Happy Monday!

It’s the week of Valentine’s, and we love nothing more than money. This week, we’ll dive more into market changes and celebrate the fantastic job search tool Simplify. We know (hope) that you are struggling to get internships, too, so we hope this may help us all.

In this week’s rundown:

• Mutual Fund: If you thought following the S&P 500 makes you a lot of money, wait until you hear what we have to offer

• Jobs: If you thought getting a job was difficult, keeping one may be even harder.

• Simplify: No more mind-numbing job searching! When you inevitably get fired from your last job, this will help you find a new one even quicker.

• Real Estate: No more visiting your friends! Or something like that idk

• Social Ledger: Take your (big man) ting out on a date, then hit the club afterwards.

Career Compass

Market Changes

Good Morning. It’s Valentine's week, and love is in the air. Fortunately for you, we love money, so welcome to this week's finance section. 

D&D Mutual Fund: Vanguard who? We at D&D have had enough of being broke and jobless, so we’re excited to announce the start of our mutual fund. We will pool some money weekly and choose a few stocks to invest in. With each newsletter, we’ll update you on our weekly stock picks and keep a detailed record of our ongoing investments throughout the year. While we’re not here to give you investment advice, hopefully, walking through our strategies and the rationale behind our investments will inspire you to think of ways to make your money work for you. Or we’ll end up 8000 dollars down and embarrass ourselves publicly. Keep reading each week to find out :) 

Markets: 

• S&P 500: + 1.4%

• NASDAQ: + 2.3%

• DOW: – 0.14%

• US Bonds (Ten Year): +4.187%

• Travis Kelce: +20000000%

Special shout out to the one and only Taylor Swift and her wonderful boyfriend for making me $50 this weekend 🙏 (expect weekly returns like this on our mutual fund)

S&P 500: As we see the effects of inflation easing, q4 company reports, and continuing market trends the S&P 500 once again didn’t leave inventors hanging. Finally crossing the 5k barrier, the index closed at a record high of 5026.61 points on Friday. Once again this index exceeds expectations making lucrative Wall St. wealth managers look a lot less appealing when returns on a market level are this high. 

Are we breaking up?: The US and China have had an interesting relationship over the past few years when it comes to our economies. Some will say that our economies are way too intertwined and the US is incredibly reliant on trade with China. However, over the past few years US administrations have invested into bolstering America’s capabilities and reducing the trade deficit by administering tariffs against China. 

You’re getting fired: Just kidding. Maybe. Reports have regularly been showing jobs being added and unemployment stats reducing. However, if you’ve been following news from many large companies, they have announced mass layoffs and role cuts. This paradox has been a very strange one because economic indicators are nothing but booming, but employees are being very vocal about the difficulties of finding jobs at the moment. As a student, I know that looking for internship openings has been unusually difficult compared to what I’ve heard from senior students and past graduates. How has your guys' experience been? Feel free to message @divsanddown on Instagram with your experiences getting hired because we’re genuinely curious. There isn’t a lot of news coverage on this issue yet, but I’m sure we’ll learn more about it in the coming weeks. For now, I’ll leave you with that food for thought. 

AI Gambling: For everyone else who has also recently developed a gambling addiction, here's an exciting development. The gambling industry has started to see the integration of AI into many parts of its operations. For example, AI has been used to optimize games, making them more likely to draw in users to continue playing. Not something we like to hear. On the other hand, developers and casinos are using AI to make gambling more secure for users so that hackers don’t take advantage of online gambling, thus increasing the win rate for consumers. While there are pros and cons, integrating AI into gambling could potentially lead to many ethical and moral concerns that industry players must continue to consider. Who knows, maybe I’ll be asking chat GPT whether I should raise or fold in the next few months. 

Canadians, skip this: For my American friends, everybody knows what yesterday was. Arguably the most patriotic day of the year, super bowl Sunday is a fan favorite, especially this year when it broke all-time viewership records. With that came an absurd amount of money bet on sports gambling sites, with the total hitting a whopping 23.1 Billion dollars. This is a 44% increase from last year's 16 billion, so Americans all have their eyes on the money. Funny enough, though, the majority of the money will be bet illegally (21.6) because many major states, such as California and Texas, haven’t made sports betting legal. Experts say that the illegal market will never completely disappear as people will always try their best to avoid the heavy taxes of legal sports betting. Anyway, I basically just wrote this section to celebrate my parley hitting and to also gloat to all my Niners fans.

TOPIC TWO: Jobs?

We’re all screwed for this summer. However, here are 5 more if you’re still hanging on to a glimpse of hope.

IB (Pathway): BMO-Private Wealth Management Associate Summer 2024

Accounting: MNP Assurance Accounting

Consulting: GIS Analyst Intern-Diamond Head Consulting

BTM: SAP Global Communications Intern

Marketing: Telus Marketing Internship Summer

Academic Alley

Simplify

I don’t have a job lined up yet this summer (please, god, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please), so I’ve been exploring new alternatives to look for jobs. Last week, Sak (our fantastic finance writer) found Simplify - a game-changer in the quest for your dream job (literally anything).

Imagine if finding a job was as easy as picking your next favourite song on a playlist. That's Simplify! They aim not to be just another job board; they're your personalized career matchmaker (Tinder for jobs, and you’ll even experience a similar match rate). Whether you're coding into tech (or whatever comp sci kids do), finding PV of cars for finance, or designing bombs at the cost of your morality at Lockheed, Simplify has got you covered.

Tailored for everyone from the eager beaver fresh out of college to the seasoned pro looking to pivot, Simplify's platform is like having a career advisor in your pocket. They curate job lists that resonate with your career goals, ensuring that your job search is not just a shot in the dark but a targeted mission toward landing that perfect role. Simplify is a beacon for students pursuing internships, guiding them to opportunities that align with their studies and aspirations.

Simplify offers a beacon of hope and efficiency in the bustling world of job hunting, where the search can often feel overwhelming. It's about making meaningful connections between you and your future employer, transforming the daunting task of job searching into a curated journey toward your career dreams.

My Opinion

I’ve used the website for a while over the past few days, and I’m a fan of it. The user interface is very nice, and they do a good job of making you feel like you have a chance someday. I honestly don’t have much to add. They let you select your desired field, location, and experience level, and has a very tinderish feeling interface that makes job applying “fun”. Check it out if you have 15 mins - it only takes about 2 minutes to sign up and is free to use.

STUDENT LIFE

Real Estate Run-Down

Last week, I tried visiting my friends apartment, only to hear that their landlord had banned all visitors. You may remember me mentioning the BC Residential Tenancy Act, which mandates certain rights and responsibilities for both landlords and tenants. We're getting pretty close the housing silly season and I hope you protect yourself from greedy or scummy landlords.

Residential Tenancy Act

As a resident, you're given many fundamental rights that protect your well-being and cannot be infringed upon. One of the biggest areas of concern is contract termination, basically when you're getting kicked out. This can happen if you 1. Fail to pay rent 2. Both parties agree to terminate the contract 3. The landlord gives adequate notice (lots of regulations here). Finally, you can be kicked out "for cause", including various justified reasons such as failure to pay a security deposit, damaging the property, or committing illegal activities.

The Residential Tenancy Act also limits how much landlords can raise rent on their current tenants. Now, landlords are within their rights to terminate leasehold contracts with adequate notice IF a relative intends to move in. So, they tell their tenant their relative wants to live on the property, raise the rent, and remarket the house. This is one of the most common conflicts between tenants and landlords, and the court can reward up to a year's worth of rent in damages if the landlord is found to have fraudulently terminated the contract. If you believe your landlord is breaking the Residential Tenancy Act, check your lease contract and research; you may be right.

Joey’s Pick of The Week

• Two bed

• One bath

• 1150 sqft

• $2750/month

I have been posting a lot of shared houses recently, but not everyone has 3 to 5 friends willing to form a party house. This basement offers two beds with a "versatile den," where you could squeeze in a third roommate to further lower costs. About 30 minutes away from UBC by transit, this place offers 2-3 roommates an economical solution for housing in the upcoming term. (ed

Social Ledger: Non-Sipping

It’s almost Valentine's Day, and we know you guys are looking for a cute date night idea. Thankfully, Hollywood Theater has you covered as they’re hosting Dinner and A Movie, offering Mezze samplers for 2 while screening Pretty Woman. Make sure to buy your tickets soon since they’re already 75% sold out to enjoy the romantic escape.

TLDR:

• Who? → Hollywood Theater

• What? → Dinner and A Movie

• When? → February 14th, 6pm - 10pm

• Where? → 3123 W Broadway, Kitsilano

• Why? → So you can finally ask out your crush

• How? (much) → $104.88 (Dinner for 2) & $19.26 (Movie for 2)

Social Ledger: Sipping

Now that you’ve enjoyed a nice meal watched an entertaining movie and found that spark with your date, all that you have left to do is a party! Look no further than our Pit Pub to get you, your date and your friends dancing all night long. They’re turning up on campus on Valentine's Day with some of the best DJs and your favourite beats. Grab your guestlist and practice your best dance moves to impress that special someone.

TLDR:

• Who? → The Pit Pub

• What? → Valentine’s Day

• Where? → The Pit Pub

• When? → February 14th

• Why? → To secure the bag

• How? (much) → TBD, waiting for CEO Ishaan Lalvani to get back to us (hopefully 0)

WRAPPING UP

Andddddd - we are done!

We’re finally gearing up, and are hoping to make 100 bajillion dollars in the upcoming months. As always, please send your hate mail below.

[email protected]