This video covers the basics of business administration, including its functions, skills, and responsibilities. It emphasizes the practical value of studying this subject and the importance of business administration for professionals in various industries. The video also mentions the ethical and social responsibilities of business administrators and the role of understanding employee behavior. It provides a broad overview of business administration and its role in enabling organizational success. It is the first video of a 30-part course.
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Introduction to Business Administration
Internet Watch Foundation finds 260-fold rise in AI-generated CSAM and ‘it’s the tip of the iceberg’
The numbers are staggering, but experts say what we’re seeing is only the beginning. As AI-generated child sexual abuse material surges to record levels, researchers warn that the technology isn’t just producing more harmful content, but it’s fundamentally changing how children are targeted, how survivors are re-victimized, and how investigators are overwhelmed.
Investigators already had their hands full with scrubbing CSAM (child sexual abuse material) from the internet. But with generative AI, that challenge has been exacerbated. The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), Europe’s largest hotline for combating online child sexual abuse imagery, documented a 260-fold increase in AI-generated child sexual abuse videos in 2025. It went from just 13 videos the year prior to 3,443. Researchers who have spent years tracking this issue say the explosion is not a surprise. It is, however, a warning.
“Any numbers that we see, it’s the tip of the iceberg,” said Melissa Stroebel, vice president of research and strategic insights at Thorn, a nonprofit that builds technology to combat online child sexual exploitation. “That is about what has been either detected or proactively reported.”
The surge is a direct consequence of generative AI becoming faster, cheaper, and more accessible to bad actors. Thorn has identified three distinct ways these tools are now being weaponized against children.
The first is the re-victimization of historical abuse survivors. A child who was abused in 2010 and whose images have circulated online for over a decade now faces an entirely new layer of harm. Offenders are using AI to take those existing images and personalize them: inserting themselves into recorded scenes of abuse to produce new material.
“In the same way that you can Photoshop grandma who missed the Christmas picture into the Christmas picture,” Stroebel told Fortune, “bad actors can Photoshop themselves into scenes and records of an identified child.” That process creates fresh victimization for survivors who may have spent years trying to move past their abuse.
The second is the weaponization of innocent images. A photo of a child on a school soccer team webpage is now potential source material for abuse. With widely available AI tools, an offender can convert that entirely benign image into sexual abuse material in minutes. Thorn is also documenting peer-on-peer cases, where a young person generates abusive imagery of a classmate without fully grasping the severity of the harm they are causing.
The third, and most systemic, impact is the strain being placed on already overwhelmed reporting pipelines. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children receives tens of millions of CSAM reports every year. The speed with which AI can now generate novel material dramatically compounds that burden and creates a new urgency. When a new image arrives, investigators must determine whether it depicts a child in active danger right now, or is an AI-generated image.
“Those are really critical inputs to help them triage and respond to these cases,” Stroebel said. AI-generated content makes those determinations significantly harder, but she added both cases of an image taken in real time and an AI-generated image are reported and treated the same way by authorities.
The technology has also made some of the most-repeated child safety guidance dangerously outdated. For years, children have been warned not to share images online as a basic safeguard against exploitation. That advice no longer holds. Thorn’s own research found that 1 in 17 young people have personally experienced deepfake imagery abuse, and 1 in 8 knew someone who had been targeted. Victims of sextortion are now being sent images that look exactly like them—images they never took.
“There’s no need for a child to have shared an image any longer for them to be targeted for exploitation,” Stroebel said.
On the detection front, traditional hashing technology, which works like a digital fingerprint for known abuse files, cannot identify AI-generated content because each synthetically created image is technically new. Take, for example, a photo of something very well known, like the Statue of Liberty. That photo of the statue has a digital fingerprint. Now say you zoom in, zoom in some more, and zoom in again to change the shading of one pixel by 0.1%. That change is likely imperceptible to the human eye. However, the fingerprint of that photo is now completely new, meaning the hashing technology doesn’t recognize it as the same photo with just that one pixel difference.
Previously, under traditional hashing technology, making that one pixel difference to a photo known to be of CSAM would mean it would go undetected by the tech. However, classifier technology, which evaluates what an image contains rather than matching it to a known file, is now essential to catching content that would otherwise slip through entirely.
For parents, Stroebel’s message is urgent and unambiguous: the conversation cannot wait, and it must go further than old warnings. If a child comes forward, the first response cannot be skepticism. “Our job is: are you safe, and how do I help you move through to the next step?”
Which Path Builds Wealth Faster for Busy Professionals?
I’ve invested both actively and passively in real estate. I owned 15 rental properties by myself and another dozen with partners. Today, I own smaller percentages in around 5,000 units.
By “passive real estate investing,” I don’t just mean syndications, by the way. I also invest via private partnerships, private secured notes, and the occasional fund.
Both strategies have their pros and cons. But which one will help you build wealth faster? What are the risks and returns? What kind of labor and skill are required for each?
I went from a net worth of just over $100,000 in late 2018 to over $1 million today. Real estate played a role in that, which I’ll also explain in more detail.
Returns
Any conversation around the speed of wealth-building starts with returns.
Single-family home investor Chris Bibey made a case on BiggerPockets that investors should aim for a 6% yield on rental properties. That sounds about right, plus a potential 3%-5% annualized appreciation rate. Combined, that makes for about a 10% annual return, not accounting for your labor (more on that later).
That’s not bad, in raw numbers. It’s comparable to the historical average stock market return of around 10% for the S&P 500. And while you can earn similar returns passively from REITs, you don’t get the diversification benefit, since REITs correlate so closely with the stock market at large.
Most passive real estate investments target annualized returns in the 10%-20% range. Some will underperform that, while others will overperform it. I practice dollar-cost averaging with my real estate investments, investing $5K-$10K a month in new passive investments through a co-investing club. Over time, my returns form a bell curve, rather than unpredictable data points from huge investments.
Some passive investments are income-oriented, others growth-oriented, and others combine both. I’ve made some investments that only pay income returns, such as a secured note paying 15% and a fund that pays a 16% distribution yield every quarter. Other investments don’t pay any income, but project hefty profits when the properties sell.
Still others pay a 4%-10% yield currently and aim for another 5%-12% (annualized) when the property sells.
Risk
“Yeah, that’s great and all, Brian, but what about risk?”
Different risks apply to active versus passive real estate investments. Both come with the following risks:
- Market risk: Property values and rents can drop, and vacancies and rent defaults can rise.
- Management risk: Whoever manages the property can do a poor job—and that goes doubly if you’re the one managing it.
- Expense risk: After buying a property, the investor discovers more repairs needed than expected. Or expenses like insurance or property taxes could rise faster than expected.
- Debt risk: Short-term loans could come due at a bad time for selling or refinancing, or variable interest loans could jack up monthly payments.
- Risk of total losses: If your equity in the deal is 15% and the property drops 15% in value, you can lose 100% of your capital.
Active investments come with their own unique risks:
- Loan liability: If you default on the mortgage, the lender comes after your personal assets (assuming a recourse loan, which most are)
- Legal liability: Tenants, neighbors, contractors, and anyone else under the sun can sue you at any time, for any reason. I was sued twice when I was an active landlord, and both times, they named me personally in the suit even though I owned the properties under LLC names. Don’t think that LLCs will protect you.
- Tax risk: You have to track all income and expenses, keep records, and report them accurately on your tax returns. Mess this up, and the IRS can come after you for civil or even criminal penalties.
And of course, passive investments have their own risks:
- Operator risk: The operator could mismanage the deal due to either incompetence or untrustworthiness.
- Timeline risk: Passive investors have no control over when operators choose to sell or refinance and return their capital.
Skill Required
Having done both, I can tell you hands down that active investing requires far more skill than passive investing, as in, an order of magnitude more.
Active investors need to master dozens of microskills to consistently earn 5%-10% annualized returns on their rentals, such as:
- Forecasting cash flow (it’s not the rent minus the mortgage!)
- Forecasting repair costs
- Building a “financing toolkit” of different lenders and loan types
- Screening, hiring, and managing contractors (a consistent challenge even for the best investors)
- Marketing vacant units
- Screening tenants
- Managing property managers, if you outsource.
And there are plenty of others.
Passive investors only need to learn how to vet operators and deals. And even then, they can lean on other investors to help them. My co-investing club meets once or twice a month on a Zoom call to vet new passive investments. We all grill the operator together about their track record, their mistakes, their current deal, the underwriting assumptions, and the risks and returns.
It takes years to master all the skills of active investing. You can get started with passive investing in an afternoon, especially if you join a community that vets deals together.
Labor Required
When I owned rental properties directly, my phone was always blowing up about something. The tenants clogged the toilet. The roof started leaking. Rent didn’t arrive, and I had to go through the tedious eviction process: the official warning notice, the waiting period, filing in rent court, showing up for the hearing, scheduling the eviction date with the sheriff, showing up with contractors, etc.
I kept folder after folder of expense and income records. And I still missed some of the expenses I could have deducted.
Buying properties also requires enormous work, including:
- Direct mail or other marketing campaigns to find good deals
- Walking through properties
- “Selling” the seller on selling to me
- Negotiating price
- Collecting quotes from contractors
- Arranging financing
And renovations? Fuhget about it. Contractors constantly blew their budget and their timeline, with shoddier-than-promised workmanship. City inspectors expected bribes. Everything about it was just miserable.
Everyone I worked with, from contractors to renters to property managers, overpromised and underdelivered.
In passive investments, I spend a couple of hours vetting the deal. The end.
Over the course of a year, each active rental property costs me around 30 hours between managing property managers, contractors, bookkeeping, accounting, etc. If I value my time at $100/hour, that’s $3,000 a year in my labor costs—per rental property.
Cash Required
A typical rental property requires $50,000 to $100,000 in cash. That goes toward the down payment, closing costs, initial repairs, permits, and so forth.
If you invest by yourself, a typical passive investment also requires $50,000 to $100,000.
I don’t like that. It’s hard to diversify your portfolio when you have to plunk down $50K per investment. And it’s nearly impossible to practice dollar-cost averaging. You’d have to be fabulously wealthy to invest $50K a month.
So? I don’t invest by myself. I go in on these investments alongside other members of my co-investing club. We invest $2,500 or $5,000 or more if we prefer, but collectively we’ll invest $500,000 or $750,000 or whatever the total ends up being.
That comes with an added benefit: negotiating power. We can negotiate a higher preferred return, a higher profit split, or a higher interest rate on a note investment.
Time Commitment
I know plenty of real estate investors who crave control over all else. They won’t invest passively. They refuse to surrender control.
They get to choose when they refinance or sell their properties. But if it’s a bad market for refinancing or selling, you shouldn’t do it anyway.
I’ve made passive investments as short as six months (a private note with a rolling six-month term). I’ve made others as long as 10+ years (syndications pursuing “infinite returns”).
For private notes and funds, you know the exact time commitment going into the investment. For private partnerships, you can negotiate the timeline before investing. Syndications will indicate the intended timeline while acknowledging “we’ll play it by ear based on market conditions at the time.”
Tax Benefits
For private notes, you get no tax benefits. The government taxes interest income at the same rates as regular income.
For private partnerships and syndications, you get virtually the same tax benefits as direct ownership. All expenses are deductible, as is depreciation.
There are two slight differences. Most single-family rental investors don’t bother doing a cost segregation study because it typically costs more than the tax savings. So they don’t get the same accelerated depreciation as syndication investors.
On the flip side, single-family rental investors get a little more leeway in using their passive losses to offset active income. If they “actively participate in passive rental real estate activity,” per the IRS, they can use rental losses to offset up to $25,000 of active income.
But by and large, you get the same tax benefits from passive and active real estate investing.
Verdict: Speed to Wealth?
I run a business, and I do some freelance financial writing on the side. And I have a 5-year-old daughter, a wife who works nights and weekends, and I’m writing a novel.
I don’t have time for another side hustle. And make no mistake: Rental investing is a side business.
I’ve known active investors who have built wealth relatively quickly with a rental investing business. Most of them did it as a full-time business, although some did it as a side business.
I went a different route. I went from barely over broke in late 2018 to a millionaire seven years later, without any rentals in that period. I invest passively in both stocks and real estate as a set-it-and-forget-it portfolio.
Some of those passive real estate investments generate a high income yield in the 10%-16% range. I reinvest that income for compound returns.
Some have gone full cycle, most recently an industrial property that paid out a 27.6% annualized return after two and a half years.
Most are simply in progress, paying a 4%-8% yield as they stabilize rents.
It takes a long time to build the skills you need to consistently earn decent returns on rentals. Most people either stand on the sidelines in analysis paralysis for years or just jump in headfirst and lose their shirt by not getting enough education.
I propose an alternative route: joining a co-investing club to start investing today, while leveraging the community’s knowledge. You don’t need much cash ($2,500) to get started, and you can start earning returns immediately.
Prefer to start a rental investing business? It’s a great business model. Just don’t try to tell me it’s “passive income” or compare it to true passive investments like stocks, syndications, or notes, because it’s not. It takes more skill, labor, money, and time to get started.
Oracle Lays Off More Than 150 California Workers
(This story has been updated with new information.) The tech giant Oracle is expected to lay off thousands of employees as the company, formerly headquartered in Silicon Valley, attempts to address its plummeting stock price tied to artificial intelligence commitments, according to CNBC. Oracle laid off 158 workers from its Pleasanton office in Northern California, according to a California…
The HOA fee shock: Millions paying at least $6,000 a year, squeezing affordability
There’s another growing cost that brokers are going to have to spend an increasing amount of time preparing buyers to pay. Homeowners association (HOA) fees and condo fees have also soared, and a new study from LendingTree puts a spotlight on how much homeowners are paying in big cities.
In the 100 largest metro areas, 17.5 million homeowners are paying HOA or condo fees as of 2024. This is 31.8% of homeowners in those areas. Among those, 2.6 million are paying fees in excess of $500 a month, or $6,000 a year.
Matt Schulz (pictured top), chief consumer finance analyst at LendingTree, said the amount of money being paid in fees is staggering.
“The amount of money that we’re talking about, where some people are paying $500-plus a month for an HOA fee, that’s just a wild number,” Schulz told Mortgage Professional America. “That’s a really significant amount of money. And chances are, if you’re paying that much, you’re probably living in a high-end community or an upscale condo. But still, $500 a month is a lot of money.”
Educating homebuyers on fees
For buyers planning on living in big cities, the odds of paying higher fees are much greater. New York City has the highest percentage of homeowners paying fees of $500 a month or more at 53.4%. It is followed by Honolulu (52.4%) and Miami (39.5%). In NYC, 28% of homeowners are paying more than $1,000 a month in fees, with the median fee in the city at $558.
Why Financial Stress Isn’t About Math
Episode Overview
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, John Jantsch sits down with bestselling author Mike Michalowicz to discuss his latest book, The Money Habit: The Worry-Free Way to Financial Independence.
While Mike’s previous work (Profit First) revolutionized how entrepreneurs manage business finances, this conversation shifts focus to personal money management—and why so many people still feel anxious about money despite earning more.
Mike reveals that financial stress isn’t primarily about income or math—it’s about behavior, habits, and lack of control. He introduces a system rooted in behavioral psychology that helps individuals take authority over their money without relying on strict discipline or deprivation.
The discussion explores the connection between business and personal finances, the flaws of traditional budgeting, and how simple structural changes—like separating money by purpose—can create clarity, reduce anxiety, and build long-term financial independence.
Guest Bio
Mike Michalowicz is a bestselling author, entrepreneur, and financial systems expert dedicated to helping business owners and individuals gain control over their finances.
He is the author of multiple influential books including Profit First, Clockwork, Fix This Next, and All In. His work has been adopted by over a million businesses worldwide.
Through his latest book, The Money Habit, Mike expands his methodology into personal finance, focusing on behavioral systems that reduce financial stress and create sustainable wealth habits.
Key Takeaways
1. Financial Stress Is Behavioral, Not Mathematical
Most people assume more income will solve financial problems. Mike argues the opposite—financial stability comes from gaining control over money first, then increasing income.
2. More Money Doesn’t Fix Poor Money Habits
Without systems in place, both businesses and households can “leech” from each other, leading to financial instability even when income is high.
3. Discipline Often Backfires
Strict budgeting and deprivation can lead to two outcomes:
- Rebellion (overspending)
- Scarcity mindset (hoarding money without enjoying it)
4. Systems Beat Willpower
Instead of changing behavior, Mike advocates for “behavioral intercepts”—systems that guide natural behavior toward better outcomes.
5. Your Bank Account Is Your Most-Used Financial Tool
Rather than relying on apps or spreadsheets, Mike suggests structuring multiple bank accounts to reflect spending categories, making financial awareness automatic.
6. Real-Time Budgeting Creates Immediate Awareness
When money is separated into purpose-driven accounts, every purchase reflects instantly, helping people make better decisions in real time.
7. Start Small to Build Confidence
Begin with one account tied to your biggest financial worry (e.g., rent, groceries, retirement), then expand gradually.
8. Clarity Reduces Financial Anxiety
Financial stress often comes from uncertainty. Clear allocation of money creates confidence and reduces emotional strain.
9. Entrepreneurs Must Manage Both Business and Personal Finances
Success in business doesn’t guarantee personal financial health—and neglecting one can undermine the other.
10. “If in Doubt, Add an Account”
Creating a dedicated account for a specific concern (like emergency funds or runway) can immediately reduce stress and improve decision-making.
Great Moments (Timestamps)
00:01 – The Real Cause of Financial Anxiety
Mike challenges the idea that money stress is about math, pointing instead to habits and behavior.
01:24 – When Business Success Hurts Personal Finances
How profitable businesses can still fail due to poor personal money management.
02:45 – Generational Money Trauma
Why many people develop unhealthy relationships with money early in life.
03:54 – Financial Worry as a “Part-Time Job”
The hidden cost of constantly thinking about money.
04:29 – Why This Book Is Different from Profit First
Key differences between managing business vs. personal finances.
06:46 – Why Discipline and Budgeting Fail
The psychological pitfalls of deprivation-based financial systems.
08:54 – The Power of Habit-Based Systems
How structured systems outperform willpower.
10:32 – Why Traditional Budgeting Doesn’t Work
Introducing the concept of real-time budgeting through bank accounts.
13:27 – Start with One Account
A simple entry point to building the money habit.
16:20 – Systems Make You “Good with Money”
Why success isn’t about skill—it’s about structure.
18:54 – “If in Doubt, Add an Account”
A practical mantra for reducing financial uncertainty.
Memorable Quotes
“The solution to financial struggle is not more money—it’s authority and control over money.”
“I’ve never been good with money. I’ve found systems that are good with money.”
Resources & Links
United Quest℠ Card Review (2026.4 Update: 100k Offer)
Advertiser Disclosure: This site is part of affiliate sales networks and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers.
2026.4 Update: The new welcome offer is 100k. Offer ends on 2026.5.20. Also, there’s a new benefit added on all UA cobranded cards: 10% off on UA award flights. For the no fee card UA Gateway card, you need to spend $10k in a calendar year to get this benefit, while for all other UA cobranded cards with an annual fee, you get this benefit as long as you hold the card.
2026.1 Update: The new welcome offer is 90k. Offer ends on 2026.4.1.
2025.6 Update: The new welcome offer is 110k! This is the best ever offer on this card. [2025.8 Update] The welcome offer is now lowered to 80k.
Application Link
Benefits
- 100k offer: earn 90,000 United miles after spending $4,000 in 3 months. Earn 10,000 more miles when you add an authorized user in the first 3 months. That’s 100k miles in total. The recent best offer is 110k.
- We value UA miles at 1.5 cents (Airline Miles Value). So the 110k highest welcome offer is worth about $1,650! See A Beginner’s Guide to UA Miles to check for details about UA Miles.
- Earn 4x UA miles on United; earn 2x UA miles on travel, restaurants, and select streaming services; earn 1x UA mile per dollar spent on all other purchases.
- [New] $200 United TravelBank cash: Automatically receive $200 in United TravelBank cash after account opening and annually on your account anniversary. This benefit replaced the previous $125 credit on United purchases.
- [New] Annual 10,000-mile award flight discount: Starting with your first anniversary and every anniversary thereafter, you’ll get a 10,000-mile discount to use toward an eligible award flight. This benefit replaced the previous two 5,000-mile anniversary award flight credits.
- [New] Earn a 10,000-mile award flight discount after spending $20,000 each calendar year.
- [New] There are various coupons on this card now, see next section below.
- [New] 10% off on UA award flights.
- First and second checked bag free on United flights when purchasing tickets (or paying the tax and fees for award tickets) with this card..
- Group 2 boarding on United flights when purchasing tickets (or paying the tax and fees for award tickets) with this card.
- Earn 25% back on in flight purchases.
- Get 25% bonus miles on MileagePlus X purchases.
- More award availability (XN cabin) with this card.
- Up to $100 Global Entry or TSA Pre✓® Fee Credit.
- With this card, you can redeem your UA miles towards annual fee at a fixed ratio 1.60 cents/point.
- Primary car rental insurance.
- No foreign transaction fee.
- Refer a friend (targeted): You can earn 5,000 bonus UA miles for every approved account you refer, up to a maximum of 10 approved referrals (50,000 UA miles) per calendar year.
Various Coupons
- $150 Renowned Hotels and Resorts credit: Receive up to $150 back in statement credits each anniversary year on hotel accommodations when you prepay directly through Renowned Hotels and Resorts with this card.
- $80 Avis/Budget credit: Receive $40 in United TravelBank cash, up to $80 each anniversary year, for your 1st and 2nd Avis or Budget car rental booked directly through cars.united.com and paid for with this card.
- $100 rideshare credit: Enroll to receive up to $100 back as statement credits each calendar year on rideshare purchases when paying with this card: $8 back as a statement credit each month from January through November and up to $12 back for the month of December. Yearly opt-in is required.
- $180 Instacart credit: Receive one $10 Instacart credit and one $5 Instacart credit monthly, up to $180 total each calendar year, for purchases made directly through Instacart with this card. Terms apply. Benefits end 12/31/27.
- $150 JSX credit: Get up to $150 back as a statement credit each anniversary year when you book flights directly with JSX using this card. JSX is a hop-on jet service that offers a semi-private flying experience at commercial fares.
Disadvantage
- [New] Annual fee $350, NOT waived for the first year.
Recommended Application Time
- [5/24 Rule] If you have 5 or more new accounts opened in the past 24 months, Chase will not approve your application on this card, no matter how high your credit score is. The number of new accounts includes all credit card accounts, not only Chase accounts. See this post for details about how to possibly bypass this rule.
- You are not eligible for this sign-up bonus if you received a sign-up bonus on this card within 24 months. Note that what matters here is the time you got the sign-up bonus, not the time you opened or closed the account.
- Don’t apply for more than 2 Chase credit cards within 30 days, or it’s highly likely that you will get rejected.
- We recommend you to apply for this card after you have a credit history for more than a year.
Summary
The sign-up bonus on this card is very nice, so it is worth applying. However, this card has become a coupon book. If you fly United a lot, then $200 United TravelBank cash plus 10,000-mile award flight discount (about ~$150 in value) can somewhat offset the $350 annual fee. If you can further take advantage of a coupon like the $150 Renowned Hotels and Resorts coupon, then you can get more than the annual fee. If you hate spending time on this kind of thing, you can consider downgrading it to the no fee Chase United Gateway card after one year.
Related Credit Cards
| Chase UA Gateway | Chase UA Explorer | Chase UA Business | Chase UA Quest | Chase UA Club | Chase UA Club Business | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Fee | 0 | $150 | $150 | $350 | $695 | $695 |
| Various Credits | – | $100 United Hotels credit; $60 Rideshare credit; $50 Avis/Budget credit; etc. | $100 United Hotels credit; $100 Rideshare credit; $50 Avis/Budget credit; etc. | $200 United TravelBank cash; 10,000-mile award flight discount; $150 Renowned Hotels and Resorts credit; $100 Rideshare credit; $80 Avis/Budget credit; etc. | $200 Renowned Hotels and Resorts credit; $150 Rideshare credit; $100 Avis/Budget credit; etc. | $200 Renowned Hotels and Resorts credit; $100 Avis/Budget credit; $150 Rideshare credit; etc. |
Recommended Downgrade Options
After Applying
- Call 800-436-7927 to check Chase application status. This is an automated telephone line, and the information has the following meanings: Receive decision in 2 weeks means your application is probably approved; Receive decision in 7-10 days means your application is probably rejected; Receive decision in 30 days simply means your application requires further review and there’s nothing to tell you for now.
Historical Offers Chart
Note: Sometimes there are offers such as 80k+20k on this card, but the spending requirement for the latter part is huge. Therefore, we don’t treat them as sign-up bonus; instead, we treat them as spending bonus.
Application Link
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If I Started Investing In Pakistan, This Is What I'd Do (Complete Investing Guide)
Starting your investment journey in Pakistan can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. In this complete guide, I’m breaking down everything I’ve learned over 8 years of investing in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) into a simple, step-by-step format that anyone can follow.
Whether you’ve been saving money but don’t know where to invest it, or you’re curious about the stock market but afraid to take the first step, this video is for you. I’ll walk you through the entire process—from understanding why investing matters to actually buying your first stock live on camera.
What You’ll Learn:
– Why investing is crucial to protect your money from inflation and build real wealth through compounding
– The shocking difference between invested vs non-invested money over 20 years (the numbers will surprise you)
– Three ways to invest in PSX: Mutual Funds, ETFs, and Individual Stocks—which one is right for you?
– How to open a brokerage account (Aasan Account vs Normal Account explained)
– When you should actually start investing (hint: not everyone is ready yet)How much money you should invest based on your financial situation
– Live demonstration of buying your first stock on mobile—I’ll show you exactly how easy it is
– 8 years of hard-earned lessons, mistakes, and tips to help you avoid common pitfalls
Key Topics Covered:
* Understanding inflation and how it silently destroys your purchasing power
* The power of compounding returns over decades
* Mutual funds vs ETFs vs individual stocks comparison
* Opening your CDC account and choosing the right broker
* Emergency funds and debt management before investing
* Boom and bust cycles in Pakistan’s market
* Shariah-compliant investment options
* Diversification strategies for beginners
* Index investing for new investors
* How to avoid blind investing and rumors
This isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. The stock market is a long-term wealth-building tool that requires patience, continuous learning, and delayed gratification. But if you’re willing to put in the effort, it has the potential to genuinely change your financial future.
I started with just PKR 8,000 eight years ago. Today, I’m sharing everything I wish someone had told me back then. No complicated jargon, no confusing terms, just practical, actionable advice you can implement immediately.
If you’ve been sitting on savings and wondering how to make your money work for you, this is your sign to start. Let’s build wealth together, one smart decision at a time.
Important Links:
Free 4-Step Guide to Financial Stability:
Paisay Kaisay release :
ETFs vs Mutual Funds :
Investing Masterclass :
Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share this with someone who needs to hear it. Let’s get more people financially literate, one video at a time.
Chapters:
00:00 How To Start Investing In Pakistan?
00:36 What, Why, How, What and Where Of Investing
01:00 Why You Need To Invest?
01:13 How Inflation Works?
02:56 Inflation Vs Compounding (Purchasing Power)
04:40 How Does Stock Market Works?
05:35 What Should You Invest In?
05:45 How Mutual Funds Work?
06:47 How ETFs Work?
07:26 How To Buy Stocks In Pakistan?
08:42 What To Expect From Stock Market (Don’t Skip This)
10:02 How To Invest In KSE100 or KMI30 Index?
11:02 How Many People In Pakistan Invest In Stocks?
12:16 When & How Much Money Should You Invest In Stocks?
14:40 How To Buy Your First Stock (Live Stock Buying)
15:18 My Own 8 Years Experience as a Retail Investor (Important To Watch)
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Bloom Energy (BE) Stock Has Surged on $110 Oil. Is There Still Room to Run?
A barrel of oil recently topped $110 — up about $35 from the price a year ago. That price is also up about 50% from last month’s price of roughly $74.
Consumers focus more on the price they pay, and the national average price of a gallon of gas recently topped $4, with diesel jumping to $5.55 a gallon. Those prices are up from $2.98 and $3.76, respectively, on Feb. 28, before Israel and the United States struck Iran.
Image source: Getty Images.
These sharp moves have investors worrying about what it all means for their stocks. Consider, for example, Bloom Energy (BE +2.40%). Bloom’s stock has averaged annual gains of 89% over the past three years and is up 573% over the past year (as of April 1). But over the past month? It’s trading down 15%.
A key reason for that is likely the stock’s valuation, which is in nosebleed territory, with a recent price-to-sales ratio of 14, well above the five-year average of 3. The stock has soared in part because of the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI), which has led to the proliferation of data centers to handle AI processing.

Today’s Change
(2.40%) $3.18
Current Price
$135.63
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$38B
Day’s Range
$123.16 – $137.28
52wk Range
$15.15 – $180.90
Volume
5.6M
Avg Vol
12M
Gross Margin
30.89%
You see, Bloom Energy is a specialist in providing power to data centers via fuel cell systems. It’s alternative power, too, appealing in a time of high oil prices.
Is it a good buy now? Should you invest? Well, no one can tell where the stock (or our economy) will be a month or a year from now. Bloom Energy could keep surging on high demand, but should the market pull back, it might pull back, too, and growth stocks often fall harder. Also, the company is not hugely profitable at this point.
Still, Bloom is growing robustly, signing some big multibillion-dollar deals and boasting a hefty $20 billion backlog of orders. At a minimum, you might want to add it to your watch list.
Selena Maranjian has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bloom Energy. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Form DEF 14A CAMDEN NATIONAL CORP For: 3 April

Form DEF 14A CAMDEN NATIONAL CORP For: 3 April
