Your money, your life, your future. Now becky quick. We begin with cars and trucks. Memorial day weekend is traditionally one of the best times to get a deal, but after seven years of growth auto sales are slowing down this year. As reported in this weeks cover story there are a lot of forces driving changes in the Auto Industry. The change at the top of ford is a big deal. Jim hackett takes over the auto maker after the companys board decided to oust mark fields. Ford is hoping a new boss will push the company to move faster especially when it comes to developing technologies like selfdriving cars where the auto maker is fighting the perception its trailing competitors like tesla. Way were going to win the hearts and minds of everybody is have grade ideas of work and ford has put a decade into the Av Development and its really coming along and when were ready to talk about it were going to be really clear about it. The pressure on ford reflects an industry at a cross roads from selfdriving cars built by tech firms to the growing popularity of ride share companies. Many question if consumers will be buying fewer cars and trucks. New vehicle sales have cooled off slightly. Thats prompted auto makers and dealers to offer bigger rebates and incentives to close deals but that may not be enough to convince new customers to buy new instead of used. Preowned vehicles have become more attractive because prices have fallen. Youll see ample supply due to a surge in leased vehicles being turned back in. All of this means you could find big discounts this summer, especially on cars which are not in as much demand as trucks and suvs. Inventories are high. Incentives have been tracking high. I think right now is a good time to buy period, but as we head toward the end of the summer deals will probably become even better at that time. And one reason why so many people focus on the end of the summer you look at the 4th of july weekend which is traditionally one of the most popular weekends for autos to be bought and you have Labor Day Weekend so if you dont see the best deal on the lot this memorial day weekend it might happen later this summer. Good news for all of you shoppers out there. Thank you very much. So what will Auto Industry changes mean for you when you start looking for your next car, suv or truck . Rebecca thanks for being here with us today. These are interesting trends that were hearing. One of the things we know is the fleet the arch age is 11 and a half years old. That sounds ancient for kars. What does this mean for consumers . First of all people are driving around in a rotary phone. Or a flip phone. Exact lichlt and one of the things theyll find when they go to the dealership is a lot of new technology. A lot of new things that are in the cars and the cars are going to make a lot of noises that theyre not used to having them make. Is that a good thing or a bad thing . I dont know if i need all the bells and whistles. Whats the good thing . One of the things about having the older fleet on the road today is the safety factor. Theres a lot of vehicles that have only air bag if they have any at all. Theres a lot of vehicles that may not have things like lane control, you know, even Adaptive Cruise control which is fairly new. Soyd love so see consumers upgrade their vehicles for the safety phacotors. Even baby seats, the connectors now, theyre so much easier. So theres, you know, very simple things and more complex things theyre going to find. Blue tooth. A lot of vehicles dont even have blue tooth. And youve got to be careful. The hands free phones is the only way you should be talking in a car. And fatalities are increasing for the first time in years. I dont think it helps to have computers in the dashboard either. But people are taking longer and longer times on their leases. Is it a bad idea to take a longer lease . One thing i want consumers to Pay Attention to when they go into the show room is what theyre paying for the overall cost of the vehicle, not just the monthly payment. And thats gone up and up as they put more of these things into the cars. I would never recommend going more than 60 months. No more than five years. Because what youre going to find is that youre going to owe more on that vehicle than its worth for years to come. And probably every year the valuation drops. The valuation is dropping down and so i just would caution consumers to make sure that youre looking and youre trying to get a payment thats closer to the 60 month rather than 72 or 84. What should we be doing in terms of buying or leasing . Its the constant age old discussion. Whats the better deal sm. The interest thing about leasing is that the people that probably should lease tend not to. So if you dont drive a lot you actually could just lease. Every three years you get a new vehicle and since cars depreciationuate its really not an asset especially if youre owing more on it. The idea thats pushed me away is i dont want to have individuals on the car that i have to go back and pay for. I dont want to worry about the limit of the milesve been driving. I would never reng mend a Fresh Graduate lease. You dont know what could happen. You may end up with a girlfriend or boyfriend hundreds of miles away or a new job and your life is not stable enough to lease, if you will. Speaking of those new graduates, how many of them are actually buying cars, the millennials are a different generation and theyre doing things differently. What we see is that they do spend a lot of time researching. They find the overall process of purchasing very overwhelming which is completely me too. I do too. But we also see them willing to purchase a new vehicle. You know, the millennials, theres so many of them. If they get fed up with the way you deal with the cars at the dealership, will that mean good news for us from smaller generations . This is the first time that the baby boomers arent completely dominating so weve got jen x. Jen y, of course the baby boomers still there. And we have to respect those different generations for sure. But im like cindy brady. Im in the middle. Ive forgotten by the olders and the youngers. Nobody cares about us. Exactly. Thank you very much for joining us. Great to be here. Take care. Thank, becky. Now heres a look at whats making news. Stocks set new records once again this week. The s p 500 closed at a new high on thursday climbing for the sixth straight day. The nasdaq hit a fresh high as well. And even though the dow didnt set a record it did continue to rise. Stocks were mixed on friday. A fresh reading on americas groes Gross Domestic Product showed a better number than the first estimate. The First Quarter climbed by 1. 2 . Thats a soft number but better than the initial reading of 0. 7 . The existing home sales fell more than expected in april. They tumbled 2. 3 in part because of a shortage on houses in the market. That has kept prices high and potential buyers on the sidelines and it may be the ultimate retail irony. Amazon which drove many brick and mortar bookstores out of business has opened a new brick and mortars bookstore of its own in new york. It occupies the same space that once housed a borders news store. It offers big discounts for amazon prime mens. Stocks just keep on climbing it seems. Whats behind a record week on wall street and should you change anything youre doing . And later memorial day deals that rival krieber monday. What to buy now at the best prices. Right now a look at how the stock market ended the week. New records this week for stocks despite some gloomy headline from washington and overseas. If youre safing for retirement or anything else how much attention should you be paying to the market moves . Joining us is court knee gibsco gibson. Weve seen terror attacks in england and the markets have yawned at the terror attacks and we keep setting records for the s p and the nasdaq. Its unfortunate, i think. I think the market is somewhat desensitized from some of these things. The good news is were actually focused on Economic Data and actually focused on the earnings that were seeing coming out of the market right now and i think thats part of what is fuelling the market to continue to move higher here and despite some of the unfortunate efforts that weve seen globally. The Federal Reserve released minutes from its last minute this week. The fed meets again in june and there are some Market Expectations that theyre going to raise rates again. What do you think the impact would be . I think the impact is broad and its different for different people. So for the average american, raised Interest Rates obviously will mean higher Mortgage Rates potentially on the long end of course. Auto loan rates will go up. Hopefully well begin to see some of those Savings Rates increase for the consumer. Obviously weve seen it with a lot of the thin Tech Companies and the community banks. Id love to see some of the larger investment banks and commercial banks begin to raise the Savings Rates for the average consumer as well. Well also hopefully see the banks earnings increase because theyll be able to start making money again which will be great for everyone if you have a 401 k or savings. When it comes to those Savings Rates, amen to that. If you are somebody saving for retirement or college or something should you be doing anything differently than what youve been doing at this point . Not solely based on whats happened over the last week. Hopefully youre investing for the longterm and your Financial Advisor is positioning you for the time horizon in which you currently have and in which youll need the money. So changing something based on this week is not advisable for most. If somethings changed in your situation, you do want to adjust your strategy, but one week worth of the market moving is not something for the average person to actually change what theyre doing for the longterm for retirement or College Savings or even just buying something new. Thank you. Its great to see you. Thanks so much. Great to see you as well, becky. If you have some extra cash from the recent stock rally and youre looking to spend, memorial day weekend is a good time to find some deals. A consumer analyst at gas buddy. Com and shes here with what to buy now and what to wait for. So weve already talked about cars being a potential good thing to buy but when it comes down to it whats the best category . Apparel. About 40 of all the sales are clothes. Macys, tj maxx, i mean, all the Big Department stores. Name your store, theyve got it. Its really something for everyone this memorial day. If you want to get the good deals is it better to go to the store in person or is it better to go online . Sometimes its better to go online. You get Additional Savings of 10 to 30 off. Macys in you spend 49 you get their free shipping. At blooming dales you shop online you get an additional 20 off, so youre going to walk away with stuff from the clearance bin for next to nothing. And better inventories too, because its all lumped in one spot. Exactly and you dont deal with the traffic either. I here mattresses that could be 50 off. Im kicking myself because i have one being delivered this week. 50 is what theyre going for this memorial day. Sears has a set and in some cases you can do better. 50 off and in some cases 6 o off. Is this a good time to be buying Household Appliances . In familiar, refrigerators because this is the time of year when the manufacturers move the old models off the floor and replenish them with the new ones. Manufacturers of other goods such as stoves and other big ticket items they have a different production cycle. These are name brands. Youve got samsung, ken more, sears has a nice ken more thats on sale. These are legitimate deals and also a good time for some of the smaller items around the kitchen. Blenders, things of that nature, Williams Sonoma up to 50 off. I never know how to say it, but sir la tab. So i got that one right. If youre looking to update your game in the kitchen. Where am i going to not find a deal . The summer stuff. The Patio Furniture stuff, target has a good deal, 30 off plus 10 off with a coupon, but unless you really need one right now, youre better off waiting until the end of summer and things like laptops, electronics, better off shopping that during the back to school period. Thanks. We are on the money. It is the season, wedding season that is. How to be the perfect guest without breaking your bank. And move over. Your replacementes are in training. We will take you to the High School Competition where big brains go head to head. Hi im j. Wedding season is fast approaching and aside from all the joy weddings bring they can also dig a big hole in your wallet both for the happy couple and for the guests. Helping us try and navigate it all is stephanie kaine. Thank for being here. Thank you so much for having me. Lets goat to that age old question. The one i ask myself every time i attend the wedding. How much am i suppose to be giving . Its actually the top question for every guest going to a wedding and there used to be theres thought that youre supposed to pay for your head at the table. But you need to ditch that myth. You should buy a gift based on your relationship to the couple. Thats worse. Heres how much i love you or dont. Well, you know, for people that you are very close to you want to spend more on them and were seeing that with statistics. So you know, wedding guests that on average are spending 118 on a gift, but the guests that are in the wedding party, so bridesmaids and groomsmen theyre spending 177. The guideline is if you are attending a wedding for a good friend you want to spend around 125. If you are much closer to them a best friend, really close Family Member you can spend up to 200 and if youre going just to a distant relative or a coworker you can spend less. 75 to 100. What about a Destination Wedding and im spending a ton of money to stay at the hotel of your choice and stay there for many days, do i still need to give the same sort of gift . Not the same sort of gift but it is still nice to give a gift. You can just give a gift of a lower price point. If you know other guests thatry tending the wedding as well you can go in on a gift. Each person is putting a little less into the pot. Heres a spoon. Congratulations. Exactly. What about if youre bringing a guest . Youve been invited to bring a guest. Is there any etiquette that goes along that . Its up to you to bring a guest or not. You should rsvp for that person and give their name so they can have proper place cards and escort cards created. Its also nice to bring a guest that maybe also knows the couple. So if you have a significant other at the time you could bring that person but if youre single its nice to bring a friend, Family Member, someone that you know youre going to have a great time with. Trends that youve seen recently. Anything new out there . Anything thats all the rage at this point . Personalization is what is top right mow for couples. Theyre thinking about that when it comes to their venue, the style of their wedding what kind of vibe they want to create and how they want to share that with their guests. Thank you very much. Thank you. A look at the news a week ahead and these kids, they arent getting around. A front row seat to one of the most prestigious High School Competitions. Ome. Thanks to dawn, rescue workers only trust dawn, because its tough on grease yet gentle. I am home, i am home, i am home here are the stories coming up that may impact your money this weekend. The marks are closed on memorial day when we remember those who gave their lives serving in americas military. On tuesday a look at the home prices and wednesday we get the feds beige book that measures the nations economy by region. On thursday auto sales for may are out and Hurricane Season begins. On friday well see just how many jobs were gained and lost in may. Thats when the employment reports are released. The thought of economics makes most High School Students groan and roll their eyes. Maybe some of the rest of us too. But we found kids all over the country vying to be the top of the class. Theyre dancers, musicians, basketball players and wrestlers. 11,000 unique kids from ho different states but they have something in common. They study and they really get economics. And the Division Winners faced off in the finals of the annual National Economics challenge. Call it the National Spelling bee for economics. And you cant believe the drama and you cant believe the brains. In the advanced Economics Division after more than 20 questions the teams were neck and neck. The score is now 1211. In the end, they pulled out a win for the fifth time in seven years. The equilibrium price and quantity will not change. Thats correct. Mounds view economics teacher credits her students success to hard work and making economics fun. Youre not going to get the kids there by beating them over the head. They have the doing it because its fun there are them. It featured a first ever International Round with student from china competing against the usa. Its 18 years and for country b its nine years. That is correct. The u. S. Won both rounds but china competed well and theyll be back. The challenges sponsored by the council for Economic Education who teaches teachers how to teach economics. Were trying to get kids just like this engaged in economics so they can make great decisions and understand how the world works. And the world better get ready for these kids. More than 20,000 in prize money was awarded to the students at the National Economics challenge. Go, kids. Thats the show for today. Im becky quick. Thank you so much for joining us. Next week it could be the solution to skills gap. On the job training for apprenticeships. Keep it right here. Were on the money. Have a great one and we will see you next weekend. Were live at the nasdaq markets kicking off the Holiday Weekend but dont pack up and leave just yet. The guys have a few ideas you can put to work when the markets open back up on tuesday. Heres whats coming up in the show. Money will always be paper, but gold will always be gold. And theres something in the charts that suggest now is the time to buy it. Well explain. Plus, how would you like to protect your frofts at amazon for nothing . Nothing . Yeah, thats right. Nothing. Well break it down and talk about car trouble, gm shares are tanking and there are signs that its about to get worse