Ed Elson

And it reminds me of also like the little treat culture, which is this whole thing where it's like, you don't think that you can buy a house or get anywhere because everything's way too expensive.

So instead of like saving up for these meaningful purchases, you instead just like spend all of your disposable income on what people are calling like little treats.

So like maybe the dog flight would be one of them or like, you know, clothes or the boo-boos or like expensive coffee, like whatever it is.

Maybe you'd put sports betting in that category, too.

which is really concerning to me, at least, because it just makes me think that this generation has kind of given up and has decided that they're not going to get out, so why even try?

And to the dog flights, I've got to look this up, bark, it's crazy.

So I have some data in front of me to the pet point,

about how much young people are spending on their pets.

So I guess this really aligns with what you've just said.

So the average American across all age groups spends, if you have a pet, spends $4,400 per year on their pets.

For Gen Z, the number is over $6,000.

So young people are spending 40% more than the average pet owner.

But here is where it gets worse.

a third of those Gen Z pet owners say they have gone into debt because of their pets.

So we're literally levering up to put our dogs on flights and get them fancy dog collars and maybe get them fancy dog treats.

And meanwhile, the cost of housing is six times our income and we're doing nothing, it seems, to figure out how to save for that event.

And you can't really blame us because of the financial environment we're in.

And I think this also goes to the stuff that we're seeing with, like, family planning, where young people just don't really want to have kids anymore.

It seems like they're more interested in having, like, a dog or a cat or a pet because it's just less expensive.

So I don't know what the—I mean, the question is, like, what opportunities arise.