Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I'm Matt,
Speaker 1: and today we're answering your listener questions. Joel, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm canceling listener questions? What no Christmas is canceled?
Speaker 1: Listener questions are canceled like the Grinch who stole listener questions.
Speaker 1: I am kidding me, and I'm excited that we we
Speaker 1: do have listener questions. We have a question regarding where
Speaker 1: to save and invest if you're a minor, so if
Speaker 1: you're under eighteen years old, where should you save and
Speaker 1: invest your money? Turn up the volume, twelve and thirteen
Speaker 1: year olds, get ready. We're also going to address the
Speaker 1: security of from the different budgeting apps law that you've
Speaker 1: heard of, like mint, why NAB as well, yes, should
Speaker 1: you be scared to use those apps? As well as
Speaker 1: some considerations when financing a used car. And that's not
Speaker 1: something we have answered before. So all these questions I
Speaker 1: am excited to tackle with you today. Man, let's do
Speaker 1: a buddy, all right. But before we get to the
Speaker 1: listener questions, I wanted to let you know I read
Speaker 1: an article about some economists created a report on how
Speaker 1: much of an emergency fund you should have as like
Speaker 1: a baseline. So I thought it was interesting because we've
Speaker 1: done episodes before about creating an emergency fund. They are
Speaker 1: incredibly important, very necessary, right, I have that margin in
Speaker 1: your life, But how much should you have? And and
Speaker 1: there's always three months or six months, and there's a
Speaker 1: lot of debate, right, But these economists kind of ran
Speaker 1: a bunch of numbers and decided that there was a
Speaker 1: baseline amount that people should strive for, and that they
Speaker 1: should eventually strive to have more than this. They should
Speaker 1: strive for that three or six month level. But they
Speaker 1: came up with a really specific numbers. I thought it
Speaker 1: was kind of interesting. Two thousand, four hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: seven dollars is the specific amount one should aim for
Speaker 1: when at least trying to kind of cover those baseline emergencies.
Speaker 1: What do you think about that number? Yeah, what I
Speaker 1: love about it is that it is a set dollar amount, right,
Speaker 1: And that part of what they were saying in the
Speaker 1: report is that three to six months, even though yes,
Speaker 1: like that is sound financial advice, that's what we've said before.
Speaker 1: Three to six months, However, it causes you to do math,
Speaker 1: and folks don't like doing math, right, You have to
Speaker 1: actually calculate how much that is, like how much with
Speaker 1: folks by the way, I don't like to myself. It
Speaker 1: causes you to have to actually figure out the cost
Speaker 1: of living for yourself, right for a month, then you've
Speaker 1: got to multiply that by I don't know, three, maybe six.
Speaker 1: But but it's a it's sort of a moving target, right,
Speaker 1: And that's one of the things they discussed how having
Speaker 1: a set dollar amount, how that's actually better because three
Speaker 1: or six months it can just seem like this overwhelming
Speaker 1: sort of goal for you to kind of pursue. Versus
Speaker 1: a very specific dollar amounts. It's very achievable and it's
Speaker 1: something that most people can do. And they were saying
Speaker 1: that every single dollar that leads up to that two thousand,
Speaker 1: four or sixty seven dollars had a dramatic impact on
Speaker 1: how that affected people financially, but every dollar above that,
Speaker 1: certainly it helped, but it certainly had a diminished benefit
Speaker 1: for any amount say above that. Yeah, yeah, it's interesting
Speaker 1: that that there's this number that one can aim for
Speaker 1: that puts you, at least, you know, not in the
Speaker 1: position to handle any emergency, but in the position to
Speaker 1: handle most emergencies. I would say, I think sometimes even
Speaker 1: when we think about an emergency fund, maybe we've fread
Speaker 1: over it a little too much, because when you think
Speaker 1: about it logically, what are the biggest emergencies that are
Speaker 1: likely to happen? If you own a home, there are
Speaker 1: some more that you might have, or or you own
Speaker 1: a car, there are more that you might have than
Speaker 1: than someone who's renting or someone who who doesn't own
Speaker 1: a car. Oh, I like that, don't own a car.
Speaker 1: You don't have to worry about speeding tickets. You don't
Speaker 1: have to worry about seeding tickets. You don't have to
Speaker 1: worry about transmissions going bad. You gotta worry about, you know,
Speaker 1: replacing a flat on your bike or whatever. But yeah,
Speaker 1: so depending on kind of what your lifestyle is, that
Speaker 1: that should influence how big your emergency fund is. But
Speaker 1: knowing that this is kind of a good baseline number
Speaker 1: to shoot for, that this will be able to carry
Speaker 1: you through you know, most emergencies in your life, and
Speaker 1: and you don't have to sweat it, and you don't
Speaker 1: have to put it on a credit card or ask
Speaker 1: a relative to to borrow some funds. This is just
Speaker 1: a nice kind of solid number to have as a
Speaker 1: baseline for any fund. So yeah, I thought it was
Speaker 1: an interesting report and kind of nice to give people
Speaker 1: a specific benchmark, right, as opposed to kind of that
Speaker 1: more nebulous three to six months of your budget, right
Speaker 1: if your monthly budget in savings instead of having to
Speaker 1: set aside all that money, you know what, at least
Speaker 1: give people something to shoot for that feels a little
Speaker 1: more within grasp. And you know what, we can even
Speaker 1: just round up. It's twenty four, what is it seven?
Speaker 1: Let's just say, you know, like that's a nice round number,
Speaker 1: just a little bit higher than the reported amount. But
Speaker 1: bottom line, what I love about it is it's sort
Speaker 1: of the psychological trick and if that's what it takes
Speaker 1: to get people to actually set that money aside versus
Speaker 1: them seeing six months of living expenses, like I'm I'm
Speaker 1: never gonna be able to do that, right, I'm a
Speaker 1: big fan of the different psychological tricks that might allow
Speaker 1: people who otherwise wouldn't set this money aside to actually
Speaker 1: start doing it. Completely agree, All right, another, let's talk
Speaker 1: about psychological tricks for a second, Matt. Another psychological trick
Speaker 1: we do on the show is drink a beer every
Speaker 1: week so that other people out there will drink beer
Speaker 1: more often. Good beer, right, good beer. Yeah, we're not
Speaker 1: about quantity over quality, quite the opposite. Right, always quality, right,
Speaker 1: I'll always quality first. So today on the show, we're
Speaker 1: drinking a beer called Chance I p a by Wildly
Speaker 1: Brewing Company. They're about an hour and a half south
Speaker 1: of where we are, and they've turning out some great beers. Man,
Speaker 1: So and you you pick this one up for us
Speaker 1: to drink on the show today, So thank you, my friend. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: happy to And this is for me. This is one
Speaker 1: of my kind of go to favorite beers that I
Speaker 1: like just keeping in the fridge to be able to
Speaker 1: drink without having a special occasion to celebrate necessarily. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: we'll let folks know what we think of this beer
Speaker 1: at the end of the episode. But all right, Matt,
Speaker 1: Now it's on to the subject at hand. We're taking
Speaker 1: listener questions on the show today, and if anybody out
Speaker 1: there listening has a question they want to submit to
Speaker 1: be on the show, it's super easy. All you gotta
Speaker 1: do is go to how to money dot com slash
Speaker 1: ask and there are simple instructions there for you to
Speaker 1: be able to submit your question. Let's go ahead and
Speaker 1: take our first one. Now, Hey, Chel and Matte, this
Speaker 1: is Lauren from Ohio. I had a question about credit cards.
Speaker 1: So I've been on my financial journey and really researching
Speaker 1: all of the best credit cards and I'm really excited
Speaker 1: because I know which ones I want to open and
Speaker 1: how to maximize cash back, rewards and travel awards. Super
Speaker 1: excited to get started. The problem is, I have an
Speaker 1: old credit card that I've had for about ten years,
Speaker 1: recently high a pr but I was able to negotiate
Speaker 1: that down not carrying a balance. But I just realized
Speaker 1: that the card has an annual membership beat. There really
Speaker 1: aren't any rewards or any special perks that I could
Speaker 1: be getting from this card, and I'm just wondering, like,
Speaker 1: despite the day on my credit, should I just go
Speaker 1: ahead and close it versus sucking it up and spending
Speaker 1: the forty bucks figure. Lauren, thanks so much for the question,
Speaker 1: and congrats on getting a credit card or multiple credit
Speaker 1: cards that will work better for you. Anytime you can
Speaker 1: use your credit card like a tool to actually work
Speaker 1: for you, that's what we'd like to see. So let's
Speaker 1: go ahead and first answer the question why someone might
Speaker 1: want to close a credit card altogether. And a really
Speaker 1: good reason to close a credit card is if you
Speaker 1: are tempted to overspend on that card, but for you
Speaker 1: doesn't sound like what's going on since you are looking
Speaker 1: to maximize your credit card benefits. And so that kind
Speaker 1: of gets us to the only other reason that you
Speaker 1: might want to close a card, and that's if you're
Speaker 1: paying an annual fee where you're not receiving any additional
Speaker 1: benefits or perks like you mentioned. Yeah, and Lauren, when
Speaker 1: you're talking about closing this card, well, your history with
Speaker 1: that credit card, it'll still stick around, It'll still be
Speaker 1: in your credit mix. You've built up some nice history
Speaker 1: over these ten years with that card, but you're not
Speaker 1: losing it all by closing the card. The card just
Speaker 1: doesn't continue to age in your credit mix, so it's
Speaker 1: not going to continue to boost your score over the years,
Speaker 1: but it will still sit there and reflect nicely in
Speaker 1: your credit mix, So it's not going to be as
Speaker 1: large of a ding to your score as you think.
Speaker 1: And for someone who's handling their cards, well, like Matt said,
Speaker 1: closing a credit card for reasons of ditching an annual fee.
Speaker 1: I think it's a worthwhile reason to actually close a
Speaker 1: credit card, right because if you're not using it, if
Speaker 1: you're looking to find credit cards that work for your
Speaker 1: spending style a little bit better that maximize your rewards. Well,
Speaker 1: ditching a ard with an annual fee that just isn't
Speaker 1: working for how you spend your money, that isn't helping
Speaker 1: you maximize those rewards, that's a really good reason to
Speaker 1: close it, even with that minor ding you're going to
Speaker 1: receive to your credit score. And so Lauren, in regards
Speaker 1: to your credit report or credit score, even though it's
Speaker 1: sort of that bad history does roll off in either
Speaker 1: like seven to ten years, you know that that good
Speaker 1: history has the potential to stay on your credit report indefinitely.
Speaker 1: Man I actually check my credit report a few days
Speaker 1: ago at annual credit report dot com, which is the
Speaker 1: only website that you should be going to to get
Speaker 1: your free credit report, and Man, I had a card
Speaker 1: from two thousand and four that I had on time
Speaker 1: payments with that I had closed a long time ago
Speaker 1: that was still sitting there on my report. So that
Speaker 1: positive history, those on time payments and the benefit that
Speaker 1: that card provided, it's still sitting there. It's not dropping
Speaker 1: off nice. Yeah, it's it's nice to know that even
Speaker 1: closing that line isn't going to remove that all the
Speaker 1: way from your credit score, because then that would be
Speaker 1: a much bigger decision, right if you had to take
Speaker 1: those ten years of good payment history and completely remove
Speaker 1: them from your report, that would have a much different effect.
Speaker 1: But that's not what happens, which is good. Another thing
Speaker 1: that you can do, and Matt, I've done this before
Speaker 1: and it's worked. You can ask your credit card issue
Speaker 1: if they will waive the annual fee on that card.
Speaker 1: So I have the Southwest card, Matt, there was a
Speaker 1: great sign up bonus. I've got enough points now because
Speaker 1: of that to to take like a four or five
Speaker 1: round trip flights depending on where the world around the world. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be an epic trip now, but probably just
Speaker 1: you know, some little domestic flights here and there. But
Speaker 1: I called and I asked if they would waive the
Speaker 1: annual fee. I still like having that card. As someone
Speaker 1: whose local airport has Southwest flying in and out a lot,
Speaker 1: I can get a lot of places on Southwest and
Speaker 1: they're a great airline with with great fares, and so
Speaker 1: that credit card is helpful, but I didn't want to
Speaker 1: pay the annual fee, and so you know what they did.
Speaker 1: They said, well, we can't wave it all together, but
Speaker 1: what we can do is offer you a statement credit
Speaker 1: in the same amount as the annual fee. And so
Speaker 1: I was like, well, that's like they waved it to me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's the exact same thing basically. So you can call
Speaker 1: your issuer and see if they'll waive the annual fee,
Speaker 1: and if they're willing to do that, well then it
Speaker 1: might make sense to to hold onto the card at
Speaker 1: least for a year or so until you kind of
Speaker 1: have to have that discussion with them again. But if
Speaker 1: they're not up for it, then ultimately, really it's not
Speaker 1: gonna have that much of a negative impact by just
Speaker 1: closing it. Yeah, so, Lauren, in the end, you want
Speaker 1: to be using credit cards, like likely maybe three to
Speaker 1: four of them in ways that do maximize rewards like
Speaker 1: you're planning to do, but just make sure that you
Speaker 1: are paying in full and that you are not carrying
Speaker 1: a balance, otherwise any of those potential benefits that you
Speaker 1: could be receiving will quickly erode. And you can see
Speaker 1: our favorite credit cards over on our website at how
Speaker 1: do money dot com slash credit cards. If you were
Speaker 1: to sign up for a card through that link, it
Speaker 1: actually supports the show, So we would appreciate if you
Speaker 1: consider doing that. Yeah, and ultimately, Lauren, congrats on finding
Speaker 1: cards that work best for how you spend. And that's
Speaker 1: what our article was about. That's what we want people
Speaker 1: to do if they are going to use credit cards, well,
Speaker 1: use them as a tool, pay them off in full
Speaker 1: at the end of every month. Well, we want you
Speaker 1: to find the credit cards that offer you the best
Speaker 1: rewards for how you spend. And I mean that's really important, right,
Speaker 1: That's an important piece in our financial tool belt, is
Speaker 1: using credit cards. Well, and actually, Matt soon on an
Speaker 1: upcoming show, we're going to talk about how we spend cash,
Speaker 1: credit and debit, and there are other benefits of credit
Speaker 1: cards besides just even those upfront rewards that we're going
Speaker 1: to cover two. So yeah, we'll get to that, I
Speaker 1: think in a couple of weeks. But at last, we
Speaker 1: have more listener questions to take. In a particular we're
Speaker 1: gonna get to that question about the security of budgeting
Speaker 1: apps right after the break. All right, Joel, we are
Speaker 1: back from the break taking listener questions, and we've got
Speaker 1: one here from potentially our youngest listener. Let's hear it, Hey,
Speaker 1: Matt and Joel. I'm Enrique from West Pond Beach, Florida.
Speaker 1: I'm currently a junior in high school and I'm working
Speaker 1: my first part time job delivering pieces. This makes me
Speaker 1: about two and fifty dollars a month. As I'm only
Speaker 1: working on weekends and I'm dedicating most of time towards schoolwork.
Speaker 1: I don't really have many expenses, so my current priority
Speaker 1: is to start saving and investing. I've already gotten started
Speaker 1: through my mom's robin Hood account, which I linked to
Speaker 1: my bank account, and I've invested in one share of
Speaker 1: vt I. But I'm not sure if i'd be better
Speaker 1: off asking for help opening a Vanguard account, and how
Speaker 1: that would work with me being a minor. Would it
Speaker 1: be under my name or would it have to be
Speaker 1: transferred to me when I turned eighteen? What do you
Speaker 1: guys think would be my best bet? And are there
Speaker 1: any options? I'm not considering anything I maybe don't know about.
Speaker 1: At any rate, I have most of my money in
Speaker 1: ordinary savings account, which has no fees. Really but a
Speaker 1: really low interest rate of point zero one. I'd love
Speaker 1: to hear what you guys have to say, as my
Speaker 1: options are probably pretty limited because I'm under eighteen. I
Speaker 1: love the podcast. Keep up the great work, and thanks
Speaker 1: for being so informative and entertaining on all my drives.
Speaker 1: Oh man, I love hearing questions like that from young
Speaker 1: folks that are being super intentional with their money, that
Speaker 1: want to get started investing and saving well early, because Matt,
Speaker 1: you and I both know that the time value of
Speaker 1: money is so important, and and someone who's in Rique's
Speaker 1: age beginning to prioritize saving and investing now is going
Speaker 1: to have these massive cumulative effects because of the power
Speaker 1: of compounding returns. It's it's just so so big. If
Speaker 1: you can get started saving at this young of an age.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Enrique, if you haven't played with compound interest
Speaker 1: calculators yet, just going there and enter your age to
Speaker 1: fifty right, and have a set amount of contributions every year,
Speaker 1: set the interest rate to seven eight percent, and then
Speaker 1: compared that too. If you didn't start saving until maybe
Speaker 1: you're twenty five, which is on the early side for
Speaker 1: most still early for mons out of college, getting their
Speaker 1: first job, they're paying down student loans. A lot of
Speaker 1: folks aren't putting money towards retirement. But Enrique, compare your
Speaker 1: number to the other number when you started saving when
Speaker 1: you're twenty five years old, and have that end date
Speaker 1: at fifty, and you will see a drastic difference in
Speaker 1: the total amount of money that's gonna be able to
Speaker 1: be saved for retirement. Yeah, even just a hundred bucks here,
Speaker 1: hundred bucks there, whatever you can stomach based on your
Speaker 1: part time job, that's huge. So I gotta say it's
Speaker 1: inspiring too. I love that you're focused on your school work,
Speaker 1: but you also have a part time job bile in
Speaker 1: high school. For me, working while I was in school,
Speaker 1: I taught me so much. I feel like, if I
Speaker 1: had to do it over, the sixteen year old me
Speaker 1: would have probably preferred not to work. I probably thought
Speaker 1: it was lame, but ultimately it just wanted to play
Speaker 1: NBA jam exactly. He's on fire. I totally would have
Speaker 1: just been content to play video games. But it taught
Speaker 1: me a lot. It taught me a lot about relating
Speaker 1: to you know, folks that were in charge of me,
Speaker 1: that were older than me, And it's so much different
Speaker 1: than how you relate to a teacher, and as a
Speaker 1: sixteen year old, it's so important to learn. So that's
Speaker 1: really valuable work experience. Not just the income that you're
Speaker 1: making now that you can actually used to save and invest,
Speaker 1: but this work experience that you're that you're gaining while
Speaker 1: you're in high school is huge, and it's gonna help
Speaker 1: you on future job interviews. It's gonna help you on
Speaker 1: the work history you're gonna be able to put on
Speaker 1: your resume. Also, by the way, I'm really interested in
Speaker 1: in what got you interested in saving and investing at
Speaker 1: such a young age. So shoot us an email or
Speaker 1: post in the Facebook group and let us know kind
Speaker 1: of what the if this was for you to actually
Speaker 1: start thinking about this and focusing on your financial future,
Speaker 1: your retirement age self at such an early age. Man,
Speaker 1: that's such a rare quality in someone your age, So
Speaker 1: I'm intrigued, all right, Enrique, Let's go ahead and get
Speaker 1: to it. Though, you mentioned saving and how you have
Speaker 1: your money in an account that is earning you point
Speaker 1: zero one percent, and yeah, it's true that that is
Speaker 1: basically nothing right now. So you want to open a
Speaker 1: new savings account and avoid those big banks and those
Speaker 1: are the ones that are typically paying those really meager
Speaker 1: interest rates. Find a new bank that prioritizes paying a
Speaker 1: decent interest rate. Currently that's somewhere in the two percent range, which,
Speaker 1: by the way, that is more than you are currently
Speaker 1: getting right now. But like you mentioned, the options are
Speaker 1: going to be scarce if you are under eighteen years old,
Speaker 1: So you want to ask your mom you mentioned her
Speaker 1: for help to get you started there. She can open
Speaker 1: a custodial savings account. That just means the account is
Speaker 1: in your name, it's your money, but she is the
Speaker 1: one that actually manages that account. You don't really have
Speaker 1: access to that money without her being one that kind
Speaker 1: of logs in, moves the money around, that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: Then once you actually turn eighteen years old, it's yours.
Speaker 1: You're the one who is then in charge of managing
Speaker 1: that account. Yeah, you can also check out Capital One
Speaker 1: has a kid saving these account which has no fees
Speaker 1: and no minimums and they pay one percent, which which
Speaker 1: isn't quite as good as you know the top banks
Speaker 1: on the market, but it's still a good product. The
Speaker 1: cool thing about the Capital one Kids Savings account though,
Speaker 1: the way it differs from a custodial account. It's a
Speaker 1: joint account, so you'll actually have more access to the
Speaker 1: funds and more access uh to online and app based
Speaker 1: banking by signing up for that account instead. Yeah. And also,
Speaker 1: I think one other banking note that we should discuss
Speaker 1: is that there are local credit unions and local banks
Speaker 1: that offer just really really killer rates on savings for
Speaker 1: young folks to to kind of entice them to put
Speaker 1: their money with that bank or credit union. I saw
Speaker 1: a billboard mat just this weekend for a local credit
Speaker 1: union paying five boom on cash savings for kids. And
Speaker 1: also they were offering fifty sign up bonus, so that's
Speaker 1: double boom dude. Yeah, the fifty bucks is huge. I
Speaker 1: mean it's huge for me. I want fifty bucks, right,
Speaker 1: I know, right, I'm thinking about, you know, faking an
Speaker 1: I d to to act younger so I can go
Speaker 1: get that bonus, right, But I mean, especially for a
Speaker 1: teenage part time worker, fifty bucks, man, I'd be all
Speaker 1: about that. Yeah. Typically with a rate that good, you're
Speaker 1: only earning that five percent on cash that you have
Speaker 1: saved with the institution up to five hundred or a
Speaker 1: thousand or fift nd bucks something like that there's a
Speaker 1: low limit where you're actually earning the highest rates of interest.
Speaker 1: But it's a great place to start. And so yeah, Enrique,
Speaker 1: if you see a billboard or if you do some
Speaker 1: online searching for a local credit union that might offer
Speaker 1: just some incredible deals for young savers, that's a great
Speaker 1: place to start. And honestly, it's not a bad idea
Speaker 1: to form a relationship with a local credit union early
Speaker 1: on in your life too. Local credit unions mayn there
Speaker 1: are always coming to the rescue, you know it. And
Speaker 1: then you mentioned investing as well, Enrique. You know, when
Speaker 1: it comes to actual investing, you mentioned van Guard, which
Speaker 1: is a great company. But for you, man, we would
Speaker 1: love Fidelity and Charles Schwab to be on your radar
Speaker 1: for actual custodial accounts and that's because of lower minimum
Speaker 1: requirements and in the case of Fidelity, you'll have access
Speaker 1: to their zero fee funds. But before you invest more
Speaker 1: money into the market, we want you to also consider
Speaker 1: what you're actually saving and investing for. Right. If you're
Speaker 1: looking at maybe a more long term goal like actual retirement,
Speaker 1: then you do want to invest that money in the market,
Speaker 1: right because you are in it for the long haul.
Speaker 1: But if you are saving and you're thinking about investing
Speaker 1: for maybe more shorter term goals like college, or maybe
Speaker 1: you're saving up for a new vehicle or something like that,
Speaker 1: like those are gonna be instances where you probably do
Speaker 1: want to have your money liquid and accessible in a
Speaker 1: high interest earning savings account and not have your money
Speaker 1: locked up in the markets in a roth ira. A. Yeah, Ultimately,
Speaker 1: that roth Ira is an awesome vehicle if you are
Speaker 1: really looking at keeping it in there for a minimum
Speaker 1: of ten years, and then that's definitely the place you
Speaker 1: should be stashing that money. And ultimately, like Matt said
Speaker 1: at the very beginning of answering this question, you're going
Speaker 1: to see you just amazing returns over the next decades.
Speaker 1: Now is the perfect time for you to begin. But
Speaker 1: if you need that money in the more near term,
Speaker 1: you don't want to put it in the market because
Speaker 1: you could experience a sudden drop and you'd have access
Speaker 1: to less money than you put in And that's no fun.
Speaker 1: That's the opposite of what you'd like. That's not good.
Speaker 1: But I love thinking long term, and Enrique, you know,
Speaker 1: set up an account with a bank or credit union
Speaker 1: that's going to pay you a better rate of interest,
Speaker 1: to start investing with a company like Fidelity or Charles
Speaker 1: Swab in one of these custodio accounts. Again, you'll need
Speaker 1: your mom's help to set one of those up. But man,
Speaker 1: you're on your way. Then you're totally on your way
Speaker 1: to a sound financial future. And Man, if you keep
Speaker 1: making decisions like this through your high school and college years,
Speaker 1: I'll be super excited to hear back from you a
Speaker 1: decade or two down the road to kind of hear
Speaker 1: where things are, because you're starting strong and we can
Speaker 1: promise that future. Enrique, Well, thank you, all right, Matt
Speaker 1: Let's get to that next question. Hey, guys, this is
Speaker 1: a droop from Missouri. I've got a two part question
Speaker 1: for you regarding budgeting. I recently got arried, and even
Speaker 1: though my wife and I share many similarities, we do
Speaker 1: have a few differences. One of them is that I
Speaker 1: love to budget with spreadsheets and she could care less. However,
Speaker 1: she's on board with trying to follow them on the
Speaker 1: budget as long as it's simple. I, on the other hand,
Speaker 1: really enjoy looking at the nitty gritty details of our
Speaker 1: spending habits. The first part of my question is is
Speaker 1: there a budget app that would provide my wife with
Speaker 1: a simple way to look at how much we've spent
Speaker 1: this much and how much of our budget we have
Speaker 1: left to spend, but also provide a way for me
Speaker 1: to look more closely at the details of our budget.
Speaker 1: My second question is I'm intrigued about some of the
Speaker 1: budgeting apps out there, like mint and y N a
Speaker 1: B that do your work for you. However, I'm a
Speaker 1: bit larry of turning my bank account information over to
Speaker 1: a third party. Can you all comment about these apps
Speaker 1: and their safety? Should I be concerned or is this
Speaker 1: just me worrying for nothing? Thanks for your help, guys.
Speaker 1: I love listening to the podcast during my commute and
Speaker 1: makes time go by super fast and always leaves me
Speaker 1: with ideas for what I ought to do about our finances.
Speaker 1: Hey Drew, congrats on getting married and man, you know
Speaker 1: those differences that you mentioned, they can actually be really helpful.
Speaker 1: Hopefully you'll find that your relationship can help kind of
Speaker 1: bring some balance maybe to how you and your wife
Speaker 1: view money, how you kind of view savings, and especially
Speaker 1: how you view spending money. Yeah, they say opposites attract,
Speaker 1: and I don't know that Emily and I are opposites necessarily,
Speaker 1: but our differences are really really helpful because the things
Speaker 1: that I'm terrible at or just don't want to do
Speaker 1: I'm not interested in, she does pretty well or is
Speaker 1: interested into some degree, and so we can kind of
Speaker 1: pick each other up and in ways that if we
Speaker 1: were the same we wouldn't be able to do. So.
Speaker 1: I think those differences in the marriage are just quite helpful.
Speaker 1: And actually I think you're gonna find that maybe drew
Speaker 1: your more into the apps and the budgeting and looking
Speaker 1: at those things, and maybe your wife is better in
Speaker 1: other ways that maybe helping you dream big about the
Speaker 1: future and see what the possibilities are. Who knows, like
Speaker 1: how you guys are gonna be able to help each
Speaker 1: other out. But I think those differences are actually really
Speaker 1: important and ultimately really helpful. I think you'll find that
Speaker 1: the more the longer you're you're married. Nice. Yeah. One
Speaker 1: of the reasons I mentioned how I felt like it
Speaker 1: would help, especially when it comes to spending, is because
Speaker 1: for me, me and Kate, like that's the biggest difference
Speaker 1: in how we kind of viewed money when we first
Speaker 1: came to our relationship together because I was a cheap
Speaker 1: tight wad and I had maybe like five shirts, a
Speaker 1: hoodie and a motorcycle like that. That that is it.
Speaker 1: And you know, she helped me to learn how to prioritize,
Speaker 1: like what it is I actually care about and spend
Speaker 1: that money, and to not be a total cheap skate man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: not be a miser. Yeah, that's kind of kind of
Speaker 1: how I was too when we first got married. Emily
Speaker 1: kind of helped me bring me out of that. So
Speaker 1: I wasn't like a recluse with the hordes of money
Speaker 1: or something like Scrooge McDuck. You know, look at us
Speaker 1: now though we're big spenders. There we go, Well, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't say that, not big spenders, but also a joke.
Speaker 1: All right, drew our our favorite apps. Let's talking about
Speaker 1: this real quick. Our mint and wine app. I think
Speaker 1: those are the best to budgeting apps out there. There
Speaker 1: are a couple others out there, but honestly, actually the
Speaker 1: selection in the budgeting apps is kind of thin. But
Speaker 1: I would give both of these to try and see
Speaker 1: which one works best for you. Mint gives a solid
Speaker 1: snapshot of where you currently are and you can see
Speaker 1: kind of how much is in your accounts currently right now,
Speaker 1: in a in a quick second. But wine apps approach
Speaker 1: is a little bit different. It's a little more proactive,
Speaker 1: and that can be really helpful, especially I think as
Speaker 1: a couple is trying to get on the same page
Speaker 1: with money, So if you're willing to spend just a
Speaker 1: little bit of money, I think wine app can be
Speaker 1: more helpful for young couples trying to figure things out together.
Speaker 1: So mint is free, but wine app costs about seven
Speaker 1: bucks a month. You can get a free thirty four
Speaker 1: day trial if you go to wineab dot com slash
Speaker 1: how to Money. Ultimately, I think wine app is probably
Speaker 1: what you're looking for if you're looking to set some
Speaker 1: goals and you want kind of this budgeting software to
Speaker 1: help you hone your behavior over time, and and I
Speaker 1: think Wineap both being able to log into it, both
Speaker 1: being able to to do it together, is probably going
Speaker 1: to have more of an effect on helping you guys
Speaker 1: get on this same page in regards to money than Mintwood,
Speaker 1: even though they're both solid and I think probably better
Speaker 1: for different people. Andrew, let's not forget Excel because I
Speaker 1: love all the details right that can come with spreadsheets
Speaker 1: as Matt pushes his glasses further up on his face
Speaker 1: because I do. That's one of the reasons I love Excel, man.
Speaker 1: And here's the thing. I am not an Excel whiz
Speaker 1: or numbers. You know, if you have a Mac you
Speaker 1: can kind of be in the numbers as well. I
Speaker 1: have a Mac. I work on Max all the time,
Speaker 1: but I still use Excel because all my old spreadsheets, man,
Speaker 1: they're in Excel and they go back to those PC
Speaker 1: days before I started working on a Mac. But here's
Speaker 1: the thing with Excel. I really value the flexibility to
Speaker 1: customize and to be able to change things to work
Speaker 1: the way that I want them to. It does cost
Speaker 1: me some time. It takes me maybe about an hour
Speaker 1: every single month to compile that information to kind of
Speaker 1: look at what changes I can make because I'm always
Speaker 1: looking to tweak it. For me, this allows me to
Speaker 1: see things on a very granular level, and so because
Speaker 1: of that, that makes me happy, right like. That satisfies
Speaker 1: that in me. But for Kate, she could totally care less.
Speaker 1: She doesn't care about all the details, and so she
Speaker 1: maybe is like your wife Drew, where she just kind
Speaker 1: of wants to see so an overall snapshot. She just
Speaker 1: wants to know where things are, where we are that month.
Speaker 1: So with that in mind, I know that I could
Speaker 1: create a chart of that month spending. It's pretty easy.
Speaker 1: But even still, she's not that into it. She's not
Speaker 1: gonna get on the computer pulled up it's just inconvenient.
Speaker 1: She's not gonna do it. So because of that, man,
Speaker 1: what I do is about three times a month, I
Speaker 1: make sure I've got the numbers updated and I just
Speaker 1: text her. I text her the main areas of spending
Speaker 1: that we have set every single month that she most
Speaker 1: directly impacts. Those are the numbers that she wants to
Speaker 1: be aware of when she's gonna be going out with friends. Uh.
Speaker 1: Those are the numbers so that she keeps an eye on,
Speaker 1: especially when it comes to buying groceries, because she's, you know,
Speaker 1: basically in charge of that our giving category. There's a
Speaker 1: certain amount of money that we set aside to give
Speaker 1: away every single month. She also really likes to know
Speaker 1: that amount. That way, if there's an opportunity for her
Speaker 1: to you know, buy something for somebody or to donate
Speaker 1: some money, she has that as an option. For us.
Speaker 1: We found that there are a surprisingly few number of
Speaker 1: categories that we really need to watch closely because a
Speaker 1: lot of the categories that we spend our money and
Speaker 1: are are fairly automated and they're fairly fixed. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I think really any of these pieces of software, or
Speaker 1: using using Excel, spreadsheet, using Mint, using wine app, any
Speaker 1: of them can be a great idea depending on kind
Speaker 1: of how you work together. But one word of caution
Speaker 1: I want to say is just don't think that a
Speaker 1: budgeting app is going to fix it all or magically
Speaker 1: get you guys on the same page. It really does
Speaker 1: require also just a lot of back and forth, a
Speaker 1: lot of discussion, a lot of kind of at the
Speaker 1: dinner table talking about your goals, your dreams, how you
Speaker 1: want to spend your money. Learned from some of my beats,
Speaker 1: because yeah, early in my marriage, like we just were
Speaker 1: not really good at communicating. I was bad in particular
Speaker 1: at communicating with Emily about kind of our goals and
Speaker 1: our dreams and kind of how I thought we should
Speaker 1: be spending our money and what we were kind of
Speaker 1: working towards. And so I think at times she felt
Speaker 1: like I was being cheap or I wasn't being and
Speaker 1: at times I was being cheap, and and so she
Speaker 1: felt like she couldn't spend money when she wanted to,
Speaker 1: and that was just a hard position to put her in.
Speaker 1: And so much of it came down to my act
Speaker 1: of communicating well with her and actually sending up time
Speaker 1: for us to talk about money, just expecting that she
Speaker 1: would understand how I was handling it and and assuming
Speaker 1: that she would be on board, I guess. And so, yeah,
Speaker 1: make sure that the lines of communication are open, that
Speaker 1: you're using the spreadsheet or the app as a tool
Speaker 1: to kind of help you guys monitor things, but that
Speaker 1: you're continually talking about those goals and kind of where
Speaker 1: you where you're heading towards. Yeah, Joel, I really like
Speaker 1: how you said. A lot of that takes place around
Speaker 1: the dinner table, right. A lot of these conversations and
Speaker 1: getting on the same page happens outside of the actual budget.
Speaker 1: Like the budget is the tool that allows you guys
Speaker 1: to stick to what you've agreed on. But like you said,
Speaker 1: you like that dream casting, right, Like dream forecasting and
Speaker 1: the kind of sharing your vision for for your life together.
Speaker 1: That's the kind of stuff that happens, you know, on
Speaker 1: dates or while you're on vacation. Or like while you're
Speaker 1: walking in the park, the basic kind of stuff that
Speaker 1: you share with each other as you're living your life together. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no doubt. All right, let's get onto the second part
Speaker 1: of Drew's question. He asked about security, this security of
Speaker 1: these apps, and I don't think it's silly at all
Speaker 1: to be considering the safety of these apps. I mean,
Speaker 1: with all of the hacks that have taken place in
Speaker 1: our information seemingly compromise from so many major companies, we
Speaker 1: should consider strongly the security of a certain app or
Speaker 1: service before we decide to sign up for it. Even then, though,
Speaker 1: I know that issues can pop up even when secure
Speaker 1: measures have been taken. So I guess the two big
Speaker 1: things I would say is to use complex passwords and
Speaker 1: to not use your budgeting apps on public WiFi. If
Speaker 1: you can do those two basic things, you're protecting yourself
Speaker 1: in a major way by when you're using these budgeting apps.
Speaker 1: Those are basically the two things that are in your
Speaker 1: hands that make it easier to avoid getting hacked or
Speaker 1: having someone right like see all your sensitive information. The
Speaker 1: thing is that there has been nothing to actually indicate
Speaker 1: that apps like y n app and mints have any
Speaker 1: sort of security issues that we should be concerned about.
Speaker 1: In fact, these apps actually have read only access to
Speaker 1: your information, so that even if a hack does get
Speaker 1: through the encryption and the multi factor authentication, they can
Speaker 1: actually move your money right Like they can look but
Speaker 1: they can't touch. They see the snapshot and they're like, Oh,
Speaker 1: this dude's rich, but I got no access. Oh man,
Speaker 1: this guy is really smart with where he goes out
Speaker 1: to eat. But he's his his his entertainment. But it
Speaker 1: is so low. How does he do it? That's half
Speaker 1: off Wing Night and wind Ad has a great ride
Speaker 1: up on their security measures that they take to keep
Speaker 1: your information safe. We'll link to that in our show notes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: always good to kind of see that. And wine app
Speaker 1: takes it so seriously. I'd love to see that their
Speaker 1: ride up is so thorough and man, I've got full
Speaker 1: confidence in using these apps just like anything. I mean,
Speaker 1: who could have predicted that equivax right was gonna get
Speaker 1: breached and they're a major company. You would think if
Speaker 1: anybody has their stuff together and isn't going to release
Speaker 1: a hundred and fifty the personal information of a hundred
Speaker 1: fifty million people, it's a major credit bureau with tens
Speaker 1: of thousands of employees, right or whatever. But yeah, that
Speaker 1: wasn't the case. So yeah, the server password must have
Speaker 1: been ABC one two three. It probably was. It probably was,
Speaker 1: so you never know. But ultimately I feel completely comfortable
Speaker 1: and I feel like the security measures are really strong
Speaker 1: with wine ABDMINT, So check out that right up. If
Speaker 1: you have more concerns. All right, man, We've got two
Speaker 1: more questions that we've gotta get to, including that one
Speaker 1: about financing a used car, and we'll get to those
Speaker 1: right after the break. All right, man, we are back
Speaker 1: from the break, Joel, and we've got a couple more questions,
Speaker 1: and we've got one here we're part of the answer
Speaker 1: might be CDs, and that's something we hardly ever talked about,
Speaker 1: so let's hear it. Hey, guys, this is Julie from Boise, Idaho,
Speaker 1: and I have a question about living off of your savings.
Speaker 1: I just got a big chunk of money that will
Speaker 1: be funding me while I go to school. I'll need
Speaker 1: to be making regular withdrawals from it for monthly expenses,
Speaker 1: and I'm wondering where to put it. I think it
Speaker 1: is in my regular savings account. It will be a
Speaker 1: little too accessible. I would love your suggestions. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much, Oh, Julie, interesting question. Yeah, this is unique
Speaker 1: living off your savings, living off a lump sum, especially
Speaker 1: you're not even talking about retirement, right, We're talking about
Speaker 1: during your college years. That's a good question, and so
Speaker 1: let's kind of get into some of the possible ways
Speaker 1: to think about how you withdraw this money. One, if
Speaker 1: you need to make regular withdraws, well prioritize having that
Speaker 1: money in an online savings account that pays a high
Speaker 1: rate of interest. A couple that Matt and I've mentioned
Speaker 1: on the show before. We like Discover Ally and c
Speaker 1: I T. Those are three of our favorite online banks
Speaker 1: that pay high rates of interest and have great customer service.
Speaker 1: You'll also need to be disciplined in order to make
Speaker 1: sure that that money lasts for the intended duration you mentioned.
Speaker 1: Maybe having ready access to that money might make it
Speaker 1: difficult to stick to a budget. So if you do
Speaker 1: sign up for a new bank account and one that's
Speaker 1: paying you money on that lump sum. Again, you've got
Speaker 1: a lot of money in savings right now, and you
Speaker 1: want to make sure that you're earning money on that money.
Speaker 1: So make sure that you have a budget and that
Speaker 1: you're sticking to it diligently became as you you don't
Speaker 1: want to withdraw all that money in one love song
Speaker 1: and then not have money for months as you're trying
Speaker 1: to to finish out school budget for those potential emergencies too.
Speaker 1: You don't want to just have this super rosy budget
Speaker 1: where if everything works out perfectly, then you're good to go.
Speaker 1: You want to make sure you're factoring in for some
Speaker 1: of those potential emergencies to make sure that you can
Speaker 1: actually handle those unexpected expenses when they arise. And Julie,
Speaker 1: if you think you might have a hard time sticking
Speaker 1: to that budget, one thing that can help is to
Speaker 1: put part of that money that you don't immediately need
Speaker 1: into a certificate of deposit a k A that c D.
Speaker 1: We haven't really talked about CDs much, man, I know,
Speaker 1: I know. So this is the way that you can
Speaker 1: use CDs essentially for behavioral modification. This can be an
Speaker 1: awesome way to restrict your access to that money so
Speaker 1: that you don't blow it all at once, right, like
Speaker 1: maybe on a new car, whatever it is that you
Speaker 1: feel like spending. Julie, don't buy a new car. And
Speaker 1: here's the thing. While it might be easy though to
Speaker 1: control your spending around some big ticket items like that
Speaker 1: new car or maybe a fancification, the sort of subtle
Speaker 1: creep of lifestyle inflation like that can be harder to notice.
Speaker 1: So maybe putting yourself on a quote unquote monthly salary
Speaker 1: is a good productive step to take. You're sort of
Speaker 1: setting at these guardrails to kind of keep your financial
Speaker 1: spending from kind of careening off the cliff. Right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: depending on how long you're looking to lock that money
Speaker 1: up for, you could do CD ladding and you could
Speaker 1: put some of your money in a one year CD
Speaker 1: some of it into two. It just depends when you're
Speaker 1: gonna need access to that money. You might want some
Speaker 1: of the savings someone a one year cd H. So
Speaker 1: much of it depends on your timeframe. But I will
Speaker 1: say this, especially with kind of the falling rate environment
Speaker 1: that we're in, that almost nobody could have predicted that
Speaker 1: we would be in that rates for savers would actually
Speaker 1: be kind of falling off a cliff right now. Well,
Speaker 1: a CD can actually help your money to continue to
Speaker 1: earn higher rates of interest while the rates the banks
Speaker 1: are paying on saving us accounts just continue to drop.
Speaker 1: So having some of that money in a CD can
Speaker 1: be great for behavior modification to to keep you from
Speaker 1: from spending all of it, but also at the same
Speaker 1: time can kind of in pet you're ready to return
Speaker 1: on that money. So yeah, some of it in a
Speaker 1: high interest rate savings account, some of it in a
Speaker 1: CD that you can't touch for a period of time.
Speaker 1: I think I would probably choose something like that, And Julie,
Speaker 1: we just highlighted a specific bank. But here's the thing.
Speaker 1: The interest rates of the higher interest savings accounts and
Speaker 1: the interest rates offered in the different CD products, they're
Speaker 1: always changing. So make sure that you do a quick
Speaker 1: Google search. You can go to bank rate. They always
Speaker 1: have a good ride up of some of the best
Speaker 1: offerings out there currently, and make sure to do a
Speaker 1: little bit of research, do your due diligence to make
Speaker 1: sure that it is a reputable bank and not a
Speaker 1: quick little bank startup that you know is offering five
Speaker 1: percent on their one year CD, because that's gonna be
Speaker 1: maybe too good to be true. Yeah, as long as
Speaker 1: it's fd I C insured, that is the biggest thing
Speaker 1: you want to make sure of. And there are a
Speaker 1: lot of kind of fake banks, companies offering bank like
Speaker 1: products these days. So yeah, just check to make sure
Speaker 1: that their fd I C insured. That's a really good
Speaker 1: step to make sure that if for some reason that
Speaker 1: company folds, your money is not lost. It is insured
Speaker 1: by the federal government. That is where you want your
Speaker 1: money to be. All right, Matt, let's get onto the
Speaker 1: next question. We're getting to that one about financing a
Speaker 1: used car. Hi, guys, this is Eric from Tampa. First off,
Speaker 1: I love the podcast. I've been a long time Dave
Speaker 1: for EMZ listener. As much as I can appreciate his principles,
Speaker 1: I think he's a little stuck in his ways when
Speaker 1: it comes to a credit card and credit score. We
Speaker 1: are forty six and just paid off our mortgage and
Speaker 1: have no other debt. We still drive a two thousand
Speaker 1: four Toyota four Runner that we bought new and love it.
Speaker 1: We are saving for a newer used vehicle. However, since
Speaker 1: paying off my mortgage, I've seen my credit square drop
Speaker 1: from to eight seventeen and about two months. I do
Speaker 1: use my credit card as much as possible and never
Speaker 1: carry a balance. My question is, if this trend continues,
Speaker 1: should I finance a newer used vehicle and invest the
Speaker 1: cash or just pay cash for the vehicle. Personally, I'd
Speaker 1: rather see my credit score drop than pay unnecessary interest. Again,
Speaker 1: I love the show and love the review on Beers
Speaker 1: and look forward to your opinion. Thanks guys, Eric, thanks
Speaker 1: so much for that question, and man, we are with
Speaker 1: you when it comes to your opinion of Dave Ramsey.
Speaker 1: He has helped a lot of people, specifically helped a
Speaker 1: lot of people get out of debt. But we agree
Speaker 1: he's overlooking the impact that a great credit score can
Speaker 1: have not only in the type of loan that you
Speaker 1: can get, but just in lots of different areas of
Speaker 1: our lives. Yeah, we've talked about that before, Matt, that
Speaker 1: a credit score doesn't just affect your loan terms. And
Speaker 1: you know, if you're a Dave listener, you're probably not
Speaker 1: taking out money loans, but it affects all these other
Speaker 1: areas of your life, like how much you pay for
Speaker 1: auto insurance or home insurance potentially. Right, So having a
Speaker 1: good credit score matters for a lot of reasons. Yep,
Speaker 1: that's right, man. And first off, let's go ahead and
Speaker 1: talk to you about the fact that Eric has this
Speaker 1: old car that he's got for almost sixteen years. Eric,
Speaker 1: that's awesome. Buying a new car isn't a terrible idea
Speaker 1: when you keep them as long as you have, and
Speaker 1: especially if you are really into cars, that could be
Speaker 1: something that you find a lot of value in. And
Speaker 1: then on top of that you also have to paid
Speaker 1: off mortgage. Dude, you are killing it, Joel, we gotta
Speaker 1: get some mad props to Eric. Yeah, seriously, Eric, you
Speaker 1: want to come host the podcast For a second. That
Speaker 1: sounds like, yeah, you got this figured out. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree, Matt, Like, buying a new car is something
Speaker 1: we would typically recommend people not do, but some people
Speaker 1: are really into buying a new car. They're they're really
Speaker 1: into actually being the first person to drive that car.
Speaker 1: And I understand that desire, But when you keep it
Speaker 1: for sixteen years, like man, buying a new car is
Speaker 1: not really that big of a deal because your total
Speaker 1: cost of ownership really really isn't that large. But in
Speaker 1: regards to that credit score drop that Eric was talking about, well,
Speaker 1: we would say also to that, we're with you. I
Speaker 1: would rather see my score drop and avoid paying interest
Speaker 1: as well. Maintaining a good credit score is important, but
Speaker 1: it's a way less important than avoiding debt payments secure
Speaker 1: you interest. Your score is already in the stratosphere, so
Speaker 1: even if your score drops a few dozen points, well,
Speaker 1: you're still in that top tier territory. And it sounds
Speaker 1: like you don't have a lot of need for more
Speaker 1: funds to take on another loan considering how careful you
Speaker 1: are with your money, so your credit score is even
Speaker 1: less relevant in that case. Again, it does affect other things.
Speaker 1: But since we're talking about someone who doesn't need to
Speaker 1: take on another car loan and already has a paid
Speaker 1: off mortgage, well I would say your your credit score
Speaker 1: is even less important than it is for the average person,
Speaker 1: so you don't overthink it. I think you're on the
Speaker 1: right path, and I would not take out debt in
Speaker 1: order to improve your credit score. While credit scores are important,
Speaker 1: taking on debt to gain a higher score, well, to me,
Speaker 1: that's the tail wagging the dog, and it just doesn't
Speaker 1: make sense. Yeah, we didn't really get into this, but
Speaker 1: let's explain real quick why his credit score is dropping
Speaker 1: now that he's paid off his mortgage, and that's because
Speaker 1: the type of debt that he has is less diverse.
Speaker 1: When you have a mortgage or a car loan that
Speaker 1: is an installment loan. You've got a large sum that
Speaker 1: you've taken out and then you pay back these set
Speaker 1: amounts every month as installments versus a credit card, and
Speaker 1: that's revolving type of credit. Those are two different types
Speaker 1: of credit, and when you have both, that's when your
Speaker 1: credit score can benefit the most. So Eric, our advise
Speaker 1: to you, though, would be to go ahead and pay
Speaker 1: for that car in cash and man enjoy that car.
Speaker 1: You'll likely enjoyed even more knowing that it's one paid for.
Speaker 1: It's probably a similar feeling that you already have with
Speaker 1: your home. I'm sure it feels better living in a
Speaker 1: home that you own outright, and then keep this newer
Speaker 1: used car for a long while as well, which we
Speaker 1: have no doubt that you'll do. It sounds like financial
Speaker 1: independence is right around the corner for you and for
Speaker 1: your family. It sounds like you have been making some
Speaker 1: smart financial decisions uh your entire life. In the end,
Speaker 1: don't lose sights of the big picture trying to sort
Speaker 1: of nail that perfect credit score when in the end
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter all that much when you have a
Speaker 1: great score as it is so Eric, I feel like
Speaker 1: you were on the right track to begin with. You
Speaker 1: kind of had this figured out, but hopefully this kind
Speaker 1: of helps cement things for you. And ultimately, man, just
Speaker 1: a big congratulations to you and your family. You're handling
Speaker 1: money so well. And yeah, like Matt said, financial independence,
Speaker 1: I gotta imagine and it's coming soon for you guys,
Speaker 1: and and man, what an incredible achievement. So, Matt, these
Speaker 1: were some great questions, really diverse. But let's get back
Speaker 1: to the beer that we had on this episode, which,
Speaker 1: speaking of diversity, is not very diverse because we really
Speaker 1: like to drink I p A another I p A. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but it was a really good one man, Yes, it was.
Speaker 1: So Today on the show we had Chance I p
Speaker 1: A by Wildly Brewing Company. This is kind of their
Speaker 1: year round flagship I p A and I'll go first.
Speaker 1: I would say this was fresh and vibrant. I feel
Speaker 1: like they really were going for kind of that newer
Speaker 1: style of I p A. But they weren't going head
Speaker 1: over feet into the fat. What they did was it
Speaker 1: was kind of this restrained version of the newer, juicier
Speaker 1: I p A style. It had a lot of those
Speaker 1: notes and a lot of that flavor profile without being
Speaker 1: kind of overwhelming. And so I feel like this is
Speaker 1: one that I would recommend people try if they're kind
Speaker 1: of dipping their toes in the water of I pas
Speaker 1: because it's not too bitter. It's also not kind of
Speaker 1: insanely out there, like going too far or pushing any boundaries.
Speaker 1: But I would say it was really really solid, man,
Speaker 1: really really good beer. And I know it's like one
Speaker 1: of your go twos right now, Yes it is. I
Speaker 1: don't know how far they distribute, but if you're in
Speaker 1: the southeast and you can get your hands on a
Speaker 1: chance I p A, I would definitely recommend it. It's
Speaker 1: this is a just really fruity I p A. In
Speaker 1: my books, it has like this fresh, juicy, tropical nest
Speaker 1: to it. I was almost picking me up on some
Speaker 1: passion fruit notes as well, which sometimes it can be
Speaker 1: hard to sort of identify it because a lot of
Speaker 1: times whenever a beer includes passion fruit notes, they also
Speaker 1: include guava, and so you almost expect to have one
Speaker 1: with the other. But for me, I was picking up
Speaker 1: on that one specific fruit, passion fruit. And if you
Speaker 1: are getting into I p A s and yeah, you're
Speaker 1: not a fan of the big ones with the the
Speaker 1: where you get socked with that big bitterness. I would
Speaker 1: definitely recommend this beer, and I'm thankful for yet another
Speaker 1: beer joll that you and I can share together on
Speaker 1: the show. No doubt my friend always good times. Uh,
Speaker 1: And that's gonna do it. For this episode, we'll have
Speaker 1: links to a couple of the things that we mentioned
Speaker 1: on the show today, including that wine ab write up
Speaker 1: about their security measures that they take to keep your
Speaker 1: information safe, and those show notes are available on our
Speaker 1: site how to money dot com, Yeah and JEL. Normally,
Speaker 1: this is when we say, hey, if you haven't already,
Speaker 1: be sure to subscribe and review. And while that is
Speaker 1: valuable and helpful, what we would really love for you
Speaker 1: to do this time, if you haven't already, is to
Speaker 1: tell a friend you know who might be interested in
Speaker 1: learning more about personal finance, or instead of hitting the
Speaker 1: subscribe button yourself, hit the subscribe button on your friends
Speaker 1: phone and that way they're like, what is this podcast appearing?
Speaker 1: You might feed? Yeah, there's nothing like getting surprised by
Speaker 1: and that purchases that your friend made for you. Surprise
Speaker 1: subscribe all right? Well, yeah, so you feel free to
Speaker 1: do that, but also you don't have to. But yeah,
Speaker 1: just telling a friend that broadens the how the money
Speaker 1: community and kind of brings more people into the fold
Speaker 1: for hearing money saving advice and kind of getting started
Speaker 1: on their journey towards financial independence. Yeah, and plus, isn't
Speaker 1: it just so much more fun to talk about stuff
Speaker 1: in real life? I mean, that's how we do the podcast.
Speaker 1: You and I are sitting here having a beer, So
Speaker 1: let's make sure that we are taking this discussion offline
Speaker 1: and we're incorporating it into our daily lives. Man, So, Joel,
Speaker 1: that's going to be it for this episode. Man, until
Speaker 1: next time, Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,