Here are three of the week's top pieces of financial insight, gathered from around the web:
A plateau for Apple and Microsoft?
The Nasdaq 100 just entered a bull market, which means it may be time to sell, said Ben Levisohn in Barron's. So far in 2023, the index is up 21.9 percent. "Why dump what's working?" It's become too top-heavy. "Apple, for instance, has surged 25 percent this year, and its weight in the S&P 500 has grown from a problematic 6.4 percent to a troublesome 7.6 percent." Microsoft, too, has an outsize weight in the market. "Many portfolio managers have a 5 percent cap on the weight of stocks they can own, so every time Apple surges, they need to scale back." That puts downward pressure on the stock. As tech stocks have risen, other indexes have barely budged. That doesn't mean a drop in Apple, Microsoft, or the Nasdaq is imminent, but the risk is there, so consider taking profits now.
Surviving mid-career job loss
A mid-career layoff can be especially traumatic, especially if it's been a while since you've been in the job market, said Alicia Adamczyk in Fortune. With that said, career coaches say it's important for the newly unemployed to jump back into the applicant pool as quickly as possible. "A lot of people want to be really choosy and want only what they had, and they spend two years out of the job market," said one HR expert. Consider cross-industry roles that can sustain you, because a big career gap "can be potentially detrimental to future opportunities." It's also important to "be proactive" and use your network. That includes LinkedIn, where you shouldn't be shy "about posting that you are open to opportunities."
Investing in celebrity-backed brands
It's not easy to be like actor Ryan Reynolds, said Chris Bryant in Bloomberg. This "handsome, kind, and humorous family man has become astronomically wealthy from side hustles." He's a part-owner of Mint Mobile, which was recently acquired for $1.35 billion by T-Mobile. Before that, Reynolds' Aviation Gin brand was bought by Diageo for $610 million. Now more "celebrities are clamoring for equity in the companies they're promoting." But long-term success for celebrity-backed companies often turns out to be elusive. Despite Oprah Winfrey's close involvement, Weight Watchers is now "worth less than when she invested in 2015." Jessica Alba's Honest Co. has shrunk in value from $2 billion to $160 million.
This article was first published in the latest issue of The Week magazine. If you want to read more like it, you can try six risk-free issues of the magazine here.
