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☆ Aldi is the US' fastest-growing grocer. Here's how a small German convenience store run by 2 brothers turned into one of the world's biggest retail chains.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

From the start, Aldi was profit-focusedA photograph from 1930 shows the interior and employees of the Karl Albrecht Spiritousen and Lebensmittel shop at Huestrasse 89 in Essen-Schonnebeck, Germany. Aldi Einkauf GmbH & Co. oHG via Getty ImagesIn the aftermath of the war, "scarcity and necessary frugality demanded the avoidance of waste," Dieter and Nils Brandes wrote in their book "Bare Essentials: The Aldi Success Story." Because of its below-average price model, Aldi was able to slowly dominate the market in Germany and its stores spread across Europe. "We wanted our stores to be like other retail outlets, offering a wide range of groceries," Karl said in 1953, as quoted in "Bare Essentials: The Aldi Success Story." This insight became the basic principle of our business."

☆ A former exec from Stripe and Uber is 'OK to give up 100x growth' to build a new business that will last
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Sheila Chiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

GajiGesa's Vidit Agrawal wanted to provide workers access to their wages as they earn it, between traditional end-of-month pay cycles. I'm OK to give up the 100% growth or 100x growth a year if I can build a revenue-based, sustainable business. Vidit Agrawal Co-founder, GajiGesa"I'm OK to give up the 100% growth or 100x growth a year if I can build a revenue-based, sustainable business," said Agrawal. Vidit Agrawal Co-founder, GajiGesaThey were already cutting costs for the first two operating years despite having $9 million in the bank, he said. Investors include January Capital, Northstar Group, European earned wage access company Wagestream and Next Billion Ventures.

☆ Consumers kept the economy hot in 2022. Now they’re losing steam
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Consumers armed with plenty of pandemic-induced pent-up demand and bountiful financial buffers kept the economy churning throughout much of 2022. “But I think there are reasonable worries that may not last.”Consumer spending remained resilient throughout much of 2022. But the household savings rate now sits at 2.4%, the lowest level since 2005 and the second-lowest rate going back more than 60 years. As of September 30, credit card delinquencies remained near historic lows with a 2.07% rate, according to Federal Reserve data. Persistently high inflation has consumers leaning more on credit cards and other forms of financing.

☆ David Rubenstein views Warren Buffett as the ultimate investor. The Carlyle billionaire outlines the 12 traits and habits that are critical to Buffett's success.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

David Rubenstein calls Warren Buffett "the ultimate master of the investor craft" in his new book. He dedicated the compilation to Warren Buffett, calling him "the ultimate master of the investor craft." The Carlyle cofounder and private equity billionaire, in an interview with Insider in September 2022, detailed 12 traits and habits that make Buffett the epitome of a great investor. He's a pure investor, he's made it a lifelong vocation." Humility"Warren Buffett doesn't run around telling everyone how smart he is.

For startup founders and venture capitalists, the office holiday party is a December tradition. For many venture capitalists and the startup founders they invest in, December is synonymous with two things: end-of-year paperwork and office holiday parties. But this year, holiday parties in startup-land look a little different. "Align those goals with your holiday party, and you can do something powerful and cost-effective," she said. "You should maybe cut some travel, maybe you don't have a big holiday party, but that's all drop in the bucket compared to head count," he said.

☆ All those tech workers who've been laid off this year? New data suggests they're going to be just fine in the job market.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Rebecca Knight | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

You could do worse than an exit package from Big TechNearly 150,000 tech workers have lost their jobs in 2022, according to the layoff-tracking platform Layoffs.FYI. But tech workers are not likely to be out of a job for long. 'Pent-up demand' for tech workers in healthcare, defense, and bankingMost of the job growth for tech workers is in other industries, the Dice report found. The unemployment rate for the tech industry is hovering around 2%, according to an analysis by CompTIA, an industry association. "The arms race between tech companies on comp and benefits is over."

Insider's experts choose the best products and services to help make smart decisions with your money (here’s how). Instead of a complete shopping ban, we decided to start with smaller spending blackouts. Get the latest tips you need to manage your money — delivered to you biweekly. I'll spend money on clothes (for myself and my family) and personal care items, such as high-end cosmetics, more often than I should. We did this strategically to save money on gas and to get a free streaming service network.

There are four main types of cash-back credit cards, and the Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card falls into the flat-rate rewards category. How to use rewards from the Quicksilver Cash RewardsYou can redeem your rewards from the Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card for a check in the mail or a statement credit. Unlike some other cash-back credit cards, there's no minimum redemption amount with the Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card. What credit score do you need to qualify for the Quicksilver Cash Rewards Card? Most folks who qualify for the Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card have a good to excellent credit score (FICO score of at least 670).

☆ Big Tech CEOs are asking employees to step up — or step aside
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Across the industry, tech CEOs are asking their employees to step up — or step aside. It's not just Elon Musk: Major tech CEOs are asking employees to step up or risk getting fired. After taking over at Twitter, Musk notoriously asked staffers to work "long hours at high intensity" or quit. But other tech CEOs from firms like Meta and Amazon have also been turning up the heat on employees. Here's what more tech CEOs are expecting.

☆ It's not just Elon Musk. Tech CEOs everywhere are quietly asking their employees to step it up or risk getting fired.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Tech CEOs are turning up the heat, even if it's not as blatantly "hardcore" as Elon Musk's verbiage. Major tech CEOs have been asking employees to step up throughout this year's stingier economy. Employees at Google, Amazon and others have all been asked to work harder or risk their jobs. Sign up for our newsletter for the latest tech news and scoops — delivered daily to your inbox. In October, Meta told managers to mark 15% of its employees as "needs support" in what workers dubbed "quiet layoffs," Insider previously reported.

Growing up, my mom taught me to balance frugality with spending where it makes you happy. I share the same ideas with my financial planning clients: You don't have to be frugal all the time. If you are too frugal, you may find yourself spending more money in the long run than you expected because of poor quality. I teach my clients balance, tooI have helped many clients over the years take that dream vacation or buy that dream home or car. If you want to be frugal, make sure that it is for a goal or purpose and with limitations.

☆ Why this NBA star earning $1.7 million only wears free team gear: 'I think long term'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Nicolas Vega | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

For Jones, wearing his Pelicans gear is less a fashion statement than it is a monetary one. Herbert Jones may be a millionaire, but the second-year NBA player still prefers to get his clothes for free. If I have to wear Pelicans gear ... for the rest of my career, then my kids or kids' kids can go to school for free just based on what I earned in the NBA, then I'm good, I'm cool. If I have to wear Pelicans gear ... for the rest of my career, then my kids or kids' kids can go to school for free just based on what I earned in the NBA, then I'm good, I'm cool." "And I'm like, 'man, I'm good.'"

☆ No More Dinner and a Movie. Cheapskate Daters Want Less.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Rachel Wolfe | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Nearly half of single Gen Zers and millennials have suggested or taken someone on a less expensive date due to inflation, according to a recent survey. Looking for love has always been emotionally draining. Now, it will also drain your bank account even more than it used to. That’s why many daters are increasingly pushing back and embracing frugality. It’s a necessity for some, with the price of restaurant meals up 17% and alcoholic beverages away from home up 12% since before the pandemic, according to the most recent Consumer Price Index.

☆ Being a Cheap Date Is Suddenly a Major Plus
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Rachel Wolfe | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Elon Musk appears to be reading a book by George Washington about how to behave in public
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Grace Kay | Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elon Musk's bedside table appears to feature a book on etiquette by George Washington. Musk shared a picture Monday morning of what he said was on his bedside table. The book gives advice on "how to dress, walk, eat in public, and address one's superiors." It is unclear whether Musk took the picture himself or whether it's actually his bedside table. The box set wasn't the only thing on what Musk said was his bedside table.

Insider's experts choose the best products and services to help make smart decisions with your money (here’s how). I'm not worried about the recession because it feels like I've been practicing for years. Neither of us have family to depend on financially; in fact, we support my partner's family abroad. Ever since, I've bought the vast majority of our kid's clothes secondhand, and this child is never lacking in style. The night we were too broke for a hotel and lucked into a camping spot on a Big Sur riverbank.

☆ Amazon's retail teams told to scale back holiday parties in new, frugal push
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Amazon on Thursday told leaders on its retail team not to hold elaborate holiday parties this year. In more evidence of Amazon's new focus on cost-cutting, leaders of its retail division have been instructed to scale back holiday parties, according to an email sent Thursday by the company's finance department. This week, the company embarked on an unprecedented wave of corporate layoffs, primarily affecting its devices, retail, and human resources divisions. Holiday parties are not immune to the cuts. The email clarified that elaborate holiday parties could "send the wrong signals to the team" in the midst of large-scale layoffs and other cost-cutting measures underway at Amazon.

☆ 5 former Amazon managers tell us what they loved about the company — and what they were glad to leave behind
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | Katie Malone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Many other leaders do the same, the former Amazon leader said. the current Microsoft employee said. For instance, Microsoft gets the whole company together to do activities and donate to causes they like, which Amazon doesn't do, the current Microsoft employee said. Malte Mueller/Getty ImagesDrive for excellence, with burnoutBeyond teaching its own leadership tenets, Amazon isn't big on manager training, one of the current Google employees said. Without proper institutional support, constantly operating at such a high level can lead Amazon employees to burnout, a former Amazon leader who now works at Google said.

☆ Amidst the layoffs at Amazon, the company's ultra-secretive research lab is at risk of being shut. It's a sign things are changing 'dramatically' at the company.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Early last month, members of Amazon's secretive in-house research lab, Grand Challenge, were called into an unexpected video meeting. Weibel announced 3 of the 5 projects Grand Challenge was working on would shut down, effective immediately. When other team employees wanted to collaborate with the team, they needed additional approvals from its leadership. Amazon Glow was among the Grand Challenge projects to be discontinued at the end of this year. Getting support promoting Grand Challenge projects was a challenge too.

☆ Lydia Maria Child Taught Americans to Make Do With Less
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Lydia Moland | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

In 1829, American women preparing their family’s Thanksgiving feast could turn for guidance to one of the country’s first self-help books: “The Frugal Housewife” by Lydia Maria Child, a beloved novelist and children’s writer. Child later immortalized her Thanksgiving memories by turning them into the poem “Over the River and Through the Wood,” but here she focused on practical advice. After winning success in Boston’s literary circles, she became distressed at the ostentatious luxury and idleness that she found among the rich. The “false and wicked parade” of luxury, she wrote, is “morally wrong, so far as the individual is concerned; and injurious beyond calculation to the interests of our country.” Proud of America’s promise, Child worried about its future. “We never shall be free from embarrassment,” she wrote, “until we cease to be ashamed of industry and economy.”

☆ Why a millionaire cofounder of TransPerfect set a financial milestone for her business before hiring her first employee
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

She waited two years, until the business reached $500,000 in annual revenue, to hire employees. This strategy helped the company grow sustainably and remain stable during recessions. She waited two years, until the business reached $500,000 in annual revenue, to hire employees, she said. Elting cofounded the global translation company TransPerfect in 1992 while earning her MBA at New York University. Here's how setting financial goals when hiring employees helped TransPerfect grow at a sustainable pace.

☆ Facebook extends its broad hiring freeze indefinitely amid mass layoffs and a new wave of frugality
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has again extended a hiring freeze in place for months. Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in his Wednesday morning note to employees regarding layoffs that a current hiring freeze at Facebook would extend through March of next year at least. The freeze is taking place amid layoffs that impact more than 11,000 employees, or 13% of its workforce. Now, the company is looking to cut costs even beyond a hiring freeze and layoffs, especially after a disappointing third quarter that sent shares plummeting to a seven-year low. The company is looking at infrastructure costs, closing offices, and even moving to a "desk sharing" model for employees, Zuckerberg said.

☆ One of the US's richest self-made women explains how her company established a 'culture of frugality' that withstood the Great Recession
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Liz Elting cofounded TransPerfect in 1992 and led the company as co-CEO for 26 years. In that time, the company withstood two recessions by staying frugal and minimizing risk. In that time, there were two major recessions in the US: the dot-com bubble burst and the Great Recession of 2008. She's one of America's richest self-made women, according to Forbes, which estimated her net worth in June to be $370 million. "When we didn't have a lot of clients, when we were small and just starting out, we made sure we didn't spend money we didn't have."

☆ Thousands of workers were laid off this week as tech companies and startups brace for an economic crash. Investors, founders, and recruiters explain why this is just the beginning.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Rob Price | Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Amid growing economic uncertainty, layoffs in the technology industry, both for public companies and for startups, have been escalating this Fall. While plenty of tech companies were still flying high in early 2022, Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February accelerated global economic turmoil. More than 17,000 tech workers lost their jobs in both May and June, while July and August saw another 29,000 cuts, according to layoff tracker Layoffs.fyi. Davis, the VC at Interplay, explained that cost-cutting and layoffs are happening across the board, not just in the tech industry. But public tech companies as well as early- and growth-stage startups will face additional challenges, he said.

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