iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 18h

10 years ago, the mortgage rate was 3.47% and the median home cost $232,200. Today the rate is 7.3% and the median home costs $429,100.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 01/10/2026

You can’t afford a home because homes stopped being homes and became investments for people who already own one.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 01/10/2026

JUST IN: Meta is using AI data centers to claim research tax credits, according to the NYT. Its total research credits reached almost $4,000,000,000 in 2025 alone.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 30/09/2026

Maturing is realizing the biggest flex isn’t an expensive car. It’s a car with $0 monthly payment.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 29/09/2026

Nobody wants to borrow $500,000 at an 8% interest rate After 10 years of payments you'll still owe $438,600 Nobody is buying a home today with an 8% interest rate. It's not happening.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 29/09/2026

The price of a Costco rotisserie chicken every year since it was introduced: 1994: $4.99 1995: $4.99 1996: $4.99 1997: $4.99 1998: $4.99 1999: $4.99 2000: $4.99 2001: $4.99 2002: $4.99 2003: $4.99 2004: $4.99 2005: $4.99 2006: $4.99 2007: $4.99 2008: $4.99 2009: $4.99 2010: $4.99

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 28/09/2026

Trump is now responsible for 29% of our national debt. That's more than any President in American history. What happened to DOGE?

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 26/09/2026

7 years ago: Mortgage rates were 3.5% Gas was $2.60 a gallon Inflation was under 2% Unemployment was its lowest since 1969 Now: Mortgage rates are almost 8% Gas is almost $5 a gallon Inflation is 3.4% Unemployment is now over 4% What happened?

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 26/09/2026

My wife asked me to say something romantic. I told her our mortgage is 2.5%.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 23/09/2026

Me: “ChatGPT, what can I write off on my taxes?” ChatGPT: “Your car, groceries, vacations, rent, clothes, gym, Netflix, dog, wedding.” files taxes… 6 months later Me: “ChatGPT, I got audited. IRS says I owe $50,000 for tax fraud.” ChatGPT: “You’re right. Want me to explain how to survive jail?”

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 23/09/2026

5 years ago mortgage rates were 3% and the average new home cost $450,000. Today, mortgage rates are 7% and the average new home costs $510,000. This is what destroyed housing affordability.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 22/09/2026

I got an MRI and they gave me 2 options: Pay $1,300 out of pocket or bill my health insurance I picked insurance They billed my insurance $8,000 Health insurance math is incredible lmao

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 21/09/2026

gas prices so crazy I finally signed up for the reward points program at Exxon

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 21/09/2026

Nobody wants a $500,000 mortgage at a 7.5% interest rate. It’s not happening. After 36 months of payments, you’ll still owe $485,071. You’ll have paid $125,859. $110,930 of it went to interest.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 19/09/2026

just heard someone say they don't care how high gas prices get because they only put in $25 every time

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 18/09/2026

The median first time homebuyer is now 40 years old (a record high) and first time buyers are only 21% of all home buyers (a record low). A whole generation under 30 is figuring out that a home & a family will never be within reach for them. Society is not ready for what that does.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 15/09/2026

“Mortgages can’t keep going up every single day” Mortgage rates:

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 15/09/2026

Boomers: I bought my first house at 25 for $50,000. Millennials: I’m 30 with 3 roommates & 2 jobs. Gen Z:

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 15/09/2026

30-year mortgage rates just hit 7.17% A $500,000 mortgage over 30 years: $1,891/month at 2.17% $3,384/month at 7.17% That’s $537,500 more for the same home And the odds of a Fed rate hike this week are 92% Homeownership has become a luxury

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 15/09/2026

Anthropic valuation: $965B Walmart valuation: $870B Anthropic revenue: $65B Walmart revenue: $713B Totally normal, right?

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 13/09/2026

Trump rejects calls to slow AI development, saying he wants the U.S. to stay ahead of China. “We’re leading China in AI. We’re the most sophisticated country in the world.”

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 13/09/2026

Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and Dario Amodei all agree AI development needs to slow down. What have they seen that we haven’t? What happened behind closed doors? What haven’t they told us?

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 12/09/2026

You’re paying 4x more for RAM because memory that hasn’t been made has already been bought with money that doesn’t exist GPUs haven’t been built. Neither have data centers. Infrastructure to power them may never exist. All to satisfy demand that doesn’t exist & generate profits that are impossible

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 04/09/2026

They don't leave Congress because the grift is too good. Chuck Grassley: 92 Eleanor Holmes Norton: 89 Hal Rogers: 88 Maxine Waters: 88 Steny Hoyer: 87 Nancy Pelosi: 86 Jim Clyburn: 86 Mitch McConnell: 84 John Carter: 84 Jim Risch: 83 Virginia Foxx: 83 Angus King: 82 No age limit. No term limit.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 03/09/2026

Unpopular opinion: Having a paid off car makes you never want to sign another car loan ever again.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 28/08/2026

US corporate profits just hit a record high. Worker payouts have dropped to their lowest levels since the 1950s. You do not hate corporate greed enough.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 27/08/2026

“best foods to stock up on” “how much food does one person need for a year” “how to grow my own food”

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 27/08/2026

JUST IN: JPMorgan warns a global food supply shock could hit within the next year. NOAA says there’s a greater than 90% chance this El Niño will be “very strong” through fall and winter. For October through December, that chance rises to 95%.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 26/08/2026

JUST IN: July’s PCE inflation is now 3.7%. Above expectations. Core PCE is now 3.3%. The Fed’s target is 2%. Core inflation has stayed above 2% for over 5 years now. And 3 Fed officials already voted to HIKE rates in July. These numbers just gave them more reasons to.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 26/08/2026

Warren Buffett’s solution to the US deficit: “Anytime there’s a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.” Do you agree with him?

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 25/08/2026

Canada just put 15% to 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of US products. The US raises tariffs. Americans pay more. Canada retaliates. Then American businesses lose sales. Then the US raises tariffs again. And Americans pay even more.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 25/08/2026

People with NO health coverage: 🇺🇸 27 million 🇯🇵 0 🇩🇪 0 🇬🇧 0 🇫🇷 0 🇮🇹 0 🇪🇸 0 🇨🇦 0 🇦🇺 0 🇳🇱 0 🇵🇹 0 🇮🇪 0 Getting healthcare shouldn’t mean going into debt.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 25/08/2026

If your parents made $100K in 1990, you’d need $255K to have the same buying power today. $255K is the new $100K Let that sink in

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 24/08/2026

The US added more debt in the last 10 years than in its first 240 years. The CBO projects federal debt held by the public will hit 175% of GDP by 2056. Net interest costs will top $1 trillion this year and double to $2.1 trillion by 2036. Congress keeps postponing the pain. The bond market won’t.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 23/08/2026

If your parents made $50K in the 90s, you need to make $130K in 2026 to have the same buying power. $130K is the new $50K Let that sink in

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 23/08/2026

President Trump made 1,051 trades in June, valued between $78.1 million and $263.1 million. That’s a thousand trades in one month 50 trades per day This is a professional trading operation lol

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 23/08/2026

Pay very close attention to what’s happening in the bond market. Trump was asked what he’ll do after Treasury yields rose again. He said the US could use the military. “The ultimate intervention is our military. And if we have to use that, we will.” Everyone eventually answers to the bond market.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 20/08/2026

The US recorded its first federal budget surplus since 1969, in 1998. Bill Clinton was president. By 2000, the surplus grew to $237 billion. Today, it pays more than that in interest every few months.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 16/08/2026

JUST IN: U.S. homebuyer demand fell to its lowest level on record. There are now 500,000 more home sellers than buyers in America. 967,000 buyers were in the market in July, compared with 1.46 million sellers. Plenty of homes are for sale. Millions of Americans just can’t afford them.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 13/08/2026

Poverty gets more expensive the longer you’re stuck in it. Can’t afford a credit card bill? Next month, pay the bill plus interest & late fees. Can’t afford a car repair? Later, pay for a bigger repair & missed work. Can’t afford a doctor visit? Later, pay an ER bill. Poverty charges interest.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 13/08/2026

Gen Z deserves better. When I was in my early 20s, I had my own apartment in NYC and went out every night on a $50K salary. That math stopped working. Millions are now priced out of basic adulthood.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 13/08/2026

26% of Gen Z investors now consider sports betting part of their long-term financial strategy. Even more surprising, 52% moved money meant for investing into sports betting last year.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 12/08/2026

JUST IN: 1 in 3 workers now have more credit card debt than retirement savings. Meanwhile, U.S. credit card debt has climbed to $1.26 trillion, near its record high. That’s up 60% in just 5 years. And 12.92% of credit card balances are now 90+ days delinquent.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 09/08/2026

The CEO of America’s biggest bank says the U.S. could lose its status as the world’s reserve currency in the next 25 years. Jamie Dimon says the dollar’s future depends on America maintaining its economic and military strength. America’s rising debt & fiscal decisions are getting harder to ignore.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 09/08/2026

Your doctor went through 10+ years of medical school and training. The person denying your medical claim went through 2 weeks of company training. Very cool and normal healthcare system.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 09/08/2026

I had a hospital visit where they gave me two options. Pay $500 out of pocket or bill my insurance. I told them to bill my insurance. They billed my insurance $20,000. Very normal healthcare system.

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 08/08/2026

JUST IN: Berkshire Hathaway is now buying stocks again for the first time in over 3 years. It bought $23.5 billion of stocks in Q2 and sold $3.7 billion. That’s $20 billion in net purchases. You know what it means when Berkshire Hathaway starts buying stocks again, right?

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Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 07/08/2026

JUST IN: The U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July. The bigger problem is what happened to the previous numbers. May and June were revised down by a combined 103,000 jobs. Labor force participation also fell to 61.4%, its lowest level in more than 5 years. The labor market is getting weaker.

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