When I'm not hosting this podcast, I am writing books, but it is really hard for me to write when I'm at home, so I like to find remote cabins in the middle of nowhere to just hang out and write. But I hate the idea of my house just sitting empty, doing nothing but collecting dust and definitely not collecting checks. And that's why I'm an Airbnb host. It's one of my all-time favorite side hustles. Other popular side hustles are awesome, too, don't get me wrong, but they often involve big startup costs. By hosting your space, you're monetizing what you already have access to. It It doesn't get easier than that. And if you're new to the side hustle game and you're anxious about getting started, don't worry, because you're not in this alone. Airbnb makes it super easy to host. I mean, if I could do it, you could do it. And your home might be worth a lot more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb. Com/host. I'm Nicole Lappin, the only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. It's time for some money rehab. Right now, NVIDIA, the current stock market darling, is trading at over $900 a share, and now the CEO has been warming toward the possibility of a stock split.

I know there's a lot of jargon on Wall Street, and I won't tell you anything you don't need to know, But I have to say, if you're an investor who's looking for opportunities in the market, you should know what a stock split is. So today I'm going to decode this money move and unpack what happens when a company decides to split its stock, what it means if you're holding those shares, and what opportunities you jump on if you hear a stock is about to split. Okay, so I know we're all sick of pizza metaphors, but there's a reason it works, right? So please lean in with me for a sec. Imagine you're having a romantic date and you order in pizza, the best date there is, and you cut your pizza into four big slices because you love a mega slice, and who am I to judge? You and your boo decide that you're probably going to each fill up on just one slice, which will leave you half a pizza untouched. So you decide to call up some friends, and four friends who want pizza show up on your doorstep. Amazing. The more, the merrier.

But you only have two pieces left. So you cut all of the pieces in half, which means the half of the pizza that you weren't going to eat just went from two pieces to four pieces. And because you decided to cut all of the pieces in half, you even cut the big slice that you already have on your plate. But even after you cut your slice in half, you keep both pieces because you make the rules. Each of your friends get a slice and you get to keep your piece, which is now two Everyone gets pizza. The slices are just a little smaller so more people can share in the yum. That is essentially a stock split. The company decides to split each share of its stock into two or more pieces. So the total number of shares increases. But if you own some of the shares before the split, the total value of your steak stays the same. You just have more shares, just like the pizza example, right? We cut the slices in half, so there are overall draw more slices of pizza, but the pizza didn't get bigger, right? You still kept the same amount of pizza on your plate.

You just cut it in half. But it's still going to fill you up the same way it would have before you slice it. The pizza metaphor that we all love to love when applied to the investing world could be called a two for one stock split, where each share is split into two. If you owned 100 shares in a company after the split, you'd own 200 shares in a two for one split. But companies can split shares into however many pieces they want. For example, one of the most famous stock splits happened with Apple in 2014 when the company executed a seven for one split, which drastically lowered the price of its shares from 656 bucks to 93 bucks, making the stock more accessible to a wider pool of investors. And then Apple did another split in 2020, this time a four-for-one split, again aiming to make share ownership more feasible for more investors. Another buzzy split was executed by Tesla in August of 2020 when Musk's company announced a five-for-one stock split. Split. But the biggest split in my recent memory, is Chipotle's intention to split their stock 50 for one. Yeah, you might think Chipotle's stock would trade around the same price as the products, maybe, I don't know, 20 bucks a share.

But no, one share of Chipotle is actually over 3,200 bucks. So a 50 for one stock split would make one share of Chipotle worth 64 bucks. Still a lot of burritos, but not as many. So if you're a Chipotle investor and you own one share of stock after a 50 for one split, you would 50 shares at $64 a pop. Your total investment is still 3,200 bucks, but now you just have more shares at that lower price per share. Let's take a step back for a second. Why the heck would companies want to do this? It seems like a whole lot of trouble for no real change for investors. First of all, I will say not every company does stock splits. Warren Buffett, for example, famously has never split Berkshire Hathaway's Class A stock, and that stock is now trading at over $600,000 for just one share. But for companies that have split their stock, the historical rationale has been that if the stock price gets too high, it will start to feel inaccessible for investors who are looking to invest small amounts. This used to be a bigger consideration in the days before fractional investing.

It used to be the case that investors could only buy whole shares at a time. So if you wanted to invest in Chipotle, you could only invest 3,200 bucks at a time. And if you had less, then you were out of luck. Fractional investing has allowed investors to buy, yes, fractions of shares. So you can buy less than a share. You could buy three and a half shares if you want. You could buy any odd amount you could think of. This allows you to invest 100 bucks or even five bucks in Chipotle if you want to. You don't need to think about how many shares you want to buy. You just need to think about how much you want to invest. But even though fractional shares have softened the impact of stock splitting, stock splits do still present opportunities for investors. It's just a little different now. A stock split can often lead to increased buying interest, which often drives up the price of the stock. And splits are generally perceived as signs of corporate optimism, a belief by company execs that the share price will continue to rise. Plus, there are certain perks that investors get by owning a certain number of shares.

I talked about this at length in another episode that I linked in the episode description. But for example, Royal Caribbean Group offers $1,000 credit to anyone who books a world cruise and owns at least 100 shares of their stock. So if you have 50 shares of Royal Caribbean stock and it splits, boom, all of a sudden, you own enough shares to start reaping those perks. But let's get back to NVIDIA for a sec. Some experts are expecting the stock to split and for it to either be four for one or a five for one split. This wouldn't be the first time NVIDIA split. Nvidia did a four for one split in 2021 when one share was about 600 bucks. As you watch for these headlines, remember that stock splitting can bring volatility because there's a spotlight now on the company splitting stocks, so there might be more analysis into whether or not the company is overvalued, which could hurt the stock. And this brings me to today's tip you can take straight to the bank. If you own a stock that splits, even though it sounds like getting more shares might translate into more money for you as an investor, a stock split itself doesn't add any value to your portfolio.

The fundamentals of a company don't change because of a split. And if a stock is overvalued before a split, it will remain overvalued after the split. So don't buy into the hype. Watch for the signs that the company's performance justifies the split-induced enthusiasm, and act accordingly. Money Hey, Rehabbers, you have money hidden in your house. Yeah, just hiding there in plain sight. Okay, so I don't mean you have gold bars hidden somewhere in walls, treasure map style. But you do have a money-making opportunity that you're just leaving on the table if you're not hosting on Airbnb. It's one of my all-time favorite side hustles. By hosting your space, you are monetizing what you already own. It doesn't get easier than that. For me, hosting on Airbnb has always been a no-brainer. When I first signed up, I remember thinking to myself, Self, you pay a lot of money for your house. It is time that house return the favor. And to get real with you for a sec, I felt so much guilt before treating myself on vacation because traveling can be so expensive. But since hosting on Airbnb, I feel zero stress for treating myself to a much-needed vacation because having Airbnb guests Stay at my house when I'm traveling helps offset the cost of my travel.

So it's such a win-win. I mean, if I could do it, you could do it. And your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb. Com/host. Do you ever get FOMO, fear of missing out? Well, do you ever get FOMO-Tupita, fear of missing out on the perfect higher? If so, I have the antidote. It's LinkedIn jobs. Linkedin jobs helps you hire professionals you can't find anywhere else. Even those who aren't actively searching for a new job but might be open to the perfect role. In any given month, over 70% of LinkedIn users don't visit other leading job sites, and that adds up to a serious squad of awesome candidates. Linkedin has over a billion professionals on the platform, and these candidates are super qualified. So much so that 86 % of small businesses get a qualified candidate within just 24 hours. I work with LinkedIn jobs for all of my dream team needs, so they're hooking up money rehabbers at linkedin. Com/mnen. Go there and you can post your job for free. That's linkedin. Com/mnen, as in Money News Network. To post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply.

Money Rehab is a production of Money News Network. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Money Rehab's executive producer is Morgan LaVoy. Our researcher is Emily Holmes. Do you need some money rehab? And let's be honest, we all do. So email us your moneyquestions, moneyrehab@moneynewsnetwork. Com, to potentially have your questions answered on the show or even have a one-on-one intervention with me. And follow us on Instagram @moneynews and TikTok @moneynewsnetwork for exclusive video content. And lastly, thank you. No, seriously, thank you. Thank you for listening and for investing in yourself, which is the most important investment you can make.