The Best One Yet - 🏆 “Perfect Credit Score” — How to get one. Tesla’s new MAGA brand. Chili’s ate TGI Fridays.

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Thursday, the new Friday. January 30th. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Docs, they are dipping right now. Yesterday, it was because of the Fed. Our nation's central bank is worried about inflation again. So yesterday, they announced their keeping interest rates high. Investors would prefer if interest rates fell. We'd prefer if interest rates fell. The president would prefer if interest rates fell. But the Fed's job isn't the politics. were popularity. It's killing inflation. So they gave us tough love and are keeping interest rates high. But in the meantime, Jack and I whipped up three fantastic anti-inflation stories for you. Jack, what do we got on today's pot? For our first story, Tesla

Starting point is 00:00:46 just announced earnings, but the bigger story is Tesla's new brand. Because Tesla has become a $45,000 MAGA hat. For our second story, Chili's is the hottest restaurant in the country. It's up 300 percent in the past year.

Starting point is 00:01:02 Because Chilliz is known for its baby back ribs, but its strategy is great white shark. And finally, for our third story, we all want a credit score over 750. Nice. Maybe even 800. Nice, sir. Who knows? Isn't 850 possible? Not too shabby.

Starting point is 00:01:19 But Jack, does a perfect credit score even exist? Yes, it does. One man got it, and we'll tell you how he did. Oh, we got the secret sauce. But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. mix of stories. Love the way things are kicking off, man. Did you hear those fireworks? Because the Chinese New Year began last night. The Lunar New Year, yes, heard those fireworks. Largest celebration on planet Earth. Here's a wild stop. Get this. The two weeks before and after

Starting point is 00:01:46 Chinese New Year, three billion trips are taken just in China. That's right, because people are leaving the city visiting family, visiting other family, and then visiting more family. Apparently, every single person in China takes an average of two trips. During the Chinese New Year. Last year was the year of the dragon. This year is the year of the snake. And this weekend, again, Dim Summit, Dragon Bo, Jack? No.

Starting point is 00:02:10 It's like China Live. But Jack and I got curious. How do stocks perform during the year of the snake? Because the Chinese snake is a symbol of calculation, strategy, and thought. So, Jack, let's enlighten the besties. How do markets do during snake years? Really, really freaky. Let's kick it back to 2013.

Starting point is 00:02:29 It was one of the best years in Wall Street history, and it was the year of the snake. The S&P 500 jumped over 30% that year. But the year 2001 was also the year of the snake, and it was one of the worst years on the stock market. The dot-com bubble burst, 9-11 happened, and stocks dropped 13%. 1997, the year Apple was founded. Nice! It's become the most valuable company in the world. But Jack, 1929, the Great Depression began, the stock market crashed, one of the worst years in history.

Starting point is 00:02:57 So, yadies, we don't typically base our investments. on the Zodiac calendar? Yeah, otherwise, we'd be all in on Peloton stock during the year of the bull. But the year of the snake. Yeah. Which my third child's going to be born in there. He is. It'll either bite you or it'll kiss you.

Starting point is 00:03:12 If you know, you know. This isn't investment advice? No, it's not. But we're bullish on the snake. We're going to go all in. Jack, let's in our three stories. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm.

Starting point is 00:03:27 It's the best one yet, but the best is an norm. Jack Nick, that's it. I don't even think they need to practice. 50% that's a fat tip. Tea Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, because we're ready to go. We can't wait no more. So just start the show.

Starting point is 00:03:43 Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, Elon Musk, the most political CEO ever, just announced a disappointing earnings over a Tesla. But the God honest reality is that Tesla isn't a car company. anymore. Tesla sells $45,000 MAGA hats. Yeties, Jack and I had been talking about this for a while, but we think one of the dumbest things that Joe Biden ever did was host an electric vehicle summit at the White House and not invite Elon Musk. Tesla was not there, even though Tesla was like

Starting point is 00:04:29 the entire electric car industry at the time. That Biden snub back in 2021, that was the moment, we think, when the world's best entrepreneur, the world's richest person changed from a Democrat to a MAGA supporter. In 2021, Elon moved Tesla's headquarters out of California to Texas. Then he bought Twitter, and now he tweets literally over a hundred times a day. And last year, he invested $250 million to get Donald Trump elected as president. Add it all up, and Elon has become the most political CEO ever, and it's not just in the United States. He's embraced Germany's far right and is now active on Twitter every day, getting involved in their election.

Starting point is 00:05:06 Last week, he spoke at Trump's inauguration parade, and then he did. what looked just like a Nazi salute. Elon's passion for sustainable cars has been replaced by an obsession with right-wing politics. In the last 48 hours, he's even started tweeting jokes about Nazis. So as we're recording, Tesla just announced their fourth quarter earnings, and the analysts, they're definitely going to ask him about that salute he did. Yes, they are. But here's the strange business irony here. The guy he got elected as president is doing the opposite of Tesla's mission statement. Jack, could you sprinkle on more context for us over there? Governments across the developed world have moved to support electric cars in order to combat climate change, including the

Starting point is 00:05:51 United States and Tesla. For the last 12 years, Tesla's sales have benefited from a $7,500 off coupon that's a subsidy from the U.S. government. Tesla also got direct government support in the form of a $450 million loan at a critical time from Tesla from the Department of Energy. And yet, and this is why it's ironic, in just Trump's very first week, he's cut all of that electric vehicle support for companies like Tesla. We covered it last week on the pot. Instead of leasing federal land and waters for wind and solar projects, he is diverting them to oil and gas projects. Now, besties, Jack and I have been covering Tesla earnings for over a decade now. Like, we've covered over 40 of these earnings, haven't we, man? Yeah, this is Jack. I applied to multiple jobs at Tesla. And back then, what was Tesla's

Starting point is 00:06:39 mission statement. I got it for you, Jack, here it is. To accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy. That's still their mission statement today. But Trump is doing everything he can to stop the transition to sustainable energy, even though Elon is currently his best buddies. So, Jack, what is the takeaway for all our buddies over at Tesla? A Tesla car is now a $45,000 MAGA hat. Now, also full disclosure, Yeties, I've been driving a Tesla Model Y for the last few years. And Jack, have I told you about these stickers we've noticed in San Francisco? I've heard about them. Okay. You see these across the city now. These are bumper stickers that say, I bought this Tesla before Elon went crazy. Yeties, yesterday, Tesla announced 8% shrinkage in car

Starting point is 00:07:24 revenue. Their first car shrinkage since 2010. So we're seeing the brand affect the sales. Tesla's brand is being defined less as a cool, clean energy company, but more as a MAGA company. And the cyber truck? the brand of that is dark maga to use Elon's language. And the numbers show it too. Reuters says that among EV buyers, half as many are now considering Tesla's compared to a year before. Now, Tesla's car business is going to be fine. With tech and Silicon Valley shifting to the right politically, there's going to be plenty of people wanting to buy a Tesla. Also, Tesla has huge sales outside the United States, where Elon's politics won't dominate the headlines. Plus, Tesla's a mature company at this point. They honestly don't need electric car incentives from the

Starting point is 00:08:06 government anymore. And honestly, from our experience, Tesla is simply the best made and most reliable electric car. Tesla is kind of the iPhone of EVs. Volkswagen Ford and GM are still figuring out. Tesla has figured it out. So besties, electric vehicle buyers are disproportionately motivated by the environment. And right now, Tesla equals Elon, which equals MAGA. A Tesla car is now a $45,000 MAGA hat. For our second story, the top restaurant stock of the last year and a half, get this. It's Chili's. Chili's baby back ribs are actually shark ribs. Because we have a new investing strategy to share.

Starting point is 00:08:46 It's called shark investing. Shark vesting. Could we go with shark vesting? Sure. Yeah, let's do it that. Oh, by the way, Jack, I've got to share with you. The greatest marketing hack of all time, it's from Chili's. You know what it is?

Starting point is 00:08:58 That commercial? No, no. Babucus. No, Jack, it's when they stuck a steak knife in the hamburgers. Oh, yeah. It basically implied that it was a huge burger. It's not actually that big a burger. Oh, it's like an optical illusion?

Starting point is 00:09:09 Yeah, basically they start striven burgers with chainsaws next. Yetis, Chili's just announced fourth quarter earnings. And Jack, I kind of want to lick them. Revenors rose by 31% compared to the year before. That's wild. The stock of Chili's is now up 15% to an all-time high. How is it in the last year and a half, man? The stock has six-xed.

Starting point is 00:09:31 Hold the case, so Yetis. We covered Chili's in September on this pod. Damn. Back then, the stock was up 150%. But now it's up another 150% since we last covered it. If you're a Yeti and you bought stock of Chili's because of our coverage in September, Nick and I want some kind of a fee. You're welcome. We're sending a Venmo request.

Starting point is 00:09:50 This 50-year-old fajita chain is growing faster than an AI cloud SaaS startup. Now, we should point out, the hero dish at Chili's isn't baby back ribs anymore. No. It's the triple dipper. In fact, they mentioned the triple dipper 21 times on their last. earnings call. Is that a CEO or is that a waiter? I'll know back. The triple dip bro is any three apps for just 17 bucks. Now I sound like a waiter. Monsoralello sticks, a fried egg roll, chicken wings, all that for 17 bucks. And what's the strategy? That deal is a big Mac killer. Yeah. If you compare that deal to fast food,

Starting point is 00:10:23 it's the same price, but much better value. More calories and you get a waiter who's serving you. And the platter is sizzling. That's a good point. But Jack, before you get on too much flair over there, What is the fascinating part about this story? While Chili's is living its best life, another throwback restaurant chain is choking. That's right. TGI Fridays is having a case of the Mondays. TGI Fridays is a very similar brand.

Starting point is 00:10:51 It's basically Chili's, but with a floater of tequila in that margarita. And they hit their all-time sales high back in 2008. Tom Cruise once filmed a movie at a TGI Friday's. Cocktail was filmed there. According to the Wall Street Journal, TGI Fridays was once so cool. They had a velvet rope and a bouncer.

Starting point is 00:11:10 Yeah. Because they were too full. If you wanted to get into TGIF, you had to know a guy. But the 80s vibes of TGIF never grew up. And Friday happy hour, it's not as big as it used to be. Yeah, we covered it on the pod. You're not going out at 5 p.m. on Fridays. So just two months ago, after already shutting 55% of the restaurants, TGI Fridays filed for bankruptcy.

Starting point is 00:11:28 Oh, their recent mistake, by the way, they started serving sushi jack. Too soon, man. Don't order Nogiri from a place that. has tires on the wall. Don't kick a guy who's down here. Come on. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Chili's? When there's blood in the water, invest in the sharks. Yeties, when one company declares bankruptcy, those customers, they find one alternative.

Starting point is 00:11:53 As T.J. Friday's declined, their dinners didn't go to the Hall of Garden. No. They went to Chili's. Yeah, it's a zero-plum game. It's like a shark smelling blood in the water. One business was wounded, and the shark just ate it all up. Did you say a zero plum game? Maybe.

Starting point is 00:12:09 I like that a lot, actually. And we've seen this effect before. When Sports Authority declared bankruptcy, Dick's sporting goods got a whole bunch of new business. Or Jack, when Victoria's Secrets brand just went out of style, Kim Kardashian skims surged. How about right now? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:12:25 There's blood in the water at Walgreens. That pharmacy chain is struggling mightily. Yeah, they've got the worst performing stock in the market. Like, whose shark is going to come and eat that chum? I don't know. That's an investment opportunity if you can figure out who it is. Besties, let us know in the comments. In the meantime, when there is blood in the water, we know

Starting point is 00:12:42 what to do. Invest in the sharks. Shark vesting. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, one man finally achieved the perfect credit score of 850. We'll tell you the

Starting point is 00:13:02 secret on how to get an 850 credit score, and it involves your mail. It's actually shockingly simple. But Yetis, today you can apply for and get approved for a credit card almost instantly, man. Actually, Jack, here. Boom. Here's one. Take two. Here's three. I've called and like, you know, gotten a credit card. They're like, hold on a second. Yep, you're approved. Yeah, yeah. Send them four of them. But in the 1960s, getting a credit card was a lot like getting into an exclusive club. In fact, my dad had a credit card called Diners Club, Jack. That is so old school.

Starting point is 00:13:35 So Yeties, 60 years ago, two guys. developed a math formula to get membership into that credit card club. Their names were William Fair and Earl Isaac, the two original men of finance. And they started a company called Fair Isaac Company, the acronym of which was F I-C-O. FICO. That's how we got the FICO number. It's your primary credit score that pretty much all financial institutions look at. And the FICO credit score has a secret recipe to evaluate your credit. Of course. it's secret. Because if it wasn't secret, we wouldn't need this company. Yeah, they look like your credit history, your payment record, the types of credit you have. And then they

Starting point is 00:14:14 rate you on a scale of 300 to 850. And your credit score is important. It can determine whether or not you can afford a house, afford a car, or get an American Express credit card. Basically, your blood pressure gives you your physical health score. Your credit score gives you your financial health score. And there's even now a dating app that will match you based on your FICO credit score. You know how I knew I wanted to marry Molly? I saw she was a 765. And I was like, I got to get down on one day. Really spicy. I'll show you mine if you show me yours situation.

Starting point is 00:14:43 But besties, get this. If the credit score is so critical, how do you actually get a perfect credit score? Well, one man just found out. Steve Mitchell, 52 years old, born and raised in Texas. He's bald. Usually wears black t-shirts based on the Wall Street Journal profile we saw. Big fan of Iron Maid. And Steve always paid his bills on time.

Starting point is 00:15:04 In fact, Steve had a great credit score, Jack. he was at like 840, not too shabby. Wow, I've never even been close to that. But five years ago, Steve started on a quest, a noble quest, to get the perfect credit score of 850. And along that quest, he discovered a whole lot of nonsense about how FICO works. For example, Steve discovered that closing old credit card accounts actually hurt your credit score. And opening more credit cards, something associated with having a shopping problem, actually helped his score. So it is strange, but financially responsible moves actually made his credit score go down.

Starting point is 00:15:42 I get pings all the time. Your credit score has changed. And I go on check. There's no explanation for the change. Well, Jack, for a whole year, Steve was stuck at one specific score, 848, 2 points away from a perfect score. He learned that having a $0 balance on all his credit accounts was hurting him from getting $8.50. Okay, so here's what he did. Steve started tinkering and discovered that actually having a small balance of 1% of his credit limit on his card, that actually helped his credit score. So finally, after five years, he hit 850. Congratulations, Steve. Why it took so long, it remains a mystery. Nobody really knows. Now, add it all up, and only 1.5% of Americans have hit a perfect credit score of 850,

Starting point is 00:16:24 according to the Wall Street Journal. But Jack and I jumped in T-boy style, and we discovered there are four specific traits shared by people with perfect credit scores. First, you should have multiple credit accounts. Second, you should use a small portion of your credit card limits. And third, you need to pay your bills on time. It's kind of messed up, but the less you need credit, the more credit worthy you actually are to the credit card companies. The fourth thing you need is our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway debit or credit for our buddies with credit cards? The best way to boost your credit score is to simply know what it is. Yet he's great quote from director Woody Allen. 90% of success in life is simply showing up.

Starting point is 00:17:07 90% of getting a good credit score is simply knowing it. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, studies show that just being aware of your credit score is the best trick to boost your credit score. Knowing your score means you're more likely to be making responsible financial decisions. Now, this is probably more correlation than causation. But when it comes to your credit card, like ignorance of what you owe, that is not blithe. Is it, Jack? Ignorance is not bliss. In fact, when we worked at Robin Hood, we learned that people who don't open their mail, that's correlated with having a lower credit score. Yeah, like, if you don't

Starting point is 00:17:41 know how much you're spending on Q-tops, you're not going to know if you got to pay down that cute top balance. I mean, I get it. If you have money problems, bills can be stressful. So besties, knowing why you got a specific credit score, that is still a mystery. But just knowing your credit score is critical to boosting it. Jack, could you whip up the tip? Takeaways for us for the new Friday. Tesla just announced an 8% drop in automotive revenue last quarter, but the stock remains close to record highs. A Tesla car is now a $45,000 MAGA hat. For our second story, Chili's is simply the best restaurant stock right now. It's risen 6x in 18 months by eating TGI Friday's lunch. When there's blood in the water, invest in the sharks.

Starting point is 00:18:27 And our third and final story. The perfect credit score does exist. Yeah. One guy got 850 after randomly tinkering with his credit situation. But the best secret to boost in your credit score? Simply knowing your credit score. But yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, on Tuesday, President Trump announced a freeze to anything receiving federal grant money.

Starting point is 00:18:52 On Wednesday, he rescinded it. It was his most impactful executive order, but it caused chaos. So he reversed it. And other President Trump news, he's offered a one and a half million federal worker is a choice. They can retire and take eight months of severance or... Or prepare for a very different kind of work situation under the new administration.

Starting point is 00:19:11 And second, Boom Aeronautics, great name, achieved its first ever supersonic flight for a passenger airplane. Remember those Concord jets that could fly from New York to London in three hours? Or New York to Boston in 12 seconds? Well, Boom is trying to make the next generation of that. So they want to basically bring back the Concord. These planes could hold 60 to 80 passengers. This thing flew mock 1.1. That's 750 miles per hour. And finally, something unprecedented happened. A baby was born at a Krispy Kreme donut shop. That's right. During last week's winter storms, a woman in Alabama was stuck because of the snow gave birth to a healthy baby boy over at a Krispy Kreme. It's an incredible story. It was an emergency, obviously. And the staff must have helped out. And guess what?

Starting point is 00:19:56 Yeah. Everyone is healthy. It's history because it's the first time ever that a Krispy Kreme was listed as a place of birth on a birth certificate. So Krispy Cream is reportedly giving the family free donuts for the whole first year. Although Jack's a shareholder and Jack, how do you feel about all those free donuts given away by Krispy? I think that's money well spent. Well played. Well played. Krispy. They better be glazed. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by Jack and me. On Sunday, it rained in Los Angeles. Finally. All but putting out the very last of the wildfires. Now, this is sadly fallen away from the front page news, but now, Angelinos can actually start rebuilding. Well, the tech and venture capital community, they lost a lot of

Starting point is 00:20:37 homes in the high-end areas of the palisades that burned down. And it's going to take them months or years to find a new place or rebuild. But that same community also set up a fund to help those most in need. It's called the LA Tech Community Cares Fund. And it's raised nearly a million dollars so far to help those Angelinos most in financial need. So a lot of organizations out there, we dropped a link to this one in our episode description for you. Yeties, you look fantastic out there. And if you happen to be enjoying a burger with the steak knife, which is never necessary, send us a picture of that steak knife.

Starting point is 00:21:12 I always cut my burger now. I do too. Controversial in some places. Well, more controversial, Jack, do you put the ketchup on the burger or do you dip the burger in the ketchup? I do both. It was a trick question. You passed. Yeties, after this, remember to check out our weekly show the best idea yet because we just dropped

Starting point is 00:21:27 a new episode on Red Bull. We got a link in the episode description. And Nick and I will see you. tomorrow. Can't wait. Before we go, congratulations to Yeti, Tina Lee, who's got a new baby boy on the Upper West Side, and you better be feeding him some Lenny sandwiches. Congratulations to Kelsey Black, who just got nominated for Best Small Business in Flugerville, Texas. Congrats, Kelsey, and Ken Say, in Lake Worth, Florida, is having the best birthday yet. Happy birthday to Bob Hastings in New Bern, North Carolina, and who's got a new baby due tomorrow. Very exciting. And Nicholas Cicero,

Starting point is 00:22:07 Legendary Yeti of Queens, New York is celebrating down in Philadelphia, we assume, with a Gino's cheese stick. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a tea boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Krispy Kreme and Victoria's Secret. And Nick and I both own stock of Apple, Peloton. And I think that's it, right?

Starting point is 00:22:29 Did you buy Krispy Kreme and Victoria Secret on the same day? Something makes me feel like that was the same day purchase. Check the stock records.

The Best One Yet - 🏆 “Perfect Credit Score” — How to get one. Tesla’s new MAGA brand. Chili’s ate TGI Fridays.

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