In my plan to change the world, I wish to start my own venture that is focused on creating financial education opportunities to those in even the poorest of areas. I know in my previous post I discussed how the poorest have very little money to save or to even budget however it is providing them with the knowledge to use assets, skills, and day to day activities to help better their financial situation. I hope to start a company that assesses each community of impoverished, not the just the poor, but those at the very bottom and teach them what they can do to get out of their situation. Obviously this involves providing some sort of capital however I believe I can use the capital to help on the micro level. Rather than paying and opening a business for someone, I would like to teach them how to open the business with the money I have provided. It is not only about providing something to these in the poorer areas but it is also about changing the mindset. Often those who are impoverished believe they can only escape the slums through a miracle. However, by investing a little amount of capital into each member of the society, I can create a microeconomy and help them build towards a better future. I am passionate about this because working for a financial education company in Brazil has taught me things. Not only has it taught me about the working C-class, the middle class, but it has also taught me about what the D and E classes of Brazil don't have. I understand middle class can use the conventional style of financial education however there is a whole new world and market for the lower income class. This kind of education doesn't pertain to investing and stock markets but rather ways to save money, ways to make a daily income stream, ways to start a small but attainable business. I think Anima Mundi should support The Shah Firm because we are trying to start at the very bottom. I don't want to be a common failure of helping and then not providing the infrastucture needed to sustain for the future. I want to teach and then allow the teachings to take practice for the lives of each and every person affected.

How to make the world a better place by Ankit Shah

So how to make the world a better place...a question the academics have been pondering for ages. There is no specific answer, no specific solution, however, there are some identifiable problems that need to be resolved. To me, I believe the number one issue that needs to be solved is education. More specifically financially education. Although I know we were told to ignore money, I think educating people on how to manage their money is the key to pulling people out of poverty. Now I know the first backlash will be "how do you get people in the poorest of the poorest areas like the slums of India, or the favelas in Brazil out poverty and tell them to save their money when they spend it all on just surviving"? Well the answer to that is not just teach them how to save money but also how to make money. After consulting for Barkus Educational, a Brazilian social enterprise teaching financial education, I have learned specific ways to provide this type of knowledge. While Barkus is a for-profit company, I had to complete benchmark analysis of their competitors, many being non-profits. Teaching classes about entrepreneurship, selling or creating goods out of what you have, is key to helping establish a solid source of income. Additionally, when the market is stimulated in the slum, a community based off trading, bartering, and selling each others goods to one another, every member of the community benefits. I don't think that having online classes will help someone in the slums if they don't even have internet. I don't think having workshops about saving and investing will help somebody when they have no money to save as all is spent on food. teaching people ways to make side money to help them in the future is key. Although this is an overarching idea and cannot be applied everywhere, I think it would be more beneficial when each organization looked at each slum as a community and focused on stimulating growth differently for each area. Not every impoverished area is the same and I think that is how they should be approached.

T-4 weeks

T-4 Weeks! In only four weeks, I will no longer be a student at the University of Southern California. Technically at least. While I am excited to leave USC, I am also quite sad as I have enjoyed so much while my time in Southern California. There has been so much that USC has given to me I don’t even know where to start. Whether it was from all of the bonding with my suitemates to taking part in clubs and startups and case competitions, my year at USC has been very fruitful. I am so glad that I got to go to USC first of the three schools in the World Bachelor program.

Just thinking about leaving California, hell even America, is very daunting. The whole idea of building a support system at college is built off the assumption of staying at the college for four years. For me, that whole idea was flipped upside down because now I have to keep rebuilding that support structure at each of the universities I go to. However, the biggest thing I am thankful for is my cohort. Class of 2021 has quickly gone from strangers from all around of the world to some of my closest friends in just the span of 8 months. The funny part is that in high school I would say I met friends that I would keep for a lifetime however now thinking about it, the kids in my program are those who will stick with me for a lifetime. I get the privilege of living, studying, and traveling with 51 unique other individuals. Each one of us brings something new to the table and I cannot wait to see us prosper and develop into successful young adults

Born on 3rd Base

I very much enjoyed this book as it is something that I intrisically believe in. I completely agree that there is a huge inequality gap that needs to be fixed somehow but I must admit I have no idea how. While I myself grew up in a rather well to do immigrant family, I cannot say that I experienced financial difficulty. However, I do understand what Collins says when he says that the inequality gap will only widen if nothing happens. I believe that the wealthy class must give back but they must do so willingly, not out of force or pity. Imposing huge amounts of tax on them show how our society is punishing those to help others, which is counterintuitive for success and growth.

One part that I disagreed with was doing drastic changes such as vastly increasing the minimum wage. While that may benefit those whose wage is increased, it creates a shortage of demand for more employees. It is simple economics that when wage increases, companies want to pay for less workers. I am interested to read the rest of the novel as I have only gotten through parts of the beginning. 

Case Comping- the pros and the cons

This past weekend, I was fortunate to have competed in the Marshall International Case Competition, a four day event filled with meeting new people, exploring LA, and eating good food on USC’s paycheck! Without giving a detailed explanation of what the case was actually about- if you are interested go check out my teammate Sarah Shaw’s blog- I was surprised when a case competition gave me a problem about an entire industry. This year’s MICC case was about the failing shopping mall management industry. Typically, we are tasked of solving a specific company’s problems with innovative and detailed explanations however this time we had to talk about a very broad subject. All in all, the case competition was an amazing time of learning and sleep deprivation. On top of getting some good feedback from judges, I also go to enjoy the friendship of kids from around the world: Hong Kong, New Zealand, Korea, and others. However, now that the case competition is over, I am back to reality and that is loads of makeup work that I have. For the past 5 weeks leading up to this event we have been training about 20-30 hours a week meaning I am short-changing a lot of time studying and sometimes having to skip lectures. As I am writing this I have 3 more chapters of Econ351 to write as well as 3 more chapters of Psychology that I need to study before my next midterm. Although I enjoyed every moment of the case competition, I am excited to get back on a regular sleep schedule as well as attending class and catching up on work! Adios till next post!

The Dollar Bills of the Super Bowl

The Dollar Bills of the Super Bowl

How Much Money is Behind the Biggest Event in America's Most Watched Sport Called Football?

 As the Super Bowl just recently passed by us with the Eagles successfully dethroning Tom Brady and Co, it is interesting to think about how much this annual occasion cost.

While many of the figures are not out about Super Bowl LII yet, there is a plethora of history to look at.

Super Bowl day Sunday is arguably on it’s way of becoming an American holiday. When putting Super Bowl viewership into perspective, if you combined the numbers that Donald Trump's inauguration (30.6M), the 89th Academy Awards (32.9M), and the 59th Annual Grammy Awards (26.1M) all received, you would still be 21.7 million viewers shy of Super Bowl LI.

As a sport as a whole, only 37 of the top 50 TV broadcasts in 2017 were football related with the top three being championship or playoff games. So what do these large numbers mean? Money.

Rushing into Consumer and Business Spending

When the regular American thinks of the super bowl, he thinks of the best NFC and AFC teams facing off in the football battle of the year. However, when businesses think of the super bowl, they think of money., money, and money! To many Americans, the Super Bowl is just as important as Black Friday, Halloween, and New Years is. "Nowhere else will you get a live audience — reaching roughly one-third of the U.S. population — that is eagerly anticipating both the game and the ads." Anything from beverage companies to car dealers use this time to advertise. While some ads focus on the products of the companies themselves such as a Jeep advertising its new Wrangler, others focus on their partnerships with organizations like Toyota with the 2018 Paralympics. The goal of the ads is to increase spending throughout the value chain. Not surprisingly, this football-filled Sunday has no trouble accomplishing this.

For those tuning into the big game from home, Super Bowl ads are paramount. This past Super Bowl labelled a $5.05 million dollar cost for each 30 second commercial. Only seven years prior, the price for a 30 second clip was only 2.98 million, a 69% increase. With the number of viewers only increasing roughly 20%, the price of the advertisements shows the heightened demand in the constant supply. In preparation of the watch parties, about $14.1 billion dollars on Super Bowl Sunday, beating Halloween by over 5 billion dollars in revenue. Clearly, team decor and beer have more value than candy and costumes- beer sales alone actually reached $600 million dollars. But the costs and revenues don't just end in the home, as thousands of fans from around the country gather in the stadium to celebrate their favorite sport.

Tackling the Costs to Attend the Big “SB”

For many, watching the Super Bowl through the TV is just not enough. Many fans want to attend the games to experience the atmosphere of a championship game. Fans chant, music blasts, wallets cringe. For many, attending the Super Bowl is more expensive than their own honeymoon. About 8-13 times more expensive (an assumption from Honeymoon.com study showing a $5000 price tag). Purchasing tickets to the big game can cost a minimum of $3,550 and a maximum of $66,650 on StubHub.

The location of the seat is the major factor that influences the price, however, time of purchase does also make a difference. In 2015, the price of reselling at ticket listed at around $6,000 about a week before the game but in just two days the price shot up to $10,500. The trend of prices increasing drastically is not uncommon for events of this size. Of the 1 million attendees expected to flock into the Twin Cities, many will not find free accommodation. For those coming in for just a weekender can expect to spend about $6,000. Exploring the city and other such activities will only add on top of the fee to stay in a hotel and enjoy the rest of the Super Bowl amenities. On the contrary, those interested in enjoying all that the NFL has to offer can look to spend over $30,000, tickets and other accommodations included. As much as it costs the individual to enjoy the Super Bowl trip, the costs to run the whole event far surpass these figures.

Passing Around Operation Costs

Each year, cities bid to earn the spot of hosting the next Super Bowl. Because the teams playing have no effect on the location of the game, there is even more competition to earn the title of host city. For SB 52, Minneapolis earned the position and prepared itself for the influx of visitors. Public safety accounted for over 6 million dollars in public safety and another 1.1 million dollar on public transport. Although the cost of freeing up hotels and over 35,000 parking spaces was a requirement, an expected 203 million dollars will generate over the weekend for the Twin Cities. Another cost that many consumers do not think about is the cost of the halftime performers. Surprisingly, it is $0. The reasoning behind this figure is that the NFL only pays for operation and performance costs because the position of being the halftime performer is enough marketing revenue for years.

Going the 100 Yards

The Super Bowl is the time to rejoice with friends and family. It is the time to enjoy America’s favorite sport. Behind all of the advertisements, nachos, and tackles, there lies a multi-million dollar industry. Businesses know what the consumer wants and the consumer loves it. Because the Super Bowl is the pinnacle of the annual football season, there is no reason not spend a little bit of money. The next time you are on the border of buying that flashy $80 jersey, just remember, you account for only 0.0000008% of the revenue for that week. So why the hell not.