My name is Jared A. Brock. Having just turned 35, I sat down to reflect on everything I’ve learned so far and made a list of the things I wish I learned far sooner. None of these are rules or commands for you to follow, just personal reflections from a decade of journaling. I hope they save you a lot of time, energy, and struggle:

1. “Save the best for last” is terrible advice.

A French monk taught me this one. Every morning, I put on the newest pair of socks in my drawer. Why wear the rattiest pair? When I sit down to eat, I eat the tastiest bits first. Why let them get cold? After every shower, I put on my favorite clean t-shirt. I have a great bottle of 10-year-old Laphroaig scotch in my cupboard, but I probably won’t drink it for months because I received two bottles of reactor-aged Lost Spirits single malt for Christmas.
Why? Because life is hard enough and we aren’t promised tomorrow. This doesn’t mean we should throw caution to the wind and “live in the moment” at all times, but it does mean we should try to find the golden middle and glean a little bit of pleasure from every day we’re blessed to live. “Save the best for last” is poverty-mentality thinking. It expects worse in the future. Enjoy the best right now — in your marriage, parenting, work, travel, faith, friendship, contribution. Keep all the chips on the table. Be ready at all times to leave without regret.

2. Tools use us.

A hammer literally cannot hit a nail without using a human. A saw cannot cut through a board without using a human. A phone cannot deliver ads without using a human.

3. Avoid false dichotomies.

When given two great options, choose both. When given two horrible options, choose neither.

4. Failure is overcome by one word.

“Next.”

5. Ambition is ruinous for your happiness.

Most goal-setters (myself included) live much of life in anticipation of tomorrow, and when that day arrives, they’re either disappointed by their failures or underwhelmed by their successes.
Instead: trust the process. Whiskey, pasta, bread, beer, and cereal all require just two ingredients — wheat and water — but the outcome is completely different based on the process. Identity precedes action. Determine what you want to be, then find the process that will get you there every single time.

6. Forget what the market wants.

Listen to your gut. Your body knows the difference between good and great. Someone said you should never record a song or code an app or write an article unless it makes you laugh, cry, or orgasm. If an idea doesn’t move you, it won’t move an audience, no matter how “commercial” you think it is.

7. Give yourself a shove.

The best way to eat more candy, drink more vodka, and smoke more cigarettes is to leave them in the middle of the kitchen counter.
You get it. Willpower is useless. Instead, line up a series of little nudges to automatically get you through your day. If you want to work out, leave your shorts by the door or your cleats in your fridge. My blue diode glasses rest on top of my laptop so I have to protect my eyes before logging online. I can’t not see my vitamins when I brush my teeth, or chia seeds when I reach for the Brita. There’s a book beside my bed, toilet, desk, and car’s gear shifter.
Line up enough nudges and you can shove yourself in the right direction.

8. Grandma didn’t use toilet paper.

She used pages from the Sears catalog. Splinter-free wasn’t available until 1935. The Romans used sponges. The Greeks used clay. Francois Rabelais recommended using “the neck of a goose.” Arabians used their left hand.
Never assume our extremely unique cultural moment is “normal.”

9. Ninety-nine isn’t enough.

Water boils at 100 degrees Celcius. The difference between 99 and 100 is the difference between zero and one. Not-boiling, boiling.
Corollary: 101 doesn’t make it any more boiling.

10. Old people know better.

Honoring our elders is one of the most underrated practices in our newness-obsessed society. Sure, there are a ton of old crazy far-right conspiracy theorists, but there are also good people who have survived four wars, six recessions, and twelve presidents and are somehow still smiling. Get to know them.
Also: meet your old-person self. I try to invent a new word every week — one of them is preflection. To ponder the present through the eyes of your future self. Take an hour in silence to listen to your eighty-year-old self. They might know something you don’t.

11. Fire all your employees.

The employer-employee relationship creates an unhealthy power dynamic between humans that simply didn’t exist when we worked cooperatively to feed our clan or village. I love my work life so much more now that I only work with independent entrepreneurs who are my equals. For me, it’s either a one-man show (my writing business), an equal partnership (my film company), or a co-operative endeavor. Life’s too short to be a boss or be bossed around.

12. Accept that you are a voracious locust of doom.

Nail a roll of paper to the wall and write down everything you consume for a year — food, toilet paper, electricity, car fuel, movies, music, social media content, other people’s time, everything. See what I mean?
Saint Augustine said that the human heart can only fully be satisfied by one thing aside from God himself: everything. All the sex, all the money, all the power, all the possessions, all the glory. All of it. Nothing short of everything could ever fully satiate the human heart. We are wired for more.
Understanding this truth is the first step toward real contentment.

13. Awkward is awesome.

My best friend says that The Office gave society a beautiful gift: the ability to embrace cringe. When you meet someone new and it’s slightly weird, pretend you’re Michael Scott. Just glory and bask in the discomfort.
You can awkward-proof your life by being bold: Ask for discounts. Ask for refunds. Ask for phone numbers. Ask for pay raises. Ask inappropriate questions at inappropriate times. Lather yourself in awkward and pretty soon nothing sticks.

14. Happiness isn’t the purpose of life.

Hitler really was following his bliss by offing millions of Jews. I’m sure Jeffrey Dahmer genuinely enjoyed the taste of human flesh. Bernie Madoff seemed content to bilk charities for decades.
Happiness isn’t the purpose of life. It’s not even in the top ten. Happiness is a seasonal fruit, not a foundational root. Find firm and fertile ground.

15. There is no ugly.

My grandpa re-proposed to my grandma on their fiftieth wedding anniversary and called her the most beautiful woman he’s ever known. Old wrinkly grandma? Yes. Because we choose our definition of beauty through our thoughts, disciplines, habits, and patterns, be they conscious or otherwise.

16. We are what we consume.

The statistical average American is a walking bodybag of sugar, alcohol, caffeine, porn, pills, and digital stimulus. Imagine how different life would be if our only inputs were nature, sleep, sunlight, organic food, and embodied human interaction?
Guard your inputs carefully.

17. We’re going to die quite soon.

Make sure you live first. Practicing memento mori will help.

18. Fame is poison.

One in four Gen Zers thinks they’ll be famous by age 25. One in 3.9999999 Gen Zers are going to have a miserably disappointing life.
Why do people desire the attention of strangers? Because we all need to love and be loved, to know and be known, but are too afraid to risk personal heartbreak to seek it out. Attention is not affection. Influence is not intimacy.

19. Boomers are to blame for half our troubles.

The Me Generation took a free ride at the planet’s expense and are hellbent on taking the rest of it with them. They’re statistically low on empathy — blame the lead, asbestos, and hairspray if you must — but at least acknowledge the reality that life is hard for everyone, and no one has it easier.

20. Children are dope.

Kids are the blood transfusion in our sick system. We need to stop manipulating, brainwashing, colonizing, and propagandizing them, and learn from them instead.

21. It doesn’t have to hurt.

Joy is a choice.

22. Watch comedy before calls and meetings.

Five minutes of gut-busting laughter will prime you for even the most tedious conference call. Your co-workers and customers all have tough lives like everybody else, so brighten their day by pre-brightening your own.

23. No ragrets.

Tattoo it on your neck. Most people play it far too safe. Instead: optimize your life for the least number of regrets and the most amount of selfless contribution.

24. There are better ways to vote.

I’ve manned several local voting stations, and I’ve also hob-nobbed with politicians in Canada, America, and the UK. The reality is that they don’t work for us. They work for their corporate sponsors and private interests.
Democracy isn’t dead. It just hasn’t happened yet, with all attempts to date being stillborn or aborted. Democracy = one voice one vote. Athens wasn’t a democracy — women, slaves, and tenants had zero say. America isn’t a democracy either — no representative system is, because it’s far too easy for private interests to buy politicians. The charade of voting is illusory. All elections are sham elections.
So what to do? Vote with your money and time and attention. One sham vote every four years versus tens of thousands of dollar-votes each year? It’s a no-brainer. My wife and I haven’t stepped foot in a Walmart in more than a decade because thousands of its suppliers are based in China, the billionaire heirs are anti-democratic tax-avoiders, and they treat their employees like indentured servants. Vote for pro-democracy third-party candidates if you must — just understand the game, and vote in the ways that actually matter.

25. Everything easy has already been done.

So run a little further.
And if it hasn’t been done, it won’t be as easy as it appears. The question to ask is: what’s been standing in the way this whole time? Achievement is all about knocking down obstacles. Just make sure what’s on the other side is rightly worth the effort.

26. Broccoli still tastes terrible.

But you’re not a child anymore. Adults do hard things.

27. Fixed-order scheduling > fixed-hour scheduling.

Discipline is great, but it’s also subject to the law of diminishing returns. Life is just too dynamic to schedule with military precision. Free yourself from the tyranny of “only people who wake up at 5 AM are successful.”
All hours are not created equal. It depends on your sleep drive and chronotype. Know yourself. Unapologetically get more sleep, then do your best work at your best time in your best state.

28. “Freedom” isn’t freedom.

America wasn’t founded on freedom. America was founded on violent autonomy.
The ancient Greeks had an entirely different definition of freedom: it was the ability to choose the right regardless of circumstance.

“We talk about freedom all the time, but we’ve stopped talking about freedom a long time ago. Now we’re talking about autonomy. Freedom is different than autonomy. Freedom has boundaries. Truth is one of those boundaries. And morality is one of those boundaries. Autonomy is the ability to do whatever you want whenever you want in whatever way you want. The problem is this: If I’m autonomous and another person is autonomous, and I have preferences and those matter more than the truth, and that person has preferences and their preferences matter more than the truth, when two autonomous preference-seeking beings come together and their preferences don’t match, who is going to win? If truth is on the bottom shelf, truth won’t decide. What will decide will be power. And isn’t it ironic that in our quest for “freedom”, someone gets enslaved?” — Abdu Murray

29. The Marines were right: slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

As teenagers, my friend Tyler and I were in a hurry to get somewhere quickly so we drove 120+ miles per hour for forty-five straight minutes before nearly crashing when the speed burned a footlong gash through the tire. By the time we replaced it with a spare, we were late to our destination by more than an hour.
But nevermind driving. Pump the life-brakes sometimes, or at least, let off the gas. You might get there faster, with less wear-and-tear on the engine.

30. The quest for wealth is destroying life.

We’ve commodified land, water, shelter, clothing, art, time, and nearly everything else. Very little remains, and it’s amassing into fewer hands.
We need a shared global vision. My invented word for it is benevitae: the sustainable flourishing of all creation. Our collective goal should be socioenviroeconomic sustainability. Where to start? We’d do well to let biology determine ecological sustainability and real democracy to determine economic fairness. Our current trajectory is worse than the Space Shuttle Challenger.

31. Most “leaders” aren’t leaders.

Celebrities, politicians, and book-hocking business gurus all call themselves leaders. They’re not.
Real leadership is influence that serves. True leaders are selfless and servant-hearted. They put the best interests of others ahead of their own. Politics and media, by comparison, attracts sociopaths like flies to firelight. Never give power to those who seek it. Nearly everyone worth following is dead.

32. Divide-and-conquer is a business model.

Near the end of high school, dozen friends and I binge-watched multiple seasons of LOST in our friend Mike’s basement. It was one of the most hilarious, riotous, enjoyable experiences we had as a group.
And it was the last show we ever watched together.
People used to go to restaurants in large numbers, to the movies by the dozen, climbing over each other for one of the limited video game controllers, packing out our churches, cheering on our sports teams by the busload. We were almost never alone, and we were far happier. Now we order in, watch Netflix, stream Minecraft, catch the highlights, watch porn, and go to bed. It’s killing us.
Resist the urge to be alone. It’s too easy, and it’s the exact opposite of what we really need. The #1 thing that’s correlated to human happiness is human togetherness.

33. Self-improvement won’t save us.

The great lie of individualist-consumerist culture is that we can improve our way to personal perfection and communal utopia. But it’s incrementalism at best.
It’s just chasing infinity.

34. We know nothing +/-.

On the scale of all that is known, and all that is knowable, our individual understanding is essentially mathematically zero. The entirety of human knowledge is a rounding error.
This is the beginning of humility.

35. The sun is not on fire

I was at an observatory in the Davis Mountains in Texas, and it was the first time I’d paid attention to astronomy since grade school. For three decades, I’d wrongly assumed the sun was a giant ball of flames.
But there’s no fire in space because there’s no oxygen in space. (It just looks like fire because of how our eyes perceive light through the atmosphere and prism.) As I stared at the real-time image of the sun on the observatory wall, I nearly wept. The sun actually looks like a giant, boiling, grey brain.
And then it hit me: I have so many assumptions to set aside and so much left to learn. So pay attention. Don’t worship the “question everything” mantra, but instead spend your life seeking truth, and wisdom, and understanding.
You know what you need to do to get where you want to be.

Playboy going public: Porn, Gambling, and Cannabis

NEW INFO 5 Results from share redemption are posted. Less than .2% redeemed. Very bullish as investors are showing extreme confidence in the future of PLBY.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/playboy-mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-120000721.html
NEW INFO 4 Definitive Agreement to purchase 100% of Lovers brand stores announced 2/1.
https://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/Playboy+%28MCAC%29+Confirms+Deal+to+Acquire+Lovers/17892359.html
NEW INFO 3 I bought more on the dip today. 5081 total. Price rose AH to $12.38 (2.15%)
NEW INFO 2 Here is the full webinar.
https://icrinc.zoom.us/rec/play/9GWKdmOYumjWfZuufW3QXpe_FW_g--qeNbg6PnTjTMbnNTgLmCbWjeRFpQga1iPc-elpGap8dnDv8Zww.yD7DjUwuPmapeEdP?continueMode=true&tk=lEYc4F_FkKlgsmCIs6w0gtGHT2kbgVGbUju3cIRBSjk.DQIAAAAV8NK49xZWdldRM2xNSFNQcTBmcE00UzM3bXh3AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA&uuid=WN_GKWqbHkeSyuWetJmLFkj4g&_x_zm_rtaid=kR45-uuqRE-L65AxLjpbQw.1611967079119.2c054e3d3f8d8e63339273d9175939ed&_x_zm_rhtaid=866
NEW INFO 1 Live merger webinar with PLBY and MCAC on Friday January 29, 2021 at 12:00 NOON EST link below
https://mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/press-release-details/2021/Playboy-Enterprises-Inc.-and-Mountain-Crest-Acquisition-Corp-Participate-in-SPACInsider-ICR-Webinar-on-January-29th-at-12pm-ET/default.aspx
Playboy going public: Porn, Gambling, and Cannabis
!!!WARNING READING AHEAD!!! TL;DR at the end. It will take some time to sort through all the links and read/watch everything, but you should.
In the next couple weeks, Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp is taking Playboy public. The existing ticker MCAC will become PLBY. Special purpose acquisition companies have taken private companies public in recent months with great success. I believe this will be no exception. Notably, Playboy is profitable and has skyrocketing revenue going into a transformational growth phase.
Porn - First and foremost, let's talk about porn. I know what you guys are thinking. “Porno mags are dead. Why would I want to invest in something like that? I can get porn for free online.” Guess what? You are absolutely right. And that’s exactly why Playboy doesn’t do that anymore. That’s right, they eliminated their print division. And yet they somehow STILL make money from porn that people (see: boomers) pay for on their website through PlayboyTV, Playboy Plus, and iPlayboy. Here’s the thing: Playboy has international, multi-generational name recognition from porn. They have content available in 180 countries. It will be the only publicly traded adult entertainment (porn) company. But that is not where this company is going. It will help support them along the way. You can see every Playboy magazine through iPlayboy if you’re interested. NSFW links below:
https://www.playboy.com/
https://www.playboytv.com/
https://www.playboyplus.com/
https://www.iplayboy.com/
Gambling - Some of you might recognize the Playboy brand from gambling trips to places like Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Cancun, London or Macau. They’ve been in the gambling biz for decades through their casinos, clubs, and licensed gaming products. They see the writing on the wall. COVID is accelerating the transition to digital, application based GAMBLING. That’s right. What we are doing on Robinhood with risky options is gambling, and the only reason regulators might give a shit anymore is because we are making too much money. There may be some restrictions put in place, but gambling from your phone on your couch is not going anywhere. More and more states are allowing things like Draftkings, poker, state ‘lottery” apps, hell - even political betting. Michigan and Virginia just ok’d gambling apps. They won’t be the last. This is all from your couch and any 18 year old with a cracked iphone can access it. Wouldn’t it be cool if Playboy was going to do something like that? They’re already working on it. As per CEO Ben Kohn who we will get to later, “...the company’s casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth.” Honestly, I stopped researching Scientific Games' sports betting segment when I saw the word ‘omni-channel’. That told me all I needed to know about it’s success.
“Our SG Sports™ platform is an enhanced, omni-channel solution for online, self-service and retail fixed odds sports betting – from soccer to tennis, basketball, football, baseball, hockey, motor sports, racing and more.”
https://www.scientificgames.com/
https://www.microgaming.co.uk/
“This latter segment has become increasingly enticing for Playboy, and it said last week that it is considering new tie-ups that could include gaming operators like PointsBet and 888Holdings.”
https://calvinayre.com/2020/10/05/business/playboys-gaming-ops-could-get-a-boost-from-spac-purchase/
As per their SEC filing:
“Significant consumer engagement and spend with Playboy-branded gaming properties around the world, including with leading partners such as Microgaming, Scientific Games, and Caesar’s Entertainment, steers our investment in digital gaming, sports betting and other digital offerings to further support our commercial strategy to expand consumer spend with minimal marginal cost, and gain consumer data to inform go-to-market plans across categories.”
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tMDAA1
They are expanding into more areas of gaming/gambling, working with international players in the digital gaming/gambling arena, and a Playboy sportsbook is on the horizon.
https://www.playboy.com/read/the-pleasure-of-playing-with-yourself-mobile-gaming-in-the-covid-era
Cannabis - If you’ve ever read through a Playboy magazine, you know they’ve had a positive relationship with cannabis for many years. As of September 2020, Playboy has made a major shift into the cannabis space. Too good to be true you say? Check their website. Playboy currently sells a range of CBD products. This is a good sign. Federal hemp products, which these most likely are, can be mailed across state lines and most importantly for a company like Playboy, can operate through a traditional banking institution. CBD products are usually the first step towards the cannabis space for large companies. Playboy didn’t make these products themselves meaning they are working with a processor in the cannabis industry. Another good sign for future expansion. What else do they have for sale? Pipes, grinders, ashtrays, rolling trays, joint holders. Hmm. Ok. So it looks like they want to sell some shit. They probably don’t have an active interest in cannabis right? Think again:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/09/24/playboy-gets-serious-about-cannabis-law-reform-advocacy-with-new-partnership-grants/?sh=62f044a65cea
“Taking yet another step into the cannabis space, Playboy will be announcing later on Thursday (September, 2020) that it is launching a cannabis law reform and advocacy campaign in partnership with National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), Last Prisoner Project, Marijuana Policy Project, the Veterans Cannabis Project, and the Eaze Momentum Program.”
“According to information procured exclusively, the three-pronged campaign will focus on calling for federal legalization. The program also includes the creation of a mentorship plan, through which the Playboy Foundation will support entrepreneurs from groups that are underrepresented in the industry.” Remember that CEO Kohn from earlier? He wrote this recently:
https://medium.com/naked-open-letters-from-playboy/congress-must-pass-the-more-act-c867c35239ae
Seems like he really wants weed to be legal? Hmm wonder why? The writing's on the wall my friends. Playboy wants into the cannabis industry, they are making steps towards this end, and we have favorable conditions for legislative progress.
Don’t think branding your own cannabis line is profitable or worthwhile? Tell me why these 41 celebrity millionaires and billionaires are dummies. I’ll wait.
https://www.celebstoner.com/news/celebstoner-news/2019/07/12/top-celebrity-cannabis-brands/
Confirmation: I hear you. “This all seems pretty speculative. It would be wildly profitable if they pull this shift off. But how do we really know?” Watch this whole video:
https://finance.yahoo.com/video/playboy-ceo-telling-story-female-154907068.html
Man - this interview just gets my juices flowing. And highlights one of my favorite reasons for this play. They have so many different business avenues from which a catalyst could appear. I think paying attention, holding shares, and options on these staggered announcements over the next year is the way I am going to go about it. "There's definitely been a shift to direct-to-consumer," he (Kohn) said. "About 50 percent of our revenue today is direct-to-consumer, and that will continue to grow going forward.” “Kohn touted Playboy's portfolio of both digital and consumer products, with casino-style gaming, in particular, serving a crucial role under the company's new business model. Playboy also has its sights on the emerging cannabis market, from CBD products to marijuana products geared toward sexual health and pleasure.” "If THC does become legal in the United States, we have developed certain strains to enhance your sex life that we will launch," Kohn said. https://cheddar.com/media/playboy-goes-public-health-gaming-lifestyle-focus Oh? The CEO actually said it? Ok then. “We have developed certain strains…” They’re already working with growers on strains and genetics? Ok. There are several legal cannabis markets for those products right now, international and stateside. I expect Playboy licensed hemp and THC pre-rolls by EOY. Something like this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/842996758/10-playboy-pre-roll-tubes-limited?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=pre+roll+playboy&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&organic_search_click=1 Maintaining cannabis operations can be costly and a regulatory headache. Playboy’s licensing strategy allows them to pick successful, established partners and sidestep traditional barriers to entry. You know what I like about these new markets? They’re expanding. Worldwide. And they are going to be a bigger deal than they already are with or without Playboy. Who thinks weed and gambling are going away? Too many people like that stuff. These are easy markets. And Playboy is early enough to carve out their spot in each. Fuck it, read this too: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimosman/2020/10/20/playboy-could-be-the-king-of-spacs-here-are-three-picks/?sh=2e13dcaa3e05
Numbers: You want numbers? I got numbers. As per the company’s most recent SEC filing:
“For the year ended December 31, 2019, and the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s historical consolidated revenue was $78.1 million and $101.3 million, respectively, historical consolidated net income (loss) was $(23.6) million and $(4.8) million, respectively, and Adjusted EBITDA was $13.1 million and $21.8 million, respectively.”
“In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Licensing segment contributed $44.2 million in revenue and $31.1 million in net income.”
“In the ninth months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Direct-to-Consumer segment contributed $40.2 million in revenue and net income of $0.1 million.”
“In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Digital Subscriptions and Content segment contributed $15.4 million in revenue and net income of $7.4 million.”
They are profitable across all three of their current business segments.
“Playboy’s return to the public markets presents a transformed, streamlined and high-growth business. The Company has over $400 million in cash flows contracted through 2029, sexual wellness products available for sale online and in over 10,000 major retail stores in the US, and a growing variety of clothing and branded lifestyle and digital gaming products.”
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF
Growth: Playboy has massive growth in China and massive growth potential in India. “In China, where Playboy has spent more than 25 years building its business, our licensees have an enormous footprint of nearly 2,500 brick and mortar stores and 1,000 ecommerce stores selling high quality, Playboy-branded men’s casual wear, shoes/footwear, sleepwear, swimwear, formal suits, leather & non-leather goods, sweaters, active wear, and accessories. We have achieved significant growth in China licensing revenues over the past several years in partnership with strong licensees and high-quality manufacturers, and we are planning for increased growth through updates to our men’s fashion lines and expansion into adjacent categories in men’s skincare and grooming, sexual wellness, and women’s fashion, a category where recent launches have been well received.” The men’s market in China is about the same size as the entire population of the United States and European Union combined. Playboy is a leading brand in this market. They are expanding into the women’s market too. Did you know CBD toothpaste is huge in China? China loves CBD products and has hemp fields that dwarf those in the US. If Playboy expands their CBD line China it will be huge. Did you know the gambling money in Macau absolutely puts Las Vegas to shame? Technically, it's illegal on the mainland, but in reality, there is a lot of gambling going on in China. https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/10/19/magic-johnson-and-uncle-buds-cbd-brand-enter-china-via-tmall-partnership/?sh=271776ca411e “In India, Playboy today has a presence through select apparel licensees and hospitality establishments. Consumer research suggests significant growth opportunities in the territory with Playboy’s brand and categories of focus.” “Playboy Enterprises has announced the expansion of its global consumer products business into India as part of a partnership with Jay Jay Iconic Brands, a leading fashion and lifestyle Company in India.” “The Indian market today is dominated by consumers under the age of 35, who represent more than 65 percent of the country’s total population and are driving India’s significant online shopping growth. The Playboy brand’s core values of playfulness and exploration resonate strongly with the expressed desires of today’s younger millennial consumers. For us, Playboy was the perfect fit.” “The Playboy international portfolio has been flourishing for more than 25 years in several South Asian markets such as China and Japan. In particular, it has strategically targeted the millennial and gen-Z audiences across categories such as apparel, footwear, home textiles, eyewear and watches.” https://www.licenseglobal.com/industry-news/playboy-expands-global-footprint-india It looks like they gave COVID the heisman in terms of net damage sustained: “Although Playboy has not suffered any material adverse consequences to date from the COVID-19 pandemic, the business has been impacted both negatively and positively. The remote working and stay-at-home orders resulted in the closure of the London Playboy Club and retail stores of Playboy’s licensees, decreasing licensing revenues in the second quarter, as well as causing supply chain disruption and less efficient product development thereby slowing the launch of new products. However, these negative impacts were offset by an increase in Yandy’s direct-to-consumer sales, which have benefited in part from overall increases in online retail sales so far during the pandemic.” Looks like the positives are long term (Yandy acquisition) and the negatives are temporary (stay-at-home orders).
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921006093/tm213766-1_defa14a.htm
This speaks to their ability to maintain a financially solvent company throughout the transition phase to the aforementioned areas. They’d say some fancy shit like “expanded business model to encompass four key revenue streams: Sexual Wellness, Style & Apparel, Gaming & Lifestyle, and Beauty & Grooming.” I hear “we’re just biding our time with these trinkets until those dollar dollar bill y’all markets are fully up and running.” But the truth is these existing revenue streams are profitable, scalable, and rapidly expanding Playboy’s e-commerce segment around the world.
"Even in the face of COVID this year, we've been able to grow EBITDA over 100 percent and revenue over 68 percent, and I expect that to accelerate going into 2021," he said. “Playboy is accelerating its growth in company-owned and branded consumer products in attractive and expanding markets in which it has a proven history of brand affinity and consumer spend.”
Also in the SEC filing, the Time Frame:
“As we detailed in the definitive proxy statement, the SPAC stockholder meeting to vote on the transaction has been set for February 9th, and, subject to stockholder approval and satisfaction of the other closing conditions, we expect to complete the merger and begin trading on NASDAQ under ticker PLBY shortly thereafter,” concluded Kohn.
The Players: Suhail “The Whale” Rizvi (HMFIC), Ben “The Bridge” Kohn (CEO), “lil” Suying Liu & “Big” Dong Liu (Young-gun China gang). I encourage you to look these folks up. The real OG here is Suhail Rizvi. He’s from India originally and Chairman of the Board for the new PLBY company. He was an early investor in Twitter, Square, Facebook and others. His firm, Rizvi Traverse, currently invests in Instacart, Pinterest, Snapchat, Playboy, and SpaceX. Maybe you’ve heard of them. “Rizvi, who owns a sprawling three-home compound in Greenwich, Connecticut, and a 1.65-acre estate in Palm Beach, Florida, near Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg, moved to Iowa Falls when he was five. His father was a professor of psychology at Iowa. Along with his older brother Ashraf, a hedge fund manager, Rizvi graduated from Wharton business school.” “Suhail Rizvi: the 47-year-old 'unsocial' social media baron: When Twitter goes public in the coming weeks (2013), one of the biggest winners will be a 47-year-old financier who guards his secrecy so zealously that he employs a person to take down his Wikipedia entry and scrub his photos from the internet. In IPO, Twitter seeks to be 'anti-FB'” “Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia looks like a big Twitter winner. So do the moneyed clients of Jamie Dimon. But as you’ve-got-to-be-joking wealth washed over Twitter on Thursday — a company that didn’t exist eight years ago was worth $31.7 billion after its first day on the stock market — the non-boldface name of the moment is Suhail R. Rizvi. Mr. Rizvi, 47, runs a private investment company that is the largest outside investor in Twitter with a 15.6 percent stake worth $3.8 billion at the end of trading on Thursday (November, 2013). Using a web of connections in the tech industry and in finance, as well as a hearty dose of good timing, he brought many prominent names in at the ground floor, including the Saudi prince and some of JPMorgan’s wealthiest clients.” https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/technology/at-twitter-working-behind-the-scenes-toward-a-billion-dollar-payday.html Y’all like that Arab money? How about a dude that can call up Saudi Princes and convince them to spend? Funniest shit about I read about him: “Rizvi was able to buy only $100 million in Facebook shortly before its IPO, thus limiting his returns, according to people with knowledge of the matter.” Poor guy :(
He should be fine with the 16 million PLBY shares he's going to have though :)
Shuhail also has experience in the entertainment industry. He’s invested in companies like SESAC, ICM, and Summit Entertainment. He’s got Hollywood connections to blast this stuff post-merger. And he’s at least partially responsible for that whole Twilight thing. I’m team Edward btw.
I really like what Suhail has done so far. He’s lurked in the shadows while Kohn is consolidating the company, trimming the fat, making Playboy profitable, and aiming the ship at modern growing markets.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-ipo-rizvi-insight/insight-little-known-hollywood-investor-poised-to-score-with-twitter-ipo-idUSBRE9920VW20131003
Ben “The Bridge” Kohn is an interesting guy. He’s the connection between Rizvi Traverse and Playboy. He’s both CEO of Playboy and was previously Managing Partner at Rizvi Traverse. Ben seems to be the voice of the Playboy-Rizvi partnership, which makes sense with Suhail’s privacy concerns. Kohn said this:
“Today is a very big day for all of us at Playboy and for all our partners globally. I stepped into the CEO role at Playboy in 2017 because I saw the biggest opportunity of my career. Playboy is a brand and platform that could not be replicated today. It has massive global reach, with more than $3B of global consumer spend and products sold in over 180 countries. Our mission – to create a culture where all people can pursue pleasure – is rooted in our 67-year history and creates a clear focus for our business and role we play in people’s lives, providing them with the products, services and experiences that create a lifestyle of pleasure. We are taking this step into the public markets because the committed capital will enable us to accelerate our product development and go-to-market strategies and to more rapidly build our direct to consumer capabilities,” said Ben Kohn, CEO of Playboy.
“Playboy today is a highly profitable commerce business with a total addressable market projected in the trillions of dollars,” Mr. Kohn continued, “We are actively selling into the Sexual Wellness consumer category, projected to be approximately $400 billion in size by 2024, where our recently launched intimacy products have rolled out to more than 10,000 stores at major US retailers in the United States. Combined with our owned & operated ecommerce Sexual Wellness initiatives, the category will contribute more than 40% of our revenue this year. In our Apparel and Beauty categories, our collaborations with high-end fashion brands including Missguided and PacSun are projected to achieve over $50M in retail sales across the US and UK this year, our leading men’s apparel lines in China expanded to nearly 2500 brick and mortar stores and almost 1000 digital stores, and our new men’s and women’s fragrance line recently launched in Europe. In Gaming, our casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth. Our product strategy is informed by years of consumer data as we actively expand from a purely licensing model into owning and operating key high-growth product lines focused on driving profitability and consumer lifetime value. We are thrilled about the future of Playboy. Our foundation has been set to drive further growth and margin, and with the committed capital from this transaction and our more than $180M in NOLs, we will take advantage of the opportunity in front of us, building to our goal of $100M of adjusted EBITDA in 2025.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company
Also, according to their Form 4s, “Big” Dong Liu and “lil” Suying Liu just loaded up with shares last week. These guys are brothers and seem like the Chinese market connection. They are only 32 & 35 years old. I don’t even know what that means, but it's provocative.
https://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/1832415.htm
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-ii-002600994.html
Y’all like that China money?
“Mr. Liu has been the Chief Financial Officer of Dongguan Zhishang Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd., a regional designer, manufacturer and distributor of LED lights serving commercial customers throughout Southern China since November 2016, at which time he led a syndicate of investments into the firm. Mr. Liu has since overseen the financials of Dongguan Zhishang as well as provided strategic guidance to its board of directors, advising on operational efficiency and cash flow performance. From March 2010 to October 2016, Mr. Liu was the Head of Finance at Feidiao Electrical Group Co., Ltd., a leading Chinese manufacturer of electrical outlets headquartered in Shanghai and with businesses in the greater China region as well as Europe.”
Dr. Suying Liu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp., commented, “Playboy is a unique and compelling investment opportunity, with one of the world’s largest and most recognized brands, its proven consumer affinity and spend, and its enormous future growth potential in its four product segments and new and existing geographic regions. I am thrilled to be partnering with Ben and his exceptional team to bring his vision to fruition.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company
These guys are good. They have a proven track record of success across multiple industries. Connections and money run deep with all of these guys. I don’t think they’re in the game to lose.
I was going to write a couple more paragraphs about why you should have a look at this but really the best thing you can do is read this SEC filing from a couple days ago. It explains the situation in far better detail. Specifically, look to page 137 and read through their strategy. Also, look at their ownership percentages and compensation plans including the stock options and their prices. The financials look great, revenue is up 90% Q3, and it looks like a bright future.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF
I’m hesitant to attach this because his position seems short term, but I’m going to with a warning because he does hit on some good points (two are below his link) and he’s got a sizable position in this thing (500k+ on margin, I think). I don’t know this guy but he did look at the same publicly available info and make roughly the same prediction, albeit without the in depth gambling or cannabis mention. You can also search reddit for ‘MCAC’ and very few relevant results come up and none of them even come close to really looking at this thing.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gOvAd6lebs452hFlWWbxVjQ3VMsjGBkbJeXRwDwIJfM/edit?usp=sharing
“Also, before you people start making claims that Playboy is a “boomer” company, STOP RIGHT THERE. This is not a good argument. Simply put. The only thing that matters is Playboy’s name recognition, not their archaic business model which doesn’t even exist anymore as they have completely repurposed their business.”
“Imagine not buying $MCAC at a 400M valuation lol. Streetwear department is worth 1B alone imo.”
Considering the ridiculous Chinese growth as a lifestyle brand, he’s not wrong.
Current Cultural Significance and Meme Value: A year ago I wouldn’t have included this section but the events from the last several weeks (even going back to tsla) have proven that a company’s ability to meme and/or gain social network popularity can have an effect. Tik-tok, Snapchat, Twitch, Reddit, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter. They all have Playboy stuff on them. Kids in middle and highschool know what Playboy is but will likely never see or touch one of the magazines in person. They’ll have a Playboy hoodie though. Crazy huh? A lot like GME, PLBY would hugely benefit from meme-value stock interest to drive engagement towards their new business model while also building strategic coffers. This interest may not directly and/or significantly move the stock price but can generate significant interest from larger players who will.
Bull Case: The year is 2025. Playboy is now the world leader pleasure brand. They began by offering Playboy licensed gaming products, including gambling products, direct to consumers through existing names. By 2022, demand has skyrocketed and Playboy has designed and released their own gambling platforms. In 2025, they are also a leading cannabis brand in the United States and Canada with proprietary strains and products geared towards sexual wellness. Cannabis was legalized in the US in 2023 when President Biden got glaucoma but had success with cannabis treatment. He personally pushes for cannabis legalization as he steps out of office after his first term. Playboy has also grown their brand in China and India to multi-billion per year markets. The stock goes up from 11ish to 100ish and everyone makes big gains buying somewhere along the way.
Bear Case: The United States does a complete 180 on marijuana and gambling. President Biden overdoses on marijuana in the Lincoln bedroom when his FDs go tits up and he loses a ton of money in his sports book app after the Fighting Blue Hens narrowly lose the National Championship to Bama. Playboy is unable to expand their cannabis and gambling brands but still does well with their worldwide lifestyle brand. They gain and lose some interest in China and India but the markets are too large to ignore them completely. The stock goes up from 11ish to 13ish and everyone makes 15-20% gains.
TL;DR: Successful technology/e-commerce investment firm took over Playboy to turn it into a porn, online gambling/gaming, sports book, cannabis company, worldwide lifestyle brand that promotes sexual wellness, vetern access, women-ownership, minority-ownership, and “pleasure for all”. Does a successful online team reinventing an antiquated physical copy giant sound familiar? No options yet, shares only for now. $11.38 per share at time of writing. My guess? $20 by the end of February. $50 by EOY. This is not financial advice. I am not qualified to give financial advice. I’m just sayin’ I would personally use a Playboy sports book app while smoking a Playboy strain specific joint and it would be cool if they did that. Do your own research. You’d probably want to start here:
WARNING - POTENTIALLY NSFW - SEXY MODELS AHEAD - no actual nudity though
https://s26.q4cdn.com/895475556/files/doc_presentations/Playboy-Craig-Hallum-Conference-Investor-Presentation-11_17_20-compressed.pdf
Or here:
https://www.mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/default.aspx
Jimmy Chill: “Get into any SPAC at $10 or $11 and you are going to make money.”
STL;DR: Buy MCAC. MCAC > PLBY couple weeks. Rocketship. Moon.
Position: 5000 shares. I will buy short, medium, and long-dated calls once available.

Candidate Overview - Victor Font

This post is an updated version of my previous overview of Font’s project. Since writing that last post, a lot more information has been made available about Victor Font’s campaign and his project, making it necessary to write a new version.

Background

Of the three confirmed candidates running for the Barça presidency this upcoming election, Victor Font was the one that announced his candidacy the earliest- to be exact, the 11th of June of 2018. However, Font had already made himself known as a political figure at Barça long before he announced his candidacy; back in May of 2015, he held a press conference to present his Si al Futur project.
Since 2015, Victor Font has slowly built a base of support among the socis, although he remains the underdog in a presidential race where Joan Laporta is the clear favourite. The polls show a nearly 40 point lead for the latter, and if the numbers from the collection of signatures for the candidacy are anything to go by, it seems like Mr. Font's chances of winning the election are very slim.
Victor Font's resume includes being the CEO of the consulting firm Delta Partners Group, and being one of the founders of the Catalan newspaper Ara. He is also a board director along with Xavi Hernández in the football software company Kognia Sports Intelligence.

Social project

We want the soci to be at the centre of the institution, because we want to ensure they are treated as the real owners of the club.

During the presentation for his social project, Font made the argument that under the current governance model, members of the club are only regarded as important by those in charge when their signature or vote is needed during the election cycle. He posits that Barça is in need of sweeping structural reforms that democratise the club and return power to the socis.
What do these changes entail?

Reducing terms from 6 years to 4 years

Font has promised to reduce the terms by two years, although it's not exactly clear when that would be implemented since he has often talked about his plans for the club as ranging from 2021 to 2026, rather than a 4 year period.
It's worth noting that Laporta had already changed the terms from 6 to 4 years the first time he was elected, with the goal of preventing another scenario where a president like Nuñez could be 22 years in charge. After Laporta left the presidency, the terms where changed back to 6 years.

Allowing vote by mail & implementing electronic voting

None of the three candidates have dismissed the idea of using electronic voting in future elections, but Font is probably the most enthusiastic of the three in regards to implementing it. So much so, that he had already attempted to make electronic voting a reality by proposing it in a 2019 assembly. Unfortunately for Font, he was 59 votes shy of reaching the 2/3rds majority required to approve it.
Although electronic voting would be a great way to increase turnout and allow participation to those that would otherwise be unable to vote, there are some legal challenges that complicate its implementation. María Teixidor, the board's ex-secretary and ex-director of women's football, had explained that a change in the Catalan Sport Law was required in order to vote electronically:

Why have we not brought a proposal to reform the [club's] statutes? Because the [Catalan Sport] Law does not allow it. Because precisely the law will be approved with a regulation that will carry certain requirements to which the statutes will have to comply with

Regarding voting by mail, it seems like there's a chance this will be possible this very election, since Tusquets has already asked the Catalan Government for the law to be amended such that vote by mail is allowed.

Referendums

According to Font, the use of electronic voting would not be only limited to presidential elections but would also be used for:

Vote of no confidence
Voting in the General Assembly
Referendums

Regarding this last point, Font has announced that, if he were to be elected, his board would set up a referendum so socis could decide Espai Barça's future. For a bit of background, Espai Barça is a major construction project that aims to build a new Camp Nou, a new Palau Baulgrana, and other buildings and spaces surrounding the neighbourhood.
Since the last referendum, the budget for this project has skyrocketed from 600 million euros to 1.25 billion euros due to loan interests and construction costs being higher than anticipated.
Aside from Espai Barça, Font's campaign has also pledged to consult socis more frequently on matters than concern the club via referendums.

Reform pre-requisites to become a board member

Under the current Ley del Deporte, or Sport Law in English, if someone wants to become president or board member of a club owned by its members- Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Osasuna & Barça- they need to present a deposit that's equivalent to 15% of the club's budget for that season.
Font has said this is undemocratic, since it discriminates against those that don't have the money or assets to get the loan needed to present this deposit. He thinks this law is unnecessary in the first place since regulations like UEFA Financial Fairplay are sufficient for financial control. As such he has expressed a desire to work with other clubs to push for a change in this law.

Other policies

The previous policies mentioned are all major structural changes in one way or another, but there are also some minor yet relevant policies that Font's campaign has proposed as part of their social project. These include:

Organizing quarterly meetings with socis, members of penyas (groups of fans) and opinion groups to hear their proposals and share information
Work to rejuvenate the penyas
Design a package of cheaper tickets that will be offered to the socis that don't have a season ticket
Establishing a good relationship with the UN and getting the UNICEF logo back on the shirt, right next to the club's crest
Taking an active role in the promotion of the Catalan language, participating and organising activities that contribute to this goal
Creating a code of conduct for board members and establishing an area of the club dedicated to ensuring this code is followed

Economic Project

The delicate economic situation of Barça, combined with the high competition and the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, force us to rethink the economic structure of the club and give it all the ingredients necessary for it to work at full capacity

Font's vision for the economic future of Barça entails two main phases:

A short term plan consisting of the decisions the board will have to make in the first 100 days of their term in order to deal with the immediate economic situation the club finds itself in
A long term business plan consisting of the policies and measures that will be implemented to grow the club's economy in a sustainable way

The short term plan

As Laporta has discussed previously in his own economic project presentation, the club has received an offer of 100 million euros for a 49% stake of Barça Corporate, as well as another 100 million euros from the investor that would go into the development and improvement of those services.
Barça Corporate is composed of four main projects that began five years ago under Bartomeu's presidency:

BLM (Barça licensing and merchandising) - includes clothing, e-commerce, and pretty much anything that is sold by the club
Barça Innovation Hub - works on scientific research, developing medical knowledge about sports & analyzing relevant matters related to sport through the use of data and statistics
Barça Academies - schools of football that promote the values and culture of the club
Barça Studios - dedicated to audiovisuals productions such as documentaries

Font has said that he does not oppose selling a stake of Barça Corporate, but thinks the current offer is too low and would want to renegotiate a better deal before agreeing to sell. Aside from renegotiating this offer, he has not proposed any other policies or measures that his board will undertake to generate the immediate liquidity the club desperately needs.
Barça currently has a debt of 820 million euros, and a net debt of 488 million euros. To make matters worse, the club has a short term debt of 400 million euros that it needs to pay before August of 2021. According to Font's team, Barça is expected to make a loss of 100 million euros this season.
Taking these two facts together, it becomes apparent that any board that wins the next elections will have to come to an agreement with the club's creditors in order to restructure the debt.

The long term business plan

In the presentation of his economic project for the club, Victor Font and Antoni Bassas divided the club's sources of revenue into different categories according to their potential of growth. Traditional sources of income such as TV rights, sponsors, licenses & team tours were listed in the low potential category, while e-commerce, Barça Studios, Barça TV & Espai Barça were listed as sources of revenue with high potential of growth. Accordingly, Font's team have developed their long term business plan around these key, high potential of growth services.
One of their major policies is to expand Barça's e-commerce and sell products directly without intermediaries. In order to achieve this goal, they have recruited Jose Manuel Villanova, co-founder of the online fashion outlet Privalia. Villanova has not revealed much about the plan to expand e-commerce other than vaguely mentioning they will attempt to produce more and better products, as well as improve the distribution channels so that products can be delivered to a wider range of geographical areas across the world.
Another major point mentioned during Font's campaign has been the desire to massively grow Barça's social media presence, which their team think has not been used to its full potential. Luis de Val Mínguez, the board's social media expert, has explained that Barça's platform provides monetisation opportunities, and the possibility to obtain new sponsorships.
With regards to Espai Barça, Font's first step would be to conduct a thorough audit of the project, publish its results and then carry out a referendum to consult socis whether to go ahead with the project. He has also mentioned that his team has already found an alternative way to finance Espai Barça in the case an agreement with Goldman Sachs is not reached. No details or further information have been shared from Font's campaign about what this alternative would entail.

Sporting Project

We can’t run the club like it has been ran since Montal or Nuñez were presidents, with a executive board, that independently of their experience, decide the transfers.
We want the board members to only make the grand strategic decisions of the club . . . we want to have the best professionals with the power to make the best decisions in each of the sports of the club. These decisions would be later validated by the president and the board.

If there has been one element that has remained completely unchanged since the inception of the Si al Futur project, it is the emphasis on limiting the power of both the president and the executive board to make decisions related to the sporting side of the club.
Of course, this all sounds well and good, but what is the specific structure that Font and his team envision for Barça?

The organizational structure of the club under a Font presidency

Refer to this chart for a visual representation. The roles within the club's sporting structure would be:

General Manager: Xavi Hernández
- The highest position in the hierarchy. The GM is responsible for the major decisions about the football related mattters at the club
Sporting Director: Jordi Cruyff
- Responsible for transfer decisions and figuring out what the first team and the other football teams of the club require in their squads
Technical Secretariat: Tito Blanco and an undisclosed member
- Acts as a link between sporting director and the first team manager.
First Team manager: Ronald Koeman
- Back in August of last year Font had stated that Koeman would not be his manager even if he won the treble. Since then, it seems like Font has fully accepted that Koeman will have to remain in this role.
Barça B Manager: García Pimienta
Youth teams Directors: Joan Villà / Albert Benaiges
Youth teams Coordinator: Tito Blanco

Aside from these roles, there is the position of General Director of Sports, which acts as a link between the board and the whole sporting structure. This role will be occupied by Juli Lopez.

How transfer decisions would be made

During the presentation of his sporting project, Font explained the step by step process of how transfers would be decided under the previously explained structure:

The Sporting Direction identifies the squad's needs and proposes transfers
The Technical Secretariat analyses the market and proposes alternatives
The first team manager is asked for his opinion regarding the transfer options
After consulting the first team manager, the General Manager makes the transfer decision
The president and executive board validate the final decision

This model for transfers decisions is somewhat similar to Sevilla's process- refer to Monchi's masterclass videos for more detail.

Investment and development of the women's teams

Part of Font's sporting project includes the development of a women's teams for all the sports at the club that have a men's team, as well as creating a new women's team for synchronized swimming. The aforementioned organizational structure will also be replicated for each of the women's sports teams.

Font's team

The confirmed members of Font's executive board are as follows:

Toni Nadal - Rafael Nadal's ex-coach and uncle. He will form part of the area of the board that ensures the code of conduct is being followed.
Joana Barbany - General director of the Digital Society of Catalonia's Government. She will advise the board on matters related to the digital field.
Ramon Cugat - World-renowned surgeon. He will participate in decisions related to the medical field as well as the fields of Psychology & Behaviour.
Annamari Basora - Communications & Sponsorships Director of the newspaper La Vanguardia. She will contribute her knowledge of institutional and social fields to the board.
María José Balañá - In charge of Grup Balañá's entertainment sector. She will fulfil a similar role to Annamari Basora.
Carolina Fabregat - Entrepreneur. She will participate in the economic decisions of the club.
Maria Teresa Andreu - Ex-member of UEFA's Women's Football Committee. She will work on the sporting project and on the institutional relations of the board.
Xavier Carbonell - Executive director with experience in the medical & biotechnology industry. He will contribute his knowledge to the business and economic sector of the club.
Luis de Val Mínguez - Founder of YouPlanet, an agency for influencers. He will bring his knowledge of social media & production of audiovisual content to Font's team.
Iñaki Ecenarro Iturrioz - Founder of Trovit, a search engine for classified ads. He will contribute his knowledge of businesses, economics and new technologies to the team.
Oscar Pierre Miquel - Founder of the delivery company Glovo. His role will be similar to that of Iturrioz.
Manel Sarasa Serra - Industrial engineer. He will contribute his marketing knowledge to the board.
Joaquim Uriach Torelló - President of the pharmaceutical gorup Uriach. He will bring his expertise of the economics and institutional fields to the team.
José Manuel Villanueva Villabla - Cofounder of the e-commerce company Privalia. He will contribute his knowledge of economic and digital fields to the board.
Antoni Bassas (member of the team, but not the board) - Font's right hand man. He will be in charge of the FC Barcelona Foundation, and the management of the Institutional Relations fields.
Juli López (member of the team, but not the board) - Ex-footballer. He will be the General Director of Sports.

Opinion & Analysis

The case in favour of a Victor Font presidency

Victor Font's social project is probably the most convincing, and strongest aspect of his policy platform. He has rightfully identified a need to democratize the club and has developed a plan that would achieve this goal in a clear and efficient manner.
The pandemic has shown that electronic voting and voting by mail will be essential tools to make sure that all socis can make use of their right to vote. Couple this with more referendums and opportunities for the voices of the club's members to be heard, and I think you could safely say that the socis would now hold more power to influence Barça's future than they've ever held before. There will be some legal challenges to implementing electronic voting, but the current pandemic might just end up being the perfect catalyst for changing the Catalan Sport Law.
Furthermore, he has repeatedly stated that his project is one that aims to greatly reduce the power of the president and the executive board. If Font were to keep his word on this, this would be significant shift in how the club has been run for decades.

The case against a Victor Font presidency

Font has severely overstated the preparedness of his project. He has repeated several times that the board members had been chosen years before the election, but recent developments cast doubt on this claim. Last month, Si al Futur announced Jordi Majó as a member of Font's board, only to fire him hours later when some controversial tweets from Majó surfaced. If Majó had been chosen by the project years ago, why had neither Font or his team carried out a thorough background search, especially of his social media account, during all those years?
The second major issue with Font's project, and probably the biggest issue, is his extremely weak short-term economic plan. Unlike Laporta, Font has not devised any measures or policies that would give the club the immediate liquidity Barça needs. The dire economic situation of the club cannot be overstated; a short term economic plan that addresses this problem head-on is not a luxury but a necessity.

EDIT: Special thanks to TheLadderGuy for his comment correcting some details and adding further information to some of the sections of the post

[Review] Moncler Pom Pom Beanie Hat from Non-TS Vitaly

Housewife highlights/Daily shit talk - January 28th, 2021

SALT LAKE CITY

Mary Cosby Responds to 'Cruel' Allegations and Explains 'Going Missing' From Season 1 (ET exclusive)

"Mary Cosby entered The Real Housewives canon with a bang… well, a whiff. A whiff of "hospital smell." With an unexpected dig at co-star Jen Shah ("You smell like hospital"), the pastor with a passion for fashion cemented herself in the reality TV annals… but then, she slowly showed up less and less in each new episode of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City's freshman run, leaving viewers perplexed, wanting to know, where is Mary?!
"I don't know that people want more Mary," Mary herself quips to ET over video chat from her Utah home. "However, I want more Mary."
There is speculation out there that Mary was only a "friend of" during filming of RHOSLC, turned into a full-time Housewife when it came time to edit the episodes. While Mary won't divulge whether that was the case, she does offer a hint.
"How can I say this without being blunt?" she ponders. "It just wasn't purposely done, but they kind of tried to fade Mary out and didn't know Mary was going to be more wanted."
Mary missed out on a group snowmobiling trek, a few dinners and, most surprising, the all-cast trip to Las Vegas, but she says she's not one to get FOMO. Most of Mary's appearances have been solo, at home with her husband, Robert, Sr., their son, Robert, Jr., her housekeepecousin Charlinda and copious amounts of clothing in almost every room; she seems to only interact with the other women over FaceTime -- and that's seemingly by design, on Mary's part. According to her, any opportunity she had to avoid on-screen foe Jen, she took.
"I feel like if I go in to do an event, or go to do something fun or enjoyable, dinner and vacation, that’s super touchy," she offers. "I'm gonna go with someone I enjoy, someone that enjoys me. That sounds fun. But to go with this group? Every escape was, like, literally an escape for me. I was like, ahhh! Especially when I didn't have to go to Vegas. I was so happy, I was so relieved, 'cause I didn't wanna be in trouble. I want to abide by the rules, but … no, I didn't feel left out and I was at peace, very happy."
Mary did have to face the ladies in-person at the season 1 reunion, taped in New York City earlier this month. Ahead of the shoot, Mary appeared on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen and let it slip she hadn't been keeping up with watching the episodes. She says she wound up binging the season after that in order to get up to speed for reunion day.
"I think what surprised me was when I wasn't on [the episodes]," Mary admits when asked what she learned by finally watching the show. "The spark that comes with me. Oh, is that bad? … Like, my absence? It's clearly there."
Mary says the 12-hour filming day warrants a three-part reunion, as the women worked through all the issues from their debut outing. She says there will be resolution to the drama she sparked for the rest of the cast after claiming Lisa Barlow and Meredith Marks are "afraid of Jen" ("Does Mary Cosby lie? No, she does not lie," she purrs, alluding to where things go), as well as a number of unexpected apologies. Mary says she both gave and received apologies, which might mean a truce for her and Jen. When Bravo released the cast photo from the shoot, Mary and Jen were side by side and smiling -- but Mary's lips are (mostly) sealed.
"It's safe to say that says something, it says progress," she teases, but also notes she does not regret the "you smell like hospital" comment in the least. She says the remark, which Mary made before filming started, was never directed at Jen, like Jen assumed (Jen had been looking after her sick aunt, who underwent a double amputation on her legs around this time). In fact, Mary is adamant that she said "it smells like hospital," speaking about the general atmosphere of the restaurant she was in with Jen and Meredith at the time, not Jen nor her aunt. Mary also claims she had no idea about Jen's aunt's condition, nor their close bond, until after the fact.
"No regrets," she declares. "I know my motive, I know where I was coming from. It can [seem like] a dig, and I see that, how it can come across as rude. What I do regret, probably, is the way I got so frustrated. I feel like I was being blamed for her [aunt's] legs and it was for all year, before we even aired. So, as soon as it aired I was like, I am not responsible."
Mary's distaste for the scent of medical buildings left viewers a little confused, though, seeing as a few episodes into the season, fans spotted Mary’s housekeeper, Charlinda, clad in scrubs and delivering Mary a meal on a tray, each item individually wrapped in cellophane as if it came from a hospital cafeteria. Mary says that's always how she's taken her food, a germ-free style of serving she learned from her late grandmother, Rosemary.
"It's how we were raised," she says, noting that when she was in the hospital herself to have "all [her] odor glands removed," her meals actually came on a cart and under cloche domes, like room service at a hotel.
As for Charlinda, Mary's cousin whom she claimed to not actually know all that well, despite being her employee for two decades? She's no longer in the picture.
"I don't know, she got the green eye and she turned on me and she left," Mary reveals. "She lived with me rent free for 20 years and then to turn on me it's, like, I really don’t know who she is."
While she still doesn't know Charlinda, Mary says she's never been more sure of who she (meaning Mary) is as a person. She says it's a relief for her story to be out in the world.
"This is Mary, and you accept Mary and her life or you don't," she says. "I don't have to hide. I don't have to steal. I don't have to cheat. I don't have to be someone I'm not -- and not only do I live by those morals every day, but now I can live it to the world."
Mary's home life became a hot topic as soon as her Bravo bio hit the internet, Housewives fans honing in on one a quick line about how Mary is married to her one-time step-grandfather. It was her grandmother's wish that Mary take over her life -- the church she pastored, the businesses she ran, the homes she owned and, yes, even her marriage -- upon her death. As Mary said when the revelation made its way to TV, "Don't think it wasn't weird, 'cause it was! But I did it because I trusted my grandmother, and I'm so glad I did it."
"Life's just going to take you where you're supposed to go," Mary says. "It's up to you to follow it. [Joining the show] felt good. It felt right. I’m like, people think I'm weird [already]. They say it behind my back, they talk behind my back, let me just tell them in their face: This is Mary and, yes, I am married to my grandmother's ex-husband. How about that?"
Ahead of the season, Mary joined The Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice for an Instagram Live, and proclaimed she had no skeletons in her closet. Then, allegations and accusations about Mary's life popped up online, with Reddit threads running rampant with rumors that Mary runs a cult, lives off of tithings given to the church by its parishioners, and only preached for the congregation when TV cameras showed up. She says it's all just nonsense.
"Clearly I’m not gonna get on national television, be a Housewife and be in a cult," Mary scoffs. "Like, come on. I believe in my church."
"They've been saying that since my grandmother started at the church," she says of the cult allegation. "There's no cult. ... My church members, they know those are false allegations. Those are ridiculous. It’s the people that are looking for fault."
Alleged audio of Mary demanding her congregation to give more offerings recently surfaced online, but Mary says she never takes funds from the church for personal use. The parish does believe in tithings, however, but that money stays at the church. It's not Mary's.
"That's so cruel," she says of the idea she would steal from the temple. "I feel like it's so judgmental, because I am African American and a woman and I do have an eye for finer things in life."
"I have intelligent church members and they know that was all to God," she adds. "I'm so not in it for the money. Oh my goodness, I believe in what I do, I believe in what I'm saying, and I love my church and I love what they are. … Money can't fulfill that, not for me."
Mary says she's happy to provide proof that she's preached at Faith Temple Church for more than 20 years, promising she would never have filmed one of her sermons for the show just as a performance. As for where her own money actually comes from, Mary says one, she's "blessed" by generational wealth passed down by her family and two, she and her husband own a number of businesses, including a successful printing company, which focuses on large-scale jobs, like billboards and mass production of shopping bags.
"But it's not like I just have money coming out of the walls," she cautions. "These [designer] things that I have are collector pieces."
Mary's "designer things" have also been much-talked about, as she shows up on the show in out-of-the-box fashions -- for the record, her favorite look is the one she wore to Park City Fashion Week, and she "hated" her makeup at the reunion, which is why she says she FaceTuned her posts from that day so much. On a recent episode, Mary revealed more than one room in her house doubles as a closet. Co-star Whitney Rose dubbed Mary a "high-end hoarder." While Mary threw out the idea of renting out a condo for a closet, she says she’s yet to pull the trigger, which would actually make for a fun season 2 story… that is, if she comes back for round two.
"I don't know if I'll do this again," she confesses. "That's a strong question, and I think I need a little harvesting. I think it's premature. I mean, would they want me back?"
Yes, Mary, they would."
ORANGE COUNTY

Jo De La Rosa reveals father has died from Covid at 63 and tells fans ‘I’ve never cried more tears’ (The Sun UK)

"RHOC alum Jo De La Rosa has revealed her father, Juan, died aged 63 from Covid.
The devastated reality star, 40, said she buried her 15-year feud with Juan shortly before he died of the virus last week.
Jo - who starred in the first four seasons of RHOC - shared a video montage of sweet photos with Juan on Instagram, which she titled, "The Story Of Us".
"It is with the heaviest of hearts I share I lost my dad to Covid last week," she wrote.
"This pandemic has been life-changing for many people and unfortunately, Covid won this time. My father, Juan Carlos Contreras, was only 63."
The Bravo star added: "I’ve never cried more tears in my life than these last few days but today, I want to celebrate him and remember all the happy times we shared so I made a video called 'The Story of Us' which captures our story when my mom met him all the way until they got divorced."
Jo described Juan as "the type of person that would walk into a room and instantly capture people’s attention".
"He was the most charming, outgoing, playful and most 'people person' of all people persons you would’ve ever met," she said.
"He was a high school teacher, the most gifted musician, and had the silliest personality which I now realize is where I get it from. To put it simply, he was JOY."
Jo explained that her mother met Juan "at 14 as her guitar teacher and they fell in love through music ".
"He could do no wrong in my eyes and although my heart is filled with so much love for him, it’s also shattered and feels so heavy for not being able to reconcile sooner as it’s been 15 years since we last spoke," she added.
Jo explained that she ended their estrangement with an email when she found out Juan was ill - but isn't sure if he ever got it.
"That’s as much as my heart can share about our situation but I sent him an email when I found out he was in the hospital. In it, I told him I loved him and I wanted him back in my life," she explained.
"I don’t know if he ever got it but I was reminded by one of my best friends I’ll see him in Heaven again one day and we’ll have the rest of eternity to be able to reconcile. Thank you Doni for that truth as your words have been a light in my darkness."
She concluded: "To my dad - I love you. I forgive you. You meant absolutely everything to me. I can’t wait to see you when God finally calls me and says it’s time.
"All I want is to be able to tell you see you again and tell you these words face to face."
Jo shared a series of heartwarming memories of her and Juan, including them playing guitar and piano together, as well as posing in front of a Christmas tree and out in the snow."

Kelly Dodd won’t return to ‘RHOC’ if Braunwyn Windham-Burke comes back (Page Six)

"Kelly Dodd may be done with “The Real Housewives of Orange County.”
The Positive Beverage founder, 45, said in an Instagram Live that she would not return to the Bravo series if castmate Braunwyn Windham-Burke comes back for Season 16.
“I know I cannot film with Braunwyn,” she started telling fans in the Instagram Live (captured by a fan account). “I know for a fact that I cannot film with her. There’s just no way and if she comes back then I’m out because I know for a fact that I cannot. She’s dangerous and calling people racists and homophobic.”
Dodd and Windham-Burke, 43, have been at odds since Dodd accused the mom of seven of using her sobriety for a storyline. She also questioned Windham-Burke’s decision to come out as a lesbian after over two decades of marriage to her husband, Sean Burke.
Off camera, Dodd accused Windham-Burke of once being placed under a 5150 psychiatric hold, a claim Windham-Burke denied.
Dodd added, “And … saying I’m a bad mom, I’m running around, like, traveling, well I was traveling, yes, but I was also selling two homes. And thank God I did because I’d be stuck with four mortgages, right?”
She then took a jab at Windham-Burke, adding, “I wasn’t going to party it up with the Salt Lake City chicks.”
Windham-Burke jetted off to Utah in September to hang out with Kary Brittingham from “RHOD” and Heather Gay from “RHOSLC.”
“If I’m coming back next year, I just can’t come back next year filming with somebody so reckless,” Dodd said. “I just can’t. If she’s on, I’m probably out. So, that’s probably the way it goes. And by the way, she says she couldn’t film with me, so there you go.”

Vicki Gunvalson Alleges “Snake” RHOC Producer Is Likely The Reason She Was Fired (Behind the Velvet Rope podcast/Reality Blurb)

Vicki Gunvalson claims that a Real Housewives of Orange County producer was out to get her, alleges the same producer was also the reason she and Braunwyn Windham-Burke got off to a rocky start.
Vicki has been very vocal since her RHOC departure and has openly admitted she was deeply hurt when she was fired after 14 seasons on the show. She’s now revealing some behind-the-scenes tea and discussing one particular producer that she still loathes to this day.
“There is a producer that’s currently on this cast, the last two years, that does not like me,” she claimed. “And I don’t like him. It’s public. I mean, I think he’s a snake in the grass and I think he’s always stirring up conflict that is not real conflict. So him and I had it out and I’m sure he probably said ‘she’s a problem, let’s get rid of her,’ you know? Because I saw right through his bullsh*t every time. Like why are you telling her to say that about me? Oh, he purposely just kind of tried to stir the pot and manipulate the situation.”
The Coto Insurance founder admits that she still “can’t stand” Braunwyn, but she explains what really went down the first night she met her at Tamra Judge‘s house.
“She came after me the first time at Tamra’s and I’ll never forgive her for it ever,” she told David Yontef on the Behind the Velvet Rope podcast. “[But] off-camera she told me, ‘our producer told me to go after you.’ Cool! I took him by his earlobe, put him up against the wall, and said, ‘what the heck are you doing? I’m a quote-unquote friend this year and you’re going to do this to me the first time I get together with everybody? F*ck you!’ I was livid,” the grandmother-of-three shared.
“He’s just not a good guy. When you know that about a producer, you just don’t give them your all,” she continued.
Vicki was then asked what she regrets the most about doing the show and what advice she would go back and give herself in season one.
“I did everything right except falling prey to divorce,” she shared. “I mean, I think that in hindsight, I know for a fact that if I wasn’t on a reality show, I wouldn’t have been divorced. And that cost Donn and I both a lot of money because we had to split assets and alimony and all that stuff, so I paid more to him than he did to me because I had the business. So that’s hurtful and that’s hard.”
She goes on to reveal that because of her popularity from the show, she thought she “could have it all,” and that frame of mind paired with the fact that she and Donn were already having trouble is what led to an affair with Brooks Ayers.
“[Briana Culberson] and I talked about it because, [full] disclosure, I had an affair with Brooks,” she revealed. “I was traveling a lot with work and I had been in Atlanta and he was Mr. Southern gentlemen. And when we started to chat at that time, Donn and I were disconnected, my love tank was empty, [and] we were not having sex or anything. I felt very alone and so when another man started giving me attention, Donn and I were so distant, I just know it was an influential time in my life where I thought I was popular, I thought I could have it all. And you know, I ruined the family,” she humbly admitted.
Vicki claims she was so busy with both work and the show that she simply did not put the time into her marriage that she needed to. As a result, she and Donn grew extremely distant, and she wasn’t the only one who began to stray.
“I knew I didn’t bookend my relationship, and through counseling, I figured this out. When you travel the way I do and did, I would wake up, go to my meetings, go do my thing during the day with work,” Vicki explained. “Then at night, we would party and I would go to bed [at] one or two o’clock alone, but I never called Donn, or I never reached out to him and said, ‘I’m waking up, I’m going to meetings, or I’m in bed and I’m safe.'”
“And so what happened was one day went into two days into three days and I get home and he was like a stranger to me,” she continued. “And it was, you know, I’ll take the blame for it. He started straying, I started straying, and everything became more important than him and that’s not a marriage. You can’t do that.”

Ryan And Briana Culberson Are Moving Out Of North Carolina As Vicki Gunvalson Is Also Selling Her Lake Home In NC (Reality Blurb)
Heather Dubrow Is So Much More Than the ‘Housewives,’ Daughter Max Shares (Showbiz CheatSheet exclusive)

"If Heather Dubrow earned a dollar every time she was asked about The Real Housewives of Orange County, she’d have enough cash to build 10 more extravagant houses.
While the RHOC reference tickles her now, Heather said she wasn’t always thrilled to be constantly asked about the series. “You know, at the beginning when I first left the show, it was annoying because I just wanted it to break free and do my own thing and take my brand back and, you know, kind of move on,” she admitted to Showbiz Cheat Sheet.
“And I just couldn’t because everywhere I went, that’s all they asked about,” she said. “Now I feel like four or five years after leaving the show, I’ve done so many other things now. [Husband] Terry and I have written three books together. My podcast has has over 101 million downloads. My YouTube channel, TV shows I’ve done and hosting and whatnot.”
“And with a new show coming out [The Seven Year Stitch], I feel like in my heart that people see me as Heather Dubrow now,” she reflected. “And not a member of RHOC. It’s just part of my history. So now what I get asked about it, I think it’s kind of amusing.”
Heather’s teenage daughter Max, who recently launched the podcast, I’ll Give it To You Straightish, said she’s never identified as a Housewives kid.
“I think that my mom specifically like she’s not just an ex-Housewife,” Max told Showbiz Cheat Sheet. “She does so many amazing things and will continue to and did before that.”
“So, you know, when they’re like on every article is like ‘Heather Dubrow, former Housewife,’ it’s like she’s more than that,” she continued. “And so that’s you know … let it go. But for me personally, it hasn’t really bothered me. I’m just Heather Dubrow’s daughter. Not really a former Housewives kid.”
Heather shared how she continues to supervise Max’s foray into the world of podcasting without being too heavy-handed with her guidance. “I came from really very nice parents, but my mom was controlling. And I’m controlling too but in a different kind of way. Like, I always felt like I needed her help,” Heather said.
“And if I didn’t get her approval on something … it’s just not the kind of relationship I wanted with my kids,” Heather admitted. “I always like to say, you know, my job is to develop [and] to raise these healthy, functioning, independent children.”
“And to me, any of the kids want advice and help. I don’t tell them how to do it,” she added. “I guide them so they can figure it out themselves.” For example, when Max started her own podcast, she quickly learned that it was a huge undertaking.
“People think these things that it’s easy and think, oh everyone should do that. It’s very difficult to do,” Heather shared. “But I love that she’s working it out and figuring it out on her own because that’s how not only is she going to learn that, but she’s going to succeed.”
NEW YORK

Former ‘RHONY’ star Barbara Kavovit enters NYC mayoral race (Page Six)

"Former “Real Housewives of New York” star Barbara Kavovit has officially announced she’s running for mayor of New York City — adding to an already crowded field of Democratic candidates.
The Bronx-born Kavovit made it official on her Instagram Wednesday, saying her beloved Big Apple “is in a state of crisis” under Mayor de Blasio’s watch.
“I may not be a politician, but I’m a Bronx-born New Yorker who isn’t fearful of the hard work and tough decisions that lay ahead,” she wrote. “It will take a builder to rebuild #NYC, and I’m the woman to do it.”
In September, Kavovit, the CEO of Evergreen Construction, floated her dreams of Gracie Mansion, telling Page Six she was ready to rebuild the city.
“Number one is rebuild a safer and more inclusive New York City,” she said at the time. “So I feel like the city is not a safe place. So if it’s not safe, people don’t want to come to New York City. People don’t want to stay in New York City.”
Kavovit, 55, said her company, which she launched at age 21, is one of the largest female-owned commercial construction firms in the city.
Last year, Evergreen took a sledgehammer to Harvey Weinstein’s old offices at 99 Hudson Street.
“As a Bronx girl who’s paved her way in the male-dominated world of construction, I know something about overcoming adversity, creating opportunity and building something out of nothing–both for myself and those around me,” she said on her website. “And that’s why I’m running for Mayor of New York City.”
Kavovit starred in Bravo’s hit “Housewives” series during Season 11 in 2019.
In June’s Democratic primary, she’ll square off against hopefuls including Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, former presidential candidate and businessman Andrew Yang, New York City’s former sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia and former Citigroup executive Ray McGuire."

Bethenny Frankel and Paul Bernon spotted looking cozy in Boston (Page Six exclusive)

ATLANTA

We Have an Update on What Tanya Sam and Paul Judge Have Been up to Lately (Tanya Sam Instagram/Bravo)

NEW JERSEY

Teresa Giudice cuts price of NJ mansion to $2.25M (NY Post)
Video makeup tutorial with Jennifer Aydin (Bravo exclusive)
Jennifer Aydin season 11 confessional looks (realhousewivesfranchise Instagram)

I am 25 years old, make $122,000, live in New York, NY and work as a product manager.

Section 0: Background
Hi everyone! I’m trying to tailor this a bit more to reflect the UK Money Diary style where I give context on the week before and reflect on it after. I also added in some of the questions from the recent thread about what Refinery29 should ask diarists (see here).
I wrote this the week of Thanksgiving; my partner and I stayed in NYC instead of going home to either of our parents’ homes. We wear masks and stay socially distant when we leave the house. I’m thankful that we live close to a park and live on a block where we know and enjoy talking to our neighbors.
This was a relatively normal week for us during a pandemic, save for me spending a bit more than normal and it being Thanksgiving. We’ve both lived in the city since college and have so-so relationships with our families, so we didn’t leave for “home” when the pandemic hit.
I also just named my boyfriend instead of giving him an initial. He’s the only person I actually saw this week, but the initials always throw me off when I read these.
What do money and success mean to you? What are your end goals?
It helps me to see money as a tool. I never resonate with people who say “money doesn’t buy happiness” because to a certain degree, it does. Money enables me to live the life I want.
I’m pursuing FIRE (financial independence, retire early) and hope to be financially independent (able to live off my investments) by my early 30s. To do so, I save 60%+ of my income per month. I want this because working for 40 years isn’t sustainable for me—I have a very cushy tech job and still get anxiety and rage about waking up every morning to work, the rat race, and being paid inequitably to male peers. I’d like to give myself the option to leave this world as soon as possible.
As an alternative, I could see myself successful if I open a product consultancy, where I advise early-stage startups on product management, what to build for their MVP, and product-market fit. I’m really interested in tech ethics and the questionable practices in venture capital, so I’d love to be in a place where I could be picky about what clients I take and help truly mission-driven businesses thrive. I could see this also working as a small business incubator—why not apply what works in startups to small businesses?
I don’t yet have a firm picture of what I’d like my life to look like when I retire. I’m interested in spending a lot of time reading, traveling to new places for extended periods of time, and potentially writing a book. I get extremely interested in niche topics. Right now if I had to guess, I’d be writing a book about the ways multi-level marketing companies (MLMs) manipulate women.
Are you a spender or a saver?
Definitely a saver. My partner is more of a spender, and we’ve influenced each other well. Seeing him spend money on himself for video games helps me realize I can spend more money on myself for things I just want (see my big purchase for myself this week).
In turn, seeing me save a lot of money has motivated him to up his 401k contribution and overall savings. He’s also interested in FIRE, although I’d say my timeline is more aggressive.
If you could go back in time, what's the one piece of financial advice you would give to your past self?
Learn about investing, look up the terms you don’t know, and start doing it as soon as possible. Ask questions to people you know or on the internet.
On to the diary!

Section One: Assets and Debt
Investment Balance
$131,175

Retirement (includes 2 company 401ks and 1 rollover IRA): $55,730
Brokerage: $27,233
Roth IRA: $25,439
Managed account: $17,923
HSA: $4,850

Equity if you're a homeowner
N/A, I rent in a HCOL city. No plans to own anytime soon
Savings account balance
$10,270
Checking account balance
$3,433 in checking account for bills

This fluctuates, but I try to invest anything over $2k. I’m pretty conservative with my checking account buffer, and don’t worry much about the interest I’m “losing,” especially because interest rates are so low right now

$2,518 in checking account for rent

I keep a holdover account that’s connected to Venmo and Zelle to pay rent

Credit card debt
N/A. There’s $1,348 currently on my credit cards, but I pay them all off in full each month. My parents signed me up for a credit card as soon as I was old enough and taught me about how important it was to pay in full. In fact, I think this was so hammered into my brain that doing anything other than that each month was never an option. Because of this, I’ve always thought of credit cards as similar to debit cards—only spend money you have.
Student loan debt (for what degree)
I was fortunate to go to college on a full scholarship, including living expenses. I studied psychology and sociology, and I graduated without any student loan debt.

Section Two: Income
Main Job Monthly Take Home: $6,570/month
I maxed out my 401k early this year, so for 8 months I was contributing $2,500/month out of my paychecks. That ended in September, so it changed my monthly take-home from about $4,650 to $6,570/month.
Deductions:

401k: $0/month (was $2,500/month)
Medical: $128/month
Dental and vision: $11/month

Income Progression

I started in customer support right out of college, making $40,000/year + overtime, which ended up being about $52,000/year (thanks OT!).
About a year later, I moved into an entry-level product role at the same company and received a raise to $60,000/year.
The next year, I moved to a new company for a half-step promotion where I was making $82,000/year + 15% yearly bonus. The bonus was dependable enough that it was assumed as part of our total compensation, so let’s call it $95,000/year.
Early this year, I switched companies again (noticing a theme?) for a promotion and now make $122,000/year.

I don’t have any other sources of income outside my main job. My partner makes a similar amount to me—about $117,000/year with bonus.

Section Three: Expenses
I live with my partner and we don’t have combined finances, but split many expenses 50/50. We use Splitwise to log transactions. He’s more laid-back about being paid back, but I’m much more “I don’t want to owe anyone anything, and I don’t want anyone to owe me anything” (I know, rigid, but I’m working on it!).
Splitwise is nice because it’d be ridiculous to Venmo request each other for a $4 coffee, but we can see how expenses are adding up. If someone has racked up a few hundred dollars of spending for both of us, the other person will cover our expenses for awhile. It works for us!
Rent
$2,200 for a 2 bed, 1 bath apartment in Brooklyn. We split rent 50/50.
Renters insurance
About $7/month for my portion. This covers all our possessions plus my boyfriend’s watches. He pays 75% of it because half of the monthly cost comes from the extra watch overage.
Savings contribution
I try to have about $10,000 sitting in my savings account at any given time, because it makes me feel safe in case of an emergency. I also like the freedom it enables, in case I wanted to leave my job and take a significant amount of time off. This is already at the $10k I want, so I don’t contribute to it monthly.
Investment contribution
It varies but on average I contribute $2,500/month to my brokerage account and Roth IRA (combined).
Donations
I try to donate about $200/month, but it’s pretty sporadic. This month I donated to the Yellowhammer Fund and Northwest Abortion Access Fund. One of my major goals for 2021 is to step up my donations and create an actual strategy around them, potentially involving a donor-advised fund.
Gas/electric
Our gas is $20-25/month and electric is $50/month. I pay gas and Will pays electric, both go in Splitwise. About $37/month total for me.
Wifi
Our wifi is $60/month, which goes into Splitwise—I pay $30/month.
Cellphone
I’m still on my parents’ phone plan—sheesh! This is convincing me that I should Venmo them for it each month.
Subscriptions
I pay for Hulu with ads, $5.99/month. My boyfriend pays for Netflix and we share a Spotify family plan with a couple of his friends, which I chip in $4/month for.
I also pay for the budgeting software YNAB (You Need a Budget) which is $84/year. I only pay it once a year in September.
Medical
I recently had to go to the emergency room for an overnight stay and follow up with some specialists. (I’m okay!) Because of that whole shindig I’m expecting to max out my deductible (and potentially my out-of-pocket-max) right at the end of the year. This will be about $4,000, but none of the claims have come through yet so I’m not sure of the exact total. I have a category in my budget for my deductible, and the rest will come out of my emergency fund.
Physical therapy
This month I’m starting pelvic floor physical therapy for dyspareunia (pain with intercourse).
I’d tried everything the internet suggested (“just relaaaaaax”) before getting the courage to find a new ob-gyn and ask her about it. She had some recommendations, but ultimately physical therapy was the “last resort” option that I’m now exploring.
My new physical therapist comes highly recommended but is out of network with insurance. Each session is $250, and I’ll go once every 2-3 weeks for the next few months as part of treatment. If you’ve worked through this problem (or are experiencing it now!) I’d love to hear your experience.

Section Four: Additional Questions
Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Absolutely. My dad was the first in his family to attend college and my parents made pretty calculated decisions about where they would live so I could go to the absolute best public school possible. Over 90% of students at my high school attend a 4-year college, and we start talking about it freshman year. To say college was encouraged in my environment is an understatement.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
My dad has worked in finance since I was about 10. He’s always been really knowledgeable about both higher-level economic concepts and the minutiae of personal finance. My family is frugal, too: we clipped coupons and got clothes on super-sale at Kohl’s and Goodwill. I know there was a period of time when he became self-employed and money got very tight for a few years, but the bulk of those worries were largely kept from me.
Did you worry about money growing up?
Yes. While we were comfortable, we lived in such an affluent place that our family was in “the middle class” of the town and it made me worry more about money than I probably needed to. Think The Stepford Wives for context.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
In college, I became maybe 80% financially independent as I had a scholarship and worked part-time during school and over the summer, but I was still on their insurance.
I remember being frustrated in college because even though I knew I was extremely privileged, my friends in college had their parents pay their summer apartment rent and gave them an “allowance” of spending money, and I was “limited” by the options I could afford with the job I had. My dad told me at the time, “This is frustrating but it’s preparing you for actually having to live off the money you make in the near future.” (Great, great advice Dad.)
I’m technically still financially dependent on my parents for my cell phone bill, but otherwise I pay for everything: rent, insurance, utilities, food, therapy, and all wants in the form of clothing, workout classes, etc. I could ask my parents for money if I absolutely needed to, but would use it as a last resort.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
I have an account (mentioned above) that a family friend who’s a hedge fund manager, well, manages. I believe the initial deposit was $1000 over 10 years ago, but that money wasn’t mine either, it’s all a gift. It’s not very liquid—it’d take me several months (and some very good reasoning) to get any of that money withdrawn, since it’s supposed to be for “the future” (which I guess I could argue is now?).
I might receive a small amount of money when my grandmother passes, but it’d probably be around $1-2k, if at all.

Day 1 Wednesday, November 25, 2020
8:30am Wake up and shower, take my vitamin C gummies, then make coffee. I wasn’t much of a daily coffee drinker until my offices had it for free, and now I’m definitely addicted. I don’t really care if the coffee is shitty or not, I just put some milk in it and it’s great. Right now I’m trying to drink half or three-quarter cups so I can attempt to pull back my addiction a bit. I log onto work at 9am.
11:30am Eat leftovers from last night for lunch—quesadilla + Spanish rice. There’s an incredible Mexican restaurant by us, and now I am ruined for the tacos, quesadillas and nachos from any other place.
12:30pm Will picks me up in the U-Haul. We’re driving about 20 min away to pick up a butcher block desk he bought off Craigslist, which ends up being from a small office that’s downsizing. The desk is $150 which he pays for. We love the office’s style (and the owner is super nice!) and walk around while he shows us what else he’s trying to get rid of.
We end up buying an extra-large ZZ plant and two side tables from him for an extra $120, way less than we would have paid for the quality elsewhere. My half will be $60, and I’ll split the U-Haul too, $44.51. $82.26
2:45pm That ended up taking a lot longer than we expected! We get back and unload the van, then I bring stuff inside while Will returns the van to the U-Haul location. I jump back onto work—so much for a slow afternoon before Thanksgiving. AWS is down, which powers a lot of our engineering work (and a lot of the internet!) so a lot of our teams are basically twiddling their thumbs. We chat about how to message the outage to customers.
5:45pm Will starts making dinner (braised chicken and veggies) and I sit down to read with a strawberry Chobani, but I end up just reading Reddit and searching for new podcasts to listen to.
7:45pm Dinner was great! Now…ice cream.
9:43pm I remember that my mom sent me ideas for her and my dad’s Christmas presents, so I order on Etsy and Amazon. My dad gets a mug with an Ernest Hemingway quote (“write drunk, edit sober”) ($21.54) and a book on writing ($16.63), and my mom gets this food warming tote contraption she wanted ($43.52). We’ve been paring down Christmases over the years—this year I asked for the Europe version of Ticket to Ride. $81.69
11:15pm I finish up the first episode of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City with some white cheddar Cheez-Its to snack on. After, I start on the dishes from dinner. I listen to the Product Market Misfits podcast while I do dishes—the episode with Kristen Anderson from Catch is great, highly recommend if you’re tired of just hearing stories about stereotypical Silicon Valley tech companies.
Day 1 Total: $166.69
Day 2 Thursday, November 26, 2020
10am Wake up super late since I stayed up scrolling on my phone too late last night. We make coffee and set out for a long walk around 11:15am.
12:05pm At the end of our walk, we swing by our local liquor store and buy 4 bottles of wine (red, white, rose, champagne). Will pays, total is $63.15 for everything. We haven’t had wine in the apartment for ages and I’m excited to have some stocked up. $31.57
12:30pm Get back from the walk, shower, then turn on football. I actually don’t really care about any NFL teams (I like college football a lot more), but it’s such calming background noise for me that I find myself looking for games when I have downtime. We also recently found out that Will’s friends’ dog only has a few months to live, so we order some jerky treats and a squeaky toy for him. $14.07
2:30pm We head out to the restaurant we’re going to for Thanksgiving lunch, a local place a short walk from our apartment. They’re doing a prix fixe menu of the classics—turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, and a phenomenal tarte Tatin with ice cream for dessert.
We eat outside under heat lamps. It’s super cozy. With our bottle of wine and tip the total is $208 (I try to tip over and above the norm because it’s a pandemic and Thanksgiving). My half will be $104.
5:53pm Get back from the restaurant. We have a ton of leftovers which is awesome (I think it’s excessive frugality, but I almost expect to stretch takeout or restaurant meals into two meals). Exchange some texts with my friends about their socially-distant Thanksgiving celebrations.
I turn on the Washington vs. Cowboys game right at the halftime show, which is Kane Brown with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. They’re all wearing masks (except for Kane) and it’s so odd to see them dancing in masks. I mean, I’m glad they’re wearing them, but it just seems like we could have gone without the halftime show this year.
9:21pm I order contacts from Contacts Direct. I got a new prescription but didn’t have a great experience with the eye doctor, so I’m hesitant about this order—only ordered one box of 90 lenses for each eye instead of a year’s worth of lenses. I’ve been getting headaches pretty frequently, so I’m hoping getting a new pair of glasses and alternating those (instead of wearing my contacts for 16 hours a day, every day) will help. $29.98 after insurance benefits
Day 2 Total: $179.62

Day 3 Friday, November 27
8:56am Wake up super last minute, run to sign onto Slack and then start grinding coffee beans. I’m online and drinking a big mug of coffee by 9:10. (So much for half cups.)
10:45am Come up for air from work and grab the stuff to make a bagel. Everything bagels and plain cream cheese are my go-to combo.
12:03pm I grab a bag of clothes to drop off at the donation bin and a couple library books to return. The library is about a 25 minute walk so it’ll be a nice lunch break diversion.
12:56pm After the library I stop by the grocery store for some paper towels and sponges, since we’re almost out. Total is $22.62, my half is $11.31
1:09pm When I get home I jump back into work and put the USA vs. Netherlands game on my second monitor. By the 75th minute, the US is up by 2 goals so they start putting in some younger players—it’s fun to see Midge Purce and Sophia Smith play! I also throw some bagel bites in the oven for a quick snack and promise myself dinner will be healthier.
4:23pm I zone out of work and start playing Among Us. I end up playing for over two hours. We open a bottle of wine at some point and I get super tipsy.
6:50pm Turn on the tail end of the Notre Dame vs. UNC game. It turns into Jeopardy, which turns into Wheel of Fortune, which I’m not mad about. P isn’t as into the game shows and leaves to microwave a plate of leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner and play video games.
8:40pm Finally getting hungry after my bagel bites and Cheez-Its this afternoon and make a plate of Thanksgiving leftovers—turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans and cauliflower. Yum.
Will and I end up getting in a tiff about the mess in our apartment so we take a break, cool down and talk it through. I watch a couple episodes of Sister Wives and go to bed around 1:30am.
Day 3 Total: $11.31

Day 4 Saturday, November 28, 2020
10:05am I stayed up late (again) so it’s nice to sleep in. I play Among Us for awhile and have a couple rounds where I’m the impostor and get some great kills and wins. I run out into the living room and celebrate with Will. We laugh because it’s silly how much we love the games we play. Around 10:45 I start making coffee.
11am We desperately need new sheets because our fitted sheet has a huge hole at Will’s feet (and it’s growing). I search a women’s personal finance group I’m in on Facebook for recommendations and we end up buying a queen sheet set from Belk. Total was $100.71 with their sale. $50.35
1pm I was planning on returning a package to the post office today, but forget it closes at 1pm on Saturdays so I decide to run to Target instead. I have a lampshade to return and want to look for a shower caddy as well. I also have an old iPad to return, which Will tells me I can do at Best Buy. He finds an old iPod and flip phone I can take too.
Take the MTA there ($2.75 for a single fare). When I get there, it’s a madhouse and I remember that I have sillily (is this a word?) decided to come on the weekend of Black Friday. I stand in the returns line for about 15 minutes and get $10.89 back, but ditch the idea of trying to look for a shower caddy. The checkout line looks like 100 people long. -$8.14 because of return
Next I go to Best Buy, but who am I kidding—the line to get in the store is even longer than the Target checkout line. I walk back to the subway and get on to go home. $2.75
2:30pm Since Best Buy was a no go, I search for electronic recycling around me on the way home just to see where I could drop off the devices I have. Apparently there’s an EcoATM not too far from my subway stop. It’s more for selling devices, but if they can’t give you money for something, they’ll recycle it, which is exactly what I wanted. I put each of the pieces in the scanner, and end up getting a whopping $2 total (for Will’s old iPod). Still cool because I was just expecting to recycle it all. I’ll give Will the $2.
2:44pm There’s a Dunkin nearby so I pop in to grab a couple donuts ($2.90). There’s a woman outside asking for money, so I give her $5 cash. $7.90
3:00pm Last stop—our favorite deli is nearby and Will mentioned he wanted to get bacon there recently. I get a 1/2 lb and salivate on the way home. This is one of those things I won’t put in Splitwise because it’s small and because it’s fun to get for P as a tiny little present. $3.50
3:45pm Once I’m home I’m super hungry from only eating carbs all morning so I have a snack of carrots, hummus and some pepperoni. I head back out to drop off a bag of clothes and shoes at a drop box a few blocks away. The neighbors are outside at the park near our house so I stop and chat with them for a few minutes. Their kids are the cutest.
6:47pm For dinner I make a ham and cheese sandwich (panini style with rosemary butter) and more carrots and hummus. I put on another episode of Sister Wives. These people are so fascinating to me—first off, I think the husband is completely full of himself. But I’m also so curious about the wives. There are a lot of talking head testimonials where the parents explain that they’re “oppressed” because they’re different and want to go public so the world can see polygamy as a valid family style (I’m only on season 2).
I know they’re probably playing up the “we love our other sister wives and have so much fun together even without Kody” aspect because people expect sister wives to be catty and hate each other, but I can’t help but wonder why they need to be in plural marriage to get the same friendship they seem to value so much. I also doubt they’d extend the same grace and tolerance they want to people who are “different” because they’re LGBTQ, or “different” because they’re in an open relationship or marriage.
9:15pm I mix together oatmeal chocolate chip cookie batter and put some cookies in the oven. While I’m waiting, I browse Zocdoc for well-reviewed providers—I want to make a podiatrist appointment for a lingering toe issue and an audiologist appointment for a routine hearing screening. I got the idea to make these appointments since I’ll hit my out-of-pocket max with the hospital visit, making them free or very discounted. I make two appointments for next week.
I also lust over a Farm Rio puffer jacket that feels overpriced but I just love. Maybe I’ll buy it tomorrow since they’re having a 30% off sale.
Day 4 Total: $64.50

Day 5 Sunday, November 29
8:58am Wake up and switch between scrolling on Reddit and playing a few Among Us games. After a bit Will gets out of bed and makes coffee for us.
9:45am Will finishes the movie he started last night and we start on breakfast. We’re making the bacon I bought yesterday, breakfast potatoes with onions, and a fried egg for Will (I can’t stand the taste or smell).
11:00am Yum! Breakfast was great. I watch a couple episodes of Sister Wives and mull over buying that ridiculous but amazing puffer jacket from Farm Rio. I’ve still been thinking about it since last night and I might take the plunge.
1:25pm I get a jolt of motivation to work out and do a 20 minute Sydney Cummings video on Youtube. I heard about it from a recent Money Diary posted here! After it’s done I’m so, so tired. I stretch and unpause my episode of Sister Wives.
2:22pm I help Will move the butcher block slab for his desk out to our backyard. We live on the first floor of a single-family home that was converted into apartments, so we get the backyard too—it’s awesome to have outdoor space in the city. P works on sanding it and applying poly for the next couple hours.
5:07pm Will suggests pizza for dinner and I am always, always down for pizza. I order pickup from the spot down the street—one grandma, one cheese and 2 orders of garlic knots come to $38.60. We’ll have leftovers for tomorrow too. $19.30
5:50pm We pick up the pizza and dig in. While we’re eating we turn on the Chiefs vs. Buccaneers game; Will has a few players on his fantasy team in this game.
6:57pm I sign up to write letters to Georgia residents encouraging them to vote in the Senate runoff elections in January. This is through Vote Forward—I did 20 letters for the general election in November and want to participate again. I’ll print the letters at a local coffee shop since we don’t have a printer at home.
Will sends me this Reddit comment about campaign finance since we’ve been talking about it recently. I decide I’m convinced by the argument and set up a $5 monthly donation to Brand New Congress. $5
8:19pm After texting back and forth with my friend all day, I buy the puffer jacket—so excited. She encouraged me to get it and is pumped for me too. $228.64
I also notice my paycheck has started processing in my checking account (I get paid tomorrow), so I enter the amount in YNAB and budget it all. I earmark about $1500 to go into my brokerage account tomorrow. I won’t include it here as “spending” since it’s included in the overview section above.
Day 5 Total: $252.94

Day 6 Monday, November 30
8:43am Wake up and turn on my Slack. Will started the coffee process and I finish it up by pouring the water into our Chemex and letting it steep (I know there’s a coffee-centric word for this...).
8:56am I check my Citi card and my YouTube TV trial rolled over—I was going to cancel it this morning, which I thought was the last day. I email support to see if they’ll refund me, because (I promise I’m not just saying this!) I did have a pretty bad experience. The Roku app was glitchy for us every time we watched something. Maybe they’ll feel nice today! $64.99
9:35am After responding to a few work messages, I run out the door to the post office to avoid a long package line. I did the Warby Parker 5-day home try on and have to return my box of glasses today. I found a pair I really like and am excited to get in the habit of wearing glasses again, instead of just my contacts.
Thankfully the line is only a few people long. The employees are also super nice every time I go, so I try to be really pleasant too. The lines are usually long and I’ve seen more than one adult have a fit at this post office. It’s rainy today and I couldn’t find our umbrella, so my flimsy rain jacket gets pretty soaked through on the walk back.
11:35am My podiatrist appointment is supposed to be tomorrow morning, and they call me to tell me since I haven’t hit my deductible, I’ll have to pay out of pocket for the visit. I explain that I’m 100% going to hit my deductible, the claims from the hospital just haven’t processed yet. I ask her to bill my insurance first for the visit, then I can pay whatever ends up not being covered (if anything). She agrees!
Maybe this is standard, but I’ve never had it happen before—even if I haven’t hit my deductible, I’ve always been to offices that bill insurance first, then I pay the remaining balance.
1:05pm Lots of meetings today. I break for lunch and heat up the braised chicken with veggies. It’s definitely on its last good day, so I’m glad I used it up. Still yummy!
2:20pm Woohoo! Get an email that my YouTube TV charge was refunded. -$64.99
Will ran to Home Depot today to buy some tools for his desk and also got a shower curtain liner since ours is ripping. I go to put it up in the bathroom but my arms are so sore—like I got my flu shot type of sore.
5:05pm Sign off work after trying to wrangle a supremely frustrating SQL query. I don’t get it but figure I can ask our analyst team for help tomorrow. Will will have a late night working, so pizza and Sister Wives is in my near future.
While watching, I update YNAB to reflect the end-of-month balances for my investment accounts. I get a huge dopamine hit by seeing my net worth number go up. I’m also anticipating it going down a bit next month because of my medical bills, so I relish the moment.
8:09pm It suddenly dawns on me that my arms are sore because I worked out yesterday. It’s so rare now that I literally forget when I do it. Ha!
9:15pm We watch the Eagles vs. Seahawks game and I absentmindedly play Among Us. I end up getting ...bullied by a person playing it? They get mad that I figured out they were the imposter and start saying all these schoolyard-type digs throughout the next couple rounds, but level 100 of cruel.
I’m embarrassed by how sad it makes me but think maybe it’s a good thing I don’t immediately know what to say to bully people back. Such a weird experience. I end up going to bed around 11:30.
Day 6 Total: $0

Day 7 December 1, 2020
7:07am Wake up late for my alarm at 7. I’m up a lot earlier today because my podiatrist appointment is first thing. I get dressed in the dark, kiss P goodbye, grab my water bottle and run out the door to the subway by 7:30. $2.75
8:10am Get to my stop and swing by Starbucks before the appointment. I get a vanilla latte and the bacon cheddar and egg sandwich. Total is around $10 but I have a gift card loaded onto my Starbucks app.
My spending here went way down when I switched jobs to an office not close to a Starbucks, and then stopped going into an office at all.
8:30am My appointment goes great, if a little painful when she numbs my toe. I had to get an ingrown toenail removed. I danced ballet and pointe for years so I’m (unfortunately) used to them, but this one was terrible. The doctor and I bond over both being dancers with bad feet and they schedule me for a follow up two weeks out.
She actually says there’s been a rise in these procedures because people aren’t getting pedicures since the pandemic and aren’t cutting their toenails well! Wild.
I look silly on the subway in December wearing Birkenstocks and socks with a huge toe bandage. It looks like one of those cartoon characters who stubs their toe and it becomes 10x bigger than their other toes. $2.75
9:40am I get off at the stop before mine to stop at Rite Aid. I grab Neosporin, band-aids and epsom salt and check my notes for anything else she mentioned about caring for my toe. $12.97
10:00am When I get home, I hop into work and working with our engineers on a promotion for the New Year. I also catch up with Will since he stayed up late last night and I got up early for my appointment. He says he ended up staying up until 3:30am (!!) cleaning up his tools, working on his desk and putting up the shower curtain. I’m floored that he is functional right now after waking up at 8.
12:15pm Heat up the last of the pizza for lunch, along with hummus and carrots.
5:20pm Work is average-paced for the rest of the day. Not doing nothing, not totally over my head. Will puts in potatoes for baked potatoes to have later, which we’ll pair with a salad. We’re getting close to needing a grocery run again, so the meals are becoming more of a mishmash.
We listed a couple things on our local Buy Nothing group last week, so a woman comes by to pick up a wifi router we can’t use anymore. Would totally recommend looking up if there’s a group in your area—they’re usually on Facebook.
6:30pm After dinner I watch more Sister Wives and look up RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit one of my friends shared for Giving Tuesday. They buy unpaid medical debt from collections, so $1 ends up paying off $100 of someone’s medical debt. I give $50 to the Arkansas campaign, which will clear $5,000 of medical debt.
As Will said earlier today, “medical billing in America is a racket” so I really hope this helps clear a burden from an individual or family. Doing this reminds me to check my insurance portal, which is steadily going up as each separate claim comes in. Ahhhh, modern healthcare! $51.49
At the end of each day please tally up your daily expenses. Then at the end of your diary please tally up all expenses in the following categories:
Total: $719.33

Grocery + Dining Out: $157.77
Fun + Entertainment: $0
Home + Health: $164.67
Clothes + Beauty: $228.64
Transportation: $11.00
Gifts + Giving: $157.25

Reflection This week felt like a big spending week for me. I checked YNAB and since January, I’ve spent about $1600 per month, not including rent—so about $400/week. That’s why this week’s $719 feels so high!
Writing this diary helped me understand how many things I have going for me. I’ve recently been in a huge funk—about my health, my performance at work and my relationships with family, friends and P. Going to the hospital, needing physical therapy to have sex and being in a pandemic will do that to you.
I was able to zoom out a bit and understand how stable and gratifying my life is. That being said, I’m so glad this community exists. I really love it and learning about all your spending and saving habits. Thanks for being here and sharing :)

[Inspo & Commentary] Rings

You've seen jewelry, let's talk more about rings. Scroll down for the list of designers.
soundtrack

Gallery

Inspo Gallery on imgur

Getting Started

Assuming you're reading this because you would like to wear rings and currently don't, here's a quick FAQ.

Materials?

Most common precious metals used in jewelry are silver, gold, platium and variations thereof. You will rarely find pure metal jewelry, reason being that 100% silvegold is actually soft and will warp and become damaged with little effort. The most common alloys for jewelry are:

Stainless Steel: what your kitchen cutlery is made of. Marketed as a cheap alternative to silver.
Sterling Silver / .925 silver: 92.5% pure silver mixed with another metal, commonly copper.
Yellow Gold: (usually) an alloy of gold and some other material, preserving the yellow colour of the gold.
Rose Gold: An alloy of gold, copper and some white metal e.g. silver. The copper gives the metal a rosy tint.
White Gold: An alloy of gold and a white metal e.g. silver. Personally I don't see the appeal when silver is 1/10^th the price.

Karats?

When buying jewelry it's important to know what the precious metal content is (or whether it's made of precious metal at all) as this plays a huge part in the quality of the jewelry and how much you should expect to pay.
Sterling silver is the benchmark for quality silver. Sometimes referred to as .925 silver, sterling silver is 92.5% silver by weight. The vast majority of silver jewelry is made of sterling silver - anything new that doesn't specify the quality (.925 / sterling, .999 / fine / pure) is of dubious quality and should be avoided.
Gold content is measured in karats. The scale goes from 0 to 24, with 1 karat being 1 part gold to 23 parts other material. Therefore, 16K gold is 50% pure gold and 24K gold is pure gold. The karat rating for white gold or rose gold is the same - 18K gold and 18K white gold contain the same amount of gold but the gold is alloyed with different materials to change the colour of the resulting alloy.
Metal alloys are generally much harder and resistant to wear. A higher percentage of pure precious metal is not necessarily better or more desirable.

Plating?

Plated jewelry is made from a material coated with a very thin layer of the specified metal. Plated metal is much cheaper than pure metal or an alloy. The material beneath the plating is usually copper, nickel, brass or silver. Jewelry from fast-fashion stores like H&M are generally made of copper or nickel plated with silver or gold.
Vermeil is a restricted term for a specific kind of plating. Whilst plating can be done to any metal with any plate thickness, vermeil is always silver plated with a layer of gold at least 2.5 microns thick.
Be cautious with plated jewelry. The price makes it very attractive but there are down-sides:

The plating has a tendency to rub off over time, ruining the appearance of your formerly-gold/silver jewelry.
The exposed metal may cause side effects:
- Some people are allergic to nickel and will develop a rash.
- Copper has a tendency to turn your skin green for a few days.

What should I buy?

Only buy pieces that speak to you. Think of jewelry like a tattoo. It's expensive, you're likely to keep it for a long time and wear it regardless of the rest of your outfit. If you're not sure whether you like a given piece your money would be better spent on something else. If you're not comfortable wearing it that's a lot of money left sat on your dresser.
Start simple. When making a big change in your wardrobe it's good to take it easy. Try a few small, simple pieces first e.g. a couple of stacking bands or a plain signet ring.
More is more. A single piece of jewelry will stand out in a bad way. The consenus from the jewelry thread was that it takes a few pieces to appear intentional and blend into an outfit. The sweet spot is 3-5 pieces total - less if you're wearing only one type, e.g. max. 3 rings, more if you're mixing it up e.g. 2 rings, a bracelet and a chain.
Sterling silver is king. IMO stainless steel does not look good in real life. It may look exactly like silver in the photos but trust me, when you place it side-by-side with silver it looks cheap. Stainless steel is duller, has a gray-tone and brushed-metal surface. It's a hardy material that's very resistant to scratches and wear. Sterling silver on the other hand is much brighter, can be polished smooth or oxidized to add detail and develops a patina over time. Gold is nice but it's very expensive. Mixing metals is hard to pull off so if you buy gold you may feel limited in terms of choice and price when buying future pieces.
Feel free to ignore this advice. If you want gold jewelry, go for it. If you want to wear more rings than you have fingers don't let me stop you. There are no rules - this is just advice for those who are dipping their toes into jewelry for the first time.

Sizing?

It can be difficult to size jewelry, particulary if you're doing it yourself. Here's some methods you can use ordered by ease/accuracy:

Use a ring sizer at home. Nowadays they make plastic ring sizers and many online brands will ship you one for free or low-cost. IMO this is the best way to take your ring size but watch a guide or two on YouTube to make sure you get it right.
Use a cloth tape measure. Take a measurement of your finger in mm using a flexible tape measure and use a size chart to convert to your desired scale.
Use your existing rings as a guide. If you know the size of your current rings (or you're sizing for a friend or partner who knows theirs) you're pretty set. I bought a thumb ring for my girlfriend for Christmas and compared her current thumb ring to one of mine to get an idea of size. When it turned up it was slightly smaller than expected but still fit.
Have a professional jeweler size you. You can ask a jeweler to measure your fingers in-store though you may be uncomfortable doing this if you don't intend to purchase anything. Alternatively, try some pieces on and note what size they are if they're a good fit.
Go to the showroom and let them measure you or try the pieces in-store. The most accurate if you're buying a specific brand. Obviously only an option if you live or travel nearby.
Pay to have the ring resized. If the ring is too large any jeweler will be able to resize it for you. It's more difficult/expensive to size a ring up, especially if it has details the whole way round. If in either doubt size up, make sure they have a good returns policy or don't buy.

Sizing Tips

Remember that each of your fingers is a different ring size. The fingers on your dominant hand will be thicker than the fingers on your non-dominant hand. The size of your fingers changes depending on the temperature so rings that are loose when it's warm may fall off when it's cold or vice-versa. When measuring at home take a few measurements in different rooms, inside / outside or at different times of day to get an accurate measurement.
If you're not fussed about which finger the ring will sit on, measure a few candidate fingers of similar size (±1) and order a ring in the size between. If the ring arrives and it's too large / small then wear it on the larger / smaller finger.

Where to buy?

Online: I buy most of my jewelry online. Most designers have an instagram presence and online store. Check the tagged photos on their instagram accounts for inspiration. The more mass-produced brands will have sales on holidays e.g. Christmas or Black Friday.
Independent retailers: Your city may have an area with lots of independent designers / craftspeople / markets - you're likely to find a lot of unique pieces here and physical locations for the designers listed below.
Thrift: You may have some luck at thrift stores or second-hand / charity / pawn shops. In some cities there are second-hand stores that only sell jewelry.
Grailed et al.: The more popular brands (e.g. The Great Frog) will appear on places like grailed or eBay.
On the high street: You're unlikely to find men's jewelry in high street retail / department stores. Most of the jewelry is very delicate and targeted toward women or married couples (wedding bands). The stuff you do find will be relatively inoffensive bands and signet rings.

Designers

So you want a ring but you don't know where to look. Great! See the gallery for general inspo and check out the list of designers below.
I've tried to categorize the list to make it easier to find the kind of rings you're interested in. If you have suggestions for more designers please let me know in the comments.
Most designers will produce other types of jewelry e.g. chains, bracelets, necklaces, pendants in a similar style.

Simple Rings

Small-to-medium size rings with plain or very simple designs. Stacking bands, signet rings, rings with a single motif like a chain, feather, nail etc.

designer	web	ig	price	description
TWOJEYS	twojeys.com	@twojeys	$	Silver-plated brass rings with unique designs offering a cheap entry point into jewelry. Occasionally do sterling-silver variants of popular designs. Bit of a weird "community" drop-based Instagram presence.
Vitaly	vitalydesign.com	@vitaly	$	Modern-architectural-streetwear-techno-vampire jewelry in raw or gold-plated stainless steel.
Silver999	Etsy - Silver999	not found	$	Tons of sterling silver designs with pop-culture / religious references.
Onyx.925	onyx925.com	@onyx.925	$	One man and his surfboard making plain rings with a rough, hand-crafted look in the south of England. Potential for custom hand-engravings.
The Silver Stone	thesilverstone.co	@the.silverstone	$	Simple motif designs with various inspiration, made in California.
Love for C/O	lovefor.co	@loveforco	$	Swedish design inspired by religious iconography.
The M Jewelers	themjewelersny.com	@themjewelers	$$	NYC jeweller dealing exclusively in custom-made. Letters, names, years of your choosing. Wait for a holiday for 45% off.
Scosha	scosha.com	@scosha	$$ - $$$	Don't be fooled by their instagram - their mens' offering is mostly simple signets.

Industrial Rings

Medium-to-large rings with lots of sharp angles, clean lines and bulky shapes. Man-made, brutalist aesthetic.

designer	web	ig	price	description
OSS	oss-oss.com	@ossofficial	$$	Brutal-industrial-spaceship rings from Spanish designers based in Paris.
Iolom	[iolom.jp](www.iolom.jp)	@iolom_official	$$	Principally works with brass and sterling silver; elegant clean lines and geometric shapes. Distribution outside Japan very limited.
Chin Teo	chinteo.com or ssense - chin teo	@chin_teo	$$$	Natural meets industrial with a mix of clean, wound designs vs. rough-hewn and hammered bands.
Werkstatt:München	werkstatt-muenchen.com	@werkstattmunchen	$$$	Big, biker-industrial rings. Lots of wound-bands and stacking sets. Some skulls.
Parts of Four	partsof4.com	@partsof4	$$$	Huge. Impractical. Outrageously large, really, gigantic. Some of the most unique jewelry I've seen, for better or worse.

Natural Rings

Various-sized rings with designs or textures inspired by nature. Think flowing water, rock formations, gemstones, emphasis on natural wear and tear. The counterpoint to industrial's man-made aesthetic.

designer	web	ig	price	description
Innerstone	inner-stone.com	@_innerstone_	$	Sets of delicate stacking rings and bands with textures inspired by nature.
Alice Kaufmann	alicekaufmann.com	@alicekaufmannjewellery	$$	Danish designer creating organic pieces based on the flow of the metal itself. Some zero-waste pieces made from by-products of other designs.
Alicia Hannah Naomi	aliciahannahnaomi.com	@aliciahannahnaomi	$$	Australian designer creating delicate-yet-rough rings inspired by the nature around her.
gone.archive	gone-archive.com	@gone.archive	$$	Polish designer creating rough-hewn, primitive designs like rock-formations. Extensive use of black diamonds.
Fallow Store	fallow.com.au	@fallowstore	$$ - $$$	Not a designer per se, but a reseller of other designers similar to ssense. Grungy, big industrial/nature inspired rings. A good place to follow to get inspiration; stocks many of the designers on this list.
Sofia Lorena Perelson	sofialorenaperelson.com or Fallow Store	@sofialorenaperelson	$$ - $$$	.999 fine silver / gold rings in simple designs. Due to the softness of fine / pure metals the ring will tarnish and warp creating a unique, highly personal piece of jewelry.
Alex Skeffington	alexskeffington.com	@alexskeffington_	$$ - $$$$	"Inspired by the elements, the human body, rock and roll, techno music, a theatrical lifestyle and deep personal emotions. Her designs feature unique organic forms of .925 silver, in heavily textured freehand surfaces. Each piece bares luxurious weight and significant stature."
Kei Shigenaga	keishigenaga.com	@keishigenaga	$$$	A clash between of rough-hewn oxidized metal and elegant, flowing silver with elements of kintsugi repair.
NODE by Kudo Shuji	nodebykudoshuji.com	@node_by_kudo_shuji	$$$	Wild sci-fi designs often contrasting clean, melting chrome-like sections with heavily oxidized, distressed parts. Distribution outside Japan extremely limited.

Biker Rings

Big fuck-off rings for letting everyone know you ride a Harley Davidson, play in a rock band and do a lot of drugs.

designer	web	ig	price	description
Clocks & Colours	clocksandcolours.eu/	@clocksandcolours	$	Detailed, medium-sized rings under various themes - western, nautical, nature. I find a lot of their designs to be tacky but they have some simpler pieces I've considered purchasing.
DAD of Sweden	dadofsweden.com	@dadofsweden	$	Lots of skulls.
The Great Frog	thegreatfroglondon.com	@thegreatfrogldn	$$	What you think of when you think of biker rings. Worn by all your favourite rockstars. Big skulls, motorcycles, animals.
Songyan Jewelry	Etsy - Songyan Jewelry	@songyan_jewelry	$$	Jewelry by Chinese designer Songyan Han. If The Great Frog were founded in the East.
Han Cholo	hancholo.com	@hancholodesigns	$$	Pop-culture rings. Voltron, He-Man. Makers of the MF DOOM ring.
Black Rock Jewel	blackrockjewel.com	@blackrockjewel	$$	BIG rockstar rings from Copenhagen. Chunky rings, big stones and skulls.
Lugdun	lugdun.com	@lugdunartisans	$$	Handmade ancient viking rings and pendants. Maybe the most unique thing on the list outside Macabre Gadgets.
King Baby	kingbabystudio.com	@king_baby_studio	$$$	Big rings inspired by Americana. Clean silver and gold designs.

Macabre Rings

Macabre / goth rings. Skulls, death & witchy things.

designer	web	ig	price	description
Blue Bayer	Etsy - BlueBayerDesignNYC	@bluebayer	$	Lots of unique designs, although some of them seem to be lifted from The Silver Stone or vice-versa (particularly the goat and branch rings). Not sure what to think but I grabbed this from the streetwear list.
BLACK SØLV	blacksolv.ca	@blacksolv	$ to $$	Goth, romantic, and sci-fi influences with polygonal shapes and desaturated gems. Lightly femme aesthetics.
Macabre Gadgets	macabregadgets.com	@macabregadgets	$$	Big rings made of marble with some silver / gold elements. Design inspired by the macabre - lots of skulls, skeletons and dead things. Infamous for their dick ring. I have yet to any of their pieces pulled off outside of their lookbooks. Please share any everyday fits you find with me so I can justify buying one of their pieces.
Brooklyn Smithy	Etsy - Brooklyn Smithy	@brooklynsmithy	$$	Another Etsy store selling all kinds of designs including a fair few skulls and eyes.
KD2024	kd2024.com	@kd2024_lsdluxurysilverdesign	$$$	Intricate designs in a mix of gold & silver. Claws and other animal parts. Lots of big stones.

Fashion Rings

Mainstream, avant-garde or high-fashion designers that don't fit into the other categories.

designer	web	ig	price	description
Lucas+	lucasplus.com	@lucasplusjewelry	$$	NYC designer creating jewelry with his "positive" motif.
Khiry	khiry.com	@khiryofficial	$$	Inspired by the designer's African heritage.
Voodoo Jewels	voodoojewels.com	@voodoojewels	$$	Rings with lots of multi-coloured stones.
Good Art	goodart.com	@goodarthlywd	$$$	A bit of a bizarre one. While most designers focus on traditional jewelry, Good Art makes a lot of... things. Chapstick caps, AirPod cases, corkscrews and smoking pipes.
Cody Sanderson	codysanderson.shop, Sorrel Sky, Buyma, Grailed	@codysandersondesigns	$$$-$$$$	Native American silversmith creating jewelry based on traditional Navajo designs in Santa Fe, NM.
Tiffany & Co.	tiffany.com	@tiffanyandco	$$$	Probably the most famous jewelry designer in the world. You may be tempted to write them off as over-priced and over-hyped but (as a biased Tiffany-bracelet owner) I have to admit that the quality is incredibly high. ~~Their silver pieces are rhodium-plated~~ and there is a noticeable difference in the durability and brightness of my Tiffany bracelet vs. other silver jewelry I own. Edit: I can't actually find any evidence that their silver is rhodium-plated. It's important to do your research before buying things!
Thomas Sabo	thomassabo.com	@thomassabo	$$$	Big rings inspired by Asia. Lots of small stones and inlays. One of the more successful designers with physical locations in tons of major cities / malls.
Alexander McQueen	alexandermcqueen.com or ssense - Alexander McQueen	@alexandermcqueen	$$$	Rings in classic McQueen style.
Gucci	gucci.com	@gucci	$$$	It's Gucci.
David Yurman	davidyurman.com	@davidyurman	$$$	I suppose you might consider these to be rings for classic menswear. Signet rings with marble or some other opaque stone, elegant bands. Some outrageously intricate signets with fuckton of stones and sky-high prices to match.
Ugo Cacciatori	ugocacciatori.com	@ugocacciatory	$$$	Big, intricate rings and bands in either silver or a mixture of silver & gold.

Vintage

Places to buy vintage / second-hand rings online.

designer	web	ig	price	description
VintageJewelryEden	Etsy - VintageJewelryEden	not found	$	Vintage European silver jewelry sold in the USA.
1st Dibs	1stdibs.com	1stdibs	$ - $$$$$	All sorts of vintage jewelry from across the spectrum.

Custom Signet Rings

Signet rings were traditionally engraved with a design and worn on the pinky finger. You would use the signet to stamp and seal letters with your personal insignia in wax.

designer	web	ig	price	description
Deakin & Francis	deakinandfrancis.co.uk	@deakin_francis	$$ - $$$$	Established 1786. Custom signet rings and other jewelry in a variety of materials, shapes and stones.
Dexter	familysealrings.com	@dexterrings	$$$ - $$$$	Custom signet rings in a variety of materials, shapes or stones.
Rebus	rebussignetrings.com	@rebussignetrings	$$$$	Exclusively gold, custom signet rings in a variety of shapes or stones.
Hancocks	hancockssignetrings.com	@hancocks_london	$$$$	Established 1849. Custom signet rings and pendants in a variety of materials, shapes and stones.
Coast Handworks	coasthandworks.com	@coasthandworks	$$$$	Custom engraving of bands and signet rings by a modern designer & engraver based in Canada.
Castro Smith	castrosmith.com	@castrosmith	$$$$	I really hope you're still reading because Castro Smith does some incredible work. Hand-engraved, incredibly detailed signet rings in multiple tones. Ready-to-order one-of-a-kind pieces and the opportunity to order bespoke.
Ruffs	ruffs.co.uk	@ruffs1904	by quote	Established 1904. Custom signet rings in a variety of materials, shapes or stones with the opportunity to recycle existing jewelry.

Thanks to danhakimi and everyone else who left nice comments in the jewelry thread and encouraging me to make this post.
Note: my only qualifications for creating this post are owning a few rings, enjoying wearing them and having access to Google. Please read the comments and take everything with a pinch of salt. Thanks x

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