🏠 “Staycation Economy” — Uber/Disney’s local bet. iRobot’s AI dog. ChatGPT financial advisor. +Cringe Odyssey

0:00This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Thursday, the new Friday, May 7th. And today's part is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Let's check the scoreboard. Oil fell 6 % yesterday. Stocks surged 1.5 % yesterday. It's the old oil equity inverse situation on the markets. Ah, the old black gold green stock situation, Jack. The reason is reports that the White House and Iran are talking again, opening the door for an end to the war. Apparently there's like a short-term memo, a one-page document, a one-pager out there. You know, no one knows.

0:34Pretty sure it's double space. Either way, Jack and I found three fantastic stories for the best show in the business world. Jack, what do we got on the T-Boy? For our first story, Uber and Disney are very different companies, but yesterday they told us the same story. Besties, you are living the staycation economy. For our second story, the founder of Roomba has a wild new product, a four-legged robo-pet to replace your real puppy. Besties prepare for emotion bots. They don't sweep, they cuddle. And our third and final story, what happens when ChatGPT takes over your stock portfolio? It's the wolf of Claude Street, an AI financial advisor, and we just got the receipts.

1:14But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories, I mean, we told you, it's the most fun mix in business. Love the mix, Jack. The biggest movie of the summer besides Toy Story. So excited. And that candidly, I'm extremely excited for it. Oh, it's Christopher Nolan's Odyssey. We can't wait for this. As he put it, this isn't just a story, this is the story. And besties, the full trailer of the Odyssey movie just dropped, but there's one big problem. Everyone in the Odyssey sounds like they're from Ohio. Yeah, based on the trailer, this epic Greek tale is being portrayed with American accents.

1:48Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, but the dude sounds like he's from Boston. Tom Holland and Robert Pattison are from England, but they sound like they're at a Starbucks in Illinois. Now, I'll be honest, Nick, I didn't read The Odyssey when it was assigned to me in seventh grade English. Sparks know to that thing. You don't read it, Jack. You experience The Odyssey. But I'm pretty sure they weren't from Boston and Illinois, right? And Jack, could you please sprinkle on some movie magic context for us, please? Historically, any movie taking place in the past tends to use British accents. It's actually an unwritten rule of Hollywood.

2:20Whether it's the gladiators of ancient Rome, the Russians in the movie Chernobyl, or French people in Les Miserables. If the setting is historic, then the accent is British. Even like mythical sci-fi movies use a British accent. Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, all of them are using British accents. Makes sense that Shakespeare in Love used an English accent, but Avatar? British accents. They're just foreign enough to be timeless. But for some reason, Christopher Nolan broke that rule with the new Odyssey movie. It's filmed in all American English. And it is messing with our ears.

2:56It sounds like Homer wrote this thing in cargo shorts. The battle scenes feel like they're monster energy ads. Less Ithaca, Greece. More Ithaca, New York. Even Zeus says this thing sounds cringe, Jack. Enjoy the trailer, dude. Jack, let's hit all three stories.

3:38First,

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4:54Zip Recruiter. Yeti's the devil wears Prada. The reason Miranda Priestley was perfect as editor-in-chief of Runway, it wasn't just her skills, it was her passion. That cerulean monologue? Oh, that was so good. Silk runs through her veins, Nick. Her blood type is cashmere, Jack. If you're hiring, you want a candidate who's passionate about your role, but you can't get that insight from a resume unless you post your job in Zip Recruiter. And now you can try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash tboy. ZipRecruiter's powerful matching technology finds qualified candidates quickly. And ZipRecruiter has a new feature that shows you the most interested qualified candidates first, so you meet the right people faster.

5:30Instead of waiting for someone to find your job listing, ZipRecruiter does the finding for you, searching through its database of millions of job seekers. And one of them is your Miranda. Find her before someone else does with ZipRecruiter. Find candidates who really want your job on ZipRecruiter. Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a qualified candidate in the first day. Try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash T-B-O-Y. That's ZipRecruiter.com slash T-Boy. Meet your match on ZipRecruiter. For our first story, Uber and Disney both just crushed earnings, but surprisingly, they had the same favorite word, and that word is local.

6:09Why local? Because the 2026 travel trend is the staycation. Oh yeah, it is the big question facing Uber investors right now. What is it, Jack? Will Uber ride the tidal wave of self-driving cars or get totaled by self-driving cars? Exactly. That is the long-term question that is facing Uber these days. But in the short term, the question is simply about the health of the American consumer. Yeah, in the short term, how many rides are we taking and how many tacos are we ordering up? The answer, according to Uber's latest earnings, is more of both. Yeah, a lot more. In the first quarter, Uber saw 20 % more trips happen on their platform than the year before.

6:45Due to price increases, the money coming in grew even faster than last year. Ride bookings rose 20 % and delivery revenue rose 34%. Surge pricing, stock surging, baby. Uber shares popped 8 % on the epic quarterly update. Okay, so Jack, pause the pod for a sec. How about we change our ride from a black Toyota Camry to a, I don't know, maybe a Millennium Falcon, if you will? Give Chewbacca five stars or else. Because Disney also just announced their earnings, it's their first with their new CEO, Josh DeMauro at the helm. Now, the long-term question facing Disney investors is this, how to get people to pay for Disney's content when they're addicted to free content on TikTok and Instagram.

7:26And that's like the big existential question at Disney, but in the short-term, Disney's profit puppy, it's their theme parks, right, Jack? Disney's parks make more than half of the profit of the company. And their new CEO announced on Wednesday that revenue at those theme parks rose 7%, profits popped 5%. Disney stock went full Tinkerbell. As a result, it popped a magical 8 % on the news. Okay, phew, sigh of relief, Jack. We got Disney, we got Uber, two totally different industries showing consumers are still spending more like we always do. Despite the one around inflation, AI scaries, your wallet is open for business like it always is.

8:01But yeah, it is, this is what Jack and I find fascinating. We also got clues from both of those earnings that American spending is changing. Here are the clues. Uber's CEO said the word local five times, and Disney's CEO said the word domestic 12 times. Why are they focused on local and domestic, Nick? Nothing Jack and I like more than a little bit of corporate scrabble with the control F on the word choice, right, Jack? I'm control F-ing the takeaway right now. It sounds like the right time. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Uber and Disney? The 2026 travel theme will be the staycation.

8:36Yetis, a U.S. News and World Report survey back on April 21st, found that 65 % of us have changed our travel plans for this summer. Because of rising prices. Gas is up 50 % already. Jet fuel is up 100 % since the Warner Round started on February 28th. Airfare is already$100 per ticket higher, according to Kayak Data. And with Spirit Airlines out of the biz now, it's only going to go higher. If you've already bought your airline tickets for the summer, you're safe. You're okay. They can't increase them any further. Good point. But if you haven't bought your tickets yet, you are shocked by the airfare prices you see.

9:07If you haven't bought your tickets yet, say hello to middle seat row 93. That's why we're calling the summer 2026 travel theme the staycation. The staycation. New Yorkers are heading upstate. Angelinos are going down to San Diego. And Austin, folks, you're hitting those lakes right over there. The losers of this prediction are airlines and hotels they have to fly to, including Disney's theme parks. Yeah, even though revenue rose a tad at Disney's parks, Actual attendance in the U.S., it fell 1 % last quarter. A sign that people are already pivoting to the staycation. Now, the winners of our staycation trend are local businesses.

9:40We're talking movie theaters, restaurants, the live experience industry. Don't be surprised if Live Nation hits an all-time high, because concerts, you'll go to that even if you cancel the flight. Because you can Uber to it. Now, some money not spent on flights will be saved, but most of it will be redirected to local business hospitality. Get ready for the staycation economy. It's the travel theme of 2026. Honey, unpack your bags. For our second story, the founder of Roomba created a robot pet powered by AI to replace your puppy. The goal of this fake animal isn't function like all the other robots.

10:17It's friendship. Oh, Yetis, we will post a link to this thing because our first thought when Jack and I saw this, it's part cat, part dog, part Lilo and Stitch. Part barn owl and part Ewok from Star Wars Episode VI. It's fuzzy. It's an adorable creature. It's straight out of Star Wars. It's kind of like Furby and Baby Yoda had a baby. Okay, we're going to get sued by Disney twice for those Star Wars references. But Nick, what is the it we've been circling around? Jack, the it that you just so cleverly asked about is the latest creation of Colin Engel, the founder of iRobot and Roomba vacuum cleaners.

10:53Since 1990, Colin has put a robot into 56 million homes. The Roomba is the first commercially successful consumer robot. I mean, Jack, if you think about it, it's just like the Roomba and the Waymo. Those are kind of the only two successful consumer robots we got. True. That's it. The Roomba and the Waymo. Those are the successes of consumer robotics so far. But this legendary inventor left iRobot last year to invent something new, to invent Familiar. Familiar. It's a four-legged robot to live in your home like a pet. Instead of a dog, you would have a familiar companionship without the pooping.

11:29And we're not calling it a robot dog because its face doesn't, its body looks like a robot, but the face doesn't. So that's why it's like, it's this ambiguous robot creature. Yeah, it looks like something they cooked up in Avatar, but it's powered by AI and it reacts to your emotions just like a robo golden retriever. Except the soul is not real. It goes on sale next year at the earliest and the price, What is the price, Jack? The founder says it'll be the same as pet ownership, which sounds like it's going to be expensive. Yeah, it sounds expensive. But besties, this robot pet reveals what our robot relationship reality really is.

12:03And what is that, Jack? So far, our relationship with robots has been purely transactional. Transactional. You see, all the focus these days is on task-driven bots, robo-taxis, robotic arms and factories, drone package delivery. Remember DoorDash's self-driving burrito delivery bot? It's called Dot. That's a transactional robot. But familiar, this new creation is creating a brand new business category. We call them Bond Bots. Robots as intimate to your life as that cockapoo is. This robotic pet will use AI to observe, process, and respond to its human master's moods. Basically like an AI lassie.

12:39Like a good old, who's a good girl? Oh, my owner is crying? I'll bat my eyes and sit on their lap. Oh, my owner is laughing with their spouse? I'll meow and jump and get in on the fun. My owners are having an argument. I'll leave the room, give them a little bit of privacy. No, we know what you're thinking. You've probably seen this kind of thing before. Robo-pets, we've seen them in movies. Actually, you didn't see it in a movie. You heard about it on this very podcast. True, because years ago we covered the Paro, a plushy white robot seal developed in Japan. Without the legs, the Paro was a lap robot, mostly used in Japanese nursing homes.

13:11To comfort elderly people. And we've covered the Albo, a$3 ,000 robot dog that was launched by Sony back in 2018. Now, both of these robot pets are actually still in use and still for sale today, mostly in Japan. But neither of those products had AI, so they didn't grow mature. Remember the time each day when you walk through the door so they can jump on you. That's why the founder thinks that this robot can go mainstream, as mainstream as the Roomba, actually. This is a bonding bot. The AI builds a relationship. Just like you've built a relationship with your chatbot of choice. But you can't hug your chatbot.

13:44Now, interestingly, the seal that we just described is for elderly, Claire. And that robot dog, it's for families with kids, like a toy. This new robot pet, the familiar, it's targeting regular adults who are simply lonely. It's the biggest moment in pet tech since the Tamagotchi. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who's a good boy with familiar? It's the isolation irony. Tech created a hole. Now tech is selling shovels to fill it. So yes, this new category of companionship robots, or bond bots, if you will, it has a market for people who are lonely. Just like regular live dogs have a market for people who are lonely.

14:23Jack, why are we lonely as a society? It's partially because of demographics, the demographics of an aging population. But it's also caused by technology. Phones and algorithms are getting in the way of basic human relationships. So you see what's happening here? these bonding bots are trying to fill an emotional vacuum caused by tech with a new tech product that we have to buy. So the tech is solving the problem that tech created in the first place. Now, we're glad these relationship robots exist. Companionship bots are simply bond bots. People need companionship and we don't like people being lonely.

14:55Although a real dog works, although you do have to take a real dog for the 2 a.m. poop, but although a real dog works. Spoken like a true non-dog owner, Nick. But there is major irony here. You just got to see it. Tech is selling a solution to a problem caused by tech. Festies, let us know if you'd buy one of these puppies, not literal puppies. Drop it in the comments. We'll hit commercial break. Now a quick word from our sponsor. Dell. Yetis, Dell PCs with Intel inside are built for the moments that matter. For the moments you plan and the ones you don't. Yeah, built for the busy days that turn into all night order food at 2 a.m.

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17:11For our third and final story, 30 % of everyday investors are using AI for their investing. So can Chad GPT take over your portfolio? The Wall Street Journal tested it in. We checked it out. We have our own theories as well. Oh yeah, we have got a water buffalo theory. But besties, there is one question every high net worth person has asked before at some time in their lives and in Jack's father-in-law's case on a daily basis. Do I actually need my financial advisor or can I just do it myself? Look, year after year, you pay your financial advisor 1 % of everything you own, rain or shine, day or night, gain or loss.

17:47Now, the more money you have, the more likely you are to say, yes, I do need my financial advisor. Yeah, your goal, the more money you have, is to protect your downside, not just optimize your upside. So in our minds, a financial advisor is like financial insurance. Basically, you're paying 1 % for the peace of mind that you don't screw it up and lose it all. And if you do lose it all, it's somebody else's fault. So at least you don't feel as bad about it. Lawyer! That's a lawsuit. But what the Wall Street Journal just published is this headline, ChatGPT, financial advisor? Sub-headline, What happens when you ask AI to manage your money like the wolf of Claude Street?

18:22Basically, they just put the bot in UBS. Chat GPT row price. Yeah, it is AI. It doesn't charge 1%, but here's the big question. Can it deliver returns, take care of your money, or get that moolah to the moon? This is the story of portfolio prompting. Basically, the Wall Street Journal told Chat GPT its age, primary goals, time horizon, risk tolerance, and the amount their reporter wanted to invest. And boom, ChatGPT told the author of the article they should invest 50 % in U.S. stocks, 20 % in international stocks, 20 % in bonds, 5 % in real estate, and 5 % in cash, plus it recommended ETFs for the stock parts.

18:58So the Wall Street Journal consulted with a human financial advisor and, well, ChatGPT's recommendations got a passing grade. The AI kept it kosher with the money wrecks. And then when the war in Iran hit, the experiment continued. ChatGPT recommended trimming the international stocks from the portfolio. Also a smart move, Jack, because the rest of the world was far more vulnerable to high oil prices than America is. And where did ChatGPT say to reallocate that money from international stocks? What'd they say? To defense stocks. Another smart move by the robo-AI. We should point out, however, the AI made one critical error.

19:34At one point, it over-allocated the portfolio to be way more in cash than it had previously recommended. Whoopsie! because a big slice of the author's money then missed out on the huge rebound in stocks we've seen in the last month now that the market's hit an all-time high. Yeah, it is. Looking at the literature here, we've found a bunch of studies that show that AI beats human intelligence on investing, but other studies show it loses to human stock pickers when it comes to the investing. Now, hedge funds are definitely using AI to try to come up with stock ideas, but when I use AI for investing, I swear I just can't rely on the data.

20:07It hallucinates or it's just not right. So maybe this is the mindset. One MIT professor says to treat AI like a wicked smart TA, right, Jack? The teacher's assistant is smart and more approachable than the professor is. But the teacher's assistant probably smokes more pot than your average professor. So you're going to want to double check what that TA is telling you to do with your portfolio. Yeah, hallucinations. Side note, Jack and I are going to link our financial accounts to Claude and give this thing a roll over this quarter. How's your portfolio, Claude? I'd say strong to quite strong. It's an AI Jordan Belfort.

20:40So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies curious about AI wealth management? We need to fix the herd problem. Yeah, yeah, there is one risk here no one is talking about yet. What happens if everyone's AI financial advisor uses the same model? If all the AI reads the same market signals, it could all make the same trades off of those same market signals. And what we're saying here is like BlackRock's AI reads the same data as Fidelity's AI, which is the same as OpenAI's AI and the same as Claude's AI. If all the models read the same market signals, they would all decide to sell or all decide to buy at the same exact moment.

21:18Basically, the market would become one huge herd on autopilot, like a giant pack of water buffaloes bulrush in the whole market. Volatility would be out of control. You'd have either synchronized selling, leading to a panic, or synchronized buying, leading to euphoria. I mean, now that you're saying it, Jack, kind of sounds like the plot of the next Netflix drama. Like, guys, let's make this into a movie script. So the main reasons to be wary of an AI advisor, first, it hallucinates. Second, it might act like a herd with all the other AI. And third, it's not a fiduciary, which human financial advisors are.

21:51Yeah, it is for AI financial advisors to go mainstream. We need to fix the herd problem. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? Disney and And Uber's earnings show that the American consumer is still spending, especially locally. But with gas, fuel, and air travel prices spiking, this summer is the staycation economy. For our second story, Familiar just launched the first robot pet with a dog body, cat face, and AI soul. But we can't ignore the isolation irony. Tech contributed to the loneliness crisis, and now tech's creating companionship products. And our third and final story is the Wolf of Claude Street.

22:28Ask to manage your portfolio. AI does a decent job, but with some hallucinations. The existential risk of AI wealth management is the herd problem. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, pour out some champagne for the beer industry. Big moment over at Budweiser, Jack. For the first time in three years, AB InBev's beer sales actually rose last quarter, sending the stock up 7%. Thanks to these pricier beer labels, Corona and Stella Artois, that are selling big, especially overseas. Although non-beer sales helped. Not only non-alcoholic beer, also Cutwater, their canned cocktail, those revenues jumped by 37%.

23:07And second, you didn't buy the dip, but you bought the chip. Chip stocks are living their best life these days, aren't they, Jack? Yesterday, Samsung hit a$1 trillion valuation for the first time. Not because of their cell phones or TVs. It's because they make chips. Sandisk, they hit an all-time high as they swing from a$2 billion loss to a$3 billion profit. Their revenue more than tripled. AMD and Micron also both rose at least 15 % after their earnings this week, both to all-time highs. No one's talking about an AI bubble. There's a shortage of AI, hence the chip stocks are surging. And finally, you may have heard about the VP at J.P.

23:42Morgan, who sued his boss for aggressive sexual harassment, even though reports suggest this guy's a pathological liar. Now, the complaint was full of very not-safe-for-work language. The New York Post was having a field day with this thing. Well, get this. The Wall Street Journal is now saying, hold my beer. That's right. Their exclusive reporting is that the accuser was offered$1 million by J.P. Morgan to drop the lawsuit. Pretty messed up. Even though J.P.M. didn't think the accusation had merit, they were ready to pay him a million bucks just to shut up about it. Now, time for the best fact yet.

24:13This one left as a comment on Spotify yesterday by the best yeti yet, Mr. Javier. Elon Musk has accumulated so much wealth in his life that if Jesus Christ had saved$1 million for every single day since he was born until today, he would still not have as much money as Elon Musk. Okay, what Jack's saying is, if you got a million dollars every day for the last 2 ,000 years and just kept it in cash, no, 2 ,026 years, you would have a little less money than Elon's$800 billion net worth. A million dollars every day for 2 ,026 years. Jack is not as much as Elon's net worth. Really puts things in financial, chronological, mathematical perspective.

24:56Forgot to say religious, but yes. Yetis, you look fantastic today. Jack, you are glowing right now, especially since I know you just canceled one of your trips this year to staycation for a weekend. I know. I decided I'm going to stay at the chalet. Besties, if you got a buddy who's staycationing this summer, send him today's pod. That's how we grow the show. Ladies, Jack and I will see you for tomorrow's Best One Year.

25:24And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Yeti Khaled Akhlaib from Kuwait City, Kuwait, turning 51 years old. Thanks for being fantastic, Khaled. Happy birthday to Julie McNamara from LaGrange, Illinois. And Jess on Spotify. We saw your birthday comment and we wish you the best birthday yet. Happy birthday to Rowan Gardner from St. Louis, Missouri, who is turning three years old. And Nick Koziak is graduating from Loyola, Chicago with an exec MBA. He was at our Chicago live show. Nick, thanks for being there, man. Congratulations to Ivy and Alvin. Getting married in New York City, go blue.

25:57Sean and Chandler just got engaged in lovely Los Angeles. They have been dating since the Market Snacks era. Congratulations, guys. We can't wait to see the ring picks. And a big shout out to Lane Conaway, who has come to not one, but two of our live shows. and somehow manages to get the first comment on our YouTube just about every day. Lane, we love seeing it. We'll be there with you every day. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins.

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