Topley’s Top 10 – September 10, 2021

1. Leadership was Brief in 2021 for Dividend Payers

The Daily Shot Blog

https://dailyshotbrief.com/the-daily-shot-brief-september-9th-2021/


2. More Venture Capital Went into Crypto Last Quarter than All of 2020

Crypto Firms Got More Funding Last Quarter Than In All of 2020 By Olga Kharif

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-01/crypto-firms-got-more-funding-last-quarter-than-in-all-of-2020?sref=GGda9y2L


3. Stumbled on an Old Chart of Dot Com Bubble

Tech bubble 2000 took 3 years to reach bottom Interesting chart.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/irrationalexuberance.asp


4. Biggest Marijuana ETFs down 40-60% from highs

MJ-50 day thru 200 day to downside about to make new lows

MSOS-50day thru 200day to downside makes new lows this week

www.stockcharts.com


5. Amazon to cover 100% of college tuition for U.S. hourly employees

Annie Palmer@ANNIERPALMER

KEY POINTS

  • Amazon is offering to pay the full cost of college tuition, including books and fees, for its 750,000 hourly U.S. employees.
  •  Amazon is the latest large U.S. company to dangle perks such as education benefits or more pay in light of the competitive job market.

 

Amazon said Thursday it will offer to pay 100% of college tuition for its 750,000 U.S. hourly employees.

The e-commerce giant is following the lead of other large U.S. companies that are dangling perks such as education benefits or more pay to woo workers in a tight job market.

Starting in January, Amazon said, it will cover the cost of college tuition, fees and textbooks for hourly employees in its operations network after 90 days of employment. It will also begin covering high school diploma programs, GEDs and English as a second language certifications for employees. Operations workers include employees in Amazon’s sprawling network of warehouses and distribution centers.

The benefit will apply to hundreds of education institutions across the country, Amazon said. Amazon previously offered to pay for 95% of tuition, fees and textbooks for hourly associates through its career choice program.

Rival retailers, including Walmart and Target, have also beefed up their education benefits in recent months. Target in August rolled out a program that covers the cost of associate and undergraduate degrees at select schools. Walmart in July said it would pay 100% of college tuition and books costs for associates of Walmart and Sam’s Club.

As the job market has grown more competitive, Amazon is ramping up incentives to lure workers. In some areas of the country, Amazon is offering sign-on bonuses for new employees worth up to $3,000.

Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky told analysts and investors after the company’s second-quarter earnings report in July that the competitive labor market is leading to higher costs.

“We’re spending a lot of money on signing and incentives, and while we have very good staffing levels, it’s not without a cost,” Olsavsky said. “It’s a very competitive labor market out there.”

Amazon has been on a hiring spree since the start of the pandemic, bringing on 500,000 employees in 2020.

In May, Amazon said it’s hiring 750,000 workers across its warehouse and delivery network in the U.S. and Canada. The jobs offer a starting wage of $17 per hour, reflecting recent wage increases, which bumped up pay by between 50 cents and $3 an hour for more than half a million of its U.S. operations employees.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/09/amazon-to-cover-100percent-of-college-tuition-for-us-hourly-employees.html


6. Solar Could Power 40% of U.S. Electricity by 2035

Report: Solar could power 40% of US electricity by 2035

By MATTHEW DALYyesterday

WASHINGTON (AP) — Solar energy has the potential to supply up to 40% of the nation’s electricity within 15 years — a 10-fold increase over current solar output, but one that would require massive changes in U.S. policy and billions of dollars in federal investment to modernize the nation’s electric grid, a new federal report says.

The report by the Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy says the United States would need to quadruple its annual solar capacity — and continue to increase it year by year — as it shifts to a renewable-dominant grid in order to address the existential threat posed by climate change.

The report released Wednesday is not intended as a policy statement or administration goal, officials said. Instead, it is “designed to guide and inspire the next decade of solar innovation by helping us answer questions like: How fast does solar need to increase capacity and to what level?″ said Becca Jones-Albertus, director of the Energy Department’s solar energy technologies office.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement that the study “illuminates the fact that solar, our cheapest and fastest-growing source of clean energy, could produce enough electricity to power all of the homes in the U.S. by 2035 and employ as many as 1.5 million people in the process.”

The report comes after President Joe Biden declared climate change has become “everybody’s crisis ” during a visit to neighborhoods flooded by the remnants of Hurricane Ida. Biden warned Tuesday that it’s time for America to get serious about the “code red” danger posed by climate change or face increasing loss of life and property.

“We can’t turn it back very much, but we can prevent it from getting worse,” Biden said before touring a New Jersey neighborhood ravaged by severe flooding caused by Ida. “We don’t have any more time.”

To achieve 40% solar power by 2035, the U.S. must install an average of 30 gigawatts of solar capacity per year between now and 2025 — double its current rate — and 60 gigawatts per year from 2025 to 2030, the report said.

Report: Solar could power 40% of US electricity by 2035 (apnews.com)

TAN Solar ETF Sideways after 30% Correction

www.stockcharts.com


7. U.S. Electricity Mix

Visual Capitalist

Click to see state by state in U.S.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Decarbonization-United-States-Electricity-Mix-Full.html


8. NFTs are booming, but buyers should beware of big and complex tax implication

Emily Graffeo Business Insider

NICOLAS ASFOURI / Contributor/ Getty Images

  • The former general counsel at Centre broke down the tax implications behind buying and selling NFTs in a Thursday Twitter thread.
  • There is no formal guidance regarding the tax classification of NFTs and they could be considered collectibles, she noted.
  • NFT trading volumes have soared in the last month.
  • Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell.

The NFT space is booming, but investors shouldn’t forget about the tax implications that come with buying and selling digital art.

Amy Madison, who formerly served as the general counsel at Centre, which administers the platform that powers the USDC stablecoin, broke down the tax burden of NFTs in a Thursday Twitter thread, with the disclaimer that she is not giving tax, legal, or investment advice.

The crypto expert explained that NFT collectors and investors trigger a taxable event when they purchase and sell an NFT. If they purchase with another cryptocurrency, a taxable event occurs upon the disposition of the cryptocurrency, treated as property.

“Then, if and when you sell your NFT, any gains made would be subject to ordinary income tax if held for less than a year, or long term capital gains (0% to 20%) tax if held for longer than a year,” she explained.

Meanwhile, NFT creators trigger a taxable event when selling their NFT.

“The proceeds are subject to ordinary income taxes and sometimes self-employment taxes (15.3%). Creators can deduct ordinary and necessary business expenses,” Madison noted.

She also noted that there is no formal guidance regarding the tax classification of NFTs. There could be a risk that NFTs be treated as collectible items, which are subject to a higher tax rate of 28%, Madison said. NFTs held for longer than a year would fall under that rule.

The legal expert also described tax implications for people with NFTs that generate recurring revenue streams, and for collectors who trade NFTs as a regular part of their business in the thread.

Questions around the tax rules behind NFTs come as the trading volumes for the tokens soar. On OpenSea, one of the largest NFT marketplaces, trading volumes have increased 243% in the last month, according to DappRadar.

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/nft-taxes-implications-crypto-irs-event-non-fungible-tokens-2021-9


9. Who Would Guess? Australia, Canada, France, UK  Housing Markets Outpace U.S. in Gains

Ben Carlson A Wealth of Common Sense –The Dallas Federal Reserve has housing data going back to 1975 for developed markets around the globe. These are the price gains for Australia, Canada, France, the United Kingdom and the United States:

This works out to annual appreciation rates of 7.6%, 7.4%, 6.3% and 5.7% for Australia, the UK, Canada and France, respectively.

Housing price gains in the U.S. look quaint by comparison at just 4.6% per year.

https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2021/09/why-u-s-housing-prices-arent-as-crazy-as-you-think


10. 8 Powerful Ways to Mold Your Children Into Leaders

By Travis Bradberry | August 14, 2017 | 0

We all want our children to become leaders. We want them to be courageous, passionate and authentic. We want their actions to inspire other people to be their best. Dr. Travis Bradberry shows you how in this article, originally published on LinkedIn Pulse.

As parents and caretakers of children, their path to leadership is in our hands. We can model and teach the skills that will equip them to lead themselves and others in this hyper-competitive world, or we can allow them to fall victim to the kind of thinking that makes them slaves to the status quo.

Related: 4 Stages for Building Grit in Your Children

It’s a big responsibility—but when is being a parent not?

The beauty of building children into leaders is that the little things we do every day are the ones that mold them into the people they’ll become. Focus on the eight actions below, and you’ll build leadership in your children and yourself.

1. Model emotional intelligence (EQ).

Emotional intelligence is that “something” in each of us that is a bit intangible; it affects how we manage behavior, navigate social complexities and make personal decisions that achieve positive results.

Children learn emotional intelligence from their parents. As your children watch you every day, they absorb your behavior like a sponge. Children are particularly attuned to your awareness of emotions, the behavior you demonstrate in response to strong emotions, and how you react and respond to their emotions.

EQ is one of the biggest drivers of success in leadership positions. TalentSmart has tested more than 1 million people and found that EQ is responsible for 58 percent of a leader’s job performance. Likewise, 90 percent of top-performing leaders have high EQs.

Most people do very little to develop their EQ growing up. Just 36 percent of the people we tested are able to identify their emotions accurately as they happen. Children who develop a high level of EQ carry these skills into adulthood, and this gives them a leg up in leadership and in life.

2. Don’t obsess about achievement.

Parents are sucked into obsessing about achievement because they believe this will make their children high achievers. Fixating on achievement creates all sorts of problems for kids. This is especially true when it comes to leadership, where focusing on individual achievement gives kids the wrong idea about how work is done.

Simply put, the best leaders surround themselves with great people because they know they can’t do it alone. Achievement-obsessed children are so focused on awards and outcomes that they never fully understand this. All they can see is the player who’s handed the MVP trophy and the celebrity CEO who makes the news—they assume it’s all about the individual. It’s a rude awakening once they discover how real life works.

3. Don’t praise too much.

Children need praise to build a healthy sense of self-esteem. Unfortunately, piling on the praise doesn’t give them extra self-esteem. Children need to believe in themselves and to develop the self-confidence required to become successful leaders. But if you gush every time they put pen to paper or kick a ball (the “everyone gets a trophy” mentality), this creates confusion and false confidence. Always show your children how proud you are of their passion and effort; just don’t paint them as superstars when you know it isn’t true.

4. Allow them to experience risk and failure.

Success in business and in life is driven by risk. When parents go overboard protecting their children, they don’t allow them to take risks and reap the consequences. When you aren’t allowed to fail, you don’t understand risk. A leader can’t take appropriate risks until he or she knows the bitter taste of failure that comes with risking it all and coming up short.

The road to success is paved with failure. When you try to shield your children from failure in order to boost their self-esteem, they have trouble tolerating the failure required to succeed as a leader. Don’t rub their face in failure, either. Children need your support when they fail. They need to know you care. They need to know that you know how much failure stings. Your support allows them to embrace the intensity of the experience and to know that they’ll make it through it all right. That is solid character building for future leaders.

Related: 6 Ways to Be a Better Parent

5. Say no.

Overindulging children is a surefire way to limit their development as leaders. To succeed as a leader, one must be able to delay gratification and work hard for important things. Children need to develop this patience. They need to set goals and experience the joy that comes with working diligently toward them. Saying no to your children will disappoint them momentarily, but they’ll get over that. They’ll never get over being spoiled.

6. Let children solve their own problems.

A certain self-sufficiency comes with being a leader. When you’re the one making the calls, you should also be the one who needs to stay behind and clean up the mess these create. When parents constantly solve their children’s problems for them, children never develop the critical ability to stand on their own two feet. Children who always have someone swooping in to rescue them and clean up their mess spend their whole lives waiting for this to happen. Leaders take action. They take charge. They’re responsible and accountable. Make certain your children are as well.

7. Walk your talk.

Authentic leaders are transparent and forthcoming. They aren’t perfect, but they earn people’s respect by walking their talk. Your children can develop this quality naturally, but only if it’s something they see you demonstrate. To be authentic, you must be honest in all things, not just in what you say and do but also in who you are. When you walk your talk, your words and actions will align with who you claim to be. Your children will see this and aspire to do the same.

8. Show your humanity.

No matter how indignant and defiant your children are at any moment, you’re still their hero and their model for the future. This can make you want to hide your past mistakes for fear they’ll be enticed to repeat them. The opposite is true. When you don’t show any vulnerability, your children develop intense guilt about every failure because they believe that they’re the only ones to make such terrible mistakes.

To develop as leaders, children need to know that the people they look up to aren’t infallible. Leaders must be able to process their mistakes, learn from them and move forward to be better people. Children can’t do this when they’re overcome by guilt. They need someone—a real, vulnerable person—to teach them how to process mistakes and learn from them. When you show them how you’ve done this in the past, you’re doing just that.

We can mold our children into leaders, but only if we work at it. Few things in life are as worth your time and effort as this.

https://www.success.com/8-powerful-ways-to-mold-your-children-into-leaders/