Transcripts For CNBC On The Money 20180217

Can you say nitro brew on the money starts right now. Announcer this is on the money, your money, your life, your future. If youre looking to buy a home and need to take out a mortgage, beware, its getting more expensive Mortgage Rates have been on the rise since the start of this year and have really been taking off in the last week, but will they continue their climb and what does it mean for home buyers and seller this is spring diana olick has some answers. Reporter the timing couldnt be worse just as the spring Housing Market kicks off this president s day weekend Mortgage Rates are moving higher faster and buyers were already facing higher prices amid strong competition. Theres simply not enough homes to go around for people looking to buy them. Reporter this half Million Dollar denver home went on the market on a thursday and already had three offers by monday with nearly 100 people touring the home in between. I thought i was at a higher price point where it would be easier for me to get a place without a lot of competition but ive put down two offers so far and both times been beaten out by cash offers reporter now rising rates are part of the rush. In the short term, i strongly believe that will cause more buyside demand as people try to get into a home before Interest Rates get to a point where they can no longer afford a home that they would like. Reporter the average rate on the popular 30year fixed moved past 4. 5 this week still historically low but buyers over the past six years have gotten more used to rates in the 3 range rates havent been at 5 since 2011 a 5 rate would cause more than a quarter of todays home buyers to slow their plans according to a red fin survey just 6 said they would drop their plans to buy all together. About onefifth of consumers said 5 rates would cause them to move with more urgency fearing rates would rise even further. Another fifth said they would consider more affordable areas or just buy a smaller home rates have definitely been volatile and could wobble slightly in the short term but the trajectory for the long term seems to be higher spring will bring more listings but supply is still tight and demand is so strong its unlikely to take the heat off an already super hot Housing Market contes contessa if youre going to have buyers who some dropped their plans to buy or buy in more affordable areas, what happens to the rental market will you see a big rush . You may see more people who decide not to buy a home right now. Rents are incredibly high which makes it harder to afford that down payment to save for that down payment so you may see more people stay in the rental market and those who can get into the Housing Market will have to look in cheaper areas. Diana olick, thank you. Those rising rates may not be great news for home buyers for but for savers, its a different story. Sharon epperson joins me now why are they rising so quickly when were talking about the fed raising the rates. Lets talk about rising Interest Rates and how it affects consumers across the board, whether youre a saver or borrower rising rates are occurring because great things are happening with the economy people are spending more,m plo i employers are hiring more and companies are investing more thats a good thing for the economy so we dont need ultra low Interest Rates to make the economy better because it is Getting Better but the flip side of that two sides of every coin is that were seeing overall prices rise, inflation creeping up and to curb that, thats when the fed steps in and says were going to have Interest Rates rise a bit here. Are we talking about what you pay on your Credit Card Debt is that going to change what students pay for their Student Loan Debt . Its going to really affect any type of borrowing that you do where the Interest Rates varies so thats going to be important. The good news is that savers are going to get more on their savings and i do mean a little bit more so if 1. 5 savings rate on your savings account doesnt excite you, it should because its much higher than its been in a long time and if you shop around, bankrate. Com, depositaccounts. Com, you can find them. The other thing is tying up your money longer if youre saving and you dont need it right away put in the a short term cd for a year or, so you can get a rate as high as 2 . If youre able to save, this is a good time to start paying down debt with the savings youre accumulating so thats important to remember as well. When i was a kid and was being taught how to save in a savings account you could see a difference with the interest accrual at the end of the year and its been hard to see that for a really long time. It has. It has. Lets talk about credit cards and anything elsewhere youd have a variable interest rate. When you look at credit cards youre going see a ratetorate comparison there, your rate on your credit card is going to go up. 25 as well so its direct so on a thousand dollar balance, thats an extra 2. 50 on that balance. What you need to do is look at what your prat is on that credit card and see if there are different ways to lower that rate one way is to maybe do a balance rate trvr but you have to keep in mind those are teaser rates and the Balance Transfer could incur a fee as swollen to you have to see what is Cost Effective for you. So this is an area where all these parts of your debt could combine to make your life much more expensive month to month. Is there anything else you look at the variable rate, so whether youre talking about a credit card or home equity line of credit, neigh will shift relative to a rate tied to the fed funds rate, that will have an impact on you that could also impact those student loan borrowers who are looking for the lowest rate possible they say okay, well go with a private variable loan for student loan that will change also so that is one area people might look to see whether its possible to enroll to autodebit to lower your rate, if you can get a shorter repayment turn make the payments prior to graduation people are like how can i do that im in school . But thats a good way to lower your rate and wherever you go, a fixed rate loan in a rising rate environment is a better place to be. Thank you so much for great advice. Sure. Now heres a look at whats making news as we head into a new week on the money. As we mentioned, inflation may be rearing its ugly head and thats a big deal. The Consumer Price index which measures what americans pay on a monthly basis for everything from rent to clothing increased by half a percent last month which was more than expected rising inflation could mean the economy is running hotter and the Federal Reserve may be more likely to increase Interest Rates. The markets seemed to shrug off the news, the dow with tripledigit gains on monday, wednesday, thursday and recovering much of its recent losses the nasdaq and s p 500 largely followed suit. Stocks were mixed on friday. Retail sells fell. 3 and are expected to increase kreecrease it may be due to spend fatigue after bad weather across much of the nation up next, were on the money. Is your child addicted to social media . Tips on what to do and how to prevent it and later, for more than 100 years l. L. Bean has had a lifetime return policy for any item now its a different story heres a look at how the stock market ended this week how many times a day, honestly, do you check your own . Dozens maybe hundreds what about your kids one report by Common Sense Media found that 50 of teens feel addicted to their phones so what can parents do if they think their children are spending too much time on their phone joining us now is the author of social media wellness, helping tweens and teens thrive in a digital world. Im the mom of young kids and im trying to think about the ways they have to use this they have to master it but why is there an addiction in the first place . Its not the smartphone itself thats addictive, its more of the applications and how we use them. So when we think about social media, so much of it is created on this feedback loop of notifications and they want to promote engagement so when theyre promoting engagement, they create this system where we always want to be online and it can create this fear of missing out if were not online. This happens for adults as well as kids. And it trains us for immediate gratification, that you get some reward in your reward center of your brain when you get a thumbs up or like or comment back to a post youve done in your research, did you find theres a right age to give a phone to a kid it depends on who your child is and what your family situation is, but what i find more and more problem matic is ki parents are giving their old smartphone as a hand me down i recommend incremental usage, give them a flip phone first, have them use it at certain times so youre establishing good habits. Are you finding parents who say, no, im not giving my child a phone. More and more im finding parents are waiting until the eighth grade or ninth grade to give their kids a smartphone but before then maybe for commuting reasons, maybe theyre in an afterschool sport, they get a flip phone for access and emergencies because pay phones arent available like they were 20 or 30 years ago. Thats true and what steps can parents take to keep their children from becoming reliant on even technically addicted to not just the device but the screens themselves and the apps on those screens . Well, the most important thing they can do is be consistent about creating daily and weekly detox times so what i mean by that is every night the phone should come out of the room. A lot of kids will say i use my phone as my alarm clock. I say go to the drugstore, by a regular alarm clock. The other piece is every week there should be a few hours where kids arent on screens. You think the mophone might e safe in the kitchen plugged in but kids have minds of their own. Are their apps that monitor their usage . There are several apps that help for example, our pact is an app that allowsparents to turn off Different Social Media apps after a certain hour then theres circle by disney which is a device that works through your wifi system that allows you to monitor and turn things off to give it a bedtime. I have to ask my dad didnt even have a tv in the house growing up, he thought it rotted our brain and you can see how rebellious i am but is tv still a concern is too much tv time . Heres whats challenging with television. We can now watch television on our phone so are we using our smartphone or are we watching television then we can share that clip online so theres all these ways we ear using television but the thing we have to think about and how smartphones and social media are different is that were getting a constant stream of content, its new but also personalized based on what our likes are and what weve watched before so theres all this stuff coming at us that is filtered based on our own personal preferences. So youre not getting exposed to diversity, which is important. Big picture, youve done talking and writing and research are any of these fears overblown . I think what i often say is that social media isnt good or bad but a new tool for communication. But what is a problem is that we as adults dont fully speak the language kids are speaking and we need to. As a parent one of the problems is that if my phone is around, im not present with my children so you have to set it aside. Anna, thank you so much, appreciate your time. Thank you for having me up next, retailer l. L. Bean has had a generous lifetime guarantee on anything you buy from them. Maybe it was too generous. Later, an old friend gets a makeover kind of. This Dunkin Donuts is probably different than the one you have in your neighborhood why change is abrewing. With audible. Audible has the Worlds Largest selection of audiobooks. Books like peak performance. And endurance. Books that energize and inspire for just 14. 95 a month. Less than youd pay for the hardcover. With audible, you get a creditamonth good for any audiobook. If you dont like it, exchange it any time. No questions asked. You can also roll your credits to the next month if you dont use them. Audible members use the free mobile app to listen anytime, anywhere. On the go. Or in the car. The audible app automatically keeps your place, no bookmarks required. So youll pick up right where you left off, even if you switch your phone. To your echo at home. Get more books in your life. Start a 30day trial and your first audiobook is free. Cancel anytime, and your books are yours to keep forever. Listening, is the new reading. Text listen 4 to five hundred five hundred to start listening today. Sure. Mom,whats up son . Alk . I cant be your it guy anymore. What . You guys have xfinity. You can do this. Whats a good wifi password, mom . You still have to visit us. I will. No. Make that the password you stillohave toovisit us. Thats a good one. [ chuckles ] seems a bit long, but okay. Set a memorable wifi password with xfinity my account. One more way comcast is working to fit into your life, not the other way around. For more than a century, l. L. Bean has had an unlimited lifetime return policy, but theyve just changed the rules now you can return any item within one year of purchase and you must have a receipt. Jay bear is marketing strategist and author of hug your haters, how to embrace complaints and keep your customers. Jay, good to talk to you ive known and loved l. L. Bean since childhood. This made a lot of news, even a lawsuit from one customer. What do you think, good or bad i think its a reasonable policy change. The problem is that people were going to garage sales and ebay and buying worn l. L. Bean merchandise, returning it to stores for full credit, returning them and flipping those items and essentially making a job out of this they finally said enough is enough i would say the policy they have in place is reasonable and fair but it feels unfair compared to what they had previously. They were really putting their money behind their products they were saying if youre not happy over the lifetime of this product, well return it but if you looked at the fine print, it would say over normal wear and tear or whatever but i know because i had returned l. L. Bean boots that i thought should have lasted longer than a season and returned them and they gave it back, no questions asked so what was the breaking point for l. L. Bean . Because over the years there had to have been a lot of people who brought the l. L. Bean knowing they were buying quality products because the guarantee was right there. Thats just it. From a Customer Service standpoint this doesnt bother me too much. From a wordofmouth standpoint it bothers me a tremendous amount because what they have done is takingen a differentiator, a talk trigger, something that set them apart in the marketplace and gave it away and said were not going to do that anymore so either the amount of revenue they are losing on these bogus returns was exceptionally large, larger than we might imagine or they just decided perhaps incorrectly that customers dont care about a Lifetime Warranty versus a one Year Warranty versus proof of purchase or no purchase perhaps theyve miscalculated. This policy was part of its iconic brand of having durable products and goods what happens to that brand a reputation in the face of increasing competition globally. I looked at a lot of customer comments on their Facebook Page after they announce this and they say they didnt handle this very well, either it was a letter from the chairman and just said hey, were making this change there wasnt anything human or empathetic about it. But theres customer comments on their Facebook Page and twitter account that say we no longer have a reason to shop at your store versus everybody else who sells essentially the same goods and i completely concur. They had a differentiator and they voluntarily gave it away. Now 250 million is nothing to sneeze at and i think the reason they thought they could get away with this is that rei did the same thing in 2013 they used to have a Lifetime Warranty and in 2013 they went to a oneyear program almost exactly word for word the same for what l. L. Bean has done now. Apple has a 14day return policy, amazon has a 30day return policy. Is one year still too generous well, thats the funny thing about this if we flip the script on this and we said this isnt a 106yearold company, this is a Startup Company thats going to offer goods and services and have a oneyear return policy, no questions asked and lifetime for defects, we would be praising them for the generosity of this policy what makes this difficult and what bothers people is that theyve taken something away if they started from scratch wed say wow, this is extraordinary. So great to talk to you thank you so much for your time today. Thanks so much. Up next, on the money. A look at the news for the week ahead. And its the Dunkin Donuts of the future the nextgeneration store that will get your cup of joe to you even faster. Crest 3d white removes. 95 of surface stains in just 3 days. For a whiter smile. That will win them over. Crest. Healthy, beautiful smiles for life. Here are the stories coming up that could affect your money this eek monday marks president s day, a federal holiday. The markets will be closed 56 years ago tuesday, john glenn game the First American astronaut to orbit the earth on wednesday, well see how many existing homes were sold in the month of january and the minutes from januarys fed meeting will be released on thursday, the leading Economic Indicators come out thats attempts to predict Economic Conditions six months from now its also National Margarita day so bottoms up to all the tequila lovers out there it was back in 1950 the first Dunkin Donuts opened and now 68 years later in the same new england town dunkin is testing its new Concept Store of the future our kate rogers went to quincy, massachusetts, for a coffee run and met the boss behind the brew. I think its really about a new dunkin. Reporter the coffee wars are on and Dunkin Donuts plans to win. Part of the companys strategy a new Concept Store unveiled last month in quincy, massachusetts, meant to cater to consumers on the go who are looking for value. I like the design, its modern, convenient with a drive through and love the paper cups. Reporter dunkin is focusing on a beveragefirst policy they slimmed down their menu and are trying to improve the customer experience. They have cold drinks on tap and outside the first ever mobile only drive through lane. We did the thrive through one day, that worked out great theyre very quick. In the stores that have drive throughs, about 75 of our sales and we are as they say in boston, wicked fast. Reporter theres even an Innovation Lab next door where theyre testing out printing photos on lattes with coffee extract. You look good. Thank you, you look good, too. Reporter theyll be rolling out 1,000 new stores over the next three years, 90 of them outside of the northeast where dunkin has a stronghold franchisees will be able to visit the Concept Store to see what might work well in their own locations and build on that. So far in quincy, customers seem impressed . Very efficient. Its a little different looks good. Contessa, the idea is to have about 50 or so of these Concept Stores rolled out in the next three years and the coffee wars are heating up starbucks is pushing ever more of its mobile and loyalty rewards programs and mcdonalds is offering 1 coffee no matter what size you get so everybody is stunning up their game. Heres my big question they put a picture of you on your latte how did that happen . Unfortunately, i didnt get to see them do that but i was pleasantly surprised when they brought it over. They basically said its like Screen Printing using coffee extract on top of the lattes they havent figured out if theyll make it available to customers in stores. It would probably take a little longer than the customer who wants to be quick and on the go but its cool and theyre testing things across the board. But some analysts said given all the innovation they have that the 3 rise in corps store sales might be conservative and dunkin could grow even more. Thats the show for today, im contessa brewer, thank you for joining us becky will be back next week and well talk guaranteed income should low income americans get a monthly check thats not from the government keep it right here, we are on the money. Have a great one see you next weekend dawn is serving up dinner for a whole town that table was like. So big can one bottle of new dawn clean all the dishes . We did it 6,000 dishes a drop of dawn and grease is gone. Narrator in this episode of american greed. An investment manager takes on the toughest clients retired nfl players and steals their money. 150 million vanishes before the fbi moves in. We found that they only had about 200,000 under management. Narrator but when hes tackled for a loss, will his game go into sudden death . The investors, particularly the nfl investors, were so mad at him that he was afraid for his own personal safety