The Dr. Doug Ramsey Show - 20241102

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The opinions and information expressed and discussed on The Doctor
Doug Ramsey Show or for informational and educational purposes only.
It is not intended to provide, and should not be
relied upon for accounting, legal, tax or investment advice. Please
consult with a professional specializing in these areas regarding the
applicability of this information to your situation.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
All things financing business leading you to success at work,
at home, and in live. It's the Doctor Doug Ramsey
Show and now here's your host, Doctor Doug Ramsey.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
Welcome to the Doctor Doug Ramsey Show. I'm your host,
Doctor Doug Ramsey, broadcasting on the Mojo Fibo Radio Network.
All right, it's been a few weeks. I got caught
up on a project work, so a lot of wild
stuff's happened it, especially everything leading up to the to

(01:00):
the vote here coming up next Tuesday going to be
really interesting. Let's start off with this article I saw
which is just laughable to take Russia seriously, but here goes.
This is from NBC News on Halloween actually came out

(01:25):
and it's about the fine that they imposed on Google
says it's kind of fine. You might want to consider
paying off and installments. A Russian court has demanded Google.
They had numbers so large that even the Kremlin conceded
to NBC News on Thursday, it was more a symbolic

(01:47):
gesture that a summit soon expects to bolster its war funds.
The fine amounts around twenty decillion. That's twenty the number
one to zero, followed by thirty three zeros or two

(02:08):
undecillion rubles. A thirty seven digit figure. Well, that's crazy.
So if I saw it written out in a different
article and it's it's super long. Twenty decillion dollars. According
to the Russian news outlet RBC, the fine is the
total amount demanded by seventeen Russian television channels and other

(02:33):
media outlets whose output has been blocked from YouTube, the
video platform owned by the tech giant, as sanctioned supporters
of President Vladimir Putin's regime and its invasion in Ukraine.
The court that imposed the fine might be in for
a long wait for Google to pay up. However, not

(02:55):
only does the figure eclipse of Google's two trillion dollar
market v but it's also far larger than the size
of the entire global economy. Within the international Monetary Fund,
or which the International Monetary Fund puts it around one
hundred and ten trillion dollars, a figure with a mere

(03:15):
thirteen zeros. That said, at least define is not as
large as a Google, which has one hundred zeros. Google
founders Larry Page and Sergey Brinn picked the number as
the name of the search engine they then hoped would
organize large quantities of information. So there you go, you

(03:38):
learned about the origin of the name Google. Although it
is a specific amount, I cannot even say this number.
It is rather filled with symbolism, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov
said Thursday when asked by NBC News how Google was
expected to pay such a large sum. The company should

(04:01):
not restrict our broadcasters on their platform, he added on
his daily briefing call with reporters. There should be a
reason for the Google leadership to pay attention to this
and improve the situation. The amount the court says Google
o's is growing. While the case was first opened in
twenty twenty, when Google block channels that then belonged to

(04:22):
Wagner Group, Mercenary Chief, you have Guiney Pregosian and Olive
arch constantin milofive. It was expanded when YouTube banned further
channels after Russia's full skill invasion in Ukraine in twenty
twenty two. The court order Google to restore the accounts

(04:43):
within nine months, with a fine of one hundred thousand
roubles around one thousand bucks levy for each day after
that period. The size of the fine was the double
each week for every week of non compliance, with no
limit on its size. RBC said some of those Russian
media outlets have also appealed the courts in Turkey, Hungary,

(05:08):
Spain and South Africa and enforced court decisions made against
Google and Russia. In June, South Africa's High Court granted
Emotion to seize some of Google's assets in that country.
Shares in Google parent company Alphabet ticked down one point
two percent in pre market trading after closing almost three

(05:28):
percent higher Wednesday, when a company released quarterly earnings that
were received well by investors. In the section of its
third quarter earnings release titled legal matters, Alphabet said, we
have ongoing legal matters relating to Russia. For example, civil
judgments that include compounding penalties have imposed upon us in

(05:51):
connection with disputes regarding the termination of accounts, including those
of sanctioned parties. Company added we do not believe these
ongoing legal matters will have a material adverse effect. Google
did not immediately respond to a request for comment from
NBC News. Well, no surprise there, all right, TGI Fridays.

(06:18):
I think just about everybody in the country has been
to a TGI Fridays before. We used to go there
fairly frequently back in the eighties. There was one in Covena.
It's right by the university, right by cap probably Pomona,

(06:40):
and we used to hang out there after long week.
But TGI Fridays the American casual dining chain set on Saturday.
This is yesterday that it has filed for Chapter eleven
bankruptcy protection after grappling with prolonged five ancial challenges and

(07:02):
a collapse deal with UK based hosts. More. In a
fine with the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District
of Texas, company listed both assets and liabilities in the
range of one hundred million to five hundred million dollars.
So I've gone over this before, but just as a review.

(07:22):
When you file for Chapter eleven, there's a court form
that you use for that filing, and when you are
listing your assets and then separately your liabilities, they do
it by checkbox, and those checkboxes have ranges. So that's

(07:42):
why it's not a specific number. It's saying it's in
that range between one hundred to five hundred million dollars,
which corresponds to that particular checkbox. It's interesting they're filing
in the Northern District of Texas, so I don't know
where their corporate headquarters is, but that would lead me

(08:07):
to believe there's a good chance they're based out of
here or out of Texas. Privately owned by Triartists and
Capital Advisors, TGI Fridays has been a beloved dining destination
since its inaugural bar opened in Manhattan, New York. Get this,
over five decades ago, in nineteen sixty five. That's way

(08:32):
back in the day. TGI Friday's owner and operator, thirty
nine Domestic Thank God It's Friday Restaurants, said it maintains
operations across its corporate owned Happy Our dining places in
the US, adding that it has secured a financing commitment
to support operations. Rohet Minoka, executive chairman of TGI Friday,

(08:58):
said the primary driver over a final financial challenges resulting
from COVID nineteen in our capital structure. This restructure will
allow our go forward restaurants to proceed with an optimized
corporate infrastructure that enables them to reach their full potential.
In September, British restaurant operator host War dropped plans to

(09:21):
buy TGI Fridays after it was removed as the manager
of TGIF funding, which owns the right to collect royalties
from the restaurant chain franchise. Host War, which operated TGI
Fridays in Britain through its unit Thursdays, saw its shares

(09:44):
crashed ninety percent after the news and later announced its
intention to enter administration overwhelmed by debt. I guess that's
the UK's form of a filing there. The administrators Thursdays
in October said thirty five TGI Friday restaurants in the

(10:05):
country have been closed, leading to one thy and twelve
job losses. After the bankruptcy announced on Saturday the Dallas
based chains and normal operations will continue in all the
franchise locations, both in the US and internationally. So we

(10:27):
went over to Dublin. I was speaking at the International
Financial Management Association conference one year and it's my wife
and then to our kids, and then we met my
good friend Paul Martine over there. But we wound up

(10:53):
going to TGI Fridays. The first afternoon we got in
and just for the four of us. When we got there,
we went to TGI Fridays. We saw that were like,
all right, get an appetizer too, and you know, get

(11:14):
something to drink and then we'll check in the hotel
and then go find something for dinner. So we hit
this TGI Fridays one round of drinks and then an appetizer,
and it was one hundred and forty US. It was
like brutal, that's exchange. It was pretty tough on us.

(11:39):
But the TGI Fridays is pretty similar to what you
find in the US in terms of offerings and stuff.
They had some local fair as well, but expensive, definitely expensive,
all right. Continuing on TGF Friday's, Franchise Or, which owns

(11:59):
the brand and intellectual property, has franchised TGF Friday's the
fifty six franchisees in forty one countries. The restaurant operators
said those stores are independently owned are not part of
the chapter eleven process, So it's basically only the company
owned or franchise were owned entities and not the ones

(12:23):
that they've got franchise agreements with where they're collecting royalties
on them. All right, so we'll see how that turns out. Well.
With all the political news, seems like every hour of
the day here leading up to the election, it makes

(12:47):
you think about staying in the US going forward, you know,
whether it makes more sense to maybe move live elsewhere,
ramp down the lifestyle, whatever it happens to be. But
some people are questioned whether they want to stay in
the US going forward, regardless of who wins. And I

(13:09):
came across this interesting article on CEEINGBC about how some
Americans are making plans to leave, but they're doing it
under specific programs with respect to getting passports or residency
in other countries. So this article kicks off and it

(13:37):
says a growing number of wealthy Americans are making plans
to leave the country and the run up to Tuesday's election,
with many fearing political and social unrests regardless of who wins.
According to immigration attorneys, attorneys and advisors to family offices
and high networth families said seeing record demand from clients

(14:02):
looking for second passports or long term residencies abroad. While
TAKO moving overseas after an election is common, Wealth advisors
said this time many of the wealthy are already taking action.
We've never seen demand like we see now, said Dominic Vulik,

(14:24):
Group head of Private Clients at Henley and Partners, which
advises the wealthy on international migration. Bulk said that for
the first time, wealthy Americans are far and away the
company's largest client base, counting for twenty percent of its business,
or more than any other nationality. He said the number

(14:48):
of Americans making plans to move abroad is up at
least thirty percent over last year. David Lesperance, managing partner
of Lesperance and Associates, the international tax immigration firm, said
the number of Americans hiring him for possible moves overseas
has roughly tripled over last year. Survey by Artan Capital,

(15:12):
which advises the wealthy on immigration programs, found that fifty
three percent of American millionaires said they're more likely to
leave the US after the election no matter who wins.
Younger millionaires were the most likely to leave, with sixty
four percent of millionaires between eighteen and twenty nine, saying
they were very interested in seeing so called golden visas

(15:32):
through a residency by investment program overseas. Granted, the interest
in second passports of residencies has been rising steadily among
the American rich since COVID nineteen. Whether it's retiring to
a warmer, cheaper country, or being closer to family abroad,

(15:52):
the wealthy have plenty of non political reasons to want
to venture overseas. The ultra wealthy also increasingly see some
ship in one country is a concentrated personal and financial risk.
Just as they diversify their investments, they're now creating passport
portfolios the hedge of their country risk. Others want a
non US passport in case they're traveling to dangerous countries

(16:16):
or regions hostile to the US. So they've got a
table here says for big enough investment, these countries will
give you citizenship. And there's a list of about eight

(16:36):
of them here Austria. And they require minimum capital and
they don't have a dollar amound here. They just say
substantial economic contribution, and if you get it in Austria,
it gives you residency, work and the ability to study

(17:00):
in twenty seven EU countries. Malta is six hundred thousand euro.
The investment holding period five years allows residently work in
studying in Malta. Turkey's four hundred thousand dollars three years
for Turkey only. And then they got a few others Dominica, Grenadas,

(17:23):
Saint Kitts and Nevis, and then Saint Louisia. But they're
all all those are in the two hundred thousand to
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars range. And this goes
on and says the elections and the political climate have

(17:45):
accelerated and added to the push by wealthy Americans to
consider a plan be abroad. Vesperance said that for more
than three decades, as American clients were mainly interested in
moving overseas for tax reasons. Now it's politics and fear
of violence, with next week's election turbo charging those fears.

(18:07):
For some of them, the primary thing is I don't
want to live in a maga America, Lesperon said. Others
are worried about violence if Donald Trump loses or Vice
President Kamala Harris's plan to tax unrealized capital gains, which
is looney by the way, I added that part for

(18:27):
those worth more than one hundred million dollars, So that
whole thing. I talked a little bit about it on
one of the previous shows. But the idea there behind
Harris's plan is that if you've got, say some stocks

(18:47):
that go up in value, or real estate that goes
up in value, even though you haven't sold it, when
you get to the end of the year, you're going
to have to see what the estimated market value is
and pay capital gains on the unrealized gain between when

(19:13):
you bought it and what it's worth. Now, you know
at the end of the calendar year, even if you
haven't monetized, so you're paying cash taxes on a gain
that is just on paper. And let's see you've let's

(19:33):
say you've got real estate that goes up a rental
real estate. You've got some property you're rent in that
office building or whatever, a house, multi tenant apartments, whatever.
Let's say it goes up one hundred thousand dollars in value.

(19:54):
You got to pay capital gains. Let's assume it's twenty percent,
So you got to pay twenty thousand bucks on your
taxes for that year, and then the following year, you're
still holding on to the property. The following year, let's
say it goes down two hundred thousand dollars in value. Well,

(20:16):
you're out twenty And this doesn't address what happens when
you have an unrealized loss, but you already had to
fork over twenty grand. Do you get that twenty thousand
back and more? Because now you've incurred a two hundred
thousand dollars loss for that second year that you held it.

(20:43):
It is really crazy anyway, Well, tax Ana, Let's say
the unrealized gain gains plan has a little chance of
passing Congress even with the Democratic majority. Lest friends said,
it's still a risk, even if there is only a
three percent chance that had happened, and you still want
to take our takeout insurance, he said. Attorney say The

(21:06):
wealthy also cite mass shooting, school shootings, the potential for
political violence, anti Semitism, Islamophobia, and the government's soaring debts
as reasons to leave. When it comes to destinations, Americans
are looking mainly to Europe. According to Henley, The top
countries for Americans looking for residency or second citizenships include Portugal, Malta, Greece, Spain,

(21:34):
and Antigua. Italy has also become popular for Americans. You know,
in Italy there were a couple of towns where you
could buy real estate for one euro and I saw
a YouTube video this past week about a couple of

(21:57):
people that have taken a image of the program. But
they said, you got to be really careful about what
what you buy into because one guy who's making the point,
you've got to look to the left and right of
that particular unit if it's in a multi unit building,
and see what kind of shape those other units are in.

(22:18):
You know, whether there's big you know maintenance, the for
maintenance issues, and you can get into a bit of
a bear trap in terms of expenses just to rehab
a location. If you don't, if you don't buy right,
even though it's only caution one year of then you

(22:39):
got all the investments that get it up the speeds.
But it's worth checking out. I mean there there definitely
are some good opportunities. The love affair between Americans and
Europe has been going on for very long time, said
armand Arton of Arton Capital. Comes with a price, and

(23:01):
they are totally fine investing a couple hundred thousand dollars
or a half million into a property or a fund.
The rules and costs, however, are changing fast. While mass
immigration has become a hot button political issue across the world,
some politicians to Europe have started to push back against
Golden visas that give the wealthy citizenship a residency purely

(23:25):
based on investments poured to gold For instance, face the
backlash after a flood of foreigners poured in the algar
Algarve and bought beach properties is part of the Golden
visa program. With property prices soaring by fifteen percent, government

(23:46):
changed the rules, increasing minimum investment thresholds and removing residential
properties an investment category. Italy the summer doubled its flat
tax on the overseas incomes of wealthy foreigners who transfer
their tax residency to Italy to two hundred thousand euros.
That's two hundred seventeen thousand dollars US. The change for

(24:08):
all the wave of wealthy new migrants who came for
the program and drove up Milan property prices. Yeah, so
they've got a list here of temporary residency countries, and
these I think they're all over there in Europe. So

(24:32):
got Cyprus, Greece. Greece is two hundred and fifty thousand
euro for five years, Italy's two hundred fifty thousand Europe
for two years, Portugal two and fifty thousand year for
one year, Spain five hundred thousand euro for three Switzerland
two hundred fifty thousand Frank What was that CHF I

(24:59):
think that the Frank. I'm looking it up here real quick. Yeah,
switch Frank and that's for twelve months. Then they've got
a few others listed here. So anyway, you get the idea.

(25:20):
If you're thinking about moving, you might check out one
of those programs. All right. Wendy's just leaked the brand
new Frosty flavor. You know, I've I'm a sucker for
the chocolate Frosty. I think I've only had one or
two in the last twenty years, but they are good,

(25:45):
definitely good. Well, this comes to us from Taste to Home.
Never heard of that publication. No one makes me look
faster more than Wendy's. A signature red haired girl has
stacked her man you with bacon eators, baked potatoes, and
one of the best fast food burgers out there. In

(26:06):
my opinion, though the most iconic thing at Wendy's is
the frosty. Who is this? Is? Wrote this? Melanie Love
all right, so I guess we're getting her view on
all this. Let's see that frosty. There's something so satisfying

(26:29):
about dipping salty fries into the sweet, creamy chocolate frosty.
I can't say I ever dip fries in my frosty.
Monday's heard us asking for a sweet and salty treats
of the chain is gearing up for a holiday flavored
drop that's got the best of both worlds, and with

(26:52):
the drummer and fan faury, it's a salted caramel Frosty.
If you're anything like me and want to taste every
salted carmel food on Earth, then you're ecstatic too. Looks
pretty good. According to Instagram snack aficionado at snack Lator,

(27:12):
it appears the salted 'tis the season for a sensational frosty.
Frosty will be replacing the vanilla frosty. Some have expressed
their concerns about the matter, but until it hits the menu,
it's still up in the air. Don't worry, though, Plan

(27:36):
B is learning how to make a copycat Frosty at home. Well,
we're not going to get into that. When does the
salt of Caramel Frosty drop? It looks like it's set
the debut after the Krabby Patty collab Frosty makes its exit,
and this snack later person speculates sometime in November. Whenever

(27:58):
we are, we are in November, man have to check
it out. We're un sure how long the Salted Caramel
Frosty will be around, but we imagine it will be
a limited release available through Christmas or while supplies last.
Keep your eyes peeled. So let's think about this from

(28:19):
the business perspective. If you're Wendy's or any other restaurant
group you're thinking about dropping a new flavor out there,
you gotta do a lot of work behind the scenes
in terms of your flavor profiling, you know, consumer group stuff,

(28:43):
behind the scenes, letting you know, getting feedback, letting people
taste it, and taking the criticism and the accolades and
just kind of blending all that and trying to come
up with that optimal formulation that it's into that Frosty's

(29:03):
kind of persona and that whole you know, called of
for what it is an R and D process costs
a lot of money for these companies, and you've heard
about you know McDonald's and others. They've got their test
kitchens and they're always trying all kinds of different things. Well,
they land on this formulation that they're going to roll

(29:27):
out with on this uh salt of Carma frosty, and
you know, then they've got to work on the roll out,
the timing of the rollout, the marketing and advertising budget
that's going to lead up to it. You know, how
are they going to get the word out, How are

(29:47):
they going to get the most bang for the for
the investment in this seasonal add on? And you know
it's the end of the day. It's got a pencil out. Well,
you got their financial planning team crunching all the numbers.

(30:08):
They got to gather all the expected costs for the
advertising program. They're working with a professional agency, advertising agency.
They've got to factor those costs in and then see
if the pencils out, see what kind of return they're
going to get on that investment, and then you know,

(30:28):
let her rip it and they they hope it meets
or exceeds their their forecasts. So there's a lot that
goes on behind just the product, simple seasonal product rollout
like this, and you're seeing firms all the time got
to reinventing themselves or taking a hard look at the

(30:50):
menu and and so forth. In the meantime, they've got
to look at whether the stores, you know, all their
stores are economic or not, if they're offitable, and demographics change,
people move, the characters, cities or you know, areas, neighborhoods
change over time, and what might have been a ultra

(31:13):
profitable location for one of the restaurants now may not
be breaking even. And so they've got to call the
portfolio and keep looking at that and state dynamic make
changes well to that end. There's an article from CNN

(31:34):
from Friday from November. First, Mondays has closed one hundred
and forty stores. So this is Weddy's is closing one
hundred and forty restaurants in the company months, the fast
food chain announced this week, but the company said it
would open an equal number of new locations in areas
that believes can generate better business for Wendy's. The restaurant's

(31:57):
targeted to close are outdated located in underperforming areas. Wendy's
CEO Kirk Tanner said on an Erne's called Thursday, adding
at their financial performance or well below the system average.
The company didn't provide a list of locations slated to close.
Tanner said that is not one that it's not one

(32:18):
particular area. Wendy's conducted a robust review of individual restaurants
to ensure they meet our expectations for sales, have the
profitability to fuel growth, and deliver the Wendy's brand experience
for customers. He said, overall, Wendy's system is incredibly healthy.
This round of closures are in addition to one hundred

(32:40):
closings at Wendy's announced in May. Despite the rounds of closures,
the overall number of Wendy's, which stands at about six
thousand in the US, isn't shrinking. The chain is building
about two undred and fifty to three hundred new locations,
which Auld base off the technological he enhanced design revealed

(33:01):
in twenty twenty two that have new pickup windows, updated
kitchen appliance. Isn't it bruced up interior. Other chains of
recently announced closures of underperforming locations, including Denny's and Shake
Check all right, So there you go. I'm gonna get

(33:27):
to it here a couple of articles. But Starbucks brought
in this new CEO and he took a bunch of
heat over finding from Newport Beach to Seattle or wherever
it is to work three days a week in the
office and flying back on his private jet, with Starbucks
covering the cost of his private jet, which I guarantee

(33:52):
is not cheap. We were flying a Falcon nine hundred
and our charter price on that. This is back in
the aughts mid aunts. It's fifty four dollars per flight hour,
and that didn't include catering, and you know extras like

(34:17):
car storage because you can pull right up on the tarmac.
You got to get through the security get you just
buzz in, but you just pull your vehicle right out
next to the plane and then they go valet and
the hangar. So when you add everything up and any
fuel searcharges it is expensive. So that's why number of

(34:40):
Starbucks shareholders were getting pretty vocal about that part of
his comp package. But we'll get to what Starbucks is
doing on in this new CEO on just completely overhauling
the menu and everything, which is kind of anx sension
to what I was just talking about with you know,

(35:03):
Wendy's and product rule outs. All right, the first there's
an article here from CNBC Sport about Morgan stane Way.
They're launching an investing index tied to sports leagues. So
this is interesting. Before I get to this, my brother

(35:25):
actually tipped me off to this. You can bet on
the election. There's a betting site called call she k
l s hi dot com and call she dot com.
I'm pulling it up a real time right now who

(35:47):
will win the presidential election? Right now, real time stats
and it keeps updating is the bets come in. But
as real time stats have it at fifty five percent
in favor of Trump, forty five percent for Harris less
than a week ago. Yeah, this is on the twenty

(36:10):
ninth of October. It was his high as sixty sixty
four point six percent in favor of Trump winning. But
on that particular bet, there's right now one hundred little

(36:30):
over one hundred and sixty million dollars bet on who's
gonna win on the call shee site, so you can
check that out. But then they have bets on a
bunch of other things like who's gonna win senate races,
what's gonna be the Senate margin of victory? All kinds

(36:51):
of stuff. It's pretty wild. So anyway, this Morgan Stanley Index,
they're introducing a new portfolio for investors tied to the
most prominent sports leagues. The Investment Banks Wealth Management Division
on Thursday and asked the launch of what it is
calling Parametric Custom Core Sports League Strategy. The portfolio, aimed

(37:17):
at high network sports fans, will allowed them to invest
in a curated index of companies with strong sponsorship, media
and advertisement ties to the most prominent sports leagues. There
is a two hundred and fifty thousand dollars investment minimum
to participate. Sports have proven to be an attractive and

(37:39):
growing asset classes evaluate since the skyrocketed over the past decade.
That has left those who are still on the sidelines
wanting to get in, But for most Americans, owning a
pro sports team is financially well out of reach. Morgan
Stanley is hoping to change that. The idea for the
new offering first came about when it Morgan Stanley client

(38:01):
asked the bank to design a portfolio made up of
the companies and support a specific sport. We saw that
there was a bigger opportunity to do something here, said
Sondra Richards, Managing director and head of Morgan Stanley's Global
Sports and Entertainment division. This one person represents many, in
multiple multiples of many that are looking to invest in

(38:23):
sports as a fan looking to get engaged. The portfolio's
holdings are selected from large cap US equities and will
consist of between two hundred and fifty to four hundred
securities from companies that you may see on the sidelines,
in the tickers, or among the advertisers of major sporting events.

(38:43):
Morgan Stanley says the portfolio will mimic the risk characteristics
of the SMP five hundred. The bank, which is five
hundred and sixteen billion dollars of assets under management, will
tap into Nilsen Sports as its data source to track
the activity, spending and visibility of the companies with exposure

(39:04):
to professional sports leagues. We see the demand from our
clients that are asking about ways to invest sports, said Richards.
And it's going to continue, all right, Disney. So aside

(39:28):
from it costs a lot of money to go, but
you know, you don't ever unless you see it on
YouTube or dig into it. You don't ever see what's
going on behind the scenes, and it's a it's a
well oiled machine, and there's a lot always going on

(39:48):
to give you that magical Disney experience, and they have
a lot of cast members that support all that. But
there's a an article in CNBC that I came across,
and this came out on Saturday, and it's about how

(40:12):
they do their seasonal change over, and it gives you
a little glimpse into that says it's time for Disney
parks to swap pumpkins for points setius. In the thick
of its busiest season, Disney's domestic theme parks have already
begun to transition from Halloween decorations to Christmas colors. The

(40:36):
transformation starts to take shape practically overnight, with warm autumn
banners traded out for festive and green garlands. The full
metamorphosis takes about six weeks. About two weeks before Halloween,
Disney's crew begins installing inconspicuous elements for the holiday season,

(41:00):
such as lighting rigs. The effort is planned over the
course of twelve months and involves a number of different
departments from the horticulture team and text services to crane operators,
truck drivers, aerial lift drivers, and even culinary experts. Most

(41:20):
of the installation is completed during overnight hours when the
park is closed. Well every day, especially at a Disney
theme park. Halloween in the holidays are two very magical seasons,
and our guests keep coming back here after year for
both continued traditions and new surprises, said Disneyland Resort President

(41:42):
Ken Patruck. These only Disney can do experiences happen because
of our passion cast members who make magic while most
of us are sleeping, delivering seamless and wildly creative transformations
of our parks throughout the year. Starting November eighth Walt

(42:04):
Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and November fifteenth at the
disneyl Amerzon Anaheim, disney slate of winter holiday offerings will
be in full swing, from sparkling, ornamented and trees and
glitzy character costumes to limited time food and beverage options

(42:24):
and exclusive merchandise. For Disney, these holidays are big business,
drumming up significant revenue with traffic. October and December, two
of the company's most popular travel months for the parks.
According to Gavin Doyle, founder of mickey Visit dot com,
Traditionally it would have been summer, but it's actually evolved

(42:46):
to be these two months where there's additional layers of
offerings and it's something unique. On top of that, it's
kind of it kind of fits in that Disney Vault strategy.
This is something that comes out and then people are
really excited about it for a limited time. Disney's Experiences division,

(43:11):
composed of parks, cruises, hotels, and consumer products, generated nine
point one three billion dollars in revenue during the period
from October through December twenty twenty three. That's three months,
one single quarter of business sales over nine billion dollars unbelievable.

(43:38):
In other quarters of twenty twenty three and twenty twenty fourth,
the division generator in anywhere between seven billion and eight
point three billion dollars. This year, Mickey's Not So Scary
Halloween Party kicked off August ninth and Florida, and Oogie
Boogie Bash, a big trick or treating event, started October
twenty fifth in California, extending the Halloway crowds into the

(44:01):
company's summer quarter. Both events ran through October thirty first.
The end of the year also brings a lot of
repeat visitations, especially from local park goers, and building the
infrastructure to accommodate these decorations and limited time specials, Disney
has created a tradition for its guest who bake it

(44:21):
into their yearly plans. The annual changes to character costumes,
food and drink options, merchandise and other ambients up updates
give attendees something new to explore. All right, get the
idea there real quick before we get to the Starbucks

(44:47):
articles that wrap things up. If you haven't talked to
my good friend Tony Vaccaro about your state planning and
insurance needs, make sure you give them a call. He'll
give you a complimentary review. Let you know what he likes,
what he might recommend. H then you do what you
want with the information. You can reach them at two

(45:08):
and four eight three seven three five one two. That's
two and four eight three seven three five one two
or TRIPLEW dot Independent APG for Advanced Planning Group dot
com and let them know doctor Doug sension. All right, Starbucks,
let's talk about changes that are underway. After three straight

(45:34):
quarters of declining the same store sales, Starbucks new CEO
Brian Nichol is making some changes, including cutting down on
highly customized drink orders. Both customers and barristas have complained
for years about highly customized drinks and the delay they
can cause and getting orders out efficiently. An effort to
meet Nichol's goal of getting every order and the customer's

(45:57):
hands in four minutes or less. Oh, he's got a
time on it now four minutes or less, company wants
to simplify customizations to make things easier for customers and employees.
The company will add common sense guardrails to customizations on
its mobile app, Nichol said during starbucks fiscal fourth quarter
earning it's called Wednesday. He added the company's current mobile

(46:20):
customer ordering system causes headaches for both customers and barristas.
One it's complicated for the customer to get through it,
and then two, we kind of incentivize people to customize
drinks that probably aren't the best way to execute the drink.
Not to mention it creates additional complexity for our partners
to execute the drinks. So we have some cleanup to do,

(46:42):
is the way I would describe it. Nichol said. These
changes will improve consistency as well as help I limentate
price tags prizes for high we customize drink orders that
could be more expensive than a regular drink. Starbucks' menu
changes aren't just affecting drinks. The coffee chains food options

(47:03):
are also due for a revamp, and there's a renewed
focused on quality over a variety. I do think we're
going to be much better at food if we do
fewer things on the food front in a better quality fashion.

(47:23):
The coffee chain is expecting to cut down on its
menu to align with its core identity as a coffee company.
We continue to offer customers in great choice by focusing
on fewer, better products. We expect this to improve throughput, quality, inconsistency.

(47:46):
And then let's see. So for the quarter, this is nuts.
This is almost the same number as Disney for the quarter.
Looking at bar charts here, Starbucks for the quarter posted
nine point oh seven billion dollars in sales profits just

(48:10):
under a billion dollars. It was nine hundred and ten
million bucks in profits for the single quarter and earnings
per share eighty cents a share. Just to keep you
a sense on the finances. So here's a little twist

(48:32):
on the Starbucks returning to its roots. So this is
a different article. This is from CNBC, but it's part
of this revamp and you know what they've got to consider,
and this is just one of those things that I
was talking about on new products, same thing here, if
you're going to revamp things. Starbucks CEO Brian Nichols said

(48:52):
the copy chain plans to buy about two hundred thousand
Sharpie markers as part of a planned to take the
coffee chain back to its roots. He's betting that more
personal touches, including bringing back markers to write customer names
or messages on cups, will bring customers back to cafes. Yeah,

(49:16):
it is a little impersonal where they just print those
stickers down. For three consecutive quarters, the company's reported to
clining sales. In Starbucks's latest quarter, traffic to its US
stores tumble ten percent. Some customers think the coffee chain
has drifted too far from its cores, according to Nickel,

(49:39):
while the company works on a more comprehensive turnaround strategy,
again veil some initial steps. We just went over some
of those, and keep in mind what he's overhauled has
nearly seventeen thousand locations just in the US, so it's

(50:01):
a sizeable task. He thought the number he heard was
something like close to two hundred thousand sharpies we've got
to track down. Unfortunately, it's not as simple as just
going to the stables and picking up some sharpies. So
there you go. Big overhaul going on. It's Starbucks, a

(50:22):
lot to consider, including sharpies. Just to pull it off.
You've been listening to Doctor Doug Ramsey show. Remember you
can't make go without dog catching his stuf.