Happy Friday! It’s May 17, 2024. We have three great stories to wrap up the past few weeks in markets, business, and the economy for you and your family.

Here are the highlights:

• Auto companies are offering discounts. Should you take advantage?
• Birth rates are collapsing globally. What does that mean for the future?
• Cool places to adventure this Summer. Looking for a last minute trip? Here’s some ideas.

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Auto Companies Offer Discounts As High Rates Weigh On Orders

https://unsplash.com/photos/parked-vehicles-aZKJEvydrNM

If you’re in the market for a new car, you might be in luck — automakers are starting to get desperate. With new auto loan rates ranging from 5% and 15%, many car manufacturers are struggling to convince Americans to spend big on a new vehicle. As a result, some are offering discounts or preferred financing on vehicles.

• What are the deals? According to CarEdge, the average sales price for almost all global automakers fell between by 5% since the start of the year — and virtually every major brand has seen prices fall since Dec. 2023. Meanwhile, some direct-to-consumer brands like Tesla have cut prices on new vehicles by double-digits — one of many efforts intended to stir consumers to buy a new car. Still, these prices are more expensive than before the pandemic, so they might not feel like much of a deal.
• What’s up with financing? However, if you are in the market for a car, promotions and lower prices might be working in your favor. If you’ve watched any number of NFL games recently, you’ve probably heard something along the lines of… “Buy a new Dodge Ram 1500 and get 0% down, 0% APR on your first offer.” The last half of that sentence is the promotion — they are offering to sell you the car without interest for a period of time, and with no money down. It isn’t just Dodge Trucks, either: virtually every automaker is now running some sort of preferred financing offer to get buyers into their cars.
• It’s not just for buyers… If you’re not interested in making a big financial commitment, or getting married to a car, lease deals are also fetching attention in this market. Many automakers are currently offering lease deals on new vehicles at low rates. In some cases, you might be able to even find these deals online — rather than visiting a dealer.

Why does it matter for EarlyBird families?

Auto prices might be high, but if you’re in the market for a vehicle, you’re likely to find some of the best purchase and lease deals in recent memory right now — especially with automakers churning out vehicles, mostly to a crowd of increasingly spend-conscious Americans. Generally, to find these deals, you’ll have to go through a manufacturer’s website and find the “Offers” page. If nothing else, browsing some of the offers is awfully entertaining… happy browsing!

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Birth Rates Are Collapsing Worldwide: What Does That Mean for the Future?

Imagine a world with less young people: culture could be less vital, technology could move slower, and society as we know it could need systemic change. Unfortunately, we might not have to imagine it — it’s already coming true. Throughout the world, birth rates are falling. And as a result, the world might soon be facing a shrinking population…

• What’s wrong? Since 2014, the United States has reached consecutive record lows in birth rates — with just 3.6 million babies born in 2023. But it’s not just the United States: that trend is also accelerating worldwide, shocking scientists. Even the UN’s forecasts for global birth rates look optimistic alongside the jarring reality — in 2017, they forecasted the global population would reach 11.2 billion by 2100. By 2022, they revised their forecast down to 10.4 million. Simply put, the world is having far less children.
• How bad is that? Most Americans aren’t concerned about falling birthrates, but experts warn of dramatic consequences. The global economy is extremely reliant on working-age people to fund pensions, fuel economic growth, and stir society. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly warned that population decline is among the many challenges facing the world right now. With a lopsided population pyramid, society as we know it would have to be completely reshaped around the geriatric population. In the worst-case scenario, today’s social programs such as Social Security and Medicare might struggle to function (more than they already do!)
• Why is this happening? Research has repeatedly found that lower birth rates aren’t a result of people not wanting to have children. In fact, Americans want to have more children. A Pew Research survey found that the majority of Americans think that two or more children would be an “ideal number” for a family to have — outstripping the number of people who said that zero or one children would be ideal. And in that same poll, only 8% of Americans polled said they don’t want children at all. Based on these results, many forecasters credit a myriad of factors to the birth slowdown: the cost of childcare, higher cost of living, and limited resources for families.

Why does it matter for EarlyBird families?

There are plenty of reasons why people might not have kids — and they’re all valid. However, many would-be families have been limited in the years since the Great Recession because of [economic fears.](https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2022/12/the-long-term-decline-in-fertility-and-what-it-means-for-state-budgets#:~:text=When the economy takes a,temporarily put off having children.&text=But in the years following,a record low in 2020.) But although it might not feel like there’s an ideal time to start — or grow — a family, the best time is when you feel ready. The world will always be an uncertain and chaotic place, but you can’t let it hold you back from what you want.

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Cool Places to Consider For A Summer Adventure

https://unsplash.com/photos/a-woman-and-two-children-playing-in-the-ocean-9JHxa4JbRr0

The days of “Revenge Travel” might be over, but that doesn’t mean you can’t book an exciting trip for your family this Summer. In fact, with tools like Skyscanner, you can find cheap flights to just about anywhere in the world from your local airport — and unearth cheap four and five-star hotels at the last-minute with hotwire. But where should you go?

• Domestic destinations: For the cost-conscious and travel-weary with younger children, domestic destinations like New York City, Key West, and Florida were popular picks in YouGov’s Destination Ranking 2024. But Americans’ ultimate destination is Hawaii — which could be within reach for families with young ones if they book a short stopover in Los Angeles, San Diego, or San Francisco.
• International destinations: For parents of older kids who aren’t afraid of a longer flight or a bustling city, Paris, France is expected to be the “it” city this Summer. The host city of the 2024 Olympics will be bustling in July and August, as world travelers will descend for the weeks-long festivities. Alternatively, you could avoid the Olympics entirely and check out popular destinations like Italy or the UK — or book a cruise to brush around Bermuda or the Dominicans.
• Easy ways to lighten the cost: Not in the mood to spend hundreds, or even thousands, on a big trip? Consider a travel credit card, either for your favorite hotel chain or airline. At any given time, major travel brands are usually running promotional offers where you can fetch tens of thousands of miles or reward points in exchange for spending — just remember to pay off your entire bill on time and spend those points wisely!

Why does it matter for EarlyBird families?

Whether it’s a big, continent-spanning trip or a small roadtrip to the lake, we know it’s hard to make time (and spare the increasingly hefty expense) for a family trip. But your kids aren’t getting any younger — and your PTO isn’t gonna spend itself. Living in the present and uploading these precious moments to the EarlyBird app is one way you can preserve your family’s beautiful adventures and enduring love.

What else is up?

• Return of Roaring Kitty: GameStop and AMC stocks erupted this week as Keith Gill (a/k/a Roaring Kitty) tweeted for the first time since the controversial GameStop short squeeze, the latest sign of renewed retail investor engagement on the stock market. Gill was a formidable force — and a borderline leader figure — of retail investors on the r/WallStreetBets subreddit during the 2021 market volatility. But as soon as the two meme stocks soared, they collapsed. Read more about the decline.
• Kraft looks to sell Oscar Mayer: Food giant Kraft Heinz is considering a sale of the famous hot dog giant, just years after writing down the value of its Kraft and Oscar Mayer brands — which cost it over $12.6 billion in the fourth-quarter. The deal could fetch $3 to $5 billion. Read more about the possible deal.
• ChatGPT announces GPT-4o: The AI giant’s latest model is “a step towards much more natural human-computer interaction,” according to the company — which launched the new model for free use on its website. Try it out now.

1. "Auto Discounts, Global Birth Rate Crisis, and Summer Adventures Await!"
2. "Catch the Latest: Car Deals, Birth Rate Concerns, and Summer Travel Ideas"
3. "Dive In: Auto Promos, Worldwide Birth Rate Decline, and Vacation Inspirations"