SoFi Blog

You’ve likely heard a lot of buzz about how the gig economy is disrupting the job market in the US. Perhaps you’re ready to join the legions of Americans working at home in their PJs or starting a little side hustle to earn extra cash. Here’s a look at what the gig economy is and tips for staying financially successful if you join it.

It seems like only yesterday we were welcoming a new year. For many investors, the first half of 2019 has been a welcome sight after a bumpy 2018. And d/espite some pundits trying to discount the rally or arguing the next recession is near, markets are reaching all-time highs. June was a busy month, so sit back and catch up on some highlights.

On March 21, the floor of the New York Stock Exchange was full of traders wearing denim jackets and blue jeans. No, it wasn’t casual Friday (in fact, it was a Thursday). The occasion for breaking their strict dress code? Levi Strauss, the iconic jeans maker, was going public after a 30-year hiatus from the markets.

In a season of roller coaster initial public offerings (IPOs) for upstarts, like Lyft and Uber, the 165 year-old brand had a more streamlined debut. Levi Strauss shares soared 30% in the first day of trading, increasing from $17 to more than $22 per share.

(The company’s bankers had initially advised Levi to price its shares even lower, between $14 and $16, apparently underestimating Wall Street’s demand.) The company’s valuation surged from $6.6 billion to $8.7 billion as a result.

In all, the company offered 36.7 million shares , raising $623.3 million, in the offering. Fittingly, it is trading under the ticker symbol “LEVI.” As of mid-June 2019 , the share price was at $21.49 with a market capitalization of $8.4 billion.

The Levi’s brand has stood the test of time (who doesn’t love a pair of 501 jeans?). Here’s a bit of background about this company’s colorful history and why it went public, then private—then public again.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies aren’t endorsed or guaranteed by any government, are volatile, and involve a high degree of risk. For more information, see FINRA , SEC , and CFPB public advisories concerning digital asset risk.

Facebook is no stranger to mixing it up—and making headlines. First, they dropped the word “the” from their name to go from “the Facebook ” to just Facebook.

They then created the timeline, and put the algorithm through change after change, which probably led to at least one person you know to post a message about how they hoped it would somehow go back to how it used to be.

They bought Instagram and a VR company and put Farmville requests into countless American homes and mobile devices. Now they’re looking to make waves again with Libra.

You might be thinking that Libra is a new social media platform, a hot new unicorn startup acquisition, or a codename for a killer new feature.

It’s none of those things. It’s actually the big blue thumb’s first foray into the world of cryptocurrency. Yep, Facebook, that very same Facebook, now has its very own altcoin and they announced it Tuesday, June 18 with a whitepaper called “An Introduction to Libra .”

Slack Technologies, Inc. is a game-changing and familiar company that’s been making waves around Silicon Valley and across the globe. With that, it’s no surprise that their upcoming IPO is cause for some buzz in the investment world.

Some of you might even be logged into Slack right now. If you’re not already familiar with the company, it provides a cloud-based messaging and file-sharing service that facilitates workplace collaboration. You can think of it as a hub that replaces email.

Anyone that’s ever worked on a project with a team of people while at work knows that email doesn’t always get the job done. Email is one-sided, and conversations can become buried under the pile of junk that constantly pollutes our inboxes. And most importantly, it is not conducive to a fluid conversation between a group of people.

The need for such a service was clearly there. Slack filled that void and has subsequently seen success, and is now taking the company public.