The CQ is Forerunner’s weekly newsletter rounding up the top consumer news, plus bonus musings from our investment team and portfolio highlights. Subscribe to get the latest each weekend.
We're co-leading the $25M series A for Basic Capital alongside Lux Capital! For our firm, this isn’t just an investment — it’s a bet on a future where timing doesn’t determine destiny, and where leverage isn’t just for the wealthy.
Consider two nurses earning the same salary. One can max out her 401(k) each year and retire with ~$900K. The other, able to finance 5x more, retires with $2.3M. The $1.4M gap? Not discipline. Not literacy. Access to capital.
Forty percent of Americans own no financial assets. Not because they don’t want to, but because they’ve been locked out. They're not afraid of leverage; they're afraid of working and saving their whole lives and still living with financial anxiety.
Basic has built a “mortgage for retirement.” A financing structure that lets people contribute up to 5x more to their retirement accounts, without personal liability or margin risk. A teacher putting away $200/mo can suddenly contribute $1000/mo—turning $240K into $1.2M over time.
Behind it all is CEO Abdul Al-Asaad — a Syrian refugee camp to Goldman Sachs’ credit desk to Harvard Business School, his entrepreneurial story reads like a mission statement for the company. We're so proud to back this company rewriting the rules of American wealth-building.
For more on why we invested, see Kirsten’s post.
What We’re Talking About on Slack:
Nobody’s buying homes, nobody’s switching jobs—and America’s mobility is stalling. Americans are relocating at historically low rates, with just 7.8% moving in 2023—the lowest since Census records began in 1948—and local moves within the same county have dropped by about 47% over the past 30 years. Part of the blame falls on the stagnant job market; the probability of workers switching jobs monthly has declined from around 2.8% in the 1990s to about 2.3% in the 2020s, and hiring has fallen to its lowest since 2009. High housing costs and rising mortgage rates have locked many people in place. The average household now spends 39% of its income on housing, up from 30% in the 2010s, and home sales recently hit a 30-year low. Companies are also less willing to offer relocation assistance, and dual-income households are especially less likely to move. “The frozen housing market means growing families can’t upgrade, empty-nesters can’t downsize, and first-time buyers are all but locked out. When people can’t move for a job offer or to a city with better job opportunities, they often earn less. When companies can’t hire people who currently live in, say, a different state, corporate productivity and profits can suffer.”
Related, from Fast Company: ‘Job hugging’ is the newest career trend: Here’s what it means—and why Gen Z is into it. Put another way: Workers are “holding onto their jobs for dear life” amid economic uncertainty, AI disruption, and limited job availability. A July report from Eagle Hill Consulting found that most employees plan to stay in their roles for at least six months, with Gen Z showing the highest intent to stay put. Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. job growth slowed to just 73,000 jobs in July—well below the earlier 2025 monthly average of 111,000—while job cuts have surpassed 800,000 this year, the highest since 2020. The market opportunity indicator—a measure of employees’ perception of the outside job market—has dropped to its lowest level since the report’s inception.
Americans pull back from an epic credit-card binge. After a post-pandemic surge pushed national balances above $1 trillion, credit-card spending is now growing more slowly than debit-card spending for the first time in nearly four years. In the first half of 2025, debit-card spending rose 6.57% from a year prior, compared to 5.65% for credit cards. High interest rates. averaging around 22%, and the resumption of student loan payments has led many consumers to avoid taking on new debt, while card issuers have begun focusing more on high-income customers. Personal-loan originations, often used to consolidate credit-card debt, rose 18% in the first quarter of 2025, pushing total balances to a record $257 billion. Despite consolidation, many consumers return to credit-card debt within 18 months.
Gen Z is facing a job market double-whammy. Axios data shows that more than 13% of unemployed Americans in July 2025 were new entrants to the workforce, the highest share since 1988. This reflects employers' hesitance to hire amid economic uncertainty related to tariffs and shifting policies. The overall unemployment rate for young adults aged 22–27 stands at 7.4%, but is even lower for those with college degrees. Long-term unemployment is also increasing, with 25.2% of all unemployed individuals out of work for 27 weeks or more, the highest since February 2022. For many Gen Z job seekers who began college during the pandemic, the slow job market has exacerbated an already challenging situation.
For Gen Z, ‘little treats’ are worth going over budget. The “lipstick effect” is a term that’s long been used to describe the uptick in splurging on small luxuries during a downturn (while vacation spending might take a hit, lipstick sales spike). That’s why young people are now springing for fancy coffee, desserts, or even Labubus or pricey supplements as a form of self-care or reward, even when their finances are tight due to heightend unemployment amongst younger demographics. According to a Bank of America survey, over 50% of Gen Zers buy themselves a treat at least once a week, and 59% admit this habit often leads to overspending. The TikTok tag “sweet little treat meme” has spawned more than 23 million videos, and buy now, pay later services and instant-delivery services make it easier than ever to impulse buy. “With rising costs, a shaky job market, and financial milestones like homeownership feeling out of reach for many young adults, small purchases offer Gen Z a temporary sense of control or indulgence.”
U.S. drinking drops to a new low. A 2025 Gallup poll shows that only 54% of American adults report drinking alcohol, the lowest level in 90 years of tracking (down from 58% in 2024 and between 1997 and 2023, the percentage was over 60%). Among middle-aged adults (ages 35–54), drinking fell sharply from 70% in 2024 to 56% in 2025. For the first time, a majority of Americans believe that even one to two drinks per day negatively affects health, suggesting a growing awareness of alcohol’s risks. Only 50% of those aged 18 to 34 said they drank alcohol, the same as in 2024 and down from 59% in 2023.
The Atlantic looks at the growing cohort of single dads by choice, which has been slowly but steadily rising in recent years in the U.S., though exact statistics are hard to nail down. Organizations like Men Having Babies report a sharp increase in interest, with singles now making up about 25% of conference attendees in some cities. This trend reflects societal shifts: male singlehood is rising, traditional masculinity is being reevaluated, and 57% of young men in a 2023 Pew survey said they hoped to have children someday, compared to only 45% of women. The process of becoming a single dad, however, is costly and complex—surrogacy and egg donation can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and aren't typically covered by insurance. Several men quoted in the piece spoke of reprioritizing what’s important in their lives and looking for meaning. Still, many single fathers wrestle with the decision. One therapist notes that she’s “seen them struggle with a feeling of failure for not finding a wife, with ‘latent grief’ as they adjust expectations, with isolation as they search for anyone around them having families in nontraditional ways. Some clients wrestle not only with how they’d make single parenthood work logistically and financially, but also with what becoming a sole caregiver means for their sense of self.”
The senior living market can’t keep up with demand as boomers age. More than 4 million baby boomers will turn 80 in the next five years, driving a 28% increase in demand for senior living, yet only about 4,000 new units are expected in 2024 and 2025—far below the 100,000 beds needed annually through 2040, according to data from the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care. Occupancy at senior living communities is already rising rapidly, while annual inventory growth has dropped below 1% for the first time since 2006. Meanwhile, higher interest rates and development costs are holding back construction. With limited supply and accelerating demand, investors see senior living as one of the most attractive real estate opportunities in today’s market.
What it’s really like to support a big family on a modest income in America. The U.S. birthrate has fallen to an all-time low, with the average age of first-time mothers rising to nearly 30 and the cost of raising a child surpassing $300,000, not including college. Many families are having fewer children than they’d like due to rising costs, limited support, and expensive child care, forcing 1.2 million workers each month to cut hours or miss work. The Wall Street Journal follows one couple, Brittany and Michael, who — despite their limited income — chose to have five children and make sacrifices to make it work. They live in a two-bedroom house and rely on thrift shopping and Medicaid during medical crises. Brittany left her job to care for their premature twins after being denied extended leave, and later found child care too expensive to return to work. “I don’t blame anyone for choosing not to have kids. Because it is hard. But it’s not impossible.”
From $24,000 to $147,000: how much daycare costs across America. The Wall Street Journal’s analysis of Labor Department data found the median cost of five years of daycare for one child in the U.S. is about $44,000, though it can range from $24,000 in Wayne County, KY, to nearly $147,000 in Arlington County, VA. In 26 counties, the five-year total exceeds $100,000, largely due to regional differences in real estate prices and worker wages. The burden of childcare costs falls almost entirely on parents.
Portfolio Highlights:
Axios reports that Basic Capital raises $25 million, featuring quotes from CEO Abdul Al-Asaad.
NPR speaks to Ari Bloom, co-founder and CEO of A-Frame Brands, about how celebrities are marketing products directly to their fans.
Forbes profiles Aizada Marat and Assel Tuleubayeva, co-founders of Alma, along with two other immigrant female founders.
Axios and CNET cover the release of the Teal Health Teal Wand in California.
The New York Times reviews five AI-powered travel tools, including Mindtrip.
There are ~1600 open jobs at Forerunner portfolio companies — check ‘em out.