Saying Goodbye to Lunchtime Errands

Have you joined the ‘Afternoon Fun Economy’ ?

Ric Edelman: It's Tuesday, June 27th. What time do you tee off for your golf game? How about 3:00 pm? Well, that makes no sense. Golf takes hours to play until you realize that remote workers have their own schedules and retirees have no schedules at all. This is having a huge impact, not just on golf, but on the entire leisure industry, the fitness industry, cosmetics, bars and restaurants.

It's now got a new name, The Afternoon Fun Economy. I mean, think about it. 25% of all workers in the United States are now working remotely. You can set your own schedule and a lot of remote workers do. You don't have to run your errands during lunch hour anymore or waiting until after work. You know, that was the way it used to be. Between 12 and 1 is when you went to the oh... you name it, the grocery store, the pharmacy, the dry cleaners... or after work at 5:00 on your way home, you ran and did those errands.

But not anymore. If you're home all day long, you decide when you're going to work and when you're going to not. Your boss generally doesn't care as long as you meet the overall deadlines. So people are doing their work anytime. And that means you can do your workout anytime you want. You can visit the hair salon whenever you want, simply finish your work later on, like at night. There's now 83% more golf being played on weekdays than before the pandemic. There's a 300% increase. And the number of people who are playing golf at 4 PM on weekdays is rising. People are recognizing they can set their own schedules.

In a study of thousands of fitness studios and beauty salons, the most popular time for people to schedule something is now 12 noon. Before the pandemic, the most popular time was 6 p.m.. What a radical change in social behavior. People are also changing their schedules because of childcare and pet care. They're working around their other obligations.

All of this is having a huge impact on society and social norms. So ask yourself, when are your friends available? When does family need you? Is your boss accommodating? And how will businesses adjust their offerings to appeal to people in their new changing schedules? You know, there's a new pickleball club near me just opened and they're open 24/7. The manager told me that you have to book a midnight court a month in advance. This never could have been conceivable a couple of years ago.

With all these changes, you need to make sure that you're investing in companies that are adapting to these changes or they're going to lose out to competitors that are making those adoptions. And so there's an ETF that is really worth looking at. It's in the leisure category. It's from Invesco, the Invesco Dynamic Leisure ETF. The symbol is PEJ. You can learn more at Invesco. com or by talking with your financial advisor. Check it out, you know, during your free time.

Hey, today I'm appearing on a podcast, not mine, somebody else's: The Wicked Pissah Podcast. This is designed for members of the FPA, the Financial Planning Association and financial professionals. I'll be talking about what digital assets are, how they work and what the role of these assets ought to be in investment strategies. You can check that out wherever you download your podcasts.

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