<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n
Based out of Denver, Scanlon has a purview as wide as the sky: from Jay Powell (she occasionally dresses up like him), to
\n Tesla
\n (ticker: TSLA), to the future of work. A polymath in the making, she delves into Keynes, Fischer Black, and the CPI, sprinkling in references to Jackson Pollock, Plato\u2019s Cave, and biking across France.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Unsurprisingly, Scanlon was no slouch at Western Kentucky University (Go Hilltoppers!), where she majored in financial management, economics, and business data analytics. She launched a finance blog and podcast, managed a $500,000 portfolio as part of the TVA Investment Challenge Program, founded the Women in Business organization, and received the top undergraduate academic award. She also published a paper on the \u2018Effects of Terrorism on the U.S. Stock Market: Evidence from High Frequency Data,\u2019 where \u201cprice level variability was examined using the generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) model.\u201d<\/p>\n
After school she moved to LA to work for Capital Group but left after less than two years. She went to work at a tech startup, building out their investment education arm, which she realized was her calling. Then in January 2021
\n GameStop
\n (GME) happened. \u201cAnd I was like, \u2018Oh, this would be a cool thing to explain.\u2019 So I just started making these videos and posting them and it worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, she\u2019s interviewing San Francisco Fed Chair Mary Daly. What was that about? \u201cI think the Fed is starting to focus on how do we get young people to pay attention to markets? How are they going to communicate to young people about what\u2019s going on in the economy?\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s Scanlon\u2019s take on the Fed?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Fed has a very difficult job,\u201d she says. \u201cThey have a very limited tool kit; raising rates, the balance sheet and Fed speak. I think the Fed has gotten kind of lucky with how fiscal policy has gone. Fiscal policy has essentially saved us from recession. Bidenomics happened, the Chips Act happened, IRA happened, all of these things have been really supportive to the economy. I don\u2019t think that we\u2019ve seen [higher] rates really take hold in the economy except for housing, with mortgage rates now at 8%. So I\u2019m not sure if their tool kit is effective in achieving their goals. I don\u2019t know if the goal should be 2% inflation, this arbitrary-ish number. Why potentially sacrifice the labor market for that?\u201d<\/p>\n
And stocks?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an interesting time for the stock market, because now you have the bond market, working at 5%, essentially, risk free. I think stocks are looking less and less attractive for a lot of people. They\u2019ve totally like not traded on fundamentals forever, right? So they\u2019re just sort of speculative tools. But I think that [the market] can be considered pricey, especially if you think about reconciling the valuations relative to fundamentals.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
And what are young people most concerned about financially?<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, my gosh, I think everything. I\u2019ve been really thinking about this lack of \u2018beginner mode.\u2019 The Mitsubishi Mirage is one of the last cars selling for under $20,000. And they\u2019re [reportedly] discontinuing it in 2025, and so now there aren\u2019t a lot of cars under $20,000. We have a housing crisis\u2014it\u2019s really difficult to get a starter home. Think of starter jobs, the struggle to find a job that will pay a wage that matches your lifestyle inflation, or keeps up with rent and inflation.\u201d<\/p>\n
You may see Scanlon as just another talking financial head\u2014albeit the latest digital incarnation. And that\u2019s true to an extent, but remember that thousands of young people are now getting market news and knowledge from sources like Scanlon, who has distinguished herself as a cut above the rest.<\/p>\n
Write to\u00a0<\/strong>Andy Serwer at\u00a0andy.serwer@barrons.com\u00a0and\u00a0subscribe to his\u00a0<\/strong>At Barron\u2019s podcast<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n