No one wants to be the friend who always has to miss dinners, concerts, and vacations because of their strict budget. Maybe you’re unexpectedly tight on cash all of a sudden, or maybe your friend group has slowly but surely fallen victim to lifestyle creep. Whatever your reasons, saying “no” to well-intentioned friends and family is one of the most challenging aspects to keeping your spending in check.
If you’ve noticed that you’re spending more than you’d like to be because of the company you keep, here are some tips to resist financial peer pressure without tarnishing your relationships.
Be transparent about your budget
There are two main perks to letting those around you know that you’re sticking to a budget. First off, good friends will respect your boundaries and be less likely to pressure you into spending more than you’re comfortable with.
Secondly, you’ll be more likely to hold yourself accountable. Rather than feeling the pressure to spend, you’ll feel pressure to save. The key here is to be casual, but firm. You don’t want others to feel like you’re complaining, asking for help, or passing judgment on their spending habits.
Be prepared to say no
If you struggle to say no to someone’s face, it helps to prepare for situations where you know there’s likely to be financial peer pressure. Write yourself a tentative script, e.g. “I can’t afford that right now, what about [alternative solution]?”
Think up activities or propose locations that you know are within your budget. If possible, it also helps to take initiative with choosing restaurants and making plans, so you can avoid having to reject someone else’s expensive ideas. Here’s a list of ideas for social plans that won’t break the bank.
If your friends insist on something you can’t afford at the moment, be ready to stick to your “no.” And if you’re constantly finding yourself in this uncomfortable position, it might be time to find new friends.
Find new friends
If you’re being priced out of your friend group, it’s time to rethink who you spend your time around. It sounds harsh, but real friends will spend time with you for cheap.
People don’t need to share your exact spending habits in order to respect your budget and your boundaries. If someone in your life doesn’t want to make time to get together without the pressure to spend money, that might be a friendship you’re outgrowing.
Studies have shown that credit card spenders are willing to pay almost twice more than those who are paying with cash. This means we are willing to spend more when using credit cards.This can be explained by what psychologists call, “the pain of paying”. Whenever we make a purchase, this activates the pain processing regions in our brain. They light up even with the anticipation of making the decision to purchase something.
Paying with credit cards reduce the “pain of paying” because it makes money less tangible than when paying with cash. This is because when you pay with cash, you’re actually handing the money over and watching it disappear. Ouch!But when using a credit card, the card is always returned to the customer or the customer just taps the card to pay, so you don’t see the money disappear.
Switching to a cash-only budget can be a great way to keep your spending on track as you work towards your financial goals.This means you’ll use cash for all of your spending needs. If this is not realistic for your lifestyle, then consider moving to a cash-only budget for spending categories that tend to bust your budget.
Commons spending categories that many people struggle includes groceries, restaurants, clothing, beauty & makeup, entertainment, and kids’ stuff.For example, if you’re spending too much money on clothes each month or have trouble cutting back on eating out, then withdraw a certain amount of cash each week for these spending categories.
his means you’ll only use cash when spending in this specific budget category, such as $50 per week for clothing. Once the cash is gone from your envelope, it’s gone! Don’t be tempted to move money around from different spending categories to cover clothing costs. Wait until next week when you can refill your envelope with $50 to pay for clothing.
You can use cash envelopes for ANY category to help you tack back control of your spending. It’s a fun and simple way to stick to your budget. Below is an in-depth guide on how to get started with cash envelopes.
Nathan Fielder doesn’t mind making you uncomfortable. That holds true whether you’re the subject of one of his cinéma vérité series, like Nathan for You, or if you’re the viewer. When dragging people into his irreverent world of long silences, awkward questions, and increasingly unhinged circumstances, Fielder is not just a comedian—he’s more of a comedian-slash-agitator.
In his new HBO series The Rehearsal, Fielder invites guests to practice some pivotal moments in their lives before things get real—and the line between comic provocation and psychological experimentation begins to blur. For more on the ineffable Fielder, including his apparel line and a little-seen web series, keep reading.
1. Nathan Fielder was in a high school improve group with Seth Rogen.
Fielder, who was born in Vancouver, told Vulture that his childhood was a mix of learning magic tricks, working at a magic shop in a mall, recording and reciting stand-up routines from the bookended segments on Seinfeld, and, later, joining the Point Grey Secondary School’s high school improv team. One of the members was future Emmy nominee Seth Rogen. (The two have known each other since first grade.)
Rogen recalled that Fielder’s idiosyncratic approach to comedy, which is exacting and somewhat inflexible, was evident early on. “It was not even on the table that he would act like he was burning in lava,” Rogen said. Their team took third place at a national improv competition, although Fielder was confused when he discovered the winning teams had practiced. “We didn’t understand how you could rehearse improv,” Fielder said.
2. He made a lot of YouTube videos—and you can still watch them.
After attending business school at the University of Victoria, Fielder briefly worked at a brokerage firm before deciding to try his hand at comedy full-time. He wound up producing a number of short films that he regularly uploaded to his YouTube channel, including one in which he holds up a thin slice of watermelon with no further context (above) as it flaps in the wind. Fielder toldRolling Stone that “people come up to me say that Thin Watermelon is the best thing I’ve ever done.”
3. His Dumb Starbucks project was thought to be the work of Banksy.
Fielder continued his comedy career by writing Canadian Idol and This Hour Has 22 Minutes. In 2013, Fielder debutedNathan for You, a Comedy Central series co-created with Michael Koman in which Fielder offered help to struggling small business owners. Often, his increasingly complex and irrelevant plans—offering a poop-flavored frozen yogurt or forcing gas station customers to hike a mountain to receive a discount—did virtually nothing for the entrepreneurs featured.
But Fielder did have a smashing success in 2014 with Dumb Starbucks, a parody store that Fielder figured could capitalize on the Starbucks name without summoning a legal response. As soon as the storefront opened in Los Angeles, some believed it might be an elaborate prank by elusive street artist Banksy. After three days, Fielder outed himself as the operator. The Department of Health shut the store down that same day.
4. Nathan for You shot an incredible amount of footage to make its 22-minute episodes.
Nathan for You, which ran for a total of four seasons, took Fielder and his semi-witting subjects into increasingly elaborate spectacles. In one episode, Fielder learned how to wire-walk so someone else could get the credit. In another, he orchestrated a pig-saves-goat viral video that was the work of divers so a petting zoo could get publicity. All told, Fielder once estimated that about 90 hours of footage were required to make each 22-minute episode.
5. Fielder owns a successful outdoor apparel brand.
After reading about a clothing brand that had somehow delivered a tribute to a Holocaust denier, Fielder opted to open his own apparel company. He called it Summit Ice and vowed to donate 100 percent of the proceeds to the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre. It seemed to live at the intersection between earnestness, cultural critique, and comedy. “When I was younger, and until recently, I used to wear a jacket brand called Taiga, which is from a shop just down the street,” Fielder told Vice in 2017.
“I discovered recently that they published a tribute to a Holocaust denier in their winter catalogue, but I was wearing their jacket on my TV show. I felt like that was bad because I was giving them publicity. I didn’t know what jacket company to trust, so I thought it was easiest to start my own company.” Fielder admits the customer service, however, could be better. He has described it as “awful” because “there’s not a full-time person that does it. It kind of jumps around between different people to manage it.”
6. He helped launch the television career of a private investigator.
In 2013, Fielder enlisted private investigator Brian Wolfe to assist him in a typically obtuse plot where Wolfe was tasked with tracking Fielder down to see if the P.I. was worthy of a good Yelp review. In one of Nathan for You’s most memorable moments, Wolfe—confused by Fielder’s eccentricities—dubbed him the “wizard of loneliness” because he has “no friends.” He later referred to Fielder as a “goober.” Not long afterward, Wolfe was contacted by producers looking to develop a reality series based on his firm. Cry Wolfe aired on Investigation Discovery for three seasons between 2014 and 2016.
7. He once starred in a scripted and fictional web series titled David.
Much of Fielder’s output consists of a slightly distorted version of himself interacting with the real world. That changed in 2016, when Fielder appeared in the five-episode web series David. In it, Fielder plays a man who finds out he has just weeks to live thanks to a black stone growing inside of his heart. Jenny Slate co-stars. The dark comedy was originally on YouTube but doesn’t appear to be currently available on the service. You may be able to find it on Vimeo.
8. Nathan Fielder is very much like Nathan Fielder.
In a 2015 interview with The A.V. Club, Fielder offered what might be his most succinct explanation yet of how his onscreen persona intersects with his authentic self. (It came after he was compared to Andy Kaufman.) “The version of me on the show is much more, obviously, controlled and deliberate than the me in real life because I’m trying to bring things out of people and create situations that will be funny and interesting,” he said.
“But at the same time, I also try to put myself into situations that I don’t know how they’ll go—unpredictable scenarios—so I personally will get thrown off and have to figure out a way out of it. I like doing that with the show as well … But I think the situations and the uncomfortable moments in the show also, I feel like, are designed to bring out a side of the other person that I find very charming and endearing about them.”
Nathan for You co-creator Michael Koman agrees. “There’s only about a 10 percent difference between the Nathan on the show and real-life Nathan,” Koman told Rolling Stone in 2017. “The character is just an amplified version of him.”
Digital technology has changed our world. It has altered how we access news, entertainment and information, our work patterns, and our communication channels. How we buy and sell.
So, as digital advertising and media continue to grow, have their traditional forms become redundant?…Let’s talk…
Simon Cheng, Marketing Director, Menulog
“No, I don’t think digital has killed traditional advertising. They are not mutually exclusive concepts. Digital complements traditional, as each plays their own role. Traditional will always be important for mass reach objectives and brand building. While, digital is great for performance and driving incremental brand growth through more targeted reach.
“At Menulog, we are a technology business however we invest a lot in traditional channels – TV, outdoor and radio – because they are still some of the most effective avenues for capturing the attention of mass audiences. Equally, we also invest heavily in performance media, using search and social to convert demand. After all, there’s no point investing in creating demand if you are not then capturing it or driving engagement.
“As the world of media continues to become more fragmented, advertising and communication channels need to reflect how consumers want to consume content. Marketers shouldn’t over complicate things. It’s the right message, right place, right time. The channels that fit naturally against your objectives, are those to go with.
Andrew Cornale, Co-Founder and Technical Director, UnDigital
“Digital marketing is certainly more readily accessible than traditional advertising and I would argue that it has overtaken traditional marketing in many senses, but has digital killed traditional advertising? No.
“Traditional advertising still has its place. We see successful campaigns using traditional advertising all the time. However, I’d argue that its high price point and specialised skill set makes it less accessible to the everyday business. For many businesses, digital advertising is more affordable, scalable and targeted. Plus, it’s easier to map ROI against a digital campaign where sales can be mapped directly to it.
“To me, digital marketing is a smarter strategy because decisions are backed by data with less guesswork and, generally speaking, there are just more opportunities to find customers online. If one day, we do see the death of traditional advertising, I’d say digital marketing certainly had a hand in it, but it’s not necessarily holding the murder weapon.”
“There’s no doubt that marketing and advertising have changed dramatically in the last 10 years, alongside the advancements of technology and the internet.
“While traditional advertising relied on methods such as TV ads, billboards and print journalism, digital advertising has superseded these methods with algorithms that enable marketers to find and sell to their key audiences. Technology has opened the door to endless possibilities, when it comes to advertising, but with changes come challenges.
“Consumers are battling against a barrage of online noise, through their email inboxes, social media accounts and websites. No platform is left unturned, making creating genuine authenticity with your customers much harder.
“Interestingly enough, the feeling of digital numbness that has come alongside the pandemic, has led some customers back to traditional advertising. The pandemic has seen a rise in guerrilla advertising that harnesses both the digital and physical world, using billboards, posters or graffiti that can be scanned by a smartphone.
“As society adjusts to using their smartphones for COVID-19 check-ins or QR codes, modern marketing which amalgamates both old and new advertising methods, is being embraced. Traditional advertising isn’t dead, it’s had a system upgrade with the help of digital.”
Adam Boote, Director of Digital and Growth, Localsearch
“Changing consumer behaviours in a tech-savvy society have significantly impacted the way advertising is created and consumed. Millennials and Gen Zs are far more influenced by digital media – 49% of TikTok users purchase a product or service after seeing it on the app, and 60% of Millennials admit their purchasing decisions are influenced by what they see on Facebook.
“We’re now seeing a big wave of consumers, including small businesses, turn to digital after weighing up not only print, but broadcast advertising. Although free-to-air TV viewership is increasing with more people at home, its key objective is generating brand awareness – so you may or may not receive immediate action from viewers. Online, you can target audiences with far greater demographic accuracy, targeting the people most relevant to you and guiding them through to where you want them to go.
“For SMBs who don’t have thousands to spend on TV ads, nailing your SEO and digital presence is far more cost-effective.
“However you decide to integrate digital with traditional, when consumers do remember your business and need your product or service, you want them to be able to go online and find you. Fast and easy.”
Cary Lockwood, chief executive officer, Loyalty Now
“Traditional media and advertising still have parts to play in the cultural zeitgeist, but the real question is: are they as effective in engaging audiences as their digital counterparts?
“Traditional advertising operates by conveying a broad message to a broad audience. However, in today’s hyperlocalised economy, consumers want their individual voices heard by merchants who offer solutions tailored to their unique interests and behaviours.
“This growing customer expectation, coupled with a need for business transparency, is one of the reasons experts anticipate some digital advertising methods to become obsolete soon. This is particularly evident in the current phase-out of third-party cookies ahead of 2022.
“Instead of investing in broader advertising avenues, businesses must embrace targeted partnerships with platforms that boast highly engaged audiences, and that also let merchants leverage hyperpersonalisation to better engage their consumers. This will lead to more committed return customers whose buying power outweighs surface-level interactions with disengaged buyers.”
Simon McDonald, Regional Vice President Optimizely
“Digital platforms have revolutionised advertising. Traditional mediums lock advertising into one-way communication, whereas digital platforms provide two-way interactive capabilities. Businesses can now customise advertising to personalise any brand experience and utilise real-time metrics to monitor their campaign’s success.
“Digital advertising is constantly evolving, and so is consumer behaviour. Organisations need to embed a culture of test and learn across all of their digital strategies, allowing businesses to quickly respond and evolve with the industry and consumer trends. While traditional advertising is still around, it is always best as part of a larger digital multichannel marketing campaign that can evolve and respond to consumer behaviour.”
Nicole Schulz, Brand Reputation Practice Lead, Sefiani Communications Group
“In a time of increasing misinformation and disinformation online, traditional media has played a vital role in delivering timely, factual and credible information to Australians. The Digital News Report 2021 found that in Australia, trust in news has risen to 43%. As Australians turned to public broadcasters for critical news over the past 18 months, trust in traditional news brands has remained high. In contrast, 64% of Australians are concerned about false and misleading information online. Roy Morgan research found that TV is regarded as the most trusted source of news, nominated by nearly 7 million Australians.
“However, the same research also found that the internet is now Australia’s main source of news. There is no doubt that Australian audiences at large are continuing to shift away from traditional towards digital platforms for news but the credibility and trust attached to traditional new publishers remains paramount. To thrive in the future, traditional media will need to continue to evolve its multi-channel offering to suit and serve diverse and segmented audiences.”
Nakamura, Leonard I. (FRB); Samuels, Jon (BEA); Soloveichik, Rachel H. (BEA) (24 October 2017). “Measuring the “Free” Digital Economy Within the GDP and Productivity Accounts”(PDF). SSRN.com. Social Science Research Network publishing working paper 17-37 of the Research Department, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. p. 37 (Fig. 3). Archived(PDF) from the original on 20 March 2021.
“NSFNet Acceptable Use Policy”. Information Policies: A Compilation of Position Statements, Principles, Statutes, and Other Pertinent Statements. Coalition for Networked Information. Archived from the original on 24 August 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
“Junk Mail”. Electronic Billboards on the Digital Superhighway: A Report of the Working Group on Internet Advertising. The Coalition for Networked Information. 28 September 1994. Archived from the original on 15 June 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
Briggs, Rex; Hollis, Nigel (April 1997). Advertising on the Web: Is there Response Before Clickthrough?. Journal of Advertising Research. pp. 33–45.
Jansen, B.J.; Mullen, T. (2008). “Sponsored search: an overview of the concept, history, and technology”. International Journal of Electronic Business. 6 (2): 114–131. CiteSeerX10.1.1.147.3734. doi:10.1504/ijeb.2008.018068.
Learning a new skill can be one of the most satisfying things you can do to grow. Learning a new skill is not just a financially smart decision, but it is also good for your mental health. When you learn new skills, you feel more powerful. New neural connections are formed in your brain when you learn something new. The best way to change your life is to change your mind. And learning new skills is the best way to change your mind, literally.
When the normal routine of life makes your life dull, having entertainment alone is not enough to recharge yourself. Entertainment can be good for a weekend — but if you do not learn anything new for years, you will start hating your work.
The traditional system of education expects us to finish school and college and then work for the rest of our lives. That strategy might have worked 30 years back as the world was slowly moving towards the information age. It is not going to work anymore. To thrive in this day and age, learning has to become a habit and continuous up-gradation of skills is required to stay relevant and competitive.
One of the biggest challenges in learning after school and college is that the learning journey becomes lonely. If you are trying to learn from a book or an online course with a set of video tutorials, your learning can become quite stressful. Students learn best when they are energetic and happy. And the only way to feel energetic and happy during your learning journey is to be part of a community that has the same learning goals as yours.
1. Sign up for a cohort-based online course
Many online courses nowadays are cohort-based, and cohort-based online courses usually have a community around them. Being part of a community can impact your learning journey in very subtle ways that are not obvious. Remember, you are the average of the five people around you.
If you are part of a learning community where you see other students have similar goals such as yours and if you see that they are making progress with their professional journey, you are highly likely to grow along with them. You will have a positive pressure to achieve results.
After the completion of the online course, you can think about becoming part of a mastermind community where the learning journey continues beyond the course duration. A mastermind community is usually led by a mentor, and you will have the best of the best students as part of the community.
Mastermind community memberships usually come at a premium, but it is worth the premium because the ideas that you get from the community for your career and business will be well worth the price.
3. Start blogging about what you’ve learned
To make sure that you do not forget what you learn, take notes and write about what you have learned in your blog. Writing organizes your thought process and it is one of the best ways to remember.
If you write in a public blog, you can also build your brand at the same time and may even start having some subscribers who want to copy your notes. A lot of digital mentors have built their following because they started taking their notes in public.
You also have to make sure that you implement what you learn. Implementation is very important because when you implement your leaningsconcepts
perspectives
onlinecourses
and get results, you are going to have validated learning. Validating what you have learned will make sure that the concepts you are trying to learn will go from information to understanding.
Once you understand something new, you will feel powerful and your perspective will expand. Once your perspective has expanded to new horizons, you will never be able to get back to your original state of thinking.
Also, implementing what you have learned gives you a project in hand. You get hired for what you can do, not what you know. Online course certificates usually prove that the student knows something, but not that they can do something. When you do a project, the project proves that you can do something. And who knows — the project can become a side hustle and may even become a business someday.
5. Become a digital mentor and teach
And finally, start teaching what you have learned to your followers. If you are already blogging and blogging about what you know, you will have an audience. Create a smaller mastermind group where you are the mentor and help your students. This will mostly happen online. You are effectively becoming a digital mentor for your students. Teaching is one of the best ways to learn, because it forces you to simplify the concepts you already have in your mind.
Shares of Amazon fell as much as 8% Friday after the e-commerce juggernaut disclosed a massive fine from European regulators for allegedly breaking regional privacy laws and posted second-quarter earnings results that failed to meet Wall Street expectations, putting the longtime market leader on track for its worst day in more than a year.
Key Facts
As of 11:15 a.m. EDT, Amazon stock has plunged 7% Friday to about $3,349.50, pushing the firm’s market capitalization down below $1.7 trillion and wiping out nearly $130 billion from a closing level above $1.8 trillion Thursday.
Ushering in the massive losses, Amazon posted second-quarter revenue after Thursday’s market close of $113.1 billion—up 27% year over year, but falling short of average analyst expectations totaling $115 billion.
Despite soaring more than 48%, net income of more than $7.7 billion also fell slightly short of estimates, which called for about $7.8 billion.
The stark decline also comes after Amazon disclosed a $885 million (746 million euros) fine, levied on July 16, by the Luxembourg National Commission for Data Protection, which claims Amazon’s processing of personal data did not comply with European regulations.
In the filing, Amazon, which in a statement asserts no data breach has occurred, said it believes the watchdog’s decision is “without merit” and that it intends to appeal the ruling and defend itself “vigorously” in the matter.
Amazon’s Friday plunge puts it on track for its worst one-day decline since the height of pandemic uncertainty tanked the broader market in March 2020.
Crucial Quote
“Consumers’ online shopping levels are returning to more normal levels as they shift some spending to other entertainment sources and offline shopping,” Morningstar analyst Dan Romanoff said in a Friday note. “Meanwhile, the company continues to add capacity [and costs] at a breakneck pace in order to meet customer demand and one day delivery,” Romanoff added, pointing out Amazon has already nearly doubled its footprint during the last 18 months.
Surprising Fact
Shares of Amazon are now down more than 10% from a record closing high of $3,719 earlier this month.
Tangent
Amazon far underperformed the broader market Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which doesn’t include Amazon, ticked down just 0.2%, while the S&P 500, which counts the retail giant as its third-largest component, fell 0.4%.
Chief Critic
“Maintaining the security of our customers’ information and their trust are top priorities. There has been no data breach, and no customer data has been exposed to any third party. These facts are undisputed,” Amazon said in a statement Friday. “The decision relating to how we show customers relevant advertising relies on subjective and untested interpretations of European privacy law, and the proposed fine is entirely out of proportion with even that interpretation.”
I’m a reporter at Forbes focusing on markets and finance. I graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I double-majored in business journalism and economics while working for UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School as a marketing and communications assistant. Before Forbes, I spent a summer reporting on the L.A. private sector for Los Angeles Business Journal and wrote about publicly traded North Carolina companies for NC Business News Wire. Reach out at jponciano@forbes.com. And follow me on Twitter @Jon_Ponciano
With technology stocks garnering renewed scrutiny, it’s helpful to take a look back at one company that has weathered some of the most severe market downturns and serious doubts from Wall Street: Amazon. Betting on the online bookstore wasn’t always a sure thing. Amazon’s journey from tiny garage start-up to one of the most valuable companies in the world has paid off for investors, but shareholders needed a strong stomach.“Earth’s Biggest Bookstore”
In the early 1990s, Jeff Bezos walked away from a Wall Street career with an outlandish idea to sell books on the World Wide Web. In 1994, he launched Amazon.com. “I found this fact on a website that the web was growing at 2,300 percent per year,” Bezos told CNBC in a 2001 interview about his early foray into book selling. “The idea that sort of entranced me was this idea of building a bookstore online.”
The site experienced growth quickly, going public three years later with $16 million in revenue and 180,000 customers spanning more than 100 countries (according to its SEC filing). But even as the site began growing, many investors had their doubts about Amazon, instead favoring brick-and-mortar book-selling giant Barnes & Noble.
At an early meeting between Barnes & Noble Chairman Leonard Riggio and Bezos, Riggio reportedly told Bezos he would “crush” Amazon. Barnes & Noble dwarfed the young start-up. The traditional bookseller had hundreds of stores and more than $2 billion in revenue. It was also tapping into major Silicon Valley talent to built its own sleek new website.
On top of that, it was suing Amazon over the start-up’s claim to be “Earth’s Biggest Bookstore.” But for those who took a chance and bought Amazon stock at the initial public offering, their investment has returned a compound annual growth rate of 38 percent since the IPO – outperforming the S&P 500 which had a total return of 10 percent annually over the same period.
Tech stocks have been under renewed pressure in recent weeks as the markets have experienced volatility. From September to November, Amazon stock lost a quarter of its value as the wider tech sector took major hits. Some analysts say it’s a good time to buy in. Others say Amazon’s growth rate has hit a ceiling as the company enters maturity.
Photo: Rawpixel.com (Shutterstock)
