Insider Finance - Business - Insider Today: I got scammed on Zelle

October 8, 2023 • 3 min read

with Matt Turner

Hello! Welcome back to Insider Today’s Sunday edition, a roundup of the week’s top stories. I’m Matt Turner, the editor in chief of business at Insider. 

On the agenda today:

But first: The US economy just won’t slow down.

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Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Dispatch

No signs of slowing

The US economy added 336,000 jobs in September, smashing expectations. The performance is especially striking when yields on longer-term Treasury bonds and mortgage rates are at multiyear highs.

What do the jobs numbers tell us? The US economy is still firing in the face of aggressive monetary tightening and interest rates are likely to stay higher for longer.

That’s bad news for stocks, which are less attractive when it’s possible to get 6% on a savings account. And the bond market has suffered a historic rout, as bonds bought when interest rates were much lower get sold in favor of higher-yielding assets.

But what’s bad news for markets is good news for the economy. Unemployment remains at historic lows, and inflation continues to show signs of abating.

Hugo Herrera for Insider

This week's top reads

Social media is splintering

Back in the good ol’ days, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter were about making a real social connection. But the big players have allowed social media to evolve into what it is today: a mess of ads, shouting, and curated content.

Many young people are sick of it and are taking refuge in close-knit private circles like group chats. Welcome to the new era of social media — it may actually be better than what came before.

Read more about this inevitable change.

Also read:

• The loneliness epidemic, the new bet investors are going after

Tyler Le/Insider

America should copy Tokyo

The median home price has jumped more than 50% since 2020, and rent payments are taking an ever-growing share of our paychecks. 

But why isn’t Tokyo, a city facing the same pressures of scarce land and a growing population, also struggling with affordability? The answer: They’re building more homes than the US and at a faster speed, too. And America should take note.

How to avoid doom loops by following Tokyo’s lead.

Madison Ketcham

The great Zelle pool scam

Devin Friedman and his wife just wanted a swimming pool. But after they sent their deposit to their contractor through Zelle, things started to go wrong. Very, very wrong.

In an Insider story that’s gone viral, Devin writes about being scammed out of $31,000 — and the difficult lesson he and his wife learned about the downside of payment apps.

Read it here.

Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/Insider

No-nonsense noncompete 

Restricting employees from working for rivals with noncompetes is a common practice in finance. But former employees are typically paid for their so-called “gardening leave.” 

But at the $5 billion quant fund The Voleon Group, noncompetes haven’t always included payment, according to ex-employees. And the California hedge fund has managed to do so despite state labor laws banning the enforcement of noncompetes. 

More on one hedge fund’s aggressive noncompetes.

This week's quote

"We're all waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel.”

— A current Hollywood assistant told Insider about working in the entertainment industry right now.

More of this week’s top reads:

Event invite

Join us on October 19 at 12 p.m. ET: Our virtual event Driving Company Growth Through Creating a Culture of Ownership, sponsored by Morgan Stanley at Work, invites experts in equity, finance, and HR to share ways you can create a culture of ownership, empower and educate your employees on equity, and prepare your company for a liquidity event or an IPO. Register now.

The Insider Today Sunday team

Matt Turner, editor in chief of business, in New York City. Dan DeFrancesco, senior editor, in New York City. Diamond Naga Siu, senior reporter, in San Diego. Grace Lett, associate editor, in Chicago. Hallam Bullock, editor, in London. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York City.

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