Good morning. It's Thursday, Dec. 18, and welcome to this week's Business & Finance newsletter. This week, we're covering MBAs, Consulting, and the Gold Standard, a topic we've seen crop up more in recent weeks as gold continues hitting record-high prices.
—Phoebe Bain, 1440 Business & Finance Section Editor
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MBAs 101
A Master of Business Administration is a graduate degree that prepares students for a career in business management. Graduates pursue a variety of professions, including roles in finance, entrepreneurship, and consulting. The degree typically takes roughly two academic years to complete, and approximately 200,000 MBA students in the US are enrolled in a typical year.
Joseph Wharton established the first undergraduate business school at the University of Pennsylvania in 1881 to address the growing need for dynamic professional business managers amid the Industrial Revolution. Dartmouth's Tuck School introduced the Master of Science in Commerce, the MBA’s predecessor, in 1900. In 1908, Harvard Business School pioneered the first modern MBA format.
People often decide to get an MBA to facilitate a career change or add more credibility to their existing résumés. An MBA helps graduates earn an additional $662,290 over 10 years, according to one recent study—although that number varies significantly based on the MBA program’s prestige, as well as one’s pre-MBA salary and chosen industry.
Also, check out ...
> Women were barred from MBA enrollment for half a century. (Read)
> The tech, finance, and consulting industries hire roughly 70% or more of the students from top MBA programs. (Watch)
> An MBA return on investment calculator. (Explore)
> The MBA jargon dictionary. (Explore)
Explore everything else we've found on MBAs. |
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‘Tis The Season For Spending |
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December is here, and that means our credit cards are about to get a workout. But in between all the travel, gift shopping, holiday parties, and countless other costly capers, we’re left with just one burning question… What’s your credit card doing for you?
If you have Apple Card, that answer is easy: A whole lot. Not only do you earn up to 3% Daily Cash back on every purchase when you use your iPhone or Apple Watch, but you pay zero fees while you’re at it – no annual fees, no foreign transaction fees, no hidden fees, no fees. Period. Plus, Apple Card gets you access to a high-yield Savings account earning 3.65% APY when you open one through Apple Card, so your money can make you more money.
Ready to make the most of your holiday spending? Apply for your Apple Card right here.
Terms apply. Savings provided by Goldman Sachs Bank USA. Member FDIC. |
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The gold standard, explained
A gold standard is a system where a country’s currency is pegged to, and can be converted into, a fixed amount of gold. It’s typically meant to create a sense of security in the country’s currency: When a government uses a gold standard, its currency can be exchanged for an equivalent amount of gold—although regulations around redemption vary by country.
After the Civil War, in 1873, America adopted the gold standard for the first time. At the time, if gold was priced at $100 an ounce, each dollar represented one one-hundredth of an ounce of real gold. However, the US started ramping down its use of the gold standard in 1933 in order to control gold’s supply and price, abandoning the gold standard altogether in 1971.
No government currently uses the gold standard. Some argue that globalization has made the gold standard impractical for modern economies, as it limits a nation’s ability to have a flexible monetary policy.
Also, check out ...
> A startup is trying to create the diamond equivalent of the gold standard. (Read)
> As of 2024, about 77% of the world's gold reserves had been mined. (View)
> How did Fort Knox become the storehouse for much of the nation's gold? (Watch)
> Gold has no nutritional value or flavor—but edible gold is still popular. (Watch)
Explore everything else we've found on the Gold Standard. |
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What is consulting?
Consulting is a broad industry focused on helping organizations solve a wide range of problems they lack the ability to address on their own. These may include anything from launching a new product to guiding large-scale organizational changes.
Consulting firms have a significant amount of influence, working with clients from Fortune 50 businesses to the federal government. But despite the global consulting industry’s size (it was valued at roughly $710B as of 2023, according to data from research and advisory firm Kennedy Intelligence), it can be mysterious. Consulting firms’ clients and the problems they help solve are typically kept confidential, and their efforts are often largely invisible to the general public.
The “Big Three” and the “Big Four” consulting firms are often considered the world’s most prestigious and well-known consulting firms. These seven firms collectively made up about 20% of the global consulting market by revenue in 2023, according to Kennedy Intelligence Managing Partner Tom Rodenhauser.
Also, check out ...
> Consulting is especially popular with graduates of prestigious colleges. (Read)
> Is America too dependent on consulting? (Watch)
> The history of consulting. (Watch)
> A "consulting slop" generator. (Explore)
Explore everything else we've found on Consulting. |
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One Story We're Taking Stock In |
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In the 1990s and early 2000s, toys like Tickle Me Elmo and Razor scooters topped children's holiday wish lists. Today's kids, however, are asking for a toy created by a former AI application startup out of Silicon Valley.
This story (which was among my favorite reads of the week) not only explains how Nex, the maker of the Playground game console, marketed itself into thousands of letters to Santa this year, but also tells the familiar tale of how a startup's ability to pivot on a dime can catapult it to success. |
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> The hottest toy of the year is made by a tech startup you’ve never heard of. (Read) |
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The Holidays Came Early For Your Wallet |
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December is rough for our wallets. They get used throughout the holidays and rack up credit card fees... but not this year. This year, your wallet is getting an upgrade: Apple Card.
Apple Card gives you up to 3% Daily Cash back on every purchase, access to a high-yield Savings account earning 3.65% APY when you open an account through Apple Card, and not a single fee in sight. In other words? It gives you Daily Cash back, helps you grow that money in a Savings account, and doesn’t come with surprise charges like foreign transaction fees or annual fees. Ready to give your wallet the gift it deserves? Apply for the Apple Card right here.
Terms apply. Savings provided by Goldman Sachs Bank USA. Member FDIC. |
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Harvard Business School's MBA program typically admits roughly 11% of applicants each year. |
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