On today's edition of Wealth! Yahoo Finance host Brad Smith covers some of the biggest stories impacting your personal finance goals.

The Department of Education extended the deadline for borrowers to consolidate their student loans from April 30 to June 30. The extension may help more individuals receive much-needed debt relief.

Homebuilder confidence dropped in May to 45, down from 51 in April, according to the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. As mortgage rates hover above 7%, many prospective buyers are choosing to sit on the sidelines as they struggle with affordability. Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing Co-CEO Lauren Hochfelder joins to discuss how to best invest in real estate, pointing to warehouses as a key growth opportunity.

Walmart (WMT) posted its first quarter earnings, topping Wall Street expectations as its e-commerce segment grows. LSEG Director of Consumer Research Jharonne Martis lays out her bull case on the retail giant, believing it continues to provide great value for its customers as consumer spending is under inflationary pressure.

Finally, Brad Smith covers how individuals should best prepare for major life events, from big-ticket vacations to retirement.

This post was written by Melanie Riehl

Video Transcript

You hear the music.

You know what time it is?

Welcome to Wealth.

I'm Brad Smith and this is Yahoo Finance's guide to building your financial footprint.

Our community of experts will give you the resources, tools, tips and the tricks as well that you need to grow your money.

On.

Today's show, we get a gauge on America's employment system and an expert brings you the tips and tricks to beat artificial intelligence in your job search.

Plus oh yeah, we're to dive into what Wal Mart's quarterly results say about the state of the consumer and how they are feeling and spending plus energy prices are up right now.

We'll tell you how much inflation is hitting your wallets at the pump ahead of a busy travel season.

All that and much more.

But let's kick things off with a fresh record.

The Dow topping 40,000 for the first ever time in Intraday trading here on the, take a look at the Dow Jones industrial average there you see on your screen, we're holding above 40,000 right now and of course, this is a mid and earnings season where there's been everything from, talk of artificial intelligence into the consumer and much more about the state of the economy.

I do just want to take a brief look though at some of those dow components to really show you what's pushing things higher here in today's trading activity.

We're being on a percentage basis by the aforementioned Walmart that we teased at the top of the show that's up by about 5.8%.

1 of the other major catalysts that we're seeing in an attempted rebound here at least on the day though down year to date right now by about 30% Boeing helping some of these gains and getting to that record on the day.

That's up by about three and a quarter percent.

You've got a sea of green but still a little bit of red peppered into the equation here as well.

But overall here, a new fresh record for the Dow that means that the NYSC maybe they're whipping out those 40 K hats.

We will see.

We'll confirm with some of our friends down there as well, but let's turn now in the interim period of time to the US labor market showing signs of slowing down a little bit.

We got a fresh read on the labor market with jobless claims and here to break down exactly what jobless claims are is our very own Madison Mills.

Hey, Matty.

Hey, Brad, thanks so much.

Let's start by just defining what exactly this economic data point is.

Initial jobless claims are a measure of the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits.

And this is reported by the Department of Labor every single week.

It can give us a good read on the jobs market and the health of corporate America.

So behind me, you're looking at the figures for the week ending in May 11 that came in at 222,000 just slightly above the estimate which was 220,000.

Now, this is down from the prior week of jobless claims which are revised up to 232,000 claims.

And we look at this data to understand the state of the economy because it's what we call a leading indicator.

Economic data can often be lagging or backward looking telling us what happened in the past.

But this data point can help us predict upcoming trends in the jobs market.

Now, today's data obviously relatively in line with expectations, but you may be thinking, I might feel bad about the economy.

How are jobless claims not higher here?

Well, there's a bigger question about whether or not the people who are getting laid off are actually filing for unemployment.

And if they don't, they don't get included in this data.

So if you lose your job, make sure you apply for those unemployment benefits right away, not just for the sake of your own personal finances, but also for the sanctity of the economic data that we know and love and Brad overall, this data offers more evidence that the labor market is steadily cooling and that's just one key data point.

The FED needs to think about when considering its next policy move.

All right, great set up as we're going to discuss the broader employment situation just a little bit further here, Matty, thanks so much for breaking that down while fewer people filed for unemployment benefits in the week ending May 11th and the week prior, broadly speaking, layoffs are at historically low levels and it comes amid growing signs that the labor market is gradually cooling off in the US.

April added the fewest number of jobs in six months.

And these days looking for a job means shooting a resume into the proverbial black hole, the internet.

According to our next guest, nearly all fortune 500 companies use A I screening tools in hiring.

So how can you get a leg up on the competition and outsmart these A I tools in your job search?

I'm joined now by Hilke Shellman who is the NYU professor and author of the algorithm here.

Great to have you on the program with us.

We're seeing the of your book there on screen and our viewers, of course, uh perhaps gonna be looking that up as well as all the algorithmic changes that we've had to monitor over the course of this year.

All that considered back on topic of how you can best beat A I in that job search.

What are some of the top tips that people can really put to practice?

Yeah.

Thank you for having me, Brett.

And I know, you know, it's really tough finding a job because there are all these job platforms, right?

Like, I'm sure a lot of folks have sent the resume to uh linkedin.

Indeed.

And, and, and never heard back.

And I think we need to throw out the old uh uh advice that a lot of people got is like, stand out, you know, have two columns and different colors and images.

None of that.

Uh Today, you're uh you know, it's very likely that your resume will be read by a machine.

It has to be machine friendly, uh you know, one column, uh you know, very short sentences, crisp clear, any quantitative data, super helpful, you know, you saved your company $5 million you have uh supervised people.

Uh What's also helpful is uh to think through uh you know, have a separate skills section, for example, because a lot of companies look at skills first and have talked to a lot of recruiters who, you know, when they go on job platforms, they put in like, I don't know, software developer, New York and Python, and that's a skill.

So put all of those skills, including soft skills uh in, in your resume.

I've also heard from people who now use chat GP T uh uh you know, as, as helpful to them.

So they may use chat G BT to help them generate a cover letter, help them with their resume.

I always caution people absolutely proofread your material, right?

Because obviously we know that chat GP t hallucinates, but I think it can be helpful for folks who have a lot of anxiety and I think it's giving uh folks uh some agency back.

And also I would always say like, you know, it's, it's probably never you, like we know from data that it takes hundreds, often thousands of applications to find a job because recruiters um and hr managers get thousands of applications often per job and you can see often the statistics on, on the job board.

So don't be discouraged.

It's just a numbers game.

Uh I think another, a couple of other things that I have is like if you had a larger than six month employment gap, if you were freelancing during that time, uh maybe, maybe make sure it covers that time because we know that some A I tools throw people out who have a longer than six month employment gap.

Yeah.

Um So I think those are kind of like pretty easy things to uh to guard against.

I think you can also use some services online like job scan and others where you upload the job description, you upload your resume and it will tell you how much overlap uh probably in an A I tool would infer between the job description and your resume.

So aim for like 60 to 80% of overlap.

If you have 100% that might be a problem because uh uh the tool, the act to may assume that you just copied the job description, which you wouldn't want just to just to jump in really quickly here because I mean, that was a trove of good tips that you just spelled out for a lot of viewers out there.

I, I wonder for those who are laying out their resume and trying to make sure that, OK, do I stick to one page?

Do I stick to two pages?

Is there, how do I make sure that I am consolidating the information or, or making sure that it's concise enough to get my skill level across while at the same time making sure that it's not isolating me or kicking me out um or excluding me from any of the artificial intelligence generators out there or kind of initial reviews that you have to pass through as well.

What, what's the best kind of mindset for that?

Yeah, I mean, I think actually sometimes with uh with A I A on that side to put more skills on there, you don't have to necessarily put more text and, and description uh because the A I is probably just looking for specific keywords.

So make sure you have a lot of the keywords that are in the job description on your resume.

Uh So, you know, I know some people want to be cued and uh instead of a childcare provider, they might write daycare or something.

No use exactly the words that are in uh the, the job description to have that overlap, that might be what the tool is looking for.

I also think if you feel like, you know, my A I uh you know, sort of computer machine readable resume is kind of weird and technical.

Now, I always suggest people, you know, once you get to that interview stage with a human, bring another resume that you really feel like, oh, that is really showing where I am and I can easily talk about it because, you know, we know that in all likelihood, your resume will be read by a machine first, by an A I tool and not by a human.

So you have to get through that first and then you can bring, you know, when you meet with a human, bring that resume that you loved and have crafted so many times.

Um and, and, and show it to them lastly, while we have you here, college, how much does the university matter on resumes now?

Versus in the past, some universities are well known for, say their engineering programs or say their entrepreneurial programs.

What have you, where is that kind of ranking in terms of the importance of giving that?

Uh uh Either a high profile positioning on your resume or somewhere later on, kind of not buried but still visible within it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, Brent, what we see now there's a lot of like, theoretical discussion about that.

We know that uh you know, often bachelor's degrees, like where you went to school shows more about probably your socio-economic background than actually your capabilities.

Right?

We often think like, oh, you went to Harvard, you must be really smart.

Whereas for a state school, we just be like, ok, well, they went to a state school.

So, but we see this push to skills based hiring.

So actually some companies know, don't want to look at degrees anymore.

And actually, and actually black out uh sort of where folks went to uh uh school.

But the unfortunate thing is the data on the other hand, who gets hired, uh we've seen some surveys now and that's a little bit disappointing.

So we only see that like three or 4% of hiring uh is up where where people don't look at a bachelor and master's degree.

But it turns out that like humans at the end of the decision, you can still like to see those uh bachelor's and master's degrees, even though maybe your job doesn't actually need to have that degree, it just needs specific skills.

Um So we see a lot of a i being trained to just look for those skills, but we see humans still looking at those at those universities.

So you definitely want to put them on there.

I mean, you got that degree.

Um And you know, different tools will look at it uh uh differently.

Joka Shellman, who is the NYU professor and author of the algorithm.

Thanks so much for taking the time here today with some very actionable tips for all of those prospective job seekers out there.

Appreciate it.

Yeah, and good luck and never give up.

It's just a numbers game.

Exactly.

Thanks so much.

Ok, thank you.

Turning now to an update for Americans with student debt.

The Department of Education is giving borrowers more time to meet a key deadline regarding student loan forgiveness.

3.6 million borrowers who got federal loans originated through the Federal Family Education Loans Act have until June 30th to request a loan consolidation which we combine all of someone's loans into one loan in order to apply for an initiative that could wipe out their debt.

Now, the previous deadline was April 30th, the US under Secretary of Education writing in a statement, quote ffel borrowers could consolidate and should consolidate as soon as possible in order to receive this benefit that already provided forgiveness to nearly 1 million borrowers.

The department first announced this payment adjustment in April of 2022 to address evidence of mismanagement of the plans including not giving people the correct information for their forgiveness timeline, resulting in some people repaying their loans for longer than they should have been coming up on the other side of the short break, housing starts rebound.

What it means for the health of the housing market.

That's next.

Let's do it.

The check of the market sponsored by Tasty trade here.

Taking a look at the Dow Jones industrial average.

We are just below that 40,000 marker which we have hit intraday here setting a new intraday record for the first time ever notching the tick by tick above that 40,000 marker.

As of right now, we're still holding on to gains of about 2/10 of a percent.

We'll round that off to the S and P 500.

You're seeing that also up by about 2/10 of a percent on a percentage basis there.

And then the NASDAQ roughly the same on a percentage basis, 2/10 of a percent here in gains.

Well, the housing market remains under pressure as high prices and interest rates weigh on builders buyers and sellers home builder confidence dipped in May as 7% mortgage rates.

Keep many prospective home buyers on the sidelines according to the National Association of Home Builders.

So how is this reflected in recent data?

It's a big question and here with the latest is our very own.

Danny Romero.

Danny did May's housing starts data support this sentiment, housing starts for both single family and multifamily modestly rebounded and that is signaling that this recovery could be a little bit slower for new construction housing starts climbed 5.7% over the prior month to 1.3 million annualized rate.

And this was lower than expectations for a one point 4 million annualized rate.

So April's rebound really was driven by multifamily starts which jumped over 30% which is a bit lower than pre pandemic levels.

I want to make that clear but also single family starts remained flat last month.

The results do cast some form of doubt for home building.

And like you said, this does come after home builders aren't really feeling too confident right now about the housing market, especially that mortgage rates have stayed above 7% sidelining uh buyers.

And of course now builders so homebuilder sentiment from the National Association of homebuilders did show that builders view conditions as poor.

So despite these really bleak expectations from builders, some industry experts say that single family starts could come back and we could see single family starts reach 1.1 million units by the end of this year.

So they're saying that home builders could really capitalize on the low inventory on the resale side.

Brad Danny, thanks so much continuing to track the home market here.

We're going to have much more conversation on that in just a little bit here.

But in the meantime, Uber is announcing some new features this week and they might help save you some cash.

Uber shuttle gives riders a cheaper way to get to the airport work or live events.

Now, it's basically a bus where you can reserve a seat up to a week in advance for a quote fraction of the price of an Uber X and it's not impacted by Uber's.

Uber's infamous surge pricing.

Don't like riding a bus.

Well, guess what the platform is also offering shared scheduled rides that let you save an average of 25% compared to Uber X and good news for students as well out there.

Uber is offering an Uber one membership program that includes savings across rides and delivery services.

This is gonna run you about $4.99 a month and includes discounts like free delivery and 10% off orders.

And this is a good one ahead of the summer.

Uber eats.

Teaming up with Costco.

Yeah, you heard that right.

You're gonna be able to order your favorite Kirk Lindsay, your items on the Uber Eats platform.

This is available now in select locations.

Now, the company is also announcing new features for foodies and caregivers as well here.

So a lot in the slate of new product announcement and service announcements from Uber.

Take your symbol.

UB er Well, coming up assessing the state of the consumer shoppings are shoppers are flocking to Walmart for better deals but are there other retailers where you can maximize your dollars?

Find out next America's biggest retailer is holding on to its recent momentum.

Walmart reported stronger than expected, first quarter revenue and same store sales results driven by a big jump in e commerce sales and more visits to its giant super centers.

The company benefiting from gaining market share as consumers seek convenience.

And here to tell us more about the consumer.

We've got Yahoo Finance's Rochelle Rochelle.

We gotta dive into this.

What, what did you, what did you see?

I mean, 22% my goodness on the ecommerce side there, I'm telling you that this is why Walmart is keeping its crown as the largest retailer.

You're seeing consumers continuing to bargain hunt and it's happening across all income levels.

Now, comparable sales in the US rose 3.8%.

Transactions also grew 3.8% for the quarter, but the average ticket was flat.

So you're having more transactions here but not necessarily at a higher level.

So Walmart CFO John D Rainy joined Yahoo Finance this morning with how he sees the consumer story.

Take a listen, the consumer has been relatively consistent.

We are like everyone else is looking for.

Uh if there's something there, something that we should be more aware of, but they've been pretty consistent quarter to quarter here.

We see that wallets are still stretched, they're still looking for value.

They're still using discretion with buying those, those higher income items.

And what's interesting, these higher income earners who sought some of these bargains during peak inflation.

They've been sticking with Walmart making up the quote, the largest cohort behind share gains in nearly every category.

Now, for shoppers who prefer to buy in bulk including small businesses, not just people who show up to buy a canoe from say Sam's Club.

Now, that's a Walmart subsidiary of Walmart.

That was also a stand out.

We saw comparable sales 4.4% higher, which also added grocery market share and added boost and of course, boosted Walmart's overall comp sales data.

Now, investors did have an inkling, especially if you look at some of the data compiled from seeking Alpha, which showed that Walmart was the least shorted consumer staple stock in the S and P 500 for April.

So clearly, there are a lot of people seeing this continuing flocking of bargain hunters.

But it, you know, when you think Wal Mart Shop, if you think, you know, perhaps it's just people looking for A B but it's across all income levels here, Brad, I mean, absolutely.

And they've got some great golf shorts for 13 bucks as well.

So you can't argue with that.

What can we take away from this report about where consumers are headed next?

And the sentiment?

Well, obviously, when you look at Walmart, Walmart is considered a bellwether because it covers a bit of everything.

It's logistics at shopping, but it really comes down to meeting consumers where they are right now financially and physically.

And so Placer dot A, I uses data on things like foot traffic transactions, digital shopping behavior, which of course you mentioned e commerce as well as the demographics of consumers to help retailers figure out the trends ahead where to find these consumers and how they're shopping.

And it's interesting because warm dominating there too.

So places dot A I is finding that the Walmart banner receives over 60% of all visits to target Walmart, Costco, Sam's Club and B J's especially in the South where Walmart superstores relative visit share tops 70%.

Now you will see there are plenty of other states and areas where Walmart isn't dominating as heavily.

So some potential for more expansion for Walmart or potentially more competition as rivals.

See some, some opening there.

Another interesting angle that we're seeing from Walmart and some of these specific brands that you do have to dig into because there is a lot of nuance here, stronger sales growth in international markets than in North America where you are still seeing that inflation story play out there.

So certainly some opportunities to be had might have to look overseas as well for some of those deals.

Rochelle, thanks so much for breaking down Walmart's earnings here and we've been in that conversation with the CFO John David Rainy.

Appreciate it, Rochelle.

Well, Walmart CFO told Yahoo Finance earlier today that the consumer is relatively consistent but is America's largest retailer the best place to maximize your dollars here to weigh in.

We've got Jerome Martis who is the LSEG Director of Consumer Research.

Great to have you here in studio with us.

It's great to be here.

I mean, we've been talking about the consumer over different economic cycles for several years now.

You and I, and one of the huge things that we're thinking about with Walmart here, how they play within this broader competitive landscape and consumers trying to figure out where they're getting the best bang for their buck.

Is it clear where that is right now among the competitive landscape?

I think today's numbers give us, gives us a clear indication that that place is Walmart.

That's the place where consumers gravitate for groceries and while they're there shopping for groceries, they're definitely opening up the wall, the wallets for general merchandise.

Now, what was great today is that not only is Walmart, you know, see strength within the store and groceries, but also online.

In fact, they smashed their e commerce expectations of 15% with a robust 22% today.

Um The marketplace sellers have grown by 36% suggesting that they keep adding more um sellers onto their um e commerce platform.

Also, you know, um their advertisement business grew by 24% which is actually on par with Amazon's 24% increase in revenue.

Do you think about how Walmart is describing the consumer right now, the CFO of Walmart, John David Raine telling us in an interview earlier today, that wallets are stretched that the consumer is consistent, uh, relatively consistent here.

Uh, and they talked about how this factors into their guidance going forward without kind of looking specifically at the financials here.

How would you describe the state of the consumer right now?

So it's interesting because we've actually seen the consumer, um, started to open up their wallets for general merchandise and that was very evident even in yesterday's April us retail sales numbers.

Um we saw that clothing was up um in the month of April despite April being a flat month.

And on top of that, in a collaboration with centric market Intelligence SAC discovered that the amount of merchandise and the average discount in 2024 is significantly lower than what we've seen over the last three years.

So this is telling us that despite the fact that they are lower mark downs, consumers are still opening up, they're starting to open up their wallets for general merchandise.

And that was very evident in Walmart's numbers today too.

They said that despite, so everybody goes to Walmart for the lower everyday prices and the um rollbacks.

But despite having lower roll backs, we saw that same store sales were still very strong.

So we're saying that consumers are willing and able to extend themselves.

And why is this is because their security in their, in their job right now that the consumer confidence reports are telling us, you know, that the consumers feel very secure in their job and that's why they're spending, they're feeling better about extending themselves a little bit more.

It feels like every week we hear a new iteration of what a rewards platform looks like for all of these retailers, whether it's Walmart, whether it's target, whether it's Amazon as well, all these things considered, where is the best kind of rewards relationship that consumers are experiencing with these retailers?

I think one thing that was very evident in E com in, in Walmart's ecommerce numbers is the fact that more consumers are learning to trust its omni channel platform, right?

Think about all the people, we just talk about the pandemic, right?

About how you had to stay at home and order online or wait outside, waiting outside.

My goodness for groceries.

Yeah.

So I think about all the amount of people that Walmart gained during the pandemic on their E commerce and on top of that astronomical gain, they now posted another 22% growth.

That's huge.

Um One advantage that Walmart has over Amazon or the other competitors is its location, right?

Um Walmart is located, uh it's a prox proximity is to 90% of the US population.

You know, it has a store within 10 miles of 90% of the US population.

So because of this, we saw today for the first time that Walmart saw stronger deliveries than, you know, store fulfillment.

So they're using the stores very wisely and this is actually their upper hand that they have on, on, on Amazon, you know that they're using the stores, their proximity to the consumer.

And the fact that now consumers have learned to trust them is health care or the pharmacy benefits.

Part of each of these programs or each of these storefronts, is that the next major competitive element for all of these businesses?

Absolutely.

We're saying that, um, that is the big driver.

Um We've seen that for Walmart, um especially this year.

Others are also trying to compete.

Um Costco has always been a favorite even when it comes with prescriptions.

But yes, when it comes to uh matters of health, you know, that always gives a discount or an upper hand.

All right, customer lifetime value, those customers got to be alive for that uh to prove true for the businesses and some of those businesses trying to make sure that they can offer that connection point.

Jerome, great to see you.

Thank you for having me joining us in the studio, Jerome Marti, who is the LSEG Director of Consumer Research and everyone on the other side, actually, let's do this right now.

It's a great time for it.

Yesterday's consumer price index showed that the cost of shelter which includes rent grew by 4/10 of a percent, putting it up over 5% from this time last year.

So it is now a good time to invest in real estate for more.

Let's bring in Lauren Hochfelder, who is the Morgan Stanley real estate investing, co ceo great to have you here with us, Lauren.

Uh First and foremost, a lot of people just trying to figure out how much they should be allocating if they are allocating a re a real estate investment here.

What's a good way to get an entry point in?

So, hi, Brad, thanks for having me on and uh I always love to talk to you about real estate.

So look, we think this is a really, really interesting time uh to be investing in real estate.

We're two years into a real estate correction.

And you're seeing broad repricing across the board, there's certainly uh some assets that are distressed for a reason, we tend to stay away from those, but across the board there are a lot of asset classes that are really interesting performing well in terms of income growth, et cetera and yet they're pricing off materially 20 30%.

So we think it's a really interesting time to get in.

Let's kind of drill down on it because real estate is very broad.

Are we talking single family, multifamily rental units?

What is it that is seeing the most kind of demand or the most opportunity, at least as an investment mechanism?

Yeah, so we like to invest behind broad mega trends that drive demand through cycles.

And so some of the mega trends we're focused on today are continued growth in ecommerce.

I heard your conversation about uh Walmart Ecommerce sales and that absolutely.

Uh as a trend continues and that drives a lot of demand for those warehouses that get those goods to our front doors every day.

So that's one.

The second is a complete realignment in the global supply chain.

So simply put the supply chain of the last 20 years will not be the supply chain of the next 20.

We're doing a U turn on globalization, all these event driven supply shocks and again, as companies are forced to rebuild their infrastructure in response to a realigning supply chain that too drives demand uh for warehouses.

The third is look, we are uh we have aging demographics as a population, we are aging and that is changing our housing preferences and needs.

So there is a lot going on and uh in real estate, you have to distinguish between changes in interest rates and changes in how people use space.

I wanna linger on that for a hot second here and the changes in interest rates.

How is that weighing into the decision as, as people weigh real estate as an investment mechanism and and asset type.

Well, look, real estate is a levered asset class and of course, it is heavily impacted by interest rates.

I'd say that we like to invest in a way that we can perform through any interest rate cycle.

Today.

You're seeing a lot of as owners who acquired assets and financed them heavily in a very different interest rate environment.

And they are getting squeezed today.

They have maturities coming up and they cannot refinance that debt at the current levels.

And that's creating pressure in the system.

We focus on having durable capital stacks that enable you to get through any interest rate environment.

And frankly, we focus on investing in real estate where you can really push income growth, where you can grow your top line in excess of any rate expansion.

When we think about real estate investing, it, it comes back to one word repeated three times continuously, location, location, location, and for any of the types of real estate investments, whether it is looking at warehouses, whether it's looking at even the build out of of data centers or even multifamily homes, all of these things considered, it still comes down to where those are placed.

Is there a hot spot where you're seeing investors kind of flock towards in their calculus of the locations that are best serving for this as an investment strategy?

Absolutely.

Look first, I'd say on a global basis, I do think the US is really the most interesting place to invest today.

But let me say you're absolutely right.

It was uh ingrained in my brain location, location, location.

But I'd say today it's actually of course, location is paramount, but I would say it's dislocation, dislocation, dislocation, you have to look at where how things are changing whether that's where people are moving.

So, you know, I would have said, uh 20 years ago, uh you want to own assets in New York City.

And certainly, uh there are some you still want to own here, but people have migrated, right?

People test drove a lot of different things in COVID.

They test drove different working conditions, they decided they liked, um working from home, they test drove different markets, right?

So Miami Dallas, some of these markets to which people moved really changed the location of where you wanna own real estate.

Lauren Hochfelder, who is the Morgan Stanley real estate investing, co ceo Thanks so much for taking the time here with us.

Lauren.

Thank you guys coming up.

Will you be able to retire by your early sixties?

Some say it's unlikely.

I'm optimistic for you out there.

I'm hoping to do the same, but we're gonna find out why those naysayers are out there next.

According to new data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, there's been a big shift in how Americans envision their post working years and here with the details.

We've got Yahoo Finance's Carrie Hannon.

Hey, Carrie, what do we know here?

Hey, Brad.

Um Yeah, this is significant.

Um And in the last five years, the number of Americans who say that they will continue working after age 62 has dropped from 55% to 46%.

So most Americans are saying I'm out of here at 62 for full time work.

And, you know, I think there are a couple of things behind that if you look, if you kind of dig below it.

Although the researchers didn't, didn't say this specifically, but coming out of the pandemic, I think people had this opportunity kind of a shift to thinking about part time work because more remote work was available.

They started thinking, doing the soul searching.

I call it the inner MRI about what's really important to me.

What do I want to do with my life?

And I have opted to say, you know, they don't value work as part of that equation in the same way they once did.

And so I think that in addition, the uptick in wealth, right, the the markets have been pretty good retirement counts for some people are quite robust.

So you got this, this urge to leave, right?

But this is why I personally think this is a terrible idea and a lot of the uh experts I talked to agree with me unless you absolutely can't continue working because of a, a physical issue or, or you can't get a job because of ageism.

Uh And that's very real.

Um But, you know, it's a bad idea because in a sense that, you know, most people are under saved for retirement, right?

Less than half of Americans think they have enough saved for retirement according to a recent report by Schroders that came out last week.

Um They have medical bills.

If you leave at 62 you still have to put your medical bills until 65 when Medicare kicks in.

And even then Medicare doesn't cover a lot of things.

People are mistaken there.

So, uh Fidelity has a number that say from uh a couple that retired at 60 or an individual at 65 retired last year might have 100 and $60,000 in medical expenses between now and the end of their life.

Now.

This is significant.

So I think people don't factor in some of these things like inflation.

And then of course, I mean, longevity, we are living longer lives and if you have to finance three days, decades of living, I mean, come on, that just makes me roll my eyes.

You have to have been a pretty super saber and able to do that and finally look at inflation, right co costs still.

Yes, there things are uh toning down a bit but they're still up and it's expensive.

So, so Brad, those are kind that's sort of my take on this whole thing.

But again, it is a surprising uh and significant shift we're living longer lives even without Tony Stark's arc reactor implanted in all of us here, Carrie.

So, so, so what's behind this shift in people expecting to retire earlier?

Yeah, I think it is that idea of expectation.

I think this this is this desire to take control of our lives and really, you know, embrace things that we weren't able to do during our working lives and, and it certainly has been a dream for people for many, many years.

I just think the financial realities today make it just a little more tricky for people.

And the fact that, you know, it has been difficult, you know, saving being under saved is something that, that is quite, you know, something people have to focus on.

So if you wanna hit that number and you're young enough, get going, save hard, save fast, save long, you know.

All right, Carrie, love it.

Thanks so much for the constant tips continuously.

Carrie Hannon.

Appreciate it.

Well, over the next 20 years, $84 trillion yes, trillion will be transferred from baby boomers to younger generations.

It's called the Great Wealth Transfer.

And a new survey from citizens shows that Americans are unprepared to take in a large windfall of money.

Joining me now to help us understand what a large financial windfall could mean for you.

We've got Brendan Coughlin who is the citizen's head of consumer banking.

I mean, just, just how out of step or underprepared are we for this great wealth transfer?

Hey, Brad, good to see you.

Uh Yeah, it's, it's a really uh the biggest wealth transfer in the history of the co of the country.

And so uh what we're seeing in this recent survey that we did is that uh 72% of millennials and Gen Zs lack confidence in their financial plan.

Uh And uh 52% said they've received poor advice in the past.

So it really seems to us that uh generally uh the recipients and the heirs of this uh gigantic wealth transport really needs to do a lot of work between now and when this becomes real for them to feel more confident and prepared.

So, what's the number one step where, where can someone who feels like?

Ok, uh my playbook is just not up to snuff for when this actually takes place for us, for me, for my family, even.

What's the number one step that they can begin to implement today?

Well, what's interesting is that uh more than a third of uh younger folks have gone to social media to get advice and that's always a place to start.

But at the end of the day, this is big money.

And so it really starts with getting trust in your financial advice and actually acknowledging that you need it.

And uh the, the stat I gave you a second ago with over half of them feel like they've got poor advice in the past is alarming.

And so, uh you know, it, it requires parents and their kids to really start to uh build this conversation together.

Uh talk to the advisor that your parents have if they have one build that transfer of trust uh between the advisor, they could still gonna be your advisor when your parents uh ultimately pass on their wealth.

So getting prepared.

So you're not playing uh reactive defense and start when, when the event unfortunately happens that you're in this spot, you don't want to be starting flatfooted that.

Ok. How do, how do I even get introduced to advisor?

So really getting in front of that is incredibly important, certainly here and, and, and so as we're thinking, you know, out into the future and trying to make sure that there are also as we're coming out of uh Financial Literacy Awareness Month as well from April where there are going to be places even within the education system to make sure that this is not something that in financial literacy, that people feel like they're behind the eight ball that they feel like they're actually being proactive with what they know and can actually implement as well.

Are we seeing any significant strides there?

Well, I think what's interesting is that if you, if you play on those dynamics of uh you know, so many more Americans are gonna need more trusted advice yet, uh largely folks are still telling us they've had some poor advice and they don't uh feel totally, totally confident with the relationship they have.

The the entire country is set up from a business standpoint for a really significant overhaul and who the winners and losers are in wealth management and trusted advice, long term.

So for brands to lean in and acknowledge this and realize that uh financial service companies need to do very different things to earn trust and advice.

With the younger generation, with millennials and Gen Zs, it starts with companies recognizing that and then filling that void.

And to your point on financial literacy being there early on in their life cycle, having the right content and advice, having their people trained uh to advise them on.

This is a huge opportunity.

We could see a seismic shift on uh who, who the winning wealth managers are over the next two decades based on who leans in and acknowledges uh what's really happening and gets in the head of gen Z and millennials right now.

Yeah, absolutely.

You know, it's interesting as well in how some of the survey respondents were saying that they were gonna be putting some of the new found wealth to use everything from buying a new car to just, hey, I just want to take a trip honestly to all the way uh thinking about how those investments could be taking place as well here.

And we're taking a look at the full results here, help us break this down a little bit more and, and where we're seeing the overwhelming amount of respondents want to put this wealth to use.

Yeah.

You know, I, I think this is uh it's, it's interesting because you look at some of these stats here investing, paying off debt, buy a new car, start a new business, pay for education.

These are the things you'd hope they would say.

So, that's a good foundation to start with that.

Uh, you're not looking at this list and it's, uh, you know, obviously there's travel there too.

People wanna live their lives, but it's not necessarily a frivolous list of things when they get this windfall that they're prepared to uh be irresponsible.

But when you marry that with the stats that we've been talking about, about generally not getting a jump start and being prepared.

What this is is, it's just a starting point.

It's a list.

And so uh sitting down with a trained professional to really go through your point of view and then calibrating it on the realities of what you're trying to accomplish in life and how to do that.

There's all kinds of other complexities, whether it's tax uh implications that uh uh folks need to uh be considered of.

So, uh anyway, I'm, I'm pleased that the list so far has been areas that you'd expect in very responsible ways, but the devil's in the details and really having a plan that's personalized for you is really where the action is going to be and how you're going to ultimately get to that better place of confidence.

Is it clear how the great wealth transfer can also assist in closing the gender equity and gender wealth gap.

Yeah.

Um Well, II, I think it, I think it gives a new opportunity to reset, right?

So when you're, when you're in a moment of wealth transfer like this, uh the heirs are um you know, obviously uh balanced in terms of, of gender.

And so, uh and, and what we see more and more is that um there's an increasing amount of decision making happening in the household with females uh in terms of being the lead in and making uh financial decisions around money.

And so as that has happened, generation by generation, I do, I think as this money transfers, that um you know, new sentiment with younger gen Z and millennials really could actually have a AAA relatively big uh uh seed shift here on how uh wealth uh gender equity plays out over the next couple of decades.

So it's a big, it's a big moment and it reinforces the need to be intentional and be prepared and really think about this the right way as a family, Brandon Coughlin, who is the citizen's head of consumer banking, Brendan.

Great to see you and thanks so much for taking the time to break down some of the results in the survey.

Thanks for having me, Brett.

Absolutely.

Coming up.

Are you financially ready for summer travel season?

II, I think I am.

We've got some tips and tricks to help you pay for your next trip on the other side of this.

Break.

Memorial Day weekend is just around the corner which means the unofficial start of the summer travel.

Well, kind of official start to the summer travel and vacations.

They're about to kick into full gear folks.

According to an April survey from bankrate, 53% of Americans are planning on taking a summer travel vacation this year and over a third of them are willing to go into debt to make it happen.

So with inflation still prevalent in consumers minds, what are some ways for you to be financially prepared for traveling for more.

Let's bring in Yahoo, finance contributor, Ross Mack.

All right, Ross, we gotta give some people the tools, the tips, the tricks in order to make sure that hopefully they don't have to go into debt in order to just get some R and R some time away.

Yeah.

Well, one right.

I never wanna, I never want people to go into debt and obviously full disclosure, I just came back from a vacation with a family and no matter how prepared you are, they're always gonna be unexpected expenses, right?

And I think when it's all said and done the best way to truly prepare for going on vacation, you wanna start a year ago, right?

So you wanna start now, you're planning for, you know, 2025 vacation and everything starts with that sinking fund A K A, the vacation fund.

Now you're saying, ok, about how big is my family.

Where are we trying to go?

Now we're starting to prepare and actually hit that number.

You work backwards.

Say, you know, maybe it's a family of five.

Say you got a, you know, a $5000 vacation, maybe you're putting $100 a week aside in a separate high yield savings account.

And now 52 weeks later, guess what?

Now you got over $5000 gained a little interest and now you're ready to actually travel and not have to go into the debt.

And another thing, right.

One of the things I did literally was I tried to travel hack.

Right?

I literally said, I'm not just gonna settle for the first price.

I see.

Right.

I'm looking on, you know, Google flights, I'm looking on, uh skip lagged and one of the things I did was say, ok, I'm willing, like I'm coming from Chicago, so I'm willing to fly out of o'hare and maybe fly back in the midway.

Right.

And so those were some of the things I was willing to do and I started out purely by doing one way flights.

All right.

One way we're locked in.

Maybe I'll, maybe I'll check back a week later for on Tuesday, which are supposed to be the, the cheapest days, supposedly.

Right.

Maybe I'll just buy that flight, you know, in a week or so when I look and actually get an alert to see it's actually coming down and that's some of the things I did.

Another thing was right, where we staying, right.

Obviously that's a big cost, whether it's, you know, now we're looking at what are the different hotels and we're comparing that to Air Bn Bs.

Right.

We're trying to get a sense of, you know, is this actually cheaper?

And you, you always wanna look at what that last line is.

The bottom line cleaning fees with Air BNB and what are the hotel taxes and all the other charges, et cetera.

And then another thing that I want people not to overlook is saying, hey, how can I save on the expenses once I get there?

Because I stayed at a resort when I was just, when we just came and I knew that the the bill at the bar was gonna be astronomical, right?

$20 a drink, right?

So the first thing I did when I got there, even before I order groceries, I ordered my liquor, right?

I Uber eats immediately because it's no longer drizzly Uber eats.

Does it all I literally, 00, let me get two bottles of this, prioritize the sauce.

You gotta prioritize, right?

And now I'm able to effectively have fun on a budget because I was being thoughtful about how much money I was spending for the family.

Ross good tips for anybody who's still playing some of those summer travel plans, finances, own contributor, Ross Mac.

Thanks so much.

Appreciate it.

Let's do a quick check of the markets here as we're taking a look at the major averages.

The dow above 40,000 in your day.

First time we've seen that happen, folks, ladies and gentle boys and girls, we'll see if we can hold on to it going into the close S and P 500 the NASDAQ.

They're also in the green.

That's it for wealth.

I'll see you back here tomorrow.

I'm Brad Smith.

Thanks so much for watching.

Stay tuned.

Market domination with Julie Iman and Josh Slip in that comes up 3 p.m. Eastern time.

You do not want to miss it.