Like the ones discussed in the article, Mercury also keeps customer funds in Evolve, among other banks (I guess they claim to spread your money around so you don't have more thank 250K in any one basket). So if I understand correctly, the problem is that I have no visibility to the back end, so if Mercury keels over I'll have trouble getting my money?
* I used SVB for 25 years, but over the past few years their service declined and First Republic poached a lot of their good guys, so I switched to FRB. With a track record like that, perhaps Mercury should reject me?
In another article currently being discussed, [1] Mercury has said they may be affected by a breach at Evolve. Yikes.
What they're trying to say here is YOU ARE NOT INSURED IN ANY WAY IF MERCURY STEALS YOUR MONEY.
I hope this makes it more clear to you.
p.s., Brex works fine for day-to-day transactions like AR, AP, and Payroll. We've been quite happy with it, but these days you can't fully trust any financial institution.
FRB's tech portfolio and team is now part of them, and a number of SVB accounts ik of move there as well.
Separately, I have heard a lot of bad things about Chase, and experienced some as well over the years. I'd be hesitant to open up an account there from a customer service perspective, although I assume the deposits would be safe at such a large mega-bank.
True, I am not wealthy enough for Chase to care, but they send me marcom as if I had zero understanding of finance, to the point of it being offensive.
I am in the process of moving my personal accounts out, to another bank who is willing to put me in the correct cohort (I realized I’m paying them ~$500/year for that btw. Which is very little considering the costs). My mortgage would stay at Chase, because of interest rates, and I’ll have to keep getting marcom that assumes I think of it as a IOU and not a financial instrument.
Private/Relationship banking might be lackluster with JPM depending on your account size.
Idk if I'd trust a non-FDIC insured bank and any bank that isn't Basel 1/2 compliant so most Neobanks seem too risky. They anyhow prefer to use state chartered banks which tend to be significantly more brittle than nationally chartered banks.
when a "99 cents!" bag of chips is now "$2.99 only!" and the price of fuel doesn't correlate to anything except oil company P&E charts...
Just remember, The "$6 burger" was both making fun of the fact that restaurants charged $6 for a hamburger, as well as less than $6 for the entire meal (usually ~$4 al a carte). That food place ceased offering the $6 burger when the meal went over $8, and that was over a decade ago.
I got quoted out $1000 for 200 feet of garden hose from a hose supplier last week. meanwhile the state government has only given ~6% pay increase in the last decade to civil employees. in the last 12 years i've reduced my electricity usage by 60% by both moving high power stuff to a cheaper facility and buying more energy efficient appliances and such. My electric bill is the exact same (plus or minus 10%) as it was 12 years ago.
I could go on comparing what things used to cost to what they cost now (if you can even get them at all), and my spreadsheet says the "inflation" numbers we're given either are flat out lies or otherwise so misunderstand what people spend money on monthly that it may as well be a lie. Compare a 198X Ford Mustang 6 cylinder base model to any year model you please. Then convince me that moving from metal to plastic and computerizing everything so the wires can be much smaller somehow justifies the price hike, there.
p.s. don't do this with rent or mortgages unless you want to cry.
The 1985 Ford Mustang was an amazing feat of engineering - for its time. We're 40 years past that though, and cars are more expensive for a lot more reasons than just plastic. Nevermind the plastic, the metal used in today's cars didn't exist as little as 10 years ago, never mind 40.
3000 miles unless synthetic then 5 or 6 (same as my 2012 lexus with a simlar sized engine), 17-18MPG (same as my lexus), and "if you have a wrench and a Haynes you're halfway done".
hope this clears up some things.
eta: the 0-60 i am not sure, i'm sure my car with a 4.6 liter is faster and isn't governed at the same speed as the 1985 mustang, but it's not an order of magnitude faster or anything - the mustangs with large engines were always "fast" and relatively safe. I've owned 3 from the 90s and wrecked two and walked away with nary a bruise from insurance totals.
also if i drive intending to "Hypermilage" i can get nearly 30MPG out of my lexus, but i could get ~30 in a Mitsubishi Evo X and a F-550, too. Daily driving is <20MPG on all those. For reference on a 1.6L i can get nearly 80MPG on certain roads, and always above 65MPG. It annoys everyone around me though, so i tend to only do it if i am driving across country, which is the boringest thing ever.
BLS official inflation: $100 in Jan 2010 had the purchasing power of $144.94 today. That works out to 2.6%/yr by my math. So that's the "official" number that we want to disprove
Gallon of gas: $2.77 in 2010, $3.20 in Jan 24. 15% increase, 1% annualized
Honda Civic [not doing Mustang because it's harder to find data and as a luxury vehicle the comparison isn't as clean]: $16,205 in 2010, 24,000 today. 50% increase, 2.8% annualized
Big Mac: $3.73 in 2010, $5.69 today. 52% increase, 3% annualized
I live in an HCOL area, and did in 2010, so both of these sets of numbers feel a little low to me, but they mostly match my experience. As far as I can tell inflation mostly matches what the government reports, with some sectors coming in under and theoretically balancing out those that come in over (the classics of education, medicine, and housing). Those sectors that are outpacing are a real problem! But I think the consumer goods shadow-inflation people complain about is not borne out by data.
CPI: https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm?mf_ct_camp...
Gas prices: https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=e...
Civic: https://www.kbb.com/honda/civic/2010/ (original MSRP in Pricing section) and same URL ending in 2024
Big Mac 2010: http://www.maxi-pedia.com/big+mac+index+2010
Big Mac 2024: https://www.statista.com/statistics/274326/big-mac-index-glo...
McDonald's subsidizes their food with drinks; regardless, though, inflation (in last decade only) on McChicken is 199%, mcdouble 169%, medium fries 138%; taco bell: 5-layer 132%; popeye's mashed potatoes 134%. See? onion-picking the big mac as the basis makes inflation "look better"
My car insurance is double what it was in 2014. My electric bill is easily 60% more expensive than it was in 2014, i said that already. That's more than double the 2.6% BLS numbers.
we can go around all day, but citing the government for numbers about inflation seems counter-productive.
anyone else notice how few fireworks were going off prior to july 4th? or after? Is that normal?
I know it's not really your point, but what kind of hose? I bought 100' of 3/4" "contractor" hose from Tractor Supply this last winter for $79. Even the in-ground stuff doesn't cost that much.
What I did not know is that FDIC insurance doesn't apply while money is being _transferred_ between accounts (SIPC insurance apparently applies here).
Wealthfront and Betterment are tiny compared to others, but share the same field with the big players who have interest to not make people scared shitless.
It is the fast and loose, innocent because proving guilt is an effort, fintech I am sacred of: crypto, binary options etc.
https://support.wealthfront.com/hc/en-us/articles/3600441608...
Instead we do no regulation, these "not-banks lying and claiming your money is safe" get to harm a lot of people, and the public further loses trust in everyone involved.
To anyone reading this who has money in any business that claims not to be a bank but instead your money is super-safely stored in a real bank somewhere and so there's no risk to you: run away, run away fast. Get your money out and close your account. You're in a Ponzi scheme and you don't realize it.
FDIC is a moral hazard in my opinion. The only thing the government should do is let people with low incomes claim their money back in advance so that they can pay their bills.
> Synapse often used multiple Partner Banks to service different functions for the same Fintech Partner. In certain instances, end user deposits through a Fintech Partner were deposited in an account at one Partner Bank, while end user withdrawals through that same Fintech Partner were processed from a different account at a different Partner Bank. This business model makes it both essential and difficult to reconcile transactions and ensure end users receive access to the correct amount of funds due to each end user.
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68458190/synapse-financ...
This fintech product model, with multiple intermediaries and service providers between end users and the depository banks, is a house of cards. Is running your bank-like financial services product as an actual bank that hard? These technology companies seem to want all the upsides of being a bank, with none of the responsibilities.
From my perspective, the big gap is that these depository banks aren't maintaining the customer and transaction data for the beneficial owners of the money they have on deposit. They seem like they should be the ones ultimately responsible for safeguarding the customer's funds. In the middle of this, the Federal Reserve dropped this gem about KYC non-compliance for one of the banks involved, swearing that it has nothing to do with the Synapse bankruptcy.
https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/enfo...
