July 4th boating, investing in 2H 2024, summer travel: Wealth!

According to the latest JOLTS data (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey), job openings rose to 8.14 million in the month of May, beating economist expectations of nearly 7.95 million. Wealth! Host Brad Smith walks investors through the top saving tips to navigate the summer months and the second half of 2024.

Mitlin Financial founder and author of "Financial Planning Made Personal" Lawrence Sprung stopped by to discuss the market's (^GSPC, ^DJI, ^IXIC) momentum and how it should inform your investing decisions in the second half of 2024.

AARP Bulletin and AARP The Magazine deputy editor David Brindley joins the show to help consumers offer insight into the best ways to save money as inflation remains elevated for many consumers.

The IRS has issued new tax guidance for crypto investors so Gordon Law managing attorney and CPA Andrew Gordon stops in to break down the new guidelines and what investors can expect.

As Americans kick off their July 4th celebrations, Schlitt Services Vice President and Trusted Choice board member Jeffrey M. Schlitt discusses what Americans should know before renting a boat this summer.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here.

This post was written by Nicholas Jacobino

Video Transcript

Welcome to wealth everyone.

I'm Brad Smith and this is Yahoo.

Finances guide to building your financial footprint.

Our community of experts will give you the resources, tools, tips and tricks that you need to grow your money on today's show.

We're taking a look at the labor market with the latest job openings and labor turnover survey data will also bring you expert advice for your job hunt.

And 99 ways to save a ARP has a ton of finance hacks for you.

Their deputy editor joins us live to give you the condensed nine best ways to save and cut costs plus the best credit cards for your summer travels and potentially for your wedding.

Our personal finance reporter will break down what you should consider when signing up for a new card.

All that much more coming up during today's show.

But first, let's get back to that latest jobs data.

The latest job openings data came in a little higher than economists were expecting with the US seeing 8.14 million open jobs in May here to help us put this in context is our very own Madison Mills.

Hey, Matty.

Hey, Brad Thanks so much for having me.

So look, we've got a little bit of a mixed print here.

Some are saying in the notes from Big Banks that this is a sign of a resilient labor market.

You had 8.14 million jobs that higher than the estimate that we had a 7.9 million.

But we got a key revision to the prior month, that downward revision.

So they basically come out with data and then they revise that data when they get more information moving forward, that downward revision put the prior month at the lowest level of job openings in three years.

OK.

So that is a significant revision.

Having said that we are seeing signs of resiliency in this labor market when you take a under the hood, for example, we are seeing that quit rates are staying at 2.2%.

We were just speaking with Josh Shafer about this.

Economists increasingly have this consensus view that that is good for wages.

So translation here, the quit rate staying high means that you're going to be able to quit your job, go somewhere else and get a raise.

So that is good news for American workers layoffs are also staying at 1%.

We have not seen that number ticking up over the past couple months.

That could be an indication that you don't need to be worried about layoffs coming any time soon.

The question mark though has been this idea that, OK, maybe companies aren't laying people off, but perhaps they are just hiring less.

When you look at today's job openings data, there is an increase in the number of job openings available for American workers to the tune of over 8 million.

This is also something that has been a key issue coming up in the presidential election.

We're seeing uh that conversation continuing to be key when it comes to the policies from Biden and Trump specifically with regards to immigration here, but that resilient labor market, a key part of President Biden, at least his policies moving forward.

And that's certainly going to be a sticking point for his campaign as we get closer to November, Brad Mattie.

Thanks so much.

All right, a lot of key data, of course, on the employment front to track over the course of this week.

Appreciate it.

While the US saw more job openings in May, then we expected the number is lower than it was a year ago by about 1.2 million positions that were open.

So if you're looking for a job, what do you need to know about the current labor market?

Joining me now, we've got Gavin who is the career and leadership coach joining us here today, Phoebe, great to see you and thanks so much for hopping on Yahoo Finance with us first and foremost.

Let's just go back to the data here.

What, what does the current jolts number tell you about the economy.

Well, what we're looking at the macro economy, the big picture, it tells us a lot, but for individuals, it doesn't tell us very much.

It can feel like these numbers are divorced from the day to day experience of actual job seekers.

And so it is really important to, for individuals to go a couple layers down and look at your local area and look at what these numbers look like in your specific industries.

And of course, that information might have a little bit more lag.

So what are some tips for people even in this market where they're kind of looking at this report and seeing some of the areas where openings are uh either being brought off the table or where there are just some contractions in those openings.

What are some tips for people to find jobs in this market?

Well, the number one thing to keep in mind is that you have to strap in for a longer job search than you might be used to.

Uh there is going to be more competition for the positions that you are interested in, especially if you are in an industry that has had some shocks over the last couple of years.

And so focus on quality over quantity so that your job search can be sustainable over time.

If you send out as many applications as you can, it can be very exhausting and then those applications tend to be lower quality, which then reduces your callback rate and makes you feel even more depleted in your job search.

So definitely focus on quality over quantity.

And if you're looking for shortcuts, there's nothing wrong with that because putting effort into these job applications can be quite tiring.

But you want to make sure that those are shortcuts that save you time without sacrificing quality.

And lastly, it's really important to rely on your network.

Where are you seeing employers hire the most right now?

So we are seeing some industries that rebound better than others.

I am anecdotally in my own practice.

I'm definitely seeing more action happening in hospitality and travel, things that are connected to entertainment.

Uh I am seeing much less uh growth and much less success for my career coaching clients who are in the tech entertainment and journalism, media industries.

Again, those are industries that have experienced a lot of shocks over the last two years.

And so there is, there are more opportunities in the market, but there's also a lot more competition because of all of the people who lost their jobs due to layoffs in those industries over the last couple of years.

You know, for those out there that are sensing shifts in the labor market and where certain jobs are rolling off and and certain ones are becoming available as the advent of new technology creates that.

And we see that cycle in and cycle out for people who are trying to figure out how to A I proof their career.

What are ways that they can either lean in to certain elements of artificial intelligence in their own career trajectory or ways that they can make sure that it's not gonna come and take their job.

Well, there's no way for you to control where, how A I affects your industry.

But you get to decide how you engage with this technology, you get to decide if you're gonna take the time to learn how to use it.

Well, in your personal and professional life, if you're going to stay on top of how new tools and technology are being developed uh alongside the skill set that you leverage at work.

And if you are on top of that, if you really try to stay at the forefront of that, then you'll know what adjustments you need to make in your, your own career to make sure that you have the opportunities that you want to or that you transition away from that career, if it doesn't seem to be as promising as you would like for it to be, but it really does start with taking the time to learn how to use this tool.

Uh It's, it's not a great idea to wait for it to happen to you.

Take some ownership in agency over your professional development in your career so that this doesn't take you on a blind side, great advice, career and leadership coach.

Phoebe, Gavin.

Phoebe.

Thanks so much.

Thank you.

Certainly, everyone coming up with the year already, halfway done or halfway begun, depending upon how you're looking at it.

Now might be the time to do a check in with your finances.

We've got more on the other side with two quarters down and the next earning season on the horizon now is a great time to check in on your financial goals for more.

We welcome in our own Rochelle Ko.

Hey Rochelle.

Hey Brad, good to see you.

So of course, we're headed into the second half of the year and getting ready for another earning season to kick off.

So before you blow all your money this summer or your YOLO money, let's get your mid year financial check in.

So first thing to do re evaluate your budget from the first half of the year.

See perhaps what you over spent or underspent if you need to adjust, perhaps adjust uh your budget to better reflect the ongoing realities of pers of persistent inflation as well, especially on your essentials, things you're accounted for your housing, your food, your utilities, and your transportation.

Next revisit your financial goals to make sure that they're smart, that stands for specific measurable, achievable, relevant and time sensitive and ensure that there's still a priority for you.

For example, increasing payments on some of the high interest debt you might have or perhaps trimming subscriptions that you don't use.

And if there is a goal that you've already fulfilled.

Perhaps you can find a new one or put those funds towards your remaining goal.

Also very important check in on your emergency fund because if you had to dip into it this year, you do have to remember to replenish it.

You can do that by automating deposits.

It can just be small amounts but keep building it up until you have 3 to 6 months of living expenses to really limit any financial shocks that might come up next.

Of course, check your debt.

Of course, there's been a lot of news about student debt and different kinds of debt.

So reassess your debt repayments strategy to make sure that you're still on track.

And of course, don't forget to check in with creditors if you're falling behind as well as negotiating payments if your income has changed significantly.

So good to keep in mind, don't just stick your head in the sand here.

Also consider consolidating debts to a lower interest rate if possible so that you're not still paying very high interest rates if you don't have to Brad.

So Michelle, do you have any tips for mid year investment strategy check ins?

Now?

Obviously a lot has changed since the beginning of the year.

So it is always good to review your investment portfolio to ensure that it does still align with your long term financial goals.

And of course, your risk tolerance as well and your asset allocation.

Now, it's interesting because according to Charles Schwab's most recent modern wealth survey, only 36% of Americans have a written financial plan, you have to write it down so that you know what your goals are and you know what you're aiming for.

And even among those that do, 96% of those surveys say they feel confident about reaching their financial goals.

So something about seeing it written there in black and white and of course, it also depends on where you're getting your advice from.

And when it comes to sources of quality advice, professional financial advisors still top the list followed by accountants, investment firms and friends and family.

So do your due diligence but don't feel like you're you're locked in here, but please just, just check in, make sure that your budget and your financial goals still make sense.

Alright, great tips there for a mid year check in Yahoo Finance's own Michelle, a Coo Michelle.

Thanks a recent C net survey shows more than 90% of Americans are concerned about inflation and 53% of us adults are cutting back on non essential spending, but we've got your back.

We're gonna help you save some cash with a little help from a ARP which just published a new article with 99 great ways to save there.

You're seeing the excellent creator from the A ARP bulletin team, but this is TV.

After all, we can't get to all 99.

So we're gonna give you the condensed nine ways to save here with more is David Brindley, deputy editor of a ARP bulletin and a ARP, the magazine David.

Great to have you here with us.

So let's start with some tried and true personal finance hacks here.

Where can people begin?

Well, now is a really good time to upgrade your, your savings accounts.

So if you're still getting 1% on your savings account, you can research and find maybe 4 to 5% and you can make a whole bunch more money, make your money work harder for you.

Another tip that we have in, in our issue is to, uh, if you can, if you're looking to do a home renovation project, go ahead if you can wait until winter because right now contractors are really busy, but in the winter contractors are looking for work and might just give you a discount.

And then finally for your finances, there's, uh, you, if you have an emergency, you can tap into your retirement savings, you can get, you can take out up to $1000 a year in your 401k or your IRA.

And if you're, they've dropped the 10% penalty recently.

So if you're under 59.5% there's no longer a penalty.

Now, David, you've also got some great tips for, for shopping, smart shopping, starting with grocery shopping.

Absolutely.

We recommend that you team up and, and when you go to the grocery store, so, go with a friend or a family member.

You can buy in bulk and split the, split the, the groceries.

You can also, uh, like buy one, get one free.

So you save 50%.

Um, here's a tip.

That's kind of surprising, but it's true.

Don't shop for clothes when you're hungry.

It's the same thing that goes for, uh, when you're grocery shopping, when you're hungry, you're more, you're more likely to make impulse buys.

Um, a really another, another really good tip that we have is to buy used sports equipment.

You can get great value on lightly used sports equipment.

Um, and you can save up to say 50% sometimes 75% off.

Uh And then also if you're willing to, to uh not buy a brand new phone, you can buy a pre owned phone that's been fully refurbished, fully functional, often comes under a warranty and uh you can save hundreds of dollars on a, on a cell phone.

Ok.

These are some really good tips to save here.

Finally, for all the entertainment economy folks out there, we wanna talk about ticket prices because they've been insane, David for both events and travel.

What are the last kind of two tips here that we should be keeping in mind with regard to the experience economy?

Yeah, in terms of entertainment, here's a twofer.

So if you're looking to buy sporting event tickets, you're better off waiting until you get closer to the actual game because often the, uh, prices will go down.

But if you're looking to go to a music concert, you're much better off getting, uh, buying the ticket on the day of sale so that you don't have to spend more to a reseller.

And then finally, for, if you're looking for Christmas travel lock in your saving lock in your flights by early October, because we found that 71 days out before Christmas is the, is the lowest prices that you'll find on travel.

Y you know, it's interesting and I just wanna come back to something that you were mentioning on the ticket purchases for concerts versus kind of athletic games.

I mean, it, it's a big time that a lot of people are thinking about it and perhaps have already planned out their travel ahead of the Olympics and whatnot.

That's gonna be a major travel event for those who are tapping into the experience, economy, perhaps bought their tickets.

Well, in advance of time, you know, how do you kind of evaluate where you should be even on the athletic side purchasing as early as possible so that you could build out the rest of your trip?

Well, I think certainly for Olympic sports, it's really tough to get, get those tickets.

Um, so if you're going to Paris, you, you, I think you're better off.

I think you need to have your tickets ahead of time.

But for regularly scheduled games here in the US that the prices tend to drop as the game gets closer.

All right, that's why I moved so close to Barclays so I can just go stand outside and then hit the button.

David.

David, thanks so much for taking the time.

David Brindley, who is the deputy editor of a ARP bulletin and a ARP, the magazine.

Great to see you.

Thanks for having me on your program.

Certainly.

Well, it's summer time and more than 80% of Americans are planning to travel according to a survey from the vacationer and according to Nerdwallet, 1/5 of travelers plan to go into debt for vacations.

But we wanna help you avoid that and figure out how you can save a little money or earn rewards using travel credit cards here with how to pick, pick the best card to deploy for yourself.

We've got Yahoo Finances, Kendall little.

Hey Kendall.

Thanks Brad.

Yeah.

So when you are looking for a credit card for your vacation, we like to think about it just like any other credit card, you know, make sure it fits your budget, it fits your spending habits.

Um The first thing that you kind of want to look at is gonna be that welcome offer because you're gonna be spending some extra money on airline tickets, on hotels and all the things you're doing while you're traveling.

You might be spending some extra money, you probably saved up some.

So this could be a great opportunity to get those hundreds of thousands of dollars in awards value.

Um When you're getting that welcome offer, uh and then of course, you're gonna wanna look at your rewards.

So maybe you'll go all out and get a premium travel card, five X or more points on airline and hotel rewards and rental cars.

Um You could also think about something like cash back where you're saving money on the expenses that you're incurring while you're traveling, things like dining out tourist attractions, um even gas stations if you're driving.

Um and then you also wanna think about those extras.

So something like no foreign transaction fees is a great benefit.

If you're traveling abroad, you can save anywhere from 1 to 3% on each transaction that you make internationally and then things that can help protect you in case anything goes wrong.

So busy travel season, we might see delays, we might see cancellations, um rental car insurance, baggage, delay, insurance, travel cancellation or interruption insurance is really gonna help you against any of those things that could go wrong.

And so Kendall as well, summer time also means a lot of weddings on the books here, maybe some of those credit card rewards could help you pay for travel if you're a wedding guest.

But if it's, if it's your wedding, how do people can get the best assessment of which credit cards will help them tap into the most significant savings too.

Yeah, so travel, credit cards can be great for wedding expenses too.

And even cash back credit cards travel really plays a role.

If you have a destination wedding, maybe you have some friends and family that are coming into town, you're gonna help them with their flights or their hotels.

Um and actually if your venue is at a hotel, something like a co branded hotel credit card with that chain can really help you get some extra savings or some bonus points on the venue booking on the hotel block that you might have.

Uh one other type of card that we really like is a flat cash back credit card.

So because some of those vendors and expenses that you're taking on might not fall into regular credit card rewards categories um earning 1.5% or 2% back on everything that you buy can really help you maximize those expenses.

Um Another thing that you might wanna consider outside of rewards is a 0% APR card.

So these cards offer no interest on new purchases for anywhere from 12 months to about 21 months right now.

So, you know, if you've been saving up for your wedding, but you want some extra time to pay down those big expenses that you're taking on.

This can be a great way to build out those payments time.

One thing you want to look out for, of course, is at the end of the intro period, you're gonna take on the interest on any of the remaining balance, um, at your cards pretty high interest rate going forward.

Uh, so just make sure that you're looking out for that and paying down as much as you can before then one more thing that you wanna look for is the potential added fees for credit card payments.

So not every vendor that you work with is probably going to accept credit cards in the first place.

But if they do, they might tack on extra fees for credit card payments.

So you wanna make sure that talking to your vendors, you understand the fees and how that kind of weighs out with what rewards you're getting.

So you can really find that balance and find the right option for you, Kendall.

Excellent breakdown there.

All the need to know items for credit card spending, tapping, swiping whatever you're doing here these days during this summer.

Thank you.

Thank you so much Kendall.

Coming up an investors guide to the second half of this year, whether you're a seasoned veteran or a young investor will break down the tips and strategies to enhance that portfolio.

It's coming up next.

It is a busy non busy week for Wall Street.

Monday marks the start of the third quarter and the second half of 2024 stocks have been on a tear in the first half of 2024 excitement surrounding artificial intelligence, driving gains for big tech.

But the question on everyone's mind.

Well, the good times roll.

Well, here to talk, investing playbooks for the second half of this year, we've got Lawrence Sprung, who's the Midland financial founder and author of Financial Planning, made personal here, Larry, great to have you here in studio with us.

Of course, everybody knows the age old adage past performance.

No guarantee of future results here.

So where are there still kind of legs to the trade that we saw in the first half, be effective for investors?

And where might there be some broadening out, broadening out or new opportunities that you're sensing may arise here for the playbook?

Yeah, I mean, if you look again past performance does not necessarily mean that we're gonna continue.

But if you look at historically speaking, when we have a first half, like we just had typically that continues throughout.

And I, I think a couple of things that we have going for us to lead us even further in that direction is we have an election year which typically I know people think volatility concern, but typically that enhances market returns usually in the year is usually a market performance and we're also going to a possible rate cut environment.

So those three things are really leading us potentially to higher returns.

And I think the areas that have led us here, there's a lot of inherent evidence that show that that can continue in the second half of 2024.

So how can someone position their portfolio with that kind of uh intersection of events that are all going to be taking place?

I think they have to be cognizant of what they own and you know, what's going on right now.

You know, mindful to me of the late nineties when people in the internet situation ended up with a small amount of their portfolio in a specific area and then they woke up and had a large amount.

What you, you don't want that to happen.

You want to be mindful of your allocation, take a look and you know, this mid year is a good way to take a look at that portfolio and rebalance it if, if necessary, if I'm like again charting my portfolio for the back half of this year.

And I'm thinking about some of these events that we're talking about.

Is there one event that you anticipating that might reposition portfolios broadly after the eventual uh event takes place?

Uh almost a sell the news type of event?

Yeah, I think the interest rate situation is very important because, you know, right now financials have been doing very well because of the higher interest rate environment.

I think if we start looking to lower interest rate environments that could, you know, take them out of as much favor as they have been, you know, through the first half for this year.

Certainly, you know, one of the areas that we continue to see people try to evaluate, you know, even aside from A I and aside from what the fed may do is what's taking place within the oil markets too and how they can best position their portfolio for all the machinations of, of energy.

In one instance that's looked at as a tertiary A I played and then in another, it's more prone to some of the geopolitical events that we can't time, but we can try to anticipate how are you seeing play that even right now?

Yeah, I mean, most of the investors we're working with are are longer term in nature.

So they're less concerned with those daily volatility if you will energy, you know, is something that is always on people's minds and something that they're looking at.

And if you look at energy prices, typically people feel like they look at the pump, energy prices are going up immediately.

That's a bad thing.

The reality is if you look at it, although it's going up at the pump and that's costing you more, that's supportive of a good economic environment.

So typically the big picture is usually very positive as a result of that, I was looking through one of the election watches that was published and I believe it was U Bs and they got into all of the scenarios and then they were talking about ways to hedge against volatility and it seemed like commodities catching a fresh bid there in, in gold.

How is that one of the kind of mitigation plays that you're seeing tapped into right now?

Well, I, I don't think from my point of view, I don, I don't believe that the election is going to be all that volatile to the overall markets.

I think as we approach it get more certainty, markets could always deal with bad news can always deal with good news.

Obviously, the thing that it has trouble with is uncertainty.

So I think there will be some uncertainty leading up to the election.

But as we get out of that, regardless of how it shakes out, typically the markets rebound as a or move higher as a result of that Lawrence Midland uh Lawrence sprung Larry Midland who's uh Midland financial founder, I should say Larry sprung author of financial planning, made Personal as well here.

Thanks so much for joining us and thank you.

Great to see you everyone.

The US Department of Treasury and the IRS are releasing their new final tax reporting rules for crypto brokers.

The new rules will soon shift the burden of reporting crypto activity trades and cost bases for tax purposes from crypto investors.

Now on to the broker here with more, we've got Andrew Gordon who is the Gordon law partner, tax attorney and CPA Andrew.

Great to have you and thanks for joining us here this morning.

Uh let's start with the high level explanation of these new rules, what exactly is happening?

Sure.

So for the last decade or so, or since the dawn of Cryptocurrency, the burden has been on the investors or the taxpayers to report all of their activity on their taxes.

And so what has happened over time is there is a massive tax gap or the difference between what people actually need to report and pay and the IRS is collecting and that's in part because it's been a disaster to report your crypto taxes.

If you're a crypto investor, you need to get data from a variety of different sources, you need to piece it together and report your gains or losses.

And that's something that's very unique to crypto versus something like the stock market and what this legislation had done.

And now these new broker regulations puts into effect is that the brokers or the crypto exchanges now are required to report to both the taxpayers or the investors and the IRS, the individual's cost basis or what they purchased it for as well as the sales price and the gain and loss that accompanies it.

So what kind of timing are we talking about?

When is this going to be effective?

So the tax form that's going to be issued, which is called the 1099 D A form, 1099 D A.

It's a new form, it's going to be issued for tax year 2025.

So it will be used when filing your, your 2025 taxes in 2026.

But although the tax form is for 2025 people, now, if you're involved in Cryptocurrency, now there are some very important steps that you should be taking, uh, uh, in advance of this reporting because the IRS is gonna start to have a fire hose of information.

They're going to have more data than ever before on crypto investors.

Yet, at the same time, many people out there haven't reported their crypto investing.

So although the tax form is coming into effect for 2025 you should be doing things right away, you should be doing things.

Now, what do you believe the IRS might do in, in the form of a crackdown once they get this trove of new information about crypto holdings?

So as I mentioned, there's been this massive tax gap, right?

Uh billions of dollars, maybe even more that the IRS should have been collecting from crypto investors, but because they haven't had this information, they haven't been able to effectively do so.

Um So I would expect that there will be a massive increase in audits, a massive increase in criminal investigations based on this information and more attempts to decrease this tax gap and collect more money from crypto investors.

What should people do in the meantime, prior to when this form goes into effect?

So if you're watching this and you're a crypto investor and you haven't reported your crypto or haven't reported fully.

Now is the time to get into compliance, talk to a tax professional and get your records in order, assess, filing an amended return or even if not doing that, have your cost basis information ready.

So that as you file future years and as the IRS gets all this information uh that you can report fully and consistently and just lastly while we have you, what should people know about what the brokers will be responsible for?

So, brokers are going to be issuing to the IRS and to investors this form 1099 D A and it's going to be very similar to what uh investors in the stock market are used to with a 1099 B where it will have cost basis and sales price.

But what's really important to know is that in the first few years, especially the brokers aren't going to have all the information, they're not going to be required to provide cost based information if the transactions happen before 2025.

And, and so there's still going to be a lot of information missing, but hopefully over time, it will be very similar to what we've seen with 1099 B.

Forms.

Andrew Gordon, who is the Gordon law partner, tax attorney and CPA Andrew.

Great breakdown here.

Thanks so much for taking the time with us today.

Thank you.

Coming up artificial intelligence.

Is the talk of the town.

But how are teachers using A I in schools?

We'll take a look at tech impact on education right after the break, 60% of educators use artificial intelligence in their classrooms according to Forbes.

But how is the generation of the future being prepped to use the tech, the American Federation of Teachers is pioneering the use of A I in classrooms but with guard rails to protect Children and the integrity of learning to discuss.

We've got Randy Weingart, who is the American Federation of Teachers president here with us, Randy, thanks so much for taking the time here with us.

So of course, just walk us through how this program is really being developed where teachers are tapping into A I and where students are being able to have this latest cutting edge technology at their fingertips for learning.

So uh the dilemma is it's all random.

There's not any kind of unified system yet in frankly any district and look at what just happened in terms of L A.

They tried to create something with a start up and it failed miserably.

So what number one, we have to actually give teachers a real kind of fluency in A I.

And in fact, seven out of 10 teachers use some kind of ed tech virtually every day in their classrooms and we really need to spend the time with them so that they feel a fluency if they feel a fluency, then what's gonna happen is they're gonna get the guard rails right?

And they're gonna help kids feel that kind of fluency and, and, and they're gonna um calm parents down.

So this is part of the reason this is part of what we've tried to do, which is to, to have these kind of common sense, guard rails that start with safety and security and privacy for kids and for educators to make sure that things that safety doesn't go out the window.

But the issue about sustained professional development and that fluency are part of that.

And also making sure that educators drive this.

The second thing we have to do is we have to actually create real examples and models.

So we also, when we put out these guardrails, we put out $200,000 of grants to about 11 districts and teachers thinking about how they're going to use this.

And so in the next 6 to 8 months, we'll have their examples.

And the third thing and this is for any parent who's watching, we have a site called Share My lesson.

It's totally free.

So parents can actually see what we're doing with teachers, which is called the A I brain and educators talking with each other about what to do.

So we've, we're taking these three steps and then we're going to do more this summer for the start of school.

But the goal is to um amplify the potential.

But also to protect against the peril.

Certainly with regard to teachers, I mean, one of the complaints that we've seen over the years is is really on compensation for the amount of hours that are work.

Some teachers even putting up their own financial, you know, success in order to make sure that they can fund the tools necessary for their own classes.

You know, all of these things considered, how will artificial intelligence perhaps give teachers more work life balance as well.

So number one, none of these tools initially give anybody more work life balance because superintendents and principals and others just throw them at people without saying because we're more mere mortals.

What are you gonna take away when you have something else layered on you?

So this what what normally happens is that we figure it out ourselves and then through word of mouth or through strategy, through the union, we end up giving people some best practices.

So that's what we're doing right now.

But to your point, virtually, every teacher takes money out of her pocket to help her kids.

Teachers want what kids need.

And if there was a wish that I could make um in, in into your audience, it is respect teachers and and give them the tools and the conditions they need because they are doing as good a job as they can possibly think of and do to help all our kids succeed.

And that's part of why we are walking into this into a I wanting to use it wisely knowing full well that the human being still has to be in charge of things.

Randy.

We know that education has been kind of perversely under attacked in some states as a political kind of bargaining chip this general election coming up in 2020 for especially for some of the down ballot voting that will be taking place.

How, how critical is it for ensuring that teachers for education at whole teachers getting the right compensation or improved compensation and benefits and whatnot?

Students being able to be taught true subjects that either happened in history or just have the tools necessary in their learning facilities.

How, how critical is this?

It's absolutely essential and, and just, I'll, I'll give you three quick reasons why.

Number one, what if you compared even up on the top of the ballot, Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Donald Trump was not, you know, was doing political talk about reopening schools as opposed to really attempting to do it.

We, our union said we needed to reopen schools safely in April 2020.

We understood it needed to be a priority.

It never was with Trump Biden, put a lot of money in and helped us reopen schools with the guidance that was needed to deal with the figure and deal with the the funding.

In fact, some of that funding is going away right now, which is part of the problem in terms of cuts.

That's number one.

Number two, there's a whole lot of things we need to do to help kids learn not to teach them what to think, but to teach them how to think including critical thinking.

And then when you have superintendents like the Oklahoma superintendent who's decided we have to teach the Bible.

Teaching about the Bible is fine teaching the Bible.

This is public schools, not Sunday schools.

Why would we do any of this stuff this way?

And I say this as an observant Jew.

So it's ridiculous that we have book banning and you know, and, and, and this kind of uh uh undermining of honest history when we really have to teach kids critical thinking and, and relationship building and, and, and how they have the confidence to seize the world, particularly in light of what's going on in social media, in light of what's going on in the aftermath of COVID.

So this is a essential election because we need to get back to the basics of how we help kids learn, particularly relate to each other, critical thinking, have a voice and confidence in their lives.

And a lot of that starts with making sure that teachers are paid, school districts, districts are funded as well.

Randy Wen Gardner is the American Federation of Teachers President.

Thanks so much for taking the time here with us today.

Thank you.

We've got some good news for renters in California.

A new law going into effect this week, capping security deposits at one month's rent with some exceptions to break this down for us.

We've got Yahoo Finance's very own.

Danny Romero here with us.

All right.

So what do we need to know what's happening in California if you're a California tenant you want?

I wish I, I live here in New York but still telling me more about the west coast.

Uh California's New Law Assembly bill 12 really does limit uh security deposits to one month's rent.

This is really a big move for California.

This puts California in the 12th state to have a cap on security deposits.

This law went into effect just yesterday.

Monday, July 1st land though that have two or four rental units are exempt from this law.

But again, really the move here is to make housing way more accessible.

California is just one of those expensive states just like New York Brad last year, the average monthly rent was about $2700 for a one bedroom apartment.

The downside here is if unhappy landlord, unhappy landlords could really essentially pull their rental units off the rental market so that could add some pressure to the supply.

But landlords really do argue that this law really does put a limit on them financially if they have to, if they have to repair damages to the property or even compensate for unpaid rent from one of their tenants.

So really that's what they're arguing here on the flip side though, new apartments are taking longer to rent out because there's been so much supply that has been added to the market.

So landlords are really competing for tenants right now.

And this is actually an advantage for tenants because they could negotiate their price.

They could even be asking for perks such as a parking spot maybe for that matter.

So again, California is moving in the direction, but they're really, this law really is trying to tackle uh housing affordability.

So also investors are waiting on potential rates cuts here this year.

How can you tell us how cuts might impact housing stocks that we've been tracking too?

Brad, in theory, lower rates would help the housing market.

That would mean that mortgage rates are lower.

So that means that would really incentivize people to sell their home people to buy homes.

But it's not that simple.

I spoke with an analyst at Bank of America and he really said it matters why the Federal Reserve cuts rates and whether that will benefit home builders in the long run.

If economic, the economic environment is weak, that's not so good.

But we have seen the economy so far be holding up with higher rates.

But there has been some cracks in the economy overall though some home builders have been pointing to some weakness from consumers.

So we'll have to wait and see really what the economic environment really rolls out Daniel Romero.

Thank you so much tracking all things, housing market and economy guys coming up planning on getting a boat this Fourth of July.

Good for you.

We have all the tips that you need to make sure that you're covered financially.

All right, if you're heading out on the water on this Fourth of July holiday, have you considered all of the financial risks involved?

Our next guest has the tips that you need to make sure you're properly covered with boat insurance for more.

Let's welcome in Jeff Schlitz who is the Schlitz Services Vice president and Trust choice board member, Jeff.

Great to have you here.

So if people are perhaps taking their boat out or maybe even renting a boat, perhaps, let's start with those who own or just got a new one to take out on the water for some water crafts and sports.

What should they remember to get covered?

Right.

Well, thanks for having me today.

I appreciate the uh the time with you.

Uh really um the the scope ranges, I mean, if, if you purchased a boat and maybe you have a lien on the boat, obviously, there's gonna be a uh a bank involved who may want you to have coverage on the boat.

Um So there's that and then as well as really um not only damage to the boat, the hull and the motors, the physical damage, but the liability, I mean, right now, especially it is really busy on the waterways and there's a lot of people um, that may or may not have a lot of experience boating.

So, um, you know, if you're ever in an accident, uh, and you're held liable, you wanna make sure that an insurance policy can step in and provide coverage for you rather than your own checkbook.

Now say you're renting a boat for the weekend or just for a day perhaps.

Uh I say the weekend, but uh the holiday falls in the middle of the week this year.

So anyway, say you're renting a boat.

What should you make sure that you're looking for in insurance that could cover your time renting that boat, right?

I mean, a lot of people now make uh these reservations with credit cards and sometimes they think that a credit card is gonna provide insurance for this sort of thing.

Um Really when you are signing to rent a boat, uh all the agreements out there with the rental boat companies um are different.

I personally um recommend to my clients um since I don't know what you're signing and many times um when you're renting a boat, you don't know what you're signing if the boat company offers insurance.

Um I recommend purchasing that um, additional waiver from them because many times um that picks up gaps that you may have in your own coverage such as if you damage the boat and they can't rent the boat, they have loss of income for that boat not being rented, um, diminished value in the boat.

If, um, if it wasn't an accident, you're liable and there was damage to the boat.

That boat is not, um, as valuable as it was before the accident.

So they can come back and potentially charge you for those.

So those, those are some things to consider, uh, when you're out, uh, renting boats, uh, and signing agreements to, to take care of these boats.

Jeff, I only got about 30 seconds left here.

We are tracking some severe weather systems as well.

You know, how should policies change or kind of be brought up to the current climate if you will.

Uh As many owners are trying to best figure that out.

It's a great question.

Um First off deal with an independent insurance agent who has access to many different markets and can work with you to come up with a plan that works for you.

Uh specifically with, with when storms are approaching.

Um You gotta have a plan um either secure the boat where it is uh take the boat to a, to a alternative location if you can.

Uh and sometimes um some policies can uh help reimburse you for taking that boat out and getting it um out of the way of a potential storm.

So there's, there's a lot of different options, but planning ahead is Key Jeff, great advice here and thanks.

So much for joining us.

Hope you have a great holiday.

Jeff Schlitt, who the Slit Services vice President.

Appreciate it.

Happy 4th, 4th.

Let's do a final check of the markets.

Everyone.

As we're taking a look at the major averages.

We are mixed right now.

The dow the loan laggard, the S and P 500 the NASDAQ are holding on to gains though right now.

That's it for wealth.

I'm Brad Smith.

Thank you for watching.

Stay tuned.

Market domination with, of course, today it's going to be Shana Smith and Josh Lift and that's coming up at 3 p.m. Eastern time.

You don't want to miss it.