Here’s what you need to know today

• The latest data from APRA found that 35,000 Australian households are behind on their mortgages which represents about $23 billion in loans. APRA’s chairman John Lonsdale said this level of mortgage stress is “double the proportion we saw in 2016”. (AFR)
  
  

• Nvidia’s record run has topped plenty of these emails over the past year, but here’s a warning sign for those looking for cracks in the AI story: Nvidia has a customer concentration risk. Analysis of their recent quarterly earnings show that just 3 customers were responsible for 36% of Nvidia’s $35.1 billion revenue for the quarter. (Quartz)
  
  

• Speaking of the AI arms race, Amazon has announced a $4 billion investment in its preferred AI startup, Anthropic. This follows Elon Musk’s xAI raising $5 billion last week and OpenAI raising $6.6 billion in October. This takes Amazon’s total investment in Anthropic to $8 billion. (CNBC)
  
  

• Back here in Australia, this week is the final sitting week of 2024 and the government has a long to-do list. 76 bills in front of Parliament to be exact. The proposed misinformation bill was scrapped over the weekend as was a ban on gambling ads on TV. That leaves on top of the government’s agenda passing the under 16 social media ban, the Help to Buy shared equity scheme, changes to HECS indexation, an overhaul of political donations and announcing its response to Meta pulling out of the News Media Bargaining Code. (Capital Brief | Guardian | AFR)
  
  

• Also on the government’s agenda this week, a $13.7 billion package of tax credits for critical minerals and hydrogen projects with the condition that projects are in operation by 2040. The opposition have opposed this package, calling it “billions for billionaires”. (Capital Brief)
  
  

• The UN Climate Conference, COP29, has finished in Azerbaijan with a deal on a target of US$300 billion for annual climate assistance by 2035. Developing nations entered the conference with a goal of $1 trillion, so by that measure it has fallen short. However, it is far higher than the original target of $100 billion set in 2009. (UN News)

What the…?

Neuroscientists taught rats how to drive. And it turns out, they loved it. The scientists then divided the rats into two environments - one half in standard cages and the other in enriched environments with toys and companions.

The rats in the enriched environments learned to drive faster, supporting the idea that complex environments enhance neuroplasticity: the brain’s ability to change in response to environmental demands. (Wired)

Investing is a lifelong journey

Here’s what you can learn today.

This is excerpt is the opening of our book Don’t Stress Just Invest, which last week won Best Investing Book at the 2024 Business Book Awards. Pick up a copy here.

Just what you need and nothing more 

Whoever you are, wherever you are, chances are you’re stressed about money.

You’re not alone. Our whole society is structured around money. We are encouraged to do well at school so we can get a good job. We save and save until we have enough to borrow more to buy a house. Most of our working lives are oriented around having enough in our retirement account to be able to stop working.

Money, a lack of money, and efforts to make more money drive the structure of our lives. Whatever your relationship with money, chances are you feel like you’re not doing enough. 

Is what I’m doing enough to live the life I want? That feeling is only compounded by the manicured lives we follow online. Why can’t I live in a house like that? Drive a car like that? Go on a holiday like that? As we were thinking about this book, we found ourselves stuck on this concept of enough. There are plenty of finance and investing books out there that offer a comprehensive guide to the world of investing. (Shameless plug, we wrote that book if you’re interested—Get Started Investing—available in all good bookstores.) This time we wanted to do something different. Rather than trying to explain 100% of the world of finance, we’re here to explain why you’ll never need to know 99% of it.

Trying to outline the simplest way to invest in the share market comes with a lot of trade-offs. There are a lot of worthwhile topics that you’ll need to pick up another finance book for (again, shameless plug—Get Started Investing, available in all good bookstores). This is your step-by-step guide to setting up your investing accounts and getting on with your life.

Don’t Stress, Just Invest is all about enough—doing enough work to get enough returns to live a comfortable enough life. We hope we can help you overcome any uncertainty you have when it comes to investing. More than anything, we want you to finish this book more confident about your money.

You can build more than enough wealth without ever trading futures or learning how to read a candlestick chart (or knowing what these terms mean). You can be an investor in the stock market without ever buying a share in a company. That surprises a lot of people—but we’ll show you how.

Looking for the perfect Christmas gift?

Recent winner of the Best Personal Finance & Investing Book at the 2024 Australian Business Book Awards

If you haven’t read our latest book Don’t Stress, Just Invest now is the time to pick yourself up a copy. And with Christmas around the corner, you can pick up the only gift that has a guaranteed return on investment.

Pick up your copy of Don’t Stress, Just Invest wherever you buy books.

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