Bloomberg Money: Premium Travel, Fast Fashion, Luxury at the US Open & The Cost of College

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1:51This is the Bloomberg Money Podcast. I'm Tom Keen with Scarlet Fu. Join us each week for a smart look at the forces shaping your financial life on personal finance, on retirement, and wealth management. We will explore how people are earning, investing, and building wealth. We are live Fridays at noon Eastern on Bloomberg Television. Subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen, and as always, on the Bloomberg Terminal and the Bloomberg Business App.

2:33Good noon, everyone. A special edition of Bloomberg Money on personal finance, retirement, wealth management, the joys of Labor Day, the children go back to school. We're going to talk to Lisa Mateo about that. There were tears. She took the office to school.

2:48Brian Kelly: Yes, I know. But you know what? We'll get through it. We'll be right there. We'll somehow survive. What do you do in Labor Day? I mean, when we're done here, what are you doing? I'm actually obsessed with this trial, the Lindsey Clancy trial. Oh, you're the celebrity load, so why did I know this? One hour delay for defense to appeal, so it could happen any minute now. It's happening right now. Breaking news here on Bloomberg Money. Of course, again, it's on personal finance, retirement, and wealth management. We've got a really, really interesting show for you today. Coming up, we thought we'd do it.

3:15He was so kind to come in. Brian Kelly will be with us. We've changed the way all of us travel. All of us use our charts. The guy is absolutely foundational to each and every one of us in our personal finance.

3:27Brian Kelly: He actually wrote the book on it. We're also going to continue the conversation on how we spend our money. Dana tells you that the authority on specialty retail on the affordability crisis in your closet in apparel. Is fast fashion dead? Well, fast fashion is dead, but also like what are they wearing at the tennis tournament? I mean, they're draped in Tiffany and draped in this. I don't know how you can play tennis with all that. I don't understand. I don't get it. We'll have to see on that. That's Dana, Chelsea will be with us. We're really looking forward to that. We've got a great lineup in a few moments as well.

3:59I think we've got a staggered of stocks right now and look at what's going on in the stock market. The answer is we can do this quickly. Down 300 points. Pulling back. McKee's going to explain why. Good job, report. Stocks go down. I don't get it.

4:14Brian Kelly: Yeah. President Trump doesn't like to see this dynamic, and he's made that very clear. Let's look at the cross asset board as well. Stocks are a little changed on the week. We should note the 10 year yield not doing a whole lot, but sitting near the highest in one month. The dollar is slightly higher, but it is down for the week. And the big mover, of course, the yen strengthening oil prices. You can see down for the first time this week. However, still above$90 a barrel. Very good. We got a great lineup of people. The only three people at Bloomberg that came into the office today. Stacey Vanek-Smith is with us.

4:45We're thrilled she's with us, with everybody's business. all of her good work there she has to work with max you know i mean i think it i think it's a way

4:52Brian Kelly: to it that that they get to do this podcast and that they're both in today i mean we're just grateful mckee with us as well we'll cover the red sox orioles here in a bit but mike mckee of course importantly on a jobs report the state of the american economy and what a special treat jeffrey mason uh with us jeff mason covers the white house and is in this weekend for david gura bloomberg this weekend i mean it's good it's going to be interesting to say the least yeah we've got a good show coming up. And we'll see. We'll talk about the convention here in a moment. Let me get right to it. Mike McKee, first to you on the job economy.

5:25Down last time, up this time. Did you just blend them together and say, state of play?

5:30Brian Kelly: Well, essentially, that's what economists are going to do. They're going to look at the three month moving average, which is about 77 ,000, which is a good number, considering you only need somewhere between 30 and 50 to keep the unemployment rate from rising, essentially, now that we have a much smaller labor force, although the labor force did grow this last month by quite a bit. And that has kept the unemployment rate at four point. I got eight ways to go here. There's just so much to talk about. But the bottom line is there's a wage and there's this inflation. 100 percent of the people I talk to say I'm losing ground every single month is where's the real wage right now?

6:07Brian Kelly: Well, they are losing ground every single month, basically average hourly earnings are running below and have been for a couple of months, the inflation rate. And so, yes, you're losing ground now. Not every measure shows that. And I had an interesting discussion with the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, who wants to look at average weekly wages because he says those are still outpacing inflation. But basically, the American people are right. They're losing ground because the level of prices isn't going down. We may see a slowdown in the change, the monthly change, but the level of price is still high.

6:42Brian Kelly: Yeah. And that's proven to be very sticky. Now, speaking of sticky inflation, Stacey, you've been monitoring gas prices and in particular diesel prices, because that is the engine of how we move things, move goods around this country. Yes, this is apparently going to be the most expensive Labor Day ever in terms of gas prices. But diesel especially, is it a record high for all time,$5.85 a gallon. It's up almost 60 % over just last year, but also average gas prices of about 30%. If you're, for people who are traveling this weekend, it's going to be the most expensive Labor Day ever. But diesels, it's a huge deal and it's not in the political discussion.

7:22Brian Kelly: No, because the truckers deal with it and people in Europe deal with it, but it just means that every time you buy something, it becomes more expensive because of the transport. Yeah, but I mean, it's$5.85. I think in London is$9 something with the tax override as well. Jeff Mason with us. And what he's going to see next week, I guess, is simply is the great commonwealth of Massachusetts, the home of Adley Rutschman, who hit homers against his Orioles. We do. It's not a convention. Stop it. It's not a convention, right? Well, they're calling it a convention, Tom, but it's not an actual convention.

7:57Brian Kelly: You're absolutely right because there's no one being nominated. The president is not running for anything, but they're calling it a convention basically to use a word that people understand to have a gathering. And they're going to have a gathering and it's going to be his big sales pitch for the Republican. Will there be a Vance or Rubio siding? There will certainly be a Vance siding. He's speaking on Wednesday night. The president is speaking on both nights. I think you'll hear a lot from him. I think you'll also hear a lot about Ken Paxton, who's running for Senate from Texas and not doing very well in terms of fundraising.

8:26Brian Kelly: Is the president losing support among the GOP constituents and even the GOP leadership? Because you had the Congressman Pat Harrigan admitting that when it comes to Iran, very clearly militarily, we are stalled. And a lot of candidates don't want him there when they're campaigning. It depends on where they are. So the base is still very supportive of President Trump, for sure. And he knows that. But there are places, swing districts, swing states, where they probably don't want to campaign with President Trump, whose poll ratings broadly across the country are pretty low. Scarlett, Mr. McKee would like the floor.

9:02Brian Kelly: I was just going to point out that you said you will hear from. I don't think very many people are going to hear from the Republican meeting down in Dallas because we're always talking about how can they say, how can they do this? They scheduled their meetings up against the opening of the National Football League season. First night, Patriots and Seahawks Super Bowl rematch. Second night, Rams and 49ers. I suspect that the ratings for the extravaganza in Dallas are going to be very low. Perhaps the only good news is that the Cowboys are not playing or nobody in Texas would watch. And the president, as we all know, is a former reality TV host who likes to talk about ratings.

9:42Brian Kelly: So that's going to be a challenge for him. Can we juxtapose the world of everybody's business, which is a hipster thing? I mean, you guys are doing such a great job capturing a zeitgeist of a group of people disassociated from me and McKee in his world of fancy people in suits and ties and Chanel dresses. I mean, it's like, Stacey, it's like two worlds apart in America. It is very much two worlds apart. And I think that's probably one of the challenges that's going to come up at the convention is I think a lot of people feel like there are an increasingly separated world in the U.S. There are people who are struggling with their wages to keep up with inflation.

10:21Brian Kelly: And then there are people who are making a lot of money, like almost unimaginable amounts. And I think that divide is certainly a major political issue right now. And the president, I think, well, he likes to talk about wealth. He likes to talk about presiding over a bunch of stock market highs. But he also has been very dismissive of the word affordability. He's called that a democratic hoax. And yet he and his people are very aware that that's probably the key issue in the midterm elections. I mean, even places like Ohio, North Carolina, Michigan and Pennsylvania, property prices and property taxes have been rising so rapidly that they are starting to benefit from salt tax breaks that were once upon a time just the province of the Northeast in California.

11:01Brian Kelly: Super interesting. And you're seeing some increased support in those places for those for the salt taxes, which is fascinating. Around the table, around the table, how many miles do you have? How many miles do I have to travel? Like the miles, the charge card miles, you add them up, airline miles. Credit card points. I'm not so great about credit card points, but I do have quite a few saved up on my team. McKee, how many do you have? Well, in terms of what I could spend right now on airlines, a little over$100 ,000 because my kids use them all. The kids use them all the time. The kids use them all.

11:31Brian Kelly: But I'm close to$2 million total. It's$2 million miles. Jeff, how many miles do you have? I'm doing something wrong because I don't know. I don't think I have anywhere near that many. The Foo, how many miles do you have? 70 ,000 on one card, 40 ,000 on the other. I have 500 ,000 total, and I'm with McKee. They all go to the kids. It's a racket. Yeah, exactly. It's Brian Kelly's fault. Thank you, you three, for showing up on Labor Day. Really appreciate it. Brian Kelly changed our world. He's the one that figured out charge cards and miles. We're going to talk to Brian Kelly here, the points guy, the founder of the website.

12:09Stay with us. This is Bloomberg Money. It's a special edition, a Labor Day edition. around the table quick. Hot, hot, cold lobsters. Cold lobster rolls. Cold. Hot. Hot. It's on America.

12:29Special edition Bloomberg Money, the Labor Day edition. Scarlett Foon. We're having a lot of fun here. It's a lighter show on personal finance, on retirement, wealth management, and you don't have enough miles. Joining us now, without question, one, two, maybe three people who seriously changed personal finance. Brian Kelly did it with the points guy. How did the website start? What was the first week like the first month?

12:54Brian Kelly: The first week, June of 2010, I was working at Morgan Stanley. I was a corporate recruiter going to all the college career fairs. And I was so good with my points because I would put all of the career fairs on my corporate Amex and you could call and for$95 a year, you could get all the points. So I became the guy, the expense guy at Morgan Stanley. I put all the career fairs on my credit card. So I was raking in the points. So I started the points guy is just like a way to share my tips as a corporate traveler. And within 11 months, it just blew up. So it took off. Your book, how to win at travel came out in 2025, in which you really lay out your thesis that points are real and non liquid assets.

13:31Brian Kelly: They are a currency. My question to you is how much devaluation have we seen in this currency after the pandemic ended and the world embarked on revenge travel? Yeah. So, you know, loyalty, the airlines are just planes. They're banks masquerading as airlines. You know, the loyalty business is bigger than ever. It's what's driving all the profit. You see Delta and United are just doing incredibly because of their co-brand portfolio. So, yes, there is an increase in inflation, how many miles it takes to get a flight in general. But the foreign frequent flyer programs, that's where the value is. So, for example, Flying Blue, which is Air France's program, they have 60 ,000 mile business class awards.

14:10Brian Kelly: All throughout the year. That's unheard of. The same flight using Delta Sky Miles can be 500 ,000 points. So the real experts, there's still many deals to be had, but all the value is mostly with the foreign frequent flyer programs. Right, right. We're partners of Amex, Chase, Citi, Cap One. The racket here is you came up with this. It's your fault, and we're all going to be doobies and pay down our charge cards every month. Bloomberg money, it's on personal finance. What percent of people actually do the Brian Kelly formula and zero out their charge cards every month? A huge amount. And the banks want them because, you know, in the United States, we have a large fee, you know, to about 2 % every time you use a card.

14:48Brian Kelly: So even if you're paying your balances off, Amex wants that. You know, they certainly still make money on interest, but that interchange fee is still very lucrative and they get you on other products. So this whole rewards ecosystem is very lucrative for banks. All the banks are doing well. The airlines who have leaned into it are doing well. And I argue in my book that consumers can do well, too, as long as you know how to play the game, pay the bills off, avoid interest, and then maximize the redemption of those points. However, right now in this economy, a lot of consumers are not doing that well.

15:16Brian Kelly: And it's a sign of the times that people are increasingly using the points that they accumulate to pay for food and gas rather than trips to Italy, for instance. Are you seeing more people use their points for daily necessities? No, I actually think in the airline space, we're seeing airlines all retrofit their planes to have more business class, more premium economy. So while the broader economy, you know, there are sectors struggling. Right. The premium travelers are driving. What did you do? Read our script? Bring it up, Luigi. Come on. Kelly's way out front here. The money must read with Brian Kelly.

15:47This is from his website. He was traveling somewhere for$58 and didn't write this. How many first class seats? There's too many. Delta, a whopping 44 recliners, 11 rows, almost half the aircraft. they expect to offer 8 % more premium seats. When does the economy die?

16:05Brian Kelly: Yeah. I mean, they keep making economy tighter and tighter because there are still cost-focused travelers. But as we saw with Spirit, the purely economy budget airline model does not work in the U.S. with expensive oil, with expensive airports. Ryanair is the model that works in Europe. That's because they go to these third-rate airports. We don't have those in New York City. We don't have those across the U.S. So the airlines, you know, we just saw JetBlue is putting first class. They just announced Frontier. You know, everyone is going premium. That is how you win and travel. Southwest has its new lounge network that it's launching with Chase as well.

16:40Brian Kelly: Is there a ceiling to credit card annual fees? Because we're rapidly approaching four figures. We're not there yet. Amex Platinum is$8.95. Is there a level that you see at which consumers would just resist paying that fee? It depends. I mean, we've seen last year was big increases with Sapphire Reserve, Amex Platinum. My understanding, if you look at the public results of those companies, they're doing quite well. You know, and certainly they'll have a drop off. Not everyone wants to pay$900 or$800. But then what happens is they go to the other products. You know, the Amex Gold card is 4X on dining and groceries at a much lower annual fee.

17:13Brian Kelly: That's actually a better points card for most people. So some people might realize, hey, Platinum might not be for me. But, you know, so they still stay within the Amex family. You wanted to run from this because you're such a premium guy. What's the biggest flight you've ever done where you went for$48 to the moon? What was the biggest Brian Kelly, you know, wealth management fight? You know, I redeem all the time. I love, I mean, the Air France example, because it still exists. Anyone can book these Air France 60 ,000 mile awards. I've done it. Full disclosure. And I love Air France La Premier.

17:47Brian Kelly: So if you have elite status. Oh, please. They pick you up at the plane in Paris. Are you kidding me? So that's 350 ,000 points. That's a splurge. But when you think about it, I can redeem for Air France La Premier for less than what Delta charges business class. Quick question. What's more valuable, points or cash back? Points, in my opinion. I mean, it's more fun for you, but cash back is... But if you don't want to travel, get cash back. What I dislike is when people have premium credit cards and then redeem them for gift cards or statement credit. That is a losing strategy. If you want gift cards, just get a 2 % cash back card.

18:18Brian Kelly: Don't pay to have a fancy credit card and And then redeem those points for Saks gift cards. There's a personal finance. As Scarlett mentioned earlier, Ed Duffner shops, power shop here at Bloomberg. If he's an aisle four buying Wagyu beef, he's not using points. You said they're not using points for groceries and basis. Well, I don't think enough. There's a lot of people on your, you know, there's a lot of points hoarders out there. I know billionaires with 20 million points in an increasing. I would argue to them just get a cash back card because there are a lot of people who hoard points. There is a certain mentality of let me save them for later.

18:51Brian Kelly: Right. And they will devalue. They will devalue. So if you have too much of a currency you're not using, switch to cash because two percent cash back is king. And there are Bank of America has a product you can get almost three percent back. So, you know, I think for wealthy travelers, they want to have that fancy credit card. But a cash back card would be better financially. All right, Brian, stay with us. And later on in the show, we're going to talk about how teens are starting to invest sooner. And according to a survey, the top reason is because they just want to get started as soon as possible.

19:19Brian Kelly: Compounding. It's all about compounding. All right. This is Bloomberg Money. Does Sephora count as investment? Not for you. Not for me. You're listening to Bloomberg Money. Stay with us with more to come after this. With Jatchy BT, you can do more than get answers. You can get things done. When you're running a business and looking to expand, you need a clear view of the landscape before making any decisions. ChatGPT can help you prepare. Connect your Google Drive, point to relevant files and reports, and ask chat to research competitors, industry forecasts, and market signals. It can turn the findings into a strategic deck in your team's template that you can review before presenting to your leadership team.

20:06Brian Kelly: Growing a business is ambitious, and ChatGPT can help you do it with confidence. Get started at ChatGPT.com. The world of business is constantly evolving. Every day, new challenges, new opportunities, new ways of working. Comcast Business keeps you totally in step with secure AI-backed networking built to power the way modern business gets things done today in more than 100 countries around the world. That's some serious muscle. And get this, Comcast business powers over 90 % of the Fortune 500 and millions of small businesses. Behind it all, network engineers, cybersecurity specialists, support teams, thousands of experts answering your call at 2 a.m.

20:50Brian Kelly: like it's 2 p.m. Always on, always ready. That's a lot of coffee. One partner powering how business gets done for companies of every size all around the globe. When you add it all up, no one does business like Comcast business.

21:13Yes, the fish are real. Somebody emailed me and said they're fake fish. I said, no, they're not. We have like 400 aquarium around the world or whatever. Bloomberg Money on Labor Day, a special edition with Scarlet Fu. Thrilled that you're with us today. And what's so important is after her tearful Olympique, her Olympic coverage at Paris, Celine Dion's doing it again. And only Brian Kelly could fly La Première to Paris to see Salon. Celine, you're really doing it.

21:43Brian Kelly: Celine is a funny story. When I wanted to start the points guy, all my friends, even my parents were like, you can't quit Morgan Stanley. And I believed in it. I knew I was onto something. And Celine Dion has a song called Taking Chances. And I was walking through Times Square and I and I listened to the song and I went straight to my boss and I was like, you know, I need to take a chance. And I quit my job. So Celine Dion is the reason why the points guy is what it is today. OK, you're you paid for the Celine Dion concert in cash, right? You didn't use points. Well, I used a credit card, always use credit cards and never pay cash credit cards.

22:12Brian Kelly: And also the Sapphire Reserve has a StubHub credit. So I've used it twice. Yes. Thank you. Yes. Alex, I love the U.S. Open. So, yeah. So, Celine, I will pay all my flights and hotels are free. So, yeah, I spent big to be front row center because, you know, this is my this is my Olympics. This is your score. So in 2025, I think you had 28 credit cards. How many do you have in your wallet? I have about 30 now. I'm keeping it. I'm keeping it. You know, I'm not going too crazy. There are people with over 100 credit cards, by the way. Do you have a default card? I do. The built palladium card. So built.

22:47Brian Kelly: You can now earn points on your mortgage. I have two mortgages and the built palladium. You get two X on everything plus rent or mortgage payment. Is that through Wells Fargo? It was. Now it's through a company called Cardless. So built, because when you think about your everyday spend, most credit cards only give you one point. Yes. Back to the whole inflation thing. There are now credit cards that allow you to earn so many more points than before. So the built palladium at two X on everything is my solid go to. Not to be Debbie Downer, but I'll be Tom Downer. Is there a downside to this thing?

23:20I mean, what's your annual fees on 28 credit cards? Is there a downside where people screw up the Brian Kelly formula?

23:28Brian Kelly: The downside would be, you know, on your cards like the Amex Platinum that comes with all these different credits is if you're not taking advantage. And I will admit, even with the Sapphire, you get free Apple Music. And you actually have to go in and click a single button to link your different accounts, which I hadn't done. You hadn't done that. I hadn't for a couple of the credits that I thought I was getting. So it takes a little bit. But I, you know, the$795 on the Sapphire card, I get way more than that in value a year from the StubHub, from the travel credit. So I actually think no annual fee cards are a huge waste.

24:01Brian Kelly: My dad always said cheap is expensive. So for the people out there with no annual fee cards and who are spending a lot, you're actually losing value. When was the last time you paid full fare for an airplane flight? I just, you know, it's funny because I can through, you know, and I pay for all my travels when I review airlines. Even though I can, I just still am like, it's against. But I mean, domestic flights all often pay, but I'm using the travel portal points like Amex points. You're still gaming it. Yeah. But yeah. It goes against your grain. To pay for it. Yeah. I get it. All right. Points guy, Brian Kelly.

24:35Brian Kelly: Thank you so much. A real pleasure to have you here right before Labor Day, the three day weekend. He is founder of the Points Guy and author of How to Win at Travel.

24:46I'm on the phone with Dana Telsey. We're checking the Saturday schedule at the U.S. Open. So we can see who's wearing Tiffany at the U.S. Open.

24:55Brian Kelly: How they can play tennis and wear jewelry. And some of it's very big. It's not the Tiffany mortals would buy. It's like big time. But we're both waiting for the Saturday schedule to come out. And it hasn't come out yet. It's an outrage. We're still waiting. In due time, it will come. Let's get a check on where things stand. We had a big jobs report today, much stronger than anticipated. That sent stocks lower because good, bad news, or I should say good news is bad news in the stock market today. Jeff Mason earlier said, why is that, Mike McKee? Well, the president doesn't understand why that is.

25:23Brian Kelly: And it's because people think that the Federal Reserve will perhaps increase interest rates later this month. You can see the S &P down about a third of one percent. Consumer discretionary, that covers retailers, or among the worst performers. On that cross asset, the VIX 14.01 is a bull market statistic just across the equity base. You know, that's the way it is today, the$1.9910 as well. It'll be interesting to watch hydrocarbism, particularly as Stacey Vanek-Smith said, that price of diesel in America and worldwide into next week as well. This is a treat. It's a special edition, which means only Dana Tulsi can show up.

26:00CEO, Chief Research Officer, Tulsi Advisory. More than anyone I know with her childhood, she is viscerally attached to 57th Street at Fifth Avenue. I mean, I just can't say enough about the family tieback to Bergdorf Goodman and all that. How are you doing? And how's American retail doing? How's our aspiration?

26:21Brian Kelly: Doing well. American retail, frankly, pivoting along, but doing nicely. We saw some great results out of Victoria's Secret yesterday. At the same time, Lululemon is obviously falling a lot today as they have work to do. And then you saw terrific results out of Abercrombie and Fitch. You have companies like Oxford Industries who are still working to improve Lilly Pulitzer. So for the most part, companies are managing inventory. They're using marketing and social marketing to drive new customer growth. And you have companies like Tapestry and Ralph Lauren that are continuing to see more new customer growth and AUR increases.

26:56I've got to give you a victory lap. The Australian Financial Review magazine wrote an article on the new Hermes store in London, which is the Dana Telsey story. Let's bring it up here right now. First of all, Hermes is struggling now. The stock down, it used to be it cost five Hermes scarves and now the price of a share is three Hermes scarves. But this is Florian Crane writing up here. In 2011, our point was saying, if people go to a store, that will be for a reason. It's not to get the product. The product will be available on a click. He took that from you. He stole that concept. You're the one I know who said, stop panicking.

27:35Stores won't die.

27:36Brian Kelly: Exactly. And they're not dying. If anything, stores are more relevant than ever before. You're seeing companies reinvest. Look at companies like Aritzia, the beautiful stores they have here in New York. Look at, frankly, look what Bloomingdale's has done. And it's like a reinvention of what Bloomingdale's used to look like. Social interaction happens in stores. And post-COVID, people want that more than ever. The reinvention, though, often pivots to focusing on a premium customer who wants a premium experience because that premium customer, their spending is more resilient, and that's where the growth is, frankly.

28:09Brian Kelly: Does that mean that the selection, the opportunities, the options for the higher income consumer just grows and the options for the lower income consumer just shrivels? Well, a couple things. I mean, I think you're seeing options for even lower income consumers and physical retail expand. Look what just opened here in May. We had the first Primark in New York City open, and that is a value retailer. The fastest growing number of store openings is coming out of the off-price retailers. Ross stores, TJX, Burlington. You look at Walmart remodeling nearly 600 stores a year. So I think the pivot point is every type of retailer is figuring out new ways to capture more traffic.

28:49Brian Kelly: I want to ask about Shein and fast fashion because there's a legitimate question here about whether fast fashion is dead. Shein went public, but it definitely did not time it right because it should have been a couple of years ago when the growth was at its peak. Well, also, I think you have competition. You look what Zara and Zara has done so well. H &M is trying to get its groove back. And there are privately held companies like Addicted, E-D-I-K-T-E-D. How do you keep track of this? That's opening stores. They have one here in the old Scribner's Bookstore on Fifth Avenue near Saks on 49th Street that just opened.

29:21Brian Kelly: We're seeing a ton of traffic. Within personal finance, retirement, and particularly wealth management, what spans that is this crazy thing, aspiration. I want to own, as we mentioned earlier, the MS scarf. I'll never own one, but boy, they're beautiful. I think I'll look at it. Or people that say, I'm never going to own one at all, but I'm fascinated. Is our aspiration now the same as it was 10 years ago or 30 years ago? I think there will always be aspiration, but what you aspire is something different. Today, you just had the points guy on. What are people doing? Look at the prices at the U.S.

29:58Brian Kelly: Open. They are very high. So people are basically paying up for experiences because experiences create memories. And it could be memories with purchases. It could be memories with doing. And I think there's a lot of interest in doing these days. Which specialty retailers are doing a good job delivering on that experience, providing that experience to the customer? I think there are a couple that are doing some interesting things. Frankly, you look at Ralph Lauren and, frankly, Ralph's Coffee, you have lines there. They're creating that experience that's exciting. Frankly, you look at Zara, which has something new all the time, it creates a destination.

30:34Brian Kelly: Sephora, there are crowds to get in the Sephora stores. So it blends product and experience at the same time. A joke at the house is the daily Sephora. What they do is they bring the price down and go every day. And I see it on the Visa run. Okay, let's go to the Open because you and I are fans. we're getting Scarlett into this as well. The dream is to get Alex Ayala to play Coco. And there you've got Nike playing New Balance. And who in God's name knows what jewelry they're wearing. Talk about the aspirational luxury of most of the women, to be honest, draped at the U.S. Open. The monies, it's millions, right?

31:12Brian Kelly: It is millions, but also you're creating style trends. Look what Sabalenka's wearing. Everyone looks every day. what is Osaka wearing every day when she walks in the match? It's something new and different. So, yes, it's become fashion and function at the same time. Is Arnold winning at that? I think he plays a big game in it. He wins. Ralph Lauren wins at it. We have a lot. Frankly, Nike also wins at that, too. So when Tom said you were out front and saying that stores were not dead, it's not just stores anymore. It's the venue for people to see, you know, the products available. But it's also at events like the U.S.

31:46Brian Kelly: Open. Exactly. It is at events. And frankly, you look at what stores are doing these days, whether they're creating styling sessions and bring your friend, whether they're introducing you to a new designer. There's a reason to go. And frankly, every time you have a reason to go, it's a click, click because you're buying one thing. But, oh, I didn't know I needed that. I'll buy that, too. Your heart and soul is Bergdorf. Yes. How does Bergdorf survive? Service. How do the world, London, Bergdorf, Prontant in Paris, how do they survive? Service. The service that they have is differentiated than others.

32:20Brian Kelly: They build relationships with their customers. They know their closets and they can talk to them first, talk to them fast and get them. So what you just heard there, folks, is classic Dana Telsey back to Bear Stearns. Scarlett, they know their closets. They know their closets. They know their customers, too. I'm curious as to these frictionless payment systems that have been introduced and rolled out. Apple Pay, Google Pay, all of that. How do you see that changing consumer spending habits, the way we spend? What are retailers doing to adapt to these new payment methods? And do we actually spend more because it's frictionless?

32:54Brian Kelly: Some of that. But the other thing it gives retailers, data. It gives them data on what the customer is buying, when they're buying, where they're buying, so they know more about their customer that they can curate the assortments. Frictionless payments is becoming standard right now. Look at how we all, whether you take a train, whether you pay for something. It's just tap and go. And that's become, frankly, normal cost of normal cost of business. Joseph Feldman emails in. He says, ask a Joe Feldman question. Joe's wonderful. He works with Dana on the big box. Why is Walmart trading at 40 times earnings?

33:30I still don't get it.

33:31Brian Kelly: Well, why Walmart trades that way is because look at the growth opportunities. Walmart's become a modern technology company to look at their ability to capture all income levels. and frankly you look at what they have a global space in order to be able to and the other thing in terms of bloomberg money in personal finance how many millionaires has bentonville made a lot of millionaires and bentonville is a nice place to live how's uh walmart doing with capturing the premium customer as well as holding on to its core customer look at the biggest growth for walmart is coming from higher income consumers and that ability for them to see relevance there is exciting All right.

34:11Brian Kelly: Dana Telsey, thank you so much. Thank you. Really appreciate it. Dana Telsey, CEO and chief research officer at Telsey Advisory Group. All right. Labor Day weekend means end of summer, which means back to school here in New York. I visited the campus of SUNY Purchase and spoke with a student on just how he's paying for college. Okay. Originally, it was like 30, 30 K a year. I got it down to like $1 ,500. It took a lot of time. Financial aid and working at the same time. It was very tough.

34:48You're listening to Bloomberg Money. Stay with us with more to come after this.

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36:31Brian Kelly: Bloomberg Money is your new destination for personal finance. It's a cross-platform effort that extends beyond television because it's our new digital hub at Bloomberg.com slash money. And one of the stories featured this week is about parents opening brokerage accounts for their teens to learn the basics of investing. Fidelity, Schwab, and other firms that have noticed, and they're rolling out products to target this demo to lock in a new generation of customers and investors. Josiana Joshua reported on this and joins us now to discuss. You talked to a bunch of these parents and teens. What did they tell you?

37:02Brian Kelly: Yeah, so the teens are excited to get into it. They're very excited to get invested. They're very excited to do the research. They're excited to see the gains as well, of course. And the parents are kind of worried about what the economy is going to look like when they get older. So they're like nice, excited to have this as a backbone for this is separate from day trading with a laptop off a couch. Yes, it's much separate. Lisa Mateo's kids, they're just power. They're like the president, a thousand trades a day. It feels like they're a little bit ahead on this. But the motivation for a lot of parents wanting to start their kids on investing early is because they feel like they didn't do that themselves.

37:38Brian Kelly: Yeah. So it's really trying to get the time behind the time. Like the time is what they want to get on. Parents feel like they didn't have the time as well. They kind of started a little bit late. So they're trying to get that compounding interest to grow and make sure their kids have the best head start that they can. And are these kids investing in big tech names and ETFs? What are they buying? Yeah. So according to Schwab, I spoke to Schwab Fisher for the story. They're mostly focusing in on single stocks. Some of them are also going into ETFs, but the big tech names are really attractive to them.

38:06Brian Kelly: It's Apple, Amazon, Google, all the ones that you hear on the headlines every day. Did you in your research do anything on the joy of learning to lose money? To me, that's the number one gift. The joy of losing money. I lost money on Westinghouse Options when I couldn't shave once a week. Interesting. And you learn how to lose money. Yeah, we talked to a financial therapist who was like, it's really important for them to learn the difference between losing money and making a bad choice and it's part of their identity. Yeah, it's really... Lisa Bramowitz is my financial therapist. My cousin is my financial therapist.

38:40Brian Kelly: Josiana, thank you so much for bringing us the story. Josiana Joshua of Bloomberg News. Now, one of the biggest expenses for families is, of course, college. Last August, or I should say late August and early September, is all about move-in day. So I visited the campus of SUNY Purchase, known for its drama and performing arts program. And I spoke with the president, Michael Stiper, along with students and parents about the challenges they all face. So right now, some of the biggest issues facing higher education relate to the value proposition that students and their families are really considering when they're choosing a college and even choosing to go to college at all.

39:15Brian Kelly: Choosing to go to college at all, that comes up a lot. A lot of families, students in particular, are saying, is a four-year college degree worth it? How do you talk them through that? Sure. So for the vast majority of students, it is very worthwhile for them to complete a four-year degree. Now, a key word there is complete that four-year degree because it's essential when students start college that they finish college. Because students with a degree in hand, they perform better in the job market, they live longer, healthier lives, and they're engaged citizens. So we think for those reasons, it's a great choice to go to college.

39:49Brian Kelly: But again, the most important thing to do is to go to a college that fits you and a college that you will complete. And also a big consideration is a college that you can afford. How are you seeing rising costs impact your campus? Well, what I see is that more and more parents and families are considering public higher education. We see across the SUNY system increases in enrollment year over year over year. And I think that's indicative of people deciding that cost is a big consideration. And I see more students and their families talking about the cost and how SUNY Purchase, which has a very, very affordable price point, how that is a big part of their choice.

40:31Brian Kelly: And what we're able to do here is say that you don't have to choose a campus with an expensive price tag to get a fantastic experience. So the rising cost of a college education has been something that people have been grappling with for a decade now, if not more. How has that evolved during your time in leadership in higher education? Yeah, definitely. It continues to be a challenge at SUNY. We've kept tuition pretty flat for quite a few years, but more and more parents are looking more widely at different campus options. You know, one of the things that's fantastic about American higher education is there are so many different options, so many different choices, public, private, two-year schools, four-year schools throughout the nation.

41:16Brian Kelly: And, you know, it used to be just about the most selective, the best. And now I'm seeing more parents consider different factors that play into that along with, you know, academic excellence. Part of it that families need to consider more is how much debt their students will be leaving college with. And I think that is a factor that people need to consider because a lot of students today are planning not only on just a four-year degree, but on further degrees, whether it's medicine or law or graduate school or something of that sort. So thinking about how much debt you're leaving your four-year degree with and here at SUNY Purchase, it's typically less than$25 ,000.

41:56Brian Kelly: That's the view from the college president. But I also wanted to hear directly from the students and parents at Move-In Day. Everyone I spoke with had a different plan on how to pay for college. Out-of-state tuition is definitely a lot. So I took out some student loans and was able to do that pretty easily. And I also put on my own fundraising show. I produced my own show to raise money to come to college. So, yeah. How much did you raise from that? About$3 ,500. Yeah. Is this something you're going to be doing regularly, you think? Yeah, I'm planning actually on doing it every year in my hometown since it was so successful.

42:35Brian Kelly: So it kind of helps me build my own scholarship fund a little bit. I have a love for art and a love for sculpture, but I just know it wasn't feasibly possible for me to do that as a career since I am low income. So that's why I chose political science and law and justice, because I could go down that law school track. I'm a teacher so very big on education so it's worth it to for me to you know spend your money on on that so you have to start planning early and and try not to put yourself in too much of a hole debt wise but you do the best you can about 18 ,000 or so just to live on campus so that I think the tuition state tuition is about seven so altogether it's like 32 ,000 majority of that is boarding.

43:20Brian Kelly: So that did make, it was just like a wow factor to see how much it cost to board and the eating packages. $3 ,700 and some change, you know, per semester just to be able to feed your kid. I'm a first generation student. I get free housing being an RA. So that, because of that, now I don't have to pay for anything in school at all with FAFSA and TAP. Did you have to take out any loans to attend school? For my first year I did, but once I became an RA, I didn't have to take out any more loans, so now I've been paying them back. We've been saving for a while. We have an education savings program and then the balance we're paying for.

44:02Brian Kelly: Has that affected your retirement plan? We're never going to retire. You want that? That's madness. That was my conversation with SUNY Purchase President Michael Seifer, along with some parents and students on move-in day. They're still dealing with the snicker shock of tuition. There was a breath of fresh air because we do all this Bloomberg elite stuff that we do every single day. Personal finance, retirement, all in SUNY purchases, 24 ,000, maybe 26 ,000. And there's so many people that can't make that nut. And it's like the old days when our parents, I mean, you're too young to remember this, but they worked their way through college.

44:39Brian Kelly: Yeah, that's not possible anymore when you have tuition and boarding going up to almost$100 ,000. You look at the fancy people, the idiocy of$90 ,000,$100 ,000 a year, and the real world is what you just did at purchase. I mean, that's the real world. I mean, what the universities will say is that the sticker price is different from what people actually pay, but there's a lot of people paying the sticker price. People are still paying. We used to call that in the old days, your full boat. Yes. Full boat. Well, a lot of international students were paying the full boat, and they're not coming into the country anymore.

45:10And then there's the misty-eyed look of dropping the offspring off to school. The photos are out on social media, and it's the father who can barely contain himself. The daughter's like, when is mom leaving?

45:25Brian Kelly: That's Lisa Mateo right there dropping off her daughter at school this past weekend. It's just too emotional. Learn Money, a special edition, which means Lisa Mateo's here. What's going to be interesting here, SUNY purchase with your wonderful package you just did,$30 ,000,$40 ,000,$50 ,000. Scranton,$75 ,000 all in, which is only$25 ,000 under, say, NYU or high above Cayuga's waters. It was, and Lisa Mattel lived to come back and tell us about it. You dropped off your daughter at school. That must have been a hard goodbye. It was hard, but she's not too far, which makes it a little easier. but the you're talking about the college like the college tuition how much everything got it's ridiculous it's incredible um and what parents are trying to do to do this i mean we had an article out today about how more parents and kids they're they're joining the military in order to help pay for some of this i mean this is something that i'm living i have a son in the national guard my daughter's deciding to join rotc like these are the measures that we're going to and it's it's hard as a parent to take that into consideration because of the atmosphere that we're living in now.

46:31Brian Kelly: But it just goes to show you what families are doing in order to be able to pay for this. You got a multi-million dollar study on University of Alabama sororities. We did that with Lisa a couple weeks ago. Is young Miss Mateo going to join a sorority? Here's the good news. Scranton does not have sororities. So you don't have to pay a consultant. I don't have to pay that. But what you do have to pay the room is for the dorm room. Girls go out of their mind to decorate their dorm rooms. Can I just tell you, between the bedding and the decorations and all, because they need the new beauty products.

47:06Brian Kelly: They can't use the old ones. So they need all new stuff. I mean, it's incredible, all the stuff that you have to get. This is where Wayfair and Bed Bath & Beyond come into the picture. It's crazy. It is crazy. It is crazy. But it's been a journey, and it's a fun one, too. All right. Well, congratulations to you. And I know you have now some time to spend on other things. Are you going to be going to the U.S. Open? I wish I could, but I can't afford that. Well, you know what, the tickets on top of that, but the price of the food and the drinks. And that is what is going crazy out there. I mean, you have people going to these, right?

47:38Brian Kelly: It's not just tennis fans. It's foodies. It's influencers. It's all these people who want to get their hands on, you know, the honeydews. It's 23 bucks. They sold hundreds of thousands of them last time. It's basically vodka, lemonade, and three melon balls kind of in a glass there. It looks good, but that's not the only thing, okay? So that one's been going. You have Taylor Swift holding them. That's Tom's friend, you know, just going out and taking pictures with them. All these celebrities, Bruce Springsteen. Then they have the merch to go with it. So you can't just get the merch. You've got to get the towel.

48:11Brian Kelly: You have to get the t-shirt. You have to get the Honey Deuce sweatshirt. You have to get the Honey Deuce melon baller. It's a whole thing. and the food. Tom, you're going to love this. $100 gluten-free chicken nuggets with caviar. Those I missed. Those you missed. It's from Coco Da. You can make it up this weekend. We're hoping Alexialla against Coco Graff. That would be great. Lisa Mateo, thank you so much, of course. And be sure to watch Bloomberg this weekend. Lisa is on every Saturday and Sunday morning, starting at 7 a.m. Eastern time. That is. It is a special edition for your long weekend as the nation celebrates Labor Day.

48:48Bloomberg Money.

48:52This is the Bloomberg Money podcast, bringing you a smart look at the forces shaping your financial life. I'm Tom Keene with Scarlet Fu. You can watch the show live on Bloomberg TV every Friday at noon Wall Street time. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen. And as always, on the Bloomberg Terminal and the Bloomberg Business App.

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