Raphael Stevens

It’s natural for people to experience FOMO, but such anxiety can lead us to make bad investment decisions.
Trusted financial advisors can help investors craft investment strategies attuned to goals and values.
If considering a complex investment, ask, “Can this be done simpler?” Very often, it can — and with lower fees.

Cecilie_Arcurs | E+ | Getty Images

The term “FOMO” is defined as “a state of mental or emotional strain caused by the fear of missing out.” It’s also a form of social anxiety — a compulsive concern that one might miss an opportunity or satisfying event, often aroused by posts seen on social media websites.
Although it is natural for people to experience FOMO, such anxiety can lead us to make bad decisions.

Judgment should not be clouded by the desire to fit in or fear of being left out of the fun. This is especially true when it comes to our hard-earned money. Just because your friends and neighbors are investing in a certain stock or asset class doesn’t mean it’s an appropriate investment for you.
Oftentimes, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.
That’s why it’s important to slow down, research that investment opportunity everyone’s talking about and consider its long-term impact on your financial well-being and goals.
More from Personal Finance:Did you panic sell during the latest stock market dip? When to get back inMake these financial and career moves before you quit your jobCrypto plunge a wake-up call — and tax opportunity — for investors
Those who are new to investing and/or have suddenly come into significant wealth can be especially vulnerable to letting FOMO overtake them when they hear about hot investment tips or opportunities.

How would they know better? Like any other skill, investing takes time to master. Therefore, most investors could benefit from experts who they trust to develop and implement an appropriate investment strategy that reflects their goals and values.
Guiding investor clients through periods of stock market volatility has illustrated how “successful” investing is determined by the amount of time spent in the market — not timing the market.
As the saying goes, “don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” A savvy investor will take a gradual, broad-based approach. To that point, it’s not smart to invest your entire stimulus check or year-end bonus in a single company you’ve read is going to be the next big thing.
Of course, you could buy some shares of that company if you can afford to lose every penny, but we recommend starting simple and obtaining broad-based market exposure through, for example, passive, index-tracking exchange-traded funds, so you can learn how the market works.

After you’ve felt the highs from your potential investment returns and lows from losing money, you might be prepared to take on more targeted or complex investments.
To help pacify any FOMO tendencies, you might consider engaging with a trusted financial advisor who can work with you to develop a financial plan that prioritizes your goals and values. To that end, an effective plan will set up guardrails to make sure you stay on the appropriate path for maintaining your financial well-being and independence.
If a particular investment or other potential decision does not fit the parameters of your financial plan, you will find yourself more confidently ignoring or rejecting them as distractions, rather than being anxious about missing out.
This does not mean that your financial plan should be static.
On the contrary, it should be nimble and dynamic enough to react appropriately to any changes to your overall financial picture, goals or values. That trusted advisor can act as your sounding board to determine whether or not a change in your plan is warranted, or if you are trying to cover up future bad decisions caused by FOMO.

You also need to be careful about borrowing money to invest. Many financial institutions will lend money to investors so they can purchase stocks they’re eager to invest in — and online platforms have made the process easier than ever. But borrowing money at historically low rates to buy shares of a stock that hopefully never goes down in price is often too good to be true.
If you accept a margin loan to buy shares in a hot stock and the stock price goes down, you either have to put in more money to maintain your level of collateral or sell some of your investments to repay your loan. While various free-trading apps make trading on margin easy, it is a very risky strategy that is extremely inappropriate for most investors.
It’s also important to note that complex investments and strategies aren’t necessarily better than more straightforward counterparts. Don’t be fooled by grandiose, sophisticated terms and descriptions.
A complicated investment isn’t a better alternative to the more commonplace ones you’re used to just because it’s more difficult to understand or attracting people who profess higher investing acumen. In fact, it is a best practice to avoid investments that you cannot easily understand. Oftentimes, such investments are complex due to additional risk.
When you’re considering a more complex investment, you should ask, “Can this be done simpler?” Very often, it can — and with lower fees.

But too often, investors are reluctant to believe that because they don’t want to miss out on an investment everyone’s talking about, or they assume that more sophisticated investments are better for their portfolios.
As advisors, we have found that explaining the pros and cons of sophisticated investments, such as complex options strategies, to clients has at times helped them see things more clearly. It also reminded them that basic financial principles like starting and staying simple — and not rushing into trendy or complicated investments — is a smart strategy.
Just like in social settings, trendiness and sophistication don’t necessarily make people or activities better. The same applies to investing.
If you decide to work with an advisor, choose one who is a steadfast partner in guiding you through the investment process and reminding you to avoid FOMO-led decisions.

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F1’s maiden Qatar Grand Prix to take place on November 21 with twilight race at Losail International Circuit.
The event also has a 10-year deal from 2023, the year after the country stages the FIFA World Cup.

Teammate Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport driver Valtteri Bottas (77) of Finland pours champagne on the head of Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport driver Lewis Hamilton (44) of Great Britain after clinching the 2019 FIA Formula 1 World Championship following the F1 – U.S. Grand Prix race at Circuit of The Americas on November 3, 2019 in Austin, Texas.
Ken Murray | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images

The Qatar Grand Prix has joined the 2021 Formula 1 calendar, with a November date confirmed for the debut race that completes the season’s schedule.
F1 has also announced a 10-year deal with Qatar, which will see it take a permanent place on the calendar from 2023.

This year, the twilight race at Doha’s Losail International Circuit is on November 19-21 and is one of seven remaining rounds of a hugely competitive campaign, as Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen battle for the title.
It fills the vacant slot that was left by the Australian GP’s cancellation, concluding a triple header after Mexico and Brazil and is the first of three races in the Middle East to finish the season.
The Saudi Arabian and Abu Dhabi GPs are on December 3 and 10.
“We are very pleased to welcome Qatar to the Formula 1 calendar this season and for the longer term from 2023,” said F1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali, after the Qatar GP was confirmed as the 20th round of 2021.
“We have shown that we can continue to adapt and there is huge interest in our sport and the hope from many locations to have a Grand Prix. The huge effort from all the teams, F1 and the FIA has made it possible to deliver a 22-race calendar, something that is very impressive during a challenging year and something we can all be proud of.”

The Losail International Circuit is already a staple on the MotoGP calendar, having hosted races since 2004.

Read more stories from Sky Sports

And Qatar now has a long-term commitment to F1, with a 10-year deal to start in 2023 – a year after the country hosts football’s FIFA World Cup for the first time.
“There was a strong will from Qatar to be helpful to F1, and in the course of this process, the vision for a longer partnership was discussed and agreed for 10 years,” read a statement from F1.
“The step from the gesture to be helpful to F1 in 2021 to a long term strategy was short and simple and the vision for F1 to be the showcase for Qatar after the FIFA World Cup in 2022 was the driving force behind this long term agreement.
“As part of the longer-term deal, discussions will continue regarding the location for the Grand Prix from 2023 with further details to be provided at a later time.”

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“Covid will become manageable. It already has started to become manageable” Dr. Ozlem Tureci said in the latest episode of “The CNBC Conversation.”  
BioNTech’s main focus had been on “pioneering individualized immunotherapies” for cancer medicine and using its mRNA technology.
It is also working on developing a vaccine for Malaria.

LONDON — The co-founder and chief medical officer of BioNTech, the German firm which developed a Covid-19 vaccine alongside Pfizer, told CNBC that the world “should not live in fear” of the virus.
“Covid will become manageable. It already has started to become manageable” Dr. Ozlem Tureci said in the latest episode of “The CNBC Conversation.”  

However, she added that we will “need to go back to a new normality, because this virus will accompany us for, still, some years.”
Asked about concerns over new coronavirus variants, she said BioNTech “continuously assess those upcoming variants, and there will be more.”
“For all these variants which are currently circulating, it seems that boosters alone, bringing the waning immune responses back to high levels, are suitable and do protect,” she said.
“However, we have to continue to screen because there might be variants upcoming for which this is not the case. And for this we have a second pillar, namely that we prepare ourselves to be quick and fast in the case that we need to adapt to a variant … And we are doing those dry runs, not alone, together with regulators, so that they are also prepared for the potential need to switch,” Tureci told CNBC.
Tureci co-founded German-based BioNTech in 2008 with her husband, Chief Executive Ugur Sahin. She said that more data was needed to guide the path out of the pandemic, but she could imagine future boosters could be given “every 12 or every 18 months.”

Covid vaccine in under a year

The company’s main focus had been on “pioneering individualized immunotherapies” for cancer medicine and using its mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) technology, which stimulates the body’s own immune response. It is also working on developing a vaccine for Malaria.
“So we had, already, the science and the knowledge about immune mechanisms and how they can be used against viruses and could leverage that,” Tureci said.
“And the other pillar of our response was our technology, the mRNA technology, which allows [it] to be used as a vaccine format, which means it allows [it] to communicate with the immune system and teach it how to respond against this new enemy with high precision.” 
“And this technology, because we had used it in clinical trials in cancer patients, was already ripe. We knew how to conduct clinical trials with it, how to treat humans with it, and how to set up a manufacturing process,” she added. 

Lessons learned

The company’s experience meant it was able to develop a vaccine in under a year. 
Asked if this could be the case for all other vaccines going forward, Tureci told CNBC there had been “high prioritization which was required for this global threat,” but that there were lessons which could be learned and taken forward.

“There are a couple of things which, I think, if we transfer them into future drug developments can help us to be quicker. Also, for example, for non-pandemic infections, but also for cancer and autoimmune diseases,” she said.

Natural gender balance

With the Oxford–AstraZeneca Covid vaccine also led by female scientists, Tureci feels such high-profile examples of gender balance in science is “very important” and has been one of the reasons behind BioNTech’s success. 
“I actually truly believe that one of the secrets why we have been successful as a team and as a company is that we are a gender-balanced team. Almost half of our workforce is female and also on the top management level, half of our teams are female,” she said.
“However, what I also realize is that in our teams we don’t recruit women because we want to fulfil any gender quota, it comes naturally … And it simply turns out that half of them are women,” she continued. 

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CNBC Travel

For many, 2020 will be remembered as a year they spent at home.
Others took a different path. They packed their bags and moved to places that many only dream of visiting.

Here’s how they feel about their decision one year on, in their own words.

From Boston to Napa Valley, California

Name: Ian O’ReillyOccupation: Sommelier
Before the pandemic, I was employed as a beverage manager in Boston. The restaurant where I worked closed in March of 2020, and I was subsequently laid off. As I reflected on my career, I realized I no longer wanted to work in restaurants. The hours and lifestyle had taken a toll. I began to explore the possibility of moving to Napa Valley, California, to be on the agricultural side of the wine business.
My girlfriend —  who is also an advanced sommelier —  and I moved to the town of Napa in September of 2020 with our two dogs. I had no job, and I quickly realized the job market was extremely limited due to the pandemic.

Ian O’Reilly moved to Napa Valley without a job; he now holds two positions in the wine industry.
Courtesy of Ian O’Reilly

At that point, I was hired to host online wine tastings at Virtual With Us. For the first time in my life I worked exclusively from home. I was connected with several other sommeliers from around the country who had lost their jobs in restaurants. Given the caliber of people on the team, I was thrilled to be included.

Last April, I took a job as a logistics manager at a start-up wine company in Sonoma but continued to host online events. The marriage of the two really brought my wine experience full circle. I now manage an inventory of fine and rare wines by day but I get to talk about them as a virtual sommelier.
I’m working less hours and having way more fun. Plus, the cost of living in Napa is about half of that in downtown Boston.
At this point, I have no intention of leaving. I am a permanent resident of vacationland.

From New York City to Greece

Name: Peter Despotopoulos         Occupation: Marketing director
In New York, I was the vice president and managing partner of a custom millwork shop. I decided to move because I was genuinely unhappy there. I always felt drained and exhausted. I hated my job and line of work.
Most importantly, I felt like the cost of living did not correspond to the quality of life. I was drowning in debt because everything I enjoyed doing was expensive —  Knicks games, fine dining, concerts. The pandemic exposed New York City as this really expensive, densely populated area with no natural beauty and limited options for simple pleasures.

The cost of living in Greece is much cheaper than New York.

Peter Despotopoulos   
Marketing director, Moro

In New York, I rented a one-bedroom apartment on the top floor of a new luxury 60-unit building in the Long Island City/Astoria area. I now rent a two-bedroom apartment in a six-unit modern building in an affluent part of Athens called Voula — an area known as the “Athens Riviera.” I have a pool, and the beach is a short walk away.
The cost of living in Greece is much cheaper than New York. There, I had about $4,500 a month in fixed expenses, including $2,500 for rent and $680 for a car lease. That’s without a cell phone bill, health insurance and gas costs, which my company paid. My apartment in Athens costs 1,300 euros per month ($1,520), and my fixed expenses costs have been cut in half. The worst part about Greece is the price of gas — it’s about double that of New York.

Peter Despotopoulos (sixth from the right, in back) said he goes to the beach in the morning and starts working in the afternoon.
Courtesy of Peter Despotopoulos

Work is less stressful than before. I work remotely as the marketing director for a U.S. home furnishings website called Moro. Due to the seven-hour time difference, my workday starts at 3 p.m. and usually ends around 10 p.m. Greece is a late culture — everyone eats and goes out late — so I don’t mind the hours. I enjoy the beach before work and Athens’ great dining and nightlife scene afterward.
I still enjoy going to nice restaurants and have replaced Knicks game with going to the stadium to watch my favorite soccer team, Panathinaikos, on the weekends. I go away to beautiful Mediterranean islands on the weekends that are only a 30-minute flight or two- to three-hour ferry ride away.

Peter Despotopoulos said he traded New York Knicks’ games for soccer matches at Athens’ Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium.
Courtesy of Peter Despotopoulos

Almost a year later, I think I’ve made a good decision. If you make good money in Greece, this place is a paradise. Being of Greek decent, speaking the language, and coming here in the summers gave me a good idea of what to expect.
Don’t get me wrong, some days are difficult being away from friends and family. Changes like this need time and patience to adapt.

From south England to Costa Rica and Mexico

Name: Alister GrayOccupation: Executive coach and founder of Mindful Talent
In October 2020, my wife and I made a quick decision to leave the U.K. with our 5-year-old daughter Rumi and travel whilst the craziness of the world sorted itself out. At the time, we were living in a small town called Twyford. It was a short commute to central London, which was perfect for our business.

A stint in Bali gave Alister Gray the confidence to run his executive coaching business from Costa Rica and Mexico.
Courtesy of Alister Gray

I’d trialed running executive coaching sessions and workshops from Bali, Indonesia, for nine months in 2018, when our daughter was 18 months old. This gave us confidence that we could work from anywhere in the world, providing we had a good Wi-fi signal.
We were in the process of applying for U.S. visas with plans to move to California when the pandemic hit. We decided we wouldn’t let it stop our ambitions to leave the U.K. and instead viewed it as the perfect opportunity to travel to a country we had long admired — Costa Rica.
In January, we flew from London to Costa Rica. We found a dream home overlooking the Pacific Ocean in a place called Nosara. We woke up to a family of howler monkeys each morning, less than 30 feet from our terrace.

We spent six months in Costa Rica and loved it, however our daughter’s school never quite worked out. So we moved to Quintana Roo, Mexico, to a little place called Puerto Aventuras. While visiting friends in April, we fell in love with the way of life there. We were welcomed by a beautiful community of friends — a mix of Mexicans, Argentinians, Dominicans, Americans and Canadians.
Costa Rica was reasonably expensive. Our costs have decreased around 40-50% from there. Our expenses in Mexico are similar to the U.K. For example, our three-bedroom 1,200-square-foot condo costs around the same as our two-bed semi-detached home in the U.K.

After leaving Costa Rica (here), Alister Gray said his family lives a more active lifestyle in Mexico, where they plan to stay because they “love it so much.”
Courtesy of Alister Gray

Our quality of life increased with weekly help from maids, cooks and nannies. We also have the beach, tennis courts, running and cycling tracks, and a golf course nearby.
Moving has been one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. We’ve given our daughter, and ourselves, a freedom that we would not have experienced if we’d remained in the U.K.

From Las Vegas to a nomadic lifestyle

Name: Bryan ConzoneOccupation: Owner of data analytics and marketing company TRFK
We were living in Las Vegas when the pandemic started. I’ve worked remotely for many years, but my wife, Jenn, was a registered nurse. When schools shut down and there was no childcare for our then five-year-old son and five-month-old daughter, she was forced to leave her position.
The lease on our house was up in June, and we had long considered moving to Texas. We decided to check out Dallas and Austin for a month each. That’s when we stumbled upon a company called Landing, which rents furnished apartments for 30 days or more.
We ended up liking this concept so much, it quickly became a discussion of: Why stop at Texas? Why not take this opportunity to explore the entire U.S.?

Bryan Conzone said the apartments he rents charge between $1,800-$3,600 per month, including utilities, which is more than his townhouse in Las Vegas but less expensive than his rent in Orange Country, California, where he lived for eight years prior to Vegas.
Courtesy of Bryan Conzone

After Dallas and Austin, we stayed in Las Vegas; Seattle; Salt Lake City; San Francisco; Orange County, California; Portland, Oregon; and Scottsdale, Arizona.
When we left Vegas, we put our stuff in storage. We’ve just been traveling with necessities, such as clothes, computers, educational materials and toys. It’s amazing that we haven’t missed being without 95% of our stuff for over a year now.
Next up, we’d love to explore Denver, Chicago, New York City, Boston and then make our way down the East Coast to Orlando.
A year ago, there was no scenario that I would have thought we’d be in a position to travel the U.S. so freely and explore so many places. It’s genuinely been life-changing and completely changed the way we look at living for the foreseeable future.
 Editor’s note: Responses have been edited for length and clarity. More

At an appearance Tuesday at the Code Conference in Beverly Hills, California, Elon Musk criticized Joe Biden for not inviting Tesla to a White House summit on electric vehicles.
He also poked at the SEC and explained his point of view on taxation practices.
In addition, he said he didn’t quite understand why renewable energy supporters are against nuclear power.

Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, stands in the foundry of the Tesla Gigafactory during a press event. year.
Patrick Pleul | picture alliance | picture alliance | Getty Images

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk criticized President Joe Biden on Tuesday, deeming his administration “biased” against Tesla and saying it appears to be “controlled” by unions during a speech on stage at the Code Conference in Beverly Hills, California.
Musk, in his typically irreverent form, also repeated several of his prior taunts against federal financial regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission, reiterated his support for cryptocurrency and nuclear energy, and said he is optimistic about Tesla and tech in China despite recent antitrust and cryptocurrency crackdowns there.

Beef with Biden

Code host and Recode editor-at-large Kara Swisher asked Musk to explain recent tweets in which he chided President Joe Biden.
Musk sighed. “You know, Biden held this EV summit — didn’t invite Tesla. Invited GM, Ford, Chrysler and UAW. An EV summit on the White House! Didn’t mention Tesla once, and praised GM and Ford for leading the EV revolution.”

“Does this sound maybe a little biased or something? And you know, just — it’s not the friendliest administration. Seems to be controlled by unions, as far as I can tell.”
Swisher asked him if he is waiting to get former President Donald Trump back or to be president himself, and he said no on both counts.

On taxes

Swisher asked Musk — who is currently the wealthiest person in the world, according to Bloomberg — to respond to criticism that while his companies have received a good deal of government contracts and subsidies, the CEO has avoided paying some taxes personally in the U.S. through creative, if legal, accounting practices.

In June, the investigative news site ProPublica reported on Musk’s tax bill as part of a massive analysis of billionaires’ finances. They found that Musk’s income tax bill amounted to zero in 2018.
Musk insulted ProPublica’s reporting, calling it “tricky” and “misleading.”
Then he said that the number was so low because he does not draw a salary, so his cash compensation is basically zero. Musk borrows money against stock options that vest over time instead.
As he has amassed more and more shares in Tesla and SpaceX, he said, he has “not really bothered” to take money off the table by selling a stake. The success of SpaceX and Tesla was far from assured, Musk said. “They skirted bankruptcy many times. But I never tried to take money off the table. And now this is trying to be turned around and made into a bad thing.”

Publicly traded Tesla never issued a notice to shareholders that it was near bankruptcy.
When Musk’s stock options expire at Tesla, the CEO said, his marginal tax rate will be over 50%. “I have a bunch of options that are expiring early next year, so … a huge block of options will sell in Q4 — because I have to or they’ll expire.”
“So you will eventually pay a lot of taxes?” Swisher said.
“Massive, yeah,” Musk said. “Basically, a majority of what I sell will be tax.”
He said critics may believe that wealthy people borrowing against their stock is “a trick to get away from paying taxes.” But, he said, this is not uncommon and can be a risky move. “Borrowing against stock is all sort of fun and games until you have a recession and you hit the margin calls and then you go to zero, which happens basically every time there’s a recession.”
“I’ve definitely gone on record and said I think our stock price is too high in my opinion, and this did nothing to stop the rise of the stock price,” he said. “So … I don’t know — what am I supposed to do, you know? I’m not the one making it go up!” The audience laughed.
“I think it’s important to bear in mind, my actual tax rate is 53%. They’re trying to make it sound like I was paying very low taxes, but in fact my taxes are very high. … A huge amount will be paid in the next three months because of expiring options,” he said.
When asked for comment by CNBC, ProPublica responded with the following statement from Editor-in-Chief Stephen Engelberg:
“Elon Musk’s remarks confirm the accuracy of our reporting, which disclosed that he paid no federal income taxes in 2018. As we pointed out in our story, Musk has supported his lifestyle by borrowing money against his stockholdings, a textbook example of the strategy known as ‘buy, borrow and die.’ We noted in our story that his tax payments to the government in recent years were a tiny portion of his multi-billion dollar gains in wealth.”
ProPublica sent Musk detailed questions before publishing their June story, and he did not reply. At the conference on Tuesday, Musk said ProPublica had “no interest” in the truth about his finances.
“We remain interested in any comment he might have on the U.S. tax system or his own strategies for minimizing his tax obligations,” Engelberg said Wednesday.

On Twitter

Swisher also asked Musk about his copious, and sometimes combative, use of Twitter. “Walk us through when you decide to do a tweet,” she said.
Musk replied to Swisher in a sarcastic tone.
“Well, I think about it for hours. And I consult with my strategy team,” he said, laughing with the audience. “Or maybe I’m wasted and then I brrrr—psshht! Gone! Let me shoot myself in the foot, bam! Now let me shoot myself in the foot, bam! That describes some of my tweets.”
In 2018, the SEC sued Tesla and Musk for securities fraud after the CEO wrote on Twitter that he was considering taking Tesla private for $420 per share and had funding secured.
They ultimately settled that lawsuit, with Musk and Tesla each paying a $20 million fine to the feds and Musk relinquishing his role as chairman of the board at Tesla. Musk also agreed to have his tweets reviewed by a compliance officer at Tesla before he posts them if they contain any material company information.
“Are you worried about any SEC involvement in your tweets going forward?” Swisher asked.
Musk said, “What does that stand for again? I know the middle word is ‘Elon’s’ but I can’t remember the other two words.”
She urged him to answer seriously. “Are you worried they’re gonna say, ‘Elon, stop … tweeting.'”
Musk said, “Are you talking about the shortseller enrichment commission?”
Both comments were allusions to insults Musk had lobbed at the financial regulator on Twitter in 2020 and 2018, respectively.

Crypto and China

Tesla made waves in February when it revealed it had purchased about $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin. After it disclosed the holdings, the price of bitcoin skyrocketed. In May, when Musk said on Twitter that Tesla would stop accepting bitcoin as a payment for its electric cars, the price of bitcoin plummeted.
When Musk tweets an endorsement of a particular coin — as he has done with dogecoin — its price tends to increase, at least temporarily.
When Swisher asked about cryptocurrency regulation, Musk said that the SEC should back off.
“Just let it fly,” he suggested.
The People’s Bank of China recently declared all cryptocurrency-related activities illegal. Swisher asked Musk if he has any concerns about working in China or if he is worried about U.S.-China relations.
After praising Tesla’s employees and vehicle assembly plant in Shanghai, Musk said he is “not especially” worried about China right now. As the pandemic wanes, allowing in-person meetings to resume, “trust levels” in China with tech companies and foreign businesses would “start heading in a more positive direction,” Musk predicted.
Musk said he thought China may not be embracing cryptocurrency in part because of electricity shortages there and the massive amount of electricity needed for mining bitcoin. But he also said the potential of cryptocurrency to decrease the power of centralized governments could be making China wary.
When Swisher said that Musk alone can “change the shares” in cryptocurrency more than China can, Musk acknowledged this. She asked him if that’s a good thing. “If it goes up, I suppose it is,” he said.

Space and energy

Swisher and Musk discussed SpaceX, its competitors, plans to expand satellite internet service Starlink, and ambitions to make humanity a “multi-planet species” at length.
During the course of their SpaceX discussion, Musk took the opportunity to mock the phallic shape of Blue Origin’s rocket and berate Jeff Bezos for his aerospace company’s litigiousness.
“Can you explain from a technological point of view why it’s that shape?” Swisher asked.
The characteristically ribald Musk said, “If you are only going to be doing sub-orbital then your rocket can be sort of shorter, yes.”
Musk specified that he doesn’t really speak with the Amazon founder but instead subtweets him — meaning he posts tweets about Bezos without addressing him directly.
When asked about SpaceX creating light pollution that has interfered with astronomers’ work, Musk said, “We take great pains to make sure our satellites do not interfere with their telescopes.” SpaceX may launch some new telescopes using the Starship vehicle, he said, that would have 10 times the resolution of the Hubble. He said only amateur astronomers are complaining about SpaceX today.
As the session wrapped up, one audience member asked if Musk is concerned about utilities being able to generate and transmit enough electricity to power electric vehicles as they become more popular.
Musk estimated that electricity demand would approximately double as the world shifts from gas-powered to electric vehicles.
“This is going to create a lot of challenges with the grid,” he said. He said he sees the demand as “unworkable” unless significant local power generation is added in homes through means such as residential solar products, like those sold by Tesla.
Besides solar on rooftops, he said, we’ll need to add “large, sustainable power generation developments, primarily wind and solar” to the grid, pairing them with battery packs to smooth out the intermittent nature of renewable energy.
Musk added, as a closing thought:
“I’m also kind of pro-nuclear. And I’m sort of surprised by the public sentiment against nuclear. I’m not saying we should go build a whole bunch of new nuclear plants. But I don’t think we should shut down ones that are operating safely. They did this in Germany and had to create a whole bunch of coal power plants, and I don’t think that was the right decision, frankly.”

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