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Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel, I'm Matt. Today

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Speaker 1: we're discussing Christmas tree inflation, headphone trends, and asinine hospital bills.

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Speaker 1: That's right, it's Friday, Black Friday in fact, and we've

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Speaker 1: got a lot of great stories for you that we're

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Speaker 1: gonna die sects and we're gonna talk about how they

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Speaker 1: have to do with you and your money. But before

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Speaker 1: we get to those stories, Joel, h. Last week you

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Speaker 1: touched on the facts, like you had to follow your

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Speaker 1: first homeowner's insurance claim, and we talked about me checking

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Speaker 1: my rates and seeing how much I could save by

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Speaker 1: bumping up my deductible from a thousand too. I don't know,

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Speaker 1: maybe five thousand. Conversation prompted you to re look at

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Speaker 1: what your deductible was because you've been overpaying. Sorry, yeah,

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Speaker 1: what I said. I think I said I was getting

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Speaker 1: hosed that. That's truly how I feel. You know, like

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Speaker 1: when you find out that you've been over paying for something,

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Speaker 1: you just feel kind of sick. At least you and

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Speaker 1: I do that it physically affects us in that way,

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Speaker 1: which is like why I immediately sent that email off

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Speaker 1: to make sure I could remedy that problem. He started

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Speaker 1: like throwing up in the trash can in the corner.

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Speaker 1: I'm like dry heaving. But here's the thing. I did

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Speaker 1: hear back from my insurance agent, and I've got some

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Speaker 1: numbers for you. If I bump up my deductible to

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Speaker 1: five thousand dollars, which by the way, I swear that's

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Speaker 1: where it was until they snuck one past me and

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Speaker 1: decided to bump it down to a thousand. But regardless

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Speaker 1: of that, if I change it back, if I change

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Speaker 1: it to five thousand, I'm not even gonna say back

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Speaker 1: to I'm going to save four thirty bucks a year annually.

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Speaker 1: If I bump it up to a ten thousand dollar deductible,

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Speaker 1: I'm looking at saving six hundred and seventy dollars every

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Speaker 1: single year. So that's the savings for the five thousand

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Speaker 1: dollar deductible or thirty on that ten thousand dollar deductible. Man,

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Speaker 1: what do you think about that? I think they are

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Speaker 1: both really big savings numbers. And so I think pressed

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Speaker 1: either way you go, you're gonna save a whole lot

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Speaker 1: of money over the one dollar deductible. And and and like

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Speaker 1: we said last week, I think by bumping up that deductible.

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Speaker 1: It actually is going to prevent you from making really

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Speaker 1: small homeowners insurance claims which aren't good for your premiums,

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Speaker 1: which just are are what you want to avoid anyway.

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Speaker 1: So I mean, I think if I were you, I'd

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Speaker 1: be willing to go dial it all the way into

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Speaker 1: the ten Well, because I'll tell you why. I'm hesitant,

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Speaker 1: because I crunch some more numbers, because it comes down to, like, essentially,

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Speaker 1: where's the break even point? Because yes, I can immediately

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Speaker 1: start saving money now, but how long will I have

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Speaker 1: to go without a claim in order to make up

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Speaker 1: that difference? Right? And so on? The with the five

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars deductible, I would have to go nine years.

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Speaker 1: After that nine year point, then I'm making money. That's

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Speaker 1: when I would be saving money on top of the

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Speaker 1: amount that would potentially go towards a deductible. Does that

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Speaker 1: make sense? For the ten thousand dollar deductible, you're looking

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Speaker 1: at thirteen years and that is I don't know, man,

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Speaker 1: Like I'm starting to look into the future a little

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Speaker 1: bit and I'm not going to predict anything, but like,

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Speaker 1: can you imagine I mean, obviously I don't want to

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Speaker 1: make a claim but when it comes to your homeowner's insurance, Like,

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Speaker 1: who's to say that there's not gonna be a massive

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Speaker 1: thunderstorm that rolls in, drops a bunch of hail and

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden, I'm looking at replacing my roof,

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Speaker 1: or that same storm might take down one of these

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Speaker 1: giant oaks we've got in the backyard that could potentially

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Speaker 1: damage to the house some a little bit. Yeah, you

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Speaker 1: gotta sign how much you're willing to sell, insure the

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Speaker 1: gamble you're willing to take. And it's not a slam

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Speaker 1: dunk decision, I guess, is what I'm getting in here.

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Speaker 1: I think definitely moving it up to at least five

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars. Definitely gonna do that. I think the real

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Speaker 1: question is is can I stomach you know that additional

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Speaker 1: I don't know something about thirteen years? It's like, holy crap,

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Speaker 1: that's a that's more than a decade. Well, how long

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Speaker 1: have you been a homewounter now? Yeah, well almost thirteen

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Speaker 1: years probably, And have you foiled a homeloter? Never filed

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Speaker 1: a claim? But yeah, so there's a lot to keep

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Speaker 1: in mind here. But it's just one of those things

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Speaker 1: where it's it's different with your auto insurance. Right because

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Speaker 1: we've got a chip wind shield, no problem, We've had

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Speaker 1: that for years. Doesn't bother me. Somebody bumped us in

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Speaker 1: the parking lot at Aldi and drove off. They didn't

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Speaker 1: leave like a note or anything. We came out to

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Speaker 1: a little scuffed up bumper. I don't mind that, like,

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Speaker 1: I can live with that. But when there's damage to

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Speaker 1: your house, oftentimes that's something you need to get fixed,

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Speaker 1: and especially if it's going to be a larger amount

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Speaker 1: like those are those instances where you want to take

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Speaker 1: advantage of your hometer's insurance. Yea, yea. It's a tough call,

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Speaker 1: but I'm glad you're gonna at least move into one

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Speaker 1: of those money saving options. And that just kind of

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Speaker 1: continue to have my fingers crossed for you that you

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Speaker 1: know have the file a claim. Uh, and I hope

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Speaker 1: I go at least thirteen years without having to file

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Speaker 1: another claim. You're gonna keep yours because because you're at

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Speaker 1: five thousand, five thousand dollars, I think I mna stay

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Speaker 1: there for the time being, but you might look in

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Speaker 1: to see if there's a especially if premium start to rise,

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Speaker 1: I might see if I can save even more by

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Speaker 1: bumping that up. We'll see, but definitely something to look into.

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Speaker 1: And and Matten, it's nice to know and nice to

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Speaker 1: put some some figures to the amount that you can save,

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Speaker 1: because yeah, like you know, five hundred bucks a year

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Speaker 1: is quite a lot of money money, and there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of our listeners out there who can self insure

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Speaker 1: and they don't realize that they're potentially throwing money of

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Speaker 1: magnitude out the window. There you go, and Matt, one

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Speaker 1: more thing before we get to our Friday fight. We're

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Speaker 1: doing a book giveaway. Yeah, it's been a minute since

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Speaker 1: people we've done one of those. Since people are spending

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Speaker 1: money in droves today, hopefully not our listeners, we wanted

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Speaker 1: to give away something free and so it's it's free. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's been a while since we've done this, a Radar

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Speaker 1: bookshelf giveaway. This is where we give away a bunch

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Speaker 1: of books that we've been reading from guests that we've

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Speaker 1: hand on the show. So just head over to Apple

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Speaker 1: Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcast, leave us

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Speaker 1: a solid review, and then email us at how to

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Speaker 1: Money pod at gmail dot com confirming and letting us

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Speaker 1: know that you left that review. Just do that before Wednesday,

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Speaker 1: December one at midnight, and you'll be entered into the

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Speaker 1: book giveaway where we'll be giving way a bunch of

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Speaker 1: books to three lucky listeners. And just remember, if you've

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Speaker 1: left our view in the past, it can be an

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Speaker 1: older review like you can still enter this giveaway, but

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Speaker 1: you do need to send another email. So yeah, if

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Speaker 1: you've already done that, email us again, you're inner to

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Speaker 1: win two and we'll announce the winners on next Friday's episode.

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Speaker 1: That is right. I'm excited to get some of these

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Speaker 1: books into the hands of our listeners. Man, let's keep

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Speaker 1: moving the sock about some of the stories we came

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Speaker 1: across this week real quick, this is like a halfway story.

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Speaker 1: I guess uh. It seems like crypto is going even

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Speaker 1: more mainstream. What's your take on the Staples Center changing

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Speaker 1: their name from the Stable Center to the Crypto dot

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Speaker 1: Com arena. Well, kryp Crypto dot Com had seven hundred

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Speaker 1: million of those dollars to get that to get their

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Speaker 1: name up there. I guess uh. In the lights um

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Speaker 1: in in Los Angeles. I guess I just kind of

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Speaker 1: wonder I'd be curious from like a pr standpoint, if

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Speaker 1: those dollars are well spent and if those I was

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Speaker 1: like doing some research to see, like, how do companies

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Speaker 1: do after they, you know, make one of these major

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Speaker 1: buys for the naming rights for a stadium. It varies, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it varies, but there's definitely some evidence to show that

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Speaker 1: it's it's not been good for a lot of companies.

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Speaker 1: So it'll be interesting to see how it seems to

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Speaker 1: be doing. Okay, they're doing much better than en run

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Speaker 1: did uh in run Field and was it Houston? Uh?

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Speaker 1: The astros that used to be that might have been Yeah. Well, so,

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Speaker 1: I mean my thoughts are that obviously Crypto fans they care.

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Speaker 1: They probably think this is totally awesome. But even if

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Speaker 1: you don't care, even if you only really know about

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Speaker 1: it because we're talking about it, the fact that it's

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Speaker 1: a part of our dialogue, like it's a part of

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Speaker 1: the zeitgeist. Uh, you don't have to necessarily care to

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Speaker 1: have that impact, you you know. And so you know,

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Speaker 1: this company, Crypto dot com, like their name is going

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Speaker 1: to be on you know, that arena now and folks

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Speaker 1: are going to it's just in their minds instead of

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Speaker 1: it being at you know why the l a Lakers

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Speaker 1: here at Staples Arena or Staples Center. Now it's going

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Speaker 1: to be Crypto dot com and so obviously it just

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Speaker 1: gives it more credence, right. Uh. And what's interesting too,

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Speaker 1: I think is the fact that it's crypto dot com

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Speaker 1: and it's still on the knows and first of all,

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Speaker 1: I think people are probably gonna drop the dot com

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Speaker 1: like folks will just probably call it like the Crypto Arena,

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Speaker 1: which gives credence to just cryptocurrency in general. Uh. And

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Speaker 1: so I think it's just really interesting that it could.

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Speaker 1: I really do see this as being a way that

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Speaker 1: more folks are kind of turned onto crypto being a

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Speaker 1: legitimate thing. It's becoming a part of more traditional uh,

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Speaker 1: brick and mortar institutions, you know, like literally there's a

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Speaker 1: building with crypto on its as opposed to just being

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Speaker 1: something that's just made up of ones and zeros on computers. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: It's kind of like how Facebook got more and more mainstream,

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Speaker 1: Like your grandma eventually was on it, and you're like,

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Speaker 1: what's going on here? And I think, yeah, maybe maybe

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Speaker 1: this is like a step in that direction totally. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think so, Yeah, Well, let's let's keep moving. Another

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Speaker 1: quick story too. I wanted to talk about Christmas trees

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Speaker 1: because obviously it's the Friday after Thanksgiving. Uh, you and

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Speaker 1: your family, you're gonna get your Christmas tree up this weekend,

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Speaker 1: that's the plan. Uh. Well, of course you don't want

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Speaker 1: to get your tree up too soon, otherwise you'll be

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Speaker 1: sweeping up a bunch of mounds of pine needles, which

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Speaker 1: is kind of the terrible way to end the year.

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Speaker 1: But like the summer twenty if you're like, because I mean,

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Speaker 1: that's what the experts say. If you have your tree

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Speaker 1: set up before Thanksgiving, you're you're much more likely to

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Speaker 1: have it all dried out by Christmas. So I'm glad

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Speaker 1: you waited at least until this weekend. Yes, well, I

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Speaker 1: think if my wife had her way, we would have

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Speaker 1: had it set up in like early October. She ever

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Speaker 1: Mariah carry blasting in the background as well. Oh yeah already.

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Speaker 1: And yeah, we normally go with a live Christmas tree.

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Speaker 1: We actually bought an artificial one last year. And I'm

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Speaker 1: kind of glad though, because I saw the stats this

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Speaker 1: year and apparently artificial Christmas trees are gonna cost twenty

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Speaker 1: six more this Yeah, I saw that, I thought, you'll

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Speaker 1: had a real Christmas tree last year. No, we did,

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Speaker 1: we did, but I bought it literally right after Christmas,

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Speaker 1: the artificial one on sale on sale, Yeah, and I

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Speaker 1: was like, you, yea next three years, let's go with artificial.

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Speaker 1: And she was saddened. But I'm telling you, so last

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Speaker 1: year was the first year that we had already had it,

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Speaker 1: and so last year was the first year that we

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Speaker 1: just got it down from the attic. Now, I'm telling

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Speaker 1: you it was nice. Yeah, you did not have to

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Speaker 1: go out and pick through a bunch of wrapped up

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Speaker 1: Christmas trees that you can't really tell how they look

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Speaker 1: and all that. Yeah, if you were actually going to

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Speaker 1: like cut it down with a with a chainsaw or

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Speaker 1: something like the North Carolina it would be not a chainsaw.

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Speaker 1: You do it with a handsaw, like old Charlie Brown style.

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Speaker 1: All the way nostalgia, I've for her to upset all

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Speaker 1: the other families wre traditionally cutting down the Christmas tree.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, yeah, so just seeing that made me like

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Speaker 1: just glad that I got it last year. But that's

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Speaker 1: just a word of the wise. Apparently, uh, real Christmas

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Speaker 1: trees aren't immune to inflation, either they're supposed to cost

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Speaker 1: on average five percent more this year or so. Um. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: ending on what you're into, Christmas trees aren't as cheap

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Speaker 1: as they were last year. Plus I'm sure you can

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Speaker 1: always get like some Christmas tree essential oils for your

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Speaker 1: diffuser there in the house to make it smell like

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Speaker 1: there's a live tree there. So we've got to talk

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Speaker 1: about Black Friday, just at least for a second here.

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Speaker 1: If you decided to open your podcatcher this morning, maybe

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Speaker 1: before going out to do some physical shopping, or before

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Speaker 1: you popped open your laptop to start shopping, we just

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Speaker 1: want to remind you to stay calm. We're not opposed

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Speaker 1: to buying stuff, and we are fans of paying less

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Speaker 1: for the stuff that we do end up buying. But

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Speaker 1: it's just so easy to get carried away on a

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Speaker 1: daylight today where you're just spending money that you haven't budgeted, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, or money that you've just flat out don't

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Speaker 1: have because of the savings that you have available to you.

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Speaker 1: But it doesn't matter what the discount is on that

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Speaker 1: item if you can't actually afford its, keep that in mind. Please, yes, yes, yes,

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Speaker 1: definitely take a chill pill, don't overspend, and it's it's

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Speaker 1: just really like this today, this weekend, uh, cyber Monday,

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Speaker 1: like these are the days where I think it's it

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Speaker 1: tugs at our wallet strings the most to to try

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Speaker 1: to buy things that we can't afford because it's on tail.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, the best way to spend less is to

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Speaker 1: not buy anything. And one of the things that's driving

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Speaker 1: the inflation numbers that we're seeing actually is the reality

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Speaker 1: that Americans as a whole have been buying more stuff.

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Speaker 1: Supply constraints are obviously still a major reality, but demand

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Speaker 1: increase is a big part of it too, And so yeah,

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Speaker 1: the more we're buying things, the more it's going to

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Speaker 1: cost us. But even more importantly, it impacts how much

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Speaker 1: of the money that we keep in our own personal

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Speaker 1: bank accounts. And there was a recent headline map from

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Speaker 1: the Atlantic and it was like a really really short

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Speaker 1: headline and it read stop shopping. It's a great headline, yes,

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Speaker 1: and it made you know, it made a good case,

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Speaker 1: uh this for this novel idea that maybe we should

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Speaker 1: just be content with the things that we have and

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Speaker 1: focus less on buying new stuff. And there's definitely a

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Speaker 1: whole lot of that that we can agree with. Right,

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Speaker 1: We just had mag Norman on this past week, and

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Speaker 1: obviously she would agree to and she probably could have

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Speaker 1: written that article. And uh so, there's just so many

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Speaker 1: reasons to buy less. Pick whichever one works for you,

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Speaker 1: whichever one you're into, whether you're like I just want

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Speaker 1: to see that headline inflation number go down, or I

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Speaker 1: want to see more money in my bank account, whichever

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Speaker 1: one it is. The macro or the micro being focused

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Speaker 1: on spending less this season is a good thing. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and again, we're not opposed to you buying stuff. We

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Speaker 1: just want you to specifically avoid that mindless, soul numbing

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Speaker 1: spending that you do, maybe because you're bored or because

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Speaker 1: you just don't feel quite as good as you did

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Speaker 1: last week. Buying more stuff is not the solution, um

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Speaker 1: and Joel. Speaking of buying less, there is this Wall

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Speaker 1: Street Journal article. Uh and it stated that wired headphones

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Speaker 1: that they're cool again. Those expensive air pods that just

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Speaker 1: came out are apparently pretty lame now, so less month, dude.

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Speaker 1: I gotta say, I'm kind of confused as to why

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Speaker 1: headphones have to be a fashion statement at all. You know,

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Speaker 1: why can't we just use the headphones that you have

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Speaker 1: until they break or until you run over them with

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Speaker 1: a car, which is what I did. That's a great

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Speaker 1: time to then purchase a new set of headphones. But

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Speaker 1: we we just want folks to stop paying attention to

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Speaker 1: the you know, the different trend setters out there, because

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Speaker 1: you're to end up buying the quote unquote cool thing

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Speaker 1: and then six months later you're gonna revert back because

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Speaker 1: suddenly it's not cool anymore. We don't want you to

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Speaker 1: buy something just because other people are doing it um

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Speaker 1: or even doing the opposite, where you're buying something because

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Speaker 1: somebody else isn't buying that thing, right, This is just

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Speaker 1: another little p s A to encourage you to spend

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Speaker 1: a little bit less this season. I feel like headphones

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Speaker 1: are and should continue to be a utilitarian item that

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Speaker 1: helps me listen to the stuff I want to listen to,

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Speaker 1: not some sort of statement about my creativity like my

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Speaker 1: inner being right. I just I guess that doesn't make

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Speaker 1: any sense to me. So when I saw the headline,

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Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, well, I guess at least the

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Speaker 1: trend is back towards like cheaper head views, the more

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Speaker 1: affordable Yes, yeah, well, but yeah, let's say you bought

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Speaker 1: the air pods and now you're like, but all the

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Speaker 1: cool celebrities are they're using the ones with wires. They're

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Speaker 1: going with the old chief. There's just no reason to

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Speaker 1: go back or really to make any decision at all. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I will say the what's you know, the white the cheap,

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Speaker 1: old school, old fashioned white headphones with a cord going up.

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Speaker 1: What that communicates I I totally understand, which is when

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Speaker 1: you see somebody with headphones, and like, especially when they're

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Speaker 1: white and they kind of stand out like that, you

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Speaker 1: know that they're either uh, talking to somebody on the phone,

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Speaker 1: or they're listening to a podcast or an audio book,

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Speaker 1: and you don't talk to them. So I totally appreciate

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Speaker 1: the desire maybe to swing back towards wired headphones because

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Speaker 1: of what it communicates two people around you. I don't

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Speaker 1: know how many times I've had like my little, small,

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Speaker 1: small ones that fit inside my ears that you can't

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Speaker 1: see because they're black and they're little, and then someone'll

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Speaker 1: just start talking to me and I, you know, holding

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Speaker 1: my finger like kind of pop them out, hip pause

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Speaker 1: that kind of thing. And so I guess I'm just

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Speaker 1: saying about introverts are more into the traditional corded headphones.

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Speaker 1: That makes sense. That makes sense, And I'm still a

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Speaker 1: fan of the aftershocks connection headphones are pretty great. Those

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Speaker 1: are the best. Let's talk about while we're talking about Apple,

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Speaker 1: Let's talk about some more big news. Right to repair

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Speaker 1: is now becoming a thing on the Apple in the

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Speaker 1: Apple orbit, and yeah, Apples finally throwing iPhone users a bone.

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Speaker 1: Starting at the beginning of next year, Apple fans are

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Speaker 1: going to be able to make repairs using legit Apple

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Speaker 1: parts and tools, although Apple is still encouraging most folks

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Speaker 1: to utilize actual professional service providers, say they say, don't

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Speaker 1: don't go this alone. You need the help of a professional,

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Speaker 1: but you don't have to and making a succession, yes,

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Speaker 1: and so yeah, they're starting with the most recent phones,

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Speaker 1: the twelve and thirteen, and they're gonna offer service manuals

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Speaker 1: as well as special software that's needed to enable some

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Speaker 1: of these repairs as well. And this is just a

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Speaker 1: great step. Matt, You and I have kind of moaned

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Speaker 1: about the reality that cell phone makers don't want you

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Speaker 1: repairing your own device, and it costs you a whole

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Speaker 1: lot more when you break that screen or when something

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Speaker 1: goes wrong, and you know, you've talked about fixing your

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Speaker 1: own screen using a website like I fix It and

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Speaker 1: what they offer, which is great. But this is just

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Speaker 1: a great first step to make it easier for for

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Speaker 1: folks to repair their own phones, saving them money in

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Speaker 1: the long run by by lengthening the life hopefully of

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Speaker 1: that phone and they can keep it around longer, not

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Speaker 1: only saving money, but just the decrease in E waste

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Speaker 1: as well. You know, Like, I feel like this might

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Speaker 1: be the beginning of a move towards us seeing our

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Speaker 1: phones in particular, less as these disposable to vices that

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Speaker 1: we toss out every couple of years, uh, and instead

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Speaker 1: like see them more as like long term appliances, like

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Speaker 1: something that we maintain and we preserve and we repair

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Speaker 1: when the little part goes out, and we keep them

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Speaker 1: for you know, at least five years. I like the

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Speaker 1: direction that we're going. How how bummed would be we

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Speaker 1: be if we had to replace our dishwasher every two

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Speaker 1: or three years, you know, like that'd be we get

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Speaker 1: super frustrated. But yet we do that with cellphones. And

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Speaker 1: I think you're thinking of them more as a long

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Speaker 1: term appliance, So we're trying to get extra years out

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Speaker 1: of It's a good headspace to be in. That's right, man.

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Speaker 1: We've got a few other stories we're gonna get to,

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Speaker 1: including electric vehicles how they can save you money, as

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Speaker 1: well as how you can pay less for medical services.

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Speaker 1: Will get to those and more right after the break.

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Speaker 1: All right, we're back. It's the Friday Fight. We've got

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Speaker 1: a few more stories to get to on this black Friday.

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Speaker 1: And Matt, of course, in the beginning of the second

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Speaker 1: half of every Friday Fight is our ludicrous headline of

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Speaker 1: the week, right, and this one is and I quote

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Speaker 1: avoid stocks and bonds in two says Morgan Stanley. And

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Speaker 1: this was sent to us by listener Thomas, who I'm

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Speaker 1: sure at this point knows well our hatred for these

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Speaker 1: sorts of prognostications. So Thomas, thanks for sending this one

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Speaker 1: our way. He's like, oh, Joel, Matt, they're gonna love it.

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Speaker 1: They're gonna tear him to shreds, and yes, yes we will.

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Speaker 1: They basically these Morgan Stanley UH analysts have said that

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Speaker 1: the sp is going to be down roughly five percent

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Speaker 1: from where it currently sits next year. I don't know

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Speaker 1: how they know that, but they're they're making some assumptions.

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Speaker 1: If you've been listening to our show for any amount

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Speaker 1: of time, you know how we feel about this crap.

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Speaker 1: Uh we We gave Robert Kiyosaki, the author of Rich Dad,

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Speaker 1: Poor Dad, a strong ribbing last month as he was

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Speaker 1: predicting a massive stock market decline. Guess what, that didn't happen.

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Speaker 1: The stock market has still been doing really well. And

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Speaker 1: he never seems to get those predictions right. He seems

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Speaker 1: to make one every single year, and he is consistently wrong,

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Speaker 1: and you would think at some point he would stop

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Speaker 1: making them. But maybe he's hoping for that broken clock

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Speaker 1: syndrome where eventually he'll be proved right. And it's not

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Speaker 1: that a sudden decline couldn't happen, or that the stock

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Speaker 1: market won't be down at the end of next year,

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Speaker 1: but that headline is just like avoid stocks and bonds,

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Speaker 1: like don't do any investing this year because guess what

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Speaker 1: next year it's not going to be so good. Well,

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Speaker 1: most of our listeners met are long term investors. They

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Speaker 1: shouldn't care about these predictions. And even if the market

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Speaker 1: is down five percent next year, they should keep investing

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Speaker 1: dollar cost averaging the entire time because they're hoping to

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Speaker 1: make those withdrawals decades down the road. That's right, Ignore

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Speaker 1: the headlines and keep on investing, Joel, Can you think

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Speaker 1: of anything else right now that is as hot as

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Speaker 1: electric vehicles? Uh? Well, huh not really probably not right.

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Speaker 1: Rivian the e truckmaker. They went public a few weeks

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Speaker 1: ago and the stock price was soaring. And that's all

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Speaker 1: despite the fact that Rivian has delivered only a handful vehicles. Seriously, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: they're just there are a ton of good jokes on

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Speaker 1: Twitter about Ribbans evaluation being just way higher than most

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Speaker 1: other car manufacturers that have actual uh cars on the

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Speaker 1: road that have actually had success in generating profit. But

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Speaker 1: with gas prices still being crazy right now, Uh, the

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Speaker 1: enthusiasm around innovative electric vehicle companies is sky high. But

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Speaker 1: you might be wondering, like, how am I gonna save

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Speaker 1: money by driving an electric vehicle? Because those, you know,

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Speaker 1: the vehicles typically cost more like a lot more to

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Speaker 1: purchase up front than their gas powered cousins. But going

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Speaker 1: electric cane save you a boatload over the entire ownership cycle.

427
00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:37,520
Speaker 1: And that's what we want to talk about today. Yes, yeah,

428
00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:40,960
Speaker 1: so obviously a lot of hype over the Ribbean uh

429
00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:43,399
Speaker 1: I p O, and a lot of massive swings in

430
00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:45,960
Speaker 1: the price of that stock over the first couple of weeks.

431
00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:48,480
Speaker 1: But yeah, Matt, I like that we're getting down to

432
00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:51,679
Speaker 1: brass tacks of how this actually affects consumers. And I

433
00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:54,959
Speaker 1: think as you see gas prices continue to skyrocket, an

434
00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:57,440
Speaker 1: electric vehicle starts to look more and more appealing. Right,

435
00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:00,720
Speaker 1: And the Wall Street Journal crunched the number about the

436
00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:02,840
Speaker 1: energy costs you're gonna incur if you did opt to

437
00:20:02,880 --> 00:20:05,520
Speaker 1: go the electric vehicle routes and you ditch your gas

438
00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:08,520
Speaker 1: powered car. Basically, if you drive two hundred miles a

439
00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:11,439
Speaker 1: week and you choose to drive an electric vehicle instead

440
00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:14,320
Speaker 1: of a gas powered one, you're gonna save between five

441
00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:18,080
Speaker 1: dollars and nine dollars a year, depending on what part

442
00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:21,960
Speaker 1: of the country you live. In West coast cities like Spokane, Washington,

443
00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:24,359
Speaker 1: and Los Angeles, we're at the top of the heat,

444
00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:26,760
Speaker 1: largely given the higher prices at the pump out there

445
00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:30,159
Speaker 1: right in California, you're paying close to five dollars a gallon,

446
00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:32,840
Speaker 1: So an electric vehicle obviously is gonna be even more

447
00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:34,800
Speaker 1: helpful out there than it is where we live, which

448
00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:37,680
Speaker 1: is what we're like three, And electricity is more affordable

449
00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:40,280
Speaker 1: up there as well. Yeah, yeah, so where you charge

450
00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:42,560
Speaker 1: matters a whole lot too. Write just like getting coffee out,

451
00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:44,520
Speaker 1: it costs a boatload more than making it at home.

452
00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:48,120
Speaker 1: If you're charging at chargers out there on the road

453
00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:50,920
Speaker 1: via like a charge point network or something like that,

454
00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:53,199
Speaker 1: you're gonna pay more than if you were just charging

455
00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:56,120
Speaker 1: it at home. And so yeah, here here's the thing, though,

456
00:20:56,160 --> 00:20:57,840
Speaker 1: We don't think you should go out and buy a

457
00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:00,639
Speaker 1: new electric vehicle tomorrow. And you know what, if you

458
00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:02,119
Speaker 1: try to buy Ribbon, I don't even know if you

459
00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:05,240
Speaker 1: can right now, Like we said, they've literally only delivered

460
00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:08,480
Speaker 1: like eight cars. But depending on where and how you drive,

461
00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:12,320
Speaker 1: it might be worth considering an electric vehicle in your future.

462
00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:14,120
Speaker 1: And you might just be able to find an EV

463
00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:16,920
Speaker 1: that works perfectly on the used market too. You don't

464
00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:18,160
Speaker 1: have to go out there and buy a new one,

465
00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:20,440
Speaker 1: but if you were to kind of make a swapsie

466
00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:23,280
Speaker 1: because gas prices are starting to like get you down,

467
00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:26,120
Speaker 1: and you do drive more than the average person, then yeah,

468
00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:28,920
Speaker 1: trading one used car for another one Uh, that's gonna

469
00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:31,639
Speaker 1: save you potentially over a thousand dollars a year just

470
00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:34,120
Speaker 1: in energy costs alone. Can make a lot of sense.

471
00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:36,320
Speaker 1: That's right, And you know, not only how often you

472
00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:38,399
Speaker 1: drive it, like you said, specifically where you drive, because

473
00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:40,920
Speaker 1: I will say an interesting part of the Wall Street

474
00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:43,159
Speaker 1: Jurnal article two is that they crunch the numbers if

475
00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:45,480
Speaker 1: you're driving along the highway where you you know you

476
00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:49,080
Speaker 1: would be more dependent on charge stations. Because if that's

477
00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:50,920
Speaker 1: the case, if that's the kind of driving you do,

478
00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:53,680
Speaker 1: the savings actually disappears, and it's actually a little bit

479
00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:57,200
Speaker 1: more expensive to go with an electric vehicle on the highway.

480
00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:00,560
Speaker 1: But the thing is we tend to overst like how

481
00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:02,920
Speaker 1: often that we're going on these road trips. We think, oh,

482
00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:04,199
Speaker 1: what am I gonna do when I have to go

483
00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:06,960
Speaker 1: visit my in laws over Christmas? That's gonna cost us

484
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:09,399
Speaker 1: a lot more. But I mean, come on, how often

485
00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:12,080
Speaker 1: do you do that? That's an annual trip that happens

486
00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:14,520
Speaker 1: we know once, and so if you are paying maybe

487
00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:16,960
Speaker 1: a little bit more once or twice or even a

488
00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:19,479
Speaker 1: few times a year, that doesn't quite balance out with

489
00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:22,880
Speaker 1: the daily savings that you would have from your daily commutant,

490
00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:25,280
Speaker 1: So that's something to keep in mind as well. Joel.

491
00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:28,080
Speaker 1: Let's talk about hospital prices just in general, because they

492
00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:31,680
Speaker 1: continue to be a topic of great consternation in our country.

493
00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:34,480
Speaker 1: But the problem is that your bill, it may be

494
00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:39,400
Speaker 1: completely arbitrary. Oftentimes, not only are the prices incredibly high,

495
00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:42,800
Speaker 1: but they're kind of made up. Yeah, and again, the

496
00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:45,480
Speaker 1: General they did a deep dive on that very topic recently,

497
00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:48,760
Speaker 1: and it's something we've covered on the show before because sadly,

498
00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:52,359
Speaker 1: medical bills cause millions of Americans to file for bankruptcy

499
00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:55,800
Speaker 1: each year, and that's largely because of this opaque pricing

500
00:22:55,840 --> 00:23:00,800
Speaker 1: and billing system that is almost impossible for even incredibly smart,

501
00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:03,960
Speaker 1: brilliant folks to understand. In a recent article in The

502
00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:06,120
Speaker 1: l A Times, they drove this home as well, because

503
00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:08,920
Speaker 1: they documented how this hospital charged more than eight hundred

504
00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:12,000
Speaker 1: bucks for a boot for a broken foot, when that

505
00:23:12,119 --> 00:23:15,719
Speaker 1: exact same boot cost eighty dollars on Amazon. So this

506
00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:17,639
Speaker 1: is an instance where we have to kind of look

507
00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:20,520
Speaker 1: at the facts. Things are getting a bit absurd, Yes,

508
00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:22,840
Speaker 1: yes they are. And you know it's not that we

509
00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:25,680
Speaker 1: don't want you to pay for medical care that you've received.

510
00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:27,880
Speaker 1: It's just that you want to make sure that you're

511
00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:30,720
Speaker 1: getting the absolute best price that you can, because obviously

512
00:23:30,840 --> 00:23:34,400
Speaker 1: eighty bucks sounds better than and so, yeah, if there's

513
00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:37,919
Speaker 1: anything we learned in our recent conversation with Marshall Allen,

514
00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:40,000
Speaker 1: it's that you never pay the first bill. And that

515
00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:43,320
Speaker 1: was actually the title of his book bat And so, yeah,

516
00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:45,760
Speaker 1: it pays to be paid at least learned that lesson. Yes,

517
00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:49,560
Speaker 1: I read at least the front of the cover, and

518
00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:51,960
Speaker 1: and yeah, thank you Marshall for that. But it takes

519
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:55,040
Speaker 1: time for hospitals and insurance companies to sort things out.

520
00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:57,280
Speaker 1: There's a lot of ping pongy back and forth before

521
00:23:57,280 --> 00:23:59,920
Speaker 1: the final price is agreed on, and so it takes

522
00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:02,320
Speaker 1: a minute for you to get the actual bill in

523
00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:04,280
Speaker 1: your hands. And if you pay the bill too soon

524
00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:06,920
Speaker 1: because you just like to take care of things, knock

525
00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:09,359
Speaker 1: out your bills quickly, there's a good chance you're over paying,

526
00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:12,040
Speaker 1: that's right. Yeah, So it pays to be patient, and

527
00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:13,800
Speaker 1: there's a pun in there for folks as well, I

528
00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:16,239
Speaker 1: guess uh. And also beyond that, you know, just just

529
00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:19,440
Speaker 1: beyond waiting around, it pays to be proactive as well.

530
00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:21,600
Speaker 1: Those are like two opposites, but I like it patient

531
00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:23,760
Speaker 1: and pro active. Where you going come on? Well, you know,

532
00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:25,720
Speaker 1: when you get your bill, you want to look over

533
00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:27,679
Speaker 1: and you want to make sure that the services that

534
00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:30,240
Speaker 1: you've received that they match up to what is listed

535
00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:32,280
Speaker 1: out on the bill. Uh. And so if you're having

536
00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:35,359
Speaker 1: a just a tough time understanding what they're even charging

537
00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:37,680
Speaker 1: you for, you want to make sure to ask for

538
00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:41,000
Speaker 1: an itemized bill. Every line item should ring a bell

539
00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:43,720
Speaker 1: as you read over it, and if it doesn't, then

540
00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:45,680
Speaker 1: it's definitely gonna be time to call the hospital and

541
00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:47,640
Speaker 1: we charge you for that once we once we knocked

542
00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:49,560
Speaker 1: you out actually for a couple of hours. I'm sure

543
00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:51,199
Speaker 1: I was conscious the entire time, and we did all

544
00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:54,320
Speaker 1: those services. Yeah, and so whatever the number that's listed

545
00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:55,760
Speaker 1: out on the bill, it's a good place to start.

546
00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:58,480
Speaker 1: Since this is what they're doing all day. They're just

547
00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:01,200
Speaker 1: talking to people who have questions about their bill. They

548
00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:03,040
Speaker 1: know how the hospital charges, they know the ends and

549
00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:04,959
Speaker 1: the outs, and they should be able to walk you

550
00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:07,439
Speaker 1: through your bill so that you're comfortable and you know

551
00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:09,320
Speaker 1: what's what's going on. And also while you have them

552
00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:10,960
Speaker 1: on the phone, this is also a great time to

553
00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:14,520
Speaker 1: see if there is any assistance that you're eligible for. UM. Again,

554
00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:17,600
Speaker 1: you're not trying to get out of paying altogether, but hey,

555
00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:20,280
Speaker 1: if there's a discount available, we want you to jump

556
00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:21,639
Speaker 1: on it. First of all, make sure that you are

557
00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:24,080
Speaker 1: paying the right amounts. But then beyond making sure that

558
00:25:24,119 --> 00:25:25,720
Speaker 1: you have an accurate bill, let's see if you can

559
00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:28,000
Speaker 1: find a way to get that down even more. Yeah,

560
00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:30,520
Speaker 1: and sometimes, Matt, we've talked about this before. There are

561
00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:34,600
Speaker 1: specific rules for financial aid eligibility. There are. It's on

562
00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:36,800
Speaker 1: the hospital's website. All you gotta do is find it,

563
00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:38,639
Speaker 1: Google it, get that, get to that page on the

564
00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:41,119
Speaker 1: hospital website, and they will, in plain English, tell you

565
00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:44,119
Speaker 1: exactly what it takes to qualify for either partial or

566
00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:47,280
Speaker 1: full forgiveness of the medical debt that you've incurred. It

567
00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:49,520
Speaker 1: depends on your income so much of the time whether

568
00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:52,520
Speaker 1: you're eligible or not. But you can proactively look for

569
00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:54,600
Speaker 1: that if it might qualify. Yeah, and if you haven't

570
00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:57,360
Speaker 1: listened to that episode with Marshall Allan, it's episode four

571
00:25:57,359 --> 00:25:59,560
Speaker 1: oh nine, we would say give it a listen. Uh,

572
00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:01,480
Speaker 1: you know, I wish it weren't this heart. I wish

573
00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:04,520
Speaker 1: it were a little bit easier, but he gave so

574
00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:07,040
Speaker 1: much good advice for fighting back and winning if you

575
00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:10,280
Speaker 1: do find yourself in the possession of an outrageous medical bill.

576
00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:13,320
Speaker 1: I just love his approach and it's just so helpful

577
00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:16,520
Speaker 1: as as you walk people through something that really like

578
00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:17,960
Speaker 1: I hate that we need to know this, but we

579
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:20,399
Speaker 1: need to know it, and so he just attacks it

580
00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:24,280
Speaker 1: with just such a like an old school journalists uh mentality. Well,

581
00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:25,639
Speaker 1: he's like, I'm gonna get to the bottom of this

582
00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:27,880
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna help you. Yes, And he really did.

583
00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:29,960
Speaker 1: And it's a really helpful book. Speaking of which, we're

584
00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:32,359
Speaker 1: doing the book giveaway Manna, and this is one of

585
00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:35,639
Speaker 1: those books included in that raid our bookshelf giveaway, and

586
00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:38,160
Speaker 1: so yeah, make sure to leave that review on Apple

587
00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:41,560
Speaker 1: podcast and enter in. Send us uh send us a

588
00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:44,080
Speaker 1: screenshot at how to Money pot at gmail dot com.

589
00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:46,080
Speaker 1: We're gonna give away a bunch of books to a

590
00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:48,679
Speaker 1: few listeners and so make sure you get entered in.

591
00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:51,919
Speaker 1: That's right. So we hope that you enjoy this wonderful

592
00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:54,840
Speaker 1: holiday weekend, hopefully with folks that you love, whether that

593
00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:57,960
Speaker 1: involves watching some football, eating some pecan pie. Those leftovers

594
00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:00,000
Speaker 1: are the best, they always you know, they just get

595
00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:03,120
Speaker 1: better until maybe like the sixth or seventh time you'd

596
00:27:03,119 --> 00:27:06,360
Speaker 1: like nuke. The turkey drives a bone. At that point,

597
00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:09,119
Speaker 1: I don't know if you can redeem it, but we

598
00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:12,800
Speaker 1: appreciate you listening and Joel until next time, Best friends Out,

599
00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:13,920
Speaker 1: Best Friends Out,