Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt.
Speaker 1: Today we're discussing rate hike repercussions, thieves targeting your car,
Speaker 1: and password sharing crackdowns. Well fry, buddy, this is our
Speaker 1: Friday Flight episode. Every Friday, we take a look at
Speaker 1: some of the different headlines we've come across this week,
Speaker 1: and we talked about how they are going to impact
Speaker 1: your money at the important happenings and what it means
Speaker 1: to you. That's right. We've got a bunch of stories
Speaker 1: to get to today, like the ones you mentioned, plus
Speaker 1: a bunch of others. But first me, can you believe
Speaker 1: how long we have been podcasting this episode right here?
Speaker 1: This is episode for what is pretty crazy, right, We're
Speaker 1: getting really dang close episode of five hundred, which is,
Speaker 1: first of all, mind blowing. I can't believe we've record
Speaker 1: that we've put up with each other for that many episodes,
Speaker 1: that our listeners have put up with us that long.
Speaker 1: Thank you listeners for listening to this show. I mean
Speaker 1: quite literally, we would not have a show without our listeners.
Speaker 1: I mean we would we just be speaking into the boys,
Speaker 1: nobody would be listening, and we would probably get tired
Speaker 1: of that after. Let's be honest, we would still be
Speaker 1: interested in the topics that we talk about, but we
Speaker 1: wouldn't I mean, would we actually put out a podcast
Speaker 1: if nobody listening webly recording? That would be craziness, uh
Speaker 1: lunacy if we were to do that with nobody listening.
Speaker 1: But we are going to celebrate that five episode. Uh.
Speaker 1: And to what we're just saying, we do want to
Speaker 1: sort of turn the tables a little bit, and we
Speaker 1: specifically want to hear from our listeners. We want to
Speaker 1: hear some of the different money tips and tricks that
Speaker 1: you have been able to implement into your life. We
Speaker 1: want to hear them. We want you to record a
Speaker 1: voice memo, we want you to send them to us.
Speaker 1: That way we can share them on the show on
Speaker 1: that five episode, just like we do oftentimes with our
Speaker 1: ask kund of Money episodes, but instead of taking questions,
Speaker 1: we want to hear the different ways that you are
Speaker 1: crushing your money goals through the different tips and tricks
Speaker 1: that you have implemented. Yeah, basically, we want to hear
Speaker 1: your best piece of financial advice. The share preferably in
Speaker 1: under a minute. Matt and I'll be able to talk
Speaker 1: about it, but we will share as many of these
Speaker 1: pieces of financial advice they are come from our listeners
Speaker 1: as possible. On episode five hundred and you know, just
Speaker 1: to sweeten the pot a little bit, we're gonna come
Speaker 1: up with some We're we're working on a cool piece
Speaker 1: of how the Money, so we are in the midst
Speaker 1: of it right now. Yeah, that we will send to
Speaker 1: and it's it's gonna be cool that we will send
Speaker 1: to every listener whose piece of financial advice makes it
Speaker 1: onto the show. We'll get your address, will send you
Speaker 1: something cool. Um. But but it's really just a way
Speaker 1: to say, like, you know what we're we'udition out financial
Speaker 1: advice all the time on the show right fived episodes deep,
Speaker 1: but our listeners have so much knowledge to their constantly.
Speaker 1: We are only two dudes, and we do things in
Speaker 1: a certain way. I am sure there are a lot
Speaker 1: of folks out there who probably are thinking, you know,
Speaker 1: I love listening to Matt and Joel, but I don't
Speaker 1: necessarily have an ascount of money question to submit. But
Speaker 1: they might have some killer advice. Yeah, and they've never
Speaker 1: mentioned this before on the show the world. Have they
Speaker 1: left that on the table or and uh, and and
Speaker 1: listeners are always giving rate advice in the how Money
Speaker 1: Facebook group. We just want to hear your voice. Is
Speaker 1: a chance for you to tell everybody out there in
Speaker 1: the how of Money community the great thing that saved
Speaker 1: you money or or helped you as an investor. And
Speaker 1: it's just gonna be fun to kind of share as
Speaker 1: many of those as possible just in a few weeks
Speaker 1: time here on on How the Money episode in that celebration.
Speaker 1: Just um, getting to include listeners in episodes is a
Speaker 1: lot of fun. I'm looking forward to this one. That's right, man.
Speaker 1: And again, it is super easy to record a voice
Speaker 1: memo on your phone and to just email it to us.
Speaker 1: But we will include some brief instructions up on the
Speaker 1: website at how the Money dot com forward slash celebrate.
Speaker 1: Just head over there if you are looking for a
Speaker 1: little more guidance in how to submit those voice memos.
Speaker 1: Can't wait just basically, you know, take that episode off
Speaker 1: and learn from our listeners kind of going to like
Speaker 1: Tom brady semi retirement for a second and let other
Speaker 1: people do the heavy lifting for one episode. Speaking of
Speaker 1: Tom Brady, we are going to get to a story
Speaker 1: that includes him later on during this episode. But let's
Speaker 1: go ahead, man, get to our Friday flight. Let's do it. Okay,
Speaker 1: So the first thing we have to talk about is
Speaker 1: the federal reserves rate hike that happened this week. And um, yeah,
Speaker 1: that happened just a couple of days ago. You're you're
Speaker 1: probably seeing a lot of headlines about it these days
Speaker 1: if you pay attention to the financial public publications. But
Speaker 1: I guess the question that a lot of people have
Speaker 1: um in their brain right now, Matt, after seeing this
Speaker 1: breaking news, is well, what does it mean to me?
Speaker 1: Of course, that's what the Friday flights all about. And um,
Speaker 1: you know, we want to break down these complicated macroeconomic
Speaker 1: issues and then discuss how they pertain to your personal finances.
Speaker 1: And by raising interest rates, the main goal that the
Speaker 1: Fed has here it basically, it's to slow down the
Speaker 1: rate of inflation. That's what we're seeing right, which we're
Speaker 1: all seeing at the grocery store, on car prices, everything. Right,
Speaker 1: It's become a massive problem affecting all of our budgets
Speaker 1: in a real substantial way. And so it's gonna be
Speaker 1: interesting to see how these rate hikes impact the economy.
Speaker 1: Because nothing is certain, right, yeah, exactly. Well, it's important
Speaker 1: to you to mention to like what this federal rate
Speaker 1: hike means. Basically, this is like the overnight lending rate
Speaker 1: that the Fed issues to banks, and so this isn't
Speaker 1: like a rate that you as a consumer, as a borrower,
Speaker 1: that you have access to. It's the rate that the
Speaker 1: Fed pays banks when they deposit their money with the
Speaker 1: Fed overnight basis. But how it does have trickle down effects,
Speaker 1: It certainly does that. Let's talk about a few of
Speaker 1: those trickle down effects, because you know, it's likely that
Speaker 1: we're gonna see, um, this impact people most severely if
Speaker 1: they have variable interest rate debt, so that means credit
Speaker 1: card interest rates are are going to rise, and if
Speaker 1: you've got like a home equity line of credit, that
Speaker 1: rate will also be ticking up the next time your
Speaker 1: bank is allowed to increase it. But you know, it's
Speaker 1: less actually about the tiny quarter percent increase that we're
Speaker 1: seeing in the near term basis points. Yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: really it's not that much this one hike. It's more
Speaker 1: about the long term additional rate hikes that the Fed
Speaker 1: has announced, like that they're going to be doing, and
Speaker 1: so Yeah, now is actually the perfect time to focus
Speaker 1: on paying down those kinds of debts that you've got
Speaker 1: that that a variable, the variable interest rate debts before
Speaker 1: those rates rise even further. You know, folks often want
Speaker 1: to know, well, does this mean mortgage traits are going
Speaker 1: to go higher? They have been going up in recent months,
Speaker 1: and ebody's paying attention has seen that they're actually the
Speaker 1: highest they've been in three years now. But this rate
Speaker 1: bump doesn't actually mean that that mortgage traits are going
Speaker 1: to take up. Mortgage traits are kind of complex in
Speaker 1: in how they're figured out. But yeah, they might even
Speaker 1: take down over the next days, maybe the next couple
Speaker 1: of weeks. That remains to be seen. But yeah, if
Speaker 1: you have variable interest rate debt, now is the time
Speaker 1: to do something about it. Now is the time to
Speaker 1: start getting rid of it. That's right, man, And to
Speaker 1: sort of preempt another question, no savings interest rates, they
Speaker 1: won't be going up. We've we've touched on this before.
Speaker 1: But the reason that banks pay interest to customers, uh,
Speaker 1: is because they want your money to be on file
Speaker 1: with them. They take that, you know, those deposits, and
Speaker 1: then they can do other things with that money. Whether
Speaker 1: that's lending it out to two borrowers. But because of
Speaker 1: all of the money that we that Americans in general
Speaker 1: are flush with, they don't need any more money. They've
Speaker 1: got all the money that they need are stocked, yes,
Speaker 1: and that's why basically they aren't at the moment at
Speaker 1: least offering higher interest rates, although we might see that
Speaker 1: start to take up a little bit, especially with the
Speaker 1: more competitive online banks. But we should also mention that
Speaker 1: it makes sense for some folks to do a student
Speaker 1: loan refinance these days. We know that you still don't
Speaker 1: have to pay on those loans right now, but those
Speaker 1: payments are set to resume in just over a month,
Speaker 1: and if you can afford to pay on those loans
Speaker 1: and you don't qualify for loan forgiveness, now could be
Speaker 1: the perfect time to refinance while the rates are are
Speaker 1: still near all time lows. But remember refinancing it's not
Speaker 1: for everyone. The federal loans that are out there have
Speaker 1: some additional protections for borrowers, including uh income based repayment.
Speaker 1: Were you to refinance, you would be giving up some
Speaker 1: of those perks, some of those benefits of federal loans.
Speaker 1: But will make sure to link to an article that
Speaker 1: explains all the different things that you need to consider.
Speaker 1: Will link to that article in our show notes as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure, and and that article hopefully. Yeah, we'll walk
Speaker 1: you through if you're like, I'm not sure if I'm
Speaker 1: the kindniverse who should be doing this for you, find
Speaker 1: it'll help you decide whether or not it's for you. Alright,
Speaker 1: let's talk about streaming for a second match. And over
Speaker 1: the past decade, I would say we've all gotten used
Speaker 1: to the fact that virtually all of the television we
Speaker 1: watch is now delivered via streaming services. Live sports is
Speaker 1: one of the exceptions, although that is moving via Hulu
Speaker 1: Plus Live whatever, Amazon Primes getting Friday night baseball games
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. So really, yeah, you follow the
Speaker 1: baseball more closely than I do. Yeah, but we've seen
Speaker 1: you know, like Thursday night football on Amazon Prime before
Speaker 1: and stuff like that, so we're gonna see more and
Speaker 1: more of that. But but also, yeah, we've gotten used
Speaker 1: to the experience that we no longer have to put
Speaker 1: up with commercials, and I think a lot of us
Speaker 1: have been thrilled with that. Right now that we're we're
Speaker 1: hooked on ad free streaming, though the different providers out
Speaker 1: there there, you know, gently pulling the rug out from
Speaker 1: under us. Commercials are basically on the comeback trail, and
Speaker 1: you can get a discount for opting to watch commercials
Speaker 1: while streaming. It's so Disney plus Is actually has announced
Speaker 1: their planning to offer a discounted plan that includes commercials
Speaker 1: later on this year. You know, you'll say five bucks
Speaker 1: a month right now if you out for commercials on
Speaker 1: HBO max is streaming service. Hulu has been doing this
Speaker 1: for years. That's basically how they started, and then they
Speaker 1: started to allow people to pay extra to opt out
Speaker 1: of commercials. So I guess, um, yeah, my question is
Speaker 1: is it worth it to opt out of commercials? I
Speaker 1: guess it depends right on how much you just like them? Um,
Speaker 1: but yeah, if you don't mind a commercial here and there,
Speaker 1: then it could mean saving a few bucks each month,
Speaker 1: and it really yeah, just kind of coming down to
Speaker 1: the agel question of how much your time is worth.
Speaker 1: I think as long as there are options for folks,
Speaker 1: if all the different you know, streaming services chose to,
Speaker 1: guess what, now, no matter what, you've got to watch commercials,
Speaker 1: that would be a massive mistake, right, Like you've got
Speaker 1: to give people the option. As long as folks have
Speaker 1: a choice, I think a lot of individuals are going
Speaker 1: to be happy with that. You know, I can't imagine
Speaker 1: going back to the time when you're sitting there watching
Speaker 1: a thirty minute episode of Friends or something like that,
Speaker 1: and really there's only like twenty one minutes of actual
Speaker 1: of actual show that you're watching. Two thirds of the
Speaker 1: time was actual show? Con seriously exactly? Yeah, So keep
Speaker 1: that in my uh, Netflix executives and whoever else listens
Speaker 1: to the show. Because on that note, the reason we
Speaker 1: mentioned Netflix is because they're actually getting tired of you
Speaker 1: using your ex boyfriends roommates password to watch Britain uh
Speaker 1: to survive Formula one series, which is fascinating. But we
Speaker 1: mentioned this because Netflix is cracking down on password sharing. Uh.
Speaker 1: This is it's being tested first in some other countries
Speaker 1: where they are basically they're prompting their subscribers to pay
Speaker 1: a few extra dollars like a fee for additional folks
Speaker 1: who stream on your account. The Peruvians and the Chileans,
Speaker 1: they're there, the guinea pigs out there, but the writing
Speaker 1: seems to be on the wall. Uh. If you are
Speaker 1: sharing a Netflix plan with a friend or another even
Speaker 1: another family altogether. I guess there there's a good chance
Speaker 1: that that behavior might cost you more in the future. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And we're just seeing more competition in the streaming space
Speaker 1: in general. We've been living in the golden age of television,
Speaker 1: like literally, yeah exactly, I mean, is there ever gonna
Speaker 1: be a time where there's more good stuff to watch?
Speaker 1: Literally the past decade? Like we have been in this
Speaker 1: period of time when it's it's like all the different
Speaker 1: streaming services have been in an arms race essentially, right,
Speaker 1: trying to grow their subscribers, growing to subscribers, and they're
Speaker 1: increasing the kind of content that they're putting out. But
Speaker 1: now it's getting a little more cutthroat, and they're saying
Speaker 1: they're realizing, oh, in order for us to create the
Speaker 1: you know this amazing content, we gotta we gotta make
Speaker 1: some more money. And how many movies and TV shows
Speaker 1: is Netflix putting out in a giving year. It's astronomical, right,
Speaker 1: Like you you couldn't watch it at all. It's almost
Speaker 1: like YouTube levels of content on Netflix these days. So
Speaker 1: I get it, um, And that's and they're doing that globally, right,
Speaker 1: Like I mean, like there is content being created in
Speaker 1: different countries that we can't even get our hands on it, right,
Speaker 1: all right, So yeah, just remember that and and we'll
Speaker 1: keep you up to speed if that new Netflix practice
Speaker 1: of cracking down and passwords comes to the US. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about housing for a second map, because the housing
Speaker 1: market it's still suffering from a lack of supply. Right.
Speaker 1: Prices are through the roof, which has been frustrating anyone
Speaker 1: who's trying to buy a home. Specifically, I feel bad
Speaker 1: for first time homebuyers. Some of our friends, like their
Speaker 1: house went for almost a hundred and fifty thollars able
Speaker 1: list price. It's crazy town for almost like a starter home.
Speaker 1: It's like it's a three to Yeah, it's mind blowing bonkers.
Speaker 1: So I feel for everybody out there who's trying to
Speaker 1: buy a house because it's really really hard, and you know,
Speaker 1: our price is going to chill out in the near future.
Speaker 1: That's anyone's guess. It depends on a whole lot of things.
Speaker 1: But yeah, if you're out there making offers, just wanted
Speaker 1: to note that personalization can actually be kind of helpful
Speaker 1: when you're making your pitch. Um. The Wall Street Journal
Speaker 1: had an article about how folks are winning in this
Speaker 1: bidding war environment. Some are offering free concert tickets or
Speaker 1: to pay for a vacation for the seller in order
Speaker 1: to stand out someone else, like owned a restaurant, they
Speaker 1: were like, fift off my restaurant for a whole year
Speaker 1: for life. I mean, those are the kind of thing
Speaker 1: lengths that people are going to to try to score
Speaker 1: the home that they want. And I think it's pretty cool, right,
Speaker 1: But I gotta say, honestly, sometimes a personalized letter about
Speaker 1: what you love about the house, about the neighborhood, maybe
Speaker 1: how much it would mean to your family, why you
Speaker 1: want to live there, why you love their house in particular.
Speaker 1: Those kinds of of letters don't cost anything, and they
Speaker 1: can be really persuasive. Like I'm thinking, if I was
Speaker 1: trying to sell my home, that would go a long
Speaker 1: way and I would potentially be willing to take you know,
Speaker 1: the not the highest offer. If you talk in my
Speaker 1: heartstrnks when I read it, you know, if it made
Speaker 1: me happy to this person will be taking over the
Speaker 1: reins living in the house that I loved. So I
Speaker 1: don't know, I always think that's a good tactic. It's
Speaker 1: one worth considering. Those are all important things to keep
Speaker 1: in mind. But you know, one thing that you don't
Speaker 1: want to do to stand out is to wave your inspection. Evidently,
Speaker 1: twenty one percent of folks are actually doing that right now,
Speaker 1: according to real estate website Redfinn. We're not cool with
Speaker 1: that unless you know a lot, a whole lot about houses,
Speaker 1: or if you can bring someone who does to the
Speaker 1: showing with you. Some folks are literally hiring inspectors to
Speaker 1: come tour the homes with them so that they can
Speaker 1: waive the inspection when they make their offer, which is
Speaker 1: pretty brilliant. This is one of the ways to kind
Speaker 1: of secure the deal and make that happened, but without
Speaker 1: putting yourself at a new risk. Exactly like you are
Speaker 1: still covering your bases because I know it can be
Speaker 1: tempting to waive those different contingencies when you've been you know,
Speaker 1: you might maybe even stymied in your home buying attempts,
Speaker 1: but buying a multi hundred thousand dollar lemon or money
Speaker 1: pit is something that you want to avoid at all costs.
Speaker 1: And it might be over a million dollar lemon because
Speaker 1: I don't know if stats recently came out, Matt, guess
Speaker 1: what percentage of homes now cost over a million dollars
Speaker 1: in the US. I think it used to be like
Speaker 1: two percent. Now it's like eight or two. It's like
Speaker 1: almost nine percent. Homes cost over a million dollars, which
Speaker 1: I was surprised to see. But it's they're also all
Speaker 1: out in California. That's true. Um of those are in California.
Speaker 1: But I couldn't imagine. It's just a different way of living.
Speaker 1: It is there. It is, Yeah, a million dollars for
Speaker 1: you know, to one out there in some places. All well,
Speaker 1: we've got more information that we've we've got to share
Speaker 1: with you on today's Friday flight, including a story about
Speaker 1: thieves targeting your car. We'll get to that and more
Speaker 1: right after this break. All right, we're back from the break, Joel,
Speaker 1: let's continue with our Friday flight. You are you willing
Speaker 1: to introduce our ludicrous headline of the week. I'll do it.
Speaker 1: I got this Bunny and uh listener Gary actually sent
Speaker 1: this one over which we you know what, I just
Speaker 1: want to say. If anybody comes across some sort of
Speaker 1: ludicrous financial headline this week, feel free to email us.
Speaker 1: Let us know. We love hearing suggestions from listeners, And
Speaker 1: no matter what, we always like hearing from from listeners,
Speaker 1: whether it's you sending in your voice memo to share
Speaker 1: what cool tip you've implemented in your life that was
Speaker 1: another quick plug for the episode, or if it's a
Speaker 1: ludicrous headline, either way, we love it. Yeah for sure.
Speaker 1: Right so this this headline was tom Brady unretired and
Speaker 1: disappoints unlucky fan, and and everybody heard about this by now.
Speaker 1: It was the unretirement that you know, went around the world,
Speaker 1: and I don't think anyone was terribly shocked. So I'm
Speaker 1: actually surprised when he said he was retiring. I was like,
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's gonna stick. But yeah, you
Speaker 1: would think all Tom Brady fans would be pumped that
Speaker 1: he's coming back for another season, right, well, just about
Speaker 1: all of them, not the anonymous guy or gal who
Speaker 1: paid more than half a million dollars for Tom Brady's
Speaker 1: last touchdown football. I would say that this football, Matt
Speaker 1: is almost certainly worth a good bit less now that
Speaker 1: it's just another random football that Tom Brady through and um,
Speaker 1: it's it's a good idea if you're buying something like
Speaker 1: this that that feels sentimental. There's there's so much going
Speaker 1: on in the space of collectibles that I would say
Speaker 1: a lot of people are gonna lose money in this space.
Speaker 1: If you think about it as an investment, you are
Speaker 1: are likely to get burned. When you're buying some sort
Speaker 1: of sports memorabilia or playing cards. Um, you have no
Speaker 1: idea whether that asset is going to go up or
Speaker 1: down in price, and I think this unlucky bidder is
Speaker 1: is going to find that out pretty quickly. I completely agree.
Speaker 1: You definitely can't look at some of these different items
Speaker 1: as an actual investment. But that being said, I would
Speaker 1: be willing to say that I think that that specific
Speaker 1: football that it will maintain its value because of the
Speaker 1: fact that, like, there's still takes from Matt Well, there's
Speaker 1: still a story associated with the football, right, Like there
Speaker 1: there's no inherent value of that football except for the
Speaker 1: fact that it was whatever the last ball that Tom
Speaker 1: Brady tossed or whatever. But the fact is, it's not
Speaker 1: like this after he deflated it, Oh ma'am, I was kidding.
Speaker 1: It's not like that the story completely evaporated though, right
Speaker 1: It's it's not like it all of a sudden does
Speaker 1: not exist anymore. It's just that the story has changed
Speaker 1: and and so like in my mind, so before it
Speaker 1: was the football, it was you know, the last winning
Speaker 1: touchdown past that he threw whatever. Now it's the football
Speaker 1: that he threw before he fake retired. Like there is
Speaker 1: still a story surrounding it. And like I might even
Speaker 1: be willing to say that it might even be worth
Speaker 1: slightly more because of the fact that we're talking about
Speaker 1: it right now. Not that not that you know, we're
Speaker 1: pumping it up or anything like that, but just because
Speaker 1: it's going around the internet, it's becoming like a legend.
Speaker 1: It's a basically it's a meme, right Like, like that
Speaker 1: is why memestocks or a thing. It's not because necessarily
Speaker 1: of the inherent value of that thing, but rather it
Speaker 1: has more to do with the story and the lore
Speaker 1: surrounding the item. Uh. And so that's why I will
Speaker 1: to say that it's going to maintain its value or
Speaker 1: we might even see a go weapon value. This might
Speaker 1: just be a short term, twenty four hour new cycle story.
Speaker 1: So I don't know, we'll see, we'll see, But um,
Speaker 1: it's still funny. I appreciate your take, and it's still
Speaker 1: kind of funny, and yeah, I'm sure that was their
Speaker 1: immediate reaction where they're just like, wait, he just came
Speaker 1: out of retire retirement, son of a Well, speaking of
Speaker 1: speculative assets, I think there's a story in the Financial
Speaker 1: Times that we should talk about because, you know, even
Speaker 1: a good story, like you're talking about this this football
Speaker 1: has kind of a story associated with it, maybe that
Speaker 1: will lead to actually an increase in value. Well, even
Speaker 1: a good story can't can't prevent speculators from getting crushed
Speaker 1: right now as n f T prices are are getting hammered.
Speaker 1: And yeah, basically the speculative frenzy in that space seems
Speaker 1: to be over or or at least in a lull
Speaker 1: for the time being. In the Financial Times reports that
Speaker 1: since November and kind of the peaks of the n
Speaker 1: f T market, the average price of n f T
Speaker 1: s for sale has declined by almost And so I
Speaker 1: don't similar to that Tom Brady football, right, Like, I
Speaker 1: sure hope you bought digital art for sentimental reasons because
Speaker 1: you really liked the way it looked and you wanted
Speaker 1: to incorporate it into your life in some way former fashion,
Speaker 1: not just because you're trying to score a quick buck,
Speaker 1: because a lot of people have seen the value of
Speaker 1: some of those digital assets that they thought we're going
Speaker 1: to continue going up in value exponentially, just plumb it
Speaker 1: back down to earth and if some of them have become,
Speaker 1: you know, almost worthless. That's right, man. Here's another story
Speaker 1: that it actually could have been our ludicrous headline of
Speaker 1: the week. But it's all about the massive uptick in
Speaker 1: catalytic converter theft in addition to the of course, terrible,
Speaker 1: terrible loss of life in Ukraine. We are continuing to
Speaker 1: see the relatively minor impacts of the war here in
Speaker 1: the US, and so to that, Like many of us
Speaker 1: have heard about the impact that the war is going
Speaker 1: to have on wheat production, but who knew that Ukraine
Speaker 1: also accounted fort of global palladium production. Not me. I
Speaker 1: didn't know that until I saw the story. Uh. It
Speaker 1: turns out that palladium is a valuable metal when it
Speaker 1: comes to manufacturing catalytic converters, which all cars have. Uh,
Speaker 1: And they're getting stolen off of cars, they're getting sold
Speaker 1: to metal scrappers since the prices of palladium has skyrocketed
Speaker 1: since the start of the war. So we wanted to
Speaker 1: mention that story because your catalytic converter, it is at risk.
Speaker 1: So we've got a couple of tips for you. First
Speaker 1: of all, keep your car parked in the garage at night.
Speaker 1: Uh if you are lucky enough to have a garage,
Speaker 1: you don't have those in the city most of us.
Speaker 1: Most folks don't. But you know, if you've got one
Speaker 1: of those garages that is full of a bunch of stuff,
Speaker 1: we would recommend for you this is a great time
Speaker 1: to clear all that crap out of there. Listed on Facebook,
Speaker 1: market place or donate it. But you want to clear
Speaker 1: out all that junk and make room because it could
Speaker 1: save you thousands of dollars plus all the headache of
Speaker 1: having your catalytic converter saw it off like in some cases,
Speaker 1: I mean they're cutting other wires and stuff like that too.
Speaker 1: So not only is it just like the cost of
Speaker 1: a catalytic converter, but there's all sorts of damage that
Speaker 1: is happening to vehicles. Might have to get your car towed,
Speaker 1: Additional damage could be had. You gotta protect yourself from
Speaker 1: these thieves. And if you don't have a garage, park
Speaker 1: in a well lit spot like Matt we we have
Speaker 1: a side street that's pretty dark at night. We've been
Speaker 1: parking on the front in front of our house now
Speaker 1: because there is a street like directly above our gardens
Speaker 1: brand new Georgia power LEDs exactly. And so it's like,
Speaker 1: all right, yeah, at least that the places, you know,
Speaker 1: one more hurdle in the thieves way, So do whatever
Speaker 1: you can to protect your car, because yeah, cattle like
Speaker 1: converter theft is on the rise, and it's something else,
Speaker 1: Matt like, gas prices continue to remain extremely high, right
Speaker 1: which is only spurring more and more folks to be
Speaker 1: interested in electric vehicles. Of course, they're as Hansel was
Speaker 1: in Zoom later. They're so hot right now. And uh,
Speaker 1: someone in our Facebook group who lives in California posted
Speaker 1: picks of basically seven dollar a gallon gas and and
Speaker 1: they're asking about buying a new electric vehicle. They were like,
Speaker 1: does it make sense for me? And you know, we
Speaker 1: hesitate to tell someone to go buy a new car,
Speaker 1: even though gas prices have gone insane, but we are
Speaker 1: fans of electric vehicles already from a gas savings perspective,
Speaker 1: from a less maintenance perspective, like they are the cars
Speaker 1: of the future and they can save you money now.
Speaker 1: But yeah, before you head to the new car lot
Speaker 1: and you start test driving Tesla's or Chevy Bolts or
Speaker 1: the new Ford Mustang whatever it is, you should really
Speaker 1: look hard at the numbers on how much you are
Speaker 1: spending on gas each month, because if you're a heavy
Speaker 1: driver in a state where gas is more expensive and
Speaker 1: EV purchase could pay off in the long run. But
Speaker 1: don't let the current gas prices being excused to make
Speaker 1: a poor financial decision. And Matt, you remember, I don't know,
Speaker 1: not not terribly long ago, we had a listener who
Speaker 1: drives a ton for work, and and he was thinking
Speaker 1: about buying one of those expensive electric trucks, and um,
Speaker 1: it was it was. It cost some pretty penny, But
Speaker 1: he drives so much and he lives in a state
Speaker 1: where gas costs so much that for him it was
Speaker 1: actually a no brainer. But for for most people, they
Speaker 1: have to actually run the numbers to decide whether an
Speaker 1: electric vehicle makes sense for them or not. So much
Speaker 1: of it depends on you know, your driving habits, that's right.
Speaker 1: It's also important to think about used electric vehicles as well,
Speaker 1: because you know, like older and needs on leaves, for instance,
Speaker 1: they have plummeted in value as better looking electric vehicles
Speaker 1: with big, bigger battery packs and better range at the market.
Speaker 1: But often for an unloved older you know, electric vehicle
Speaker 1: like that could be just the ticket to meaningful savings
Speaker 1: at the pump for you. Of course, those needs on
Speaker 1: leaves that they have much inferior range. Of course, I
Speaker 1: get the desire to own an electric vehicle that can
Speaker 1: do two fifty plus miles on a single charge. But
Speaker 1: if an EV with lesser range, if that works for
Speaker 1: you and your lifestyle and how you drive, it can
Speaker 1: be well worth considering. Yeah, I think that's gonna be
Speaker 1: the sweet spot for a lot of folks. Although with
Speaker 1: huge car prices haven't gone up, and I'm sure those
Speaker 1: huge dvs are gonna cost more and more, cost more,
Speaker 1: right now, that's exactly the unfortunate truth. But you know,
Speaker 1: if you run the numbers buying like a ten fift
Speaker 1: dollar used electric vehicle, if it, you know, if you're
Speaker 1: a daily commuter, it could massively curb your gas consumption.
Speaker 1: It could pay for itself. But Matt, let's let's get
Speaker 1: you another story about buy now, pay later. We've talked
Speaker 1: about that a bunch, and it kind of continues to
Speaker 1: be the rage despite how we feel about it. Everyone
Speaker 1: is doing it now, everyone's getting on board. Delta Airlines
Speaker 1: just jumped on the bandwagon to there. Now, I'm giving
Speaker 1: folks the ability to pay for their air fare just
Speaker 1: like you can pay for a new clothing item on
Speaker 1: your favorite retailer's website in multiple installments. And uh yeah,
Speaker 1: we won't belabor the point because if you've been listening
Speaker 1: to the show for any amount of time, you know
Speaker 1: our stance by now pay later gives folks a false
Speaker 1: sense that they're saving money basically by just extending the
Speaker 1: payment period out and um yeah, it allows a lot
Speaker 1: of folks who really can't afford an item right to
Speaker 1: buy it anyway. And so if you're trying to get
Speaker 1: out of debt or save more money, by now pay
Speaker 1: later is not going to help you do that, and
Speaker 1: in fact, it might lead you into a worse financial predicament,
Speaker 1: having more monthly payments than you actually should have. And
Speaker 1: so yeah, you're seeing that option more and more when
Speaker 1: you're checking out across the web, even when you're buying airfare,
Speaker 1: and it's best, we would say, just to avoid buy now,
Speaker 1: pay later altogether. That's right, man. And we have one
Speaker 1: last story, a credit reporting story, because the CFPB, the
Speaker 1: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, they're looking to get medical debts
Speaker 1: off of credit reports. At least that's what it's looking like.
Speaker 1: It turns out that more than half of debt that's
Speaker 1: gone to collections that in one way or the other,
Speaker 1: it stems from a medical procedure. Um. You know, there's
Speaker 1: the medical bills on your report are essentially they're gumming
Speaker 1: up millions of consumer credit scores, leading to a real
Speaker 1: inability to get a loan or to rent an apartment,
Speaker 1: and it's leading to higher interest rates on car and
Speaker 1: home loans. Medical debt, it's certainly different than credit card
Speaker 1: debts because most medical debt occurs because of an emergency. Right,
Speaker 1: it's involuntary. It's not necessarily something that you have chosen
Speaker 1: to do like you would with a consumer purchase. I
Speaker 1: can't wait for my explain to rupturepital. That exactly what
Speaker 1: I want. Nobody is saying that, uh, and so I
Speaker 1: think that it could make sense for the bureaus to
Speaker 1: treat it differently. That being said, it is treated a
Speaker 1: little bit differently. Credit bureaus. They've told collection agencies to
Speaker 1: wait roughly six months before reporting any unpaid or delinquent bills. Essentially,
Speaker 1: whereas with a credit like if you miss a payment
Speaker 1: on a credit card, you see that hit your credit
Speaker 1: port like literally the next building cycle, that the very
Speaker 1: next month, and so it is treated a little bit differently.
Speaker 1: It'll be interesting to see what the CFPP does, and
Speaker 1: we'll report back if they end up changing the guidelines
Speaker 1: on this. Personally, I don't necessarily see this as the
Speaker 1: perfect solution. I mean, medical billing obviously it's broken, right,
Speaker 1: it's it's broken, it's or at the very least, it's
Speaker 1: very complex. But saying to credit bureaus that, hey, you
Speaker 1: can't report on this at all, This isn't something that
Speaker 1: you're allowed to share with lenders who are trying to
Speaker 1: look at an individual's overall financial history. Like the report
Speaker 1: shows half of all debt stems somehow from medical procedures.
Speaker 1: How are we going to like essentially ignore that much
Speaker 1: medical debts. I don't see this being the best solution.
Speaker 1: I totally agree with what you're saying. You you actually
Speaker 1: use the word and I think you're right. The first
Speaker 1: time you said that the system is kind of broken,
Speaker 1: and I think you're right. I think the medical billing
Speaker 1: system is broken. The credit scoring system is kind of broken. Um.
Speaker 1: And that actually has a massive impact on all of
Speaker 1: our personal finances. And in one of the best ways
Speaker 1: to approachest sadly, you have to get informed on the
Speaker 1: health care link front, and you have to learn how
Speaker 1: to combat the high price of healthcare in your life.
Speaker 1: And so, um, I wishally did a whole episode on
Speaker 1: that mat with Marshall Allen episode four oh nine. So
Speaker 1: if you end up with a bill that you can't pay,
Speaker 1: or even a bill that you think is unfair, there
Speaker 1: are ways to fight back, um and and so yeah,
Speaker 1: we would encourage everyone. That's one of my favorite episodes
Speaker 1: that we've done, episode four oh nine with Marshall Allen.
Speaker 1: And yeah, it impacts a whole lot of people in
Speaker 1: this country. Um, they need his information, the information that
Speaker 1: he's sharing. By the way, speaking of credit mat, we're
Speaker 1: we're actually gonna demystify some myths about credit scores next
Speaker 1: week on the show. Yeah, folks should get ready for
Speaker 1: that on Wednesday, that's right. So we hope everyone has
Speaker 1: a great weekend. We've got an ask how the Money
Speaker 1: episode lined up for you? This coming Monday. We'll have
Speaker 1: links to all the different stories and some of the
Speaker 1: different resources we mentioned up on the website at how
Speaker 1: to money dot com and Joel. Until next time, Best
Speaker 1: Friends Out, Best Friends Out the umber Bo