➡ People are currently prioritizing spending on survival and necessities over lifestyle and luxury items. Many retail stores are closing due to a decrease in discretionary spending, while service industries like plumbing, restoration, and pest control are thriving. This shift in spending habits is due to increased living costs and a lack of extra money. Despite the downturn in retail, some businesses are still finding success, particularly those in the service industry and companies like Visla Copper, which has received backing from the U.S. government.
➡ The speaker discusses the current economic climate, noting that people are spending less on non-essential items and focusing more on essential needs. He mentions the closure of several Apple Stores, which he sees as a significant indicator of economic downturn. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of financial planning and maintaining one’s possessions, such as homes and cars, to avoid costly repairs in the future. He concludes by promoting his private channel, iAllegedly Live, and encouraging viewers to reach out via email.

Hey, it’s Dan. Welcome back to I Allegedly. I’ve got a good one for you today because people are making a choice, and the choice is survival over lifestyle. Just that simple. Hit the like button, subscribe to the channel. We have a sponsor today, Vislacoper, and I will talk about them in a bit, but let’s get right into it. It’s just a record year. But people, you can sit there and say, it’s not that they’re not spending money, it’s that they’re not pissing money away. They’re not spending it on foolish things. They’re spending it on necessities and survival right now.

You know, it’s not tech, it’s not crypto, it’s not AI. It’s just the fact that certain things are doing well right now and certain things are not. And, you know, all these store failures that are going down, all these different retailers that are not doing well, just announced a bunch this week. But the people that are doing well, plumbers, restoration companies, people that are fixing broken things, those are the ones that are doing well. Those are the success stories of 2026. Now, as we do this and as we see things falling apart, you’ve got Macy’s closed 150 stores, GameStop 470 stores.

What’s the last time you went to a video game store? Think about that. Nobody’s doing that. Footlocker 400 stores, Eddie Bauer 175, Francesca’s, they’re still closing those stores and there’s 400 of them to go down for the count. They’re not restructuring, you know, they’re just done. They’re not optimizing, they’re just all gone. They’re all gone. And you’re starting to see this happen more and more and more and it doesn’t stop there. You’ve got Pizza Hut, 250 restaurants, Red Lobster. I love this thing. I want you to understand the biggest lie that you’ve been told about Red Lobster has been that when they did there, all you can eat shrimp, that’s what Banker did to the company.

No, poor buying decisions Banker did to the company. They went out and they sold all of their real estate and then rented it back at an absolute premium to the investment bank that bought the company. So they were paying money on some units that were paid for, the buildings were paid for and they just had maintenance rent and taxes and that was it. And then they went to a monthly payment and couldn’t make money. It had nothing to do with a $20 all you can eat shrimp because not everybody’s going to sit there and make that work.

You know, you can lie, which they did, they lied and said, oh my God, this thing’s a complete loser and they lost money. It had nothing to do with that. It had to do with poor management. CVS, 300 stores. I mean, the list just goes on and on and on, guys. It really does. Walgreens, 150 closures, Rite Aid, all of them, you know, it just doesn’t end. Family Dollar is going to close 600 locations, a discount shopping store. Now, you know, this isn’t just bad management. It’s not, you know, changing trends. It’s the death of discretionary spending.

Nobody has any leftover money. They don’t. They don’t have a dollar. They have no money to do anything extra right now. So people are cutting back on shoes, clothes, dining out, electronics, impulse purchases. Rent is up. Insurance is up. Food is up. Gas is up. Everything is up. Your car payment, absolutely everything. So people are only spending money where they have to right now. And that’s it. Now, the thing about this is that this whole theme came from Broker Aaron. And Broker Aaron was sending me all this stuff about what’s doing well, Dan. We always talk about what’s doing bad right now.

So we made a list of things that were doing well. Now it’s the winner list. Let’s talk about that. What’s performing well right now? It’s not malls. It’s not shopping. It’s not jewelry. It’s not getting your hair done. It is service work. It is getting emergency solved. It’s the plumbers. Think about this. PearTech. Most people have never heard of it. It’s a hydraulic company. They fix hydraulics, engines, pumps, things like that. And this is a cash and carry business. This is a business that when people are upside down, you contact PearTech and they get it done.

And they make a fortune doing it. And they’re adding 41 new locations. And they just awarded 61 new franchises. So think about this. You get a fire or you have a flood. Call different companies like ServPro or Bel4. And these guys come out and they bring out the water pumps. They bring out the fans. They clean everything up. These companies are killing it right now because they’re selling franchises. Now ServPro, they’re the head company. They’re not doing all the work themselves. They have franchisees. And these companies are the ones that are doing so well right now.

Now, basically, this is a home service explosion. You’ve got to keep the drains unclogged. You’ve got to keep the water running. You’ve got to keep the lights on. HVAC companies handle your heating, your air conditioning. They’re killing it right now. They’re absolutely killing it. It’s guaranteed money. Thousands of locations with ServPro, all these different companies. I mean, it’s crazy. Absolutely crazy. Next thing is pest control. The pest control companies are killing it right now because people don’t want the rats. They don’t want the bugs. Oh, yeah, I’ll take care of it myself. But the companies are doing huge business.

I saw the pest control guy in my neighborhood. And the guy stopped at one house and went to go walk Rosie. And five houses down, he hit the next neighborhood. The next street over, he hit another house. And I’m like, God, that’s a great business because the guy, think about it, he made two stops in less than an hour. He did that. And they’re collecting monthly money. And people don’t want the bugs. They don’t want the insects. They don’t want the fleas. So they’re doing that. So International Franchise Association. And again, broker Aaron, commercial real estate broker.

He’s really in tune. He’s done this for over a decade. Want to have a guy like that, you know, if you ever look at renting a building or selling your building because he just keeps sending me stuff for people. Another New York building that sold at a 60 percent discount right now. It’s too much right now. It’s just too much. Everything’s going the other direction. But the service industry, that’s what’s killing it right now. Let’s talk about our sponsor, Visla Copper. You know, late last year I spoke to you about the importance of industrial metals and how important Alaska was.

There is a company, Visla Copper, trades under VCUFF, and they have just been granted certain things from the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy to make them a very exciting play. The United States government is actively working right now to get our own critical minerals, and they’ve completely opened up Alaska for mining. Now, the advantage to this is that you can get in with a very inexpensive company with a billion dollar management team that has had a proven track record in the past. If you look at, you know, the importance of copper right now and how it’s just the uses, we do not have enough of it.

And we’ve had to go outside the United States to get this. That’s the exciting part about Visla Copper. And the management team is second to none, and I want you to take a look at this because when you look at what the Trump administration has done, they have gone out and they’ve opened up something called Ambler Road and the Palmer Project. Right now, Visla Copper owns the entire Ambler Project, and it’s significant. So if you’d like to look at an investment like this, do your own due diligence, but I love things like this. I love metal play, and I love to go out and look at companies that are doing things that are revolutionary.

That’s what Visla Copper is doing right now. And because of the backing of the federal government and the fact that critical minerals play such an important role with the success of this country and moving forward, this is going to be a winner. So check out VCUFF today and take a look at it. I think you’re going to be happy. The psychology of spending when it comes to retail is completely different. We’re seeing more and more malls that are being completely ripped down. They’re turning them into apartment complexes and condos, but will they sell those places? I have seen so many condo projects in the last real estate downturn that ended up getting rented out, and I filmed a video on that a couple months ago about this, and it’s a real problem.

Because the best of intentions are, oh, we’re going to sell these places for a million dollars a piece, then you can’t get it, and then they go rent them out. So we’re starting to see that. All these plumbing companies are expanding, electricity, electrical companies, service franchises. People are not spending less right now, they’re just spending differently right now, and that’s something that we have to look at. Psychologically, it’s really interesting right now because I think about my house, I think about the repairs, I think about stuff I wanted to do. When I moved in the house, I had the garage floor done, people before me had cabinets put in, they drywalled everything.

It was really nice in the garage, but just the floor was ridiculous the way that they did that. So I went out and had the coating put on, and what a difference it makes. It’s extra room in the house. My son just called me, just did his taxes, and has to pay this year. And what did I do wrong, Dad? How could I have made this mistake? And then he made all this much more money than he had made in previous years. So the thing about this is that he’s got the savings to pay the taxes, thank God.

But so many people are not spending and going out. He just had that restaurant that he worked for, a high-end steakhouse, go down for the count. They blame the current situation, not bad management and all the mistakes that they made. But you’re starting to see people get away from the extras in life. People are not buying anything that they don’t need right now. They’re just not spending the money like that right now. Head by bird. Retail is dying. It’s not that people just don’t have money. They’re just spending it differently right now. I’m convinced of that.

I’m convinced of it that they’re maintaining that absolute essentials at the bitter end. They’re doing that. But the extra stuff, it’s going to be interesting to see if people travel this year. It’s going to be interesting to see what’s going to be successful and what’s not. When you hear about all these franchises that are going up and doing better right now, that fascinates me because everybody that’s selling more franchises are all companies that do service work. Plumbers, electricians, things like that. Great business. If you can get into that, do it. You don’t necessarily need a franchise to do those companies either.

It’s all about leads, it’s all about keeping the customers happy, quick turnaround, good employees that go out and service these people. And if you can have that, you could make some real money doing it. But it’s going to be interesting to see where this goes next. More to cover in this. I want to remind you guys that we have the private channel, iAllegedly Live. You sign up at iAllegedly.tv. It’s all the stuff that’s too hot to talk about other places. We just covered our main man, Eric Swalwell, and his fall from grace. Or did he fall off of grace? Anyways, we covered that.

Final, final story. Think about this. The Apple Store. The Apple Store, if it moves into your mall, is considered a crown jewel. It’s considered something that gets foot traffic on a daily basis. People schedule the byproducts. They schedule to get their phone sticks, their iPad sticks. It is a constant traffic machine. There are three Apple Stores around the countries that are closing. One here in California, one in Connecticut, and one in Maryland. The one in California is a place called North County Fair. It’s a mall in Escondido, California. It’s done by Trumbull Mall in Connecticut. Laura from Connecticut constantly writes me about this one.

Apple Stores leave in that too. That’s huge, guys. That is absolutely such a loss for them. And then the Maryland Store. You know, the Maryland Store is serious because it’s in Townsend, Maryland. These stores are something that no matter what has happened inside the mall, that store is busy, which brings people to other stores in the area. Not anymore. It’s done. So when Apple can’t make it, nobody can make it. Remember that. This is the problem that people don’t get. I think about this. I have a few iPhones. I’ve got an iPhone that I just realized.

I’m like, oh, my gosh. That one’s five years old, five years old, guys. Do I need a new one? It works fine. Huge memory on it. Works great. No one cares. No one cares what you drive. No one cares what you’re talking to somebody on. It’s ridiculous. Go out and do yourself a favor and make sure that you get your finances in order. Make sure that you plan ahead with everything that you do. And remember, maintenance on your car is important. Maintenance on your home, appliances, and things like that. If you maintain them, the idea of them breaking faster and more often will save you a fortune.

People put things off, and it costs them in the end. Big time. Plus, you got the keys. Like, subscribe. I’ll see you soon. Email me hello at iallegedly.com is the email address. Reach out anytime. [tr:trw].

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