Good morning. Today, we will examine women's spending power, the rise of travel lust and cost, and the billion-dollar business of celebrity beauty brands. We will also save you some time by providing the key takeaways from the famous book: The Psychology of Money.

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ECONOMICS
Women Truly Run The World

Or at least the economy. Women, controlling $31.8 trillion in global spending, will likely govern 75% of discretionary spending in the next five years, says a NielsenIQ report.

Brands should track women's buying data to improve engagement, says the consumer intelligence firm. Factors like equality, sustainability, authenticity, quality, emotional connection, and social responsibility drive purchases. The inclusive $100 billion health and beauty industry embodies these values but under-serves menopausal women.

CONSUMERS
Fashion Behind Travel & Beauty

Fashion is projected to be among the top five categories consumers plan to spend on in 2024, behind restaurants, travel, and beauty according to a report published by Mmgnet.

ECONOMY
Rise in Travel Costs

Speaking of travel, despite lower inflation, luxury travel rates have increased post-Covid. The average daily rates have peaked this year, being 70% higher than in 2019 due to increased labor costs, supply chain disruptions, and wealthier travelers' willingness to pay. July saw the highest rate, an 85% increase from July 2019. Not just hotels, but also train trips and other luxury experiences have seen price hikes.However, wealthier individuals are not deterred by these costs.

HERR OBER

Discover which fashion house operates one of the most talked about boutique hotels in Paris. Visit the Instagram profile @herrobercity to find out.

MONEY
Robinhood Is Giving Back To People

Robinhood launched its Gold Credit Card and is ‘banking on’ the ability to turn cash back rewards into stock investments to catch up to Apple’s credit card success. This card is a game-changer, offering 3% cash back on all categories and 5% cashback on travel. All this with no joining fee and no foreign transaction fees. The catch is you need to be a Gold member to be eligible for this card.

BUSINESS
$1 Billion Celebrity Beauty Business

Celebrity beauty brands have exceeded $1 billion in sales for the first time, according to NielsenIQ. By early November 2023, sales reached $1.091 billion, a 57.8% YoY increase, outpacing the total beauty category's growth of 11.1%.

NIQ tracks nearly 50 celebrity beauty brands, including Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty, Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty, and Lady Gaga’s Haus Labs. Annual sales were highly concentrated within two categories: cosmetics and nail grooming, and fragrance (which includes scents by Ariana Grande and Billie Eilish). Celebrity brands constituted 2.9% of total category share, while in categories such as bath, shower, deodorant, facial skincare, and haircare, they accounted for less than 1%.

FINANCE
Selena Going Pubic?

This year is proving to be significant for M&A deals and potential IPOs, especially in the beauty industry. Rare Beauty, Selena Gomez's cosmetics brand, is considering a sale or IPO with a $2 billion valuation, according Bloomberg last week.

Since its inception in 2020, the brand has accumulated $400 million in annual net sales. Rare Beauty has engaged Goldman Sachs and Raymond James to advise on its potential options.

BOOK TAKE AWAYS
The Psychology of Money

Housel's book highlights the mental over financial aspects of money, promoting a behavior-based approach to personal finance that recognizes life's unpredictability and the need for adaptable financial planning.

Influence of Luck and Risk: Luck and risk are significant factors in financial outcomes, often more than individual effort.

Wealth Creation vs. Preservation: Acquiring wealth often involves risk-taking and optimism, while maintaining wealth requires frugality and paranoia, highlighting the different skills needed for each.

Impact of Rare Events: Tail events, or rare occurrences, disproportionately influence business and investing outcomes.

Compounding Power: The compounding effect over time is crucial to wealth accumulation, as evidenced by Warren Buffett's fortune, most of which was earned after his 65th birthday.

Control Over Time: True wealth offers control over one's time, and financial success is more about spending less than you earn rather than high earnings alone.

Surprises and Unknowns: History teaches that unprecedented events have significant impacts, making reliance on past data limited for predicting the future.

Limitations of Forecasting: The unpredictable nature of history's surprises means that forecasting based on past events is often flawed.

Economic Changes: Historical financial strategies may not apply in today's rapidly evolving economy due to structural market changes

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