hi, everyone. welcome to "on the money." i'm becky quick. listening in. is the hotel you're staying at and the ballpark you're visiting monitoring your social media posts. we'll let you guess the answer to this one and we'll tell you what it might mean. the high price of prescription drugs. why every country in the world pays less than we do and one possible solution. boomers do things differently. one man is redesigning his retirement step by step. >> people are reshaping what they do in the thing they call retirement. don't look now. it is after school shopping season. the best app to save you money. this is "on the money."

>> your money, your life, your future. now becky quick. >> we begin with your privacy and social media. the next time you're on vacation or maybe at a ball game, everything you post on social media may be monitored by the company you're visiting. we have more from one hotel chain's high tech command center. >> at marriott's corporate headquarters, they call this glass enclosed room m live. employees constantly monitor social media platforms such as twitter, instagram and facebook. >> it's really about a personal relationship that we're having with our customer. >> every day more than 300,000 guests post on social media from a marriott property. executives know this because of a technology called geo fencing. >> that means basically in the area around a hotel the conversations that are on social media, we can tell who's

geographically around that hotel. >> each yellow dot is a hotel location. >> marriott has geo fenced more than 4,000 properties worldwide and they watch as guests post about everything from the fish tacos they had for lunch to pool selfies. >> when folks post about a birthday or engagement, the team can notify the manager of the hotel. that guest can get a bottle of champaign, a free bot dinner or room upgrade. >> it's meant to make you feel special. >> the idea, do you worry that that creeps out your customers? >> we think the people who are actually on social media are delighted at the ability to have us amplify their conversation. >> the ceo of the company behind this platform, piper, says investors frequently ask about privacy. he's quick with a response. >> interacting with people that have shared their content.

marriott is surprising their guests. not to try to sell them something, but to try to elevate their experience. >> that's marriott's goal. >> geo fencing not a new technology. it's been around for years. more and more companies are starting to use it. >> why are we hearing about it? >> the data stream that makes this possible has gotten better through the years. the idea of geo fencing, yes, has been around through the years. the specificity has increased over time. in addition, it took a while. you need companies to create the platforms that can help do this. >> taken some time. >> exactly. >> michelle, thank you very much. by the way, marriott, if you're listening, it's my birthday today. big question, is this an invasion of privacy or just a way to improve customer service. this is ed lei. thanks for being here. >> sure. >> what is this, how does this work and should i worry about

how they're tapping my location? >> this feels creepy. a lot of consumers who are seeing this, what in the world is this, how is this happening? at the same time, the idea that err this' pelg from or mining from your public feed, posting something on twitter or instagram, the implication is you want the world to see it. >> in other words, don't do this if you don't expect people are going to see it and pick up on it. >> you're willing to let the world know what's going on. companies like marriott are just taking advantage of that. that's probably smart on their end. >> i guess the question of how the customer feels about it probably depends on what i get out of it. if it's something where you're making me feel better about the experience i've had or responding to a criticism or something that i've complained about online, that's great. if you're using that information to market to me, i might not like it. >> the part of the contract or the implied contract between consumer and the internet or the third party in this case, marriott, that's still being worked out.

that's still sort of being discussed. i could think what's interesting is unlike calling our customer service phone line where you tend to not get great response all the time as opposed to if you complain on twitter, you get a bounce back from a company, hey, we're trying to solve the issue, can you dm me, we'll clear it up. that's interesting. what it tells us is the social media aspect of this is the thing that in a lot of ways is what's spurring these companies to respond. >> i'm not just calling you and complaining, i'm shaming you publicly. >> exactly. the fact that i'm saying this out loud forces the company to respond as opposed to the one-on-one conversation you're having on the phone where no one sees it except for you. >> that's the advantage of technology. at the same time, the flip side is if you're going to say something nice about my company or the marriott, i'm going to take advantage of it. >> i think some people like that, too. do you think that this is all companies are kind of getting up to speed on this because they're

forced to buy social media or is this a few enterprising companies ahead of the curve? >> right now i think it's a few. i think it's the companies that tend to receive a lot of complaints. cable companies, for example, or airlines we keep bringing up, but i do think over the longer term, yes, almost every company out there is going to have to sort of engage in some form or another because that's now sort of part of your marketing plan one way or another. can't ignore it. >> do you think customers realize that they're participating in this as it happens or do they think this is oh, somebody happened to see it, wow, what a great could he incidence? >> that's a great point. there's still a big learning curve for consumers and tech nothing. it behooves them to get on it. if you want to use the internet and participate in the internet, you have to learn about it. it's not easy. it's always changing. yeah, that's tough. that's hard. the internet in a lot of ways isn't really regulated. the government is still trying

to sort out to what degree to step in and to what degree should they step back. it's still being formed. the more consumers are saying something, i didn't know this, you should have alerted me, the more government will want to step in. >> it's still a little bit of the wild west but we are starting to learn the rules of the road. >> exactly. >> ed, thank you very much for coming in. >> sure. any time. now here's a look at what's making news as we head into a new week "on the money." we now know what's on the fed's mind. the janet yellen fed released minutes. members said the door is still open to a rate hike this year and another increase would be soon warranted. of course, when soon is, that is the question. the fed next meets in september. the fed meeting didn't do too much for the stock marked but the dow did put together a two-day winning streak by thursday. that was its first in 20 days. the dow closed at an all-time high on monday. the nasdaq and the s&p closed at all-time highs on monday.

stocks fell on friday though. if you are planning on flying over labor day, guess what, you won't be alone. airlines for america says that 15.6 million passengers will take to the skies over the seven day holiday travel period. that would be up 4% from a year ago. the busiest days are expected to be thursday and friday, september 1st and 2nd, so happy holidays. up next we're "on the money." why do drug prices seem to defy gravity? the prices seem to go up and up but there may be a novel way to deal with it. avoiding the boomer brain drain. companies making it easier for boomers to stay on the job. right now as we head to break take a look at how the stock market ended the week.

the shift in drug prices seem to go in one direction, and that is up. the cost of name-brand medications increased by 15% just last year. at the same time, pharmaceutical companies are developing some break through medications to try to combat cancer, hepatitis and other deadly and chronic diseases. the two are certainly linked, but is there a solution to the pricing problem. i recently spoke to dr. ken davis. he is president and ceo of the mount sinai health system. >> the opportunity that biology is providing us is giving us a lot of these amazing compounds and the case studies of course, the hepatitis c drugs. we have these drugs that can wipe out this horrible disease and wipe out an epidemic, but the cost is so prohibitive. so we'll never stop the epidemic this way if we can't afford the drugs. >> why are the drugs so expensive? >> the gilead people will tell you that they priced this drug

as high as they did because it saves so much money downstream. it saves the health care system so much money. but that's a new conceptualization of how to price drugs. imagine if we had priced the polio vaccine that way. if we had used that as the basis to charge for the vaccine, we wouldn't have given it to everybody. i remember i was in something like second or third grade and we got it free. what's happened is the question? how have the values of some of the companies changed so drastically from we're going to do good and do well at the same time to we're going to do good and we're going to charge whatever we can charge because that's what the market will bear? >> it probably makes a little sense to look at what's happening around the globe. other countries are negotiating very heavily with the drug companies and as a result they end up getting a lot of the products from the united states. >> that's part of the problem. the problem is we haven't considered this as a trade issue. we haven't recognized that

people in the u.s. market shouldn't pay the whole price of research and development because the rest of the world is regulated. this is unfair to this country. >> should we be able to negotiate prices here in the united states just like we do -- medicare does right now for the price of a hospital stay? >> right. the drug companies would argue that if we did that, they would lose their margins, they would lods their research and development capability. i mean, others would argue that when you have multiple drugs that have fundamentally the same mode of action for the same disease, that you should allow those to compete and medicare to say, we're going to negotiate with drug x, with company x at a different price and that's the only one that's going to be on the formula. >> doesn't that kill competition though? if you have competing drugs and we say we're only picking this one as a winner, you have that, but now you're -- now you're

basically knocking out all competition. the government won't pay for it. >> what you're saying is unless your price comes down we won't pay for it. >> what happens after the competition gets driven out? >> that's what the drug companies would argue. then they don't have a market and they can't afford the development of the next drug. >> however, when you get back to some of these brand-new drugs, new development ones, cancer drug that costs $100,000, sometimes there is no alternative. >> that's the concern. and that's the issue with the hepatitis c drugs. until there are more drugs that do the same thing, they've got a de facto monopoly. >> have you made this case to the drug companies? and what is their response? >> i think they're very frightened of what could happen. >> frightened enough to limit the bad behavior? >> i don't know. frightened enough to sit down and say, you know, 10% return on investment is adequate. >> dr. davis, thank you. it is always a pleasure talking to you. >> great to be with you.

up next, we're "on the money." the pesky boomers aren't the shy and retiring type. how they are still shaking things up when it comes to the work force. later, the kids are heading back to school soon and for parents that means relief! oh, yeah, and more shopping, too. we're going to tell you about the best apps to find back to school bargains. cathy's gotten used to the smell of lingering garbage...

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thousands of baby boomers are retiring each day, but that doesn't mean that they're taking this next step sitting down.

just like they have before, this generation is continuing to shake things up. karen epperson joins us with that story. hi, karen. >> hey, becky. retirement used to mean trading a briefcase for a set of golf clubs. that trend is changing as boomers want to continue to work and companies want to keep them on the payroll. >> 63-year-old randall still enjoys coming to the office every day. >> there are a lot of interesting, bright people here. they're fun to be with. >> but after nearly 30 years of work, the last 11 spent with a furniture designer herman miller, he says he's ready for a change. >> i'm part of the baby boomer generation and we get to remake everything, right? so for me i use the word retirement sort of reluctantly. >> baby boomers are known for redefining life at every turn and retirement is no different. the generation is active, engaged and interested in continuing to work in some capacity as they age. >> i see it as a transition from, you know, the work that

i'm doing now to some other kind of work. >> more than 46 million americans are already 65 or older and that age group is growing fast. about 10,000 baby boomers retire and leave the work force every day. it's a shift that's starting to have an effect on companies big and small. >> there's going to be a need for employers to hang on to these older workers, these experienced workers because they don't want that brain drain. >> as you look down the road, the pipeline, there's not as many younger workers coming along. >> some companies like herman miller are being pro active avoiding the boomer brain drain. we realize if all of them or half decided to leave the business, it would be detrimental to us. >> in response the company began what it calls a flex retirement program open to employees like braaksma who are 60 and older. it allows the workers to slowly transition to retirement for up

to two years while at the same time training sbun to take their place. >> capturing what that person does, how they do it, what the nuances are, the things that aren't written down in a job description so it's vitally important that you put something in place to catch this before it goes because once they're gone, they're gone. >> four years into the program it's been a success for the furniture manufacturer and its workers. >> i'm earning less but that also gives me a chance to look at personal finances and see, can we make it work? >> flex programs like this one allow boomers to give retirement a test run at work and at home before leaving an organization for good. and while only a handful of companies offer them, experts we talk to say that's likely to change, becky. >> what happens if you're at a company that doesn't offer that. how do you negotiate, get something like this worked out? >> i think you should be up front to your boss and explain why this works for the company, not just for you.

talk about what your expertise has been, what your experience has been and how you'll continue to have those skills and use those skills to continue to do projects and assignments. think about who may take your place to cover the day-to-day that you may not be doing anymore and also think about how you're going to be able to pay for all of this if you do, as the case of randall, taken a pay cut. have you saved enough? will you be able to retain health and retirement benefits. >> sharon, thank you. >> sure. up next on "on the money" a look at the news ahead. the school year is about to start. the shopping list is adding up. how can you keep the costs down? we have the best apps for bargaininring barrings -- bargains. that's coming up.

here are the stories coming up that may impact your money this week. on monday the latest new home sales numbers come out. we'll get another look at real estate on wednesday. that's when we get the existing home sales number. on thursday it's the durable goods number. that will tell us how busy the factories have been. on friday fed chair janet yellen speaks in jackson hole, wyoming, after she skipped the event last year. we'll also get another reading of the second quarter gross domestic product and get ready for some puppy love. friday marks national dog day so make sure you buy some extra treats so you can celebrate with fido. $75.8 billion, that's how much american families plan to spend on back to school shopping

this year. that is up from last year's $68 billion according to the national retail federation. now a lot of money by any stretch of the imagination, but you can save some money if you know where to look. joining us right now to talk about the best app for back to school discounts is jennifer owen. she is the editorial director of "working mother." thank you for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> if you are a busy mom, and i think every mom is if you're on the run? >> yeah, right. >> what is the way to go about this? are there apps that can make life easier. >> my favorite is retail me not. >> n-o-t? >> n-o-t. you can do it on the phone or i do a lot of my shopping on the couch. any time i'm about to check out. check retail me not, type in my son wears all old navy. old navy, they'll tell you, give you the promos. >> you can quickly use it. >> you can do it as you're

waiting in line. >> snip snap? >> snip snap, do you remember the folders that your mom carried. >> oh, yeah. >> this is a digital version of that. you can download coupons from their app or your own, scan them and then it's going to sort them for you by expiration date, region. all of that stuff that's in your phone, they can put the coupons to work for you and then you can actually use them. >> what if you're the old-fashioned type that likes to go through circulars? >> retail. so retail, which is r-e-t-a-l-e. they will collect the circulars in your area. you can put in something you're looking for and it will alert you, oh, it just popped up. >> that's cool. >> i have used things in the past like loyalty programs for different places? >> yes. >> is there any way i can see where i'm building up big bucks, where i could get some good

savings? >> don't we all join loyalty programs? skbl yes. >> so flock. f-l-o-k. it will track your various prices. if you're in the region, you're right by the foot locker or whatever you're buying for your son. it will tell you what is there. i personally am not an alerts person because i get enough e-mails. i would like to go in and look and come out. >> i'm with you on that. for my credit card i get a cash back. i love that. is there anything like that for stores? >> my personal favorite for that is ebates. they have an app and a browser version. you sign up and they're tracking where you're purchasing and getting cash back but if you're open to that, and i am, say i'm back at old navy buying my son's swim shirt, which i just had to do, i'll go into ebates.

it will track ebates has an online deal for old navy or any coupons. you don't do anything else. it will take you right back to old navy. you get the cash back, 4%, 2%. every month i get literally what's called a big fat check which is about 15 to 20 bucks in our house and i'll take it. >> jennifer, thanks for the advice. >> thank you so much. >> good to see you. >> same here. that's the show for today. i'm becky quick. thank you so much for joining us. next week, one way to make sure you have enough income for retirement. remember, every week keep it right here. we're "on the money." have a great one and we'll see you next weekend. i asked my dentist if an electric toothbrush was going to clean better than a manual. he said sure...but don't get just any one. get one inspired by dentists, with a round brush head. go pro with oral-b. oral-b's rounded brush head cups your teeth to break up plaque and rotates to sweep it away.

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