Feb 23, 2024

I heard that the Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards 2024 are open for voting, allowing the community to recognize the best products and services in personal finance. The 2024 tax season is underway, and there are discussions about overlooked tax deductions and credits to consider before filing. Additionally, there is a focus on the relationship between joint banking accounts and happiness in marriage. On another note, there is a conversation about the performance of uranium stocks and their exposure to critical elements over the past five years. In a separate news piece, PitchBook data estimates that a significant number of first-time venture managers may struggle to raise a second fund, impacting funding availability for smaller startup markets.

Moving on, there are reports about Complex, an entertainment media brand, being sold by BuzzFeed to a livestream shopping platform for $108.6 million, which represents a significant strategy shift for BuzzFeed. In the tech and startup world, there are updates on various funding rounds, acquisitions, and private equity deals, including a focus on the performance of Nvidia’s quarterly earnings. These are some of the key discussions and updates in the financial and startup landscape.

The news I heard is that the Axios Pro newsletter analyzed the current IPO market, which saw a 10% increase. There was also a report on Capital One buying Discover, which is one of the biggest deals of the year and has implications for credit card borrowers. Additionally, there were several exclusive reports on companies raising funds in various sectors such as healthcare, technology, and retail. The newsletter also discussed a fund called Alpha Architect 1-3 Month Box ETF, which uses a complex options strategy and a longstanding tax loophole to offer returns that closely track short-term Treasuries, with lower tax bills. The fund surpassed $1 billion in assets and is one of several efforts to use the ETF loophole in creative new ways. The goal of the fund is to provide a place to park money that pays roughly the current short-term Treasury interest rate, is as safe as short-term Treasury bills, and has better tax treatment than Treasury bills. The fund mostly buys box spreads on the S&P 500 index, earning Treasury-like interest through equity index derivatives.

Today, I learned about the tax treatment of in-kind redemptions for investment funds, particularly exchange-traded funds (ETFs). This treatment allows ETFs to avoid taxable events, resulting in no gains being recorded. This means that the tax hit from winning stock bets is postponed until the investor sells the ETF. This is a perk that holders of mutual funds, hedge funds, and individual brokerage accounts typically don’t enjoy. Additionally, I learned about a financial engineering proposal related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, involving transferring Ukraine’s claim for war damages against Russia to the G7 countries in order to access frozen Russian assets. Another interesting piece of news I came across was the typo in Lyft Inc.’s fourth-quarter earnings release, where the adjusted Ebitda margin expansion was initially reported as approximately 500 basis points year-over-year, but was later corrected to 50 basis points.

Furthermore, I heard about the turmoil at Goldman Sachs, where two top investment bankers were excluded from a new operating committee established under the CEO, leading them to threaten to quit. Finally, I learned about the potential extradition of a crypto tycoon to the U.S., a $150 billion question regarding Warren Buffett’s cash holdings, and an Alabama embryo ruling casting a shadow over the future of IVF. These news pieces provided valuable insights into various financial and geopolitical developments.

Stay Well!