Speaker 1: Welcome to Out of Money.
Speaker 2: I'm Joel and I am Matt, and today we're talking
Speaker 2: about dumb debit, asinine arbitration, and eccentric economic expectations.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Joe, let's make sure everyone heard you correctly.
Speaker 3: You said dumb debit. Everyone knows that debt is dumb.
Speaker 2: But where pronunciation skills are not the best always.
Speaker 3: Actually that's normally where I shine my quince and speaking
Speaker 3: doesn't often shine through.
Speaker 2: I feel like my alliteration was especially strong today and
Speaker 2: potentially over the centric economic expectations.
Speaker 1: That one was really strong. Yeah for sure.
Speaker 2: I don't mean that in a good way, like maybe
Speaker 2: I ever did it.
Speaker 3: Hey, we haven't talked about the Brays recently. You bummed
Speaker 3: that the Braves are out.
Speaker 2: Of the playoffs, some massive collapse, but we knew was
Speaker 2: gonna happen. My hopes were low.
Speaker 3: But the cool thing, I'm surprised that we that the
Speaker 3: Braves made it as far as they did, given given
Speaker 3: the injuries.
Speaker 1: And yeah, star players who were out agreed.
Speaker 2: But one I think thing that needs to be talked about,
Speaker 2: and we won't talk about sports long. Don't worry, but
Speaker 2: the when you talk. My mom always told me growing
Speaker 2: up Matt, you can't buy a team, and sometimes, you know,
Speaker 2: the big spending teams, they always try, like to try
Speaker 2: to get the star players who are incredibly expensive, and
Speaker 2: then it was always fun to watch them collapse or
Speaker 2: not performed merely as well as they were supposed to.
Speaker 2: And I don't know if anybody out there is like
Speaker 2: laughing when other people get hurt.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Point and I giggle. It's really fun to see what's
Speaker 2: happening with the Detroit Tigers right now. Yeah. Their entire
Speaker 2: payroll is half less than half of what one player
Speaker 2: on the Yankees gets paid, and so their entire payroll
Speaker 2: is eighteen million, eighteen million. Yeah, and I think crazy,
Speaker 2: think about when the Dodgers paid Shoheo Tani seven hundred
Speaker 2: million dollars, right, And so it's just.
Speaker 1: Over the course of how many years, like a decade, Yeah,
Speaker 1: over the.
Speaker 2: Course of it's still still though, yeah, insane. So I'm
Speaker 2: pulling for the Detroit Tigers at this point.
Speaker 3: Oh hey, yeah, Like who doesn't want to root for
Speaker 3: an underdog? And especially given Detroit, I feel like that
Speaker 3: city has experienced so much hardship, right like over the
Speaker 3: like you look at history, like the past fifty years
Speaker 3: with the collapse of the auto industry and unions and
Speaker 3: all that, and like it makes me think about like
Speaker 3: during the housing crisis during the Great Recession, Like I
Speaker 3: had to get myself off of Instagram, Like I followed
Speaker 3: this account that was called Cheap Old Houses and they
Speaker 3: would feature so many beautiful turn of the century homes
Speaker 3: in Detroit, and I would always show them to Kate
Speaker 3: and be like, hey, babe, you want to move to
Speaker 3: this place because they're basically giving these houses like twelve
Speaker 3: thousand dollars. Yes, and it just needs a little bit
Speaker 3: of work. And this doesn't mean that Detroit's like all
Speaker 3: the problems are now fixed because housing was affordable there
Speaker 3: and now the Tigers might make it to the World Series.
Speaker 3: But I am happy for Detroit. Yeah, as a city.
Speaker 3: Good to see when they've been crapped on for so long.
Speaker 3: There's like a some silver linings.
Speaker 2: Perhaps it seems like Detroit is a rad place to hang.
Speaker 2: I have never been. I would love to go, And
Speaker 2: maybe we'll go see a Tigers game next year and
Speaker 2: check out this awesome team that they've got. So let's
Speaker 2: get to the Friday flight, Matt. Let's get to the
Speaker 2: sampling of stories we found interesting this week. Let's talk
Speaker 2: about debit cards. We don't really like them for the
Speaker 2: most part. And the good folks over at Experience, Matt
Speaker 2: the Credit Bureau Experience, And I say that with my
Speaker 2: tongue firmly in my cheek. They're not great folks necessarily.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm sure there's some good people who worked there,
Speaker 2: but the organization as a whole not one that we
Speaker 2: really dig or have much fondness for. They launched a
Speaker 2: debit card last year, and friend of the show, Ron Lieber,
Speaker 2: he writes for The New York Times, he put out
Speaker 2: this great article warning people to be wary of this
Speaker 2: debit card product that Experience has.
Speaker 1: He can always count on, mister Lieber.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, he's holding people's feet to the fire. And
Speaker 2: why did he hate this thing? Why is he telling
Speaker 2: us that we should avoid it. He's basically saying, Hey,
Speaker 2: the perks are really lackluster, and they're going to make
Speaker 2: it sound like it's this awesome thing, but it's really not.
Speaker 2: And some of the promises that the long that they're
Speaker 2: saying is is basically, this account can help you raise
Speaker 2: your credit score. That's one of the major selling points
Speaker 2: for Experience to say, instead of just relying on us
Speaker 2: for your credit needs, you should also rely on us
Speaker 2: for your banking needs because guess what if you bank
Speaker 2: with us, which they're not really a bank, they're one
Speaker 2: of those they've got one of those pass through banks
Speaker 2: that they're working with. If you bank with us, well,
Speaker 2: mate will help you raise your credit score. Well, you
Speaker 2: can enroll in their Experience Boost program, which is like
Speaker 2: their free credit building product without opening a bank account
Speaker 2: with them.
Speaker 3: So I don't know why folks would actually trust this
Speaker 3: company that has done such a poor job yeah at
Speaker 3: protecting your personal.
Speaker 2: Data, not just Experience, all the credit bureaus, but oh
Speaker 2: my gosh, Like why would I want to bank with
Speaker 2: a company with this kind of reputation? And you and
Speaker 2: I were not fans of debit cards in general, but
Speaker 2: getting one from a credit bureau would be like a
Speaker 2: double dose of dumb, I think. So it's called the
Speaker 2: Experience Smart Money debit card, not so smart avoided people.
Speaker 3: I was trying to think of a parallel, like what
Speaker 3: do we see in life, or like what's an example,
Speaker 3: and it makes me think of Ticketmaster because everybody hates Ticketmaster, right,
Speaker 3: but it would be as if I.
Speaker 2: Just had to hold my nose and buy tickets from
Speaker 2: them recently, Yeah, all.
Speaker 3: This fees man, it would be as if you chose
Speaker 3: to wear a Ticketmaster's shirt, because it's like, well, Ticketmaster
Speaker 3: they are music industry adjacent, like they kind of are
Speaker 3: involved with the bands that you love, and you love
Speaker 3: wearing band t shirts stool of your favorite bands. But
Speaker 3: it's like, but no, I actually hate Ticketmaster. I just
Speaker 3: like the bands that they tend to showcase. That's what
Speaker 3: I feel like experience is doing here. It's like they're
Speaker 3: sort of like the thirty rock how do you do
Speaker 3: fellow kids, Like they're trying to swoop in and get
Speaker 3: a part of the action, when in reality they're not
Speaker 3: able to provide anything of actual substance.
Speaker 2: Okay, now you're making you want to get a Ticketmaster
Speaker 2: and an experience lower back tattoo.
Speaker 1: How much do tattoos cost?
Speaker 3: I've never I don't have a tattoo, but I would
Speaker 3: pay for that for you to get given of this. Honestly,
Speaker 3: we got a tap experience because they would probably they
Speaker 3: probably would sponsor you. Yeah, we like credit cards a
Speaker 3: whole lot more obviously, because well they have better protections.
Speaker 3: They can be far more rewarding. But that being said,
Speaker 3: there are new credit card fees that are coming down
Speaker 3: the pike, largely in response to the CFPB's attempt to
Speaker 3: cap late fees at eight dollars, which is by the way,
Speaker 3: this is hung up in court. The outcome is unsure.
Speaker 2: Kind of like a student loan thing. It's like, what's
Speaker 2: gonna happen here?
Speaker 3: We don't exactly know. Yeah, but the big credit card issuers,
Speaker 3: the big banks, they're planning for the hammer to fall.
Speaker 3: And like we said back when that announcement was made,
Speaker 3: their credit card companies, they will find another way.
Speaker 1: To keep their profits elevated. They're crafty.
Speaker 3: They're gonna find a way to charge you some Some
Speaker 3: of them are considering instituting new fees for let's say,
Speaker 3: paper statements. Others are just raising their interest rates, even
Speaker 3: as the FED is actually lowering the overnight lending rate.
Speaker 2: You're like, well, I thought my credit card interest rate
Speaker 2: was gonna go down. Matt and Joel said that it's like, well,
Speaker 2: there's this other thing happening over here, and.
Speaker 1: So big bank, so they got to find a way
Speaker 1: to make a bug.
Speaker 3: It's actually going up. But bottom line, what this means though,
Speaker 3: is that you should never run a balance regardless. That's
Speaker 3: regardless of whether or not interest rates are going up
Speaker 3: or not. Never carry a balance. If you have one,
Speaker 3: pay it off as quickly as possible, of course, but
Speaker 3: then just create a written plan, stick to it when
Speaker 3: it comes to eliminating some of that credit card debt,
Speaker 3: and then just make sure to pay attention to some
Speaker 3: of the different hoops that the banks are going to
Speaker 3: require us to jump through, and we'll make sure to
Speaker 3: keep an eye on.
Speaker 1: That as well. Yeah, if there are any egregious examples
Speaker 1: of that.
Speaker 2: Right, if there really is. If you get hit with
Speaker 2: a paper statement fee, stop getting paper statements and the
Speaker 2: need to offer the digital ones. And if you feel
Speaker 2: like you need to keep the records of all your
Speaker 2: credit card statements, do that. But you can save the
Speaker 2: PDF of those and keep them on hand digitally. I mean,
Speaker 2: do people actually save their credit card statements anyway if
Speaker 2: they keep the paper ones. Yeah, so find a way
Speaker 2: to reduce those fees. It's you're right, Matt. The credit
Speaker 2: card companies, we knew this. If you tamp them down
Speaker 2: in one area, they're going to find another way to
Speaker 2: keep their profits up. Let's make the case for a
Speaker 2: second for technology though, and against checks. We've done this before.
Speaker 2: We hate checks, but it's not because even in this instance,
Speaker 2: retailers aren't accepting them anymore. We talked about how Target
Speaker 2: has basically said, no, we're not taking checks at checkout anymore.
Speaker 2: It's because scammers can actually easily use checks to commit
Speaker 2: fraud or theft. And there was a recent example of
Speaker 2: this map. They can steal the check right out of
Speaker 2: your mailbox and take your money. And so this is
Speaker 2: happening to people who have opted to get their tax
Speaker 2: refund by mail instead of getting their refund via direct deposit.
Speaker 2: And so if you're one of those people, you are
Speaker 2: a target to have your tax refunds stolen. Fortunately, ninety
Speaker 2: percent of folks have opted for direct deposit these days,
Speaker 2: but that's to lease a lot of people. Think about
Speaker 2: ten percent of Americans Matt, getting their tax refundsent to
Speaker 2: their mailbox. That's a sizeable number of folks who are
Speaker 2: taking the old school route. And then if the check
Speaker 2: gets stolen, it's a massive pain of the button, Matt.
Speaker 2: There are examples of people who have said, hey, my
Speaker 2: checkout stolen. I didn't come in the mail, and a
Speaker 2: thief stole the funds, and then the IRS sends another
Speaker 2: check it also gets stolen. This is a significant problem.
Speaker 2: You're out, Yeah, and eventually the IRS is going to
Speaker 2: send you the money that you're owed, but you're out
Speaker 2: the refund for even longer. For a lot of people
Speaker 2: met the refund can be you know, multiple thousands of dollars.
Speaker 1: A lot of folks are counting on that refund. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think most Town of Money listeners know this,
Speaker 2: especially given the demographics of the people who listen. But
Speaker 2: direct deposit offer that it's easier, it has fewer pitfalls,
Speaker 2: And so in the spring when you file your taxes,
Speaker 2: make sure to elect for a direct deposit because if
Speaker 2: you opt for a check to come, one it could
Speaker 2: get stolen. And two, even when you're asking for a replacement,
Speaker 2: you can't switch to direct deposit. They have to. The
Speaker 2: IRS basically says no, we're going to send you another check,
Speaker 2: and you can't change the method of payment.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So at the very least, maybe you know somebody so,
Speaker 3: like you said, Jill, I think a lot of our
Speaker 3: listeners probably aren't opting for the paper check, but maybe
Speaker 3: there might be somebody in your family, for instance, who
Speaker 3: is opting for that, and make sure.
Speaker 1: That this is a discussion that you have with them. Jill.
Speaker 3: Let's talk about entrepreneurship. There's a spike in small business
Speaker 3: formation back when COVID hit, But the thing is is
Speaker 3: that is continuing strong and many of the companies that
Speaker 3: were formed during that COVID induced economic downturn, they have
Speaker 3: been crushing it. And it turns out it wasn't just
Speaker 3: that you know, stemy check phenomenon that we're causing folks
Speaker 3: to reconsider their you know how, it is that they
Speaker 3: spend their time they're nine to five, and that's good news.
Speaker 3: It's happening all across the country and in big cities
Speaker 3: and small cities, in metropolitan areas as well as rural
Speaker 3: locations as well. And the rise of remote work, which
Speaker 3: it is I will admit it is seeing a bit
Speaker 3: of a pullback in corporate America, but it is allowing,
Speaker 3: it is aiding the ability of individuals to start their
Speaker 3: own thing when they have a little more time, They
Speaker 3: got a little more flexibility to take on some of
Speaker 3: that additional works.
Speaker 2: You're connected. It's so much easier to connect, and you
Speaker 2: mentioned rural America, Matt, think about something like starlink and
Speaker 2: how it's easier to get good internet service in almost
Speaker 2: any part of the country guardless of.
Speaker 1: Where you are.
Speaker 3: Even if you're off grid somewhere else, you can still
Speaker 3: have internet access. It's easier than ever to start working
Speaker 3: for yourself, even if it's like only part time for
Speaker 3: a while. Something like eighty percent of businesses are solopreneur businesses,
Speaker 3: and we are personally big fans of starting your own thing,
Speaker 3: and so if you are considering hanging your own shingle,
Speaker 3: we would recommend for you to listen back to episode
Speaker 3: eight eight four week.
Speaker 1: You know, we tied some of the benefits.
Speaker 3: We talked with guests Laura Adams about maybe why it
Speaker 3: is that you should consider.
Speaker 1: Working for yourself.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and she gave a lot of great insights for
Speaker 2: how to go about launching that business and then specifically
Speaker 2: as a small business owner too as this wholopreneur kind
Speaker 2: of some of the things you need to know. So
Speaker 2: that's definitely worth listening to, Matt. One of the reasons
Speaker 2: people often choose to not go work for themselves is
Speaker 2: because their healthcare is tied to their job. Right, A
Speaker 2: lot of people continue working for the man because they're like,
Speaker 2: how am I going to pay this twenty five thousand
Speaker 2: dollars healthcare premium annual premium for my family if I
Speaker 2: go out and work for myself, and it is that
Speaker 2: is I will admit, one of the toughest hurdles to
Speaker 2: jump when we're talking about going out and starting your
Speaker 2: own thing. It's a terrible economic reality in this country
Speaker 2: that reduces entrepreneurship and it inhibits economic dynamism, and it's
Speaker 2: one of the reasons I think that health care costs
Speaker 2: are rising much faster than almost everything else, the employer
Speaker 2: involvement in individual and family health care in this country,
Speaker 2: and as everyone knows, buying healthcare as a self employed
Speaker 2: person is tough. Is so much of how much it
Speaker 2: costs depends on your income because of subsidies on the
Speaker 2: healthcare exchange. A lot of people, including you and I Maatt,
Speaker 2: have opted for health sharing companies because they're not traditional insurance.
Speaker 2: But because of that they can save you a bundle
Speaker 2: with some pitfalls as well that you have to be
Speaker 2: aware of. But some employers have actually started taking a
Speaker 2: different approach and so instead of providing actual healthcare and saying, hey,
Speaker 2: here's the plan that we offer once you sign up,
Speaker 2: and we're an open enrollment season right now for a
Speaker 2: lot of people, well, they're offering you money instead to
Speaker 2: get your own plan on the private market. I like
Speaker 2: this so much more. You know, more employees are interested
Speaker 2: essentially in lessening their own financial burden because how much
Speaker 2: premiums have gone up, And it does give employees more
Speaker 2: choice over the type of coverage and the type of
Speaker 2: plan that they choose to have. But I will say
Speaker 2: this too, where it's happening, it could be end up
Speaker 2: being a financial loser for some folks. Depending on how
Speaker 2: generous the healthcare stipend is, you might find that you're
Speaker 2: not able to buy as nice of a health care
Speaker 2: policy that maybe doesn't cover quite as much with the
Speaker 2: new stipend. It's good for employers. I think it can
Speaker 2: help you make wise decisions when you're shopping for insurance,
Speaker 2: but you also might find that there's a gap there
Speaker 2: between the coverage you used to get and the coverage
Speaker 2: you can now afford. So ultimately, wouldn't it be nice
Speaker 2: if we were able to disentangle healthcare from employment altogether.
Speaker 2: I think it'd be good for our country. It'd be
Speaker 2: good for small businesses, but good for the dynasism. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's dynamism.
Speaker 3: It was like combining cynicism and I guess a dynamic
Speaker 3: labor market perhaps. But something else that is at least
Speaker 3: partially connected to your job is your retirement account. We're
Speaker 3: talking about four to one ks here. Well, changing jobs
Speaker 3: can also have adverse effects on your retirement and the
Speaker 3: reason for that is because there is some new research
Speaker 3: from Vanguard and they find that when people switch jobs,
Speaker 3: and even if it's to snack a bigger paycheck, they
Speaker 3: often end up forgetting to sign up for the new.
Speaker 1: Four to one K plan rookie fail or. A lot of.
Speaker 3: Employers are auto enrolling their newer employees, but sometimes the
Speaker 3: default rate is only three percent. And let's say you're
Speaker 3: at your previous employeer, maybe you're up to I don't know,
Speaker 3: six seven, eight percent perhaps maybe more, maybe even more. Yeah,
Speaker 3: And because of that, Vanguard says that this could be
Speaker 3: easily this could be a six figure mistake, costing folks
Speaker 3: massive money and compounding over the coming decades because of
Speaker 3: that reduced contribution amount, because of subsequent inertia bias as well.
Speaker 3: You just kind of stick with what it is that
Speaker 3: was the default option, and you're missing out. Future you
Speaker 3: is missing out. And so if you're changing jobs, just
Speaker 3: make sure that you pay close attention to what your
Speaker 3: prior contribution percentage was. And what we would suggest is
Speaker 3: just try to mirror that at your new employer, right,
Speaker 3: just carry over some of those good habits or even
Speaker 3: consider raising it, especially if you are making more money,
Speaker 3: because it's like, hey.
Speaker 2: It's a perfect time.
Speaker 3: It's a perfect time for you to sort of trick
Speaker 3: yourself into thinking that, oh, well, it's not actually painful
Speaker 3: at all for me to increase how much I'm saving
Speaker 3: because my paycheck it's staying the same, and so you're
Speaker 3: able to save more or you know what, a lot
Speaker 3: of folks with the raise, they're able to do both.
Speaker 3: You experience a slightly fatter paycheck but not over the top, yeah,
Speaker 3: while at the same time experiencing higher amounts of saving
Speaker 3: as it's going towards your Form one K.
Speaker 1: This was something I like, the both and approach.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's funny, this is something I hadn't really thought about, Like, oh,
Speaker 2: over the years, you've been increasing your four one K
Speaker 2: contribution percentage. You started out at five. Let's say by
Speaker 2: the time you left that job, you got it up
Speaker 2: to twelve or thirteen percent. Amazing. But then you get
Speaker 2: the new job, you're auto enrolled at three and you
Speaker 2: just let it be. I just never thought that was
Speaker 2: a problem. Vanguard points out that it's a meaningful problem.
Speaker 2: So if you're switching jobs, definitely pay attention to this, because, yeah,
Speaker 2: if you're reducing your contribution amount by that much, we
Speaker 2: are talking about a potential six figure deficit when it
Speaker 2: comes to your future retirement.
Speaker 1: But Joe, we got more to get to. We're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about the types of landlords who are the worst.
Speaker 1: We'll get to that more right after this.
Speaker 2: All right, Matt, we're back. We've got more to get to.
Speaker 2: We will talk about preming landlords and no, it's not
Speaker 2: gonna be a self owned Okay, we're decent landlords people.
Speaker 2: But now let's get to the ludacrous headline of the week.
Speaker 2: This one comes from CNN and the headline reads, couple
Speaker 2: in severe uber crash can't sue because of an uber
Speaker 2: eats order, And that sounds really frustrating, Matt, and basically
Speaker 2: My takeaway from this article is Uber sucks, but they're
Speaker 2: also not alone and sucking. They're acting like most other companies.
Speaker 2: And what do most other companies do. They stick arbitration
Speaker 2: agreements in the terms of service that we all sign
Speaker 2: but that none of us actually read. And the couple
Speaker 2: in this attempted lawsuit was severely injured, including spinal fractures,
Speaker 2: which sounds terrible, after the uber they were riding in
Speaker 2: was in an accident. And then Uber's response essentially is
Speaker 2: tough luck. You got to go through the system we've
Speaker 2: set up that's essentially designed to screw you. So what's
Speaker 2: so bad about arbitration, you might be wondering, Well, the
Speaker 2: deck is stacked against the individual in the case of arbitration,
Speaker 2: the arbitrator. This is The New York Times did this
Speaker 2: investigation a few years back, Matt. The New York Times
Speaker 2: essentially found that arbitration finds in favor of the company
Speaker 2: eighty plus percent of the time. So you, as an individual,
Speaker 2: you could be spending a lot of money in arbitration
Speaker 2: and you're not getting a fair shake here. You're not
Speaker 2: getting a fair hearing. Companies avoid paying out billions of
Speaker 2: dollars to consumers by using the arbitration system to their advantage.
Speaker 2: So this is one of those clauses that's in the
Speaker 2: fine print of every terms of service that we all
Speaker 2: automatically ascribe to. I think it's important to point that out,
Speaker 2: and I think it's also important for us to highlight
Speaker 2: when companies are using it in a way that's improper.
Speaker 2: And part of this was the couple said that what
Speaker 2: was their daughter who signed up and made that order
Speaker 2: through Uber eys It wasn't even them, and Uber saying nope, sorry,
Speaker 2: it was under the household or whatever. We're holding you
Speaker 2: to this.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the terms of service agreements that we have to
Speaker 3: accept in order to use certain software and different apps
Speaker 3: and different services, it's kind of ridiculous, get out of control,
Speaker 3: because I think someone who is following more of the
Speaker 3: letter of the law would say, well, you shouldn't agree
Speaker 3: to those terms.
Speaker 1: Of service, but like, it would truly take a part time.
Speaker 3: Job to be able to read through all of the
Speaker 3: different agreements that you scroll down and clickach so you
Speaker 3: don't even have to scroll down anymore, because it's like
Speaker 3: it's hyperlinked.
Speaker 2: Rumpel Stiltskin ask man, I feel like I probably owe
Speaker 2: my firstborn children to one of these companies.
Speaker 1: It's ridiculous.
Speaker 3: But the reason we're pointing this out is because there's
Speaker 3: a certain amount of hassle that we expect to deal
Speaker 3: with when it comes to being able to use some
Speaker 3: of these different services. But when there is a company
Speaker 3: that isn't doing the right thing, I mean technically, Joe, well,
Speaker 3: like we're media and so our ability to kind of
Speaker 3: shine a light on this and hopefully to encourage companies
Speaker 3: out there to do a better job we were doing.
Speaker 2: Are we the mainstream corporate media mat or are we
Speaker 2: the independent media?
Speaker 3: I feel like we're a little more alternative, independent type
Speaker 3: of guys. But it makes me think back to Disney.
Speaker 3: Remember when they there's a lady that died because of
Speaker 3: that severe allergic reaction.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was just not longer.
Speaker 3: At least they back down when they realized that they were,
Speaker 3: you know, treating their customers in a way that was
Speaker 3: just beyond the pale. But Uber they're not budging. So yeah,
Speaker 3: we want folks to know that these arbitration agreements they're
Speaker 3: kind of par for the course and they do limit
Speaker 3: your legal recourse and hopefully, yeah, hopefully Uber ends up
Speaker 3: doing the right thing. I will say it wasn't just
Speaker 3: an accident that the car was involved with the driver
Speaker 3: did run a red light, and so part of me,
Speaker 3: I'm just advocating slightly on behalf of Uber, like I'm
Speaker 3: going to play devil's advocate here and say, maybe we
Speaker 3: don't have all the facts, because typically you would sue
Speaker 3: the driver because they have auto insurance. But I'm curious
Speaker 3: us if the couple is looking for a bigger potential
Speaker 3: payoff from a giant company as opposed to just the
Speaker 3: meager offerings that they might receive from somebody who has
Speaker 3: auto insurance. Of course, but that having said, if that's
Speaker 3: the case, then Uber needs to communicate that clearly, because
Speaker 3: you know, this is a pr issue. If that's the case,
Speaker 3: then they need to make it clear that like no, no, no,
Speaker 3: like they're going to be taken care of.
Speaker 1: It's just this is the mean. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So either way, it doesn't seem like that there's a
Speaker 3: whole lot of clarity or transparency in how it is
Speaker 3: that they're handling this.
Speaker 2: But speaking of the companies being unkind, how that's not
Speaker 2: rare at all, isn't that?
Speaker 1: Well?
Speaker 3: On that note, we would recommend to maybe don't rent
Speaker 3: a home from Invitation Homes. The FTC they actually issued
Speaker 3: a warning about unnecessary fees that Invitation Homes has been
Speaker 3: charging tenants. They've got this worry free way of renting
Speaker 3: a home, and the worry free marketing it didn't quite
Speaker 3: line up with the real life tenant treatment that folks
Speaker 3: were receiving.
Speaker 2: There's been some horror stories, yeah, they've come out over
Speaker 2: the years about Invitation Home.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and they're going to be forced to refund forty
Speaker 3: eight million dollars to folks who have rented with them,
Speaker 3: and these two stories with it, you know, with invitation
Speaker 3: Homes and Uber, I think the takeaway is just to
Speaker 3: know your rights, and in this case, I would say
Speaker 3: do your best to avoid Wall Street landlords or phase
Speaker 3: of the mama pop style landlords.
Speaker 2: It's not like all mom and pop landlords are great.
Speaker 2: I'm sure there's a lot that is true. There's a
Speaker 2: number of them that are bad. But the number of
Speaker 2: stories that have come out about invitation Homes across a
Speaker 2: number of years are so harrowing. The lack of response
Speaker 2: to issues that tenants are having. And then this lawsuit
Speaker 2: from the FTC about the excessive fees that are being charged,
Speaker 2: the non refunding of security deposits when they were clearly
Speaker 2: gidden fees.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't like that either. Yeah, the ability for
Speaker 3: a company to be transparent in this way as to
Speaker 3: what it is you're actually going to charge your customer.
Speaker 2: They say, oh, it's going to be worried for your renting,
Speaker 2: it turns out it's it's not worry free and it's
Speaker 2: going to cost you. And I think this is also
Speaker 2: really important to mention, Matt to whether you're renting from
Speaker 2: a corporate land or whether you're running from an individual.
Speaker 2: It's always important to take photos and videos when you
Speaker 2: move in to note the condition of the home. Typically
Speaker 2: there's like a walk through inspection with the landlord, but
Speaker 2: they don't always do that, and so what I would
Speaker 2: do is I would document thoroughly, Hey, this is what
Speaker 2: the home looks like. If there are little issues, and
Speaker 2: then you can point them out to the landlord and say, hey,
Speaker 2: these things could be fixed. If they're minor things, you
Speaker 2: don't need to necessarily push it, but at least you
Speaker 2: have that in your back pocket for when you're moving out,
Speaker 2: and you can document take photos and videos then too,
Speaker 2: and say, hey, it looks pretty much the same, or
Speaker 2: actually there is this gouge in the paint here or whatever.
Speaker 2: But if you have photos and videos, that can be
Speaker 2: your protection if there is some sort of legal recourse
Speaker 2: that you have to see totally, Matt, let's talk about
Speaker 2: insurance for a second, and specifically insurance in the light
Speaker 2: of what's been happening recently. As far as the weather,
Speaker 2: it's probably an understatement, just horrific weather events essentially happening
Speaker 2: in the southeast. The destruction from Hurricane Helene was rampant,
Speaker 2: specifically in western North Caro Line. We talked about that,
Speaker 2: and then Hurricane Milton pummeled Florida earlier this week too.
Speaker 2: It seems like it wasn't as bad as it could
Speaker 2: have been, fortunately, but it's been an awful couple of
Speaker 2: weeks on the natural disaster front. I was talking to
Speaker 2: my neighbor who's got a place in Florida, and he's
Speaker 2: basically saying, I don't know, man, I think I might
Speaker 2: be ready to get out, like this is just too
Speaker 2: much to bear. And I totally understand that. Like, if
Speaker 2: you live in Florida, it's been your life has been
Speaker 2: caught up in horrific hurricanes. So our hearts go out
Speaker 2: to everyone who's lost family or friends who's had to
Speaker 2: evacuate and met their estimates. Property damage could cost owners
Speaker 2: forty seven billion dollars. It's kind of hard to fathom.
Speaker 2: That's a big number. And it also has highlighted issues
Speaker 2: that FEMA has been dealing with perpetually and continues to
Speaker 2: deal with, in how they respond to disasters and how
Speaker 2: people are how quickly people are helped, and how quickly
Speaker 2: money gets into their hands. It's also highlighted the gap
Speaker 2: between what people think they're coverages and then the lack
Speaker 2: thereof when it comes down to it. A lot of
Speaker 2: folks thought, hey, my homeowner's insurance it's going to cover
Speaker 2: the damage that I've sustained, and they're often sorely mistaken.
Speaker 2: That's because these policies don't typically cover damage from flooding.
Speaker 2: That's right, you need a separate policy for that. And Matt,
Speaker 2: especially in North Carolina, fewer than one percent of folks
Speaker 2: in the places they get like the worst flooding damage
Speaker 2: have that kind of coverage, which adds insult to injury.
Speaker 2: And so yeah, if damage you are a loved one
Speaker 2: sustained is called flood damage, but you think it isn't.
Speaker 2: It's important to fight back because that's happening too, because
Speaker 2: some insurance companies are saying, hey, listen, no, this damage
Speaker 2: was due to flooding, and you're saying, no, wait, this
Speaker 2: it wasn't. There was a hole in the roof, that's
Speaker 2: how the water got it, like a tree smashed through
Speaker 2: the There was no flooding that happened. You have to
Speaker 2: be willing and able to document and push back on that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're standing there pointing fingers at each other right
Speaker 3: where the Hormeter's insurance is saying no, no, this is
Speaker 3: due to flooding, and then the spider man means is
Speaker 3: exactly it's pointing, be like, no, that's actually when damage
Speaker 3: that's not covered under flood insurance. And so there's Yeah,
Speaker 3: there's a whole lot of advocating for yourself that's going
Speaker 3: to have to take place here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a couple of things too. Won't file a claim
Speaker 2: if the damage you sustained was minor, if it's something
Speaker 2: you feel like you can fix fairly easily. And there
Speaker 2: are a lot of people in that situation too, where
Speaker 2: it's it's just minor damage. Fortunately, you probably don't want
Speaker 2: to get insurance involved because you could see your rate
Speaker 2: skyrocket and it wouldn't be worth it. The other thing is,
Speaker 2: if you feel like you are being treated unfairly by
Speaker 2: an insurance company, you know, I want to contact a
Speaker 2: public adjuster. My parents are literally in this process right
Speaker 2: now because they sustained some roof damage and oh yeah,
Speaker 2: and the insurance company basically said, hey, listen, we don't
Speaker 2: think you need a whole roof replacement. And they're saying,
Speaker 2: we're pretty sure there's enough damage that the whole roof
Speaker 2: needs to be replaced, and so they're an impass and
Speaker 2: so what you do then on your own dime, but
Speaker 2: you got to hire a public adjuster who can help
Speaker 2: mediate that. But oftentimes public adjusters can help you get
Speaker 2: paid in a way that you advocating for yourself cannot.
Speaker 1: That's true.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I like what you said too about considering
Speaker 3: not even going through insurance if it's a minor enough incident.
Speaker 3: I actually have a neighbor who this is actually before
Speaker 3: all the storms, but it.
Speaker 1: Was a.
Speaker 3: Local storm and a tree went down damage like they're siding,
Speaker 3: took out part of the fence, and I talked to
Speaker 3: him like the very next day, and I was just like, hey,
Speaker 3: actually doesn't look all that bad, huh. But he had
Speaker 3: already reached out and already filed a claim. And I'm
Speaker 3: looking at this as someone who schedules work at homes
Speaker 3: fairly often, and I'm thinking, man, you could probably take
Speaker 3: care of all of this for a few thousand dollars.
Speaker 3: And he's already got the insurance company involved, which could
Speaker 3: have a negative impact on his premiums.
Speaker 2: Sit down on the road, my deductibles one thousand bucks.
Speaker 2: This is going to cost three. I'm coming out two
Speaker 2: grand in the green. Ultimately, that's that's not what happened.
Speaker 3: You are perpetually and definitely even sometimes paying more in
Speaker 3: premiums every single year.
Speaker 2: That's going to go on your clue report when you
Speaker 2: trying to switch insurance companies.
Speaker 3: So that it happened, y'all. So it might be worth
Speaker 3: crunching some numbers in that case. Also for the future,
Speaker 3: for folks who have been impacted by these major storms,
Speaker 3: check out floodsmart dot gov and that's where you can
Speaker 3: determine your risk level, where you can shop for a
Speaker 3: flood insurance policy if it turns out that you are
Speaker 3: in need of one, and if you are, like the
Speaker 3: vast majority of folks without coverage for flood damage, you're
Speaker 3: probably need to get help from FEMA. So make sure
Speaker 3: to apply for assistance over at FEMA dot gov or
Speaker 3: link to where there is where you can apply for
Speaker 3: housing assistance essentially, but then just document everything along the way,
Speaker 3: because a lot of folks aren't going to necessarily want
Speaker 3: to wait to get their life back on track to
Speaker 3: hear like a lot of folk aren't gonna wait to
Speaker 3: hear from a government organization who is probably completely up
Speaker 3: to their neck in trying to help folks. But take pictures,
Speaker 3: take video to highlight the extent of the damage, and
Speaker 3: keep all your receipts. But we wish everyone out there
Speaker 3: the best of luck, and we you know, last week
Speaker 3: we talked about ways to donate if you are so inclined,
Speaker 3: and we'll make sure to include those links to some
Speaker 3: of those different vetted organizations again, but especially too when
Speaker 3: it comes to FEMA. I think I saw only something
Speaker 3: like three percent of folks who are denied, So folks
Speaker 3: who apply for FEMA only something like three percent of
Speaker 3: folks who get denied and are told no, actually appeal
Speaker 3: And man, I know that there's a whole lot going on,
Speaker 3: but when we're talking about a big ticket item like this,
Speaker 3: like your home, this is something that's worth appealing. So
Speaker 3: don't be like ninety seven percent of folks. We want
Speaker 3: you to be a part of that three percent.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this squeaky wheel gets the grease. And if you
Speaker 2: get turned down or something, it could be just because
Speaker 2: you didn't feel something out properly on the application. Like
Speaker 2: there's all sorts of potential explanations. So if you're first,
Speaker 2: the first word you get from FEMA is no, go,
Speaker 2: don't go, like keep barking barking at that door.
Speaker 1: That's right, all right.
Speaker 2: In another sign, Matt, that money is still a taboo
Speaker 2: topic in this country, Americans, as it turns out, a
Speaker 2: recent survey shows would rather talk about politics than money.
Speaker 2: They would rather talk about who they're voting for from
Speaker 2: the heart of belief with their fellow human There's I
Speaker 2: don't want to talk about that with almost anybody right now,
Speaker 2: exactly close trusted friends who get me. But this is
Speaker 2: according to a new US Bank survey. I wish we'd
Speaker 2: talked about politics less and talk about money more. And
Speaker 2: if we're able to accomplish one thing with this show,
Speaker 2: it would hopefully be to prod people to not only
Speaker 2: handle their own money better, but to feel like they
Speaker 2: can talk about money more freely in their lives with
Speaker 2: their friends and their family, not in some sort of
Speaker 2: braggedocious way. Look at how I'm croshing it. I'm doing awesome.
Speaker 2: I'm on money Gear seven, whatever it is. But it's
Speaker 2: certainly not to be able to do that to make
Speaker 2: yourself look awesome. But money, confusion, money shame are just
Speaker 2: these powerful things. They hold people back, oftentimes from making progress,
Speaker 2: and I think so much of that. The reason that
Speaker 2: is the case is because we have made it a
Speaker 2: topic that people are essentially not allowed to discuss. And
Speaker 2: you know who better to start some of those combos
Speaker 2: than people who listen to the show How to Money.
Speaker 2: You don't need to know it all, You just need
Speaker 2: to be willing to start a conversation and to allow
Speaker 2: for a little bit of awkwardness in the beginning. Matter
Speaker 2: You might start that conversation start feeling a little weird
Speaker 2: and self conscious that you're doing it. But I think
Speaker 2: there are ways to go about being a little more
Speaker 2: open about this topic without freaking your friends out. And
Speaker 2: I think the more we talk about it, the more
Speaker 2: we normalize this as a topic of conversation, the better
Speaker 2: off we're all going to be, because then I guarantee
Speaker 2: your friends and your family have questions they don't know
Speaker 2: what they're doing with their money, or if they do,
Speaker 2: they love to talk about it too. They just feel
Speaker 2: uncomfortable as well. So starts slow, starts small, But I
Speaker 2: think having those conversations it's going to be way better
Speaker 2: than talk about politics, talk about money instead of Thanksgiving
Speaker 2: table this year?
Speaker 1: Really agree?
Speaker 3: Okay, So on the note of conversations, something that economists
Speaker 3: have essentially stopped talking about. It's the possibility of a recession.
Speaker 3: Goldman sacks they just reduced their projected likelihood of a
Speaker 3: recession in the next year to fifteen percent. And Jully,
Speaker 3: remember it wasn't all that long ago that I think
Speaker 3: Bloomberg said that we had a one hundred percent chance
Speaker 3: of experiencing a recession.
Speaker 2: This was almost exactly two years ago, Matt. It was
Speaker 2: October twenty twenty two.
Speaker 3: Yes, the end of twenty two, and even early into
Speaker 3: beginning of twenty three. It was like, oh, it's going
Speaker 3: to happen. It's going to happen. When's it going to hit?
Speaker 2: So much humility coming from Bloomberg, the one hundred percent
Speaker 2: call that didn't come to pass.
Speaker 1: It never hit.
Speaker 3: Economists are now saying that everything's going to be fine
Speaker 3: and dandy, there's no clouds on the horizon. And we
Speaker 3: say that, like, I'm not poking fun at economists, I'm
Speaker 3: not mad at them, but I do tend not to
Speaker 3: trust these sorts of predictions because, like a one hand,
Speaker 3: the economy, it certainly looks solid right now, markets at
Speaker 3: all time highs is great. But I also wouldn't assume
Speaker 3: that events out of our control couldn't negatively.
Speaker 1: Impact the status quo. We would always.
Speaker 3: Recommend for folks like basically, anytime there's good news, we
Speaker 3: want you to think, hey, something bad could happen. And
Speaker 3: when everyone is like freaking out and running for the
Speaker 3: hills and saying that like the world's about to end,
Speaker 3: look for opportunity because the herd mentality, I think oftentimes
Speaker 3: works against our own ability to get ahead with our
Speaker 3: personal finances. And so what that means for right now
Speaker 3: for you practically speaking, is just to not get too
Speaker 3: far over your skis. When it comes to your spending,
Speaker 3: it means living on less than you make. It means
Speaker 3: living within your means having a solid emergency fund in place,
Speaker 3: having life insurance, all the things that we talk about
Speaker 3: day in and day out here on the show. I
Speaker 3: mentioned the stock market a second ago. It means not
Speaker 3: getting overly excited that, oh my gosh, I'm wealthier than
Speaker 3: I've ever been in my entire life.
Speaker 1: Well for most people.
Speaker 3: That's for like retired you, and it shouldn't have an
Speaker 3: impact on how it is that you're spending money today. Yeah,
Speaker 3: And so if you're tempted to check your balances, don't
Speaker 3: do that. Just keep investing like you always have them.
Speaker 3: And these predictors might be right. There might not be
Speaker 3: a recession over the next incoming over the next year.
Speaker 1: We don't know.
Speaker 2: They don't know. And just like the Bloomberg people didn't
Speaker 2: know two years ago because they were dead wrong. They
Speaker 2: were almost the exact opposite.
Speaker 1: Everybody was dead right.
Speaker 2: Yes, So just yeah, don't believe the talking heads economists
Speaker 2: have correctly predicted predicted like nine out of the last
Speaker 2: two recessions. Matt, that is a common thing. And I
Speaker 2: also want to say this too, that despite whether or
Speaker 2: not we have a macro recession that kind of like
Speaker 2: impacts our country as a whole, there's always the possibility
Speaker 2: for a micro recession, like a personal recession in your
Speaker 2: own way, whether it's just your specific industry, your employer,
Speaker 2: something that happens in your own family. So like kind
Speaker 2: of what you're talking to about, personal preparedness that matters.
Speaker 1: That's what's all about.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you might see, oh, things are rosy with
Speaker 2: the economy, but actually things aren't great in my life
Speaker 2: right now. We want you to be prepared for that eventuality,
Speaker 2: despite what the goons at Golden Sacks or Bloomberger are saying.
Speaker 1: That's right, all.
Speaker 3: Right, Well, we hope everyone has a great weekend, Hug
Speaker 3: the ones you love, and we will see everyone back
Speaker 3: here on Monday. You can find links up on our
Speaker 3: website at howtomoney dot com.
Speaker 1: That's why we've.
Speaker 3: Got all the different resources for you and your personal
Speaker 3: finance journeys, so many resources. Man, But Joe, I think
Speaker 3: it's gonna be it for this episode. So until next time,
Speaker 3: best Friends Out and best Friends Out