Best known for its Blizzards and Dilly Bars, Dairy Queen is looking to steal share of coffee sales.
The Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary is now offering iced coffee and frappes, and value-pricing these drinks during its “Hardest Working Happy Hour” from 2 to 5 p.m. The promotion is strikingly similar to Starbucks’ “Frappuccino Happy Hour,” when frappuccinos are half off from 3 to 5 p.m. during a limited time in the spring.
DQ’s entry into the coffee space might seem peculiar, but “it’s the fastest-growing category all over the world, other than fast-casual (restaurants),” Elizabeth Friend, global consumer foodservice analyst for
Euromonitor, told USA Today. “So everyone’s going to try to get in on this in any way they can.”
Home prices are up, indicating an improving market and economy.
For the past 12 months, home prices have been rising across the country, with single-family home prices up 5.2% in March, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index.
“The economy is supporting the price increases with improving labor markets, falling unemployment rates and extremely low mortgage rates,” said David Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the index committee for S&P Dow Jones Indices.
The biggest gains continue to be in the Pacific Northwest and West: Seattle, Portland, Ore., and Denver had the largest year-over-year price increases. These cities saw some of the largest declines in unemployment rates, Blitzer said.
Meanwhile, new-home sales in April posted their strongest month in more than eight years, with a nearly 17% jump from a month earlier, according to the Department of Commerce.
If you’re a millennial like me, student-loan debt causes you the most grief.
But if you are like most Americans, your biggest financial regret is likely not saving enough for retirement.
Seventy-five percent of Americans said they have financial regrets, a Bankrate study found. The most common regret was not saving enough for retirement (18%), followed by not saving enough for emergencies (13%), taking on too much credit-card debt (9%), taking on too much student-loan debt (9%) and not saving enough for your children’s education (8%).
“People are not ready for retirement,” said Eleanor Blayney, a CFP (certified financial planner) professional and consumer advocate for the CFP Board. “Their retirement plan is that they’re going to continue to work.”
This is particularly true among millennials. More than a third of adults ages 20 to 34 expect to work well into their 70s, according to a global survey by Manpower Group, a staffing company. Furthermore, about one in eight said they figure they’ll have to work until they die.
Sayonara Staycation—By the Numbers
With gasoline prices almost 50 cents per gallon lower today than a year ago, more Americans are planning on hitting the road this summer for vacation.
- 75% - Americans who said they would travel this summer, a 2.2% increase from last year
- 79% - Amount of those planning to travel by car
- 36% - Travelers planning to take at least two road trips
- 56% - Amount of people who will journey at least 400 miles round trip
Source: GasBuddy
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