The Curve Weekly: We're on Substack!
A new platform, a live fund, and the financial news stories worth knowing this week.
Hiiii everyone!
You may have noticed that things look a little different this week, and that’s because we’re officially following the trends and shifting over to a new platform (hello, Substack). Same content, just a new (and fun!) format where we can interact with you even more. We recommend downloading the app so you can get involved in the polls etc. within our newsletters.
Firstly, WOWOWOWOW what a response we’ve had to the announcement about The Curve Investments! We’re SO excited that it’s officially live, and honestly can’t quite believe it’s real.
For those of you who have been here since the beginning, genuinely it’s something we dreamed of when we first started six years ago, so thank you all for being here and for continuing to supporting us - we hope you love The Curve Investments as much as we do!!
Vic is (finally) on her way back to the UK after being in NZ for the launch and we can’t wait to have her back on the podcast and on London soil!. The rest of us have been enjoying the London heatwave, sorry to rub it in to our NZ and Australia community but we have all been melting.
Abi’s covering for Vic again this week, joining us on the coin flip everyone’s getting wrong, the New Zealand founder taking on Musk and Bezos, the AI that hacked its way out of a locked test (scary), as well as how one lipstick helped turn around a $38 billion company.
As always, we’ve read the finance news so you don’t have to.
Have a great week.
Soph, Vic Abi & The Curve team x
This week’s finance news, minus the jargon.
Would you flip a coin for a million?
A YouGov poll asked 4,600 UK adults: take £50,000 guaranteed, or flip a coin for a 50/50 shot at £1 million.
In this UK survey, 73% took the guaranteed money. Split by gender, 82% of women played it safe versus 63% of men… we don’t love to see it.
Why is this important?
The coin flip is worth ten times more on paper, £500,000 expected value versus £50,000 guaranteed. So many choose not to take it because losing hurts twice as much as winning feels good. It’s loss aversion which we have spoken about before. It kind of reflects what we’re seeing in terms of there still being £10.6 billion sitting in UK savings accounts (earning next to nothing), while the market has averaged 11% a year for two decades. People with more financial security tend to take more risk, but we wish everyone knew how important it was for us to all take a little more!
A $40 billion rival to Musk and Bezos is in town.
Rocket Lab, founded by New Zealander (!!) Sir Peter Beck, is now valued at $40 billion. It just agreed to pay $8 billion for satellite company Iridium, a direct shot at Musk’s Starlink. Beck says the deal saves 10 to 20 years of building it themselves.
Why is this important?
Tech is now New Zealand’s third largest export earner, ahead of agriculture (cannot believe we are writing that). It’s a sharp contrast to how Silicon Valley usually treats the country. Billionaires like Peter Thiel (PayPal founder) have bought land there as a doomsday bolthole, Reid Hoffman has called it “apocalypse insurance.” New Zealand’s usual role in these stories is the backup plan in case the world implodes. This time though, it’s the one doing the competing.
One bag and one designer just turned around a $38 billion company.
LVMH’s (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) fashion division, home to Dior, Loewe, Celine and so many more brands, returned to growth this quarter after seven straight quarters of decline. This division we are talking about, makes up 71% of LVMH’s total profit. That brand was Dior.
Why is this important?
Dior’s move is one beauty brands mastered years ago: sell the bag at four figures, sell the lipstick with the same look at £40 to £50. Same aura, waaay smaller price tag. It also has something some sister brands don’t, a clear identity to sell. Ask what a Loewe woman looks like right now and the answer gets fuzzy. Will it be cool forever?
An AI hacked its way out of a locked test.
This one is a little scary. OpenAI was testing an AI model inside a sandbox (a closed, no-internet environment built for safe testing). It broke out anyway, found a security flaw - and stole test answers from a rival company’s database. Anthropic’s model did something similar during its own testing.
Why is this important?
It happened the same week Apple became the world’s most valuable company, by barely spending on AI at all while everyone else pours in billions. Apple’s up 23% this year whereas the rest of the Magnificent Seven is down. Some of that AI money is just moving in circles, companies like Tesla and xAI selling to each other, Nvidia financing the same companies that buy its chips back. We explain this more in the podcast but the real question isn’t how scary the AI is. It’s how much of this boom is real, and how much is companies paying each other to make it look that way?
Community Question:
“Hey, while you have Abi on the podcast, can you talk about the triple Lock State pensions in the UK, and how it could effect the economy?” – Olivia
Abi was VERY excited about this question. We answered this on the podcast, here.
In the red or green this week?
Soph’s calling herself in the green, though barely. No new income, nothing exciting to report, I just haven’t blown the budget yet and we’re only two weeks in. Small wins.
Vic’s in the red this week too, $400 NZD down in parking tickets, and she’s decided she just shouldn’t drive. Can’t argue with that logic. Good news, she’s back in walkable London soon, where no driving will be required.
In case you missed it: The Curve Investments is now LIVE!
If you were away from your inbox or living under a rock (i.e. not on our Instagram), here’s the short version. The Curve now has its own FUND (yes, you read that right!!!). Six years of building, one panic attack, and a lot of “we’ll do it properly or not at all” later, it’s finally live.
Vic is officially back in fund management, this time managing money for The Curve Community (!!). You will have full transparency on every investment decision made. There is only a $500 minimum, so (hopefully) most of you feel as though that is achievable.
Want to read the whole story? Relinked below!
We are so proud to have created a fund that has been designed essentially by you - The Curve Community. Our fund has a preference for female-led companies because we not only want to help you grow your wealth, we also want to see more female CEO’s creating change in the world. To find out more click here.
The Curve Investments Limited is the Manager and Issuer of The Curve Fund. Product Disclosure Statements are available at thecurveinvestments.co.nz. This product is intended for New Zealand residents only. It does not constitute an offer of financial services or products to anyone outside New Zealand.
The Curve Collection
Everything The Curve crew is loving this week!
What we’re listening to: Lucy’s been seeing clips all over social media to the Nara Smith: Stop Calling me a Tradwife so we’ll be listening to that this week.
Purchase of the week: Vic’s currently in the air on her way back from NZ, with a suitcase FILLED with Vogel’s bread and Whittaker’s chocolate. Absolute purchase(s) of the week.
What we’re reading: Teasing a future episode on this one: Margot's Got Money Troubles. We're thinking about doing an episode or deep dive on it. It's also on available to watch online with Elle Fanning if reading's not your thing this month, but the money subtext running through it is so good. Come prepared, we'd love all your opinions!
That’s all for now. We hope you all have a wonderful week!
Soph, Vic, Abi & The Curve team x
Yay!!