Saving in college, financial planning around life events: Wealth!

It's just before noon and Brad Smith has investors covered by bringing on a slew of experts to discuss investing and personal finance strategies to save more on today's episode of Wealth!

Gradient Investments senior portfolio manager Jeremy Bryan joins the show to discuss his market outlook (^DJI, ^IXIC, ^GSPC) while taking into consideration recent volatility trends (^VIX) and the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut plans.

The program also welcomes on Yale School of Management professor of finance Kelly Shue to talk about why loan seekers shouldn't be waiting to apply for a loan ahead of the Fed's anticipated rate easing.

Former NFL player and Your Money Playbook author Brandon Copeland speaks with Brad Smith on the topic of long-term financial and career planning, especially for those transitioning into a new stage in life such as parenthood.

This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.

Video Transcript

Welcome to wealth everyone.

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 tricks that you need to grow your money.

Hey, on today's show navigating your stock portfolio during some volatility, we get advice from one portfolio manager and some potential stock picks for you plus Wall Street pricing in a rate cut from the fed in September.

We'll talk about what that cut means for your credit card and a new school year kicking off.

So we're bringing in an expert to give you and your kids the money saving hacks.

All college students should know.

We've got all that much more during today's show.

But first, let's get to a market check here as we are 90 minutes into the start of the today's trading session here.

Stocks, they're rising bounding from last week's big sell off in September is famously a weaker month for stocks.

We've already seen a lot of volatility maybe concerning some who stare at their brokerage and retirement accounts.

Our next guest says it might not be over here with more.

We've got Jeremy Bryant who's the senior portfolio manager at gradient investments?

I mean, we were all hoping that some of this volatility is over here.

But what are you seeing from your lens, Jeremy?

Yeah, I don't think the volatility is over yet.

Uh I think we're gonna bounce around but I don't think we're gonna have a sustainable trend in either direction.

I don't think volatility necessarily means disaster.

Right?

That's not what we're saying here.

What we're saying is expect the markets to be choppy.

We're gonna, we're gonna trade on a lot of data points here over the next couple of months because we don't have earnings until probably the middle of October to kind of tell us what the com consumer sentiment and all that stuff looks like.

So we're really trending off of the recent jobs report what inflation is gonna look like and probably most importantly what the fed is gonna do at the end of this month.

Um So those are the kinds of things that we'll see ups and downs from, you know, in September and September just in and of itself just for whatever reason tends to be a slower month and a little bit higher volatility as well.

A and so with that in mind, I mean, the September effect is what we've been having the jitters about us as of whether or not that will hold supreme as it has in years past is that's what's formulating from what you're seeing in the mix right now.

And how much does the fed decision, um, that's coming out next week.

How does that really kind of push the dial one way or the other?

Yeah.

I mean, right now, you know, the probabilities are for 100% for a cut, it's just the magnitude of a cut.

So, 25 basis points or 50 basis points, which one are they going to do is kind of the, the thesis in the market right now.

So any, you know, real volatility and what I would say, pretty negative volatility will come as a result of them saying they're not doing anything.

So the market really assumes a cut right now.

And so you have to assume that if they're not going to, for whatever reason, they better be out communicating that pretty quickly because the market expects it.

And so from our side, the volatility really comes from, you know, like how much of that magnitude of the cut looks like if they go to 50 you know, the subsequent data points that we're gonna see in economic data before they do it.

That's also have some indication about, are they slowing enough to where 25 basis points is enough?

That's the most likely outcome right now or are we deteriorating faster than they think?

And they need to, to boost it a little bit more and do a 50 basis point cut.

So it'll be interesting from that over the next few weeks.

But you know, from our side, we still think a 25 basis point cut is the most likely with that in mind.

I mean, and as we've been discussing here and, and U BS actually noting within their own release this morning saying and talking about how us equities are falling on that mixed us jobs data.

And they put within that publish here that the weaker pace of job creation rather than more encouraging aspects of the report such as a decline in the unemployment rate that actually uh had really had more of the outsized effect that, that we've been discussing here in the event that we do see continued jitters off of not just what the employment situation is telling us, but perhaps what shows up in CP I later this week, where are those dips and those dip buying opportunities from your perspective as you're kind of looking across where the market could continue to have some unease around the economic data readings that do come out.

Yeah, I think, you know, I mean, stocks certainly are not in the bargain.

But yeah, I mean, there's just no, I, I don't, I, I can't argue for that at all because we're at elevated valuation still at this point from the S and P 500 as a whole and we're still up over, you know, in the double digits for the year so far, even though we've come down here a little bit So from that perspective, we could see further declines, but I would say anything in that true correction territory that 10% plus correction from all time highs, I would be looking at that and saying, ok, are there anything that has been overreacted during that time as potentially the opportunity to gain up going forward in this time right now?

You know, I mean, if people want to play defense, I think there's no better place to play than defense right now.

You know, defense stocks like Northrop Grumman, like L three Harris, like Raytheon, those companies are reasonable valuations already and their growth profile isn't subject to these things that we're talking about is that they have different trajectories and they should be OK given the current environment.

And so as you're leaning further into defense, where would you be taking chips off the table?

Yeah, I mean, look at, you know, what I would say is you have to examine your portfolio in and of itself.

And how much risk are you taking in some of the stuff is that we saw massive chasing of the A I stocks, right?

And I'm not saying the A I stocks are bad.

In fact, we own plenty of them here, but we don't own them to the extent that even the S and P 500 has them.

We're underweight, NVIDIA, we're underweight, apple these kinds of things just from a perspective and saying their weight is so significant and they've had such a, such a significant rally, but that's an area where I can take some profits from to relocate them into other areas.

Jeremy Bryant, who's the senior portfolio manager over at gradient investments.

Great to kick off the week with you.

Thanks so much.

Thank you.

Coming up.

A rate cut is going to come.

But how much of an impact will it really have on your current loans and credit cards?

We dive into that next on wealth ahead of next week's big FO MC meeting here and what it means for your credit cards as well.

Stay tuned.

The Federal Reserve is expected to cut rates by at least 25 basis points at its meeting next week.

September here and midpoint of September.

A lot of investors are excited because this could mean lower borrowing costs for businesses and consumers going forward.

So how big of an impact will this have on you and your credit card here with some answers?

We've got our very own, Kendall, Little Kendall.

So what type of change should people ultimately anticipate here?

Yes.

So just to give a little bit of context, this period of higher interest rates has been tough for a lot of credit card holders.

We've seen balances growing, we've seen delinquencies on the rise just last year.

Credit card total debt hit a trillion dollars.

Um And if we look at interest rates back in 2022 before the current rate hike cycle, uh, average rates were around 16%.

Now they're closer to 21% and rising.

Um, and we've seen credit cards with APR S that are even closer to 30%.

So all that adds up to a pretty tough cycle for credit card holders.

Um, but the important thing to remember is that the fed's moves are only one part of what determines your credit card interest rate.

So, you know whether the fed lowers rates by 25 basis points by 50 basis points, historical data shows us that that probably is not going to have a very significant impact on what your credit card interest rate is.

So if someone has credit card debt, what should they do now before the Fed cuts rates?

Yes.

So today and every day is a great time to really start taking action to eliminate that credit card debt, really make the moves that are going to start getting those balances down while credit card interest rates are high.

One way that we, we really recommend them that we like is a balance transfer credit card.

These credit cards offer 0% apr for typically between 12 and 21 months.

Um So that means that you're gonna have over a year with no interest charges on that balance.

You can really work toward getting it down.

Um You do have to think about balance transfer fees, but that 3% to 5% fee is really nothing compared to the interest charges.

Another consolidation option for some people is gonna be a personal loan.

Um you're not gonna find a 0% personal loan, but personal loan rates are typically much lower than credit card interest rates.

So again, you can save on those interest charges.

And then the last thing that you really should make sure you're paying attention to is stopping that overspending in its tracks.

So while you're taking on, you know, this period of paying down your debt, you don't wanna add to the debt.

So if that means starting to spend more with cash or using a debit card, you might forfeit some rewards and cash back.

But again, that's gonna be a lot less of a hit than the interest charges that you would have Kendall.

Thanks so much for taking the time with us as well.

Um You know, this is gonna be something major to track here.

Lastly, maybe we can insert this into the chat just before we let you go from credit cards to loans as well.

I mean, how should people be thinking about their loan strategy right before this potential interest rate cut?

Well, I think it's gonna depend on whether you have a variable rate loan or a fixed rate loan.

So credit cards are variable.

So that means that, you know, the rate can change.

But if you have a fixed rate loan, it might have less of an impact.

But either way the higher interest rate is going to be.

You're gonna wanna make sure that you're paying those down as quickly as possible.

Kendall Little Yahoo Finance's own always ready for any topic that gets her throw, thrown her way.

Kendall.

Thanks so much.

Of course.

All right, let's continue this conversation.

Credit cards, two loans just because the Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates next week.

Doesn't mean you'll get a deal if you wait to take out a longer term loan.

Joining us.

Now to discuss is Kelly Xu, who's the professor of finance at the Yale School of Management here.

Great to have you here with us.

So, first and foremost, I mean, you heard our discussion there just a moment ago.

How should people with outstanding loans be preparing for this potential rate cut coming in September?

Uh Thank you, Brad for inviting me here.

Um I did want to just bring people's attention to this idea that I, what my research shows is that it is a mistake to um, wait until an expected fed rate cut to actually go and take out a long term loan.

Uh And the reason is the interest rate on any long term loan is forward looking.

Um, the interest rates on long term loans such as mortgages or long term personal loans, they have already dropped to factor in uh market expectations that the fed is going to uh lower interest rates this month.

Um So unless there's a surprise in which the fed lowers interest rates more than markets expected.

The interest rates on mortgages and other long term, uh, personal loans are not going to fall further, they've already dropped.

So there's no reason for, uh, households to wait.

And with that in mind, what type of loans most notably are, are going to have the, the impact that you're talking about where, even if we do see rate cuts and, and a pathway forward for continued rate cuts, the loans that won't have any type of, you know, net or, or delta uh from today versus if you were to take out that loan, you know, two months from now.

Um, so any type of long term loan, I would say a year or longer, um, expectations of fed rate cuts have already been priced in basically the bank on the other side, offering us these loans, they have the same information that we do that the Fed is going to lower rates.

They've already priced that in into the interest rate of long term loans.

Now, it is true if you're going to get a short term loan, for example, a credit card with a variable rate tied to the prime rate that could actually drop after the fed cuts rates.

Ok. And so with that in mind, I mean, you have a lot of people that are trying to figure out how this also might impact their mortgage rates and if they're going to apply for a mortgage rate, whether they should do it now versus when the Fed starts to cut rates, what is the thinking going into the approval process or at least the applicant process for those rates?

And, and waiting versus not waiting in some ways, I think the the rational correct way for consumers to behave is actually not to worry about timing interest rate markets.

Um and that is because the current interest rate in the market for any long term loan already reflects all information we have about what the Fed is likely to do in the future.

And therefore, for example, if you think that the fed is going to raise interest rates, there's no reason to rush and get a mor a mortgage.

Now, before the fed raises interest rates because interest rates have already risen.

Uh on the news that the fed is likely to decrease uh to increase rates.

And similarly, now that we're in a cut cycle, there's no reason to wait to get a loan until the Fed actually goes out and cuts rates, long term rates have already fallen.

Ok.

Uh Now, this actually means the job of a typical household is actually much easier.

Just don't worry about the timing.

Uh All of the information that we have has already been priced in.

Ok. And so with that in mind, now, looking ahead to the monetary policy, what are your anticipations for the size of a cut we could get and then ultimately what that spells out about the economy too because that still has some larger implications for the amount of loans that people might feel like they need to get to stave off any hit to their own financial balance sheets.

Um, I tend to believe what the fed is saying.

The, the current fed has, um, has a good track record of giving us pretty, uh, reliable guidance.

They're hinting at a rate cut.

I would be surprised if it were a 50 basis point rate cut that's probably larger than what they're going to do.

But it's, you know, it's, it's a possibility.

All right, Kelly Xu, who's the Yale School of Management professor of Finance.

Great to have you here on the program with us.

Thanks so much for the insights.

Thank you, Brad, everyone.

We've got much more wealth after the break.

Stay tuned.

You're watching Yahoo Finance.

According to data from Fin Aid college is expensive and it tends to rise about 8% per year.

The average American spending more than $25,000 annually for undergraduate tuition and other costs like room and board that according to the National Center for Education Statistics, and as a college student, it's important to learn how you manage your money.

So you could end up with some pleasant surprises at the end of the semester if you don't do so for more on how students can create a sustainable budget.

We've got Winnie Sun Sun Group Wealth Partners, managing director here.

Winnie, great to have you here on the program with us.

So, first and foremost, I mean, we talk about the ways to make college a little bit more affordable here.

What are some of the top areas that students and families as well would be asked to chart out and look at?

Thank you so much, Brad for having me.

Absolutely.

It's an exciting time for families going back to college or going to college for the first time.

And so there are a couple of things that, you know, you're a student and you can do now to help with that situation.

One of the best things I like to do is to make things simple.

You know, you're juggling classes, you're trying to figure out the whole, you know, dorm life.

So we want to make things that are sustainable.

And the first thing you want to do is to find yourself a money buddy or what I call money tribe.

So some people maybe in your dorm or in your social circle who are also focused on saving money.

You know, this is a great time to be that a poor college student that isn't really poor, but that is really focused on saving.

And the other thing I would say is to think about um, prioritizing you, you want to set a monthly and annual goal and ask yourself how much would you like to save every month and it prioritizes.

And so you're making a what could be a negative like being on a budget and turning into a positive saying, hey, I'm going to be saving XYZ for this particular goal and that could be vacation fund, it could be paying off your student loans more quickly even before graduating and sort of changing that mindset and sort of prioritizing savings.

And so with that in mind, as you're thinking about the areas to kind of cut down on your costs.

A lot of people think about all of the expenses that they're navigating through when they're in college as well.

What are some of those top expenses and, and where they should be trimming students should be sure.

Well, Brad, you know, Kel said it great earlier about credit cards and I think that's something that I want to just touch on really quickly when you're thinking about these large expenses or expenses during college.

We also want to figure out a way of how we're going to pay that, whether it be paying with a debit card or with a credit card, whatever you want to do.

You want to make sure you set it up the app, the banking app or the credit card to give you a push or text notification every time that you spend and also remind you on when to pay.

So you want to think about not only the big things, but also the little things.

So the big things are things such as your housing.

So how much you're paying for, maybe your dorm or that off campus apartment and figure out ways that you can get that fee chipped down.

It could be while working in your dorm as maybe access control, you could be working in the cafeteria and that could help subsidize your housing costs, maybe even in the future being a resident advisor.

Um The other thing you want to do is once you leave the dorm and you go to class, obviously you're going to get hungry, you're going to get thirsty.

And those little expenses are things that are like the adults version of Starbucks coffee.

So instead make sure you go to your cafeteria with a Ziploc bag and a refillable water bottle.

And that way you can pack a snack, you can fill up your bottle so that you want to try to strive for not spending money every week.

Challenge yourself.

They're like, you know what, besides my fixed costs, I'm gonna try to reduce what I don't need to spend and just get kind of creative and make it fun.

Winnie.

We were just showing it there on the screen a moment ago and, and kind of teasing what my next question was, but specifically talking about if you're looking for a job in college too, some of the best areas that you could potentially work in or roles that you can potentially work in, especially when you're kind of trying to maintain that student balance as well.

What are some of those jobs?

Well, Brad, I'm with you and, you know, so often I hear parents say I just want them to, you know, go ahead, go to college and focus on their studies and what not.

But let's be real like when you were in college, when I was in college, we did have quite a bit of free time.

And so again, you want to frame this as a positive for students like myself, I I fundamental challenges.

My parents went bankrupt right before I started college.

So this was something that I really didn't focus on to bring in some money.

Let me tell you when you work and you find that job, whether to be the internship office at your college or the local newspaper.

And there's so many incredible resources online now.

Um and you can fit that into your schedule and not only will you be bringing in income, but you'll also be building a foundation, a resume, a work foundation for when you get closer to graduation, you'll have actually a leg up versus the many, many candidates then competing for that set that next, you know, perfect job or, you know, aspirational job that you want.

So think about freelancing, there's platforms such as fiber.

Um Why is it where you can tutor online in your dorm room?

There's all these other ways where you can work when you want to and just bring in that extra income, which can help your bottom line.

Winnie Sun Sun Group Wealth Partners, managing director, Winnie.

Thank you so much for taking the time and for the tips here on the day.

Appreciate it.

Thank you so much for having me coming up.

Whether it's a new job, new spouse or a new kid.

We've got some tips to manage your money no matter what life throws at you.

That's next on will a new job, maybe a raise, getting married, having a child, major life events like these can have a big impact on the money you make and how you spend it.

Brandon Copeland is no stranger to these pivots.

He, since he's left the NFL, he's become a financial educator, husband, father and now the author of your Money playbook, How To Earn More, build wealth and Win at life.

Brandon Copeland joins me now, Brandon first and foremost, congratulations to you and your wife.

I understand you are welcoming a brand new family member and taking some time here with us on the day.

We'll keep this as brief as possible and drop some nuggets for our viewers out there along the way.

Uh So first and foremost, here, as we were talking about life brings a lot of pivots here.

What can people remember and keep in mind as they are navigating each pivot?

Yeah, I think first and foremost when you're talking about the job pivot, you know, you wanna save up for that transition.

I mean a job pivot.

Um, you, I want you to save as much as you can in between those jobs because you need to have cushion just in case there's issues like a delay of payment or lapse of coverage of your insurance.

So first and foremost, just making sure that you're buffering up that emergency fund, that, that savings account prior to that transition will give you more peace of mind as you, you switch over to your next career path and then when it comes to relationships, now, this is the scary topic for a lot of people, but this is uh one of the leading causes of divorces, finances and infidelity, right?

And so it's important to get on the same page with your partner about finances as possible.

So it's one let's get on the same page.

Let's at least be in the same chapter and we definitely need to make sure that we're at least in the same book, right?

But then two are our goals, matching and trending and tracking with each other.

You have to actually have conversations about your money with your partner.

You don't wanna avoid those things.

You don't wanna have surprise bills because all of that can lead to resentment.

Start with your five year plan.

Where do you wanna be five years from now individually?

But also as a couple as a relationship where do you see your lives tracking together and then work backwards from that and make sure that your one year plan, your, your three month plan are all laddering up towards that five year plan and then get your money organized across accounts.

People do it differently whether you're going to have your bills all come out of one account or a joint account.

It's important that there's multiple ways to do it.

There's some folks who will tell you, you gotta do it this way, you gotta do it this way.

Ultimately, you have to figure out what works for you for my wife and I, we kept our individual accounts and we eventually created a joint account that we started to pour into from our individual accounts that we had before we were ever dating and married and we use that joint account to now pay off our bills and things of that nature.

But most importantly, we're organized, we know where every bill is coming from and we can stay on top of each other to make sure that we don't have any issue, which is very wise, you know, in additionally, here, one of the other scenarios, the life pivots or, you know, additions that can come along is when you are family planning as well, uh managing having a child, something that a lot of millennials are thinking through.

Uh And with that in mind, you know, what are some of the early steps that people should be thinking about the costs as well associated when they are doing family planning.

Yeah, absolutely.

I think first and foremost, um thank you for saying, congratulations to my family and I, we welcome Brandon Maverick Copeland to the world this morning.

Um You still see the bags in my eyes.

I've been up yesterday, uh 6 a.m. yesterday.

But um first and foremost, you have to audit yourself.

You have to get organized yourself.

When you go into an airplane, they say, hey, put your oxygen mask on before you try to help anyone else.

You need to make sure that your money is organized and your plan for yourself.

I is in order and then, then based on your situation, then it's time to gain plan for your child's future.

And, and that says that also is a conversation that's figure out are they gonna be in private school?

Are they going to, are we gonna help pay for higher education?

Are we going to be paying for the wedding and chipping in?

Uh cause ultimately, those, the answers to those questions will help determine what you need to be saving and investing today to be able to actually write that check in the future.

And at the end of the day, once you put your oxygen mask on, you've gotten organized, you figure out a plan for yourself.

Now it's time to go to work, it's time to roll up your sleeves and start earning money and actually executing on that plan.

And, and what I always like to say is that the goal of a parent and specifically, I'll say me, the goal of me with my three boys is to give them options.

I wanna teach them the value of hard work.

I wanna teach them how to earn everything and they won't need to touch mommy and daddy's hard-earned money.

However, we want to make sure that they have options.

We understand right now.

It costs about 16 to $18,000 per year to pay for a child that's only going to increase over time as education costs and expenses continue to rise.

And so what we we are doing is we are putting our child's money in the multiple accounts.

We want them to have a traditional high yield savings account.

We want them to have a brokerage account.

We want them to have a 529 and I want them to have a Roth Ira depending on your situation.

You may look at it and say, hey, I can't fund all of these accounts and that's completely ok.

The thing is you're creating these categories in these buckets so that as you continue to evolve and grow your own financial journey, you can contribute to these buckets based off of what your goals for your child's relationship with money is.

If you wanna pay off their education sooner rather than later, then you're gonna be over allocated towards that 529.

If you wanna go ahead and put some money away for them, for retirement, so we can just compound for their lifetime, then you may be putting some money into their Roth R A.

But ultimately, having these different options will give your child the fast lane path to financial freedom one day, Brandon.

Uh, great advice there just lastly while we have you a bit of ac ball, but not too much for you.

I know it's something we've talked about before.

We're talking about your money playbook, but a lot of teams are executing on playbooks right now as the NFL season has just started, college football season is back up and running again.

And so all of this considered, I'm gonna go to the college people first here for those who have some nil deals that are trying to figure out how to stretch their money.

What's the best way they can implement a saving strategy at the same time while they're trying to generate income off of their name image and likeness.

Perfect.

That's, well, first, I'm gonna tell them, go ahead and go buy your money playbook.

Make sure they go buy that today.

Read up and invest in themselves like that two.

I'm gonna tell you when you're in college, you have a lot of things that are paid for already for you.

So you should have your meals, you should have your shelter and your, your housing and things of that nature.

You need to be hoarding money.

I know hoard sounds like a negative word.

But when I was in the NFL, there were times where I would eat all of my breakfast, lunch and dinner at the facility, I'd bring home waters and Gatorades from the facility to my house.

If you came to my fridge, you thought I was a, it was the Detroit Lions practice facility fridge at times because I was going to use my resources and save my hard earned money because I knew one day I would actually need that money to live off of.

And so for anybody out there earning nil money, whether you're earning 100 bucks, 200 bucks, $200,000 make sure you understand that this money is going to be put towards the rest of your future.

And so you need to think long term with it.

Save as much of it as possible.

Please save as much of it as possible.

It doesn't mean treat, don't treat yourself.

But when you're a college athlete, you are focused on your sport and living your dream, you can cut as many expenses as possible.

You don't have the expenses of the real world yet.

Save your money.

Don't be buying multiple cars and things of that nature.

Don't go crazy on jewelry.

Save your money because I promise you, I guarantee you, you will be so grateful that you did that in the future.

Once you graduate, I look, if I had a good nil deal, I would just wanna get the watch that Shadur Sanders has Brandon Copeland.

Thank you so much for taking the time here with us today.

Congratulations again to you and your family.

Everyone.

You can check out Brandon Copeland's latest book, your money playbook.

Good to see you.

Always, a lot of consumers are attempting to keep their finances in check by pulling back on a lot of discretionary spending.

Our very own.

Brooke Dipalma got a chance to speak to Mark Baraka, who is the CEO of Shark Ninja at the Goldman Sachs Global Retailing Conference last week about the state of the consumer.

Take a listen.

I think the consumer has been under a lot of pressure for the last couple of years and I think they're very discerning and I think they are making real decisions and trade offs about where they're going to spend their hard earned dollars.

And for that reason, I think the playbook, the Shark Ninja has of market leading performance and high quality at an extraordinary value is something that's really appealing to the consumer in this time.

Yeah, it seems like if you look at your results outdoor grills, Ninja ice cream makers, people are still willing to buy it.

Do you think you're immune to the slowdown?

And how are you thinking about that going into the holiday and into 2025?

Look, I don't think we're immune to it.

I think that we invest tremendously in R and D. We spend over 7% of our sales in R and D. We invest tremendously in advertising and marketing.

We spend over 11% of sales and marketing.

We have seven times more social media engagement than our nearest competitor.

I think our products are really part of culture, you know, and for a relatively inexpensive price, are able to elevate the consumer home and allow them to be able to do things.

And so when you think about a shark or ninja product, you might go out to dinner less or you might go on a less of a vacation.

But for, as you said, 100 and $99 you can have the ninja creamy at home or you could have the shark flex style hair dryer for $299.

So we like to think of ourselves as affordable, accessible.

Yeah.

Speaking of the Ninja Lux cafe costs $499.

Do you think you have pricing power moving into the end of the year and into 2025?

Well, I think what it really comes down to is are you delivering extraordinary value?

And I think category to category the definition of that might change.

I think the average espresso maker in the United States today sells for almost $800 and all it does is deliver a one shot or two shots of espresso.

The product you mentioned.

The Ninja Cafe.

Lux delivers espresso ice coffee, cold brew, drip coffee.

We're from Boston and we go to Dunkin Donuts in the morning and get 18 ounces of drip coffee.

The Lux can deliver that.

It frost hot or cold, it frost dairy milk or non dairy milk.

So I think it's really about, you know, the versatility and the value of what you're delivering to the consumer.

And I think that that varies.

And I, I think actually if you look at the reviews of the Ninja Cafe lock, you'll see that people actually say it's a great value.

Yeah, really is all about that value proposition.

I do want to lean into another trend we're saying, which is this better for you?

Trend?

It seems like this concept of protein ice cream has really taken off on Tik Tok in particular, how are you playing into this social media V and, and how do you get other products on this platform as well?

Well, I think a big piece of it is enabling the consumer to hack our products and to turn them into the things that they want to turn them into.

We have a new product that we just launched called the Ninja Slushy.

And it's everything from consumers putting orange juice in for their kids, you know, all the way up to putting rose wine in and making a froze and everything in between.

And I think what's great about these products is that the consumer can kind of make it their own and decide ultimately how they want to bring it to life and what outputs they want to have for of their families.

I do want to broaden things out.

You are a global company.

You do play in China market as well.

How is the consumer responding there?

And are they still willing to splurge on these items or are you seeing a slow down there?

Well, our, our business or international business is mainly focused in Europe and Latin America.

Uh we're growing in both of those markets considerably.

I mean, we, we've had low market share.

We've just gotten into many of these markets over the last 24 months and we're seeing a lot of excitement.

I mean, we think that our products are right for the consumer there.

We're investing a lot in advertising, we're getting a lot more retailer placement in many of those markets.

So overall, I mean, we think there's a lot of white space in these international markets for us.

How are you thinking about potential tariffs ahead of a Trump administration?

We think we're really well set up for whoever wins the election come November.

We've been diversifying our supply chain outside of China for the last five years.

There are tariffs in place today, the 301 tariffs, they really have not impacted our, this much.

The majority of that product is able to be made today outside of China.

So we're continuing to move our supply base and diversify our supply base.

We intend to have all of our us production made outside of China by the end of 2025.

So regardless of who wins, you know, we think we're, we're well positioned in a, you know, global environment.

I wanna take a look heading into the holiday into 2025.

Once again, will you play into promotions into value seeking behavior that we're seeing among consumers right now?

Fortunately, for us, we drive a big proportion of our business at full price.

Now, that's not to say we of course, participate in all of the major events and all of the big shopping periods.

Um So yeah, I mean, we do intend the market this holiday season to be quite promotional.

However, for a brands in our business, we're not expecting promotions to be up over prior year.

We're expecting them to be about flat to prior year and last question here quickly, what are some of the biggest challenges that consumers are up against right now when it comes to your consumer who seems to be willing to splurge on the blow dryers and the ninja creamy and so on?

Well, look, I mean, they have to make trade offs and they have to make decisions and they have to, you know, do their research before.

I mean, we think that a shark ninja consumer is an educated consumer I mean, somebody who's done their research, we're not the highest priced products in the market.

We're not the lowest priced products, but we, I think we move the opening price consumer up into our brands, but we're also the brand of choice for premium consumers.

And so I think if we can continue on this model of great value, great quality, great performance, you know, bringing exciting things to the consumer.

I I think they'll respond.

Thank you, Brooke Dipalma for bringing us that interview.

Coming up, getting retirement ready.

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