FinanceMaster

By Oliver Rahman If you're li ke me, chances are when you turned 18 you had little understanding of how a credit card really worked. And yet, it is one of the most important things you will ever have in your adult life! Use it wrong, and you will be eternally in debt and be very limited financially. Use it right, and you can prosper and achieve financial stability (among other things!) So, How should you start? To start off, I would recommend getting a general credit card when you turn 18. The credit card I personally use is the Discover it® Student Cash Back as it has 5% cash back on items that rotate every 3 months and cashback match (which they give out every year). The card also offers 1-2% cashback on everyday items. Considering most students spend lots of money on things online, discover would be the best option for students. The discover card is also usually in the top 3 for NerdWallet rankings for students. Other cards, like Capital One Savor Student Cash Rewards Credit Ca...

By Oliver Rahman Last week Slate Auto released their truck that is meant to "revolutionize" the industry. This truck is meant to cost in the vicinity of 20k (after federal tax credits) for the base model. The trucks are expected to be delivered to customers by late 2026. The company has already started taking reservations for a refundable $50 fee. A few problems... However, a couple interesting problems come to mind. The first one being the price and what you get. The base model that is meant to be cheap and has no stereo, no speakers, and no touchscreen as well as manual roll down windows. This is meant to make it as "affordable" as possible. I think this is too much and there's a fine line between cheap and practical. For example, the most recent Kia K4 comes with touchscreens, automatic windows and stereos for only 23k, questioning whether this is to make the car more affordable or just to increase Slate's margins. I'm not sure of too many who would ...

  By Oliver Rahman Just this February, China has taken the #2 spot for soft power in the world, with the United States being first. 10 years ago, China was only #30! Why is this happening? This ranking reflects China's growing influence in culture, media, education, and sustainability, as well as its strong reputation in business and trade. With China spending billions of dollars on movies such as Ne Zhe 2 (2025), the Wandering Earth 2 (2023), and Better Days (2019) getting huge recognition outside of China with some making hundreds of millions or even BILLIONS worldwide. China's companies like BYD and Tencent, and Temu are getting more prominent worldwide. Countries in Europe and Asia have been buying Chinese cars faster than American car companies in recent years. Temu was able to break into American space and take over an in-demand industry, and Tencent continues to influence gaming worldwide owning/holding popular game companies such as Riot, Supercell, and Epic Games. Tou...

  Interesting fact! This Wednesday, the NASDAQ rose 12.2% by market close! This was the most the NASDAQ has risen since 2001. Other indexes like the S&P 500 and Dow Jones haven't rose this much since 2008 and 2020 respectively. The Nasdaq's 12.2% surge on Wednesday was largely driven by President Trump's decision to pause reciprocal tariffs on most countries for 90 days, while raising tariffs on China to 125%. This move eased investor concerns about a broader trade war, leading to a massive rally across major U.S. stock indexes. Of course, even though the markets went up Wednesday, indexes like the NASDAQ are still down 12.2% year over year. Yesterday the market also did a correction with most indexes falling ~3%. However, this rise might continue if trade wars don't get worse in the following weeks/months. If you like these posts, consider subscribing to my  Newsletter!

  By  Oliver Rahman What if you could buy something, and make more than you put in? It feels strange to even think that, when you buy something for $100, you don't get "change" of $110 do you? After reading this article, however, you're going to be shocked to see, that in a way, you really can . As a Finance major, I strive to learn more about finance and all the ways to spend, save and make money. A fascinating (and yet dystopian) thing I came across was buy now, pay later (referred to as now on as BNPL). Buy now pay later is a tool used by consumers to buy everyday items for nothing upfront and paying the items off over a course of weeks/months. Companies like Affirm and After pay offer 0% interest on these payments, unless you miss a payment. If you miss one, you'll be paying back more than you originally paid. Think of these companies as loans for small things. BNPL is mainly used by the younger generation, with 58% of gen z and 64% of millennials. Many critic...