⚽ “Yellow card” — World Cup’s surge seating. Winklevii Bros’ IPO. Casey’s pizza station. +Zodiac Investing.

0:28This is Nick. They actually stitch it themselves. These yaks are incredible these days. Okay, I'm not going to fact check that one. You are wearing the yak though, Jack. The yak sweater is not wearing you. Yetis, we have got three fantastic stories for today's pod. Jack, what is on the T-boy? For our first story, the World Cup is coming to the United States next summer. And the ticket presale launched yesterday. But FIFA is doing dynamic pricing and everyone hates it. Except for us. For our second story, remember the Winklevoss twins. The Winklevi. Those Harvard rowers who claim that Zuckerberg stole their idea for Facebook.

1:04Or is it the Winklevarosses? It's the Winklevi, Nick. Well, with Zuckerberg's settlement money, they started a crypto startup. And it just IPO'd. And our third and final story is the fifth biggest pizza chain in America. It's actually a gas station. KC's built a cult following by selling regular unleaded with a side of bacon, egg, and cheese pizza. You either love Casey's or you've never even heard of it. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. I mean, what a mix of stories to go into the weekend with. Love the mix, Jack. Mercury is not in retrograde. Jupiter is in transit. And your horoscope has an update.

1:45Get this, yetis. According to the New York Times, your zodiac signs are 2 ,000 years out of date. And that astrological issue could be messing with your money. Here's the context. planet Earth actually wobbles on its axis a little bit, like a dreidel that's spinning. So our view of the star shifts by one degree every 72 years. So 2 ,000 years ago, September 12th, planet Earth was in Virgo. Because the Virgo constellation was directly behind the sun. But today, which is September 12th, the constellation behind the sun is no longer Virgo, it's Leo. That's how much the Earth has moved in just two millennia.

2:23So since the Babylonians first observed the Zodiac 2 ,000 years ago, those constellations have shifted a whopping 27 degrees, Jack. I thought I was a Pisces, but I'm actually Aquarius. Jack, I thought I was Aquarius, but I'm actually a Capricorn. And all this cosmological craziness could freak out your financials too, if you happen to be an astrological investor. Because maybe you thought you were a risk-averse Scorpio. But you're actually a risk-loving Libra. Or maybe you thought you were a crypto crazy cancer. You're actually a mutual fund Gemini. And if you're buying advanced call options because Mercury is in retrograde.

3:00First of all, you should probably talk to somebody. But you also may want to invest in a new telescope. Besties, Jack and I dropped a link to the tool that will confirm what your actual Zodiac is if it shifted. Yeah, I'm checking it out right now. I'm kind of freaking out, to be honest. In the meantime. Although, if I wasn't a Pisces, that might explain a lot. I'm sorry, Jack. All signs reporting to us, hitting our three stories. Let's hit them.

3:52First, a quick word from our sponsor.

4:00Monarch. Yeah, it is. You know my first money lesson? It was where to put our lemonade stand. I was wondering, it was on the Upper East Side. Do we do it on Lexington Avenue or Park Avenue? Wait a second. New York City has lemonade stands on the sidewalk? They didn't. We were pioneers, Jack. Lexington Avenue is more commercial. Park is more residential. So what did we learn, Jack? Families are willing to pay more for lemonade. So you set it up on park. Yeah, we did it on park. Besties, no one gives you financial lessons in life. You end up figuring most of it out as you grow up. But we love Monarch because it's like a financial advisor in your pocket.

4:28Because every minute, it's tracking your savings, spending, investments, and more. For instance, Monarch's goal tracking feature shows if you're on track for that summer trip to Santa Fe. And it tells you what percent of your income is going somewhere that's a surprise. I open Monarch all the time because it takes the mental load off tracking my finances. And whether you're single, you're in a family, or you're dinking it up, Monarch's the way. Our personal fave, the AI Weekly Recap. a once-per-week gut check on what you did with your money. Hey, Nick, you've spent 96 bucks at kids' lemonade stands since July.

4:53Because we pioneered it for him, Jack. Resties, write your own story with Monarch. Use code T-Boy at Monarch.com to get your first year of Monarch Core half off at just 50 bucks. It's 50 % off your first year at Monarch.com with code T-Boy. Decagon. Yetis, someone needs to make a rom-com about falling in love with your customer support agent. Do they, Nick? Well, it's probably going to start Kate Hudson, Matthew McConaughey, and Decagon. I think what Nick is getting at is that Decagon helps companies create personalized, concierge-style customer experiences with AI agents across chat, email, voice, and SMS.

5:29They're available 24-7, feel natural to talk to, and can resolve customer requests on their own so businesses can keep up with the requests without losing their personal touch. And because workflows can be updated using natural language, teams can make changes themselves. Also, Decagon gives your team full visibility into why agents make decisions and what's happening across every conversation. Decagon helps power millions of conversations every day for brands you know and love, including Avis, Affirm, Fanatics, and Aura. And Decagon plugs directly into your existing system so you can launch them quickly.

5:55So Decagon solving customer problems, it's like living happily ever after in a Hallmark. Yeah, rated R for really good customer service. Ready to transform your customer support? Go to Decagon.ai slash TBOY to get a personalized demo and see what Decagon can do for your team. Check Decagon out at Decagon.ai slash TBOY. That's Decagon.ai slash TBOY. Nick, did you see Liquid IV teamed up with Ring Pop? I did, Jack. And honestly, it's one of those collabs where you immediately think, how has nobody done this before? I mean, Ring Pop Cherry is already iconic. My sons love Ring Pops, by the way. I give it to them at the beach.

6:32It occupies them for about an hour. But now it's a sugar-free liquid IV flavor too. Ah, it's not just a fun flavor. It's still the same liquid IV hydration formula that hydrates faster than water alone, has three times the electrolytes of the leading sports drink, plus eight vitamins and nutrients. I've been throwing one of these in my water before the gym and before bed pretty much every night if I sweated that day. Way more fun than drinking plain water. Probably for workouts, travel days, hot days. Honestly, anytime you know, you're probably just not drinking enough water. So if you're looking for an excuse to actually stay hydrated, this is a pretty good one.

7:03Check out the new Liquid IV sugar-free ring pop cherry at liquidivy.com. For our first story, for the first time in 32 years, the United States is hosting the FIFA World Cup and the tickets just went on sale. But only if you have a Visa card. And it's controversial because of the dynamic pricing. And all of this is bad for StubHub. Okay. Now, Yetis, Jack and I have been checking the calendars for you, and by our math, we are exactly 272 days away from the Men's World Cup of Soccer. Awkwardly co-hosted next summer by the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Why is this awkward, Jack? Because when we agreed to co-host the biggest tournament in the world with our neighbors, we weren't in a trade war with them.

7:51Yeah, but unfortunately tariffs have made this World Cup an angry thruple situation, haven't they, Jack? It's a soccer soap opera and like who knows what's happening at the border. But in the meantime, MetLife Stadium, home of the Jets and the Giants, is hosting the World Cup finals next summer. So it got the attention of New York City's mayoral candidate. He's a Democratic socialist, Zoran Mandani. And he launched a petition on Wednesday called Game Over Greed. Game over greed. Because this year, for the first time, FIFA is using, get this, dynamic pricing to maximize revenue. And of course, yesterday when the pre-sale launched, there were major glitches causing huge frustration for the fans who are waiting at their computer for the clock to strike midnight.

8:38Taylor Swift Airs Tour 2.0. Here we go again, baby. Oh, by the way, the World Cup ticket pre-sale that launched on Thursday, classic. It was for Visa cardholders only. Yeah, Visa's sponsoring the events. Only Visa cardholders can buy the tickets. Because let's be honest, FIFA is an international money-making operation with a side hustle in soccer tournaments. Now, besties, before you throw the red flag on these guys, Jack and I want to pause the pause for a second. And Jack, could we dive in T-boy style to dynamic pricing? When it comes to ticket selling, we're actually for dynamic pricing. Dynamic pricing.

9:14Now, dynamic pricing, it smells like surge pricing, or as Jack and I call it in this situation, surge seating. So it's understandable why you get mad when you hear that the World Cup has dynamic pricing. Yeah. In this case, for the World Cup, if the tickets are priced at$100, but the demand data suggests they could sell for$200, what's FIFA going to do, Jack? They're going to jack up the prices dynamically to$200. That sounds greedy, right? It does sound greedy. But the reality is that price would have hit$200 anyway, either way, on the secondary market. And here's the important detail we want to highlight.

9:49When those tickets would inevitably sell for$200 in the secondary market, it would be the scalpers taking the profit, not the performer, the producer, or the venue, in this case, the World Cup. So in Zoran's petition, he's calling for a price cap. And he's also calling for 15 % of all the tickets in this tournament to be set aside for locals to buy at a discount. Which is actually an idea that my parents, who live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, kind of like. It's a great idea. But given the 0 % chance of a price cap for World Cup tickets, those tickets are going to be really expensive no matter what.

10:21Because the World Cup is a global event with billions of people demanding tickets, and yet there are only 80 ,000 seats in that MetLife Stadium. And thanks to dynamic pricing, it's the people putting on the show who are going to get the revenue, not the scalpers. And that's why as much as we hate dynamic pricing, economically speaking, we're for dynamic pricing. Prices are going to be high no matter what. We want the soccer players to get the money, not the scalpers. Even though they do have a lot of money. So Jack, what's the takeaway from our buddies over at the World Cup? It's a dirty secret.

10:54StubHub's business model depends on scalpers. Yetis, it's not just FIFA starting to use dynamic pricing these days. Ticketmaster also started using it as well. Both FIFA and Ticketmaster want to stop letting bots and middlemen take revenue that should be going to the performers. Basically, the primary ticket issuers, the World Cup, they're trying to price tickets accurately with data so that there's no need for a secondary market like StubHub. And that's bad news for StubHub. It is. Because StubHub dominates the secondary ticket market. Now, sure, if you can't make it to the World Cup game, you could use StubHub to sell your tickets if you can't go.

11:29But the giant business of bots and scalpers selling huge volumes of tickets on StubHub, it looks like that business is going away. And that's why StubHub's value is half of what they were targeting just a year ago. For our second story, the big IPO to kick off the fall is Gemini. The crypto credit card company goes public today. But the key to understanding Gemini is understanding the Winklevoss twins behind it. Ah, the first ever original Zucking. It happened in a college dorm room at Harvard. Jack, could you take us back there, please? The blonde Winklevoss twins, they shared their idea for a social network on the internet with Mark Zuckerberg.

12:12And that little puny freshman at Harvard allegedly stole their idea. Well, the Winklevoss twins ended up suing Zuck. You actually saw the depositions in the movie, The Social Network. And in the closing credits of that awesome movie, you saw the result of that lawsuit. Mark Zuckerberg paid the Winklevoss twins$60 million to settle the lawsuit. But what you may not know, besties, is what the Winklevoss twins did with that$60 million. Jack, what did they do with it? They bought Bitcoin in 2012 at$10. Sprinkle on more context, please. $10. Today, Bitcoin is$110 ,000. Okay, that is a 10 ,000x return on that Zuck money.

12:56But here's the fascinating thing, Yetis. The Winklevi twins didn't just sit on their Bitcoin billions. They actually started a crypto company called Gemini. Gemini, another Zodiac because they're twins, right? The Gemini twins are part of the Greek Zodiac, yes. And today, Gemini stock begins trading after their IPO valued the company at$3 billion. So if you're looking for a man in finance, trust fund, six, five blue eyes, you'll see two of them on the stock exchange today. The besties, we know what you're thinking right now. Here's the real question. Do we need another crypto trading platform out there?

13:30I mean, look, we don't have FTX anymore, but we still got Coinbase, Binance, Crypto.com, Kraken, and a dozen other crypto exchanges you'd never heard of. Gemini is only the fifth biggest exchange in the United States. It's the 26th largest crypto exchange by volume in the world. But Nick and I dove into the IPO paperwork, and it turns out buying and selling of crypto, that's not even the focus of the company. That's right, because the product Gemini mentioned the most in their IPO paperwork was the word credit card. They want to be the Amex of blockchain. Gemini launched the first crypto credit card, and it's the smallest but fastest growing part of their business today.

14:07Because the rewards for that credit card are crypto. Get this, like instead of 3 % cash back on dining, you're getting 3 % coin back on your spending. That dinner date turned into Ethereum that's in your account already. Honey, we need to go to dinner again. I think Ethereum prices are up. Now, looking at the numbers, this is a small business. Only 58 ,000 customers have the Gemini credit card. And they've only distributed$5.5 million in crypto rewards to those credit card users. So your typical Gemini credit card customer only has got$100 worth of crypto rewards. But If you want to invest in crypto, then Gemini has put your points immediately into the market where, unlike other credit card points, they can go up.

14:51The strategy is to reach a mass audience. Because trading crypto is scary, you could lose the money you put into the market. But instead, credit card rewards feel like you're getting free crypto. You're doing spending anyway. Now your spending turned into crypto. It feels like you didn't put anything at risk. Yeah, your Chase Sapphire got you a 50 bucks off a massage. But oh, your crypto credit card from Gemini? suddenly Ethereum's going to the moon. Unless it goes down. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Gemini? Gemini's competitive advantage isn't its size, it's its influence.

15:24Yetis, Robinhood has 100 ,000 cardholders. Amex has 100 million. Gemini, it is tiny compared to both of those. But the Winklevi founders of Gemini have turned themselves into a unique asset. Just this week, Trump praised the Winklevi twins at the White House as having the whole package. Looks genius and plenty of cash. And they've already used that influence to try to change government policy on crypto. Get this. This week, we learned that the Winklevi asked Trump to choose a different person to lead the CFTC, the agency that regulates crypto. To quote Alexander Hamilton, the Winklevoss are in the room where it happens when it comes to this administration.

16:05And you want to be in the room where it happens. Gemini's real competitive advantage isn't their size or their founder's huge size. These guys are tall. It's their influence. Now, a quick word from our sponsor. Cash App. All right, Yeti's the Mount Rushmore of rock stars. You got Ringo Starr, Jimmy Page, Mick Jagger. Well, carve Cash App's face into that granite tunic. Because Cash App is more than just a safe way to send and receive money. This thing is packed with perks without the hidden fees. Like getting exclusive early access to nationwide concert presales so you can catch Sabrina before your buddies can even spell espresso.

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18:18So besties, to see Scribe in action, head to scribe.how slash tboy and mention tboy for your first month of Scribe capture free on select plans. That's S-C-R-I-B-E dot H-O-W slash T-B-O-Y. For our third and final story before the weekend, one gas station chain is thriving more than any other, but it's all thanks to pizza. Casey's Gas Station is the fifth biggest pizza chain in America. So we're looking at Casey's Pizza profitability. Now, if we're going to tell this story, I think you should reveal for the audience something that I'm shocked by. I learned only minutes ago. What is it, Jack? Now, I worked at a gas station in high school.

18:59I can't believe I never told you this. I had no idea. You know, I describe myself as a petroleum distribution engineer, and I actually picked up an unhealthy financial habit when I was 17. Yeah. Dude, during down times when nobody was in the store, I would purchase scratch tickets, scratch them, and then purchase more tickets with my winnings. It's a write-off, boss. Is this how you got to become the sommelier of the local Olive Garden as well? That was when I was 18. It's a story for another pod. But besties, Casey's gas station, where Jack did not work, actually has 2.7 thousand locations across Middle America.

19:34It's the fourth biggest chain in the country. If you live in the central time zone, then you love Casey's. Because from the mighty Mississippi to the Rio Grande, this brand kind of looks like a Cracker Barrel and an Exxon had a baby that was raised by 7-Eleven. But Casey's General Stores is actually a publicly traded company worth$21 billion on the stock market. Get this. Casey's General Stores is worth more than Hilton, twice as much as Snapchat. This company is three lifts. This week, they've reported earnings. Sales rose 11%. Profits rose 20%. Casey's stock is up 40 % this year. It has tripled in the last five years.

20:11I'll take premium unleaded, actually. Yeah, that would be the dividends. And yet you've probably never been Because we looked at the data of this podcast And the majority of you listeners Are coastal listeners Yeah, we know you're like mid-deep In a sweet green slop bowl right now And you've probably never heard of Casey's But that's why we dove in T-boy style Plus, three quarters of Casey's Are in towns with populations less than 20 ,000 people Right there in middle America To quote John Mellencamp Casey's was born in a small town But you gotta respect Casey's Because here's the surprise it's actually the fifth biggest pizza chain in America.

20:48Besties, this gas station company breaks out their sales between inside the station and outside the station. It's the most Iowa thing I've ever seen. And yeah, this brand was launched in Iowa. Now, when they refer to their sales inside the station, they're talking about pizza sales, not gas. And outside is gasoline. Because pizza is this gas station's hero product. In fact, they sell at double the profit margin as the fuel does. Now, Nick's born and raised in New York. Total pizza snob over there. I'm not going to lie. I'm going to judge you, Jack. And this Casey's, it's not a New York City slice and it's not a Neapolitan pie, my friend.

21:25No, Casey's doing their own thing. Medium thickness, extra cheese, pairs really well with a Dr. Pepper. I do respect it. It's the kind of pizza you would devour after a softball game with two to three buddies or maybe your kids. And the innovation, they decided it's a three meal a day product. That's right. Casey's serves three different types of breakfast pizza pies. Bacon, egg, and cheese pizza. Real thing. And strategically, they've priced these pies at 20 % less than Domino's does. Which is why they sell more pizza than Papa John's. Now, Basties, if you have ordered a Casey's breakfast pizza, please tell us in the comments if the eggs are scrambled or over easy.

22:01We couldn't tell. And if you own Casey's stock, tell us if the dividends are paid in the form of a gasoline voucher. In the meantime, these are numbers that sweet green would be jelly of. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Casey's? Carl Jung, I am what I choose to become. Yeti's, every other gas station chain prioritizes gas. It's consistent, it's reliable, it's recession proof. But Casey's did the opposite. They prioritized pizza. And now the majority of customers to Casey's don't even buy gas. They came for the food. They go for the food, the majority of customers. Nanogas is expensive.

22:38It is the majority of their sales, we should point out. But food is more profitable. So food is the majority of what counts, profits. Oh, and remember when we said that three out of four Casey stars are in small towns with under 20 ,000 people? That was strategic. Yes. One of the reasons the pizza is so popular is that Casey's is the only pizza in town. Honey, you in the mood for pizza? It's got to be Casey's. If you look at the numbers, Casey's is not a gasoline station. They're a pizza chain disguised as a gas station. Casey's didn't let itself get defined or labeled by its industry. It is what it chose to become, a$20 billion pizza chain.

23:15Born in Iowa, winning on Wall Street. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the real Friday? FIFA is selling tickets to next summer's World Cup with dynamic pricing and glitches. Seat surgeon. The goal of dynamic pricing? Eliminate the scalpers. And that is bad for StubHub's business. For our second story, the Winklevoss twins took their$60 million of Facebook settlement money, bought Bitcoin, and are now IPO-ing. Their crypto credit card company is called Gemini, and their advantage is their influence. And the third and final story is Casey's General Stores. It's a huge Wall Street winner.

23:52The profits aren't in the gas, though. They're in the garlic. And to quote psychologist Carl Jung, Casey's is what it chose to become, a$20 billion pizza chain. But yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Sephora just became the first beauty chain on a delivery app. Sephora is actually owned by LVMH, the largest luxury company in the world. Now they've partnered with Uber for home delivery to rush order that mascara that you needed five minutes ago. Because physical stores are great for trials, but sometimes it's just an emergency. And second, demand for mortgages just jumped to a three-year high this week as interest rates finally inched down a bit.

24:32On Thursday, we got the inflation report for August. 2.9 % inflation. Not too bad. With the weak job situation out there, investors are thinking that the Fed may finally cut rates this month. And the market has already come down in anticipation of that. So with the interest rate cut potentially coming soon, that could finally loosen up our frozen, constipated housing market. Constipated? The market's stuck, Jack. The market is stuck. And finally, a phone-free restaurant just opened up in Washington, D.C. It's called Hush Harbor, and it's on H Street. It's actually owned by the chef who won the Hell's Kitchen TV competition.

25:09Here's how this works. When you walk into the restaurant, you're given a pouch to lock your phone up in. And then everyone, including the staff, must keep their phone locked in that pouch at all times until they leave the restaurant. So that you can enjoy your mindful minestrone and your focused fettuccine. Now time for the best fact yet. This one is actually a correction sent in by Ale Patron from lovely New York City. The inventor of the polo shirt was actually René Lacoste, a French tennis player who created the Lacoste brand that we all know today. Here's how the polo was invented. Players started flipping up the collars to protect their necks from the sun So they became, and that was the OG popped collar.

25:51So Ralph Lauren didn't invent the polo shirt, but he invented the brand polo for lifestyle and fashion in America. Oh, and by the way, that French tennis player, Lacoste, his nickname was the crocodile, which explains why Lacoste's logo is le crocodile. Apparently he played tennis like a crocodile. I don't know what that means. I don't know. To me, it looks not possible. Yetis, you look fantastic today. Jack, can I see your palms for a second? Let me see. Okay. As a Pisces, I'm seeing that you will share today's podcast with three other adults and you will say HYH-TBOI. Dude, I don't think palms has anything to do with the Zodiac.

26:31I'm seeing here that you will correct yourself about my palms idea and you will still share the podcast with three people today. That's the most Capricorn thing you've ever said. Besties, have a fantastic weekend. Again, tell your buddies to HYHDBOY. That's how we grow the show. Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. Celebrate the wins. See you Monday.

26:55And before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti Moro Leos down in San Antonio, Texas, celebrating the best one yet. And happy birthday to Searston Breslin in Santa Clarita, California. A day one Yeti. Here we go, Searston. and George Gould's turning 27 years old in Chicago doing logistics. We met George at the live show. George, you were looking and you still look fantastic. Happy 34th birthday to Megan Scott in Houston, Texas. And Dan Tillman down in Woodbridge, Virginia. Happy birthday, man. Happy birthday to Brian Gill in Grand Rapids, Michigan. And Jack Abbas Hussain just turned nine years old in Chicago.

27:31Absolutely the most legendary nine-year-old at school. And a shout out to Derek and Caitlin Toomey over in Madison, Wisconsin. Congrats on the new baby. Everett is a beauty. Congratulations to Taylor from Detroit, Michigan, who just landed a new job. And Jack, I want to give a shout out to my wife, Molly, for the first week we've spent with the new baby Selena. You know, you and I get back on the microphones pretty quickly after an IBO, and Molly's doing amazingly taking care of Selena right now. She's an absolute legend. Great girl. Great girl.

28:04This is Jack. I own stock of Lyft. Nick and I both own some Bitcoin, and Nick owns some Ethereum. Bitcoin, Ben, and Ethereum Apple.

28:37sweeps, see bonus points, T's and C's and sweeps rules for details and visit bestwestern.com for complete terms and conditions.