First Friday: The Government Shuts Down -- But Bitcoin is at an All-Time High?!?

Afford Anything | Make Smart Money Choices

Paula Pant | Cumulus Podcast Network

Entrepreneurship, Investing, Business

4.7 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 3 October 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

#648: The U.S. government is shutting down. Bitcoin just hit a record high. Inflation whispers are back. And Wall Street is buzzing with speculation. What does this all mean for your money, your portfolio, and your long-term financial freedom? On this First Friday episode, we unpack the economic headlines you can’t ignore — and help you separate signal from noise. In this episode, we cover: Government Shutdown: What happens when Washington goes dark, and how it could ripple into the markets, interest rates, and your daily life Bitcoin at Record Highs: Why crypto is rallying, what history tells us about speculative manias, and whether this time might be different Jobs Report and Inflation Watch: The latest labor market data, its implications for the Fed, and how it could shape borrowing costs Investor Behavior in Uncertainty: Why volatility can make us overreact, and how to stay grounded in your long-term strategy Key Takeaways Government shutdowns create noise, but historically their long-term market impact is minimal Bitcoin’s surge reflects both speculation and broader demand for decentralized assets — but extreme volatility remains The labor market remains resilient, keeping inflation risks on the radar and Fed policy in focus Emotional investing is costly: staying calm during uncertainty is one of the best ways to protect your wealth. This month’s headlines feel dramatic — shutdowns, soaring crypto, inflation fears. But the timeless principles of money management still apply: diversify, stay disciplined, and don’t let headlines dictate your portfolio. Key moments: (00:00) Jobs Reporting from ADP (08:28) Interest Rates and Mortgages (18:07) Social Security Age (25:36) Consumer Spending and Inflation (31:56) Bitcoin and Gold reach new highs (34:31) Quarterly Reporting for Publicly Traded Companies may go to twice-a-year Share this episode with a friend, colleagues, your veterinarian: https://affordanything.com/episode648 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	There is no jobs report today. This is the first time I have ever opened a first Friday episode with those words. But not to worry because we have jobs predictions. We have inflation data. We have private payroll data. We have a Fed rate cut plus a strong potential for two more on the way. We have Bitcoin and gold both hitting new highs. And on the topic of new highs, we also
0:21.8	have the distinct possibility that the full retirement age of Social Security might be going
0:27.2	up. There's a ton to talk about today. Welcome to the first Friday episode of the Afford
0:32.3	Anything podcast. This is a show that knows you can afford anything, not everything. We cover five
0:37.4	pillars. Financial psychology, increasing your income, investing can afford anything, not everything. We cover five pillars.
0:38.3	Financial psychology, increasing your income, investing, real estate, and entrepreneurship.
0:42.2	It's double-eye fire.
0:43.6	Normally, on our Tuesday episodes, we typically answer questions from you.
0:47.5	And on our Friday episodes, we typically interview a guest.
0:51.7	But there's one exception, and that's the first Friday of every month,
0:55.6	in which we zoom out and take a macro look at the economy. So welcome to the October
1:02.2	2025 first Friday economic update. As of 10.45 a.m. Eastern, the government is still shut down.
1:10.7	This means that the jobs report, which is
1:12.5	typically published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics at 8.30 a.m. on the first Friday of every month,
1:18.9	is not out yet, which is, well, I hate to use the word unprecedented, but at least as long as I've
1:25.5	been doing this, it is. But we do have data from
1:28.4	the ADP report, which is a private payroll processor, and they reported that we lost 32,000 jobs
1:36.5	in September. Now, I'm going to take a moment to describe the difference between the BLS report
1:41.5	and the ADP report, and after that we'll go into some of the details of the ADP report and what implications this might carry.
1:48.2	The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the BLS, which is part of the labor department, they survey a representative sample of a variety of industries.
1:58.4	And when I say representative sample, I'm talking about a data set that is compiled
2:04.7	based on geography, industry, and size of company.
	...

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