enRICHed: Volume 25

Written By Rich BFF

How?!

Stunned that it is somehow MARCH. Is 2023 a time warp?! We cannot possibly be the only ones feeling this way.

Also, last week we used the wrong roman numeral. Shockingly, this is the first time this has happened. Even more shockingly, no one emailed to call us on it. But in the spirit of transparency we would like to acknowledge it, because this is volume 25 of enRICHed. 25 Sundays spent together! And officially more than 25,000 of you here! It’s amazing! 25 must be our lucky number…

A few administrative reminders below:

  • HYCU, pronounced ‘haiku’: how the news impacts you and your wallet, aka How You Can Use

  • Spilling the Prosperitea 🫖 : our hot tips for you on all things money. Think discount codes, hacks, non-boring finance articles, sales, etc. 

Now that you’re up to speed, let’s get you enRICHed.

Shoutout Eli Lilly

  • Eli Lilly announced this week that they would lower the price of insulin by 70% and cap the price at $35 for people with private insurance at participating pharmacies. They also are working to expand their program which caps insulin costs for people who are uninsured.

  • This announcement comes after President Biden worked to cap insulin prices at $35 for seniors with Medicare. All of this comes as demand for insulin soars in the face of diabetes becoming the fastest growing chronic disease in the world.

  • HYCU; insulin costs less than $10 to make, but some Americans are paying $300 for their prescription. The cost sometimes results in diabetics rationing the drug, which can be dangerous. More than 37 million Americans have diabetes, and rely on insulin to maintain their blood sugar. However, 7 in 10 of those Americans don’t use Eli Lilly insulin, so the hope is that other pharma companies will join in the fight to make the drug more affordable for all.

Your Uber is Cheaper

  • Uber and Lyft have pulled “fuel surcharges” off of our bill after we have seen gas prices drop over the past few months. Maybe you didn’t realize it, but you were paying $0.55 in fees on rides with Uber and Lyft, and $0.45 on Uber Eats deliveries. Amazon had also added a $5 “fuel and inflation surcharge.”

  • We sometimes question who benefits from these types of charges, but in this case the fees were going directly to drivers to help them pay for gas. Though we question how paying someone $0.55 really was enough to help them at the pump (looking at you, Uber and Lyft corporate), a loss is a loss. And the removal of these fees impacts the drivers we rely on.

  • HYCU; these companies are constantly trying to find the best balance between paying their workers appropriately and keeping their customers happy, with what have historically been pretty fair prices to use their services. So while this may save you money, it is coming out of someone else’s pockets.

Amazon Hits Pause

  • Amazon has reportedly stopped construction in Arlington, Virginia, where it was planning to begin the second phase of building its new HQ there. Anticipated spend on HQ2 was $2.5 billion through 2030, promising to bring more than 25,000 jobs to the region.

  • After a bidding war in 2017, Amazon chose Arlington as the location of it’s second headquarters outside of Seattle. However, after 6 years, our world has changed and our workplace has changed with it. Amazon has not announced when it will resume the second phase of construction, though a huge pit will remind everyone of the pause until then.

  • HYCU; the tech layoffs in the news made everyone realize that the sector was hurting, and Amazon’s announcement this week has made people wary. In order to receive the tax incentives that Arlington had promised in exchange for landing HQ2, Amazon has to finish the project, so we are sure they’ll figure something out - but the question is, what?

Some Workers Have Never Been in an Office

  • Investor Kevin O’Leary, who you might know from Shark Tank, makes a good point. There is a generation of workers who have never been asked to work in an office.

  • In an interview with CNN, O’Leary opined that these kids will never experience an office environment. The market is competitive, and companies need to offer flexibility to get the best talent through the door. This means negotiating on where people work.

  • O’Leary says that not much has changed for him, and that his workers need to have personal responsibility. If something is due on Friday, he doesn’t care when you work on it as long as it gets done.

  • HYCU; what’s your take BFFs? The article ends saying that this generation is more prone to loneliness and isolation, which we can personally say we feel some days when we are WFH. There are two sides to every coin!

The Gender Pay Gap Won’t Budget

  • US women have earned 82% as much as men for 20 years, showing that progress on the gender pay gap has stalled. In 2002, women made 80 cents on the dollar.

  • Axios reports that there is no single reason we can look to for this lull. Women are taking on higher-paying jobs than in previous years, but a greater number of women left work during the pandemic. Women continue to work part time more, and take on a larger share of childcare responsibilities, resulting in negative affects to their earning potential.

  • HYCU; the original report from Pew Research concludes that this stubborn gap could be encouraged with more social and cultural changes in the workplace and beyond. Trying to balance a career and family should not be the reason in 2023 that we can’t push women forward. Always remember to advocate for yourself at work, to ask for that raise or apply for that job - don’t let fear of failure hold you back. Know your worth and own it!

Rich BFF
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