
Loading summary
Ian Dunlap
Today's episode is sponsored by Smart Travel, a new podcast from NerdWallet. Smart travel doesn't just cover points and miles. They break down all the financial aspects of your trip, whether that's the best.
Rashad Bilal
Days to book, how to avoid hidden.
Ian Dunlap
Fees, or which fancy travel credit cards pay off and which ones are just an expensive flex. If you want your travel budget to work harder, then dive into the best deals, products, services and more with Smart Travel from NerdWallet. Wherever you get your podcasts, you worked.
Derek Falcon
Hard to lay the foundation for your contracting business. And when you're with Amex Business Platinum, you can keep building it up with a flexible spending limit that adapts with your business. And since you earn 5 times Membership Rewards points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on amextravel.com, you get even more from on site overseeing. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Not all purchases will be approved. Terms apply. Learn more@americanexpress.com AmExBusiness yeah.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah. Monday again.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah. What an amazing market, right?
Rashad Bilal
Make the market great again immediately, please. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. What's going on, man? How you feeling?
Ian Dunlap
I'm good, brother. How you doing?
Rashad Bilal
I'm good, man. Another day. Happy to be here. Blessed to be here. Blessed to see another Monday. Yeah. How you feeling, Shouty?
Troy Millings
Good. I'm good.
Rashad Bilal
Ramadan is officially done.
Troy Millings
Yeah.
Rashad Bilal
Congratulations on.
Ian Dunlap
Okay.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, man.
Troy Millings
Appreciate it, man. Emu bar to everybody that is observing, fasting.
Rashad Bilal
Talk about discipline, facts. What? Yeah, different level. Different level.
Troy Millings
Man. So, yeah, Emo bark for sure. Rest in peace to the. The late, great Nipsey Hussle.
Rashad Bilal
Absolutely.
Troy Millings
This is the six year anniversary of his untimely passing. You know, got a chance to be in California last week. LA. Shout out to everybody in LA. 19 Keys, the whole crew. But, you know, definitely got a chance to stop by Marathon Burger and egg. Taste the product. Very good. Highly recommended.
Rashad Bilal
Amazing. The vegan burger is immaculate.
Troy Millings
Highly recommended. I heard the wagu burger and all, I just, I. I don't eat beef.
Ian Dunlap
Got a wagu burger.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, yeah, yeah. They got a. A smash burger. Smash Patty in Americon Burger.
Troy Millings
I think they got a chicken burger too.
Rashad Bilal
Chicken burger, turkey burger. In the works. In the works.
Troy Millings
Shrimp.
Rashad Bilal
Shrimp was incredible.
Troy Millings
Shrimp. And they open to 3:00 in the morning every day.
Rashad Bilal
And the lemonade is ridiculous. And the 3 o'clock. 3 o'clock is important. If you've ever been LA and you've been outside a little bit, for sure, you know, everything shut down at 2, and there's nowhere to eat after that at all. So three makes sense.
Troy Millings
And then also, Rest in Peace and Nipsey Hustle.
Rashad Bilal
Yes.
Troy Millings
Shout out to Sam, 100, Adam and B.H. and the whole team.
Rashad Bilal
J.P. john, everybody.
Troy Millings
But I will say this, like, the. The thing with the Marathon Burger that I really like is that, I mean, the food is good, of course, and those are guys. But as soon as you walk in, you see they're employing the. The neighborhood. Not. Not just the community. The neighborhood.
Ian Dunlap
Like, that's incredible.
Troy Millings
And these are people that a lot of other people wouldn't have given opportunities to. So I think that that's something to be commendable. Like, you know, a lot of people talk. Like, you know, there's. There's. Everybody has a platform to just talk on social media, but very few people are actually employing other people. And that's something that we really got to start to have. Like, if y'all want to do a challenge, do that challenge. How many people are you employing? How many people are you on your payroll? And to see Sam, you know, going through everything that he went through, obviously, in the neighborhood, being intentional. Being intentional about hiring people from the neighborhood. Like, and like I said, these are people that are great. He said, like, great workers. But, you know, had challenges, and other people would have looked past them, and they wouldn't have had opportunities to actually have employment, and they would have had to go another route. So I haven't heard that side of the story for Marathon Burger yet, but that was something that was really impressive to me.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah.
Troy Millings
And something that I think was inspiring when Nick was alive and even, you know, when he's not alive, they still. They're still keeping that legacy going. And, you know, it's changing lives. You can tell, like, you know, people. People have hope. Like, you know, they have hope. They inspire. They. They working towards something. So, you know, we always going to salute the entrepreneurs, but especially when you can make a difference in people's lives that have had challenges and from your neighborhood, from your community. And, you know, Sam is. Is carrying that tradition on.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah. And the vision we spoke for probably like three and a half, four hours after we had the food. It was incredible to see the Marathon Burger come to vision, watching documentary of that, to know that the Marathon store where we filmed. When we went out there and filmed the episode, we were at the Marathon store that was on Melrose to see where that is. And, you know, it's not too far from Marathon Burger to see, like, the proximity of it and how they're growing the brand. Here's some of the other stuff that they working on. It's incredible. So, yeah, man, like, when we talk about the marathon continuing, like, this thing is really happening. It's still going. Whether it was from the marathon to now, this. So salute to the guys, man. Just some really good dudes and shout, shout out to hobby man. Every time we with this guy, it's just. He's a sharp dude. He's just a really funny dude, but he's sharp, man. He has a business vision and he networked. His networking is crazy. Crazy. Like, so we just like, yo, how'd you end up here? I remember one time we was in Dubai and I seen that he. I'm like, yo, how'd you end up here? And then we finally got the backstory on that solid dude, man. Just some good, good brothers. And shout out to copy. We ain't see Kabi this time, but shout out to Kabi, the whole team.
Troy Millings
That'S off like South Central family, you know, Crenshaw, Slauson, 60th Street. Those guys have really embraced us. And every time we go to la, it's all love, man. So stop by the marathon Burger. Support that, please. Please support that.
Ian Dunlap
Definitely inspiration. And for them to keep that brand alive and thriving despite all the tragedy. It's like an American movie in the making. So kudos to them for. For keeping that brand alive and rest in peace to nip.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah. And the product is incredible. Yeah, product is incredible.
Troy Millings
Sure. So okay, this week, Blackout. We back. 10:00, yo. Yes. Wednesday, 10:00 Eastern Standard time on Wednesday. Earn your leisure. We don't have an earn your leisure episode this week. We gotta let the last one marinate still.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah.
Troy Millings
Derek Falcon and Zody. That episode's been getting a lot of great feedback. People really enjoyed that episode.
Rashad Bilal
So, yeah, they ran it. They. I've seen some of the comments. They running it up there with episode 11 saying, like, it. It may be neck and neck with it.
Troy Millings
People like that a lot. So that's another. That's another place to. To patronize Cloudy Donuts. Brooklyn Heights, Soho. If you in New York, make sure you stop by Cloudy Donuts. That's the family. And another great, great tasting product for sure. Vegan. Vegan donuts. And the last thing that I'll say is make sure you tap in EY University. We had a great meetup with the earners in Atlanta last week. Thank you. Shout out to the A. And we'll be coming to a city near you. We letting it, you know, just marinating. We're going to different, different places and touching people as far as in person, you know, intimate. Intimate in person experiences. And get your tickets to Invest Fest.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah.
Troy Millings
If you're in Red Panda, you Got the code investfest.com. get your vendors boost. Very important. Get your vendors booths. August 22nd will be here before you know it.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah. And we working. And you know, we working. We just don't go to LA and not work always. Oh, yeah, yeah, we working. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ian Dunlap
Top secret. Yeah. Don't text me. I don't know. I don't know. Will Smith. I know the Rock. I don't know who, man.
Rashad Bilal
We always working, man.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah, it's a great. Even with Sam, can we give him credit when, like, some people even message me when they're open, like, why is he in there every day? There is no business, even with all of AI that's running crazy, there's no business that replaces you be being in it operating the actual business. I know you get sold the illusion of I'mma make a thing and get a click funnel in an LLC and do nothing else. That's not real life, bro. Jensen is at Nvidia with all the AI. So, yeah, I just want to give him credit for like being in it every day.
Rashad Bilal
I'm glad you said that because, like, he's in there, like he's making the smash patties. He's actually flipping the sauce for the wings, like every piece of the business. And that's part of their story. Him and Nip is they worked in restaurants growing up so they understood what it was to have a restaurant. We do got to try pop spaghetti, though.
Troy Millings
That's. That's not out yet.
Ian Dunlap
That's not.
Rashad Bilal
No. I'm just saying that's one thing that we gotta see because they got this. We got a thing going like, where's the best coming from? But we gotta try that out. But folks, y'all know how this works.
Troy Millings
Oh, my fault.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah. Rest in peace to my brother, Bishop Brigante. Oh, my God. That me up. Caught me by surprise. To the family, I love you dearly. If you need anything, let me know. Toronto legend, Canadian legend. Appreciate you. Stock club call will be this Wednesday at 9pm Central. If I made you money, please put yes in chat. The replay from last week is in telegram. So if you were not on the call we talked about a lot, please go on telegram. And if you want to get rich from this market while Trump is tearing it up with tariffs, go to Ian invest.com. i told, did not tell you guys a year ago, two years. No luxury spending. Man, you tripping. You just hating, bro. Here we are. Liberation day. Come in. Not much liberation is going to be given. If you want to know what to invest in, what to stay away from the stocks, you should be invested in getting some trading insights and secrets every week on a call. Go to Ian invest.com and if you think it's too expensive, imagine what it's going to cost you not having me in your corner guiding you in this tumultuous ass market.
Rashad Bilal
These are facts. These are facts, man. Folks, y'all know how this works. Do your own research. We're gonna provide you with research, but still do your own research. Our content is intended to be used in and must be used for informational purposes only. It's very important to do your own analysis before making any investment based on your own personal circumstances. You should take independent financial advice from a professional in connection with or independently research and verify any information that you find on our show and wish to rely upon whether for the purpose of making an investment decision or otherwise. Share the research. Continue to do the research when it's good. Give credit to the people you found it from. Share love, share community. Let's build. Let's make some money.
Ian Dunlap
All right, so if I put a tariff on the country at 25 and they put one back on us and I have a retaliatory tariff for another 25, is that financial treason?
Rashad Bilal
I don't know what it is, man shot, you're historian. Are there rules?
Ian Dunlap
And the thing Europe is sending to us is okay, what the margin is what, 10? They're sending cars like they're not making much money off us anyway. But our software and social media platforms and what is going on? What is going on to all of you who'll be like, you guys should stay out of politics and you stay where you are and let us guide you through this market the policy makers set. What's going to happen in the stock market? If you don't know a little bit about politics, you're going to get crushed in the market. Fibonacci won't help you out of the spiral with tariffs going like this.
Rashad Bilal
I'm sorry, there's no retracement level for this.
Ian Dunlap
No. At all.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, I mean we, we don't said that, man. Uncertainty is the, the one catalyst that you can't predict, but you can see it can tear through a market we're talking about. I was watching Tesla year to date down 40%. I'm watching some companies on semiconductor which is one of these semis that's specific for auto vehicles down 48%. I'm just like, geez, this is, this type of uncertainty is different which starts the R word. Now you're starting to hear the R word a little bit more. I'm sure we'll talk about it. But yeah, starting recessionary environment, it's like oh man, this is not good.
Ian Dunlap
I have a quick quote. 327 stocks are down 50 year to date. 327 50.
Rashad Bilal
That's hefty.
Ian Dunlap
Okay, my bad, Rashad. I just had to invent real quick my passion talking.
Troy Millings
So what's the biggest lesson for over what's the biggest lesson over the last seven days?
Ian Dunlap
For me, just two really. One, to stick to the basics. So whatever your fundamental breakdown is and your technical breakdowns are to how to get into the market, don't deviate from them. And number two for my traders, investors, swing traders, if you don't know macro policy and I got to give for shot credit for this because historian, he'll be like Napoleon on December 3rd. I'm like, how you know this? What the hell, it's fire. But if you don't know macro policy, you don't know what returns you can expect. Like thank God I've been diligent enough to study these markets and these markets remind me like 2016 to remind me a little bit of Brexit. But I see a lot of traders who like well it's going to go to this fib level. I'm like, if we have tariffs that last for a year and a half and even there are some rumblings about Putin and Trump not getting along now and Trump feeling played, we can drop through decade levels and there's no technical indicator that will allow you to know that. So knowing the macroeconomic environment, especially with a emotional leader, I'll say it time and calm and measured. If you don't know what the macro environment is going to look like, it doesn't matter what the technicals are any in your trades. I get it. But in a long term investment scenario, when people keep asking every week, when is the bottom? The bottom is going to happen when there's policy in place that gives the world safety. We're like in a financial world war right now. No one is really making that big of a deal about it. But for you two, what's the biggest lesson you've gained over the last week? Especially being out there in LA in.
Rashad Bilal
Terms of trading, I think the most important thing is, like you said, sticking to your plan. And I get this question all the time, like Troy, especially when it comes to options, like why, why are you making your leap so far out? Why, why aren't you doing ones closer? And I always tell them, like, volatility is something that we have to factor in and we don't know when it's going to happen, but we know it will happen. And so to see pullbacks like we're seeing now is the reason. Right. I want time to be one of those factors that actually can be beneficial for me. Right. It would be nothing like having an expiration date on April 6th and it's the Friday before a call is about to expire. And here comes the, the earnings report on, here comes another tariff and now I don't have time to get out of that play. And it's down 40 to 50. And so being disciplined about that, not over trading will probably be the second thing. Like, yeah, the market is uncertain. I'm not making a trade until I feel like there's some certainty or we start seeing volume or we start seeing RSI's move in a direction that makes sense for me. And so that's why I always tell people, like, have a plan. Right. Maybe it's not ours, but you created one or formulated one that works for you. But really be disciplined about sticking to it and not over trading. They used to question, we're like, yo, how many trades we make in a year? Like maybe 12 to 20. And I'm like, that's it. That sounds like a month for me. I'm like, no, there's no need to over trade.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah.
Rashad Bilal
In these type of seasons, you see why you don't want to, especially when it comes to futures and options. So those would be my two.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah. Rashad, what about you?
Troy Millings
Well, this goes into our next topic if we're ready to switch gears. But you got to listen to smart people. That's important. So the market is down, but gold is at an all time high. And absolutely that's one of the things that when we met with Mike Novogratz for his show in September, he was saying that he was very bullish. He said, a lot, a lot of, a lot of my money's in gold. A lot of it. And he's a billionaire. He said, a lot of my money's in gold and a lot of my money is in bitcoin. And he said, I'm leery about stocks right now. He said that if he, if Trump wins the stock market is going to go up really quickly and then it's going to come down. And I mean pretty much everything he said is, has pretty played out according to plan, especially the gold thing. So gold, like I said, broke all time. It's been breaking all time records, but it broke another all time record.
Ian Dunlap
Yep.
Troy Millings
And has really outperformed pretty much everything since Trump got elected at least. And that was something that we spoke about. But it really puts some level of things in perspective. When a billionaire tells you what they invested in money in, 9 times out of 10.
Ian Dunlap
It will behoove you.
Troy Millings
Yeah. So listen, listen to the smart people and listen to the people that have made a lot of money in doing said thing that they're talking about.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah.
Ian Dunlap
And for the audience, I know a lot of people, this happened on a lot of shows now, but especially for this one. Listen to the information to change your life and to increase your net worth. Not to reply to what the person has said. Like it was a lot of pushback for him. I'm like, he's been a billionaire a long time and can trade and let's say he had a misstep or two in crypto. We've all caused something wrong square. But if you look at his net worth, the people who are arguing with him in combination don't have a 80th of the net worth. It doesn't make him a better person. It doesn't make him more God fearing or more loving or more righteous. But in this category, when most billionaires won't even share what they're doing for him to grace us with his presence and give us insight, actually listen to what people are saying. And if you don't listen, don't be surprised if more billionaires and people of that ilk don't want to speak.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, I think, I mean, in line with what you're saying, listening to the smart people, we spoke about it maybe two weeks ago. But look at, look at Berkshire Hathaway, look at Berkshire B since the top of the year.
Ian Dunlap
Yep.
Rashad Bilal
Appreciating. Even when the market's down. I mean we talk about one of the greatest investors of all time, if not the greatest, you know, some, you know, something.
Troy Millings
Well, let's talk about, let's talk about gold because like I said, gold is at, it's, it's at a crazy skyrocket ever since, you know, the economy started to tank. So it definitely is something that has been working opposite of markets. It's currently at 31, 20. And you know, obviously you never advise people to invest in all time, highs. But gold is something that, you know, has been around forever. And over the course of time, his chart has gone up. Sometimes it stays flat, sometimes it goes down like any other investment. But for people that are interested in gold, what advice would you give them?
Ian Dunlap
We gotta give Keys credit. Keys is heavy on investing. And go. Three years ago we talked about it as a hedge. I think the important lesson here is to know, write this down. What will you invest in when the entire market goes south? And this is one of the assets that has done incredibly well. We used to think it would be bitcoin, but once the banks got involved and kind of took that over, that went away. You definitely have to wait for a pullback. The thing that makes gold tricky though, when we have a zero interest rate kind of environment or like heavy quantitative easing, gold is going to be flat. Now that that's been stripped away and the market is going down, it's taken off to the upside. So you're going to have to wait for a pullback. So probably when our stock market goes back up, go will slide back down. It would be a good time to invest because given the current leadership that we have, things are going to continue to be tumultuous for a while, as Mike Novogratz indicated. So you have to wait for a pullback and then as with any investment, have to look for to hold for a five or six year period.
Rashad Bilal
This is one of those things is like when we talk about inverse indexes. If you look at the S and P, you look at gold, it kind of works in that inverse relationship.
Troy Millings
Gold is $99,000 per bar. Bitcoin is 83,000 per coin.
Ian Dunlap
I can divide some. Some investing lessons are tried but true, like holding for 5, 10, 30 years. Invest in gold as a hedge. Buy index funds. The thing, even though I hate how far the market has fallen, the thing that I do love is that the lessons that are timeless will always remain true. I remember even two years ago when some traders were like, well, Buffett lost his touch and he doesn't know. And I'm like, his net worth doing this crash is going up, right? Yep. Stock stockpiles going up as well for sure.
Troy Millings
Okay, so let's talk about the Trump tariffs. So the market, you know, has been sliding for a while, but it took another slide today on the second is when it's going to come into effect. He said he didn't want to do April 1st because he felt in April Fool's Day he didn't want people to think that it was a joke. So April 2, April 2 is when the tariffs come into play. Liberation Day is what he's coined it.
Ian Dunlap
So a great name, but horrible strategy.
Troy Millings
So the te. So you know, market, like I said, the market's been sliding. NASDAQ is almost in bare market territory, down about 15 from his high. So, you know, another 5%. We're officially in a bear market, at least for the Nasdaq. And then of course, tariffs on car makers and a variety of other different, you know, countries. You got tariffs on countries, you got tariffs on cars, you got a variety of different tariffs that's been thrown around.
Rashad Bilal
So terrorists on top of the terrorists, retaliatory.
Ian Dunlap
I said, bro, what, what, what Matt, this is what math is this?
Troy Millings
How bad can this get? Is it something that you know is going to be a long term strategy or a short term scare tactic? What should investors. No.
Ian Dunlap
Number one, until we get a very clear policy pathway, the market is going to be in turmoil. And if we're going to be very honest, the reason why it kept going up, we were telling you for the last year it was weak anyhow. Like when the entire world economy in the stock market was going up because of maybe eight to 14 stocks, that wasn't a good sign. And now that's kind of been erased. Worst case scenario, I can see spy going to like 4:75. I want to be very clear. I'm not saying that it's going to happen or you few that want to clip things up and your email is wrong. It could. In worst case, this is called contingency planning. So if we go to 475, I would be happy to buy. But until we get a clear plan or someone taps him on the shoulder and tells him this tariff thing is not working and he comes up with another plan. The thing that I've learned the most is the market does not like any uncertainty. And no road map leads to no high returns. That's why even when we were at gtc, Jensen's clever. He's going to lay out the plan for this year, the next and a year following. So just in case analysts get beside themselves, roadmap until 28. Why does Jensen have a three year road map but the President of the United States does not? And I think it's hurting our economy. And I'm not politically leaning either way. I'm just giving you analysis on why the market is not moving the way it should.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, the uncertainty is. I mean I was reading a report the, the GDP has now for the, you know, the economist, economists, I'm sorry, have now predicted that it's going to be like half of a percent less than what they thought it would be by the end of the year. It's interesting because Q1 is now officially over. Right. So you start in Q2 with this going into effect. It originally was for specific countries. There was talk yesterday that he, while he was on if was one that is going to be for all countries. Right. And then we'll see how this thing works out. When all they did a poll out of 30 economists and 29 said this is probably the worst policy put into place that they've seen in their time because they don't. There is, there's no real clear plan as to how it's going to work, but we will see the long term effects if this actually gets rolled out. Yeah, it's, it's tough to like, what do you do? What do you do? Right. Like if you don't know what you're going to be paying for a product and how much it's going to cost you to get or send a product, it's kind of tough to do business to a certain extent. So for sure, we'll see, we'll shout.
Ian Dunlap
Out your person and what would you do?
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, we'll see. If, if he can. How. The question for me will be how long will he allow it to feel before he steps in and says, all right, we need to change this.
Troy Millings
What'd you say, Ian, if you were.
Ian Dunlap
President, because you're probably the only one out of us that seem qualified to run, what would you be doing right now if Trump called you? Well, if Brock called you or whoever called you the brother fix this, what would you do?
Troy Millings
Well, I think that it, it should have never even got to this point. Right. Like, you know, this middle ground that can be taken and to take this sharp turn in an already fragile economy is something that's not recommendable. That's from Larry Fink said that to variety of very high, high notable, well educated and extremely successful people. You, you can't play this game of chicken with the world's largest economy and a public that's already in trouble from inflation, from high debt, from rising cost of homes, from a variety of other different factors. It's not like we were in a strong position to begin with. So he should have never even, he should just shouldn't have even started. None of this, none of this should have started. He should have, he could have done, he could have done a better job about going at this more diplomatic if he wanted to have better terms in trade because you can always negotiate better deal. I'm not saying that he had no right to negotiate a better trade deal. But this, this, this pathway that he's taken is not help helpful and is harmful. And he didn't win the last presidency because of the economy. That's what people don't, that's what he was never good for the economy. That's why I said before he's not going to be good for the economy because he wasn't good for the economy the first time. People just remember stimulus checks. He, that's not being good for the economy. That's actually hurting the economy really because he just pumped more money into it and that, that caused some level of inflation and, and the house of cards and everything fell apart with you see how these PPP things fell. So Trump was never good for the economy and now he's even worse for the economy. Problem is that it doesn't really matter because he still has strong support. So if he had like a low approval rating and then he might be inclined to have drastic changes in his economic policy. As long as his approval numbers are high, he has no real incentive to have changes to what he's doing economically because then I would have to admit that he's actually wrong on a certain level. He's never going to admit that. So no, it's going to be pain. A lot of people think that we're headed towards a recession, economic slowdown at the very least.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah.
Troy Millings
So that's not good for the stock market. So I don't think that we should look at this as something that's just going to be a short term turnaround. I don't think for the record, quarter.
Ian Dunlap
One, positive or negative?
Rashad Bilal
Oh, it's negative.
Ian Dunlap
Will they. If we have a second quarter of negative growth, would they actually say, I.
Rashad Bilal
Don'T know what that's called. I guess it's just called the second quarter of negative growth.
Ian Dunlap
Economic restructuring.
Troy Millings
As far as, as far. But as far as the basic principles, what's going on? This is why you guys take the basic principle of investing dollar cost average.
Ian Dunlap
Yep.
Troy Millings
Index funds, ETFs for sure. Never risk more than 10 of your portfolio. And trading for sure. In this environment you probably want to do even less. Where you get it is extremely important. That's why you know, everybody, I took advantage of stock club sale. That's important. Right. Because now you're going to start a chance, you're going to get a chance to see those numbers and where you actually Are making entries is. Makes a big difference, especially if you have, you know, more money that you're actually putting into the market. But be careful. Just because something is down doesn't mean that this is a time that just put a bunch of money in. GameStop mistake.
Ian Dunlap
I don't care how much Bitcoin GameStop is not Michael Saylor. I want to be clear. I don't care if you go get the rest of the supply and Ethereum and extra in combination. No. No work. Yeah.
Troy Millings
But the good thing about this is that if history is any indicator, stock market always rebounds. Strong companies always rebound and the indexes and, and the strong ETFs rebel. So this is an opportunity to actually, you know, continue your discipline approach. But you cannot be greedy in this situation and try to look for the lowest, the thing that's down 70% and think that that's the pathway to become a millionaire. Because since it's down 70, you're going to put an option on it. And now it has no option but to go up because we've already reached the low. That's not. That's a, that's a dangerous game to play.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah. You got to be strategic and you have to have your plan. Historically, from historical perspective, and we said this a few times, April has been a month that has been one of the best months to trade in or to see gains in. But I don't even know from a historical standpoint, this year, this presidency feels just like an outlier. Right. It just feels like a different outlier. Especially when these tariffs are going into play inside of this month. Some people will say that the. It's already been priced in. Right. The effects of the tariffs have been priced in, which is tough. Right. When you say, yeah, it's going to be 25, but then it's 25, we're going to add an additional 10 on top of that. And it's a new country every day. We're just gonna have to really, really, really watch this thing play out over the next couple weeks. And like I said, let. How long will it be before made a mistake? Which is tough. Like when you talking about somebody who's super egotistical and has to admit that somebody is wrong or who are you going to fire because of this? When will that happen?
Troy Millings
Well, also another thing is the political system in America has no education requirements. That's disturbing if you really think about it.
Ian Dunlap
Meaning.
Troy Millings
So okay, Congress, right. Like the Ways it Means Committee or the Appropriations Committee. So the Ways and Means Committee, they control the taxation the appropriation committee, they control where money's actually going. We're talking about trillions of dollars here, right?
Ian Dunlap
Yeah.
Troy Millings
You don't have to have any knowledge about the economy to be on these boards. You, you can literally be an entrepreneur who owns a plumbing business in Wisconsin, run, get elected. And now you're on a defense board, or you're on the appropriation board, or you're on like. So what I'm saying is that a lot of these politicians have no, no knowledge of how economic policy works. And even Donald Trump, I mean, obviously he's a successful entrepreneur, but being an entrepreneur and being an economist are two different things. Two total understanding how a business works and understanding how real estate works and understanding how marketing works is not the same as understanding geopolitics. Geopolitics and understanding global economic trends. They're not, they're not one and the same. So I think that it would probably be beneficial at some point in time to have some level of education requirement. Like, I feel like if you're going to be an elected official, you should at least have, there should be a pathway of like real political education that you actually have to take. Because there's no pathway right now. Like, even for myself, if I wanted to run, I could run. There's no civics course that I had to pass for college. There's no advanced degree that I need as far as how the judicial system works, all of this stuff. So you got a bunch of just regular citizens that's up there and it. That they're making a fool of themselves because what they're doing is relying on information that's provided to them by lobbyists. So the lobbyists are educated, but they have an agenda. So now the lobbyist is telling them things and they're educating them and they're putting money into their pocket and they're taking that. It's no different from Kanye West. That's why, like, Kanye is actually a microcosm of our society. Right? Because Kanye gets information from people and he relays that information and that's his, that's his books that he's reading.
Rashad Bilal
So this version of Kanye, yeah, he's.
Troy Millings
Still getting, if he's getting information from people like the people around him, that's, that's the heart. That. But that's the thing. If he has conservative right wing people around him feeding information and he's saying like, this is the information. So if these people are getting fed information, they're just reciting the information that they're getting that they're getting fed. They don't know enough to actually push back on this information or have an intelligent opinion on this information. How would they, how would you expect a school teacher to know about Middle Eastern politics? How would you expect a real estate agent to know about global economic trends? How would you expect somebody that's a dentist to really know about tariffs? That's, that's not even fair. Right.
Ian Dunlap
And we felt the same way when the other administration was in. For those of you who may be leaning a particular way. So even though it may not have been beneficial for our career to criticize.
Troy Millings
Well, neither. No, no politician knows anything, Democrats or Republicans. That's why that's, this is, this is a bipartisan situation. None of them are really educated. It doesn't, it's not a, it's not a Republican thing. The Democrats or the Republicans. It's the same rules that apply. None of them have real requirements that's necessary to govern. They don't, they don't have governing skills. Some of them are just good leaders. You might find some stuff on the fly, but no politician has any level of governance. Education going in to governance, which is crazy as hell to me. Yeah, that's crazy. Like, how do you, how do you, how do you get a highest position in the land of governance and you have no education on governance?
Ian Dunlap
It's interesting, say the least. And I even think Doge is a brilliant idea as well, but it's executed poorly. And even in the people who could steer him in the right direction, they've been placed. So you don't want to disrupt the system that you're now a part of for your own benefit, whether it's for financial reasons or for your legacy. So if you don't have true checks and balances, it's going to be really tough. Gonna be really tough.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, yeah. I was gonna say, you said none of them have education. I know there's going to be push back. Well, people gonna say, well, let's take Barack, he went to Harvard Law, he went to Harvard Business. You clean it up at the end where it was like, who. What is the course that says this is the. How governance is supposed to run or taxation. This is like they should have a.
Troy Millings
Governance mandate that you have because even a lot degree. Okay. You study law, so you have some information on law. And. But there's. There's a million different types of law.
Rashad Bilal
Right, Right.
Troy Millings
So that doesn't necessarily qualify you to run economic policy because you're a lawyer.
Rashad Bilal
Oh, you're learning this on the fly. You're hiring economists and they're briefing you.
Troy Millings
And that's the dangerous part about it because the people. That's what we call shadow government.
Ian Dunlap
Ah, you get into the tricky part.
Rashad Bilal
I don't know what he's talking about.
Ian Dunlap
It's bright as hell outside. Time out. Peekaboo.
Rashad Bilal
And we'll stop there, ladies and gentlemen.
Troy Millings
Okay. Blackout.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah.
Troy Millings
All right.
Rashad Bilal
No, no, I don't need.
Ian Dunlap
Oh, man. Nope.
Rashad Bilal
Walkie talkie required for sure. Oh, we'll text you the channel later.
Troy Millings
But hopefully they get together because this is. This is pretty dangerous. It's gonna hurt a lot of. It's gonna hurt a lot of people.
Ian Dunlap
They're struggling while China is manufacturing. You know, they used to say software is eating the world, but manufacturing there is eating the world. Like, and, and to that point, how many political leaders have been to China to see the landscape? Like, Lucky Palm was talking about just the power of creating like battleships in an interview. Like, China can produce 350 more ships than we can at a time. Like, we're just getting beaten every and lo. And I pray Manus AI does not get the capability to do agentic AI for age. I was hearing a little report that they may do agentic AI for a thousand dollars a month.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah.
Ian Dunlap
What we've seen from Deep Seek Americans are not loyal to the country anymore in that regard. That would decimate our economy. Like the deep Sea thing was fake news. If that comes out in Israel when open AI is trying to put it at 20000 per month and all of our IP and data gets taken is we are going to be in for a rough.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, it's interesting they just put that article. We were talking about it last week about 23andMe the United States data for sale. It was in part. It might have been a journal or could have been cnbc, but it was interesting to watch how they reported it and like, yo, this is what's at stake. But yeah, and we, we got a little knowledge on the deep seat thing and, and what really happened here in terms of the amount of compute and how they were even looked at as outcasts before they tried to do what they did and kind of broke down the landscape. It was the first Ningxian is this GPU AI armor that was like, hold on. Let's, let's, let's take a step back.
Troy Millings
Who do you think will benefit next in the AI ecosystem?
Ian Dunlap
Unfortunately, I don't know which one, but I think it would be a Chinese company given the state. I want to be very clear we're in a war. And not me, but we're not in a typical boots on ground. It's a software data war because if I can hit you in your pockets where it hurts, I can take over a lot faster. But I do think, I don't know if it'll be Manus and maybe Baba, but it'll probably be an incumbent who gets enough compute and the right software and I think they'll be the next beneficiary. Like I was just thinking last night, like what if Tick Tock had came out around this time with all this compute, how much more of an impact they would have had. Now of course you have some people saying CRM is going to benefit from it and of course open AI whenever they go public. Okay, I'm going. I see a. The country, our country is divided. While even though there's fighting and infactions in China, they are more of a united front to destroy us. One of the biggest things that you learn in marketing, branding in the business, so you have to have a common enemy. That enemy is us. But in our country we're fighting each other for resources, technology, perception, education is broken, legal is broken. So I think it'll be a Chinese company. And seeing the investment from American hedge funds, rotated money into Chinese stocks for the last eight months has been very fascinating to see.
Rashad Bilal
All right, I'm gonna go down by industry because I think it's important. I'm gonna give you some companies, they for the most part are American and we did speak about some of them. I'm gonna start with HubSpot because it's a company that we spoke about plenty, plenty of times. But what we heard two weeks ago specifically was agentic. Agentic, Agentic, agentic. And so HubSpot, imagine a world where they're now having customer interaction fully managed by AI. What that does for their business, what it does for the mid tier to small cap businesses, but also what it does to economies that rely on virtual assistants as a provider. So I think from an agentix standpoint, software like HubSpot, I think. I know you said CRM, I think Salesforce will play a role in that service. Now I wrote these down. So if you have workflows that now are automated and that reasoning part which we talking about, right, like that agentic part now has reasoning. If you're making decisions and you can problem solve with an agent that, I mean you're talking about the cost of business going down, revenue is going to go up. But again the people who provide those type of Services, virtual assistance. And we're going to see an influx of that not being even a business that is going to be needed. Data bricks. We saw them, we spoke about it. I think it's another company when you're talking about having to model the deployment. Right. So now if I'm looking, Snowflake as well is in that space. These type of companies are primed to be in position to take advantage. I think fintech companies for sure. Like we're talking about reasoning now. So imagine wealth management, risks analysis. Do you need somebody to do that? You said this for years. But like will those people be needed when I can have an agent that can do it at a higher efficiency, quicker time and I don't have to worry about all those other things. Pto, insurance, salary.
Ian Dunlap
Robin Hood wrote Shout out to Vlad. They wrote out something this past week. Well, last week.
Rashad Bilal
Well, Robin Hood was next on my list. So Robin Hood is as well. And then I think shopify the instacarts of the world. So not only are we doing from an agentic standpoint, but now we're optimizing the pricing inventory. We're creating shopping lists for you. That's a completely different model. You can do that in music as well. I know like now it's like they just do like the shuffle but like and you're doing an E commerce and it's like oh, I already know that you're out of this and it's already creating the list for you that changes the game. So if a gentic is the next part of the ecosystem, I see those companies as being benefits beneficiaries.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah, I agree with all except Snow. I just don't like Snowflake.
Rashad Bilal
You don't like? You don't like something?
Ian Dunlap
No.
Rashad Bilal
I thought you was gonna get pushed back with Salesforce, but I appreciate that.
Ian Dunlap
Well we listen we need some American exceptionalism. We need it bad and we need to move faster. I think we've gotten too comfortable and focused on the wrong thing. Shout out to all my graphic designers, it's over unless you are a one. Yeah, Sam Altman and I know they put out their little spoof piece, but wouldn't it be really smart if I wanted to be the leader of the new school and venture and startup land, which he was at Y Combinator before to just eat everyone's sector as everyone is uploading all their ip. I'm a conspiracy theorist at heart sometimes. But you don't think your IP is being stored somewhere?
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, it's taking about 10 seconds to. Well, less than that probably like two seconds to take the IP in about 15 seconds to actually take the information and generate the images.
Ian Dunlap
But.
Rashad Bilal
But even that process right now it's moving at probably like a 30 second clip because those GPUs are working. @ some point it'll be faster and faster and faster. That's going to be more.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah. Once they had a little service with the little cooling in it. Like Terminator.
Rashad Bilal
Exactly.
Ian Dunlap
Like they're melting the GPU service, uploading the data.
Rashad Bilal
That was a message. So like, I mean we should probably touch on that. Like when you saw that headline, melting the GPUs. You want to break that down?
Ian Dunlap
Yeah, I mean literally. Because of course it generates heat and they use fans to cool the GPUs. People were using GPT so much this weekend. I was one of them getting those anime images out. They were literally starting to melt the damn GPUs. So now if you do it and try and do that like Studio Ghibli, which was like an amazing rollout for them. You got to give Sam credit. Like even though he may fall behind for a couple months, the next iteration is a lot better. Now it's a time restriction on how quickly you can turn around and create these images. And what an amazing feeling as an entrepreneur to have your thing so high in demand. You have to tell your customer base, don't use it as much.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, you gotta chill for a little bit.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah, no, no, go, go.
Rashad Bilal
I was saying it's one of those. Another. When I saw that article, it was another telltale sign of validation. Because it's not like we haven't been talking about liquid cooling. It's not like we didn't just say last week what we saw inside of some of these GPUs and some of these racks. Like liquid cooling is the thing. This is going to be the most efficient way to have high power GPUs working effectively and effect in a timely fashion. This is how it's going to happen. Prime example. Something hot came out, everybody used it. Meltdown.
Troy Millings
Yeah.
Rashad Bilal
Can't have that going forward.
Ian Dunlap
And the biggest benefiter of that for sure, Microsoft. I know Satya. Just.
Rashad Bilal
Write him back over there, man. Microsoft open AI. It's getting. Things are getting a little heated in more ways.
Ian Dunlap
Nobody's bigger than the program. Move correctly, please.
Troy Millings
What? Okay. What companies besides Nvidia will benefit the most from Nvidia's AI stack and that the AI stack people. That's not familiar. It's a like a comprehensive toolkit of sorts.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah.
Troy Millings
For AI development. So what companies would benefit from that? Nvidia.
Ian Dunlap
I think Dell for sure. Given that they were given the keys to the kingdom to have the partnership with enterprises. I talked about this on stock club but like they are going to be really critical. I look at Dale right now as like the contractor for all of enterprise to install and build AI into corporate America. So why it traditionally would not be a company I would normally pick. I think they're going to have a, a huge implant impact there. I know we talked about the GM partnership so I won't go there. But I do think Microsoft for sure is going to benefit greatly as a result. Because if I'm looking at like the four horsemen of who we need to help our economy thrive after Dell begins to install like Microsoft, workplace products are going to be needed and I'm looking to see what they're going to do on the agentic side. I'm always looking for the companies that run the world who are very quiet and Satya has been incredibly quiet while having those partnerships in place. And I will say the company who I don't think will benefit at all, Apple, I found it very good. I mean I found it very interesting when we were there at gtc, they were the only major company who was not there, didn't sponsor or anybody that we talked to that used to be an Apple was at Nvidia now.
Rashad Bilal
True.
Ian Dunlap
Like you notice, no one even mentioned loving to be an employee of Apple anymore. It's, it's rare. So I don't think they'll be the greatest. And, and if we're gonna be very honest, Apple Intelligence was a flop. If you've seen a commercial, you can't do that. Tell me who I met with two months ago or last year at Invest Fest after I finished. That was just a flat out lie in a commercial. You have to take the commercial down for Apple Intelligence. So well, I hope they get the things together. I don't think they'll benefit much from AI.
Rashad Bilal
I think the inverse is true. We watched and we spoke to a boy, a bunch of people and execs who had left other companies who had come to GTC and now working for Nvidia. And I mean they said it's not even comparable into the experience. I'm gonna, I'm gonna throw two in there because Dell was one and we may or may not have asked very intentional questions while we were visiting.
Ian Dunlap
For sure.
Rashad Bilal
May or may have not. So Dell definitely is up there. I'm gonna put service now up there as well from the Enterprise standpoint, again, I t, customer service, hr, automation, all those things are going to be pieces that the customer are going to benefit from. I think Palantir is my other one though.
Ian Dunlap
Oh, I forgot that one. You're right.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, yeah. From the AI standpoint, but from the machine learning in terms of government and enterprise data like those government and enterprise data combined with machine learning, we, we, we know, we know which entity has the biggest budget and we know the entity that, that, that conglomerate with the biggest budget is, is using. And we told you that three years ago when we were in Davos, what they would, what this was looking like. It was, it kind of felt like an enemy of the state type situation in terms of surveillance. But outside the surveillance, what are they doing when they capture the data from what they've seen? And so AI is definitely Nvidia, obviously to power that. Those are the, the three Dell, ServiceNow and Palantir. Those would be my three.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah.
Troy Millings
What about Dennis Fisher? I mean, Dennis Fisher, he was in Barons with his picks for this year.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, he jacked me.
Troy Millings
What's your thoughts?
Rashad Bilal
He jacked me. My first thought is he jacked me.
Ian Dunlap
Pause.
Rashad Bilal
He stole.
Ian Dunlap
We're never gonna grow up to play. And he took yours for sure. When I first. Well, for the first time in a long time with this particular gentleman, they got a list, right? Because normally when they do like those 34 picks, I'm like, you're off. But CDNS is a pick that you love. Then he mentioned Ricardo Libre, one of my favorite stocks that regardless of international issues or geopolitical or tariffs, they've done well. And the last one is kla. I want to give them credit because I think this is an amazing job of picking a cohort of stocks that are not talked about in combination. So CDNs, KAC Corporation and Marta Libre, if I was looking for like an alternative portfolio, are three that I would definitely be willing to invest in. For sure.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah. So I mean, first thought was like, oh, wait, we've said these things. So Cadence, we just spoke about this last week when we were talking about, as we're watching this two hour presentations from Jensen, what companies keep coming up. When we were talking about inside the data center, the digital systems that they're using, Cadence was there, I mean, almost every slide you saw their name being part of it. Carlo Libra, we, I don't know, I feel like this is going on for four or five years now, for sure. And for those who may be new to it, we're talking about the Amazon of Or Amazon, like, of South America is. It's just been going incredible. So two out of three. I love kla. I'm okay with. I'm not mad at it, but. But definitely see upside for those two. For sure.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah, for sure.
Troy Millings
Okay.
Ian Dunlap
Michelle, I gotta ask you because you're very conservative and in the market like now is good. Are there any stocks outside of the typical Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia that you would be willing to put money into right now?
Troy Millings
I think in times of uncertainty, you got to go with certainty. So it's not. You don't. You don't. That's. I think what people have misconstrued. You could take more risks when things are doing very well. Right?
Ian Dunlap
Yep.
Troy Millings
But when, when the hits the fan, you got to go to the core elements. That's true with anything in life.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah.
Troy Millings
You know, it's like, it's like. It's like sports. You up by 30 points. You could put anybody in the game. Right. Like, just try it out. Try it out. Put. Put fleece liquor. Yeah. Put him in the game. Like, he might, he might end up being, you know, the next star player. Like, but you don't have that luxury when you down 10.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah.
Troy Millings
Or when it's tied in overtime, you don't have the luxury of playing. He might, you might think that he could be potentially good, but we gotta go. You go with the team that got you here. Unless you Tibs or Patino.
Rashad Bilal
Or Patino. The veteran guys. I mean, it's, it doesn't see how that worked out.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah.
Rashad Bilal
Can it happen? Can your bench guys create a spark that brings you back? I guess.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah.
Rashad Bilal
But overall, you. You got to go with the guys.
Ian Dunlap
I got.
Troy Millings
So to answer your question, no, I think that it's time for QQQ. I think it's time for shout out to Invesco Nvidia. We talk about TSM, we're talking about Microsoft, we're talking about the S P500. You know, if you're talking about crypto, it's bitcoin for sure. Like, you gotta go with your starting players. It's not time to try to go, you know, on the tenth gamestop, get.
Rashad Bilal
The sixth man of the year.
Troy Millings
That's how you're gonna get hurt.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah. It's not time to gamble at all.
Troy Millings
No time to gamble right now. It's uncertainty. It's a lot.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah. Get you a Stanley Pritchard.
Troy Millings
Having said that, if you had to build a portfolio from these stocks exclusively, how would you rank and allocate? You want read you Want to read them or how you want to do this?
Ian Dunlap
Yeah, I think this was a great question. So you have Intuit As Stereo Lab, BKNG, HubSpot, Netflix, Palo Alto, Qanta Services, Alibaba, Cyber Arc Software. I'm going to stick with my picking.
Rashad Bilal
We put in these.
Ian Dunlap
All I'm doing. I was gonna say I'm gonna stick with my formula and do four.
Rashad Bilal
I'll go five then. And let's see, let's see where we at. Oh, I'm show shot first so that we know that this is. Those are mine in order. All right, go ahead.
Ian Dunlap
Gotcha. I'ma go once. Great point. In times of uncertainty, you have to go with who's going to get you a bucket. Guaranteed winner. Number one. I'm going to go with Netflix. Number two, I will probably go with Palo Alto. Number three. It's tough, but I'mma go Alibaba given China's dominance and everything. And I think they've like loosened the reins on Jack Ma. And then number four, I'm gonna do HubSpot. While I think Cyber Arc Software Quanta has some value, a sterile lab has some value in times of uncertainty. Like you just illustrated you have to go with the killers who are going to pre. Who are produce profit regardless of like, I don't care how bad the tariff situation gets. Netflix and they're doing more live streaming than ever. I feel like Pop the balloon got a deal. What?
Troy Millings
On Netflix?
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, Yep, on Netflix. What Coming, I think next, next month.
Troy Millings
What's the deal?
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, they. They going to be premiering on Netflix.
Troy Millings
I'm saying, like, what's the numbers?
Rashad Bilal
Oh, I didn't. They didn't. They didn't show the numbers.
Ian Dunlap
Put that part out.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, they just is joining Netflix.
Troy Millings
So the, the, the original Pop.
Rashad Bilal
Nah, the, the. The latest, baby. Yeah, I seen Maddy J had put something out. Shout out to him.
Troy Millings
Who's the remix?
Rashad Bilal
So there was an original dude who was doing it in Atlanta. Was he from Atlanta?
Ian Dunlap
He might have.
Rashad Bilal
He was doing it then they took the idea from him.
Troy Millings
Who took the idea?
Rashad Bilal
Whoever. There's a. There's a woman that's a white person. No, no, no, no, no, no.
Ian Dunlap
I think they cut the check, but yeah, yeah, yeah.
Troy Millings
So. So the new version of it got a deal on Netflix.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, the latest. The version that people has become synonymous. What people think of it now. I think it's a woman that's hosting, right?
Ian Dunlap
Yes. Black woman.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah.
Ian Dunlap
But it's. I think it's a good lesson that you guys can touch on Create an IP that is not easily replicatable.
Rashad Bilal
Okay. Yvonne Orgy is the host.
Troy Millings
Who?
Rashad Bilal
Yvonne from Insecure.
Troy Millings
Oh, Nigeria.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, Molly on Insecure.
Troy Millings
She's the host of the Pop Balloon.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, she's gonna be the host.
Troy Millings
So that's a new show.
Rashad Bilal
They got. They got rid of the host.
Ian Dunlap
It's a new iteration.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, it's a new version.
Troy Millings
Who owns the show?
Rashad Bilal
That's what we got to find out.
Troy Millings
Let's. That's my question. Who owns the show that. Who has the ip?
Ian Dunlap
Peter Teal.
Rashad Bilal
The exact Netflix now own the ip. They gave him the Squid game. Squid Games deal. We'll take it from here, guys.
Ian Dunlap
Appreciate you.
Troy Millings
So like that's what I'm saying. So it's not. It's not. So they just made up a show Pop the Balloon. It's not the show Pop the balloon because they don't have that host anymore and she's not the owner.
Rashad Bilal
Well, maybe she's the EP of the show now, is she? That's what I'm saying. We don't.
Ian Dunlap
I don't.
Rashad Bilal
I look at the deal structure. I don't know.
Ian Dunlap
Look at the deal. Yeah, good.
Rashad Bilal
It was just like the article that Yvonne was hosting and that's coming to Netflix. Ian, I got. I got Netflix one. I'm with you. I'm with you. All the reasons that you said the growth potential, not just here, but internationally, the growth potential for them is incredible. We've been to a lot of places. Some places don't have Netflix yet. Which tells you from a standpoint, infrastructure, obviously technology will be created and it will expand across the globe. Netflix will be a part of that technology from the streaming service. They're already the leader here. They'll be the leader globally as well. I'm taking Hub. I got HubSpot number two. Just because it has been with in the portfolio since 2022. And what I just spoke about in terms of how agentic AI is going to be at the forefront. HubSpot's in the sweet place being that mid tier to small cap to small companies can afford in terms of AI. So I like them there. I got Palo Alto at three. From a cyber standpoint, it's in my top three already.
Ian Dunlap
Okay.
Rashad Bilal
Got a couple. I got a call on them as well. So that was my three. I got bookings at Photo. If you look at their chart over the past 10 years, it is absolutely ridiculous. Travel is something that, you know that's.
Ian Dunlap
Still going on that business.
Rashad Bilal
And then I put Baba at 5. It would have been higher it's just that I've learned my lesson in investing in companies outside of America. But they have a nice turnaround. Ever since the Chinese government has sat down with all the execs in technology. We've seen a nice rebound in Alibaba and a few other Chinese companies. So it would be my number five. I would round it out with that.
Ian Dunlap
Rashad, your head's spinning over this pop the balloon thing, huh?
Rashad Bilal
Just. We're gonna. We're gonna get the live update with you right now.
Troy Millings
It's interesting.
Ian Dunlap
From the Cowboys and. And Omari do Blackout on Netflix. You gotta protect the ip, man. It's a lot. And if you weaponize it and put somebody black facing in front, they got.
Rashad Bilal
Some keywords in here in the description. They saying that the show is being reimaged on Netflix as a TV show reimagism. So maybe the IP was sold.
Troy Millings
You can't own. Can't sell what you don't own. I don't know if they own.
Ian Dunlap
That's a great lesson that. I know some people didn't like to take you right, though as far as that.
Troy Millings
I mean, it's one of these things that's easy to duplicate. You get a balloon, you get people. I don't know if you. If they own the IP of a show popping balloons about dating.
Rashad Bilal
Well, they might have a. Because this is. This looks like it has nothing to do with those people since it's reimaged.
Troy Millings
Peekaboo.
Rashad Bilal
Peekaboo. But they may have a claim saying that they would. They had an original show prior to. So we'll see. We'll see.
Ian Dunlap
I imagine calling a law firm and saying, hey, I got a 25, 000 deposit. You're going to be going up against Netflix.
Troy Millings
And who you think. And who you think is going to watch that? This always happens, man.
Rashad Bilal
It's over.
Troy Millings
This always happens.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, this one's done. YouTube one is done.
Ian Dunlap
And so. Oh. Oh, yeah. Hey, that back catalog copyright strike. Take my IP down, my boy. Tough. Sometimes it behooves you to not give your best idea first.
Rashad Bilal
You gotta wait.
Troy Millings
Yeah.
Rashad Bilal
We gotta see how this works out, man. This is. This is.
Ian Dunlap
Oh, it's worked out already.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, maybe that'll be.
Ian Dunlap
And if Nick Lachey behind this. Nick, we gonna fight. I see your little dating dynasty thing that you got lined up too.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah.
Ian Dunlap
So I wouldn't be surprised.
Rashad Bilal
The you the YouTube version is own was owned and maybe is owned by Arlette Amuli and bm, which is Bolia Montandu. So those are the owners of it, I think they're married. They have the one that's been on YouTube, but again, this is a re imaged version of that.
Troy Millings
So do they own this one?
Rashad Bilal
Not from what I'm seeing. But they're saying like that show was a derivative of the Bachelor. Instead of a rose, it was a balloon. Right, so they had a variation.
Troy Millings
No, no, that was a unique guy.
Rashad Bilal
No, no, I'm just saying that's what the.
Ian Dunlap
Legally.
Troy Millings
That's what they say.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah.
Troy Millings
Who said that?
Rashad Bilal
In this report?
Troy Millings
Netflix report.
Rashad Bilal
No, no, no. After the announcement.
Troy Millings
This is a. This is a press.
Rashad Bilal
Press release, right.
Troy Millings
That Netflix put together that they sent. And in their press release they're saying what.
Rashad Bilal
They're saying that the viral sensation show, which was created by the America, but I just said, has a bachelor coded format. But instead of gifting their potential suitors a rose, contestant will be rejected by the sound.
Ian Dunlap
That's illegal.
Rashad Bilal
That's. That's. That's legal terms. Right?
Ian Dunlap
That's legally.
Rashad Bilal
This is how we're different. So now we'll see what the re image show looks like on Netflix because.
Ian Dunlap
Bigger budget and tulum.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah.
Ian Dunlap
Gotta be careful.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, we should get. We should. If somebody knows them, have them reach out. We gotta get the details of this because. Yeah, this. This is. It's a thing. Got it hot. We'll take it from here.
Ian Dunlap
Thank you for all that you've done.
Rashad Bilal
Shout out to Yvonne though, friend of the show.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah. Crazy.
Troy Millings
Spooky hours.
Ian Dunlap
For real.
Rashad Bilal
Oh, there it is at the bottom. See? Just got to keep reading, folks. They're going to be executive producers of.
Troy Millings
The show and that the YouTube crew.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, there we go. Happy ending.
Ian Dunlap
Robin, you're giving your EP credit is crazy. Allegedly. Yo, you can either give it up and lay down or you let me in the house and I just rob your family. Yo, you pick what you want to do.
Rashad Bilal
EP credit.
Troy Millings
Okay.
Rashad Bilal
Could be nothing, right?
Ian Dunlap
Facts. Then they cross collateralize your content with somebody. Oh, we ran negative.
Rashad Bilal
Since they're the EPs of this show that their show will no longer exist. Right. We could. Okay.
Ian Dunlap
And it's crazy part where the subscription model, you can't even get the breakdown for what the real numbers are.
Rashad Bilal
Maybe they. They'll share the ad revenue.
Troy Millings
Kind of like YouTube.
Ian Dunlap
These media one day I want to get back.
Rashad Bilal
There are some similarities.
Ian Dunlap
Media manipulation, baby.
Troy Millings
That's. That's the dame Dash. He's like, yo, what these CPMs like, what's. What's the formula for CPMs?
Rashad Bilal
We're giving you this price per 1,000.
Ian Dunlap
Yep.
Troy Millings
Oh, based off of how much money is coming in.
Rashad Bilal
How much money's coming in, guys, I've.
Ian Dunlap
Never seen WWE talked about this much in the last eight years. John Cena turned heel. How much money they making just off that one live stream?
Rashad Bilal
The Netflix joint. What? Yo, it's in the top three every.
Ian Dunlap
Week and don't let them go.
Rashad Bilal
That's like by Wednesday, like people still going back and watching. Great deal for them. Great deal. Endeavor. Right? It's endeavor. Because.
Ian Dunlap
Shout out to Hunter. It's a lot of cerebral games being played in media, but never mind, that's a fact. Okay, Shadow media.
Rashad Bilal
The shadow media player.
Troy Millings
Okay, so auto stocks, they've had a sharp sell off because of Trump's tariffs. They're going to implement 25 tariffs on any foreign auto company. That's any company that makes cars. It's not America. So, okay, who's going to benefit from this? Because the immediate thought is Tesla. Tesla stock is down today, but who's in position to benefit from this? Carter?
Ian Dunlap
The only company I really feel comfortable investing in, hypothetically, if I were to. I don't like the sector overall. Tesla's still a stock pick and Red Panda stock club. But Ferrari, I think they're the only one. Oh, maybe one of a few that has a customer base where the price won't affect them investing into said vehicle. I think the entire car category to me is uninvestable. Neck and neck with airlines. But Ferrari I think will be able to withhold ticker race, will be able to withstand whatever tariff pressure comes. But any other gm, Ford, I would not love to invest in them right now. Orders at 46. The GM is at 46. Ford is at 9.92. And that's, I mean, the highest. The four guy was at what, 19 bucks in 2021. Car industry's in shambles, yo. And the crazy part, the margins are still low, historically, for the last decade, while prices have been going up exorbitantly.
Rashad Bilal
So let me paint this scenario. You tell me what you think. All right, so, yeah, gm, Ford, Chevrolet, all those companies, American companies, you would think, right? They have, we're gonna have to buy American cars because there's going to be a 25 tariff on any country, but in the inverse, there's going to be a tariff coming back to the United States. Let's take a. A country like China, right? You give us 25 tariff, they send one back.
Ian Dunlap
Yep.
Rashad Bilal
The Chinese population decides, hey, we don't need American vehicles anymore. Who's the best vehicle that we got going.
Ian Dunlap
Byd. Byd.
Rashad Bilal
Last week, we saw them past testing sales. They said they're not slowing down. They actually anticipate a. A double in the amount of sales in 2025 going into 26.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah.
Rashad Bilal
So, yeah, in terms of investing in American car companies, maybe not the best idea, but what's your thought on the inverse? Saying, hey, again, I'm Chinese stock, but BYD might be an investment based on the tariffs from a retaliatory standpoint.
Ian Dunlap
Told you. Peekaboo. I know a lot of times because, you know, I get called a conspiracy theorists or radicalists with some of these topics. I just see a lot of things ahead of time. BYD definitely is a home run. And I would argue if BYD had those cars available in America, the move would be long Tesla. I mean, long. BYD put on Tesla, it will run them into the ground. The cars look better. Like what? I thought the car was AI when I first saw it, like a year ago. I'm like, what? Sales are strong backing from ccp. And it goes a lot to going back to the point of Black Sam being in Marathon. It's really hard to have an amazing product if you're not in a proverbial kitchen working on that thing. He can say whatever he wants to. It'll come out maybe in a week or two. The time that he's spending in Washington trying to save America is hurting his business. You say whatever you want. It's hard to be 10 places at one time. You usually can only serve one master. Do I think Doge is incredibly important? For sure. Especially if I'm getting government contracts. I'll be in Washington too, if Red Panda got a bunch of government contracts. But you can't say that the moves that he's made over the last four months has not hurt the brand. And the car brand doesn't even look as beautiful as it used to.
Rashad Bilal
And the other part is, from a global standpoint, doesn't won't that be more attractive if they don't put a tariff on other countries? Right. Like, if China decides, hey, they're putting tariffs on everybody, we're not gonna do that at all. It becomes more of attractive situation for. I mean, EVs aren't popular everywhere, but you could see a few countries saying, like, all right, this is. We don't need Teslas here.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah. And they're popping up in a lot of countries quietly.
Troy Millings
Only a few countries actually import cars on mass scale. In China's not one of them. Japan, Germany, these are. These are the car producing, even like, you know, really Germany and Japan, those are, those are the most cars that get produced. You look at Germany, you got Audi, you got Mercedes, you got BMW, you got variety of different cars. And then Japan, of course you got Honda. So the China, back to China, China doesn't, we're not buying Chinese cars. And the, I was watching a report, they said like the global luxury brands are down tremendously for sure. And the one catalyst is China because a lot of them put a huge emphasis on China. That was part of their strategy as far as growing in China. China has lowered their spending on international luxury brands. One is just, you know, dead kind of on eggshells with the economy. But also they have a new inner consumerism, national pride.
Ian Dunlap
Yep.
Troy Millings
And they've developed their own luxury brands. And that's part of the communists. That's part of the, what we talked about before as far as the self reliance stuff like that. So now this car thing is right in line with the luxury brand thing. Right. Where it's like, well, we gonna just buy our own. We're not buying outside brands. We're not buying European and American brands anymore or at least at scale. And like I said, that's hurt Louis Vuitton, that's hurt a lot of luxury already because they thought that China is an emerging market, the biggest emerging market. China's where it's at. So they put a lot of infrastructure and stores and money into China and it, and it hasn't worked out because China did an about face and said that we're going to just support our own. So if they do that, then yeah, I mean for sure. Because who's hurting in that situation? American is making an inferior product. I never had, I've never had an American car. Me personally, I've never owned an American car. And we actually purchased an American car for our company and it's a Lemon. The Yukon Denali in 19,000 miles and the engine blows out and then they don't even have a new engine on. You got to wait a year for a new engine. This is a common thing. I've actually looked online and all of these cars, these, all of these big SUVs, the Denali's, the Escalade. A lot of these American cars are inferior. They're, they're imploding after 18. Yeah. After 18, 000 miles they're imploding. They need a new engine. They're not working properly anymore. American cars are inferior products.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah. So the, the execs from byd, the chairman, he Said Latin America, number one target, Southeast Asia and tariff free uk, those are the targets.
Ian Dunlap
And think about it. In the 60s and 70s, okay, there was a desire for American cars. Like probably since the 90s, there hasn't been a coat, not definitely not in our culture that like wanted an American car. Like the dreams to get a foreign car.
Troy Millings
Yeah. Unless you want like a Hellcat or one of these type situations but nobody, nobody dreams of having and a, a Mustang anymore.
Ian Dunlap
It's over with.
Troy Millings
It's over. It's over.
Ian Dunlap
American muscle, fast and furious got foreigns in them. You can't even get that life with Vin Diesel. Come on, man. Like I keep going United.
Troy Millings
Nobody wants an American car. Like, so now you're gonna force these people to make factories in America and that's going to take a long time. You can't just put a factory up next week. But I mean we have to be honest about this. Like nobody wants an American car. They're not good cars.
Ian Dunlap
No. And everything Claude Anderson said we should do as a community, China is doing. Yeah, you can look at that blueprint. It's almost like they remixed it for that country.
Rashad Bilal
They are building factories in Brazil, Thailand, Hungary and Turkey. Good luck.
Ian Dunlap
Time to. So when we kept saying it's over and everyone's like y'all, y'all being extreme and listen, radical. Listen.
Rashad Bilal
That episode sent sent some shockwaves, but they were needing a lot of texts came through about last week's episode. We ran into some people in LA who were like, yo, I'm glad y'all said that. A couple of execs reached out, said I'm glad y'all put the emphasis on it because people really need to know. A lot of people in the tech world were happy that that conversation was at.
Troy Millings
And then the only American car that was aspirational at a certain point was like a Tesla. And he's a, he's a lunatic and he's, he's ruining the value of his company and they don't even his cars. And they got to put bumper stickers saying I brought this car before Elon lost his mind. So the one, the one golden child in American production couldn't stay disciplined and went off that not made by a.
Ian Dunlap
Person who was born in America.
Troy Millings
Well, that's a different story altogether. But yeah.
Ian Dunlap
But Vanguard vo, I don't have a car ETF for you. Sorry, sorry. We have to stop being so short sighted and thinking about short term goals and even our tech, like for those you who have traveled to other places, Japan, China, Some of the tech is just absolutely better. Even Samsung versus Apple. It's not even close anymore.
Rashad Bilal
I was thinking, like, what was the aspirational force? That was Range Rover, but then they. Ford lost it, so they don't own it anymore.
Troy Millings
But yeah, all they got is the SUVs. American got the SUVs. Because that, you know, SUVs replace limos. There's no more limos anymore. So there's SUVs. The Escalade. But like I said, these cars is breaking down.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah.
Troy Millings
So the one thing that they do have is the. Is the SUV market, and that's not reliable.
Rashad Bilal
We're not driving Caddies anymore. No.
Ian Dunlap
So for what?
Troy Millings
Buick? Who owns Buick?
Rashad Bilal
Oh, that's the joint that. That auto pocket.
Ian Dunlap
Put some 24s on it.
Troy Millings
Have you ever had an American car before? Me?
Ian Dunlap
Yeah, in high school. I had a Chevy junior year. Yeah. Chevy after that.
Rashad Bilal
I don't think so. No.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah, that's what my mom and dad wanted to, like, teach me a lesson about being humble and responsible. Gotcha.
Troy Millings
So.
Ian Dunlap
But after that.
Rashad Bilal
You ain't messing my car up. Yeah, I think the. You. You're right. I don't. There's not a car that. That I'm like, yo, I would have wanted to have that car. But that. The Escalade was a thing at one point.
Troy Millings
Had a moment at a moment, for sure.
Ian Dunlap
Escalades was tough at a certain time.
Rashad Bilal
No. I remember the Christmas dudes was really rocking. The Chrysler. Bentley's crazy.
Ian Dunlap
Was going crazy.
Rashad Bilal
The Chrysler 300, y'all should be ashamed.
Ian Dunlap
That was the hood Bentley for sure. That was the hood Bentley for sure.
Rashad Bilal
Shame, man. Shame.
Troy Millings
You gotta let this find you a.
Ian Dunlap
Place out of the country that you would prefer to reside. I've been telling y'all for three years, yo, you tripping. Okay.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, but you gotta think, like, from a global expansion. This is just like, from a transportation standpoint. You travel a lot. You realize, like, these big cars and these big trucks aren't the most efficient ways.
Ian Dunlap
They're not efficient.
Rashad Bilal
Right. The. The small. The small bike or the motorized bike or the EV bike, like those become even more advantageous to those areas because the population, the street sizes, the affordability. Just saying.
Troy Millings
It is annoying, though. I'll say that it is annoying to have those little cars like, you go to Europe. You go pretty much only. And they don't even have large. You got to take like, they don't get. Your luggage doesn't even fit. Europe does a lot of things backwards, but they make good cars. I Will say that. So you look at Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, I mean, the list goes on. And then of course, you know, Toyota owns Lexus. Italians with the Lamborghinis and Ferraris and all that. But just let the Europeans make their cars and ship them to America. Let's not mess up. Let's not mess up this thing. We've been having this thing going for years. We're not buying American cars. Nobody wants to buy an American car and just not. It's like shopping at Target.
Rashad Bilal
Come on. Some people have. They putting their key, they tuck in their keys right now somebody's watching us sitting next to their girl like, no, he ain't mean that. How you doing that man? R.A. like, he @ the grocery store right now with the Buick and Target.
Ian Dunlap
When last time. You've been to Target?
Troy Millings
I'll go to Target. Shame, I haven't been to Target in years.
Rashad Bilal
She's up in there.
Troy Millings
And our book, I believe, is in Target.
Rashad Bilal
Also shout out to our book, you deserve to be rich.
Troy Millings
But other than that, Target, what do.
Ian Dunlap
You go chopping at? You go like the Amazon cvs.
Troy Millings
No, I don't buy socks at cvs. Oh, I don't.
Rashad Bilal
I know. The last time I got.
Troy Millings
I don't. I don't shop for socks.
Rashad Bilal
How do you get socks?
Troy Millings
I have somebody buy socks for me.
Rashad Bilal
Here's a sock. Hello.
Ian Dunlap
Do you do these? Thank you.
Rashad Bilal
Yes. Come, please. I need a new six pack of socks. Thank you. Preparated at the bottom, please. With the. With the. The great front.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah. For real. Preferably.
Troy Millings
Socks is tricky. You gotta get good quality.
Rashad Bilal
It's important to have good socks.
Troy Millings
And it's not easy to get good.
Ian Dunlap
Quality socks at all.
Troy Millings
Pretty difficult, actually.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah.
Troy Millings
Okay.
Ian Dunlap
What. When's the last decade that an American car brand was preferred.
Troy Millings
To escalate? A Cadillac Escalade.
Rashad Bilal
That's a truck.
Troy Millings
Well, the 80s sedan cars.
Rashad Bilal
You said cars.
Troy Millings
Well, down south they've been driving Chevy Impalas and all that.
Rashad Bilal
Pontiacs and things like that.
Troy Millings
Chevy Impalas and like I said, the Mustangs, the Hellcats, the.
Ian Dunlap
Oh, wait, the Hellcats had a run. Yo.
Troy Millings
All he ever wanted was a black Grand National.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, yeah, those. Those is moving.
Troy Millings
But in New York, what's the.
Rashad Bilal
Oh, the Durangos. Remember they had the Dodge. Came out with the Durango.
Troy Millings
Nobody ever.
Ian Dunlap
I never go in college.
Troy Millings
Yeah, nobody ever said they wanted Grand National.
Ian Dunlap
I never heard that one.
Rashad Bilal
I never heard of it.
Ian Dunlap
I never heard of Thunderbird. It's rare.
Rashad Bilal
It's a rare car. They don't they didn't mix many of them from I think 1989. I think that's the year he was born. So it was like something. I don't know. Yeah, it doesn't look something that I would want. Is that what Knight Rider was? You remember that? Was that a GT gnx. Remember that show?
Troy Millings
Oh, no.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, maybe.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah, a modified one. Took it up.
Rashad Bilal
Not right. It was. Yeah, that was my ride. There's a pimping a ride. No need to pimp the ride killer.
Troy Millings
Okay, Goldman Sachs, let's stay focused. Goldman Sachs lists the odds of u. S. Recession to probably 35 due to radical escalation in global raid wars. We talked about this briefly earlier, but. Yeah. Are we gonna have. Are we gonna have a recession or not?
Ian Dunlap
Once again, I don't know if two quarters will meet the traditional definition because it didn't last time. But I will say buckle up. No luxury spending. It's gonna get like the summer. And my mom was just in town, we were talking this July and oh, you get your tickets to invest fest early because you are going to need a blueprint. I promise you. If last summer was rough and this is when tech was on fire like 2003 get Richard. I try and 56 on fight Lloyd Banks on fire and Nvidia had a strong pullback in July and August and that happened last year when the economy was more stable. I can only imagine what the summer is going to be. So continue to invest in the market for those who have been. You have a nice nest egg and safety zone for you. But cut back on the spending, cut back on the luxury and get ready for a. A rocky ride.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, that GDP number is alarming. We'll see what the. The job numbers come in. We'll see what CPI is. All those things like those factors, they all are going to be starting to report in the next two to three weeks which is going to be the catalyst events for those weeks. Wednesday we. I don't know man. We'll see. Wednesday is one of those days.
Ian Dunlap
Who is he liberating?
Rashad Bilal
I don't know. I don't know. But I could see the market just having it. An historic day like what has happened.
Ian Dunlap
Snipers. I know normally I'll say Monday and Friday only if he say something crazy. Wednesday, short the market. Yeah, I don't. You know how hard it is to make the s P negative five out of six weeks.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah. I think the. With the NASDAQ had his worst month since 22. December 22nd. It's a. It's a Bumpy road, man. But again, the other end of the spectrum is that like if you've had your plan and, and I know you've given a lot of price targets for a lot of these companies. Yeah, they're at those price targets for sure.
Ian Dunlap
And that's the scary part. To see how many of them will hit on the same day or two day period. We'll have eight companies hitting two days.
Rashad Bilal
And this was within three months. It was a relatively short amount of time they got to those targets. But MicroCon perspective is like, look at all the events that had to take place for it to get here. But you're here. And so positive news, some certainty around policy. It could change to the upside as well. So it's a threshold at this point. What's the threshold?
Ian Dunlap
VO is year to date is down $28 over the last year. It's up $28. So we had a very interesting. I mean if we break under.
Rashad Bilal
I.
Ian Dunlap
Don'T know, man, if we get under 4th 90 something, that's gonna be tricky because there's no positive news in our economy that is favorable that will make us go up.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah. What's the.
Ian Dunlap
But for everyone who wanted a reason to get into the market or I kept missing all time highs, you're now getting into a place where you may have a chance to invest.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah. What, what would be the thing, what would be the catalyst on the upside that would trigger, I guess, you know, retail investors, institutional investors say all right, we're moving. Like are we watching volume? What do we, what do we. What would be the thing, the indicator.
Ian Dunlap
Him not saying that J.D. vance will be president. He'll be vice president. Rashad, is that legal?
Rashad Bilal
I'm not a. I mean apparently third term is a, is a, is a conversation.
Troy Millings
Everything for sale. Okay. Okay. As far as. Let's talk bitcoin, let's talk a little bit of bitcoin. Do you see more prominent companies adding bitcoin to his investment policy to protect against economic downturns?
Ian Dunlap
Shout out to financial conspiratories. Been asking me this for like 12 weeks. Yes. If we get into an all out collapse, this is like the holy grail. Asset that has a big enough fan base and adoption has been big enough worldwide. It's provided some safety for sure. Highest returning asset of all time. I do see a lot of companies being a, an extreme laggard and adding this to their investment portfolio to offset the losses that are going to come. I will say though, if we start to get 20 major companies to do this out of the Fortune 500. It is a sign of weakness in the economy. That won't be good. I want to be very clear. That's not going to work out for GameStop how I did for MicroStrategy. So. So if you get to see in family dollar or dollar tree ad bitcoin as an investment strategy, make some more lots in Ghana.
Rashad Bilal
It's not gonna be the way Nasir.
Ian Dunlap
Boulevard, y'all go get every property that's available for sale. For sure.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah. Because I mean, the amount of money that it would take to even see the stock move, I mean, you got to take that into account. Right. What would it take for them to effectively move them into a positive territory? How much debt would they have to accumulate to buy as much Bitcoin to watch the appreciation grow?
Ian Dunlap
Yep, yep. But could I see A major Fortune 20 or Fortune 50 do it for sure. Maybe even the sales force because they have high enough profit margins where they could do it. They had a fanatic fan base for a long time. It's died down some. That would be interesting way to do it. But yeah, be careful of everyone following the micro strategy just because even I think Michael got in a little bit too late. But it's worked out for him. Getting in at this price is not.
Rashad Bilal
Going to be favorable and Microsoft didn't do it. Which is a sign of number one when we're talking about the. The cash flow amounts, like outside of maybe Nvidia, they're close. But Apple for sure has that treasure chest of operating cash flow that is available. The fact that they had the cash flow and still decided not to do it is a telltale sign maybe from a standpoint of, hey, we don't really need to do this.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah.
Rashad Bilal
But the amount of money that it will actually cost to do it. So imagine a company like a GameStop using it as a strategy.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah. I wonder if anyone is going to pile into gold. Got to give Ray Dalio credit for his All Weather, but I wonder if somebody else.
Troy Millings
Yeah, that's what I was just thinking about that. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah, we'll see.
Troy Millings
Okay, Q2 starting Q2, how uncertain is the sentiment going into Q2?
Ian Dunlap
I'm gonna be real outside of Nvidia. And I think the last couple weeks has been the first time publicly. I think the market. Monday's audience has heard me be negative on Apple. The only bright spot that I'm seeing in the stock market is Nvidia, Berkshire and Vanguard. If I'm just talking Purely stocks like right now at a particular price, yes. But to dollar cost average in Apple there would be no other than maybe profit margin and cash on hand. That's not a huge reason to pile into Apple right now. That's not good. And don't take my word for it. Goldman and everyone else is increasing the odds of recession going up dramatically. I remember at the top of the year, especially when all the fanfare was going around and Tesla was on a high, I think the chance of a recession at the time was 5% and now we're at 35 before we get into Q2. So the great part is if you can trade, if you can find a great trade to short to the downside, the gains that you'll have in your trading portfolio will offset or surpass the losses that you have in your long term. But if I have to like bet my life on a company right now, there's not many that I will pour money into for sure. But if you do want to know what companies to invest in, I have two suggestions for you. One, get your tickets to invest fest number two, go to ianinvest.com and I can tell you where to get in, where to get out. Over 90 prices of where to get in and if I made you money, please put yes in chat. That's a fact reimagined by Ian Dunlap segue.
Troy Millings
I mean I look at every. Everything is down right now as far as except for gold but crypto is down. Stocks.
Ian Dunlap
What's Ethereum doing?
Troy Millings
Ethereum down.
Rashad Bilal
Just chilling.
Troy Millings
The price of watches is down. The value of watches has gone down.
Ian Dunlap
If y'all selling y'all Rolexes and aps his brother.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, yeah.
Troy Millings
Discount time bags, everything is.
Rashad Bilal
No, no bags are still up.
Troy Millings
Well, only a few.
Ian Dunlap
Only the Birkins, right?
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, the ones that matter and the Chanel Maxis outside the ones that matter.
Troy Millings
Across the board luxury is down. Across your luxury down. So that's not a good sign. All of these things are not good signs. So yeah, I think you can't be confident going into Q2. Can't have a high level of confidence. I mean especially with all the political uncertainty and geopolitically. Geopolitical uncertainty.
Ian Dunlap
Rashad, she wrote Louis Vuitton stock turned negative year to date.
Troy Millings
No, that's what I'm saying. It's the whole thing like that.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, retail spending is down.
Troy Millings
They're down. Luxury. Luxury spending is down.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, not even luxury retail spending in ter like I mean we saw what happened with Nike Gez, right.
Ian Dunlap
Even though.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah.
Ian Dunlap
Carl Kaepernick. Autumn scenes y'all had coming up. Hey, y'all better call Kyrie Lululemon.
Rashad Bilal
Another one. Like you're, you're seeing it across the retail board. Like numbers have gone down. But it's interesting like when we, you, you talk about Apple, it's only been down. It's. I think it just hit 10% today.
Ian Dunlap
Right.
Rashad Bilal
Well, we've seen Nvidia pull back 27. We've seen Microsoft drop 30. We've seen Tesla drop 40%. Apple. Is Apple's day coming like also they.
Troy Millings
Didn'T pull up as far though.
Rashad Bilal
They were at 260.
Troy Millings
No. But Nvidia was up 600 over the last eight. Right.
Rashad Bilal
I'm just saying in terms, in terms of this pullback.
Troy Millings
So when they have further to pull back than Apple, Apple just been at a consistent pace. Nvidia, Tesla, all these stocks went up. They're 600, 400%.
Rashad Bilal
Microsoft and Apple, if you look at their charts, just, I mean, look at their charts. Obviously there's been splits. The depreciation on those have. They're not even. Right.
Troy Millings
So like Microsoft hasn't gone down that much.
Rashad Bilal
Microsoft's at 370 right now. It was at 480.
Troy Millings
Yeah. So what's 20% more how much you.
Rashad Bilal
Can get the numbers. But I'm just feeling like there might. Is there a further drop coming from Apple? Is what I'm kind of alluding to.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah. But. Oh, good. Homework assignment historically. Go to chat GPT. What's the largest drawdown post Tim Cook being CEO that Apple normally has. There's a reason why. Yep. Steve, Drawdowns were crazy.
Troy Millings
Microsoft is down 20.
Rashad Bilal
I'll give you the year today, right now.
Troy Millings
I just did it. It's 52 week high is 468. Right now it's 3. 7. That's 20. Exactly.
Rashad Bilal
So they're, they're down at. Right, right. So this year they're down. I'm just from January. So they're down at 12. Microsoft's at 9. So it's still a pullback. Microsoft in terms of innovation though, like we can see that the, the roadmap for it.
Troy Millings
Right.
Rashad Bilal
We can see. I'm feeling Apple's day when we see a, a 20% drop.
Ian Dunlap
It's coming and Tim Cook, get your ass out that seat.
Troy Millings
No, no, let's not. Okay, listen, I don't know if we.
Rashad Bilal
Get him out the seat.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah, listen, foresight. I keep saying it. Yo. Okay, but I'll be quiet. Peekaboo.
Troy Millings
No, no, hold on. Let's put things in perspective here.
Ian Dunlap
I know he was 90 of notional value after Steve Jobs thought. I get all the stats.
Troy Millings
They have a monopoly. Like, I think people are forgetting that part of it. They actually have a monopoly. They have a working monopoly here. And what, they're down 15%. Microsoft is down 20%. Similar. They have a working monopoly. Everybody has an iPhone in America. America runs on Duncan and America runs on iPhones. That's, that's that. Those are the two guaranteed things in America. Like America runs on iPhones.
Rashad Bilal
What's the life cycle of it?
Troy Millings
Of an iPhone? It's longer now.
Rashad Bilal
So then I'll need to buy it.
Troy Millings
That's true.
Rashad Bilal
So monopoly doesn't.
Ian Dunlap
And if I tell you.
Troy Millings
Is it as profitable, is it as appealing? Is the marketing strategy? Of course, all those things, do they have problems? Yeah, but I'm just saying a monopoly is like you have to have an iPhone. They had to go to court because they were saying that they purposely was screwing it up when you were sending through Androids.
Rashad Bilal
But that's what I'm saying.
Troy Millings
You lose your pictures, you're gonna lose your music.
Rashad Bilal
They're always based on future projections, right? So like when they're looking at valuations, future projections. If the sales are down on your iPhone, you're losing a Chinese market. The lifespan is longer. That means that the revenue is not going to be there.
Ian Dunlap
Do they report the numbers anymore for the iPhone?
Rashad Bilal
Well, last year they said they're not going to do that anymore when they sell the iPhone, which. Okay. You don't have to. Most. Some companies don't do it at all. You don't have the innovative product.
Troy Millings
No. But they still have a monopoly. No.
Ian Dunlap
For sure. I, I agree. I just think the monopoly needs to be run by somebody else. Which is. What's your quote? How to get run go be chairman. We need somebody new at that home.
Rashad Bilal
We just need to. They just need the product. What's the product?
Ian Dunlap
Then you let Johnny. I've just snatched up by Sam because of your kerfuffle that you had with Steve back in the. Steve been dead, bro.
Rashad Bilal
Been there.
Ian Dunlap
Put your little beef to the side with Steve that you don't want to tell nobody about and go. Go get back to dream team.
Rashad Bilal
We still need the product.
Troy Millings
They have the product. Focus on the main. Keep the main thing. The main thing. They have a. They have a great. The greatest invention in the history of the world. And it's a. It's a necessity. It's a life necessity. That's A hell of a product. Sometimes you. Sometimes you try to do too much. Is when things fall apart for you. Focus on the product. They have the product. They just got to focus on it. They have the greatest. They have the greatest product in human history. That's a hell of a product.
Rashad Bilal
What are you saying? The iPhone itself or a cell phone?
Troy Millings
The iPhone. Greatest invention in human history.
Rashad Bilal
It's one of them.
Troy Millings
It's a hell of a product.
Rashad Bilal
It's a great product. I'm not saying it's not a great product.
Troy Millings
You ain't going to get too many more. Like Market Mondays is a great product. Like it's a great product. Invest Fest is a great product. You can't hit lightning in the bottle.
Ian Dunlap
You stand by. Yep.
Rashad Bilal
Is. Is this.
Ian Dunlap
Has the iPhone evolve or devolved since Steve died?
Rashad Bilal
It's evolved, but it's evolved.
Troy Millings
Technology has evolved too. And. And you know what's impressive? What was impressive at one point they're gonna have to make the hologram. That's gonna be the next. They gotta do something like that. Right? Where you can FaceTime with a hologram. That their technology has evolved. But it's not as impressive because we're not impressed by stuff anymore because we have so much and the product is good.
Rashad Bilal
So I don't need it. You don't need the new product.
Troy Millings
If people lost their iPhones right now, they'd be going through withdrawal.
Ian Dunlap
No, and it pains me to say.
Troy Millings
This iPhone was no longer. If there was no longer an iPhone. It's just like meta. People don't appreciate meta until it. Until it was. Until there's a blackout, until there's no Instagram for two hours. And you people have medical emergencies.
Rashad Bilal
Some will argue there's an alternative, right? I can have another cell phone. It won't be an iPhone, but you could have a cell phone with all the apps that the iPhone has.
Troy Millings
When's the last time you had another phone outside of iPhone?
Rashad Bilal
I'm not saying me.
Troy Millings
I'm saying people. When the last time.
Rashad Bilal
So the iPhone's not the number one selling phone in. In China, Right? We know that.
Ian Dunlap
I'll answer it for me. Probably 2010.
Troy Millings
Exactly 2010.
Rashad Bilal
What is the last one you had? That's probably.
Ian Dunlap
Probably the last time I had.
Rashad Bilal
Remember the first one came out. That was.
Ian Dunlap
The last one I had was 2007. I had it and I went to.
Rashad Bilal
We all have the trio.
Troy Millings
BlackBerry. I had the trio. No, no, no. It was the other one.
Ian Dunlap
What was the one with this with the wheel scroll on the side?
Rashad Bilal
No, that was a BlackBerry. That was. The trio had the little ball and pause in the middle.
Troy Millings
The trio. The trio was elect. Once this came out, it's game over.
Rashad Bilal
I think that's 07.
Troy Millings
It's game over.
Ian Dunlap
It was 07.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah.
Ian Dunlap
That was the last.
Rashad Bilal
07 was the singular wireless.
Troy Millings
Yeah, it's over. Like, this is. This is in my book, the greatest invention of all time.
Ian Dunlap
You can have the greatest invention and still need a better.
Troy Millings
It's at least top 10.
Rashad Bilal
It's in the top 10 for sure.
Troy Millings
At least top 10.
Rashad Bilal
Because if the Internet's not on it.
Ian Dunlap
Is it, I think, the greatest computer all time.
Rashad Bilal
Is it as effective if. What if you have no Internet?
Troy Millings
All things come into play here. You got gps, you got Internet, you got music. They all come. They're all important.
Ian Dunlap
Just put it on, integrate it into one.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah. To be the product that has them.
Troy Millings
All and put it. And to have it in your pocket.
Rashad Bilal
So we got to put Internet in there.
Troy Millings
Speaking of that, you know, historical Tibet, you know, Cleopatra lived closer in time to the iPhone than the construction of the Great Pyramid to Giza. To put things in perspective, really. Wait, so the Great Pyramids of the Great Pyramid was completed around 2560 BCE E. Cleopatra ruled Egypt around 30 BCE to over 2, 000 years apart. So the first iPhone came out 2000 years. Exactly around 2000 years after Cleopatra. So she's closer to the iPhone than she was the pyramids. That's interesting. That puts dynasties in perspective for you. Right. The Egyptians, we're talking about 2000 years even further than that, because those pyramids wasn't to start. So really, you took about 5,000 years. In the grand scheme of things, America, we've been a superpower for 80 years. After World War II is when we became a superpower. So perspective.
Ian Dunlap
Yep.
Troy Millings
Historical context for you. So that's crazy because, like, the ancient. The ancient Egyptian. The ancient Romans and Greeks looked at Egypt as an ancient civilization. Like, the ancients looked at that. They looked at them as ancient civilization. So how we look at, like, ancient Rome. The ancient Romans looked at the ancient Egyptians as an ancient civilization. They was 2, 000 years prior to them.
Ian Dunlap
It's a good lesson. You cooked.
Troy Millings
Where's Billy Carson when you need him?
Ian Dunlap
Call him for real, because we need to know what the crystal structures are underneath the pyramids.
Troy Millings
Yeah, yeah. Never. Really?
Ian Dunlap
Always safe space for you, Billy, you know.
Troy Millings
Okay. When will the stock market stop falling?
Ian Dunlap
Whenever he decides he wants to make America great again. If we get. Honestly, them couple of days. We didn't have a tariff announcements, the market moved up. If he can be quiet for two months to three months, the market will boom. Or if he says I was wrong, I'm going to correct course the market will take off to the upside. That's why I tell you guys like policy matters because it affects what everyone does in business. There is a hierarchy. It does matter. So I know some of you may not want to hear the political takes and leanings. This goes into the assessment of what the economy is doing which affects stocks. Stop listening with emotion and just apply what I tell you. If you want to get rich in the market, save your conjecture.
Rashad Bilal
Good work.
Ian Dunlap
Because when I LeBron you at invest Fest the energy be different. Stephen A gotta stop my boy. I would have sworn on LeBron you had a chance. Come on, my boy.
Rashad Bilal
Ah, it's all entertainment. All entertainment for sure. Just entertainment. Just entertainment.
Troy Millings
Okay, before we leave, any investing advice for expecting parents or married couples?
Ian Dunlap
One of the greatest pieces of advice, shout out to Art he got from Dr. Pleasant at Clark Atlanta University. If you can do it, I know everyone can, but if you can, I take one income and invest it completely. And then you live off the other income. Do that for five years. That was a piece of advice I was given in 2009. So kudos to Dr. Pleasant, kudos to Art for that piece of advice. I know it's tough, but make the decision. You can either make the decision and do it and go without for a few years or, and that'll be tough or not do it. And see the games that happen in the market when they finally steer him the right way and you miss out on 6, 700, 800 gain.
Troy Millings
So that's a good, that's a good one. MG what he does is he says a house hack. If you plan on getting married, buy a home before you get married. Each individual people, each individual person get an effort because then you can get one after. But as opposed to, oh really, you have limited options. So house hacking, he. He talks about that in detail on his Instagram page.
Rashad Bilal
We actually spoke to somebody shout out to the earners. They did that with the VA loan. So now if you're dating and you both have a VA loan or you're eligible for it, talking about zero percent interest and I think zero percent down. So you, you do that as single individuals and then now you both have a house and then eventually you get a house. Got income. Income. Paying for the, for the house that you have together.
Troy Millings
Yeah. Oh, also I got some information FHA loan has reached I think something like 8 year high in delinquencies. 11 foreclosure is. Foreclosure crisis is coming. A foreclosure crisis is coming.
Rashad Bilal
Time to buy. You said 11 delinquencies, 3.5. Sounds good.
Troy Millings
And something like 30 of Americans are behind on their mortgage like at least one month.
Ian Dunlap
I can believe that. I can believe that.
Troy Millings
A drought is coming.
Rashad Bilal
Car delinquency, foreclosures.
Troy Millings
There's gonna be. There's gonna be some foreclosures on the market for sure.
Rashad Bilal
Foreclosures and repossessions.
Troy Millings
If you're interested in real estate, you might. You might be able to get some deals later on.
Rashad Bilal
I can't wait to buy your most prized possessions when they up for auction.
Ian Dunlap
I would.
Rashad Bilal
I know you think of that, man. Something's wrong with you.
Ian Dunlap
Call me Ian at join Red Panda. My boy. I love you. I would never bring outside India.
Rashad Bilal
Same number, same city.
Troy Millings
And commercial real estate is.
Ian Dunlap
Is, oh, shambles everywhere.
Troy Millings
Everywhere you go, a lot of commercial real estate. Chicago, Atlanta, everywhere. A lot of commercial real estate crisis is going on here.
Ian Dunlap
For sure.
Rashad Bilal
You've seen it. We's in la. Buildings that used to have flourishing businesses.
Ian Dunlap
Right.
Rashad Bilal
Going taco spot going now.
Ian Dunlap
Foot. No way. Foot traffic light. Even when I called about my little packages at the office, even there people showing up into the actual offices down 60%, 40% down in year over year growth in office space.
Rashad Bilal
Yo. That's correct. Forever 21 just off of bankruptcy. Like discount shopping stores out of here.
Ian Dunlap
We got to talk about private equity. Cause and some of this too one day. But after Invest Fest, Navy.
Troy Millings
And that's why Invest Fest is so important. Like as far as the only thing that's gonna be able to save you in this economy is relationships and information.
Ian Dunlap
For sure.
Troy Millings
You have to make relationships and in person. There's no better way. And then you have to sharpen your. Your informational skill set.
Ian Dunlap
Yeah.
Troy Millings
Which is what the whole thing is built on. Added a whole day Friday we did last year. This year we got a bigger space. But all day Friday just workshops. All workshops. No celebrities on Friday there's just workshops. So.
Ian Dunlap
Man, that was a lot of bands at the Nvidia GTC conference. Didn't see one right up on CNBC about that Rock and Roll hall of Fame outside. I'm like, damn, Rock and roll rolling loud.
Troy Millings
It's getting. It's getting scary out here, man. It's getting real scary. Spooky. Really, really spooky out here, bro.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, I see The Corey IPO was in the notes. But I think I'm gonna do a class on that because people we talked about it last week when we saw companies that coming kept coming up at gtc. I'm gonna. I'm gonna do that inside the inside of EYL University because there's a lot of complexities to it. So be on the lookout for that. And then this news magazine. What you talking about? The conservative news. It just ip it Ibo today up 500 conservative news. This is like that interesting. True social all over for sure.
Ian Dunlap
Those have not done well. Nike is at is 2017 lows.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, they got a product now. They once had a monopoly and had a product.
Ian Dunlap
You had a spark when you started.
Rashad Bilal
I don't do that. We got some good folks.
Ian Dunlap
Top 10 and not mentioned at all.
Rashad Bilal
It's still top 10, man. Stop. They still top 10. But innovation is lacking.
Ian Dunlap
And what retail.
Rashad Bilal
But re. Yeah, for sure, for sure, for sure. They got to reinvent the tech suit.
Ian Dunlap
Central C, this your fault.
Rashad Bilal
Ever since he said that, man. Ever since he said that.
Ian Dunlap
Central C, what? I don't even know what Nike can do. And that's the crazy part.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah, it's gonna be tough.
Ian Dunlap
More room to fall.
Rashad Bilal
This is true. This is true. I don't know. I don't know who the athlete is. I don't know what the product is.
Ian Dunlap
I don't know. I would say two years ago, Kanye. But Hoodie. Kanye and hoodie mellow, two different entities. So I wouldn't dare say that. Mark Parker, whatever you call Kanye in private, I agree with you. Wherever you at, salute.
Rashad Bilal
I'm not saying his name, man. I'm not even gonna say his name. He apparently don't like when people say his name and they don't talk about helping him get his family back. So we're gonna leave his name anonymous for me.
Ian Dunlap
He's making this so shout out to Kimberly for it's not taking him away forever. Yo. This would have been the easiest family law court case and his she got to be applauded. Oh, God.
Rashad Bilal
I think you're gonna save the review for Wednesday, right?
Ian Dunlap
Yeah, we'll talk about it. We gotta show Grace.
Rashad Bilal
Okay. Okay.
Troy Millings
All right, ladies and gentlemen, there you have it.
Ian Dunlap
Yes.
Troy Millings
Of the blackout. I mean other market Mondays. Speaking of, let go soon. Come Wednesday, 10 o'clock, get your tickets to invest fest. Invest.com go to Ian invest.com, man.
Ian Dunlap
Nike profit margin 6.9. Sell to China. So please sell to Alibaba somebody.
Troy Millings
So get out while you can. It's been real, ladies and gentlemen.
Rashad Bilal
You know love is love, man.
Ian Dunlap
Where y'all going? To God. Apartment Report time before you wrap up. That's the real indicator.
Troy Millings
Somber City. Get your unit.
Rashad Bilal
Soon reach, soon come.
Troy Millings
It's all fun and games. Yeah.
Rashad Bilal
Happy birthday to everybody that has one this week. I don't, I don't got anybody on my list, but I know somebody.
Ian Dunlap
I know I missed somebody, but salute. Happy birthday. Birthday.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah.
Ian Dunlap
I love you dearly.
Rashad Bilal
We love you dearly. Reach out to your people. Text your people. Love is love, man. We see y'all.
Ian Dunlap
This is not doom and gloom. This is analysis at the highest level. Shout the keys. We have to keep it real with you. So I know we came in. I, I, you know, I know it's frustrating. That was four other years. You could have listened and made 700%.
Rashad Bilal
It never feels great to lose money, but no, it's part of the process. This is.
Ian Dunlap
I don't care how much you have it hurt.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah. It never feels great. Put your seat belt on, have your plan execute and just sit back. It's okay. Sit back.
Ian Dunlap
In two years, it won't even matter. It's a fact.
Rashad Bilal
Yeah. All right, y'all, we out. Love is love.
Ian Dunlap
Peace.
Derek Falcon
When you're with Amex Business Platinum, you have the card that works just as hard as you do. You give 150% to your business and so does your card. With 1.5 times Membership Rewards points on select purchases, you earn rewards that can take your business further. And with complimentary access to more than 1400 lounges globally, including the Centurion Lounge, you can stay up to speed no matter where your business takes you. That's the powerful backing of American Express Express Terms and points cap apply. Learn more@american express.com Amex Business Are you.
Rashad Bilal
Looking for legit ways to make extra money? Our friends at the side Hustle show.
Troy Millings
Have put together this cool free 60.
Rashad Bilal
Second quiz to help you do just that. All you got to do is go to Hustle Show. You can do it right from your phone, answer a few short multiple choice questions, and it'll recommend a few episodes of the Hit side Hustle show podcast. To start with, you can add your personalized Side Hustle show play playlist to.
Troy Millings
Your device, learn what works, and start.
Rashad Bilal
Making more money today. Again, that's at Hustle Show.
Troy Millings
Or follow the award winning side Hustle.
Rashad Bilal
Show in your favorite podcast app.
Market Mondays #252: Trump’s Tariffs Deadline, Gold Skyrockets, Recession Fear, AI Stocks & Financial Advice for Couples
Release Date: April 1, 2025
Hosted by EYL Network featuring Ian Dunlap, Rashad Bilal, and Troy Millings
The episode kicks off with a heartfelt tribute to the legacy of the late Nipsey Hussle. The hosts, Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings, delve into Marathon Burger's community impact, emphasizing the importance of employing local residents who might otherwise lack opportunities.
Troy Millings (02:55): "They’re employing the neighborhood. Not just the community. These are people that a lot of other people wouldn't have given opportunities to."
The discussion highlights how Marathon Burger not only serves quality food but also fosters community growth by providing jobs to individuals facing various challenges. This initiative is seen as a continuation of Nipsey Hussle's vision to uplift his community.
The conversation shifts to the broader economic landscape, focusing on the impending tariffs set to take effect on April 2, which President Trump has dubbed "Liberation Day." The hosts express concern over the lack of a clear policy pathway, which they believe is creating market turmoil.
Ian Dunlap (11:10): "No roadmap leads to high returns. That’s why... the market does not like any uncertainty."
They discuss the significant downturn in major stock indices, with 327 stocks down 50% year-to-date, and the fear of an impending recession. The interplay between political decisions and market performance is a central theme, emphasizing that understanding macroeconomic policies is crucial for investors.
Amidst the uncertainty, the hosts advocate for sticking to fundamental investment principles. Ian Dunlap emphasizes the importance of adhering to basic technical and fundamental analyses without deviating based on market hype.
Ian Dunlap (13:17): "Stick to the basics. Whatever your fundamental breakdown is and your technical breakdowns are... don’t deviate from them."
Rashad Bilal adds that discipline in trading, avoiding overtrading, and having a well-formulated plan are essential strategies to navigate volatile markets.
Rashad Bilal (15:06): "Have a plan. Maybe it’s not ours, but you created one or formulated one that works for you."
Troy Millings introduces the topic of gold, noting its significant rise as an investment asset, particularly in response to Trump's tariff policies. They reference billionaire Mike Novogratz's bullish stance on gold and Bitcoin, highlighting gold's status as a hedge against economic downturns.
Troy Millings (17:41): "Gold broke all-time records and has outperformed pretty much everything since Trump got elected at least."
Ian Dunlap concurs, suggesting that gold is a reliable asset to hold for the long term, especially during periods of high uncertainty.
Ian Dunlap (20:27): "Invest in gold as a hedge. Buy index funds."
A substantial portion of the discussion revolves around the impact of political decisions on the economy and the stock market. The hosts critique the lack of expertise among elected officials, arguing that policymakers without a strong understanding of macroeconomic principles are contributing to economic instability.
Troy Millings (33:14): "The political system in America has no education requirements. That’s disturbing."
They debate the consequences of Trump's aggressive tariff strategies, questioning how long such policies will persist without adjustments and the potential long-term damage to the economy.
Ian Dunlap (25:33): "The market is going to be in turmoil. Until we get a clear policy pathway."
The imposition of a 25% tariff on foreign auto companies has led to a sharp sell-off in the automotive sector. The hosts analyze which companies might benefit or suffer from these tariffs, expressing skepticism about American car manufacturers' ability to withstand the pressure.
Ian Dunlap (70:35): "The entire car category to me is uninvestable. Neck and neck with airlines."
They highlight BYD, a Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, as a potential beneficiary of the retaliatory tariffs, projecting strong sales growth in international markets.
Rashad Bilal (72:22): "BYD might be an investment based on the tariffs from a retaliatory standpoint."
Apple's stock performance is scrutinized, with the hosts debating whether its current downturn signifies deeper issues within the company. They discuss Apple's monopoly status in certain markets and question the sustainability of its product dominance without continual innovation.
Troy Millings (81:35): "They have a monopoly. They have a working monopoly here. Everyone has an iPhone in America."
Despite the monopoly, concerns are raised about Apple's ability to maintain its market position amid fierce competition and political uncertainties.
The conversation transitions to the real estate sector, where the hosts predict an impending foreclosure crisis driven by rising delinquencies and economic strain. They discuss the potential opportunities for investors in distressed real estate markets.
Troy Millings (111:28): "A foreclosure crisis is coming."
Rashad Bilal suggests that strategic real estate investments could be lucrative in the wake of increased foreclosures and market downturns.
Towards the end of the episode, the hosts offer financial advice tailored to expecting parents and married couples. Ian Dunlap recommends adopting strategies like "house hacking" and utilizing VA loans to secure real estate investments early on.
Ian Dunlap (109:28): "If you can, take one income and invest it completely. Live off the other income for five years."
Troy Millings echoes the emphasis on strategic investments and prudent financial planning to safeguard against economic uncertainties.
The episode wraps up with a reiteration of the importance of disciplined investing and being prepared for a tumultuous market environment. The hosts encourage listeners to participate in upcoming events like Invest Fest and leverage educational resources to enhance their investment strategies.
Rashad Bilal (118:26): "We love you dearly. Reach out to your people. Text your people. Love is love, man."
They close by emphasizing that while the current market presents challenges, informed and strategic investing can mitigate risks and capitalize on opportunities.
Notable Quotes:
Ian Dunlap (13:17): "Stick to the basics. Whatever your fundamental breakdown is and your technical breakdowns are... don’t deviate from them."
Troy Millings (17:41): "Gold broke all-time records and has outperformed pretty much everything since Trump got elected at least."
Rashad Bilal (33:14): "The political system in America has no education requirements. That’s disturbing."
Troy Millings (81:35): "They have a monopoly. They have a working monopoly here. Everyone has an iPhone in America."
Key Takeaways:
Community Initiatives: Businesses like Marathon Burger play a critical role in community development by providing employment opportunities to local residents.
Economic Uncertainty: The lack of clear policy direction, particularly regarding tariffs, is fueling market volatility and recession fears.
Investment Discipline: Adhering to fundamental investment principles and maintaining discipline are essential strategies in uncertain markets.
Hedging Assets: Gold and Bitcoin are highlighted as potential hedges against economic downturns, with gold showing significant performance gains.
Political Influence: Political decisions without expert economic guidance are adversely affecting market stability and investor confidence.
Automotive Sector: Tariffs are heavily impacting the automotive industry, with Chinese manufacturers like BYD positioned to benefit.
Technology Giants: Companies like Apple and Microsoft face challenges despite their dominant market positions, raising questions about long-term sustainability.
Real Estate Opportunities: An impending foreclosure crisis could present investment opportunities for those prepared to act strategically.
Financial Planning for Families: Early and strategic investments, such as through housing and leveraging available loans, are crucial for financial stability.
Educational Resources: Engaging in events like Invest Fest and utilizing educational platforms can equip investors with the necessary tools to navigate complex market conditions.
Subscribe to Market Mondays for in-depth analysis and actionable insights to navigate the ever-changing financial landscape.