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New Delhi, Online travel service provider <keyword id="10861063" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Easy-Trip-Planners" source="Orion">Easy Trip Planners</keyword> Ltd on Monday reported a 21.82 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 25.9 crore for the June quarter. The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 33.13 crore in the year-ago quarter, Easy Trip Planners, which operates under the brand EaseMyTrip, said in a regulatory filing. <br /><br /> Consolidated revenue from operations during the first quarter of the current fiscal stood at Rs 124.05 crore, as against Rs 87.58 crore a year ago, it added. <br /><br /> Total expenses were higher at Rs 91.56 crore, as compared to Rs 47 crore in the same period a year ago, the company said.

Easy Trip Planners Q1 2023-24 profit declines 22% to Rs 26 crore

<ul><li>The company’s stock was trading at around ₹714 in early trading hours on Friday.</li><li>The development comes a day after <keyword id="5030468" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="easemytrip" source="Orion">EaseMyTrip</keyword> expanded its international footprint to the US, Philippines and Thailand.</li><li>The company had doubled its net profit to ₹61.4 crore in the financial year 2021.</li></ul>Publicly-listed travel ticketing app EaseMyTrip has hit $1 billion in market capitalisation earlier on Friday, September 17. <br /><br />The company’s stock was trading at ₹714.15 at 9:38 a.m., on Friday. That’s when the company’s market cap crossed the ₹7,300 crore threshold. <br /><br />Shares of the travel tech startup, which goes by the name Easy Trip Planners, were trading at ₹663.55 at 11:10 a.m., on Friday as its market cap dropped to ₹7,215 crore ($981 million). <br /><br />The development comes a day after EaseMyTrip expanded its international footprint in the United States, The Philippines and Thailand. The company has forayed into new countries anticipating a huge pent-up global travel demand in the coming months, the company said in its regulatory filings. <br /><br />Aloke Bajpai, founder and chief executive of another travel tech startup ixigo, congratulated EaseMyTrip on achieving this benchmark. Like EaseMyTrip, rival ixigo is also planning to hit the public markets this year and has filed the preliminary papers for its<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/travel-app-ixigo-files-for-a-1600-crore-ipo/articleshow/85292327.cms"> ₹1,600 crore</a> initial public offering (IPO). <br /><br /><div type="twitter" handle="alokebajpai" handlename="Aloke Bajpai" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1285439472339791873/wki9K2bg_normal.jpg" favoritecount="78" retweetcount="16" status="Congratulations to @EaseMyTrip @nishantpitti @rikantpitti @ppitti for hitting $1 Bn market cap in the public market… https://t.co/Ow4gE1YSKW" createdat="1631853920000" id="1438725735686959106"></div><br />Earlier this month, Anand Rathi had issued a buy call on Easy Trip Planners with a target price of ₹550. At the time, the company’s stock was trading at ₹462.35. <br />    <div type="image" title="EaseMyTrip touches market cap of a billion dollars" msid="86285944" hostid="261"></div><br />Founded in 2008 by Nishant Pitti, Prashant Pitti and Rikant Pitti, EaseMyTrip offers deals on flight booking, hotels and holiday packages. The company has been one of the few bootstrapped startups to hit the public market and has been profitable as well. <br /><br />The company even doubled its net profit to ₹61.4 crore in the financial year 2021, when the entire travel segment was brought down to its knees due to COVID-19. Its revenue, however, declined to ₹150 crore from ₹181 crore reported in FY20. <br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO<br /></strong><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/the-only-way-to-beat-the-bots-from-taking-your-job-is-to-be-more-human/articleshow/86282273.cms">Future of Work 2021: The only way to beat the bots from taking your job is to be more human</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/biocon-hero-motocorp-tvs-motor-banks-and-other-top-stocks-to-watch-out-for-on-september-17/articleshow/86281250.cms">Biocon, Hero MotoCorp, TVS Motor, banks and other top stocks to watch out for on September 17</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/biocon-biologics-to-offer-15-stake-to-serum-institute-life-sciences-at-valuation-of-4-9-billion/articleshow/86281318.cms">Biocon Biologics to offer 15% stake to Serum Institute Life Sciences at valuation of $4.9 billion</a><br /><br />

EaseMyTrip touches market cap of a billion dollars

<ul><li>The company had seen its IPO being oversubscribed by 159.33 times the offer value.</li><li><keyword id="5030468" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="EaseMyTrip">EaseMyTrip</keyword>’s IPO comes at a time when the fears of another lockdown are surging in the country, which could potentially affect travel.</li><li>However, ahead of its IPO, EaseMyTrip seemed optimistic about the travel industry.</li></ul>Easy Trip Planners Ltd, the parent company of online travel aggregator platform EaseMyTrip, which made its debut in the stock market today, saw its share price list at ₹212.25 at 9.50 am, 13.5% higher than the IPO issued price of ₹186-187 per share. <br /><br />However, within minutes of trading the share price fell to ₹204 at 10.13 am. <br /><br />Since its listing, the company’s market value rose to ₹2,305 crore. <br /><br />In the grey market, the shares of the company were trading at ₹160-165, as per <a href="https://www.livemint.com/market/ipo/easy-trip-planners-ipo-grey-market-premium-listing-gains-allocation-dates-in-10-points-11615094894205.html">reports.</a> However, the grey market is not an official measure of the market premium.<br /><br />The company had seen its IPO being oversubscribed by 159.33 times the offer value, with its QIB portion being subscribed 78 times, HNI 384.26 times and retail 70.78 times.<br /><br />EaseMyTrip’s IPO comes at a time when the fears of another lockdown are surging in the country, which could potentially affect travel. With the rising number of COVID-19 cases, several states have issued advisory while many cities are now subject to lockdowns or night curfews. <br /><br />However, ahead of its IPO, EaseMyTrip seemed optimistic about the travel industry. “In our third quarter of 2020, we have already recovered 70% of where we were during the same period last year,” Prashant Pitti, director at Easy Trip Planners (the parent company of EMT) told Business Insider in an interview. <br /><br />The company is an exception among a large pool of internet companies, which have tried to get listed – EaseMyTrip has bootstrapped its way to the public markets. <br /><br />Founded in 2008, the company is India’s second largest travel aggregator. EMT claims to have achieved profitability and calls itself “the only profitable company among key OTAs (online travel aggregators) in India”. <br /><br />According to a CRISIL report, as of FY20, EMT had a market share of 5% in India. However, the company believes that it would have gained market share in the last year.<br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:<br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/delhi-high-court-brings-up-civil-prison-for-violation-directs-future-group-to-recall-approvals-granted-to-future-retail-reliance-deal/articleshow/81570521.cms">Kishore Biyani vs Amazon – Delhi High Court brings up ‘civil prison’ for violation by Future Group, asks for recall of approvals granted to Future Retail-Reliance deal</a><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/accenture-announces-one-time-bonus-for-all-employees-as-the-tech-giant-sees-robust-revenue-growth/articleshow/81572548.cms">Accenture announces one-time bonus for all employees as the tech giant sees robust revenue growth</a><br /></strong><br /><br /><br /><br />

EaseMyTrip lists at 13.5% premium – but gives up some of the listing gains soon after

<ul><li>The company said that the total payout of the interim dividend is ₹10.86 crore.</li><li><keyword id="5030468" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="easemytrip" source="Orion">EaseMyTrip</keyword> has announced its first dividend in April 2021 almost a month after its listing.</li><li> The company reported over 330% year-on-year increase in its consolidated net profit in Q2 of 2021.</li></ul>Travel ticketing platform Easy Trip Planner — which goes by the name EaseMyTrip — has declared an interim dividend of 50% or ₹1 per equity share of the face value of ₹2 for the fiscal year 2022 that ends in March next year.<br /><br />The company said that the total payout of the interim dividend is ₹10.86 crore. <br /><br />The said dividend on equity shares will be credited to the members as per the records of the depositories as beneficial owners of the equity shares, as on November 22. The interim dividend will be paid on or before December 10, 2021. <br /><br />EaseMyTrip has announced its first dividend in April 2021 almost a month after its listing on the stock exchange.<br /><br />The latest development comes soon after EaseMyTrip announced its financial result for July to September quarter of 2021. The company reported over 330% year-on-year increase in its consolidated net profit. <br /><br />Its revenue also grew another 164% year-on-year to ₹59.7 crore in the July-September quarter.<br /><br />  <div type="image" title="EaseMyTrip announces interim dividend of 50% after stellar profit growth" msid="87648383" hostid="261"></div><br />The financial statement also highlighted that EaseMyTrip witnessed a 2.5 times higher air bookings and 11 times higher hotel nights booking compared to previous quarter. The gross booking revenue (GBR) stood at ₹895.1 crore in the June to September quarter.<br /><br />“EaseMyTrip has a uniquely sustainable and profitable model and our results have consistently demonstrated this all the time. Even in this fiscal, we witnessed phenomenal growth across all segments in the H1FY22 [first half of financial year 2022]. It also reflects a strong recovery of India's travel sector, which was severely impacted by the pandemic,” Nishant Pitti, chief executive and cofounder of EaseMyTrip, said.<br /><br />The company offers access to more than 400 international and domestic airlines, over one million hotels as well as train/bus tickets and taxi rentals across India. <br /><br />EaseMyTrip was founded in 2008 and claims to have more than 11 million customers. It also has offices across India and international markets like Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the UAE, the UK, and the USA.<br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO</strong><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/zomatos-investment-turns-curefit-into-indias-36th-unicorn-of-2021/articleshow/87640767.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" style="">Cult.fit’s parent company Curefit is the 36th unicorn in town</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/zomato-has-closed-all-international-operations-in-uk-us-singapore-and-lebanon/articleshow/87639773.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" style="">Zomato has officially pulled out of all international markets</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/nykaa-is-now-bigger-than-coal-india-britannia-irctc-and-almost-double-of-hero-motocorp/articleshow/87635312.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" style="">Nykaa is now bigger than Coal India, Britannia, IRCTC and almost double of Hero MotoCorp</a>

EaseMyTrip announces interim dividend of 50% after stellar profit growth

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Diversifying a <keyword id="27676" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="portfolio">portfolio</keyword> means owning a mix of investments within and across asset classes to reduce exposure to <keyword id="27263" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="risk">risk</keyword> and <keyword id="77900" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="volatility">volatility</keyword>.</li><li>To build a diversified portfolio, you'll need to consider your risk tolerance, time horizon, and investing goals.</li><li>Mutual funds and ETFs are prime <keyword id="122746" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="diversification">diversification</keyword> tools, offering instant access to hundreds of stocks or bonds as well as alternative investments like commodities or real estate.</li></ul><p>There's a reason manufacturers make different product lines, and stores carry a range of goods: It protects their profits. If one item suffers a seasonal decrease in demand or is an outright flop, they may still be ok if the majority of the other items do well.</p><p>It's a business strategy called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-diversification" target="_blank" rel="noopener">diversification</a>. And just as diversification is important in industry, it's important for your investment portfolio as well.</p><p>The primary goal of diversification isn't to maximize returns; it's to limit risk. When you diversify your portfolio, you reduce your risk of experiencing massive losses when a few of your investments underperform. Read on to learn more about the benefits of diversification and for a step-by-step guide to diversifying your own portfolio.</p><h2>Understanding risk</h2><p>At its most basic level, risk refers to the chances that a particular investment or portfolio could suffer financial loss. Beyond this definition, risk can be broken into multiple categories:</p><ul><li><strong>Company risk: </strong>What is the financial strength of the company or government entity that you're looking to invest in (often through stocks) or loan money to (often through <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/bonds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bonds</a>)? Does it have a low, moderate, or high chance of bankruptcy?</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-volatility" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Volatility risk</strong></a><strong>: </strong>On average, how often does the particular asset that you're looking to invest in have losing years? For example, large-company stocks lose money once every three years on average. </li><li><strong>Liquidity risk</strong>: How easy would it be to get your cash back out of the investment if you needed the money to cover an emergency expense?</li><li><strong>Interest rate risk</strong>: How would your investment be impacted by a rise or fall in interest rates? Bond values, for example, tend to go down as interest rates go up.</li><li><strong>Inflation risk</strong>: Is your portfolio's rate of return at risk of being outpaced by inflation? This could be a legitimate possibility for portfolios that are invested solely in cash equivalents.</li></ul><p>All investments involve some level of risk. </p><p>If safety is your ultimate goal, however, look to bank or credit union deposit accounts (<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/what-are-the-best-savings-accounts-right-now" target="_blank" rel="noopener">savings accounts</a>, CDs, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/best-money-market-accounts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">money market accounts</a>, etc.). Since these accounts are insured up to $250,000 by the federal government, they offer the closest thing to an investment "guarantee." </p><h2>How diversification benefits you</h2><p>Diversification involves owning a mix of investments to reduce risk and volatility. Here a few common ways to diversify:</p><ul><li><strong>Company diversification</strong>: Owning shares of multiple companies so that your portfolio won't be significantly harmed if one stock declines or goes bankrupt.</li><li><strong>Industry diversification</strong>: Owning stocks from a variety of industries (technology, healthcare, energy, consumer staples).</li><li><strong>Size diversification</strong>: Investing in companies of different sizes, or market caps, such as small-cap, mid-cap, and large-cap companies.</li><li><strong>Global diversification</strong>: Investing in a mix of domestic and international stocks</li><li><strong>Asset class diversification</strong>: Moving beyond stocks and bonds, the traditional financial assets, to invest in additional types: real estate, commodities, private equity, and cash.</li></ul><p>The more diversified your portfolio becomes, the less of a chance you'll have of experiencing a huge loss in any given year. </p><h2>Downside to diversification</h2><p>Unfortunately, with investments, the chance of big losses usually goes hand-in-hand with the possibility of big wins. Diversification's benefits often come at a cost: diminished returns.</p><p>To illustrate: <a href="https://intelligent.schwab.com/public/intelligent/insights/blog/determine-your-risk-tolerance-level.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a recent study</a>, using historical data from 1970-2016, which compared the performance of three hypothetical portfolios:</p><ul><li><strong>Conservative</strong>: 30% stocks, 50% bonds, 20% cash</li><li><strong>Moderate</strong>: 60% stocks, 30% bonds, 10% cash</li><li><strong>Aggressive</strong>: 80% stocks, 15% bonds, 5% cash</li></ul><p>If avoiding declines was your only goal, the conservative portfolio would be the clear winner. The maximum one-year loss it suffered was 14%, vs. 32.3% for the moderate, and a whopping 44.4% for the aggressive. </p><p>But when it came to annualized returns for each portfolio, the conservative gained 8.1%, the moderate, 9.4%, and the aggressive,10%.</p><p>Those slight differences may not seem like a big deal. But over a 40-plus year investment horizon, they add up. For example, if each portfolio had begun with $10,000, their final account tallies would have been:</p><ul><li><strong>Conservative</strong>: $389,519 </li><li><strong>Moderate</strong>: $676,126 </li><li><strong>Aggressive</strong>: $892,028 </li></ul><p>Riskier investments tend to offer higher potential returns. So, smoothing out the risks, as diversifying does, means no sickening drops — but no exhilarating lifts, either. Most investors are willing to accept the tradeoff.</p><h2>How to diversify your investment portfolio</h2><p>Ready to start building a diversified portfolio? Here are four diversification tips to guide you along the way.</p><h3>1. Determine your risk tolerance</h3><p>Your <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/difference-between-risk-tolerance-vs-risk-capacity-investing-2020-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">risk tolerance</a> is how much money you are willing to lose in the short-term in exchange for the potential for higher long-term growth. There are various factors that can affect your risk level. These include your:</p><ul><li><strong>Time horizon</strong>: How soon will you need to take your money out of your investments? Someone who won't be retiring for another 30-40 years may be willing to take on more risk than someone with a retirement window of 5-10 years from now.</li><li><strong>Income needs</strong>: If you're still working, you may decide to invest in higher-risk, growth-oriented investments. But if you've already reached retirement, you may prefer to focus on lower-risk investments that can provide a stable income, such as bonds, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-a-dividend" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dividend stocks</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/who-has-the-best-cd-rates-right-now" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CDs</a>.</li><li><strong>Portfolio size</strong>: As your portfolio grows, you may choose to raise your risk tolerance since you'll have more capital available to sustain short-term losses.</li></ul><p>The investments you select should be guided by your risk tolerance. Those with a high tolerance for risk may invest a large percentage of their portfolios in equities. Conversely, the percentage of bond and cash holdings will typically be higher for investors with lower risk tolerance levels.</p><p>How can you determine your risk tolerance? Many <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/best-online-brokerage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">investing brokers</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-a-robo-advisor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">robo-advisor</a> websites offer free risk- level questionnaires. Some will even offer asset allocation recommendations based on your answers. You can also work with a financial advisor or money manager to build a portfolio that's customized to your individual risk level.</p><h3>2. Take advantage of mutual funds and ETFs</h3><p>Once you've determined your risk tolerance, it's time to begin buying the investments that will comprise your portfolio. And it's at this stage of the game that baskets of securities such as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/how-to-invest-in-mutual-funds-step-by-step-guide" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mutual funds</a> and exchange-traded funds (<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/what-is-an-etf-exchange-traded-fund" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ETFs</a>) can really come in handy.</p><p>Let's say, for sake of illustration, that you want an asset allocation of 70% stocks, 25% bonds, and 5% cash. To truly build a diversified portfolio with that asset allocation, you'd need to buy dozens (at the very least) of stocks and bonds. And for the stock portion of your portfolio, you'd also want to make sure that you were investing in companies of different sizes, industries, and geography.</p><p>Even if you had enough capital at your disposal to invest in such a diverse set of stocks of bonds, how would you go about choosing your individual investments? Most non-professional investors simply don't have the time that this kind of market research would require.</p><p>But by investing in mutual funds and ETFs, you can eliminate these problems. Funds make it easy to invest in hundreds or thousands of stocks, bonds, or alternative investments at once, even with limited capital (getting the variety of assets diversification requires can be expensive). And some mutual funds even offer a predetermined mix of stocks and bonds to serve as a "one-stop-shop" for all your asset allocation needs.</p><h3>3. Consider moving beyond stocks and bonds</h3><p>When financial professionals talk about asset allocation, they're often referring to your ratio of stocks to bonds. But it's worth noting that with both of these assets, your money is heavily invested in companies. </p><p>To increase your diversification, you may want to consider investing a portion of your portfolio in additional asset classes as well. For example, you may want to consider investing in raw materials by buying shares of a <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commodity mutual fund</a>.</p><p>If you want to gain more exposure to real estate, you could invest in a real estate investment trust (<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-a-reit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">REIT</a>). Other alternative asset classes worth considering include private equity, collectibles (like stamps, art, or antiques), <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/cryptocurrencies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cryptocurrency</a>, and hedge funds.</p><h3>4. Regularly reevaluate your asset allocation</h3><p>How do you know when you're properly diversified? The reality is that diversification is an ever-evolving process that will change as your time horizon shrinks.</p><p>To estimate your ideal asset allocation for your age, some experts recommend subtracting your age from 110 to 120. The result is the percentage of your portfolio that should be in stocks.</p><p>Using this rule of thumb, a 30-year-old would look to invest 80% to 90% of his or her portfolio in stocks, with the rest invested in bonds and/or cash equivalents. But an 80-year old would reduce his or her stock holdings to 50% to 60%.</p><p>The estimates above are just that...estimates. To determine your own ideal ratio, you'll need to take your specific financial situation and investment needs into consideration.</p><p>Even if your portfolio's asset allocation is perfectly matched to your age and needs, it can become out of alignment as certain assets outperform others. That's why it's important to monitor your portfolio and rebalance your original asset mix when necessary.</p><h2>The financial takeaway</h2><p>Investing is a game of risk and returns. Take on too much risk and you could lose big, especially in the short-term. Take on too little risk (like, say, by only investing in cash equivalents) and you could really hurt your long-term returns.</p><p>Diversification is the best way for investors to find their own personal balance of risk and reward. To build a diversified portfolio that works for you, consider your risk tolerance, time horizon, and investing goals.</p><h2>Related Coverage in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/investing-reference" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Investing</a>:</h2><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-an-index-fund" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What is an index fund? A low-cost, low-risk way to invest in the stock market</a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/etf-vs-mutual-fund" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ETFs and mutual funds can instantly diversify your portfolio, but they differ in how they're traded, managed, and taxed. Here's what you should know.</a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/how-to-invest-in-mutual-funds-step-by-step-guide" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How to invest in mutual funds and grow your money for retirement, a bucket-list trip, or any other long-term goal</a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/investment-income-assets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Investing for income: 7 money-generating assets for your portfolio and how to get started</a></h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rule-of-72" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Rule of 72 is a quick, simple way to figure how long it'll take for your savings and investments to double in value</a></h3>

How to diversify your portfolio to limit losses and guard against risk

<p><em>The</em><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/insiderpicks"><em><span> </span>Insider Picks</em></a><em><span> </span>team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.</em></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="https://thepointsguy.com/card-details/blue-cash-everyday-card-from-american-express/?utm_campaign=kr_111518_blue-cash-everyday&amp;utm_source=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a><p class="source"><span>American Express Instagram</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><figure id="img-568411" contenteditable="false" data-type="img" data-e2e-name="image-figure-image" data-media-container="image"><a href="https://amzn.to/2DBFouh" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a></figure><ul class="summary-list"><li style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>With 3% back at US supermarkets (on up to $6,000 per year in purchases, then 1%) and 2% back at US gas stations, the <a href="https://thepointsguy.com/card-details/blue-cash-everyday-card-from-american-express/?utm_campaign=kr_111518_blue-cash-everyday&amp;utm_source=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express</a> earns the average American household $149 back annually on everyday essentials.</strong></li><li style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>With no annual fee and a $150 welcome bonus that has an easy threshold to reach (spend $1,000 in the first three months), this card is profitable almost immediately.</strong></li></ul><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The <a href="https://thepointsguy.com/card-details/blue-cash-everyday-card-from-american-express/?utm_campaign=kr_111518_blue-cash-everyday&amp;utm_source=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Express Blue Cash Everyday</a> is the no annual fee version of the the <a href="https://thepointsguy.com/card-details/blue-cash-preferred-card-from-american-express/?utm_campaign=kr_111518_blue-cash-everyday&amp;utm_source=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express</a>. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Both are well-designed everyday cash-back cards from AmEx, with the big differentiator being spending limit. If you are a big spender, particularly if you spend more than $3,200 annually on US supermarket purchases, you might consider the Blue Cash Preferred, which gives you 6% back at US supermarkets up to $6,000 (then 1%), with a $95 annual fee. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you want to earn rewards at US supermarkets and US gas stations, but don't think you spend enough to justify an annual fee, then Blue Cash Everyday is a great option for you. </span></p><h2><strong>Perks of the AmEx Blue Cash Everyday</strong></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The AmEx Blue Cash Everyday is the company's response to cards like the </span><a href="https://thepointsguy.com/card-details/bank-of-america-cash-rewards-credit-card/?utm_campaign=kr_111518_blue-cash-everyday&amp;utm_source=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Bank </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">of</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> America Cash Back Rewards credit card</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> or Discover it Cash Back card, which focus on providing cash back for essential purchases. The card's rewards structure is highly advantageous to those who place a premium on groceries, with the 3% back at US supermarkets beating the flat 1-2% <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-cash-back-credit-cards" target="_blank" rel="noopener">most cash-back cards</a> offer. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But the premium comes with trade-off, as outside of US gas stations and US supermarkets (and select department stores in the US), the card has a flat 1% back. Some may prefer a card like Citi Double Cash Card, which has 2% cash back spread evenly across merchant categories. The AmEx Blue Cash Everyday card additionally has a $6,000 limit at US supermarkets, after which the cash-back rate goes to 1%.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With thresholds and tiered percentages, it might feel confusing to determine if you should get this card, the more expensive Preferred version, or a more general cash-back card. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We decided to break it down for you.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The first question is whether to get the AmEx Blue Cash Preferred or Blue Cash Everyday card. Both cards have similar earning structures, with the Preferred card earning 6% at US supermarkets and 3% at US gas stations, in exchange for a $95 annual fee. Both cards have the same $6,000 hard limit on their supermarket rewards, after which they both go to 1%. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">What this means is if you spend more than $3,200 a year on US supermarket purchases ($266 a month) your increased spending will compensate for the $95 annual fee, and every dollar above that is profitable for you. In this case it's worth considering the Blue Cash Preferred card over the Blue Cash Everyday. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The next question is whether to take advantage of the Blue Cash Everyday's high US gas and supermarket earn rate, or get a more general cash-back rewards card. For calculations, we're going to assume a 1.5% flat cash back for general cards, as that's a rate offered in several competing zero annual fee cards like <a href="https://thepointsguy.com/card-details/wells-fargo-cash-wise-visa-credit-card/?utm_campaign=kr_111518_blue-cash-everyday&amp;utm_source=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa® Card</a></span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and <a href="https://thepointsguy.com/card-details/capital-one-quicksilver-cash-rewards-credit-card/?utm_campaign=kr_111518_blue-cash-everyday&amp;utm_source=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card</a></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While this question ultimately depends on your personal purchase behavior, we ran through some consumer benchmarks to give some general guidance:</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The average American household spends</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> <a href="https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=12195&amp;awinaffid=257137&amp;p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fslideshow%2Fheres-what-average-american-spends-these-25-essentials%2F%3Fslide%3D6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$4,049 on groceries</a></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and <a href="https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=12195&amp;awinaffid=257137&amp;p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Finvesting%2F2017%2F01%2F14%2Fheres-how-much-gasoline-the-average-american-consu.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$1,400 on gas</a></span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> annually, which amounts to $81 in cash back at a standard 1.5% and $149 in savings on the AmEx Blue Everyday card - a $68 difference. In order to make a general cash-back card more profitable in this instance, you would need an </span><strong>additional $13,600</strong><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in non-grocery and -gas spending. And this is assuming you aren't charging any of that amount to travel or hotel card. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In other words, if you imagine spending less than $20,000 annually on cash-back card you use for gas and supermarket purchases in the US, it's worth looking into the Blue Cash Everyday. </span></p><h2><strong>Why get an AmEx card?</strong></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">For some, the allure of getting a <a href="https://thepointsguy.com/card-details/blue-cash-everyday-card-from-american-express/?utm_campaign=kr_111518_blue-cash-everyday&amp;utm_source=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blue Cash Everyday card</a> is to add the benefits of an American Express card to their wallet. One of the first credit card programs to add extensive benefits for its members, there are several perks AmEx cardholders have come to expect from the card:</span></p><ul><li><strong>Extended warranty and purchase protection -</strong><span style="font-weight: 400;"> The AmEx Blue Cash Everyday card will extend warranties of items under $10,000 up to five years, and covers purchases up to $1,000 if they are damaged or lost, during the first 120 days of purchase. </span></li><li><strong>Travel accident insurance - </strong><span style="font-weight: 400;">The AmEx Blue Cash Everyday card will cover up to $250,000 in accidents involving loss of life or limb on trips booked through the card. </span></li><li><strong>Rental car coverage and roadside assistance -</strong><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Rental cars booked through the card come with damage or theft insurance up to $50,000. Additionally, the card comes with Roadside Assistance Hotline, a 24-hour dispatch hotline that can send a tow operator or locksmiths (with fees) to emergency situations.</span></li><li><strong>American Express presales - </strong><span style="font-weight: 400;">Cardholders receive presale access to several concerts and games a year. These come at no additional cost, but require enrollment. </span></li><li><strong>ShopRunner - </strong><span style="font-weight: 400;">American Express cardholders get free membership to </span><a href="https://www.shoprunner.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">ShopRunner</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, an <a href="https://amzn.to/2Q5KvZH" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amazon Prime</a>-like service with free two-day shipping and free returns from hundreds of retailers. </span></li></ul><h2><strong>So should I get the card?</strong></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you're looking for a card to use at US gas stations and US supermarkets, we'd put the AmEx Blue Cash Everyday card on par with any of the others. At 3% and 2% cash back respectively, it's one of the best zero-annual-fee cards for essential shopping, and comes with a host of benefits exclusive to AmEx card holders. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you're a higher-tier grocery shopper (over $3,200 annually) you might consider it worth it to take the $95 annual fee for the <a href="https://thepointsguy.com/card-details/blue-cash-preferred-card-from-american-express/?utm_campaign=kr_111518_blue-cash-everyday&amp;utm_source=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blue Cash Preferred card</a>. If you're an average grocery spender, but plan on putting more than $20,000 annually on a cash-back card, you might consider Citi Double Cash. Those with an Amazon Prime membership and high loyalty to Whole Foods might consider the 5% cash back from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-prime-rewards-visa-signature-card-review" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card</a>. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ultimately, we'd highly recommend the AmEx Blue Cash Everyday. With a great earning structure, no annual fee, and $150 welcome bonus for just $1,000 in spending in the first three months, it's profitable almost immediately. </span></p><div><div data-piano-inline-content-wrapper=""><h3><strong><a href="https://thepointsguy.com/card-details/blue-cash-everyday-card-from-american-express/?utm_campaign=kr_111518_blue-cash-everyday&amp;utm_source=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to learn more about the AmEx Blue Cash Everyday card from Insider Picks' partner The Points Guy</a>.</strong></h3></div></div><p class="tagline">Find the best holiday deals on our <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/black-friday-deals-2018">Black Friday Deals</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cyber-monday-deals-2018">Cyber Monday Deals</a> page. <a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/join/ci/insider-picks">Subscribe to our newsletter.</a><br>Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/insiderpicks">Insider Picks</a> team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners. We frequently receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising sales team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at insiderpicks@businessinsider.com.<br>Find all the best offers at our <a href="https://coupons.businessinsider.com/">Coupons page</a>.</br></br></p>

AmEx's Blue Cash Everyday is profitable almost immediately - here's what makes it a good cash-back card to open

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Getty Images / Mario Tama</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>John Hussman - the outspoken investor and former professor who's been predicting a stock crash - sees the S&amp;P 500 going absolutely nowhere for the next two decades.</li><li>He backs his thesis by highlighting hyper-valued stocks, weakening market internals, shrinking growth, and waning profit margins.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</li></ul><p>As the longest-recorded bull market in history stampedes forward, it's looking increasingly likely that investors will enjoy yet another year of double-digit returns.</p><p>In fact, as of today, the <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/s&amp;p_500">S&amp;P 500</a> is up almost 19% in 2019, continuing to thrive in an environment where everything it's had to dodge a seemingly endless barrage of headwinds.</p><p>While some are delightedly riding the bull market's surge into new strata, others are positioning for a stern day of reckoning - and one renowned market bear thinks the market's historic run is setting up decades of pain for investors ahead.</p><p>That acclaimed market bear is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/john-hussman">John Hussman</a> - the former economics professor and current president of the Hussman Investment Trust - and he's calling for more than 20 years of <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/s&amp;p_500" target="_blank" rel="noopener">S&amp;P 500</a> underperformance against the lowest-yielding and safest US government bonds.</p><p>"At extreme valuations, it's important to remember that the completion of a hypervalued market cycle can wipe out every bit of the stock market's total return over-and-above T-bills, going back not just a few years, but for over a decade," he said in a recent <a href="https://www.hussmanfunds.com/comment/mc190906/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blog post</a>.</p><p>He continued: "Within the 80-year period from 1929 to 2009, the S&amp;P 500 took three long, interesting trips to nowhere, accounting for 53 of those years (1929-1945, 1959-1982, and 1995-2009), underperforming risk-free Treasury bills after all was said and done."</p><p>For context, Hussman characterizes a market that takes an "interesting trip to nowhere," as one with both steep losses and powerful advances along the way to - you guessed it - nowhere.</p><h2>Hussman's rationale</h2><p>Let's dig into that.</p><p>According to Hussman's favorite measure of valuation - the margin-adjusted, price-to-earnings ratio (MAPE) - the market is currently more overvalued than 1929 and 2000.</p><p>If those years sound familiar, that's because the former coincided with the worst economic event the US has ever experienced, where the market plummeted 86%. The latter is congruent with the bursting tech bubble, an event that lopped 50% off of the S&amp;P 500. </p><p>Below, you can see that Hussman's margin-adjusted, price-to-earnings valuation measure is towering near record highs.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Hussman" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d72838e2e22af16c85b4dee-960/screen shot 2019-09-06 at 120408 pm.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>Hussman</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>But that's just the appetizer. </p><p>To Hussman, an overvalued market isn't enough to warrant a crash. He needs to see internals diverging as well - and it just so happens that's exactly the case. Back in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/next-stock-market-crash-time-to-flee-equities-john-hussman-2019-8">February</a>, his view of internals shifted negative.</p><p>"I believe that the combination of hypervaluation and unfavorable market internals has opened a trap door that is permissive of abrupt and severe market losses," Hussman said.</p><p>The following chart depicts his proprietary S&amp;P 500 return when market returns are across-the-board favorable against the benchmark's actual total return.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Hussman" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d728aec2e22af03c86f2d9a-960/screen shot 2019-09-06 at 123532 pm.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>Hussman</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The stage is now set for what Hussman sees as a market that's getting ready to go nowhere.</p><h2>A market that goes nowhere</h2><p>"The current risk of yet another long, interesting trip to nowhere is easy to understand when one examines the underlying drivers of long-term stock market returns: 1) long-term growth in representative fundamentals; 2) changes in valuations (the ratio of market prices to those representative fundamentals); and 3) dividends received in the interim," Hussman said.</p><p>Let's break that down. </p><p>There's no denying growth in the US is slowing down. In the second quarter of 2019, gross domestic product grew at 2%, a full 1.1% below it's first-quarter reading.</p><p>Structurally, Hussman has US economic growth pegged at just 1.4%. This metric reflects demographic labor force growth and trend productivity growth, barring forces of cyclical changes in unemployment.</p><p>Below, real structural growth is depicted by the red line, and is accompanied by the cyclical unemployment change to 8-year real GDP growth (green line) and the real US GDP growth 8-year average annual rate (blue line).</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Hussman" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d728f452e22af214f454525-960/screen shot 2019-09-06 at 125348 pm.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>Hussman</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>As you would imagine, slowing growth puts downward pressure on corporate margins. And although S&amp;P 500 profits are teetering near record highs, Hussman wants investors to take heed: declines in margins often lag hiccups in economy-wide profits amidst nonfinancial companies. </p><p>The graph below conveys this stark divergence.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Hussman</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>These factors - along with assuming a 2% S&amp;P 500 dividend yield - rounds out Hussman's criteria for understanding how stocks take a trip to nowhere: growth, valuations, and expected dividends.</p><p>Against that backdrop, it's time to do some math.</p><p>"The most reliable valuation measures we've identified across history are presently an average of <em>2.7 times</em> their historical norms," he said. Assuming 4% nominal growth in fundamentals, and a future valuation multiple that simply <em>touches</em> its historical norm fully 20 years from today, the resulting average annual capital gain for the S&amp;P 500 would be: (1.04)*(1/2.7)(1/20)-1 = -1.0%."</p><p>Add in a 2% dividend yield, and we arrive at a 1% return over the next 20 years. A figure that will probably underperform T-bills.</p><p>"That's exactly how investors can get these very long interesting trips to nowhere," he concluded.</p><h2>Hussman's track record</h2><p>For the uninitiated, Hussman has repeatedly made headlines by predicting a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-news-john-hussman-says-stocks-at-record-valuations-will-lose-two-thirds-2018-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stock-market decline exceeding 60%</a> and forecasting a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-news-market-bear-sees-decade-of-stock-losses-wall-street-mad-2017-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">full decade of negative equity returns</a>. And as the stock market has continued to grind mostly higher, he's persisted with his calls, undeterred.</p><p>But before you dismiss Hussman as a wonky perma-bear, consider his track record, which he breaks down in his latest blog post. Here are the arguments he lays out:</p><ul><li>Predicted in March 2000 that tech stocks would plunge 83%, then the tech-heavy <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/nasdaq_100" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nasdaq 100</a> index lost an "improbably precise" 83% during a period from 2000 to 2002</li><li>Predicted in 2000 that the S&amp;P 500 would likely see negative total returns over the following decade, which it did</li><li>Predicted in April 2007 that the S&amp;P 500 could lose 40%, then it lost 55% in the subsequent collapse from 2007 to 2009</li></ul><p>In the end, the more evidence Hussman unearths around the stock market's unsustainable conditions, the more worried investors should get. Sure, there may still be returns to be realized in this market cycle, but at what point does the mounting risk of a crash become too unbearable?</p><section data-track-content="" data-post-type="post"><div><div data-piano-inline-content-wrapper=""><p>That's a question investors will have to answer themselves. And one that Hussman will clearly keep exploring in the interim.</p></div></div></section>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/peloton-worth-hype-spin-class-stationary-bike-home-workout-review-2019-3">I took a 45-minute Peloton spin class every day and saw surprising results after 2 weeks</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

'Abrupt and severe market losses': One expert explains why stocks are on pace to underperform the safest government bonds for the next 20 years

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><em>Note: SurveyMonkey CEO Dave Goldberg passed away suddenly last night. His brother, Robert Goldberg, announced the news on Facebook this morning. "<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">No words can express the depth of loss we feel," <a href="https://www.facebook.com/robert.h.goldberg/posts/10153303390627269">he wrote</a>.</span></em></p><p><em><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Business Insider had the chance to interview Dave Goldberg last month about his life and the challenges he had faced. </span></em></p><p><em><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Our original story is below, unedited.</span></em></p><p>Dave Goldberg is half of one of Silicon Valley's most powerful couples.</p><p>He's the CEO of uber successful Valley company SurveyMonkey, with an epic career that began in the Internet bubble days. And he's married to Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook.</p><p>By any measure, Goldberg has a fantastic life. And it's easy to see why: he's smart, witty, but laid-back, the kind of guy that can swap funny stories one minute and argue economics the next with a waterfall of top-of-head facts.</p><p>While Goldberg's rise to success seems almost effortless, it wasn't always easy.</p><p>He spent much of his early career being "out of favor," as he describes it.</p><h2>The law-school road not taken</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Goldberg grew up in Minneapolis, the son of a law-school professor, making him "a lifelong, pathetic Vikings fan. I made my kids into Viking fans, so they will carry their misery with them, too. A little disappointment in life goes a long way," he laughs.</p><p>He went to Harvard getting an undergrad degree in history and government and planned to go to law school after a two-year hiatus. During that time off school, he worked as a consultant for Bain, traveling the world and living in Boston, Sydney, and San Francisco.</p><p>But two weeks before he was set to start law school, "I came to the realization that I didn't really want to be a lawyer," he said. "Sometimes the things you decide not to do are actually the biggest things to do in your career."</p><p>Although he enjoyed working for Bain, he also knew he didn't want to be a consultant.</p><p>He had no idea what to do. He thought about going into the tech business.</p><p>"I looked at Microsoft but it was really hard to imagine moving to Seattle and the rain when you were used to living in San Francisco and Sydney. When you are 24, that does make a difference," he says. <br><br>Then a friend called him with a tip about a job at Capitol Records in L.A. Goldberg is a huge music lover who had at the time a 500-CD music collection.</br></br></p><p>"I have almost no musical talent, but I knew a lot about music and that's how I got the job," he says.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>The job involved coming up with new ways to sell music.</p><p>For instance, he convinced the company to sell its Beatles catalog on CD and helped the company double sales.</p><p>He sold music to be used with video games when the industry switched from cartridges to CD-ROMs.</p><p>He, along with the vice president of Starbucks and a store manager named Tim Smith, started selling CDs at Starbucks. (Smith picked the music.) In fact, Starbucks just ended <a href="http://www.billboard.com/articles/6479986/starbucks-stop-selling-music">the CD program February</a>. "But for 22 years, they sold a lot of CDs," he says.</p><p>But, he wasn't 100% happy with his job. "There were a lot of things broken about the way record companies were run," he explained.</p><h2>Crazy for selling ads on a computer</h2><p>"I decided I had to start something. It was more the motivation to try running my own thing than because I had some brilliant idea. I had the motivation first and then the idea came," he says.</p><p>The Starbucks deal, which helped people find songs they wouldn't hear on the radio or MTV, gave him his idea.</p><p>"There was a lot more music getting created that no one was ever hearing. I saw this when I was at the label. I realized that the computer could be a better way to do it," he says.</p><p>So, "with my best friend from high school, we quit our jobs. We started what became Launch Media with the idea that we were going to help people discover new music."</p><p>One problem: they didn't have any money.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>So they maxed out their credit cards and hit up friends and family.</p><p>"Those were the only people crazy enough to give us money. We raised $100,000 at a $1 million valuation, post - so not today's valuations," he laughed.</p><p>And he was sort of crazy. This was 1993. PCs were young. The internet wasn't yet a thing. Launch Media began as an electronic magazine of sorts, distributed monthly by CD ROM. It contained interviews and live music, but it didn't actually sell the music. It was supported by ads.</p><p>"In some ways, we were too early. What we got most of the attention for was advertising. People had never seen advertising on their computer. We had a lot of investors tell us: 'No one will ever want to advertise on computer.' Very well respected, successful venture capitalists," he laughs.</p><h2>Watching $285 million drain away</h2><p>Soon Launch Media expanded from CD-ROMs to internet streaming. The company wasn't profitable, but it was bringing in money and he could see profitability on the horizon. So, like lots of internet companies in the heady days of 1999, he took the company public.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>"People weren't throwing money at me, we were always out of favor. When people wanted me to be selling music, I was like, 'No, we're ad supported,'" he explained.</p><p>After the IPO, at the height of the bubble (March, 2000), the company was worth about $300 million, he told us.</p><p>That's when Yahoo, and a couple of other companies, came sniffing, looking to buy Launch Media.</p><p>It took 15 months for the bidding to wrap up and by the summer of 2001 the sale was finalized. But by then, the bubble had burst, big time.</p><p>He watched his company's stock drop like a rock, down 91%. Yahoo's stock dropped too, down 94%.</p><p>"It would have been a much better exit had we gotten it done a year earlier," he laughs about it now.</p><p>"At the time Yahoo's stock was also very low. It ended up being ok at least for my employees who got stock options at Yahoo at the time. So no, it wasn't a great exit. It was a total of like $15 million, so it wasn't a lot of money."</p><p>But he said, "Yahoo was the right place for us. So we were glad they actually wound up winning."</p><h2>Rocky times at Yahoo</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>He went with his company to Yahoo, a job he kept for six years. It was a rough time to join Yahoo.</p><p>Its first CEO, Timothy Koogle, had just stepped down. Terry Semel was hired and although buying Launch Media wasn't his idea, he did sign off on it and support the new music unit.</p><p>But it was a rough time.</p><p>"Things are bad in 2001 at Yahoo. There's been layoffs, restructuring, lots of people left. But I got a lot of support from Terry and everybody else there," he remembers. "So for the first 3 to 4 years they kind of left me alone and let me build a great business at Yahoo."</p><p>He and his team stayed in L.A. and they rocked. "We built the world's largest music site at that period of time, 60 million unique users. We were doing, in 2006, over 5 billion music videos a year, which doesn't sound like much by today's numbers but it was far and away the largest video site, period, let alone music site. And we built a subscription music product that had well over half a million subscribers."</p><p>But Yahoo's search business was tanking, in part to the burst bubble that tanked the whole tech world, and in part to the rise of a young startup called Google.</p><p>"Yahoo made the choice to invest in the search business" to try and rebuild it. That meant not investing in its media properties like the music site.</p><p>"I was there to win in music, and if we weren't going to win in music because we couldn't invest in it, I left. Most of my team left. A lot of people left Yahoo."</p><h2>Commuting from the Valley to L.A.</h2><p>When he started the job at Yahoo, he also started dating Sheryl Sandberg, whom he met years earlier.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>"I met my wife in '96 in LA. But we didn't start dating until 2002. We went on a trip and we started dating. I was still in LA and she had moved to the Bay Area," he says of their courtship. "I lost the coin flip as to where we were going to live. I liked L.A. and my job was in L.A."</p><p>But he moved to the Bay Area anyway, and commuted to work in L.A. which was "challenging," he says.</p><p>It was 2007, about 8 years ago, when he grew frustrated enough at Yahoo to quit.</p><p>Between the sale of his company, his job at Yahoo, and Sandberg's job at Google (where she was a VP of ad sales), he didn't have financial concerns over quitting, he told us.</p><p>But once again, he didn't know what he was going to do with his life.</p><p>All he knew was that he "definitely" didn't want to do music again.</p><p>"I feel like we changed how people learned and discovered music," he says. "Everything else beyond that, was just going to be derivative of what we've done."</p><p>"I'm excited to see Spotify, Pandora, and my friend Ian Rogers is running Beats Music, he worked for me at Yahoo for years," he adds. "I'm excited to see all of those things but to me it was just more of what we already did."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>And he also didn't want to have to sell ads. He wanted a subscription business.</p><p>"I did that [sell ads] for a really long time. I prefer to have the customers pay me, versus having to sell ads," he says.</p><p>When we pointed out that his wife makes her living selling lots of ads, he laughed. "It's a personal preference. There's nothing wrong with selling ads."</p><h2>SurveyMonkey nirvana</h2><p>While in drifting mode, he took a gig as an entrepreneur in residence at VC firm Benchmark.</p><p>"I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I knew I didn't want to go run someone else's startup, which is actually the path of least resistance as an EIR," he says.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_left"><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></p><p>"You see all these companies come through and there's a couple of star engineers. You sit in the pitch meetings and the VC says, well David, you go run this, they need a CEO. And I'd have to say, but I don't want to run someone else's company."</p><p>He decided to go run someone else's company after all. But he didn't get there through Benchmark.</p><p>He was introduced in the fall of 2008 through another VC through his work at Ancestry.com, where he was a board member.</p><p>"I knew what SurveyMonkey was. My team had used it at Yahoo, but I had never really thought about it as a business," he said.</p><p>"It turned out to be this fantastic business with a great brand, incredible customer loyalty, super profitable business model, very viral ... and no team. Literally, there were 12 people there, seven were on the customer support team."</p><p>It was more than a little nerve-wracking at first.</p><p>"It was a little scary in the beginning because no one could explain to me why the business were working so well. The founders were great people. But it was too small a team to figure out how the business had gotten to be so big," he explains.</p><p>"So there was this fear factor of, oh my God, what if I do something up and screw up the business?</p><p>We don't know why it's so good. So my first rule was to do no harm to something that was working."</p><h2>Taking on $1.2 billion</h2><p>Flash forward to 2012, and Goldberg has clearly not hurt SurveyMonkey.</p><p>As part of a $350 million debt financing package, the company released annual 2012 revenue: It booked $113 million in revenue and made $62 million in profits (EBITA), he told us. SurveyMonkey hasn't released updated figures but Goldberg says, "Obviously, we've grown since then."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>In 2013 and 2014, the company suddenly took on huge chunks of VC investment, too: $450 million in one round and a few months later, another $250 million, ending at a <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/surveymonkey-valued-at-2-billion-as-some-investors-sell-shares-1418619841">valuation of $2 billion</a>.</p><p>Between debt and equity, SurveyMonkey wracked up about $1.2 billion in investment.</p><p>Goldberg said he used the money to cash out equity instead of doing an IPO.</p><p>"All the money has gone out to investors and employees," he said. "We made the conscious decision that we're not going to go public just to get liquidity for people."</p><p>He adds,"I'm not saying we'll never go public but we're not going to do it just to get cash for people because there's plenty of cash available in the private market these days.</p><p>"That wasn't the case when I took my first company public and it wasn't the case even five or six years ago. But today you can raise over $1 billion as a private company to get liquidity for people. That's changed and makes it possible to stay private."</p><p>He did clarify that the company kept about $70-ish million of the last round "to have cash on hand to do an acquisitions" but insisted, "the founder, Ryan Finley, never raised any money."</p><h2>From surveys to big data</h2><p>SurveyMonkey seems to be thriving on other counts, too. From those early days with 14 employees, the company now has 500 employees, creates 90 million completed surveys a month in 60 languages and has 25 million customers, including those that use it for free.</p><p>It has expanded into partnerships with companies like MailChimp, Hootsuite, Zendesk, and Salesforce that integrate surveys into their wares.</p><p>And earlier this month, it rolled out a new "big data" service called Benchmarks, which lets customers compare their survey results to others who asked those same questions. So a company can, for instance, compare its customer or employee satisfaction ratings against its industry.</p><p>"This has been something that people have had to pay a lot of money for, been hard to get, hard to find. It's something you can only do with our scale," he says.</p><p>And he's clearly happy with this job. "I really like the mission at SurveyMonkey which is, we help people make better decisions. It's just a great thing," he says.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/beauty-standards-family-values-china-2015-2">What the Chinese saying 'The ugly wife is a treasure at home' actually means</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="A2ZDA2czqSqbJOFG5SDDrvRmvRoUjAPm" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Dave Goldberg had an incredible life -&#160;but it wasn't easy

<ul class="summary-list"><li>I'm a former proposal planner and have worked with hundreds of people to plan their special day.</li><li>However, I never thought about how it would feel for my best friend to get engaged.</li></ul><p>I used to sell myself as a fairy godmother-like figure in the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/engagement-ring-shopping-together-before-proposal-2023-5">engagement industry</a>, wielding my wand with as much power as clients could swipe their credit cards. As a proposal planner, my job was complete when the client dropped to one knee. What unfolded afterward was none of my business.</p><p>I orchestrated extravagant spectacles meant to open the doors to "happily ever after," yet secretly, I had no real grasp on what that meant or looked like. Growing up, everyone in my family was divorced, and until now, I've never even attended a wedding.</p><p>Of course, I've been blessed with other forms of love: the unconditional care of a mother, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/twin-sisters-live-together-best-friends-2023-7">camaraderie of my siblings</a>, and, especially on days when those entities drive me insane, the steadfast support of my best friend, Camila.</p><h2>Camila and I have been close ever since we met</h2><p>We met in sixth grade, sitting next to each other in science class before we even comprehended the biology of humans. To this day, I still tell one of my <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/im-a-quadruplet-this-is-how-we-found-our-individuality-2022-3">quadruplet brothers</a>, who dated her in eighth grade, that letting her slip away was the biggest mistake of his life.</p><p>I spent the summer of 2022 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/im-traveling-with-my-best-friend-and-her-boyfriend-2022-9">traveling with Camila and her boyfriend</a> Tyler in Medellin and Buenos Aires, and I never felt like the odd one out. In fact, Camila settling down with Tyler brought us closer together because we were all kindred in our ambition, values, love of exercise, and the fact that we worked remotely.</p><div type="image" title="Jamie, Tyler, and Camila out at a bar with cocktails on the table." height="488" width="650" msid="109459854" hostid="261" sizebytes="24872"></div><p>However, despite once professionally advocating a proposal as a milestone for happiness, it didn't prepare me for Tyler whisking Camila away to Barcelona last January and surprising her with a diamond ring.</p><p>I felt ecstatic seeing photos of their engagement — at least, I did for them. Deep down, I felt a mix of complicated emotions. When Tyler mentioned that he had read some of my recently published <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mistakes-avoid-planning-engagement-proposal-fiance-wedding-2023-2">proposal advice</a> articles, I wished I had titled one of them, "Not Yet!"</p><h2>I was happy when she and her fiancé got engaged, but also worried</h2><p>When I received the invitation to their <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/couple-marrying-st-lucia-wedding-wedding-tips-advice-2022-6">destination wedding</a> in Guatemala this coming fall, it felt like our carefree adulthood was short-lived. More honestly, I feared Camila walking down the aisle would lead her to having a baby, changing diapers, and embracing the life of a soccer mom sooner rather than later.</p><p>I wondered if our journeys could take such different turns and remain intertwined. Camila and I had never let distance or circumstance stop us from staying in touch, but I didn't want our friendship to become an anecdote.</p><h2>She asked me to be in the wedding</h2><p>Yes, we're almost 30; her pending matrimony is already considered geriatric by our Latin culture. She asked me to be part of her bridal party — a 'bridesgay,' if you will — and I had no idea what that entailed. This marked the first time I was part of the process post-engagement.</p><p>All we talked about were plans for the future, including her wedding dress, an upcoming bachelorette trip, a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/side-hustle-as-a-bridesmaid-for-hire-2023-9">bridal party</a>, and, finally, a wedding abroad. I asked Ironically, I couldn't stop thinking about the past. An occasion centered on looking forward was surprisingly riddled with nostalgia.</p><p>Over the years, we've served as sounding boards for each other's thoughts, no matter how mundane or important. We've also had very existentially dramatic conversations because we've helped each other cope with the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/friend-died-high-school-her-parents-became-my-second-family-2022-7">loss of people we loved</a>. And Tyler has become part of my inner circle.</p><div type="image" title="Jamie and Camila at a bar with string lights in the background. She is wearing a black top and he is wearing a hat." height="929" width="1242" msid="109459856" hostid="261" sizebytes="161302"></div><p><span>Camila has assured me I've watched too much "Sex and the City"</span><em><span> </span></em><span>and that my singledom and her married life don't have to exist in separate worlds.</span></p><p><span>"You're being paranoid!" she said, and joked about me being a "guncle" to her proverbial daughter we'd been referencing before she even met Tyler. I always knew there'd be a man lucky enough to marry Camila, but I never expected to feel like a parent sending their child off to college.</span></p><h2><span>Our friendship may change, but our love for each other won't</span></h2><p>I have no doubt that my friend has every intention of keeping me a part of her life. But our intentions can't defy the responsibilities that come with her one day raising a family — and those responsibilities may put limits on what we can do together.</p><p>It's likely we won't be able to travel the world so easily once she has children running around. But it'll be up to me to use <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/parents-dinks-winning-childfree-economy-finances-income-vacation-retirement-kids-2024-2">my childless freedom</a> to visit the guest room she has always welcomed me to in the past.</p><p>I've become keenly aware with age that for friendships to flourish with time, you have to remain open and vulnerable about what you need to feel close, whether a trip, a lunch, or a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eight-minute-phone-call-challenge-improved-my-friendships-2024-4">phone call</a>. It's easy for bonds to weaken as responsibilities escalate and days turn to months that turn to years.</p><p>But considering that the part of our lives we've been best friends for is longer than the part of our lives we spent not knowing each other, I'm confident our friendship has the commitment it takes to evolve together — marriage, baby bumps, careers, and all.</p><p>Loving our friendship for what it has been and hoping to keep some of that alive while embracing the possibilities of what's next is not mutually exclusive.</p><p>Recently, Camila sent me a selfie wearing the winning wedding dress, and she never looked more beautiful — or ready.</p>

I've planned over 200 proposals for clients but wasn't prepared when my best friend got engaged. I worried our friendship would change.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Major drugstore chains have locked up a lot of merchandise to prevent shoplifting.</li><li>But the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/retailers-lock-up-aisles-combat-theft-missing-huge-part-problem-2023-6">anti-theft strategy</a> is pushing some customers to wonder: Why even shop here?</li></ul><p>Drugstores like CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid have long been the spots where you can pick up essentials like a can of soup or some Tylenol in addition to your prescriptions.</p><p>The three brands combined operate roughly 20,000 locations across the US in big cities and small towns alike, making them one of the most convenient stores to grab what you need and get on with your day.</p><p>But each year it seems that more items are locked away in order to prevent theft, and that's turning away customers who say the measures undermine the shopping experience.</p><p>On TikTok, videos show frustrated customers trying to make everyday purchases — but running into locked shelves and cases.</p><p>One video even appears to show a CVS where bottles of Gatorade and water in coolers that are locked up and have "customer service" push buttons next to the handles.</p> <p>Another appears to show a Rite Aid store with an even wider selection of locked-up merchandise, including tortilla chips and microwavable ramen. Gift cards and greeting cards are some of the only products that customers can pick off the shelf themselves.</p> <p>"I feel like, if it's that bad, y'all might as well close down," the poster says in the video.</p><h2 id="bcb46977-f383-4d36-b4e7-f4049f12828d">Drugstores are supposed to be easy to shop</h2><p>Convenience is the essence of drugstore retail, Global Data analyst Neil Saunders told Business Insider. </p><p>"If you put roadblocks in there with locking things up and not having the staff to unlock cabinets, you've destroyed your reason for existence," he said.</p><p>Saunders was recently surprised to see peanuts under antitheft protection at a CVS location.</p><p>"If it was macadamia nuts, I might accept it," he joked.</p><p>At one Duane Reade location in Brooklyn, New York, Business Insider saw an older adult ask why the toothpaste was locked up as an associate was unlocking aspirin for her. Duane Reade is owned by Walgreens.</p><p>Saunders also said it's a natural response for retailers to try to protect their inventory from shoplifters, but preventing or delaying honest shoppers doesn't exactly help a store's financial performance either.</p><p>Spokespersons for Walgreens and CVS each told BI that anti-theft technologies were installed in response to store-level shoplifting data and intended to ensure that products were in stock for customers.</p><p>"Locking a product is a measure of last resort," the CVS spokesperson said. Rite Aid did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p><p>Interestingly, the struggles in the so-called front-of-store business get short shrift from management and investors. The subject received no mention during CVS' earnings call Q&amp;A this week, where the discussion was more focused on the complexities of the prescription and health care delivery sides of the company.</p><p>Meanwhile, Walgreens execs said the company is still struggling with missing inventory and that one in four of the company's stores aren't profitable.</p><p>The drugstores have also announced thousands of store closures over the last year, including many related to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/list-77-rite-aid-stores-closing-in-2024-2024-2">Rite Aid's bankruptcy</a> and Walgreens' attempt to make its store network more efficient.</p><h2 id="a46e13b9-0e2b-47a5-99e5-ef9a2c6ad597">Friction and frustration for gig workers on a tight schedule</h2><p>Locked-up merchandise is a problem for people filling orders for services like DoorDash and Instacart, too. The pressure is particularly intense for gig delivery workers since they have to shop and deliver orders to customers by a set time.</p><p>One Instacart shopper in Nevada told BI that she finds two or three locked-up items at a time before pressing a button to call an employee when she shops at a CVS or Walgreens store. That way, she said, she can complete the order faster and save the employee time, too.</p><p>Some recent orders that the shopper has filled required retrieving as many as seven items under lock-and-key, she said. She said she even avoids taking orders that involve shopping at one particular Walgreens store due to all the locked-up goods there.</p><p>"It's unfortunate, and I understand the store's position, but it does create a challenge for shoppers," she said.</p><h2 id="91b55535-35aa-4e4e-83d9-a4093202a78e">Shoplifting is a problem, but this solution presents new problems</h2><p>The drugstore chains have been — and still are — some of the most vocal about retail theft.</p><p>In 2022, a Rite Aid executive said theft was leading to such high losses for the chain that it was considering <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rite-aid-execs-report-5-million-losses-nyc-shoplifting-2022-10">"literally putting everything"</a> under lock and key at its stores. But it's hard to get good information on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-we-dont-actually-know-whether-retail-theft-big-problem-2024-3">how big a problem retail theft actually is.</a></p><p>Companies have since softened their stance a bit, but Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth says the problem still isn't solved and won't be without the support of local politicians and law enforcement.</p><p>In the meantime, GlobalData's Saunders says the pharmacy retailers are rapidly losing out to competitors like Walmart, Target, Amazon, and local grocers, where prescriptions can still be filled and there are often fewer locks, more staff, plus other perks like same-day delivery.</p><p>"People didn't stop buying a lot of these things, they just stopped buying them at drugstores," he said. "It only takes one or two trips with things being locked away for customers to say, 'Right, I'm finding an alternative.'"</p><p><em>Do you work at CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, or another drugstore chain and have a story idea to share? Reach out to these reporters at abitter@businessinsider.com and dreuter@businessinsider.com</em></p>

Locked-up merchandise is turning off shoppers at CVS, Walgreens, and other big drugstores

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Once upon a time, Americans could use certain apps to get cheaper prices and services.</li><li>The so-called millennial lifestyle subsidy offered convenience, but its relative rewards have faded.</li></ul><p>Sarah Manley, 31, was facing sticker shock.</p><p>Manley, an artist and musician in Baltimore, was a loyal Airbnb user before the pandemic. When she emerged from lockdown and looked on the platform for a short-term stay, she was shocked by how much prices had risen. Indeed, Airbnb's <a target="_blank" href="https://s26.q4cdn.com/656283129/files/doc_financials/2022/q4/Airbnb-Q4'22-Earnings-Call-Transcript.pdf">average daily rate</a> rose by 36% from 2019 to the end of 2022.</p><p>Manley opted for a hotel. Short-term rentals aren't the only habit she's ditched. She isn't using ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft anymore. She's found that parking at the airport for a few days is actually cheaper than the round-trip fare.</p><p>"If I was using rideshares and the delivery apps and everything the way I was, I would run out of money each month," she said.</p><p>Manley is one of many American adults adjusting to life after the so-called <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-millennial-lifestyle-subsidy-2023-7">millennial lifestyle subsidy</a>: a cadre of apps and services that launched in the 2000s and 2010s and earned the loyalty of a generation by offering convenience and low prices to things that may have been out of reach before. Think Uber, <a target="_blank" href="https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/29/wonder-group-blue-apron-acquisition/">Blue Apron</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-startup-failure-benchmark-insight-partners-venture-capitalists-learned-nothing-2023-4">WeWork</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-food-delivery-startup-sprig-is-shutting-down-2017-5">Sprig</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/flywheel-sports-filing-for-bankruptcy-and-closing-all-studios-2020-9">Flywheel</a>. Subsidized by their venture-capital backers, the brands sought to attract as many customers as possible, hoping profits would follow.</p><p>But as inflation and higher interest rates have pushed prices up and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-vc-has-changed-in-2023-amid-a-slowdown-2023-11">scared away some investors</a>, consumers who got used to subscriptions and luxury experiences for less are having to find alternatives. For some, like Manley, it means going back to the old-fashioned way of doing certain things: shopping around for hotel deals, taking public transit more, and working out at home with fitness classes on video.</p><p>"At first it was obviously an adjustment being like, wait, I'm trying to go to this event and normally I'd take a Lyft," Manley said. "You kind of had to recalibrate some stuff, but I have gone away from it, and I don't see myself going back to it anytime soon."</p><h2 id="e2576016-c467-4070-a3e3-81d70b57c654">The millennial lifestyle subsidy hooked a generation on convenience and lower prices</h2><p>For a while, cash-strapped younger Americans seemed as if they'd lucked into a good deal: They might have had dismal career prospects or no chance of homeownership, but at least they could take a fitness class for $5 or even for free.</p><p>The subsidized services felt like they were "for the people," Manley said. "That sounds very dramatic, but it was like, oh cool, we've come together to make these cheaper, better alternatives than the only option we've ever had."</p><p>Suddenly the luxuries that were out of reach for recession-battered Americans — especially those who lived in food deserts or struggled with inconsistent public transit — were a little more accessible. For reasonable prices, you could get food delivered to your front door, access to boutique fitness classes, or a private-car-like experience. Millennials who were just reaching early adulthood got hooked.</p><p>But the low entry prices for many of those services are rising. In 2022, Peloton raised its membership fee to $44 from $39 and rolled out additional <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/23/23734329/peloton-app-subscription-tiers-fitness">subscriptions</a>. Citing YipitData, Bloomberg reported that between 2019 and 2022, the average <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-04/uber-lyft-plunge-as-driver-supply-casts-doubt-on-profits">Uber price</a> rose by 45% and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-16/instacart-ceo-is-worried-about-inflation-of-food-prices">Instacart service fees</a> rose by 61%.</p><p>It's caused some people to question whether their apps and subscriptions were worth it — or if they should go back to doing things as their parents did.</p><p>Grant Plotkin, 26, is a Gen Zer who experienced the pre-2020 millennial subsidy as a young adult. He hopped to different ride-hailing services when they offered promotions to get off the ground. He opted for Airbnbs instead of hotels. He ordered meal kits.</p><p>But as prices have gone up, he's shaken up his routine: Rather than finding him in a car, you're much more likely to catch him on the ferry. Instead of going to a WeWork-style coworking space, he'll use his building's amenities. He's eating out less, and when he does need to take a car somewhere, he's comparing prices across platforms.</p><p>Plotkin estimated that if he were to use the same services he used before the pandemic, his costs would double.</p><p>"I remember Ubers used to just be a no-brainer, and it would be like $20 here, $15 there, super easy. And now I mean it's $40 or it's $50, and you got to question that," Plotkin said. "I mean, that can be more than your meal."</p><h2 id="cfcca580-f2e4-4486-ba30-bd1aa8fd3b38">The end of the millennial subsidy could mean higher prices across the board</h2><p>Rising wages have kept many Americans' finances in relatively good shape despite inflation, so the convenience of the apps is still strong.<strong> </strong>Airbnb this spring <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://news.airbnb.com/airbnb-q1-2024-financial-results/#:~:text=Airbnb%20Co%2DFounder%20and%20CEO,another%20record%20summer%20travel%20season.%E2%80%9D">reported record first-quarter bookings</a>, but with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/airbnb-host-falling-revenue-more-competition-dropping-prices-2022-12">more hosts entering</a> the short-term rental market, many say they're getting <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/airbnbust-airbnb-short-term-vacation-rentals-investors-real-estate-reckoning-2023-3">fewer stays</a>. In a prime example of ending a subsidy, Netflix recently increased prices for some of its plans and cracked down on <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-password-sharing-clampdown-angry-subscribers-2023-2">password sharing</a> following a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-earnings-losing-subscribers-second-straight-quarter-2022-7">loss of subscribers</a>. It <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-password-sharing-crackdown-worked-how-to-increase-subscription-streaming-2024-1">worked</a> to lure more individual sign-ups.</p><p>Brett House, a professor of professional practice in the economics division at Columbia Business School, said low prices were never meant to be a long-term gift to consumers — they were meant to function as disruptors.</p><p>But that the model isn't sustainable in a higher-interest-rate environment. When money was cheap to borrow and pour into a new company, investors could subsidize the costs of entry prices in hopes that infinite growth would lead to a captive audience. Now, though, with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.npr.org/2024/05/01/1248454950/federal-reserve-inflation-interest-rates">interest rates at a two-decade high</a>, capital is more expensive.</p><p>Plus, as inflation squeezes people's budgets, they're looking for ways to change their habits. For some, that's cutting out meal kits and subscriptions. Even wealthy shoppers are turning to discount brands like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wealthy-shoppers-aldi-dollar-general-tree-inflation-retail-prices-groceries-2023-6">Dollar General and Aldi</a>.</p><p>The end of subsidies might also be exacerbating some of the inequities that they papered over: House said the hardest-hit Americans may be those in areas without reliable public transit or with few stores — meaning they can't go just walk elsewhere to find a better deal.</p><p>"That sort of economy always had a dark underbelly, and that's really, I think, what the legacy of this period is going to be," Bilal Baydoun, the director of policy and research at the Groundwork Collaborative, a left-leaning think tank, told BI. Those lower-than-normal prices were feeding a "monster," he said, "and that monster is the sort of monopolistic, Big Tech-enabled pricing schemes that we're seeing today."</p><p>One of the legacies of this era's apps could be dynamic pricing. In the same way that ride-hailing apps increase prices during busy times, algorithms have made it easier for companies of all kinds to offer varying prices based on market conditions or user information.</p><p>It also introduced more customers to the idea. You might scoff if a taxi driver said you needed to pay more for a ride in the rain but not blink an eye when an app says costs could rise because of the weather. The next iteration of the millennial subsidy might be gamifying <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inflation-surge-pricing-dynamic-prices-save-money-walmart-wendys-risks-2024-7">surge pricing</a> for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inflation-surge-pricing-dynamic-prices-save-money-walmart-wendys-risks-2024-7">groceries</a> or a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inflation-dynamic-pricing-surge-cost-fatigue-2024-7">side of fries</a>.</p><p>"It's making people miserable to not know what things cost. I mean, we live in an age where budgeting is really essential to get by amid a really long-term affordability crisis in this country," Baydoun said. That creates a "sense of chaos," Baydoun added, and a sense of "just being at the whims of corporate pricing consultants who are paid large sums to really just come up with more and better tricks."</p><p>All of that might lead to companies pursuing ever riskier tactics to bring in revenue,<strong> </strong>like surge pricing or drip pricing, where fees are slowly revealed throughout a transaction<strong> </strong>— something that could break customer loyalty and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-uber-eats-lyft-doordash-instacart-grubhub-drivers-make-2024-2">mean lower pay for workers</a>.</p><p>In the meantime, Americans are trying to find new subsidies where they can. For Plotkin, that's taken the form of another increasingly popular offering: credit-card rewards. Companies <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/american-express-platinum-card-gold-gen-z-millennial-rewards-2024-6">like American Express</a> have stepped in with offerings like subscription services and early access to events to attract new and younger customers. And younger workers are responding in kind, with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/credit-card-rewards-points-friends-fights-brunch-money-payment-venmo-2024-7">tussles breaking out</a> over who exactly gets to put their card down for brunch when everyone gets 5% cash back on dining.</p><p>"To maximize ROI — if you even would call it that — for going out and about in town, it's like, OK, I use my specific card that gets more points for rideshare versus dining versus apparel or retail," Plotkin said. "And I've tried to become more savvy. I feel like I have to stretch that dollar even further now in this economy."</p><p><em>Has the loss of the millennial subsidy affected your finances or lifestyle? Contact this reporter at </em><a target="_blank" href="mailto:jkaplan@businessinsider.com"><em>jkaplan@businessinsider.com</em></a><em>.</em></p>

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