In this July 22, 2026 episode of the One of a Kind Financial Show Daily, Certified Financial Planner Mike Milligan blends a personal remembrance of his brother’s death with a market analysis that highlights AI as the dominant structural force reshaping American business. He reviews recent earnings from General Motors (GM) and 3M, noting how both firms are adding high‑margin, recurring software and AI‑driven services (GM’s OnStar/Super Cruise, 3M’s partnership with Microsoft and its AI digital assistant). Milligan draws a parallel to Apple’s 2017 pivot from hardware to services, showing how recurring, high‑margin software can lift overall gross margins and company valuations. He argues that while consumer data tells us the current economy’s health, AI signals the future economy’s shape. The episode repeatedly returns to the theme that financial planning should focus on people and moments, not just returns, using the brother’s story to underscore the urgency of living fully. Milligan previews upcoming coverage of Alphabet and Tesla, promising deeper AI‑capital‑spending analysis, and closes with a call to listeners to cherish their loved ones.
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Welcome to the One of a Kind Financial Show Daily. I am Mike Milligan, Certified Financial Planner, founder of One Oak Financial, and host of the Ideas by Mike podcast. Today is July 22nd. It is the 4th anniversary of the day my younger brother Jonathan was killed in a head-on collision on Highway 74. This show today is going to weave that story together with what the market is telling us, because the market is telling us something important about how the world is changing. And Jonathan taught me something about not missing the moments while it does. Educate, coach, plan. Never miss a moment.
Be one of a kind with Mike's Plan.
Yesterday on the show, I told you Tuesday's earnings were a scan of the American wallet. 4 American companies, you know, General Motors, 3M, Coca-Cola, and Philip Morris. International, and I told you Coca-Cola and Philip Morris were reporting Tuesday. Correction, folks: Coca-Cola actually reports next Tuesday, July 28th. Philip Morris reports today, Wednesday. That's my mistake. We do not have someone editing this show. This is Mike live. So when I get something wrong, I fix it. That matters when the topic is money. Now to the real story. The consumer read from Tuesday matters, but there is a second story running underneath every one of these reports that I'm coming to realize, and it's bigger than you think. General Motors, they beat expectations. They adjusted the adjusted earnings per share of $3.57 on revenue of $48 billion. That's up 1.9% year over year. They raised full-year guidance for the second time in 2026, but you need to listen to what management actually said. GM is using AI to identify quality issues earlier, reduce warranty costs, and speed up product development. OnStar deferred revenue of $6.3 billion, that's up nearly 50% year over year. Super Cruise recognized revenue up around 70%. GM is still selling cars, but they're also selling more software inside those cars. And here is where it gets interesting for the planning conversation. We have seen this movie before. I want you to rewind 10 years to Apple. In 2015, Apple was a hardware company. iPhones, iPads, Macs, services, the App Store, iTunes, iCloud, AppleCare. That whole segment was about $20 billion, roughly about 8% to 10% of Apple's total revenue. Wall Street looked at Apple and saw a phone company whose growth would eventually stall when people stopped upgrading their phones. And they were right. iPhone sales did stagnate. IPhone unit sales actually declined for the first time in 2016. So Apple made a decision in January of 2017. Tim Cook told investors on the earnings call that Apple was going to double its services business in 4 years. And they did. Services went from about $24 billion in fiscal year 2016 to $54 billion by fiscal year 2020. Today, Services generates over $109 billion a year, more than a quarter of Apple's total revenue. And here's the part that matters for a financial planner and a financial plan. Apple's hardware business runs at about a 37% gross margin. Apple's Services business runs at over 73%, nearly double. So as Services becomes a bigger share of the mix, Apple's total company gross margin climbed from about 42% to 46%. That's a big jump. That is the kind of financial transformation that changes the whole valuation of a company. Apple is not selling more iPhones. Apple is selling more software and services to the same iPhone. Sound familiar? That is exactly what GM is telling us now. OnStar and Super Cruise are recurring subscription-based higher-margin revenue attached to a car that is already sold. This is GM's service chapter. It's early, it's small compared to the truck and SUV business, but the direction is the same direction Apple went 10 years ago. Interesting, huh? Also on Tuesday, 3M reported. And this is the story of the day. 3M beat, they raised guidance and posted the highest adjusted operating margin in company history at 24.9%. Remember, 3M, the company that does Post-it notes and those little small things that add up in our life every day, Scotch tape. They had adjusted earnings per share of $2.40, up 11%. And they And their full-year guidance was raised from $8.50 to $8.70, uh, from $8.50 to $8.70 to $8.80 to $8.95. But here's what caught my eye. That company that makes Scotch tape, Post-it Notes, just announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft to deploy something called Expanded beam optical technology inside of Microsoft's Azure AI data centers. CEO Bill Brown said it cuts fiber installation time for hyperscalers by about 85%. That business is a $40 to $50 million business today. Brown said the total addressable market is about $1 billion this year and could grow to $2 billion by 2028. And 3M just launched an AI digital assistant called Ask 3M, built on Amazon Web Services. Post-it notes to AI infrastructure? That is a real transformation. Coming this afternoon after the close on Wednesday, Alphabet, the parent of— parent company of Google, and Tesla report. IBM, ServiceNow, Texas Instruments, every one of them will be measured On AI capital spending and AI revenue. So is earnings season really about the consumer, as I've been talking about over the last couple weeks, or is it about the consumer and AI?
Both.
Both. But if I had to pick which one is changing the story of American business right now, it is AI. The consumer tells us how the current economy is doing, AI is telling us what the next economy is going to look like. And when a hardware company adds high-margin recurring revenue on top of what they already sell— Apple did it with services, GM is starting to do it with the connected car software, 3M is layering on with data center technology— the financials of that company change in a way the old model could not predict. We're not chasing returns, folks. We're watching the world change in real time. This is for educational purposes only, but I am starting to see things evolve in this economy a little bit faster than others. And that's why when we build the one-of-a-kind financial plan, that's going to carry us from the old economy to the new.
Be one of a kind with Mike's Plan.
4 years ago today, On July 22nd, 2022, my younger brother Jonathan was driving on Highway 74 in our hometown of Laurinburg, North Carolina. A driver going the wrong way came at him head-on. Both drivers were killed. Jonathan was gone. Jonathan lived a one-of-a-kind life. He was a husband, a father, a brother, and man, was he a friend. He had a laugh that filled a room. He loved his kids, Gabe and Bella, with his whole chest. And he was the kind of man who showed up for a job, for a family member, for a friend, and for a stranger. I've talked about him on podcasts before, and I will keep talking about him for the rest of my life until I have no more breath in my body. Because part of my job as his older brother, a job I didn't know I was signing up for on July 21st, 2022, is to make sure his story keeps living. Here's what I learned that day. The world can change in an instant. And it changes for everybody, not just the family. There was a driver going the wrong way. That female's family lost her. There were first responders. There were people on the highway who saw what happened. My mom's world changed. My sister-in-law, my niece and my nephew, our kids, all of us changed. Grief moves out in a circle and it touches people you never even meet. But here's the other thing I learned. The world also changes in the moments You do not think matter. Every text you send, every phone call you make, every hug at the door, every I love you said out loud before the car pulls out of the driveway. This is where the plan lives, not in the spreadsheet, folks. It lives in the moment. We build a one-of-a-kind financial plan because one day, and I don't know when that's going to be, And you don't know it either. One day, you and I are going to wake up and it's going to be the last day we're alive. This is not a dark thought. This is the most honest thought I know. And it's the reason the plan matters, because the plan is not about money. The plan is about who you love and how you want to spend the time you have with them. Money is a tool. Moments are the, are the point. So today I'm going to say what I say every year, July 22nd. Call your brother, call your sister, call your parents, call your kids, hug your spouse a second longer than usual. Never miss a moment. I miss you every day and your story is still going.
Be one of a kind with Mike's Plan.
I want to tie these 2 things together because I think they belong together. The market this week is telling us the world is changing. AI is coming inside the tape— an adhesive company. AI is coming inside the car. AI is coming inside how business gets done. That is real structural, once-in-a-generation change. And it's going to touch every single financial plan in America over the next 10 years. But no matter how much the world changes, The plan is still about people. It's still about the people you love and the moments you want to have them. It's still about a phone call you can make today that you may not be able to make tomorrow. This is why we do not chase returns. Returns come and go. Companies transform. AI arrives. Markets rise. Markets fall. But if you have a plan built around the moments that actually matter to you and your family, you can carry that plan through any economy the world throws at you. That is a one-of-a-kind financial plan for a one-of-a-kind life.
Be one of a kind with Mike's Plan.
GM and 3M told us the world is transforming. Tesla and Alphabet will tell us more. But today, on the 4th anniversary of losing my brother, the most important thing I could tell you has nothing to do with the market. Call the people you love. Say the words. Take the trip. Have the conversation. Never miss a moment. Tomorrow on the show, Alphabet and Tesla will be part of our conversation. We'll break down what AI capital spending, Waymo and Tesla's next chapter, and what that means for the US economy for your one-of-a-kind financial plan. Educate, coach, plan, and never miss a moment. See you tomorrow and hug your family today. This program is for educational purposes only. It's not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy or sell any specific security or product. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Consult your own licensed financial professional before making any investment decisions, or reach out to our team at One Oak Financial at www.oneoakfinancial.com. I am also a licensed insurance advisory representative with Advisory Alpha LLC. Ideas by Mike through businesses One Oak Financial and Advisory Alpha LLC are unaffiliated entities.
Be one of a kind with Mike's plan. In a face shot growth, take a stand. Visibility strategy, take the lead. Transformation's yours, fulfill the need. Mike's got the way to help you rise and stay. Leadership impact you'll find in your one-of-a-kind mind. Be one of a kind. Take the flight. Mike's the guide. You'll shine bright.
