Trump Loves AI Robots, Spotify Music Videos, & "Metaverse" Hype Fading

0:28You're about to make a trade. Just another way to save with a personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state. Public.com presents the Rich Habits Radar, a new Friday episode of the Rich Habits podcast where every Friday morning, we're coming at you with the biggest headlines impacting you and your money. My name is Austin Hankwitz. I'm joined by my co-host Robert Croak, and the three things sitting at the top of our rich habits radar this week include Mark Zuckerberg making some billion-dollar budget cuts from his Reality Labs division, the U.S.

1:11job market completely falling off a cliff in the month of November, and the broke shopper epidemic growing bigger during Cyber Monday. That'll be an interesting one to talk about. Now, be sure to stick around to the end to learn more about how Spotify is trying to compete with TikTok. talk. So Robert, we're filming this on December 4. Yesterday was December 3. And on December 3, of course, that was the Spotify wrapped. We had all these awesome people share with us their Spotify wrapped. And we were actually the number one podcast for 77 ,000 people in 2025. So if you are one of those 77 ,000 people, and we were the number one podcast that you listened to on Spotify, we just want to say thank you.

1:51We are so humbled knowing that tens of thousands of you throughout throughout the year of 2025, kept the Rich Habits podcast at the top of your podcast rotation. It is unreal to think about. For example, my whole family went to the University of Wisconsin, and their college football stadium holds 76 ,000 people. And so if you look around the whole stadium of 76 ,000 people, it still wouldn't hold all of the people, 77 ,000, that kept Rich Habits at the top of their podcast rotation. And for that, we're just super, super grateful. So thank Thank you all so much for continually supporting the show.

2:26It's unreal to reflect upon all of this information and data as we see it in real time, as you do from Spotify. And you all continue to humble us. And we're really grateful. Definitely incredible times because I think back three years ago when we first started this and we're like, well, I think there's great information here. And hopefully people will follow along. And to go from that to being one of the top podcasts on Spotify in business and finance, just an incredible journey. Austin, I thank you. And I thank each and every one of you that stops by every week, shares the podcast, gets involved with us, sending us questions, following the newsletter, joining the network.

3:02It's just an incredible time. And we feel so blessed to be able to just wake up every day, share our insights, and try to bring as much value as we can to each and every one of you. So with that being said, Robert, let's dig into our first story of this episode of The Rich Habits Radar. That's right. Today's first story is Meta, formerly Facebook, kills the metaverse hype. Reported by Bloomberg on Thursday, Mark Zuckerberg is planning to slash Meta's metaverse budget by 30 % in 2026, causing the stock to skyrocket. The metaverse portion of Meta's business is called Reality Labs, and this division has lost the company$70 billion since 2021.

3:41Say that again. $70 billion since 2021 trying to build these like, wow, unbelievable, unbelievable. So how I see this is Zuckerberg officially pivoting capital now away from his augmented reality dreams to artificial intelligence. The entire metaverse effort has drawn scrutiny from investors like myself and many others who see it as a massive drain on the company's resources. And as of late, some of these online watchdogs that have alleged that children's privacy and safety have been compromised inside of these metaverse virtual worlds. And I don't know about you, Robert, but it's pretty obvious that their vision for the metaverse hasn't really taken off.

4:21It was like fun and sexy back in like 2021, but now not so much, despite Mark Zuckerberg's deep conviction for this idea, which he still has, that people will one day work and play and live inside of these virtual worlds. Yeah, Zuckerberg has largely stopped mentioning the metaverse in public and on company earnings calls and is instead focusing on developing the large AI models that underpin AI chatbots and other generative AI products, as well as the hardware products that are more linked to those experienced. So, Robert, let's talk about what does this mean for you and your money as someone listening right now to this episode of the show?

5:00I think it's incredibly bullish. Analysts are already upgrading the stock because that$4 billion loss per quarter could turn into$4 billion a quarter in earnings or buybacks. Yeah, I mean, you think about it like this, right? $70 billion has been, I wouldn't say wasted, because I would say the Meta Ray-Ban smart display glasses are kind of cool. And we were meeting with Gary V earlier this week, and he is convinced that AR is going to take over the world in the next 7, 10, 12 years. So there are people that think that's the future. But for us to get to that future, did Meta really have to spend$70 billion getting there?

5:36Like think about a$70 billion dividend to shareholders or corporate buyback. There's a bunch of different ways to think about it. It's like 10 % of the company's total market cap just evaporated in the last four years because of this project. And yeah, I agree. Seeing those budget cuts bullish as an investor, I'm here for it. I think it's kind of silly that they didn't do this sooner. Yeah, I agree with you. I think it wasn't wasted money. It was just too early and it was too much of a vanity project because he wanted to be right and be first for the metaverse. Obviously, the change of the name from Facebook to Meta.

6:13So I think there's a lot there. And in the future, it's going to pay huge dividends for Meta. But right now, I feel it was too early and I agree with you 100%. So let's jump into our next story. The U.S. job market has the Federal Reserve very concerned because according to an ADP report published earlier this week, the U.S. economy lost 32 ,000 jobs in the month of November, which is a massive difference compared to the 40 ,000 jobs that were expected to be added during that same period of time. right so let me like make sure i'm very clear there economists said hey america y 'all are going to add 40 000 jobs in november that's what we're forecasting reality we lost 32 so we didn't just like come below those expectations but still being the positive we were in the negative right that's a net difference of 72 000 jobs that just didn't exist now of course we always take these job reports with a grain of salt because they're usually revised it's not always too perfect there.

7:08So I like to take these numbers at a very, you know, take with a grain of salt. But ADP reports tend to be pretty accurate, Robert. This is the worst private payroll report since early 2023. And the worst part is that this massive drop in employment is coming from small business owners. Small businesses defined as companies with less than 50 employees shed 120 ,000 jobs in November. On the flip side, large corporations actually added jobs during the month, representing that K-shaped economy everyone is talking about. So what does this mean for you and your money? Polymarket and Calci now have a December rate cut sitting at a 90 % chance or higher because of this terrible economic data.

7:50And when you look at it, they basically have to, right? Because if they hold rates steady with negative job growth, the Federal Reserve risks sending the U.S. into a full-blown recession by springtime, which obviously nobody wants. Remember, cutting interest rates are inherently bullish for the stock market, assuming we don't enter into a recession. If the U.S. economy falls into a recession, something we don't think will happen, the stock market will likely have a very negative reaction. Yeah, it's pretty crazy to think about sort of this K-shaped economy, right? I think it was downtown Josh Brown, I've said this a couple times now, is that like 50 % of U.S.

8:28economic activity from like a spending perspective has come from the top 10 % of Americans, right? Half of the The U.S. economy right now is being driven by just 10 % of people. It just shows the massive disparity between the people that own assets, have money, own businesses, are making money, and the people that are working hourly jobs with these 9-to-5 jobs and paycheck-to-paycheck. And I think in that same interview, he mentioned something like 74 % of all the spending was coming from the top 20 % of all U.S. households. So crazy stats, but that's why we're here to share all these with you guys and give you the inside scoop of what we think is actually going to happen.

9:07Speaking of crazy stats, let's wrap it up with our last story here, which is a billion dollars was spent via Buy Now, Pay Later on Cyber Monday. That is unreal. So Cyber Monday spending data is officially in, and it is insanely shocking as we look at and see that Americans set a record with over$1 billion of purchases being made using these buy now, pay later products like Affirm, Afterpay, and Klarna. This goes completely against what we talked about on episode 145, which was our Black Friday Cyber Monday playbook episode. So one, y 'all need to be tuning in more. And two, y 'all need to be sharing these with your friends because I'm sure you know someone that did a little Cyber Monday shopping and they just did the little BNPL button, paying for whatever it's called, Robert.

9:53Yeah, and here's an even crazier stat, Austin. 79 % of those purchases happened on a mobile device. 79%. Buy now, pay later through a phone. We're making it just too easy for people to lay in bed, scrolling TikTok, see an ad, and then paying it in four easy installments without even blinking an eye. It drives me crazy. Well, the scary part of all this is that according to a Deloitte survey, U.S. shoppers were planning to spend 10 % less this Black Friday, Cyber Monday, than they did in 2024. But they actually ended up spending more, which tells me that they're bridging the gap with debt. specifically now this phantom debt via these buy now pay later platforms.

10:38So Robert, what does this mean for you and your money for all the fun people listening to this episode? Well, it sounds like to me Affirm after paying Klarna are going to be around for a while. On the flip side, if these U.S. shoppers default on these payments back to Affirm after paying Klarna, we could see their stock prices really crater in 2026. But I'm not assuming that at all because these companies keep their default rates so low. But you all need to budget and stay out of these situations anyway, especially when you're in the midst of holiday spending with travel, presents, and shopping.

11:12We're always telling all of you to have a plan and stick to the plan, and now is even more important than ever based on this headline. Have a plan, stick to the plan, and do not be someone that says, I can't afford it, so I'm just gonna buy now, pay later it. Because that is, that's not something we advise. I don't think that's a good idea. So don't be doing that. Now, Robert, before we jump into our radar points, which are sort of a show and tell, I bring three headlines that really mean a lot to me. Robert brings his three best points and we kind of talk about it a little bit of a way for us to show you what we're looking at personally here.

11:45We've got to give a shout out to ETF Central. If you're unfamiliar, ETFcentral.com is a website that allows you to discover, analyze, and learn more about ETFs. They've got a movers and shakers segment inside of their homepage here that shows you the biggest movers and shakers from a best performance to a worst performance on the last five trading days. I'll break down the best performance. Robert will break down the worst performance and we'll give a general takeaway here. So coming in as third place for the best performing sector of the ETF market this last trading week is cryptocurrency up about 6%, a little bit of a rally there, a rebound, a reversion to the mean, right?

12:26Dead cat bounce. Psychedelics and cannabis coming up 7.5%. And the best performing sector of ETFs for the last week is metals when you exclude gold. So think silver, copper, palladium, things like that. And the three worst performers this week were healthcare technology down around 3%, volatility down around 3.5%, and biotech and genomics down about 3.4%. I think the big takeaway here, Robert, is that metals, specifically those that are not gold, right? You see this year-to-date performance at the top here at 97%. I mean, geez, did we not tell people? I think we told people. We've been talking about silver.

13:09You've been talking about copper for a while now, some palladium, right? It's not just the precious metals that is gold, but it's a lot of other things. And I think this little breakdown does a great job illustrating how important it is to have a well-diversified portfolio, not just in stocks and bonds and ETFs, but also different asset classes like precious metals. And those precious metals don't always just mean gold. They can mean other things as well. Yeah, we can lead people to water, but we can't make them drink. It is up to them to take notes and take action and get in the game because there is always ways to make money in all market conditions.

13:44All right, Robert. So I've got my three radar points. They are the Trump administration going all in on AI robotics, Spotify's new plan to compete with TikTok, and Trump confirming that he will announce the next chairman of the Federal Reserve early 2026. So let's kick this off with the AI robotics story. So Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been meeting with robotics industry CEOs and is said to be going all in on accelerating the industry's development. A Department of Commerce spokesperson said, We are committed to robotics and advanced manufacturing because they are central to bringing critical production back to the United States.

14:23Now, the fury of activity suggests that robotics is emerging as the next major front in America's race against China. So this is exciting for two reasons. One, if you're an investor in Apptronic alongside Robert and myself from Inside the Rich Habits Network, congrats. That's exciting. Their CEO, Jeff, was quoted in this news article like they are. They're deep into it right now with the United States. So that's cool. But two, why this is exciting is because even if you're not an investor directly into these humanoid robotics companies that are going to benefit, you can invest into ETFs like ARKQ, ROBO, and BOTZ to get some exposure to the robotics sector.

14:59Now, the next story, of course, is Spotify planning to compete with TikTok. So, Robert, Spotify now plans to carry music videos inside their app and introduce other features that would allow their users to navigate back and forth between audio and video versions of popular songs. This move is aimed to compete with TikTok and YouTube. So, Spotify is evolving now from, like, this audio-first platform to become a world-class video service. And we all saw in October that Spotify signed a partnership with Netflix to bring select video podcasts onto their streaming platform. We never got the call for that one, but maybe in 2026, you might see the Rich Habits podcast on Netflix.

15:38Wouldn't that be cool? And finally, we heard from Trump this week that he will confirm and announce who is the chairman of the Federal Reserve in early 2026. As you all know, Jerome Powell is going to be out as chairman of the Fed pretty soon here. And since this position is an appointed one, Trump is in the thick of figuring it all out. However, we kind of have a good idea as who it might be. Kalshi and Polymarket are leaning toward White House National Economic Council director, say that five times fast, Kevin Hassett, with a 75 % chance of being named the new chairman of the Federal Reserve.

16:12If that takes place, I would imagine we would experience some deep rate cuts in 2026. So those are my top three, Robert. AI Robotics, I'm pumped about that one. I literally just discovered that while I was looking for this when we were getting the episode ready. And it's exciting, man. And how cool is it that we've been able to allow our podcast audience to invest in some of these budding secular growth trends and technologies that you and I get access to because we are who we are. But they've invested. I mean, I think we raised over$2 million for Aptronic. Like, how awesome? How cool is that, Robert?

16:46Yeah, it gives me goosebumps just listening to you talk about the radar points and I'm on the episode writing it with you. So, so cool for everyone involved in the Rich Habits Network. Shout out to all of you that invested alongside of us in Daptronic. Just such a cool time that we get these amazing, these deal flow opportunities throughout everything we do. So I'm going to go into my radar points. Not as exciting as yours, but I think they're also very important. Number one, Netflix is the leading bidder for Warner Brothers Discovery, according to a CNBC report. Shares of Netflix fell slightly on the news, as did Warner Brothers.

17:22Netflix is bidding roughly$70 billion, of which 85 % will be in cash and 15 % in stock for Warner Brothers Discovery. And the bidding for Warner Brothers is likely to end as early as next week. And currently, Netflix is competing with Paramount Skydance and Comcast to acquire the entertainment giant. I think this is really big news for those of you that hold Netflix stock and what could happen in this shakeup in the massive entertainment industry. Number two, this one is near and dear to my heart because of the fact of how it affects us on an everyday basis for our shipping with Silly Bands and all the consumer products.

18:00but Amazon cuts ties with USPS for deliveries. Prime is thinking about returning one of its oldest relationships to Sender. Its operator, Amazon, is quietly looking to a future without the US Postal Service. According to the Washington Post, Amazon has sketched out plans to pull the billions of packages it routes through the US Postal Service by the end of 2026, when its current deal with the Postal Service expires. For the USPS, which lost$9.5 billion last year on around$80 billion in revenue, this separation could be less of a trim and much more of a buzz cut. This could be great for Amazon stock, but the jury is out for Amazon customers because this is a major undertaking and will likely have its bumps to pull off and keep shipping prices low for all of us that use Amazon on a daily basis.

18:53And my third radar point today is Mark Cuban calls for an end for generic drug application fees to boost domestic manufacturing. Mark Cuban, famous billionaire from Shark Tank and the founder of online discount pharmacy Cost Plus Drugs, is urging the Trump administration to drop the regulatory fees required for producing generic drug applications as a way to increase domestic production of those medicines. The U.S. FDA currently charges, and this is crazy to me,$360 ,000 for each generic drug application. Cuban told Reuters that if this fee was waived, cost plus drugs could start manufacturing high cost generic drugs such as rare disease treatments.

19:38Cuban was quoted as saying there's no reason for us to manufacture a$4 drug that you get at Walmart. But if there's something that costs$100 or more and we can manufacture it here for less and sell it for less, that's a huge win for the people that need affordable medicine. Cost Plus Drugs already operates a compounding facility in Dallas. And Cuban noted that if this could happen, they could manufacture these generic drugs within a year if these fees were ended. I think this is really incredible for the drug market. Good for Mark Cuban for doing all of this, because I know for me, anything that I have to buy for my personal health issues are so expensive.

20:15And getting more of these drugs manufactured here and more affordably for the average person is a huge win for the U.S. economy. Yeah, most definitely. And it's not just, you know, this is cool, but it's really those PBMs. Oh, my goodness. And I saw that, you know, Mark Cuban, I think, was testifying in front of Congress recently going on about, you know, just how all this works behind the scenes of these PBMs and these middlemen and how like they really just don't do anything. But that's another conversation for another day. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us on this week's episode of The Rich Habits Radar.

20:46To give you that quick, quick summary, we talked about Meta cutting 30 percent of their metaverse budget for 2026. we unfortunately talked about the U.S. job market falling off a cliff in November, as well as the$1 billion spent with buy now, pay later products only on Cyber Monday. How crazy is that? Now, of course, if you want to join us on our next big investment, we had Aptronic in the past a couple times, actually. So it's kind of cool to see the Trump administration getting excited about that. But there's always the Rich Habits Network. You can go check that out in the show notes below. Not only are you able to invest alongside Robert and myself, But you also get to join us for a weekly Zoom call that takes place every Tuesday evening.

21:27It's about a two-hour call. We get to really open up the playbook, show you our portfolios, and talk more about the headlines. And, of course, answer your questions face-to-face. So if you're looking for that, plus a bunch of eight hours of video coursework and all the other cool things you get as part of the Rich Habits Network, be sure to join us over there. And we can't wait to have you. We want to provide as much value and information we can for each and every one of you. We want you to know what is coming out of our brains, what we're investing in, and what we're looking at that moves the needle for our money and your money as well.

21:58Thanks, everyone. And we'll see you on Monday.

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