started recording.
37:33
Like, when do you have time to do the food shop?
37:35
I'm like, I don't, I just don't do it.
37:37
Neither.
37:38
It's just the life choice I've had.
37:39
And like, maybe that, maybe I'm a part of that.
37:42
52% feeling a little bit lonely.
37:44
But from the outside, it looks like I'm not.
37:46
And actually, I think it's because of the culture
37:49
that everything has instilled in us
37:51
that we should be doing more.
37:53
And at a bigger speed.
37:55
But I think, do you know what?
37:55
One of the things I've learned in 25
37:58
was that someone asked me what success,
38:00
my like, bigger success was our share.
38:02
And I said my friendships.
38:03
Because they have been the thing that stops me being lonely.
38:08
Because at any time,
38:09
doesn't matter where they are.
38:10
And it's the beauty of technology
38:12
is if I needed any of my friends,
38:13
I can call them FaceTime them
38:15
and we can have conversations so quickly.
38:18
But sometimes it can make me feel more lonely
38:21
when we get off the phone.
38:22
Because you're like, oh, I'm now on my own in my flat.
38:25
So it's something to think about that, actually, yes.
38:28
But it doesn't mean you don't have to be an insult
38:31
to be lonely.
38:32
Like, you can also be someone that on the outside
38:35
looks like they're having a great time.
38:36
And it doesn't mean you're failing.
38:37
It's just the construct of life right now.
38:39
I really appreciate you sharing that.
38:41
Because I think a lot of people would look at your life
38:43
and think, you know, it's just so easy to judge from what you see,
38:48
which is a very shiny, enormous head of hair
38:52
with stunning style and lots of friends
38:54
in a flying career.
38:56
You know, you don't care.
38:57
You do hear, generally, in cells of the world,
39:00
talking about how they want their genes to be passed on.
39:02
Not really successful people who are actually,
39:05
and also one of the groups that we didn't talk about
39:07
is women who are single, who do want kids
39:10
and just can't find anyone that is half decent.
39:14
You know, it's, yeah, there's this real separation
39:16
at the moment where it sort of like feels like the loneliness
39:19
or the birth rate is like a gendered thing.
39:22
It's not.
39:23
There's lonely people, men and women
39:26
who do want to be in really nourishing relationships.
39:29
Doesn't it?
39:30
You shouldn't have to choose one of the other.
39:31
I think what we're going through in 25,
39:33
and I have been for a long time since COVID,
39:36
is we've got a pandemic of speed.
39:37
Everything has to happen so fast now.
39:40
And even interactions that we have with friends
39:43
and relationships, it's always like,
39:45
right, running to the next thing, running to the next thing.
39:47
And actually, we've forgotten how to just be.
39:49
And actually, I think I'm terrible at it
39:51
as someone that's quite neurospicy as well.
39:52
Like, I can be hyper-emotionally aware,
39:55
but I'm also thinking about five different things all at once.
39:57
And if you're someone that doesn't know me very well,
39:59
you might consider that as me being rude
40:01
because I'm talking to you,
40:03
but you probably are thinking,
40:04
is she looking at her phone?
40:05
Is she doing this?
40:06
Is she here?
40:07
And it's, and I think that can cause loneliness as well,
40:09
especially when, because I'm at a stage in my career
40:11
where I'm just working a lot because I can,
40:14
I would struggle to find lots of time in my day
40:18
to be able to just sit and like be with someone.
40:22
Like, it would, because I'm always doing the next thing,
40:24
but it's just a stage in my life right now.
40:25
And I think lots of people, you know,
40:27
it doesn't, it's not even about being single
40:29
because you might feel lonely in a relationship,
40:30
which I think is even worse.
40:31
It's actually such a good point.
40:32
But I think it's important that people realise that like,
40:34
it's not something that you can't fix,
40:36
you just need to kind of work at it.
40:38
And I don't know.
40:40
Yeah, it's just something I have thought about a lot.
40:42
And I think this stat that it's costing the government money
40:46
is something that the governments across the world
40:49
should be thinking about because, you know,
40:50
when they freeze tax thresholds,
40:53
and we call something called fiscal drag,
40:54
where we're paying more tax based on the fact
40:57
that yes, tax we are anymore, but the tax thresholds
40:58
aren't moving, it stunts growth.
41:01
And it stunts growth on so many angles,
41:02
because you go, well, I'm not going to try any harder at work,
41:04
because why would I, when I'm only going to take home
41:07
40p on the pound of the average to out pound, I earn, let's say.
41:10
Could you maybe explain fiscal drag as well,
41:13
for anyone that doesn't understand what that really means?
41:15
Yeah, so fiscal drag is effectively where the tax thresholds,
41:18
so the figures at which you start paying tax,
41:20
so in the UK we have like basic rate, higher rate,
41:22
and additional, and they're all at different levels.
41:25
If those don't rise with inflation or average earnings each year,
41:27
but your wage rises, even by just a little bit,
41:30
you are going to be paying more tax, basically, on your salary.
41:35
And what happens as well in the UK, specifically,
41:38
if you earn over 100,000 pounds,
41:40
you have something called this 60% tax trap,
41:42
where in theory, you might end up only taking home 40p on the pound
41:45
about every extra pound you wage.
41:48
Exactly, and it's hindering growth,
41:50
because people get to that element,
41:52
or get to that level of income and go,
41:54
well, it's not worth me working for an extra 40p on the pound,
41:59
so I'm just not going to bother.
42:00
And then it stunts your kind of feeling of self-worth,
42:02
because maybe you're not going to push yourself to earn more,
42:05
you might then hold less enjoyment in your job,
42:07
and so you feel disassociated from it, and then feel lonely.
42:10
So there are so many financial aspects.
42:12
A interesting way to look at it.
42:14
Yeah, there's so many financial aspects that lead to it.
42:16
I get so much happiness from my job.
42:19
But if I was being told that, okay,
42:21
but for the next hour, you're not going to get paid to do it.
42:24
I'd be a bit like, okay, I don't mind, because I love it.
42:27
But if I was then told, okay,
42:28
well, for the next 10 hours, you're not going to get paid,
42:30
you sort of think, what's the point then?
42:34
So it doesn't matter how much you love your job,
42:35
or how much you love your career,
42:37
tax and the global and government all play in impacts.
42:40
And I think they should be talking about this,
42:42
because it impacts our mental health,
42:44
and therefore impacts everything.
42:45
And I just think a happy world is a nice world,
42:48
but we're struggling with that right now.
42:50
I definitely am.
42:51
Read the news when I wake up, and sometimes I think,
42:55
oh, my God, this is terrible.
42:57
The world is terrible.
42:59
You just have to be, do you gratitude?
43:01
I'll take a deep breath and move it.
43:03
There's a lot of limitations here, I'm there.
43:04
Yeah, exactly.
43:05
What I would say, though, is if you're listening to this,
43:08
and you are thinking, yeah, I do feel a bit lonely.
43:11
I think maybe there's actually comfort
43:13
knowing that there's a lot of us that are feeling that way,
43:17
and reaching out to friends, finding things that make you feel
43:20
more connected, and incredibly disconnected society,
43:23
hopefully, can start to bring some of that back.
43:25
I don't know if this is helpful for people,
43:28
but we had a podcast we released at the end of last year,
43:31
which kind of our reflections on the end.
43:33
I listened back to it, and I honestly nearly told the team
43:37
to actually, I did tell the team to pull it down.
43:39
I was like, hey, I'm so embarrassed at how sad I sound.
43:41
I sound so stressed and stressed and lonely,
43:44
and it was a really hard time, and I have come into this year
43:48
the classic new year, new me, and I have been trying
43:52
to do really small things that have helped me feel more
43:54
connected, and I think when you feel connected to yourself
43:58
and to the world around you, you feel less lonely,
44:01
and even just super small things, if I'm having a cup of tea,
44:04
I don't know if this is a bit worried for people,
44:06
but noticing how warm the cup is, really small stuff,
44:09
my feet are here now.
44:11
It's so easy to get really stressed out about how overwhelming
44:15
the news can be, and everything's moving so fast,
44:17
but you look at so many people who share their insights
44:21
or wisdom on their deathbed, and the things they say
44:23
they're going to miss the most are the small mundane moments,
44:25
and I think in those small mundane moments,
44:28
if you can just take a second to be grateful,
44:30
to be alive and healthy, those little things accumulate
44:33
to feeling more connected and less lonely.
44:35
Well, they have for me, it's only been a month,
44:37
but I've really noticed a difference.
44:39
Something I started doing middle of last year
44:42
is complimenting everyone.
44:44
It starts creepy, but you get into it really quickly.
44:47
You get in quite easy.
44:48
Sometimes, the creepiest times I've done it
44:50
have been in the gym changing room.
44:52
I have to really pull back.
44:54
These are the napkins.
44:55
Well, no, but this is a day you have to wait for them to be in there.
44:57
Very nice.
44:58
But when, so, do you know what I do in the gym?
45:00
You're underwear.
45:01
Yeah, you know what, it's not even far away from that.
45:04
The girls in my gym always look 10 out of 10, all of them.
45:09
Like, I don't know what it is with my gym,
45:11
but all of the girls turn up in their athlete journey.
45:13
They look incredible.
45:15
I find that quite annoying, I'll be honest.
45:17
Like, I would quite like to be able to go the gym
45:19
and not feel like I have to look like a gym.
45:20
You do, you do, you.
45:22
But genuinely, because I'm like, shit, everyone's hot.
45:25
No, but when I, so this is the thing
45:26
that I've started doing this year, is if I see anything
45:29
that I think is lovely, I will just tell the person.
45:32
And it does, you have to, you do have to like,
45:34
really put your big girl pants on and just be brave enough.
45:37
And some people are just going to look at you sideways
45:39
and be like, what did she just say?
45:41
But you know what, 99% of the time,
45:43
it lights up people's faces because I will go like,
45:46
oh my god, I love that cardie.
45:49
And they go, it's a very British thing.
45:51
Oh, very British thing.
45:52
Two pounds, two pounds, two pounds for Tesco, am I okay?
45:54
That's fine.
45:55
That's fine.
45:56
Yeah, I was like, you don't, that's fine.
45:59
Or I'm like, your hair looks amazing.
46:01
Or I just, anything that I love to do
46:03
to shout in here compliment, by the way.
46:06
I feel like, if I'm thinking it,
46:08
I need to just start saying it.
46:10
Especially if it's obviously, not if it's the other way around.
46:12
If I'm like, you look awful.
46:13
But like, I don't, I just don't think too much like that anymore.
46:18
I just started, I started doing it last year.
46:20
And I get so much joy out of seeing people's face
46:23
like up when you give them a compliment.
46:25
And especially in random places,
46:27
I think that's the other thing that maybe,
46:29
could we one of the things that cures loneliness is like,
46:31
just being kinder to people because I think,
46:34
I now have friends at the gym and in life
46:36
where I think it's actually started.
46:38
I'm maybe they're not my best friends.
46:40
I don't, but like at the gym, girls I've complimented
46:43
that have then come up to me in the queue
46:45
for the party's class or whatever
46:47
because they think they know me.
46:48
And that's great and I love that.
46:50
And I just think we don't compliment people enough.
46:53
We don't make people feel good about themselves.
46:54
I think sometimes we're really concerned
46:57
with making us okay all the time
46:59
and making sure we're fine
47:00
that we forget that we are allowed to like, give it out
47:03
and be like, you look amazing.
47:05
And also we know as women,
47:06
how long it takes to do all of this.
47:08
Like, I don't wake up looking like this.
47:10
I don't.
47:11
No, I don't.
47:12
My hair is a full time job.
47:13
And so every time I think people think
47:16
that I get bored of the compliments
47:17
when it comes to my hair and I'm, I never do
47:19
because I'm like, I didn't just wake up like this.
47:21
Like this does take work and I do, I curl my hair
47:25
and I like, I invest time in this.
47:27
And so if someone sees it and appreciates it,
47:29
they're same with my job.
47:30
Like, I spend a lot of time putting content together
47:32
on when it comes to finance.
47:33
And so when someone goes, that's amazing.
47:35
I'm like, thank you so much.
47:37
It was not easy.
47:38
And I think that I don't read their messages
47:40
or whatever and I do.
47:41
And I always reply to people and like,
47:42
you've made my day because actually everything requires work.
47:47
And I think, yeah, I think one of the things I would be doing
47:49
if we were trying to cure loneliness
47:50
would be just give more compliments
47:52
and also just say what's in your mind.
47:54
So we actually were planning on talking about Japan
47:56
because there's lots of things going on there
47:58
but we're actually going to have to flag that.
47:59
I think we've gone on for far too long
48:01
without the loneliness saga, which I would love to talk about Japan
48:04
but I'm really glad we spent time on the loneliness pace.
48:07
People would die if they know how long we've actually
48:08
recorded four comparatively to the edit
48:10
that they're going to listen to.
48:11
But it has been such a pleasure to have you here, Abby.
48:16
Honestly, you are so amazing
48:19
and I just have loved this conversation.
48:21
So thank you so much.
48:23
It's really, I just think it's so cool
48:25
to see really amazing women care about money in the economy
48:30
and what's going on but also be so multifested in so many ways.
48:34
I think that we really do ourselves such a disservice
48:38
by having this kind of self perpetuating narrative
48:41
that you have to look and be a certain way
48:43
to engage in conversations about money
48:45
and you are the walking, talking example
48:47
that that is total bullshit.
48:48
So yeah, it was such a pleasure to have you.
48:50
Thank you so much.
48:51
Thank you so much, Sophie.
48:52
I was just saying to the team,
48:53
I feel like I've not been filming
48:55
because obviously you're my friend
48:56
and so I feel like we've said this in the past
48:58
when we've had drinks, I'm like,
49:00
we should just record our chats.
49:01
And now I feel like it's one of those examples
49:03
where I always, when people say like,
49:05
oh, you should just podcast with your friends
49:06
and I'm like, now I'm here and then I was like,
49:08
well, the camera's on.
49:09
It's like when you think about love Island,
49:11
you're like, do they not know that they're there?
49:13
Exactly.
49:14
But you kind of get it when you get so under something,
49:16
it's quite easy to figure it out.
49:18
I do need to fix your background though,
49:20
because you, no, you don't have my book.
49:22
I'm gonna send it to you.
49:23
Oh my god, shit.
49:24
Well, for anyone that wants to find your book
49:26
and all of the work that you're doing, yes.
49:28
So my book is called The Money Manual.
49:30
It came out last year with Penguin May last year.
49:32
It is, I would say, to your audience.
49:34
It is very UK centric,
49:35
but it gives you a really great insight
49:37
into the UK market as well.
49:39
Wow.
49:40
Also obviously my Instagram TikTok
49:42
is just Abigail Rose Foster.
49:43
And then also I have a YouTube, which is again,
49:46
everything is Abigail Rose Foster.
49:49
My YouTube, I do currently do videos
49:52
where I do my hair whilst I talk about finance.
49:55
It came from, because obviously I teach finance in schools,
49:57
like that, my business is called Ellen
49:59
and we teach finance in schools.
50:00
That's what the whole origination of my life was
50:02
before the social media.
50:03
And I, all the girls obviously I teach
50:06
in the like, in the schools that I teach were like,
50:08
how did you do your hair?
50:09
And I was like, right, I'm gonna create YouTube's
50:11
because that's where you are.
50:13
But I'm gonna set and do my hair,
50:14
but also talk about finance.
50:15
That's such a good idea.
50:16
You are going to listen.
50:17
And so that's what I do.
50:19
I only have like, I think I've got like 500 subscribers
50:21
on it, like I let you have like nothing.
50:22
I think we're about 1,000 to absolute babies on YouTube.
50:25
I know.
50:26
Everyone could follow both of us.
50:26
It would be stunning, exactly.
50:28
But thank you, thank you so much for having me.
50:30
This has been so much fun.
50:32
Huge apologies that we did, I feel like
50:35
I'm getting into a terrible habit of saying,
50:37
send us your questions, send us your feedback
50:40
and then we run out of time to answer the question.
50:42
So I'm very sorry about that.
50:44
Thank you to everyone who sent in questions,
50:46
particularly the ones that are targeted at the UK.
50:48
We're gonna answer those in the next podcast next week.
51:10
Podcast episodes we would chat about, all things money.
51:12
We're also around all week on socials.
51:14
If you're hungry for more curved content
51:15
and all the links are in this podcast show notes,
51:18
we hope you have a great week.
51:19
And we'll catch you for the next episode
51:20
of the Curve Weekly on Monday.
51:30
Okay, quickly the curve was created to empower
51:32
and educate you about investing,
51:33
but we are not financial advisors.
51:36
Our platform exists for educational purposes only
51:38
and it doesn't provide personalized
51:40
investing advice for your individual needs
51:41
and should not be relied upon to make
51:43
an investment or financial decision.
51:45
And always remember to do your own research
51:47
before making any investment or financial decision.
51:50
We're here for any knowledge and support you need,
51:52
but the final call is always yours.
51:54
And thanks for being here.
51:55
You got this.
51:56
Yeah, we know you got this.