Friday's Fast Five: Week of 9.12

The Wisdom of Crowds (Chart Kid Matt): The stories of the submarine and the ox show that when you take the average of a diverse group, the collective answer tends to be closer to the truth than any single expert within that group. That’s the Wisdom of Crowds. The stock market works the same way.

Airlines Want a Piece of Every Purchase You Make (The New York Times): The biggest U.S. airlines make billions of dollars from their loyalty programs and branded credit cards, which some analysts believe are now essential to the businesses.

How People Invested Before The Internet Was A Thing (The Onveston Letter): I was cleaning my basement recently and found this old buy order from the 90s. Even though I was just a kid back then, I remember how different investing was for regular people. We have so many advantages today that we don't even think about. Let me tell you what investing was like for retail investors before the internet changed everything.

How JPMorgan Enabled the Crimes of Jeffrey Epstein (The New York Times): A Times investigation found that America’s leading bank spent years supporting — and profiting from — the notorious sex offender, ignoring red flags, suspicious activity and concerned executives.

The 2025 Fall Foliage Prediction Map (Smoky Mountains): The 2025 Fall Foliage Map is the ultimate visual planning guide to the annual progressive changing of the leaves. While no tool can be 100% accurate, this tool is meant to help travelers better time their trips to have the best opportunity of catching peak color each year.