Barbara Corcoran: A $320 coat was the 'best investment I ever made' at age 23—'it changed my life' | Canada News Media
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Barbara Corcoran: A $320 coat was the ‘best investment I ever made’ at age 23—’it changed my life’

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When Barbara Corcoran started her real estate firm at age 23, she quickly noticed a difference between herself and her competitors.

“I realized that everyone successful looked the part,” Corcoran, now a 74-year-old millionaire investor, said in a recent TikTok video. “At the time, I was still wearing my old navy blue pea coat from New Jersey, and knew it was going to be a while before I could afford a new one.”

When she managed to rent an apartment to someone during her “first week in business,” she knew exactly what to do with the money, she added: “I put the $340 dollar commission check right in my pocket. I ran right over to Bergdorf Goodman to buy the fanciest coat in the store.”

Corcoran bought a wool coat with a brown and white print, high collar and a $320 price tag before tax, she said. Adjusted for inflation, it would cost about $2,235 today. Despite its hefty price, Corcoran says the coat gave her the one thing she “desperately” needed at the time: confidence.

“My new coat made me feel just like the big deal I hoped to become,” she said. “I wore my coat for the next four years, and it was the best investment I ever made. In my coat, I worked like crazy to become as successful as I already looked.”

Corcoran’s heightened self-esteem points to a larger psychological influence that clothes can have on a person called “enclothed cognition,” a term coined by psychologists Adam Galinsky and Hajo Adam.

Their 2012 study of 58 students found that the subjects were more attentive and completed tasks with fewer mistakes when they were given a lab coat to wear, which, for most people, “signifies a scientific focus and an emphasis on being careful and attentive,” the pair wrote.

It’s always worth considering whether or not you will wear something frequently enough to justify the price tag before making a splashy clothing purchase, as opposed to renting it. In Corcoran’s case, she seems to have gotten good value out of the pricey purchase by wearing it regularly for several years.

The confidence boost clearly worked for her, too. Nearly three decades after founding her firm, Corcoran sold it to brokerage firm NRT for $66 million.

“The lesson I learned, and I never forgot, was that perception created reality,” she said. “Not the other way around. You’ve got to look the part of who you want to become.”

Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to “Shark Tank,” which features Barbara Corcoran as a panelist.

 

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Tesla shares soar more than 14% as Trump win is seen boosting Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company

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NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Tesla soared Wednesday as investors bet that the electric vehicle maker and its CEO Elon Musk will benefit from Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Tesla stands to make significant gains under a Trump administration with the threat of diminished subsidies for alternative energy and electric vehicles doing the most harm to smaller competitors. Trump’s plans for extensive tariffs on Chinese imports make it less likely that Chinese EVs will be sold in bulk in the U.S. anytime soon.

“Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, in a note to investors. “This dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled by likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players.”

Tesla shares jumped 14.8% Wednesday while shares of rival electric vehicle makers tumbled. Nio, based in Shanghai, fell 5.3%. Shares of electric truck maker Rivian dropped 8.3% and Lucid Group fell 5.3%.

Tesla dominates sales of electric vehicles in the U.S, with 48.9% in market share through the middle of 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Subsidies for clean energy are part of the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It included tax credits for manufacturing, along with tax credits for consumers of electric vehicles.

Musk was one of Trump’s biggest donors, spending at least $119 million mobilizing Trump’s supporters to back the Republican nominee. He also pledged to give away $1 million a day to voters signing a petition for his political action committee.

In some ways, it has been a rocky year for Tesla, with sales and profit declining through the first half of the year. Profit did rise 17.3% in the third quarter.

The U.S. opened an investigation into the company’s “Full Self-Driving” system after reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.

And investors sent company shares tumbling last month after Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, seeing not much progress at Tesla on autonomous vehicles while other companies have been making notable progress.

Tesla began selling the software, which is called “Full Self-Driving,” nine years ago. But there are doubts about its reliability.

The stock is now showing a 16.1% gain for the year after rising the past two days.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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S&P/TSX composite up more than 100 points, U.S. stock markets mixed

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TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 100 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in base metal and utility stocks, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 103.40 points at 24,542.48.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 192.31 points at 42,932.73. The S&P 500 index was up 7.14 points at 5,822.40, while the Nasdaq composite was down 9.03 points at 18,306.56.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.44 cents US on Tuesday.

The November crude oil contract was down 71 cents at US$69.87 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$2.42 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up US$7.20 at US$2,686.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.35 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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S&P/TSX up more than 200 points, U.S. markets also higher

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TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also headed higher.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 205.86 points at 24,508.12.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 336.62 points at 42,790.74. The S&P 500 index was up 34.19 points at 5,814.24, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.27 points at 18.342.32.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday.

The November crude oil contract was down 15 cents at US$75.70 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$2,668.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.47 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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