enRICHed: volume 76

tiktok ban, travel plans, song of the summer??

Apr 28, 2024

Volume 76

Spring has Sprung, Besties 💐

I am ALWAYS listening to music. If I’m not filming or working, you best bet I’m listening to some serious jams (bonus points for early 2000s rap). You might be thinking, sure Vivian, everyone listens to a ton of music, that’s not special. But I promise you, I’m not exaggerating when I say my Airpods are practically glued into my ears, and I have two additional backup pairs — and two pairs of wired headphones, just in case. What can I say? I like to be prepared. But now that the weather is getting warmer, the music is just getting better and better as everyone competes for song of the summer. More music for me! I cannot stop listening to "OKAY” by JT. I fully had an alert on my calendar for when the song came out. There’s nothing I love more than a baddie club anthem to bump all summer long. Give it a listen!

As a reminder:

HYCU, pronounced haiku: how the news impacts you and your wallet, aka How You Can Use
The Prosperitea: think discount codes, non-boring finance articles, sales, and personal links from the week. The fun stuff 😉
We love your comments, but please remember to keep it positive! And don’t take investing advice from anyone who isn’t your registered financial advisor!

Now that you’re up to speed, let’s get you enRICHed.

What’s Going On With The TikTok Ban? 😱

The topic on everyone’s mind right now is the TikTok ban, which President Joe Biden signed into law on Wednesday. Basically, Biden is giving their parent company ByteDance one year to sell the app or it will be illegal to use, host, or offer for download on apps like Google.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew wasted no time getting into the booth, letting US lawmakers know that he would see them in court. “We expect to prevail again,” he said.
The ban has also become a topic of political discourse because it was tucked into a foreign aid bill sending a whopping $87 billion to Ukraine and Israel, causing critics to accuse Congress of suppressing political content, particularly youth movements, on the app.
HYCU; If you’re a budding content creator or a small business owner on TikTok, don’t freak out! But this might be the time to start thinking about expanding your social media presence, and creating a stickier relationship with your audience. Think about building your own email list, as well as diversifying to other platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat. Another flag? Consider downloading any content you may have stored on TikTok as well. You could very well not be able to access it in the near future.

Net Neutrality Is Back, Baby 👩‍💻

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted on Thursday to restore net neutrality rules that prevent broadband providers like Verizon and Comcast from favoring certain apps and sites over others.
Net neutrality, which was rolled back in 2017, bans internet services from blocking or lagging certain sites based on business interest or giving better speed service to the highest-paying customer. It’s about keeping a level of objectivity on the internet!
The order will go into effect in a few months — but some experts have noted that if Donald Trump wins reelection, his administration is likely to repeal them again.
HYCU; At least for this summer, with net neutrality reinstated, you can surf the web with a bit more peace of mind that your Google results are not meddled with pay-for-play links. And if you’re a small e-commerce owner, you won’t have to compete for visibility with major corporations when it comes to search engine optimization!
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No More Non-Compete Contracts 💸

Sheesh, the FTC went to work this week, because they also voted to instate a ban on nearly all noncompete contracts — you know, those agreements you sign that say you can’t work for a competing company or launch your own in a similar sphere.
The ban takes effect later this year and will be applicable to everyone except senior executives with existing noncompetes (sorry, bosses), and is estimated to increase wages by nearly $300 billion per year by encouraging people to swap jobs freely.
HYCU; Much like the genie in Aladdin, be free! Be free! Even if you’re under a noncompete right now, it’ll become null once this ruling goes into effect. If you love your industry but hate your employer (specifically that one deskmate who keeps stealing all your pens), you don’t need to worry about that contract anymore.

The Yen Is Going Low, Low, Low 📉

The Japanese yen has sunk to a 34-year low after the Bank of Japan kept interest rates near zero — potentially leading to a “coordinated intervention” with South Korea in the future (which, despite the scary title, might actually be a good thing).
As of Friday, ¥1 JPY is equivalent to about $0.0064 USD. Governor Kazuo Ueda said the currency weakness was having “no major impact” on underlying inflation so far.
HYCU; For all those world travelers with Japan on your bucket list, now would be a good time to bite the bullet — with a weak yen economy, you’ll get more bang for your buck when it comes to spending on hotels, dining and experiences.

Rich Tip of the Week: Avoid doing THIS to save your credit score… (video link with sound)
The K-pop world has been rocked by a major scandal this week as HYBE, the entertainment agency overseeing groups like BTS and NewJeans, is beefing with one of its own subsidiary CEOs.
California has proposed a new bill that would potentially ban Clear, the private security service that lets you pay to skip the airport line. The bill goes into voting on Tuesday, so if you just bought the $189 annual pass — er, good luck, Charlie.
In addition to my newest fave bop above, ‘Espresso’ by Sabrina Carpenter is about to be on repeat all summer long and so is this tweet about it: “13 year old girl came in to my barista job and asked ‘can i get one espresso? wait actually what’s in an espresso?’ so thank u sabrina carpenter.”
TIME’s most recent buzzy essay, “The Parents Who Regret Having Children,” by author R.O. Kwon is so captivating — and it’s tea, for sure.