Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt.
Speaker 1: Today we're answering your listener questions. This is a listener
Speaker 1: Question Monday episode. Next week we'll have another interview for you,
Speaker 1: just like we did last week, but on the every
Speaker 1: other Monday's we have listener questions. Put it. Put it
Speaker 1: on your calendar so you know what you're getting into,
Speaker 1: so you can start looking forward to it, playing your
Speaker 1: months around the different episodes that we've got slated for
Speaker 1: you exactly. I think your life should revolve around your
Speaker 1: favorite podcasts, and so hopefully we make your list of favorites.
Speaker 1: Absolutely so. We've got five great listener questions to get
Speaker 1: to today. One of those is about how student loans
Speaker 1: can prevente you from contributing to a roth ira A.
Speaker 1: We've got a listener question who is potentially going to
Speaker 1: tap some retirement funds after getting laid off? We're going
Speaker 1: to tackle that one, as well as when to consider
Speaker 1: health sharing plans over health insurance in order to save
Speaker 1: some money. We got those three plus a couple of
Speaker 1: others today. As Uh, the NBA JAM spokesman would say,
Speaker 1: in my video game Growing Up Boom Shakolaka. What does
Speaker 1: that have to do? I don't know. Is that that
Speaker 1: was after like getting to two shots in a row, right,
Speaker 1: I think so? And he's like he's heating up. After
Speaker 1: four he's on fire. Four or five, he's on fire.
Speaker 1: I like, boom shakolaus to my favorite. But before we
Speaker 1: get to those questions, Matt, just a one quick tip
Speaker 1: I wanted to share is that, let's say you're taking
Speaker 1: ride chair and you and I were both one car families.
Speaker 1: I probably take ride chair just a little bit more
Speaker 1: than you, but I don't really take it all that often.
Speaker 1: But the other day I don't go anywhere. You just
Speaker 1: say no to plans. I just I just hanging hanging
Speaker 1: out around the house. So this past weekend I went
Speaker 1: to play disc golf friend. That's only simili true. It's
Speaker 1: also mostly true you're kind of a hermit. But so
Speaker 1: it was my friend's birthday and there was just no
Speaker 1: way for me to borrow the car because my wife
Speaker 1: was going to meet up with us later and it
Speaker 1: was too far a little bit too far for the bike,
Speaker 1: or if I tried to buy it would have been
Speaker 1: like really late. And so I was like, all right,
Speaker 1: I guess ride chair it is on this one and
Speaker 1: I on the hail and Uber. Yeah, I maybe use
Speaker 1: ride chair once a month. Um, trying to you know,
Speaker 1: not do it too often because it's expensive. And when
Speaker 1: I opened not as expensive though as buying a used
Speaker 1: car right now completely, you know, I mean, and so
Speaker 1: relative to what you know, the expenses that you're used to, yes,
Speaker 1: it's maybe a little more expensive than than what you
Speaker 1: would like to see. But for everybody else out there
Speaker 1: who is either looking to buy that second car or
Speaker 1: they're just just the cost of maintaining that second vehicle. Man,
Speaker 1: there's Uber and left charges. It's a small fee to pay,
Speaker 1: and we're going to have one car to drop in
Speaker 1: the bucket. And and so I opened the Uber app
Speaker 1: and it was like, I think it was like thirty
Speaker 1: eight or forty two dollars for overnight. So I take
Speaker 1: back five miles away and I think it's five miles away.
Speaker 1: And then but then I opened up the lift app
Speaker 1: and so it literally what a massive difference, same cheap car,
Speaker 1: like you weren't getting like the you know, Uber black
Speaker 1: would always choose the cheapest option. I choose to wait
Speaker 1: and save. I was like, I can wait ten minutes
Speaker 1: to save an extra five bucks. And so, yeah, that's
Speaker 1: one of those things where if you are a habitual
Speaker 1: ride chair user, or even if you just use it
Speaker 1: on occasion, have an account with both of these main apps,
Speaker 1: and then you know it takes almost no time to
Speaker 1: plug in your destination into both and kind of just
Speaker 1: see the price discrepancy. Literally, an extra thirty seconds or
Speaker 1: minute can save you bucks. Um, it's it's amazing how
Speaker 1: big the price difference can be. I just assumed that
Speaker 1: it would be a few dollars difference, but I didn't realize. No, no,
Speaker 1: the price can get cut in half. Yeah, totally worth
Speaker 1: it to shop around the different apps and see, you
Speaker 1: know who's offering the best rate. Also, another quick tip
Speaker 1: two is to make sure you've got your updated credit
Speaker 1: card information on file with both apps. That way, because
Speaker 1: you don't want to be in a situation where you
Speaker 1: see that oh my gosh, yeah I could save a
Speaker 1: ton of money and then they're like, oh card declined
Speaker 1: or please update your information. That's the kind of thing
Speaker 1: that also takes a little bit of foresight to make.
Speaker 1: And those prices are changing like every thirty seconds, like
Speaker 1: they're updating all the time. So yeah, you might end
Speaker 1: up paying ten bucks more just because I had to
Speaker 1: put my credit card information in So uh yeah, not
Speaker 1: a bad tip. Alright, let's let's move on. Matt. Let's
Speaker 1: mention the beer that we're having on this episode. This
Speaker 1: one is called Sour Bikini and it's by Evil Twin Brewing.
Speaker 1: We'll give our thoughts on this sour hoppy beer at
Speaker 1: the end of the episode, but for now, let's move
Speaker 1: on to listener questions. And if you have a question
Speaker 1: you want Matt and I to tackle in an upcoming episode,
Speaker 1: just go to how to money dot com slash ask.
Speaker 1: It's really simple to submit that question and we've got
Speaker 1: instructions for you there. Can't wait to hear from you.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get to that first one. This one
Speaker 1: is about health insurance. Hi, Matt and Joel really enjoy
Speaker 1: your podcast. My name is John and from the Portland,
Speaker 1: Oregon area. Question today is about medical sharing programs. I
Speaker 1: know that you've got some information on your website about those. However,
Speaker 1: I know that Joel mentioned that he had moved over
Speaker 1: to to a medical sharing program this year. I believe
Speaker 1: by listening to your podcast, I was just wondering how
Speaker 1: that's going, if you had any newer observations with your
Speaker 1: experiences with it. My situation is that I'm retired. I'm
Speaker 1: on Cobra from my former employer until the end of
Speaker 1: this year, and then I really need to do something
Speaker 1: next year. And with the cost of the premiums, even
Speaker 1: with Cobra, it's so expensive, and was really looking at
Speaker 1: a medical sharing program as an alternative to that. So
Speaker 1: if you have UM I'm about two and a half
Speaker 1: years from my medicare and my wife is about three
Speaker 1: and a half years from that. So wondering if you
Speaker 1: see any pitfalls or any suggestions or opinions that you
Speaker 1: might have in addition to the information that that you've
Speaker 1: provided so far. Thanks so much again, Really enjoy your show.
Speaker 1: Thanks for taking time to answer my question. All right, Matt,
Speaker 1: like John's question, and we haven't talked about health sharing
Speaker 1: companies in in a minute. It's been a minute. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and yeah, you have been on meta share your family
Speaker 1: for years and years now, so we'll get to kind
Speaker 1: some of your experience. But John's right, Like, I just
Speaker 1: signed up not too long ago with the same company
Speaker 1: year with with meta share, and it's been I don't know,
Speaker 1: seven or eight months now, I guess. And I actually
Speaker 1: joined up even though I still had Cobra eligibility with
Speaker 1: my prior company because those Cobra premiums were almost a
Speaker 1: month cost prohibitive, right, Yeah, so it sounds like you know,
Speaker 1: your previous employer, John was covering those costs. So good
Speaker 1: for you. But yeah, so far, so good in our
Speaker 1: meta share experiment. But we also haven't had any major
Speaker 1: incidents yet, and so you know, it's not like I've
Speaker 1: necessarily put our Medishare coverage to an extreme test. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we are in a similar boat where we've not actually
Speaker 1: had to fully utilize menis share yet. Which is the
Speaker 1: way to do it. That's what you want. You don't
Speaker 1: want to put it to the extreme test, like you
Speaker 1: don't want to be like I got cancer and it
Speaker 1: paid out, like you'd prefer, hopefully to not get some
Speaker 1: of something severe, right, no severe injuries, no terrible diseases.
Speaker 1: Although I will say that I say that we haven't
Speaker 1: fully util utilized it, but just having that there, I mean,
Speaker 1: it gives you usertain amount of peace of mind, right,
Speaker 1: And so I guess you could argue that we have
Speaker 1: been using it this and you know, I think we've
Speaker 1: had it now for over five years, you know, So
Speaker 1: let's kind of explain what these different health sharing companies are.
Speaker 1: And it is really important for us to say loud
Speaker 1: and clear that health sharing is not insurance. UH. It
Speaker 1: differs in a few different ways. It's it's first of all,
Speaker 1: it's not regulated like insurance companies are. Some people hate
Speaker 1: them because of this, but others love them for it.
Speaker 1: But these companies like they're they're basically a group of
Speaker 1: members who are pooling risks and resources, not unlike insurance.
Speaker 1: But they typically have similar religious or ethical beliefs as
Speaker 1: one another as well, and they usually have to sign
Speaker 1: a pledge stating that they'll abide by certain guidelines, certain behaviors.
Speaker 1: That's definitely the case for Meta Share, who Joel and
Speaker 1: I are both with. UH. If you're not particularly religious,
Speaker 1: Liberty health share they used to be one of the
Speaker 1: only options since you're not required to agree to any
Speaker 1: specific like doctrinal beliefs, but recently, said Era, they've been
Speaker 1: another option that's available that is completely secular with with
Speaker 1: no religious ties at all. And so these are worth
Speaker 1: considering because you know, although these companies aren't technically in
Speaker 1: the insurance business. They still behave like insurance, right, they
Speaker 1: still have insurance like vibes. You're gonna learn some different terms,
Speaker 1: some some different Lenko. Just like I said, instead of
Speaker 1: a family deductible that's gonna be reached with meta share,
Speaker 1: it's called an annual household portion. There's different terms, but
Speaker 1: they are very similar to the ones that insurance companies
Speaker 1: actually used as well. So if you jump into the
Speaker 1: health sharing game, if you decide that this is right
Speaker 1: for you, you're gonna have to learn some new terminology,
Speaker 1: but don't worry. It's not too difficult, and it will
Speaker 1: reflect kind of what you're used to with a traditional
Speaker 1: insurance provider. And and let's talk about why someone might
Speaker 1: do this mat I mean one of the main reasons
Speaker 1: people sign up for a health sharing program instead of
Speaker 1: getting traditional insurance. It's really just the cost savings, right,
Speaker 1: as John pointed out, that is the main check mark
Speaker 1: in in favor of ditching your current health insurance and
Speaker 1: going towards to a health sharing company. And the monthly
Speaker 1: premiums MATT for our family what we'd be paying on
Speaker 1: a traditional health plan through healthcare dot gov. I looked into.
Speaker 1: It was in the dollar a month range, which is
Speaker 1: still not quite as much as our Cobra was, but
Speaker 1: it's really expensive. In our our monthly share amount through
Speaker 1: menashare is in the two hundred and fifty range, So
Speaker 1: that's just a significant savings. Yeah, you heard Joe correctly
Speaker 1: to two hundred and fifty. Yeah, and a lot of
Speaker 1: people could see savings in that range if they offer
Speaker 1: health sharing instead of traditional health insurance. It's worth knowing
Speaker 1: noting that that you know, this health sharing coverage, it
Speaker 1: doesn't cover wellness visits and routine lab work since menashare
Speaker 1: views those types of visits and more as like planned maintenance.
Speaker 1: But you know what, they would argue, that's a good thing,
Speaker 1: and I think I would argue that's a good thing
Speaker 1: to un that's that's how we're able to keep costs
Speaker 1: down right exactly, are covering some of these things out
Speaker 1: of pocket where we are intentionally, whether that's shopping around
Speaker 1: or proactively going to see the doctor when it comes
Speaker 1: to certain ailments we might be experiencing. Yeah, and it's
Speaker 1: kind of like um car insurance. How you don't file
Speaker 1: a claim just because you get a flat tire and
Speaker 1: I think that's a better use of health insurance. The
Speaker 1: same thing with with home or insurance. You don't file
Speaker 1: a claim because a rock went through one of your
Speaker 1: window panes. You get that repaired on your own, And
Speaker 1: so that's kind of how these health sharing companies work.
Speaker 1: But wellness visits, you know, are eligible for sharing for
Speaker 1: for small children up to the ages of six. Um.
Speaker 1: There doesn't appear like that's the stage of life the
Speaker 1: year in John, if you're a couple of years out
Speaker 1: from being eligible for Medicare. But yeah, those cost savings
Speaker 1: depending on age and stage and your income can be
Speaker 1: significant if you're out for health sharing versus traditional health
Speaker 1: care insurance. Yeah, but keep in mind that these plans,
Speaker 1: they're not the best choice for everyone. So let's talk
Speaker 1: about who these plans make sense for, who they don't. John,
Speaker 1: this isn't going to be your situation. But if you've
Speaker 1: got health insurance through your employer, that's always almost gonna
Speaker 1: be the best spot for you because employers they often
Speaker 1: help subsidize a big chunk of the month that cost,
Speaker 1: of course, and also because of government subsidies, folks under
Speaker 1: a certain income threshold, they can make out like bandits
Speaker 1: by getting their coverage through healthcare dot gov. It's worth
Speaker 1: putting in your information to see what sort of subsidy
Speaker 1: you might qualify for if you're in a situation like this.
Speaker 1: The a c A. They made some big changes to
Speaker 1: how the subsidies are calculated and how much folks can get.
Speaker 1: A lot more folks qualify for greatly reduced pricing now,
Speaker 1: and so you know, don't run to one of these
Speaker 1: health sharing planes if you have a better option, although
Speaker 1: for you, John, it doesn't sound like that you necessarily
Speaker 1: have a better option. Yeah, yeah, it sounds like health
Speaker 1: sharing does make the most sense in this interim period
Speaker 1: for John until that or Cobra. Yeah, he gets to
Speaker 1: Medicare and and Corobra is just so dang expensive. It's
Speaker 1: gonna cost John an arm and a leg, and that's
Speaker 1: money that could likely be put to better use. And
Speaker 1: so yeah, if you're if you're one of these folks
Speaker 1: who can get a traditional healthcare policy on the exchange
Speaker 1: for a similar monthly premium to what you would have
Speaker 1: paid to one of the health sharing companies, well you'd
Speaker 1: suggest going in that direction because you're getting traditional health
Speaker 1: insurance for the same price. But if you make too
Speaker 1: much to qualify for one of these subsidies for a
Speaker 1: price break, and you feel comfortable agreeing to abide by
Speaker 1: the rules of the sharing company that you want to
Speaker 1: go with, and with the caveats right that these sharing
Speaker 1: company's come with, we think they can save you a bundle,
Speaker 1: and they do make sense for you know, a handful
Speaker 1: of people. It's also important to mention that anyone going
Speaker 1: this route really should have extra money in their savings account,
Speaker 1: right because you know, I want to have at least
Speaker 1: enough on hand to cover your maximum out of pocket expenses,
Speaker 1: and that means your annual portion in addition to some
Speaker 1: of those wellnesses that you're going to have to take
Speaker 1: that year, Matt. And so we actually have a health
Speaker 1: sharing review up on our website and Math specifically talks
Speaker 1: about his experience with Meta share in depth on that
Speaker 1: will link to that article in our show notes. But
Speaker 1: but John, it sounds like for you this is a
Speaker 1: good stop gap for the next you know, two and
Speaker 1: a half three years until you get that you know,
Speaker 1: retirement health coverage from the federal government. Yeah, and it's
Speaker 1: worth pointing out to that regardless of which plan you
Speaker 1: go with. Of course, that you do your due diligence,
Speaker 1: that you dive into the details and specifically that you
Speaker 1: look at some of the different exclusions, right, and so
Speaker 1: tobacco use, if you have any pre existing conditions, even
Speaker 1: if you have some prescriptions that cost a lot of money.
Speaker 1: These are all things that you need be aware of
Speaker 1: before you end up signing and going with one of
Speaker 1: these companies. Yeah, they're not regulated in the same way
Speaker 1: as the traditional health insurance companies, and this is how
Speaker 1: they might have different different standards when it comes to
Speaker 1: each of those things that you just mentioned exactly. So yeah,
Speaker 1: definitely something to be aware of, John, Best of luck
Speaker 1: to you. All right, We've got more questions to get to,
Speaker 1: including how student loans could make somebody ineligible for contributing
Speaker 1: money to a roth ira A. We'll get to that
Speaker 1: and more right after this break. We're back from the
Speaker 1: Breaklet's key movement. We've got another listener question here, and
Speaker 1: this one has to do with house hacking. Hi, Joel
Speaker 1: and Matt. My name is Nicole and I live in
Speaker 1: the Raleigh, North Carolina area, and I have a question
Speaker 1: for you guys. This is in regards to house hacking.
Speaker 1: I currently have a successful airbnb business running out of
Speaker 1: my home for the past four years. I'm also contributing
Speaker 1: to my retired and by maxing out my wrath I
Speaker 1: RA and I match my work retirement savings, and I
Speaker 1: also put money consistently in an online savings account. My
Speaker 1: fancy and I would really like to get on the
Speaker 1: house hacking van wagen. He also has a significant amount
Speaker 1: of money in a savings account from a family inheritance
Speaker 1: to be used for this purpose. The problem is we
Speaker 1: don't know how or where to start. We're just interested
Speaker 1: in purchasing a four plux as a rental property. I
Speaker 1: listened to your podcast every day and love all of
Speaker 1: the suggestions you give, but just don't know how to
Speaker 1: begin this process. Do we work with a real letor
Speaker 1: to find our first investment property. I know that we
Speaker 1: need to put down because this will be an income property,
Speaker 1: but I guess this first step is just scary for me.
Speaker 1: We really want to do this. I appreciate any insights
Speaker 1: that you can give me. Also, another question about a printer.
Speaker 1: What auto of the absent echo tank do you recommend?
Speaker 1: There are some models that are really expensive out there,
Speaker 1: just wondering what you would prefer. Thank you and have
Speaker 1: a great day. All right, Nicole, thank you for that question.
Speaker 1: And first of all, let's talk about house acting, because
Speaker 1: that is truly one of the best levers that you
Speaker 1: can use to increase your income and to reach financial
Speaker 1: independence more quickly. I love that you're pursuing this, but
Speaker 1: here's the bottom line. You are already house hacking. We
Speaker 1: believe that anytime you're using real estate, uh and so
Speaker 1: that whether that's a single room like you're currently doing,
Speaker 1: or whether that's a quadplex, if you are using that
Speaker 1: strategy to offset the single largest line atom expense that
Speaker 1: we have every month, which is housing, then you are
Speaker 1: house hacking. But we understand what you're getting at here.
Speaker 1: You know, you're you're looking for a new investment property
Speaker 1: where you will potentially have full time tenants. Emotionally, that's
Speaker 1: going to feel a lot different and it's financially much
Speaker 1: different as well. But we think this is a smart move.
Speaker 1: We think it's great that you are looking to diversify
Speaker 1: your streams of income here. Yeah, I love it too.
Speaker 1: And let's get to maybe some of Nicole's specific questions.
Speaker 1: She mentioned having to put down and Nicole is actually
Speaker 1: ideal to have saved up for a down payment on
Speaker 1: an investment property because that is what usually gives you
Speaker 1: access to the best rates and terms, whereas if it's
Speaker 1: a primary residence, down basically gets you into that rarefied air.
Speaker 1: But is what lenders want to see if it's an
Speaker 1: investment property we're talking about, So I would start talking
Speaker 1: to a couple of local lenders right now, discuss your
Speaker 1: plans with them, and start getting rate quotes. At least
Speaker 1: three quotes is what I would want in hand if
Speaker 1: how were you, so you can compare them and get
Speaker 1: the best deal. And then, yeah, you mentioned a quadruplex,
Speaker 1: that's an excellent choice. We we love that idea because
Speaker 1: you can still get conventional financing, a conventional loan for
Speaker 1: a home that's up to four units. So basically you're
Speaker 1: in a sweet spot there. If you tried to go
Speaker 1: any bigger, you would need to get a different kind
Speaker 1: of loan that is going to come with worse terms
Speaker 1: for you in all likelihood. So yeah, you're you're definitely
Speaker 1: jumping in with both feet here by going by going
Speaker 1: with a larger multi family property as opposed to you know,
Speaker 1: something like a single family home. But we're cool with
Speaker 1: that because yeah, it sounds like you and your fiance
Speaker 1: you're both in really strong financial positions. You've been accident
Speaker 1: retiring and getting that match doing the right thing for
Speaker 1: a whole lot of years. You already kind of know
Speaker 1: what you're doing on the house hacking front. This is
Speaker 1: just expanding basically out that house hacking business that you've
Speaker 1: kind of already begune totally. Yeah, but it can be
Speaker 1: daunting when you purchase your first income property. Uh, just
Speaker 1: just like you're talking about, Nicole. But it sounds like
Speaker 1: that you are doing your due diligence. You know what
Speaker 1: you want, you know what you're getting into, and so
Speaker 1: the next step is shopping for the right property. And
Speaker 1: like you mentioned, getting an agent is an important piece
Speaker 1: to this puzzle. And it's it's best to get an
Speaker 1: investor friendly agent, you know, because they're going to have
Speaker 1: a better idea of what you might be looking for.
Speaker 1: They often have access to deals that might not appear
Speaker 1: on the MLS because of their connections. You want somebody
Speaker 1: who's familiar with investors, not someone who's just looking to
Speaker 1: buy like their dream home. Um, and you know, you
Speaker 1: want to have done enough research on specific neighborhoods as
Speaker 1: well as your rent prices. To know a good deal
Speaker 1: when you see it, because in this market, it like
Speaker 1: you're gonna need to pounce quickly when the right cash
Speaker 1: filling property comes along. As soon as something comes available,
Speaker 1: that's not the time for you to sit down, do
Speaker 1: some research, start looking, you know, looking at comps. By
Speaker 1: that point, you you want to have already done the
Speaker 1: research and to already know what it is that you're
Speaker 1: looking at the minute that you see it. You want
Speaker 1: to make sure that when that property comes up for
Speaker 1: sale that you say, boom, that's a deal. I know
Speaker 1: it because I've done so much freaking research about this
Speaker 1: neighborhood that it stands out like a store thomp exactly.
Speaker 1: And it's important to to think through, like no in advance,
Speaker 1: how much work that you are willing to put in
Speaker 1: uh and what you are capable of if you're willing
Speaker 1: to take on subcontractors to finish out certain rooms, if
Speaker 1: there's some work that needs to be done on the property,
Speaker 1: because that will also be valuable time that's on your side.
Speaker 1: With the market that we're in, you don't have days
Speaker 1: and weeks like we used to ten years ago. Where
Speaker 1: properties just sat there and you got to, you know,
Speaker 1: casually peruse the listings and see what's available that is
Speaker 1: just not the situation, that is not the current environ
Speaker 1: mints um. And then one other thing too I wanted
Speaker 1: to mention is keep in mind that running a room
Speaker 1: out on Airbnb it's gonna be a little bit different
Speaker 1: than renting out and dealing with full time tenants. You're
Speaker 1: used to having an intermediary Airbnb rate your buyers right
Speaker 1: just from previous stays that they've had with other hosts.
Speaker 1: But at this point you're gonna need to take a
Speaker 1: more active approach and screening and managing. We've talked about
Speaker 1: this before, but we think maybe like n of the
Speaker 1: battle of of having a stress free investment property comes
Speaker 1: down to the tenants and the amount of screening that
Speaker 1: you've done on the front end. And so we actually
Speaker 1: talked about that a good bit back in episode two
Speaker 1: sixty nine, where we talked about how you can effectively
Speaker 1: manage rental units, and oftentimes that comes down to the
Speaker 1: quality of the tenants that you have in there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: good tenant, easy life, bad tenant, hard life. I think
Speaker 1: it's really that simple. It really is and so you
Speaker 1: want to make sure that you're you know, crossing your
Speaker 1: teas down your eyes when it comes to screening tenants. Well,
Speaker 1: and yeah, that episode will will help you know exactly
Speaker 1: how to do that. And Matt Nicole asked one more
Speaker 1: question about printers, So kind of a total departure from
Speaker 1: by the way, best of luck in Nicole in in
Speaker 1: the quadplex hunt and finding something that works for you
Speaker 1: that's cash flow positive because it can be just a
Speaker 1: huge boon to your monthly income and to your ultimate
Speaker 1: ability to grow your net worth by having a rental
Speaker 1: property like this in your life. But onto that printer, Matt, uh,
Speaker 1: the Epson Ego Tank. It's a great line of printers.
Speaker 1: We kind of like what they're doing. And Nicole mentioned
Speaker 1: that these printers are expensive, and yeah, the printers actually
Speaker 1: do cost more than most printers, but that's because most
Speaker 1: printer manufacturers they charge less than the cost of the
Speaker 1: printer to you. So maybe you get a printer for
Speaker 1: thirty or forty bucks and you're like, what a deal.
Speaker 1: But the problem is when you have to replace inc
Speaker 1: it costs an arm and a leg, and that is
Speaker 1: where most printer manufacturers make all their money. Epson is
Speaker 1: kind of doing the opposite right there, actually making money
Speaker 1: on the printer they sell you on like basically everyone
Speaker 1: else in the business, and then they're selling you the
Speaker 1: ink at a fair ridiculously low price. And yeah, we
Speaker 1: like that model a whole lot better. And when it
Speaker 1: comes to the specific model though, Epston Ego Tank, well,
Speaker 1: different models come with different features, so we just suggest
Speaker 1: choosing the one that has the features that you need.
Speaker 1: Um Consumer Reports is a great place to read reviews
Speaker 1: to see which one might make the most sense for you.
Speaker 1: But the great thing about going with a printer like
Speaker 1: that is that you're gonna be saving money every single
Speaker 1: time that you hit print. So Nicole, good luck with
Speaker 1: house hacking. Good luck with buying the right printer. By
Speaker 1: the way, we had house hacking legend Craig Curlap on
Speaker 1: the show back a while back, and you know what,
Speaker 1: we've got an extra book line around, so we'll we'll
Speaker 1: send that out to you this week. His book offers
Speaker 1: a lot of helpful strategies when it comes to house hacking,
Speaker 1: so hopefully it'll help you as you continue to progress
Speaker 1: in this direction. To all right, let's keep moving, let's
Speaker 1: get to that question about student loans and the ability
Speaker 1: to contribute to a roth ira. Hi, man Joel, my
Speaker 1: name is Mad from Scream, Pennsylvania. I have a question
Speaker 1: about investing. Do the student loans is in my wife
Speaker 1: and I his best interest to file married but separate.
Speaker 1: The payments when they start back up would really skyrocket
Speaker 1: if we file jointly. As a result, I can't contribute
Speaker 1: to a rot diarra since I have earned income of
Speaker 1: more than ten thou dollars. I don't want to wait
Speaker 1: until the loans are paid off before I start investing.
Speaker 1: What do you think is the best option for someone
Speaker 1: in my scenario in regards to investing. Once the loan
Speaker 1: is paid off, I would start contributing to a roth ira.
Speaker 1: All right, Matt. We're just a couple of weeks away
Speaker 1: from the tax filing deadline, and Matt has a great
Speaker 1: question here that is affecting more and more people. Really,
Speaker 1: student loans are the number one reason that married couples
Speaker 1: decided to file separately, whereas normally that's not the best
Speaker 1: course of action. Specifically, when two people get married and
Speaker 1: one person has like a ton of student loans, sometimes
Speaker 1: it makes sense to file separately. In order to keep
Speaker 1: that payment low. And that's you know, because the federal
Speaker 1: student loan repayment plans will they base your monthly payment
Speaker 1: on your income, and you know, filing separately income right,
Speaker 1: Filing separately means that the payment is going to be
Speaker 1: based on the borrowers separate that income out right. But
Speaker 1: if you guys decide to file jointly, now it's based
Speaker 1: on the overall household income, and that can throw a
Speaker 1: wrench int to things, right, that can make your monthly
Speaker 1: payment skyrocket depending on what it looks like when you
Speaker 1: combine your two salaries as you fire your taxes. That's right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So the great thing about marrying filing separately is that
Speaker 1: you can keep that student loan payment more reasonable. For
Speaker 1: a lot of folks, that not only helps every single month,
Speaker 1: but it can also mean a bigger chunk of your
Speaker 1: loans potentially getting forgiven down the road if you're a
Speaker 1: government or a nonprofit worker in the Public Service Loan
Speaker 1: Forgiveness Program the PSLF program. But there are some downsides
Speaker 1: as well, like, for instance, it disqualifies you from tax
Speaker 1: write offs like the student loan interest deduction. Another downside
Speaker 1: is that you become ineligible to make RATH contributions if
Speaker 1: you're a g I, if you're adjusted gross income, if
Speaker 1: it's more than ten thousand dollars. That's obviously a huge
Speaker 1: bumber in our book because we love the rath I
Speaker 1: array so incredibly much. But even though you can't contribute
Speaker 1: to our favorite retirement account, Matt, that doesn't mean that
Speaker 1: you can't invest at all. Right, I think you could easily.
Speaker 1: Let's become an excuse like I can't contribute to a ROTH,
Speaker 1: So I guess I'm not going to invest for the
Speaker 1: time being. But no, that's not the route you should take.
Speaker 1: And so the best place really to be investing, Matt,
Speaker 1: is in your workplace retirement account. If you've got one,
Speaker 1: take whatever you're going to put into a roth ira
Speaker 1: A and stick it in there instead. Hopefully you've got
Speaker 1: access to a WRATH four oh one K. Even though
Speaker 1: you can't open up a wrath I r A. And yeah,
Speaker 1: if you have your own business, look into opening a
Speaker 1: sep ira A or a solo four oh one K.
Speaker 1: Those are great accounts where you can stash quite a
Speaker 1: bit of money away from your future too. So while
Speaker 1: we love the WROTH, it's not like that's the only
Speaker 1: option out there here at how the money we take
Speaker 1: advantage of the solo four one k it's been great
Speaker 1: for us. It's allowed us to talk away money as
Speaker 1: a business and as individuals. And then, yeah, once you've
Speaker 1: exhausted those tax advantaged accounts, it's totally fine to stick
Speaker 1: some extra money into even a taxable brokerage account. Right.
Speaker 1: It's not gonna be quite as good for you from
Speaker 1: a tax perspective, but it does have the benefit of
Speaker 1: additional flexibility of what you can do with that money
Speaker 1: in the future because yeah, you don't have to hold
Speaker 1: it until your in your sixties, that's right. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: once those student loans are paid off, Matt and you
Speaker 1: start to file jointly again, for the many benefits that
Speaker 1: come with filing jointly, you can look forward to those
Speaker 1: years of rath Eyrie contributions. It's also important to mention
Speaker 1: that lots of folks in this sort of situation they
Speaker 1: should really consider sitting down with a tax expert. And
Speaker 1: the reason is because these seemingly small decisions about how
Speaker 1: to file or which accounts to contribute to, they can
Speaker 1: be the difference between like a reasonable tax bill and
Speaker 1: an astronomical one. It's helpful to know all of the
Speaker 1: different trade offs that you're making by choosing to file separately. Uh,
Speaker 1: and so don't hesitate to find a pro if that
Speaker 1: would make you feel a bit more comfortable. And by
Speaker 1: the way, student loan payments are starting up at the
Speaker 1: end of the month, So that's just a polite heads
Speaker 1: up to everyone out there to maybe start preparing something
Speaker 1: exactly exactly. I think somehow money listeners just cur stay
Speaker 1: in their car while they were listening to us, But
Speaker 1: that's a point, Matt. It's a good reminder, and for
Speaker 1: some of our listeners they would be better served by
Speaker 1: refinancing their student loan going into a private student loan
Speaker 1: with a lower interest rate. Not everybody, but we actually
Speaker 1: have an article on the site like giving you advice
Speaker 1: on whether or not it's right for you. And also
Speaker 1: Splash Financial has offered how to money listeners in particular
Speaker 1: a special deal if you end up refinancing through their site.
Speaker 1: We'll put that link in the show notes too. All right, Matt,
Speaker 1: We've got more questions to get to, including you know,
Speaker 1: we think hs a's rockets another retirement account that we love.
Speaker 1: But what if the one that your employer offers is
Speaker 1: really stinky. We'll talk about that and more right after
Speaker 1: this break. We're back from the break. We are chugging along.
Speaker 1: Let's get to our fourth listener question. And unfortunately this
Speaker 1: one comes from a listener who has recently gotten laid off.
Speaker 1: Let's hear it either manage all. This is also Matt
Speaker 1: from Salt Lake City, Utah. My question has to do
Speaker 1: with tapping into retirement funds early and with either withdrawing
Speaker 1: those funds early or taking out a loan against those funds.
Speaker 1: I was recently laid off from my job on February
Speaker 1: and my final paycheck just processed here on March fifteen.
Speaker 1: I'll include a few relevant details in the email. Also,
Speaker 1: if you're ever in Salt Lake, give me a shout
Speaker 1: and uh I will kind of show you around all
Speaker 1: the great microbreweries here. I love the show, and uh,
Speaker 1: thanks for all you do, Matt. I always hate to
Speaker 1: hear stuff like this. It's never fun to lose a
Speaker 1: job of so Matt, really sorry that this happened to you.
Speaker 1: Sorry about the job loss, and and it can be
Speaker 1: a shocker, not just financially but emotionally, like it's kind
Speaker 1: of like a gut punch, for sure. And I know
Speaker 1: what that's like, because, yeah, my dad got laid off
Speaker 1: when I was a kid, and it's just still one
Speaker 1: of the clearest memories that I have of childhood and
Speaker 1: just how hard that was for our entire family, but
Speaker 1: specifically for my dad too. It's just as a tough
Speaker 1: emotional blow, especially when you're the main breadwinner. So but Matt,
Speaker 1: just know that you can definitely bounce back from this.
Speaker 1: This is this is not a death sentance. I think
Speaker 1: sometimes feels like that. No, of course not. Also thought
Speaker 1: you were gonna lighten the mood by calling him also Matt.
Speaker 1: That's that's how he introduced that we're going to bust
Speaker 1: out a dad joke. Hey, also Matt. We can call
Speaker 1: him that for the rest of the episode. But you know,
Speaker 1: on the bright side of things, I like to find
Speaker 1: a silver line because I'm kind of an optimist. Always important.
Speaker 1: This is, if there ever was a time to get
Speaker 1: laid off, like now might be the best time, because
Speaker 1: the job market is just kind of like running on
Speaker 1: all cylinders. And so yeah, the opportunities out there for
Speaker 1: also Matt are are amazing, I think, And so yeah,
Speaker 1: the opportunity to find something else in in short order,
Speaker 1: are are really good? I think that's true. Yeah. With
Speaker 1: the you know, like we're seeing so many job market openings,
Speaker 1: and with the just the market overall just being as
Speaker 1: hot as it is, there are likely gonna be more
Speaker 1: opportunities out there for you than they normally would be.
Speaker 1: You know, not to mention that with working from home
Speaker 1: you can get a job likely with a wider variety
Speaker 1: of companies. You're not gonna necessarily be confined just to
Speaker 1: the local ones near where you live. That very well
Speaker 1: may have been how you you found your the job
Speaker 1: that you were currently in, but that's no longer a constraint.
Speaker 1: But first things first, let's get to a few things
Speaker 1: that we would recommend for anybody in this situation to do.
Speaker 1: First of all, getting on a bare bones budget. We've
Speaker 1: talked about this back in episode three sixty two. This
Speaker 1: is incredibly crucial. Uh. Matt mentioned in his email that
Speaker 1: this is something that they have essentially already done. They
Speaker 1: have slashed their spending, but it is really important to
Speaker 1: know what it is that you are capable uh living on.
Speaker 1: This is a situation where in MAT's case, it was
Speaker 1: necessary right but if you weren't already in that situation,
Speaker 1: having the knowledge and the comfort in knowing that you
Speaker 1: can make some serious changes like that to your budget,
Speaker 1: I think would bring a lot of peace. I think
Speaker 1: when you find yourself in a situation like this, it
Speaker 1: necessitates it, right, Like, you don't really have a choice.
Speaker 1: You are looking for ways to reduce your spending in
Speaker 1: a significant way. But if you had not already done that,
Speaker 1: I think you could find yourself in a really stressful
Speaker 1: position where you might find yourself making those cuts more
Speaker 1: out of desperation, as you know, compared to just like
Speaker 1: a plan of attack. And that's the kind of situation
Speaker 1: we want to see more of our listeners in, one
Speaker 1: where it feels like that they are more in control
Speaker 1: than one where it feels like that they have to
Speaker 1: more instinctively react. Having that kind of bare bones budget
Speaker 1: in your back pocket in case something difficult happens, no
Speaker 1: matter what it is, whether it's a job loss, whether
Speaker 1: it's a loss of a loved one. In particular, in
Speaker 1: the event of a job loss, it just provides, yeah,
Speaker 1: so much help, so you can basically immediately switch over
Speaker 1: to that budget starts saving money every month because yeah,
Speaker 1: every dollar accounts in a situation like this totally. And
Speaker 1: then filing for unemployment that's the top priority as well,
Speaker 1: which Matt has also done. But that's often that's just
Speaker 1: gonna be a stop gap because it's not going to
Speaker 1: come close to probably equaling what your normal pay was,
Speaker 1: and plus it's not gonna last forever. But definitely make
Speaker 1: sure that you do that as well, for sure. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but but really, right now it's a time to batten
Speaker 1: down the hatches. And you know, another thing that might
Speaker 1: help Matt and his family right now is to to
Speaker 1: even slow down paying off some of their debts for
Speaker 1: the time being until income starts flowing again. Basically, if
Speaker 1: you've been paying more on certain debts, only pay the
Speaker 1: minimum for a little while, because, yeah, you want to
Speaker 1: keep more dollars in your savings account so you have
Speaker 1: more months of financial runway. And and Matt fortunately mentioned
Speaker 1: in his email actually that that his wife is just
Speaker 1: about to graduate in another month, which could mean her
Speaker 1: bringing home some significant bacon, right depending on the career
Speaker 1: path that she is choosing. That's that's just another bright
Speaker 1: spot here that she is almost almost cool. That's an
Speaker 1: expense that you're getting rid of well, at the same
Speaker 1: time you're adding income and that's a big bright spot.
Speaker 1: But but let's get to your specific question, Matt. You
Speaker 1: you talked about, you know, taking out a loan against
Speaker 1: your retirement accounts. Well, here's the thing. You're not going
Speaker 1: to be able to take a four one k loan
Speaker 1: now that you aren't with that employer anymore. And so yeah,
Speaker 1: the only option that you have really is to withdraw
Speaker 1: those funds altogether. And that move is going to trigger
Speaker 1: a tax bill along with a ten percent penalty, and
Speaker 1: so yeah, this is something we want you to avoid
Speaker 1: at all costs. I mean, we want you to take
Speaker 1: basically every other measure that you can to save more
Speaker 1: of your money or to find more income before you
Speaker 1: even consider tapping retirement accounts. That's kind of like a
Speaker 1: last case scenario, a last each effort, if you just
Speaker 1: have to put like food on the table or keep
Speaker 1: a roof of your head in our opinion, Yeah, and
Speaker 1: for anybody else out there who might have alone against
Speaker 1: the four ohn k, keep in mind that oftentimes if
Speaker 1: you were to get let go, uh, that total would
Speaker 1: be due at the time of your termination, and so
Speaker 1: oftentimes you can be in a really difficult position to
Speaker 1: where not only are you going to be getting future money,
Speaker 1: but you also owe a bunch more to your your
Speaker 1: retirement plan. But you let's talk about some of those
Speaker 1: actual alternatives to yet tapping some of those retirement accounts,
Speaker 1: because hopefully that's not a situation that Matt finds himself in, right,
Speaker 1: because this would put his financial future in jeopardy, because
Speaker 1: this is money that was allocated for for decades down
Speaker 1: the road, it is now being spent in the here
Speaker 1: and now. Uh. And not just that, it's it's like
Speaker 1: you're lighting some of your your future dollar bills on
Speaker 1: fire in order to get them into your hands right now, immediately.
Speaker 1: And so we would rather you get those funds from
Speaker 1: just a slew of other places, include tapping your home equity.
Speaker 1: It sucks, but it's better than the alternative. I mentioned
Speaker 1: in his email that he does own a home, and
Speaker 1: so hopefully you have a good amount of equity built up.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be a much more affordable way to get
Speaker 1: your hands on that money. Plus it's gonna be it's
Speaker 1: gonna cost you a lot less in interest as well.
Speaker 1: And then something else to keep in mind, the one
Speaker 1: retirement account that you can touch is if you've got
Speaker 1: a roth ira A we'd still rather that be an
Speaker 1: option of last resort. But taking out some of those
Speaker 1: contributions it's not going to result in a massive tax bill.
Speaker 1: It's not gonna result and you're getting hit with a
Speaker 1: ten percent penalty because you've already paid tax on the
Speaker 1: dollars that you've contributed to your roth ira. But keep
Speaker 1: in mind, only take out what it is that you
Speaker 1: need and just do your your very best to leave
Speaker 1: the rest intact. Because you know, if you end up
Speaker 1: having to take a few thousand bucks out of your
Speaker 1: wrath to put food on the table to keep a
Speaker 1: roof of your head, that's okay, we would rather you not,
Speaker 1: but it's not something that you're gonna pay for in
Speaker 1: a significant way. Just don't touch the workplace account because
Speaker 1: that is a method where you're really gonna get hammered. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel like taking money out of your former four
Speaker 1: oh one k just basically taking early withdraws is it's
Speaker 1: kind of like sticking both hands on a hot stove.
Speaker 1: It's just like and leaving him there like that. That's
Speaker 1: it's kind of like setting your financial life on fire.
Speaker 1: For money that eating now, it's it's really hamstring your
Speaker 1: ability to say for your future self, and it's just
Speaker 1: something that we recommend staying away from in almost every case.
Speaker 1: And so, yeah, let's talk about healthcare just for a
Speaker 1: second when it comes to Matt and his family. Matt,
Speaker 1: because there's a good chance he's gonna be offered Cobra
Speaker 1: coverage if he had a healthcare through his former employer.
Speaker 1: And you know, we talked about that a little bit
Speaker 1: with John's that Cobra Cobra coverage is expensive as all
Speaker 1: get out. Potentially, you know, thousands of dollars in premiums
Speaker 1: each month, that's what it could cost you. So the
Speaker 1: better option for for Matt is is to head to
Speaker 1: healthcare dot gov and to sign up in all likelihood
Speaker 1: for a plan there, especially because after losing a job,
Speaker 1: you qualify for a special enrollment period, which means that
Speaker 1: you can sign up for a plan on Healthcare dot
Speaker 1: go when you Otherwise, I just wouldn't be able to
Speaker 1: because it's not open enrollment season. And considering the income
Speaker 1: drop that Matt has sustained and the subsidies that are offered,
Speaker 1: there's just a really good chance that he'll find a
Speaker 1: solid plan with really low premiums that can keep his
Speaker 1: family covered while not breaking the bank. That's right, So Matt,
Speaker 1: thank you for that question, and we wish you the
Speaker 1: absolute best of luck when it comes to finding a
Speaker 1: new job. And you know what, this is one that
Speaker 1: pays more, even like, hopefully that's a better scenario. What
Speaker 1: I was gonna say too, is just maybe a job
Speaker 1: that he finds some more fulfillment in, right, Like, maybe
Speaker 1: he could even see this as a period of time
Speaker 1: where he's able to re examine it, like this is
Speaker 1: almost like a forced sabbatical where he's able to think
Speaker 1: a little bit more about the type of work that
Speaker 1: he's doing and the contribution that he's making to the world.
Speaker 1: So again, we're trying to put a positive spend on
Speaker 1: this for you, Matts, but we think that you've got
Speaker 1: a great financial future ahead of you. And I will
Speaker 1: say that ends up being the case for a lot
Speaker 1: of people. I feel like I've seen that time and
Speaker 1: time again to where people end up in a position
Speaker 1: that is so much better after something like this. I
Speaker 1: hope the same is true for Matt. I know one
Speaker 1: of my one of my good friends, he's basically in
Speaker 1: her dream job. She didn't think she wanted to leave
Speaker 1: her last job, but she got laid off. It happened,
Speaker 1: and now she's doing work that she loves even more.
Speaker 1: She's super happy. I feel the same. I've seen that
Speaker 1: time and time again, and I sure hope that's true
Speaker 1: for Matt. But let's get to our last question of
Speaker 1: this episode. This one is about health savings accounts, But
Speaker 1: what if your employer has theirs with a crumby bank? Hi,
Speaker 1: Joelan Matt. My name is Jessica and I'm calling from
Speaker 1: Northeast Iowa. I recently started a new job and I'm
Speaker 1: eligible for an h s A. I went to the
Speaker 1: bank to set up my h s A account as
Speaker 1: directed by the fiscal manager. I asked the bank if
Speaker 1: there was a minimum I needed to have it saved
Speaker 1: before I could start investing within that account. The banker
Speaker 1: wasn't sure and said they would check and get back
Speaker 1: to me. When they called back, the banker explained that
Speaker 1: they don't offer investing options for their HSA accounts. I
Speaker 1: already have an h s A from a previous employer
Speaker 1: that I am investing in, so I asked my new
Speaker 1: employer if I could use that account instead of the
Speaker 1: one at their designated bank. They said, no, I'm wondering
Speaker 1: if there is a way I can transfer money from
Speaker 1: my new hs A account to my old h s
Speaker 1: A account so I can take full advantage of the
Speaker 1: tax benefits h s A allow for Thanks for producing
Speaker 1: the pod I have learned so much listening to over
Speaker 1: the years. Cheers. All right, Jessica, congrats on your new job.
Speaker 1: It seems like this is a position that a lot
Speaker 1: of folks are funding themselves in as folks are shifting careers,
Speaker 1: as they're changing jobs. Uh. And I'm very glad to
Speaker 1: hear that you've got access to a health savings account
Speaker 1: and hs A. But it sucks that your h s
Speaker 1: A is with a bank that won't allow you to invest.
Speaker 1: But it's not the end of the world, and we
Speaker 1: definitely have some solutions for you. First, explain to everyone
Speaker 1: listening why it's so important to invest your hs A dollars.
Speaker 1: And that's because it's fine for you to use your
Speaker 1: hs A for near turn medical expenses if you must,
Speaker 1: but it is a far better idea to use that
Speaker 1: account as sort of like this undercover retirement account es
Speaker 1: basically like if you use your hs A for just
Speaker 1: kind of current health care expenses, it's like getting a
Speaker 1: Tesla and going no faster than you're You're missing out
Speaker 1: on the point of the vehicle. Or maybe a Ferrari
Speaker 1: would even be a better example. Yeah, or like Formula
Speaker 1: one car. Yeah, it's like, yeah, but I'm a govern
Speaker 1: on it and it's only gonna go of fifty. It's like, no,
Speaker 1: that that misses the entire point, the best parts of
Speaker 1: the exactly. Yeah. Your h to say it does the
Speaker 1: most good for you when you invest your money inside
Speaker 1: of it, and so keeping it in cash it kind
Speaker 1: of like hurts our hearts considering the massive triple tax
Speaker 1: advantage that h s as offer. Uh, you want that
Speaker 1: money growing, you don't want it sitting in their stagnant
Speaker 1: And for all the other listeners out there, if you
Speaker 1: want to know more about what makes hs A so
Speaker 1: great and how to maximize their value, we would recommend
Speaker 1: that you check out episode one oh five. I'm sure
Speaker 1: a lot of folks in open enrollment period they see
Speaker 1: the h s A option, they just kind of like
Speaker 1: skip past it, they don't bother with it. That is
Speaker 1: a mistake because the h s AS potentially the most
Speaker 1: valuable retirement account you have access to leave you with
Speaker 1: much more money in your future. So now that everyone
Speaker 1: knows how they work. Back to your question, Jessica, if
Speaker 1: if I were you, I suggest to HR that they
Speaker 1: choose a different provider for the h s A, both
Speaker 1: so that employees can easily invest and also to make
Speaker 1: sure that you know, fees stay low for everyone at
Speaker 1: the company and you can be you know, the money
Speaker 1: nerd who listens to how the money advocating for change
Speaker 1: in your office. It feels like one of those things
Speaker 1: where you're like, I don't know, I should I send
Speaker 1: an email to HR. Yes, you should, because it helps
Speaker 1: not just you, but everyone else who works there. And
Speaker 1: you know your employer they might have a deal worked
Speaker 1: out with this bank. They might just say no, and
Speaker 1: so yeah, then you've got to take matters into your
Speaker 1: own hands. You've got to do what's best for you.
Speaker 1: And there are a couple ways of going about this,
Speaker 1: you know, one of which is what's called an h
Speaker 1: s A rollover, which is something that you can do
Speaker 1: once a year. You can initiate an h s A
Speaker 1: rollover with your new hs A provider. They send you
Speaker 1: a check and then you send that amount to your
Speaker 1: vastly superior old hs A provider fastly superior because you
Speaker 1: can invest exactly Uh, then you can be investing those funds.
Speaker 1: You gotta keep in mind that you have sixty days
Speaker 1: to do that, otherwise you get hit with a penalty.
Speaker 1: So time is of the essence in this case. I
Speaker 1: will say as well, Matt, that it might not make
Speaker 1: the most sense for Jessica to put those hs A
Speaker 1: dollars with her old h s A provider just because
Speaker 1: they allow her the ability to invest, because in so
Speaker 1: many of these h s A accounts, even if you're
Speaker 1: allowed to invest, the fees are just too too much
Speaker 1: and sometimes they can be egregious. Yeah, they're gonna eat
Speaker 1: away at the dollars that should be working for you.
Speaker 1: And so they're really just to hs A providers that
Speaker 1: we think do a great job at least that are
Speaker 1: on our radar. Fidelity and Lively will link to both
Speaker 1: in the show notes. But those are the two companies
Speaker 1: I would trust with my HSA dollars. And so Jessica,
Speaker 1: if you're old hs A provider is not one of
Speaker 1: those two, you might want to, you know, transfer all
Speaker 1: of your HSA dollars to one of those companies. Right,
Speaker 1: we're complicating matters, but you've got your old provider, you've
Speaker 1: got your new provider, third player. Now you're gonna have
Speaker 1: your new new ages A provider, which is hopefully Fidelity
Speaker 1: or Lively. And Joe kind of mentioned the rollover, which
Speaker 1: is that option that you can do once a year,
Speaker 1: and you've got to be careful that you don't get
Speaker 1: hit with an qualified distribution UH from the I R S.
Speaker 1: But a way that you can completely avoid that risk
Speaker 1: is by initiating what's called a trustee to trustee HSA transfer.
Speaker 1: This way, you never touch that money and therefore you
Speaker 1: never run the risk of getting hit with that huge penalty.
Speaker 1: And on top of that, there shouldn't be any limit
Speaker 1: on the number of these HSA transfers. So you can
Speaker 1: just set up a calendar reminder to do this every
Speaker 1: month to immediately get that money invested. Those HSA dollars
Speaker 1: immediately get pulled out of your paycheck, they get sent
Speaker 1: to the administrator that oversees your current workplace hs A account,
Speaker 1: and then maybe say once a month, you initiate that
Speaker 1: trustee to trustee transfer. That way you can get that
Speaker 1: money invested right away. Uh. And yeah, you know theo's
Speaker 1: HSA dollars, they're gonna come in real handy in your
Speaker 1: future at some point. But something that's really important remember
Speaker 1: to document your current medical expenses in a spreadsheet or
Speaker 1: to take pictures of your medical bills, of your receipts,
Speaker 1: so that you can withdraw your funds years down the
Speaker 1: road based on actual medical expenses. You have to align
Speaker 1: the expenses of your past to you pulling out that
Speaker 1: money in the future. But just a great question. We
Speaker 1: really appreciate you sending this one our away and best
Speaker 1: of luck to you as you uh find yet another
Speaker 1: way to invest your money. And again, h s as
Speaker 1: are kind of like the ultimate retirement account because of
Speaker 1: that triple tax advantage. It's tax free on the front end. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's tax free as it grows, and it's tax free
Speaker 1: when you take that money out, assuming that you use
Speaker 1: that money for qualified health expenses, even health expenses that
Speaker 1: occurred in your past. Right. Yeah, it's just a bummer
Speaker 1: that so many people don't know about this account, or
Speaker 1: at least don't know how to fully utilize it in
Speaker 1: a way that's going to provide them the most financial
Speaker 1: advantage over the years, because yeah, there's no other account
Speaker 1: that I know of where you never have to pay
Speaker 1: tax on any of those dollars coming in or out
Speaker 1: of it. And so it is, right, it's pretty spectacular,
Speaker 1: and it's something more people should be taking advantage. It's
Speaker 1: also why we think that they should change you know,
Speaker 1: the Yeah we joke about it. Instead of being called
Speaker 1: a health savings account that we really we should call
Speaker 1: it a health investing account. No wonder people think about it, Ronald,
Speaker 1: because like the name leads you to think about it exactly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you feel like that money should just be sitting there
Speaker 1: with a bank. And of course the bank wants that
Speaker 1: money to sit there. They don't want to invest in.
Speaker 1: They just want to have that money sitting there in
Speaker 1: their coffers so that they can, you know, make loans
Speaker 1: and do whatever banks do with money. Right, but in
Speaker 1: order to make more money the individual investor or just
Speaker 1: for the individual person, Like, that's by far the worst
Speaker 1: way money. Hey, pitally amounts, you know, with whatever the
Speaker 1: bank is offering. Exactly, start compounding those eight just eight dollars. Alright, now,
Speaker 1: let's get back to the beer that we had on
Speaker 1: this episode. This one is called Sour Bikini and it's
Speaker 1: by Evil Twin Brewing. What were your thoughts on this
Speaker 1: hoppy sour pale ale. Interesting that you call it a
Speaker 1: hoppy sour pale ale because I don't feel like it's
Speaker 1: overly hoppy. It's definitely got something like that. I don't know,
Speaker 1: like maybe like that brightness um, some of that herbal nature,
Speaker 1: some of that greenness that you associate with a hoppy beer.
Speaker 1: But to me, like I feel like I taste mostly
Speaker 1: just the tartness and like the the clean nature of
Speaker 1: a pale really good though, you know, this is a
Speaker 1: great springtime drinking beer. I love how on the label
Speaker 1: it just says ingredients, waters, malt, hops and yeast, so
Speaker 1: obviously it's got hops in it. But you know which
Speaker 1: one might beat the German purity laws for being seriously
Speaker 1: but I'll also mentioned the ABV on this one, which
Speaker 1: is only three percent. I feel like this is the
Speaker 1: kind of beer that you want to be drinking in
Speaker 1: the summer. It's like quite quite yet the summer, but
Speaker 1: ringing with at the beach. Yes, yeah, exactly, It's really fantastic.
Speaker 1: I also think that this is a fantastic introduction to sours.
Speaker 1: If you've not really had sours before, this is a
Speaker 1: great way for you to experience some of that tartness
Speaker 1: without completely getting bowled over by it. And if you
Speaker 1: like I pas and you're like, I don't know, if
Speaker 1: I like ours, maybe this is kind of the perfect
Speaker 1: blend of those. I do think that there aren't enough
Speaker 1: breweries making hoppy beers that have sour elements to them.
Speaker 1: I've always liked the combination of like a pail or
Speaker 1: an I p A and sour flavors, Like I think
Speaker 1: that kind of provides like some really interesting beer. Usually
Speaker 1: I think like New Belgium had one for a minute,
Speaker 1: and there's a brewery out of North Carolina, Bremari, that
Speaker 1: had like a really good sour I PA. But like
Speaker 1: almost nobody makes those kinds of beers, and I think
Speaker 1: they're fun. I think it's like refreshingly tart at the
Speaker 1: same time being flavorful. So I dug it and I
Speaker 1: probably will take this period to the pool in a
Speaker 1: couple of months. That's that's the goal most definitely. In
Speaker 1: Good Job Evil Twins. So this is the first time
Speaker 1: we've ever had I mean, you and I. We've definitely
Speaker 1: had Evil Twin Beers before, not on the show, but
Speaker 1: this is the first time we've had an Evil Twin
Speaker 1: Beer on the show, So be sure to check them
Speaker 1: out if you see their stuff on the shelves, no doubt.
Speaker 1: All right, now, that's gonna do it for this episode.
Speaker 1: For folks who have a listener question they want to
Speaker 1: ask us, they want us to tackle it on an
Speaker 1: upcoming ask htm episode, just go to how to Money
Speaker 1: dot com slash ask. There are simple instructions there for
Speaker 1: you to submit your question to us, and we'd love
Speaker 1: to take it on a future episode. That's right. And
Speaker 1: if you've been listening to the show for a while
Speaker 1: and you haven't left us a review, it's not something
Speaker 1: we've asked here in a minute, but head over to
Speaker 1: Apple Podcast, head over to wherever it is that you
Speaker 1: listen and see if you can rate or review us
Speaker 1: over there. That is always a helpful way for us
Speaker 1: to get the word outs for folks to see what
Speaker 1: they can expect from How to Money, So a big
Speaker 1: thank you in advance for that, Joel. That's gonna be
Speaker 1: it for this episode, But until next time, Best Friends Out,
Speaker 1: Best Friends Out,