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By Ted Williams |
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Hello Thursday. Listen, I’m typically a man of the people, but I’m attending Sunday’s 1pm Panthers vs. Falcons game as a guest in a buddy’s luxury suite.
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Single game luxury suites start at $16,800 for the 14-seat box — and they’re 100% sold out this year. The Panthers are currently taking $1,000 deposits for next year, which gives you first dibs.
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This year’s most requested game was the Buffalo Bills matchup on October 26. All premium inventory, even $1,000 Champions Village tickets, sold out in July for this game. Anyways.
💼 Hot Job: Head of Content at Charlotte FC. Lead team of 14 with the "mindset of a media company GM.” Hiring manager is Greg Bostrom, who's 5 months into this new VP of Marketing & Brand Strategy role.
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⛳ For Sale: 18-hole Cummings Cove Golf & Country Club near Asheville asks $2.8M. Par 71. Mountain lodge-style clubhouse. EBITDAx of 7.22. Cap Rate of 13.86%. Buy it.
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👨 Now open: Distro Beer Hub quietly opened in South End yesterday. It’s like a food hall, but with beer stalls. Sushi too! 4 breweries and 1 cocktail spot under the same roof.
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MARKETS: YEAR-TO-DATE
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S&P 500 |
6,600 |
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Nasdaq |
22,261 |
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HUUUGE SLICES
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PIE.ZAA sells 76,229 New York-style slices YTD, looks to franchise concept
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Tyler Kotch, founder and owner of PIE.ZAA
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Idea: "I was working as a consultant for trauma surgery and I couldn’t get any good late-night pizza in Asheville," Tyler told me. "So I made it."
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Expansion: PIE.ZAA has locations in Asheville and South End. Tyler's currently eyeing real estate in Charleston. With margins around 20%, expect franchise sales soon.
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Massive cheese slices are $6 and 28-inch whole pies are $44.
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The top seller is the Roni slice at 37,606 slices so far in 2025. Delicious.
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PIE.ZAA pizzerias are designed to do a minimum volume of $1 million per location.
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Margins: Annual U.S. pizza sales are about $49.5B, but margins can be slim according to Tyler.
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3-5% is common if costs like labor and rent are high.
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7-10% for a well-run independent pizza shop.
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12-15% with a strong brand, volume, and tight cost control.
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Entrepreneurship: "If you are not willing to lose everything you’ve worked for, if you're not willing to fight every single day you wake up, if you're not willing to sacrifice things like your time, energy, and family life — entrepreneurship is not for you."
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PRESENTED BY MOOD HOUSE
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Mood House drops 100 limited-edition massage memberships — only 28 left
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Palm Springs vibes at Mood House Oakhurst
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News: Mood House, our city's best massage, just dropped 100 limited-edition "Year of Self-Care" Memberships.
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Awards: Congrats to Mood House for making it on Yelp's 2025 Top Local Businesses List 🏆!! Only 3 North Carolina businesses made the list.
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Voted "No. 1 Best Massage" in Charlotte in back-to-back years.
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Nearing 2,000 massage members ($92/mo) across their Dilworth and Oakhurst locations — but you don’t need to be a member to book.
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BULLISH
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$600K Sala opens tonight slinging 9 different $16 Negronis and 1 oz. Gold Caviar for $150
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Sala opens tonight in Myers Park, next door to Stagioni
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"I'd like Sala to continue what we started with Stagioni," said owner Bruce Moffett. "Perfect place to meet for a before-dinner cocktail or an after-work glass of wine.”
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Drinks: $17 cocktails. 9 Negroni options and 8 Spritz options. Wines by the glass from $13 and bottles starting at $52.
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Food: Just a dozen "bites and snacks" like $10 smoked red onion ricotta, $22 oyster platter (6), $40 charcuterie board, and $18 season ceviche. No reservations, just walk-ins.
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Caviar service: I'm not rich enough to understand this, but they'll have Osetra Caviar harvested from Sturgeon. 1 oz. Black for $75. 1 oz. Gold for $150.
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Tiny take: Sala will crush it. Interior decor and vibes are spot on for Myers Park. $600K renovation. It’s an easy go-to pairing before/after Stagioni and perfect happy hour spot for the Eastover crowd.
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Private dining: Above Sala is a 20-seat private events space. To rent, the food and beverage minimum is $3,000 on weekdays and $5,000 on weekends.
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MONEY TALKS
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33-year-old dad making $226K planning ahead to cover 80% of kids' college tuition
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Roasted Eggplant at Chapter 6 ($13), his No. 1 favorite
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Money Talks is a weekly series showcasing how real people in Charlotte approach money. Participate.
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Living situation: “Own. 30-year fixed at 2.75%. We made sure to keep our housing costs below 25% of our take-home pay, just in case one of us loses our job.”
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Job and salary: “Software product manager. $226K base with a 35% bonus plus equity (illiquid and unsure on value).”
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Saving philosophy: “We save 28% of our take-home pay. 15% to retirement (401(k) and IRAs), 6% to liquid savings (emergency fund), 4% to our kids’ 529 college funds, and 3% to our brokerage account.”
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Kids’ college funds: “We're trying to achieve 80% coverage of a 4-year in-state tuition.”
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Net worth: “$1M. 50% of this is paper equity in our house. 45% is in retirement accounts. 5% are investments and 5% is our emergency savings.”
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Retirement: “I want to be financially independent by 50. Our current annual expenses are $110K per year, so we'd need around $2.9M for investment income to match expenses (using the 4% rule).”
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On your mind: “Can I teach my young kids to respect money and understand the value of saving, while not making them so fearful to spend that they just hoard it all?”
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Full story:Â 33-year-old making $226K with 7 credit cards hits $1M net worth
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MONEY SNACKS
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5 other financial headlines I’m snacking on
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Elon University and Queens University to merge. Elon has $1.2B in assets and 7,300 students. Queens $190M and 2,000. Bullish.
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Puerta now serving lunch. $18 two taco meal deal. Also, new 3-6pm deal with $45 Paloma pitchers and unlimited chips and salsa.
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Professional Table Tennis tournament takes place this weekend in Uptown. Tickets start at $7.
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0.01% Rule gaining popularity in the personal finance world. If a purchase is less than 0.01% of your net worth, don’t stress over it.
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American Airlines adds flight from Charlotte to my hometown of Vero Beach, FL. Round-trip about $590. Hidden gem IMO!
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GOING VIRAL
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Content creator hits 15M views with Pink Pony Club violin cover at bougie Atlanta wedding
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Meredith Dean’s viral video on TikTok
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Backstory: While working a wedding in Atlanta, event content creator Meredith Dean captured a video of the violist covering Pink Pony Club.
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The video clip went viral on TikTok, racking up over 15M views.
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Violinist Justin Monday gained over 200,000 followers. “I have more booking inquiries than I could ever imagine.”
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Fascinating business: Couples hire Meredith to capture behind-the-scenes footage of their wedding and produce Instagram Reels and Stories. Her packages range from $1,000 – $4,200.
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Happy Thursday! I’m a huge table tennis nerd (legit players like me never call it ping pong), so I’ll be attending this weekend’s pro tourney 🏓
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– Ted
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MONEY POLL
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Is the merger of Elon University and Queens University a good idea?
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Last week’s poll results: Do you keep any financial secrets from your spouse or significant other? (11,077 subscribers)
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