Speaker 1: Welcome to had of Money.
Speaker 2: I'm Joel, I'm Matt, and today we're talking about rate reductions,
Speaker 2: rich renters, and costly coffee. That coffee is costing more money,
Speaker 2: not because you're getting the good stuff, Like, uh, you
Speaker 2: haven't upgraded like I have yet? Have you drink? I'm
Speaker 2: keeping my coffee habit minimal. You're trying to keep there
Speaker 2: are certain lifestyle creep factors that you're trying to keep
Speaker 2: in check. Your coffee game is one of them. Although
Speaker 2: you did get that nice how's that nice brewer going?
Speaker 2: By the way, you got like one of these faincy
Speaker 2: automated coffee brewer things. Yes, I got a coffeemaker. There's
Speaker 2: this bran called the mocha Master, and it's trying to
Speaker 2: in drip coffee form mimic a pour over coffee effects, right,
Speaker 2: does it? Because it does the bloom and everything right?
Speaker 1: Like, Yeah, but I.
Speaker 2: Didn't a mochamaster because those things are very expensive. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you got the I got the off brand discounted version. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so so mine is like the best ViBe's brand or
Speaker 2: something's working for you though literally paid fifty bucks for it,
Speaker 2: and which is mortally masters like two fifty or three fifty.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, oh really expensive. It's been great, it's been great,
Speaker 2: So it's And the other thing was we were doing
Speaker 2: French press, and French press just won at least too
Speaker 2: many oils and too it takes too long. And I
Speaker 2: like being able to press a button and get my coffee,
Speaker 2: but I also don't want it to be like the
Speaker 2: ten dollars mister coffee thing, So fair enough. That's it's
Speaker 2: my middle ground that I'm willing to join. Yeah, we'll
Speaker 2: get to coffee the rest of our coffee talk a
Speaker 2: little bit later on. But we hope everyone is having
Speaker 2: a good week. We hope everyone. Hey, by the way,
Speaker 2: if you haven't listened to Wednesday's episode, man, that was
Speaker 2: such a fun episode. I'm still thinking about that, digging
Speaker 2: into Megan Gorman's book a little bit more All the
Speaker 2: President's Money. It was a fun way for us to
Speaker 2: talk about politics without talking about the politics, because.
Speaker 1: Everyone's talking about politics.
Speaker 2: Everyone's got their own opinion. Yes, And by the way,
Speaker 2: just a follow up, I think last week, Matt we
Speaker 2: mentioned something about kind of focusing on the thing you
Speaker 2: can control, and maybe to a certain extent, we made
Speaker 2: voting sound like a dumb idea, and I know why
Speaker 2: you're saying this. We got some pushback from people. I
Speaker 2: just want to say, like, we're not against voting. I'm
Speaker 2: planning on voting, and you have actually a lot more
Speaker 2: control in local elections.
Speaker 1: I guess. Oh heck yeah.
Speaker 2: What we're trying to say is maybe put it in
Speaker 2: as proper context. And I'm glad we live in a
Speaker 2: country where we have the freedom the ability to vote
Speaker 2: our conscience. Heck yeah. But at the same time, I'm
Speaker 2: not putting my hopes and dreams pinning it to any politician.
Speaker 1: But get up there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know the rock. Do they still say rock
Speaker 2: the vote?
Speaker 1: It was like twenty years ago. That's from the Bill
Speaker 1: Clinton era.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, exercise your constitutional right to have a voice
Speaker 2: in the politics and what happens. We are all for that.
Speaker 2: So I'm sorry if it came across like we were
Speaker 2: being completely dismissed above it. We were just saying trying
Speaker 2: to say to focus more, at least on the things
Speaker 2: you can't control. Fair enough, All right, let's get to
Speaker 2: the Friday flight. And by the way, the reason we
Speaker 2: call it the Friday flight is because when you get
Speaker 2: to a brewery you can get a flight of beers,
Speaker 2: a nice little sampling. That way, you don't have to
Speaker 2: fully commit to one single beer. And that's what we
Speaker 2: try to do with the financial stories that we've come
Speaker 2: across this week and how they pertain to your personal finances.
Speaker 2: But let's talk about Jerome Powell Joel. Because the hotly
Speaker 2: demated moment, the anticipated FED rate cut, it finally happened.
Speaker 2: They cut rates for the first time in many years
Speaker 2: by half a point fifty basis points, which is more
Speaker 2: than a lot of folks had anticipated. It's more than
Speaker 2: I was expecting in an attempt to prevent an economic slowdown.
Speaker 2: And this move it's going to negatively impact savers and
Speaker 2: positively impact folks who have credit card debt, for instance,
Speaker 2: although minimally. But as the journal put it, the era
Speaker 2: of earning easy five percent returns on your cash is
Speaker 2: ending slowly. Is not going to happen overnight, folks. But
Speaker 2: this most recent FED move it could also be the
Speaker 2: start of continuing rate cuts, which would make the impact
Speaker 2: more significant over time, but that just remains to be seen. Historically,
Speaker 2: that's what happens when the first rate cut begins, the
Speaker 2: downward path continues. It's not one and done. That's just
Speaker 2: not how it works, at least historically. Again, we who
Speaker 2: knows so, especially with inflation, and we'll be paying attention
Speaker 2: to those numbers. But you're right, you said in preventing
Speaker 2: an economic slowdown, Matt, and I think the Fed has this.
Speaker 2: They have this dual mandate right to pay attention to
Speaker 2: inflation but also to pay attention to the labor market.
Speaker 2: And they're seeing signs of softness in the labor market
Speaker 2: and that was I think a big part of the
Speaker 2: reason for this rate cut, and for a bigger rate
Speaker 2: cut than many had predicted in this rate cut. And
Speaker 2: future rate cuts are going to impact savers, are going
Speaker 2: to impact borrowers, are going to impact investors. But I
Speaker 2: think you're right to say too that slowly and how
Speaker 2: much we don't quite know yet. But if you have
Speaker 2: a credit card debt, if you have a home equity
Speaker 2: line of credit, pretty soon you're going to likely see
Speaker 2: those rates start to tick down. If you're borrowing to
Speaker 2: buy a car, you've taken on an auto loan, you
Speaker 2: might see rates ticked down there too. When it comes
Speaker 2: to mortgage rates, well, what's going to happen there? I
Speaker 2: wouldn't say that this is an excuse to take out
Speaker 2: more loads of That's not what you're say. No, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: I'm just saying like that that the reality on the
Speaker 2: ground is going to get cheaper to borrow, and sadly
Speaker 2: savers are going to get a small gut punch too.
Speaker 2: It's been like kind of nice for savers to earn
Speaker 2: reasonable returns and those returns might start to get less
Speaker 2: reasonable in the near future. And basically, like your debt,
Speaker 2: still even an environment of declining rates is still worth
Speaker 2: paying off quickly. So if you've got credit card debt
Speaker 2: and you're like, ah, it's instead of twenty two percent,
Speaker 2: it's now twenty one and a half percent, that doesn't
Speaker 2: make it good. It's still awful and you still want
Speaker 2: to be rid of.
Speaker 1: It as quickly as you can.
Speaker 2: Unlike mortgage rates, right, so what we're not saying is
Speaker 2: to pay down your thirty year three percent mortgage. But
Speaker 2: this does bring up another question that comes up when
Speaker 2: rates start to head down, and that is what is
Speaker 2: going to happen with mortgage mortgage rates? What is the
Speaker 2: future of home ownership and your you know what you're
Speaker 2: paying to the bank. Who is servicing your loan has
Speaker 2: a big impact on affordability, and they've already come down
Speaker 2: quite a bit, I think in anticipation of these rate cuts, honestly,
Speaker 2: to see if mortge rates continue to drop, because I
Speaker 2: feel like they started taking down because all the banks
Speaker 2: knew that this rate cut was coming. It had been
Speaker 2: widely expected, it was broadcasted. Yes, yes, yeah, and so
Speaker 2: because of that, mortgage rates don't follow exactly the Fed
Speaker 2: Funds rate. There are a lot more factors involved in
Speaker 2: sending mortgage rates.
Speaker 1: Yeh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're not directly tied. They're not going to see
Speaker 2: in immediate drop. They don't move in tandem with the
Speaker 2: Federal funds rate. It's simply an ingredient that goes into
Speaker 2: the larger product. Yeah, right, Like it's a major ingredient.
Speaker 2: It's like coke, right, and you're thinking, oh, well, i'm
Speaker 2: drinking coke. I'm just drinking coke, right, And you're like, well,
Speaker 2: take a look at the ingredients list. It's mostly carbonated water, yes,
Speaker 2: but there's also some other stuff in there, like high fruit.
Speaker 2: It's corn syrup, caffeine, caramel, color. Those things have an
Speaker 2: impact on the overall coke as well. It's not just
Speaker 2: the carbonated water. But speaking of buying, renting, it might
Speaker 2: be better no matter how much money you have. The
Speaker 2: Journal they actually had an article about really wealthy folks
Speaker 2: who could easily afford to buy a home but who
Speaker 2: are instead opting to rent, and the reason is because
Speaker 2: there aren't enough homes on the market that they're interested in. Granted,
Speaker 2: a big part of this article is focusing on some
Speaker 2: ultra rich folks like this one guy's paying nineteen thousand
Speaker 2: dollars a month for his super swinky apartment in Manhattan.
Speaker 2: That sounds reasonable, seems totally relatable, But the truth is
Speaker 2: renting is cheaper in today's housing environment in almost every
Speaker 2: single one of the top fifty metro areas. It's not
Speaker 2: always an easy choice. And I think the rent versus
Speaker 2: by decision it's going to look different for everyone, but
Speaker 2: certainly something to consider. Yeah, and I do think that
Speaker 2: with rates coming down, it is going to cause some
Speaker 2: of those folks Matt who are on the sidelines. They're like,
Speaker 2: I want to buy a house, but seven and a
Speaker 2: half plus percent interest rates and plus the what's going
Speaker 2: on with housing prices, that's got to be priced out.
Speaker 2: But if we're talking about more six percent interest rates.
Speaker 2: That might cause some more sellers to join in, and
Speaker 2: that might cause more buyers to have their interest peak too.
Speaker 1: So I think that's good.
Speaker 2: I think we might see more fluidity in the housing market.
Speaker 2: It doesn't mean prices are coming down, but I think
Speaker 2: affordability might get a little bit better. And there certainly
Speaker 2: are going to be more options for folks. Yeah, more movement. Right,
Speaker 2: let's talk about if you're going to get a mortgage.
Speaker 2: What about getting a fifteen year mortgage? Well, Kiplinger says
Speaker 2: more people should be considering one. I would say not
Speaker 2: so fast, Kiplinger. But what they note in this article
Speaker 2: is that you're going to be able to pay off
Speaker 2: your home sooner duh, fifteen or fifteen years sooner. We
Speaker 2: agree with that assessment, and that you're going to pay
Speaker 2: less and overall interest, which is also true, but that
Speaker 2: much larger mortgage payment could prevent you from attacking some
Speaker 2: other really important financial goals. So we're not completely against
Speaker 2: fifteen year home loans. And actually, when you look at
Speaker 2: the spread on fifteen year mortgages Matt versus what you
Speaker 2: pay interest right wise getting out taking out a thirty
Speaker 2: year mortgage, the gap has grown, and fifteen year mortgages
Speaker 2: have looked better in recent months in comparison to their
Speaker 2: thirty year counterparts. And if you hate home dat, I
Speaker 2: guess and you can afford it, I would consider going
Speaker 2: this route. At least for some folks it might make
Speaker 2: the most sense because it forces them to do the
Speaker 2: right thing. But you can always choose to pay more
Speaker 2: on a thirty year mortgage. And it's also important to
Speaker 2: mention that if you if taking out a shorter mortgage
Speaker 2: means foregoing let's say, contributing to or maxing out your
Speaker 2: roth IRA, if it means not having a solid emergency fund,
Speaker 2: if it means not investing for your future in ways
Speaker 2: you otherwise would, it's not worth the trade off. But
Speaker 2: if it prevents you, I guess, from doing sillier things
Speaker 2: or not as intentional things with your money, then maybe
Speaker 2: the fifteen year mortgage is the right thing for you.
Speaker 2: That's right, Okay. We talked last week about rapidly growing
Speaker 2: four to one K accounts, which we.
Speaker 1: Love to see.
Speaker 2: Well, guess what, five twenty nine plans have surpassed the
Speaker 2: cool milestone as well, five hundred billion dollars in total assets,
Speaker 2: woo Que, the streamers, and the wish I cant. Essentially,
Speaker 2: the word is getting out about five twenty nine's and
Speaker 2: as they've become more flexible, they're drawing more interest as
Speaker 2: well as more dollars from parents around the country. So
Speaker 2: it's worth addressing. Is this good news? What we would say?
Speaker 1: Kind of.
Speaker 2: I'm certainly glad that five twenty nine accounts are making
Speaker 2: the headlines and the future wroth conversion possibilities. They certainly
Speaker 2: do make five twenty nine funds more attractive, right. I
Speaker 2: think that's what was keeping a lot of people on
Speaker 2: the sidelines. They were afraid of their dollars getting locked
Speaker 2: up and they didn't want to overfund those accounts. It's
Speaker 2: like they were too the accounts were too inflexible, and
Speaker 2: so people are too origid. I just don't know if
Speaker 2: I want to lock my money up into that, And
Speaker 2: that was completely understandable, totally yeah, and Kiplinger they also
Speaker 2: noted another reason too, they think was because of the
Speaker 2: fact there's a new grandparent loophole that was put into
Speaker 2: place for the twenty four twenty twenty four twenty twenty
Speaker 2: five school year, which is pretty stink and cool. Maybe
Speaker 2: some listener will hear this and send in a listener question.
Speaker 2: We can talk about this in depth a little bit more,
Speaker 2: but it basically makes it to where you don't have
Speaker 2: to report that on the FAFSA. So that being said,
Speaker 2: it seems like this is only a good thing, right,
Speaker 2: But on the other side of the coin five point
Speaker 2: nine accounts, they really only make sense for folks who
Speaker 2: are completely crushing it when it comes to their own
Speaker 2: retirement accounts. First, if you are not doing that, we
Speaker 2: want to make sure that folks are focusing on that
Speaker 2: before you start to invest for your child's future education needs.
Speaker 2: It's almost as if, like imagine a world where something
Speaker 2: there is a new tweak, a modification to the roth
Speaker 2: IRA and it just made it more attractive. I think
Speaker 2: we would see a similar impact on the amount of
Speaker 2: money going into roth IRA's, Yeah, because it just makes
Speaker 2: the headlines, and anytime something is featured, I think it
Speaker 2: draws more eyeballs, it draws more money into those accounts,
Speaker 2: and we kind of see them swell a little bit. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and we're not anti five twenty nine, but what we're
Speaker 2: saying I guess is I got four of them set
Speaker 2: up for my kids. Same, except I only have three kids.
Speaker 2: But yeah, you don't want to get the cart before
Speaker 2: the horse. And the truth is, like it's it's a
Speaker 2: solid cart, like it's well built, but if you put
Speaker 2: it before the horse, you're not going to get the
Speaker 2: movement that you want. And so yeah, make sure that
Speaker 2: you're looking after your own retirement accounts first, hopefully getting
Speaker 2: closer to the point of maximos things out before you
Speaker 2: really delve into that amount of just seen too many
Speaker 2: folks barely getting the match from their employer nothing else.
Speaker 2: Five to twenty nine plan is next on the agenda,
Speaker 2: and that's too soon, Like you want to wait till
Speaker 2: you've got a better game plan with your own retirement
Speaker 2: accounts before you jump into that the five twenty nine investing. Okay,
Speaker 2: speaking of kids, should you pay your kids to read?
Speaker 2: I found this really interesting story in the New York
Speaker 2: Times match. I don't know, are you paying your kids
Speaker 2: money to read books? No? They do it of their
Speaker 2: own volition. Yeah, all right, let's because you have really
Speaker 2: great kids. And in my oldest she's like Belle and
Speaker 2: Beauty and the Beasts, like walking around with a book
Speaker 2: interface all the time, which I think is amazing. This
Speaker 2: probably could have been the ludicrous headline of the week,
Speaker 2: but the New York Times had an article and it
Speaker 2: was written my parent who was saying that she paid
Speaker 2: her kid one hundred bucks to read a book. That's
Speaker 2: a lot of money. It is a lot of money.
Speaker 2: I was like, one hundred dollars, that's crazy. She admits
Speaker 2: that it was like this ploy of last resort and
Speaker 2: that the conversation, yes, it's incredibly high, but that her
Speaker 2: plan has actually worked. It's open the floodgates, causing her
Speaker 2: her twelve year old daughter to start reading more regularly.
Speaker 1: And I, I guess, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I feel multiple ways about this, Like the parent, she's
Speaker 2: trying to get her daughter to love reading. But I
Speaker 2: want your opinion. Do you think she did the right
Speaker 2: thing there? She's trying to provide it by incentivizing. So
Speaker 2: she is she doing this with every single book or
Speaker 2: is it just one book? No, so it was the
Speaker 2: first book and hopes that would kind of lead to Okay,
Speaker 2: I'm fine with that more perpetual reading. Well, it makes
Speaker 2: me think back to when I was a kid in school.
Speaker 2: We had this thing called accelerated reader, and I can't
Speaker 2: remember if it was after every book that you read,
Speaker 2: or maybe when you accumulated a certain number of points
Speaker 2: or something like that.
Speaker 1: But there's I.
Speaker 2: Feel like there's like a pizza party involved in the class.
Speaker 2: I recall us getting these vouchers for like a personal
Speaker 2: pain pizza, Yes, at Pizza Hut.
Speaker 1: I remember that too.
Speaker 2: How did they not go bankrupt because there are so
Speaker 2: many kids, Just think about one single school. That can't
Speaker 2: be right. They weren't handing those out after every book
Speaker 2: you read, not.
Speaker 1: Every book, but I think it was.
Speaker 2: It was like a summer reading program maybe and you
Speaker 2: read a certain number and then you get the free
Speaker 2: personal bank or sometimes you get tickets to like a
Speaker 2: baseball game or something like that where I go. But
Speaker 2: I remember the Pizza Hut coupons though, Yeah, stockpiling those
Speaker 2: bad boys. But yeah, so I think I'm fine with that.
Speaker 2: I'm fine incentivizing kids to do the things you want
Speaker 2: them to do. It's unfortunate I guess that more kids
Speaker 2: aren't naturally reading, But it's because I think this is more.
Speaker 2: This is less money and more like social issues or whatever.
Speaker 2: But there's just other flashier things that they're drawn to,
Speaker 2: like video games, movies, TV, social media, right, like, there
Speaker 2: are all these other things as opposed to finding ways
Speaker 2: to elevate reading. And I mean our kids, they really
Speaker 2: do love reading. And I think it's in part because
Speaker 2: we have pursued it as a family. Like I mean
Speaker 2: I try to read, like at dinner every night, like
Speaker 2: ten to twenty minutes. I eat faster than the kids
Speaker 2: do and they're still eating and Kate and I are just
Speaker 2: like looking at each other, so like we've been doing
Speaker 2: this for years now, but we read as a family.
Speaker 2: Right now, we're doing Wing feather Saga is like the
Speaker 2: series that we're going through right now. But the kids
Speaker 2: love it. I have literally said to them before, Hey,
Speaker 2: if you disobey mommy again, we're gonna take away your
Speaker 2: new library books. Yeah, like as a punishment, because that's
Speaker 2: something that they enjoy doing so much. But I think
Speaker 2: there are ways that we can elevate it throughout their lives,
Speaker 2: as opposed to just having the expensive sort of carrot
Speaker 2: at the end of the stick, you know. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: if you're trying to do that with every book, that
Speaker 2: get expensive real real quick. Sure, But I think that
Speaker 2: the one time thing and trying to incentivize something to
Speaker 2: try to build a habit that's one piece of the
Speaker 2: puzzle maybe, and trying to help build that habit. It
Speaker 2: makes me think, though, I like, I bribe my daughter.
Speaker 2: I give her a free book, I'll buy her book.
Speaker 2: It's a use book if she gets a hundred on
Speaker 2: her spelling test. And so we work our butts off
Speaker 2: to try to get a hundred on the spelling test
Speaker 2: every week. And so that is a bribe of sorts,
Speaker 2: but it's a bribe.
Speaker 1: Also.
Speaker 2: The incentivizes are not only to do well in spelling,
Speaker 2: but to keep reading. So and I'm not even opposed
Speaker 2: to just the pure cash bribe as well, just to
Speaker 2: kind of like get the ball rolling, you know. It's
Speaker 2: like like there needs to be an initial behavior change element.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and play. Well.
Speaker 2: The truth is we're human. And so if someone asked
Speaker 2: me to stop doing a bad habit and I was like,
Speaker 2: what's in it for me? And they were going to
Speaker 2: pay me money to do it, I would breathe really
Speaker 2: would my ears a perk up. I'd be interested. So
Speaker 2: at first I think I revolted against the story. I
Speaker 2: was like, that seems weird. At first, You're being judgmental. Yeah,
Speaker 2: the more I thought about it, I was like, actually
Speaker 2: that might make sense fair enough, Yeah, and kids respond
Speaker 2: to those incentives or We've got more to get to
Speaker 2: on this episode. And clear we're we're talking about expensive
Speaker 2: mental health. We'll get to that and more right after this, Right, Joel,
Speaker 2: we are back from the break and guess what it is?
Speaker 2: Time now for the ludicrous headline of the week. This
Speaker 2: one is from WBZ. This is a local more of
Speaker 2: a local story, I guess WBZ in Boston. Listener Gary
Speaker 2: sent this one our away. Thank you, Gary, and the
Speaker 2: headline reads, fight over seventy thousand dollars engagement ring heads
Speaker 2: to State Supreme Court. Sounds like there's some drama involved
Speaker 2: in this one. Yeah, some relational drama. First of all,
Speaker 2: that's one heck of an expensive engagement ring. Is it
Speaker 2: still three months salary? Joel, you and I have said,
Speaker 2: I don't know that we've demnked that a little bit.
Speaker 2: But if that's what you're assuming, this guy's doing quite well.
Speaker 2: He's a baller if that's the case. But the crux
Speaker 2: of this issue of the story is whether an engagement
Speaker 2: ring is a conditional or unconditional gift? Is it a
Speaker 2: nice present? That the recipient gets to keep no matter what,
Speaker 2: or is it more along the lines of, Hey, if
Speaker 2: we don't get married, I'm expecting that ring back. Personally, Joel,
Speaker 2: I'm kind of that thinking. It's called an engagement ring, right,
Speaker 2: and so plus I can like picture that in movies, right,
Speaker 2: like if you call off the engagement, she like takes
Speaker 2: off the ring, hands it back. It's sometimes throws it
Speaker 2: at his face, depending on what he's depending on what
Speaker 2: movie that you're watching. But uh, yeah, what do you think.
Speaker 2: I think if yeah, if you got someone an engagement present,
Speaker 2: like a Oh I get you a purse because I
Speaker 2: love you, or I got you a suit jacket because
Speaker 2: I love you, whatever it is, that's that's cool, keep
Speaker 2: that thing. But the engagement ring does feel a little different.
Speaker 2: Although state laws around the country, as I looked into this,
Speaker 2: they're all different. He didn't do this, yeah, they Oh,
Speaker 2: they have different takes on whether or not it's considered
Speaker 2: conditional or unconditional. Oh shut up, And sometimes it depends
Speaker 2: on the behavior of the parties involved. And so I
Speaker 2: think part of the reason that that this this dude
Speaker 2: is essentially saying give him a ring back because it's
Speaker 2: really expensive. But two, because he's he's insinuating that she
Speaker 2: did things that were untoward and she's like, no, I didn't.
Speaker 1: What are you talking about?
Speaker 2: So I don't know where I side down this too.
Speaker 2: I think I also decided to, like, all, if you're
Speaker 2: not going to go through with it, it's called an
Speaker 2: engagement ring.
Speaker 1: Should I'll give it back.
Speaker 2: It's like to me, it's an external signal of your
Speaker 2: intention to get married, right, like, oh, and the story
Speaker 2: said that he you know, they called it off, and
Speaker 2: he called it off in particular here shortly after they
Speaker 2: got engaged. It would be different if they had gotten married.
Speaker 2: That's a whole other thing. Let's say they've been married,
Speaker 2: even for like a couple of years. I would say,
Speaker 2: all right, she probably gets to keep it, like you
Speaker 2: actually got married, Like that was the intent behind the
Speaker 2: engagement ring, is the signal that, like, we are going
Speaker 2: to get married. But there's a difference there between just
Speaker 2: being engaged, I think and actually getting married.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I don't know.
Speaker 2: It's an interesting story, and you could find yourself in
Speaker 2: some legal limbo. I guess if you are engaged and
Speaker 2: it doesn't come there, And that just stinks to the
Speaker 2: relationship fell apart. But that's a lot of money at
Speaker 2: stake and another reason Matt to be a little more frugal.
Speaker 1: Think with your your engagement ring choice.
Speaker 2: You never know and evidently depends on in which state
Speaker 2: you reside. Yeah, maybe that couple could have used some therapy, jol.
Speaker 2: I'm sure they could afford it based on how much
Speaker 2: it was a Tiffany's engager ring. Seventy thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so expensive.
Speaker 2: But there's an article this week about how expensive therapy
Speaker 2: can be. We've as a culture, we've destigmatized mental health,
Speaker 2: but that doesn't mean it's gotten more financially accessible. Although
Speaker 2: more insurance companies are going to help to pay for
Speaker 2: some therapy, that being said, most therapists don't take insurance. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so it's kind of like the reservation skit on Seinfeld.
Speaker 2: It's like, you know how to take the reservation, you
Speaker 2: just not how to keep it. There's a disconnect here. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and it's like, Okay, well cool, insurance is going to
Speaker 2: pay for therapy, but nobody wants to accept it, and
Speaker 2: then you're you're kind of stuck between a rock and
Speaker 2: a hard place, right Like sometimes like oftentimes is it
Speaker 2: I feel like the going rate. We've talked about the
Speaker 2: sum with Emily being in school to be a counselor,
Speaker 2: like one fifty a session does not see safeties like
Speaker 2: table stakes. Now, man, oh, is it really Yeah? So
Speaker 2: it's even more so. Yeah, and especially if you're a
Speaker 2: couple going to Marrorg's therapy, we're definitely talking two bills
Speaker 2: or more, maybe closer to two fifty. And so there
Speaker 2: was this recent survey man, I found that something like
Speaker 2: a third of people were going to therapy. Theyre felt
Speaker 2: like they were being helped by it, but they felt
Speaker 2: like they had to actually stop going to therapy in
Speaker 2: order to save money because it adds up. I mean like, really,
Speaker 2: you go three times a month, that's a that's a
Speaker 2: car payment, the average car payment in the United States.
Speaker 2: It really, it really can be quite expensive. And I
Speaker 2: want to say this too because I think initially when
Speaker 2: I when Emily and I were talking and I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: you can get that much per hour, You're going to
Speaker 2: be rolling in the dough. And she was like, well, well, one,
Speaker 2: there's the time that it takes to go to school,
Speaker 2: There's the money that it takes to go to school,
Speaker 2: There's the facility that you have to rent in order
Speaker 2: to see people. Although there's more zoom therapy now, but
Speaker 2: there's like all there's the insurance you have to have
Speaker 2: as a therapist. It's not like they're just pocketing one
Speaker 2: hundred and eighty bucks an hour. And it's not like
Speaker 2: you're working eight hour. It's not like a plumber, right
Speaker 2: or I don't know, it's not like a lot we
Speaker 2: have to drive to and from their jobs.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like there are.
Speaker 2: Periods of time when you're not working as opposed to
Speaker 2: like I guess I'm thinking of a lawyer who can
Speaker 2: build hourly and it's typically is like you just sit
Speaker 2: there at your desk and you continue to work pretty much.
Speaker 2: You know, you break for lunch and whatever else you
Speaker 2: need to do. But yeah, you're not seeing like clients
Speaker 2: back to back back exactly for nine clients in a day.
Speaker 2: There's some big old gaps. Yeah, get those dollars signs
Speaker 2: out of your eyes aol.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, I had to.
Speaker 2: I had to, like, oh I got, I got me
Speaker 2: a sugar mama, right, I'd get I had to re
Speaker 2: align my expectations there. But yeah, I think it's important
Speaker 2: to mention that mentioned that that that's part of why
Speaker 2: it's so expensive, But it's also sad that it's financially
Speaker 2: inaccessible to so many people. So what should you do
Speaker 2: out there? I feel like I would love to go
Speaker 2: see somebody, I would love to do some talk therapy,
Speaker 2: but it does feel like I can't do it because
Speaker 2: how crazy expensive it is. Well, one check and see
Speaker 2: if there are nonprofits in your area that offer discounted
Speaker 2: access to talk therapy. Those exist, and those can make
Speaker 2: a big difference. Check and see if your employer offers
Speaker 2: access to mental health services or will pay for some therapy,
Speaker 2: especially if you had a traumatic event. Oftentimes there's like
Speaker 2: money from employers Matt that will help pay for some
Speaker 2: of that. Some therapists, like I said, do accept insurance,
Speaker 2: and others will charge on a sliding scale depending on
Speaker 2: your income. So it's worth asking about that too. Maybe
Speaker 2: you find out, hey, my insurance does cover some mental
Speaker 2: health help, and I'm gonna do my darkness to find
Speaker 2: a practitioner who accepts that insurance. And I think this
Speaker 2: is maybe under sold too, But How'm I gonna talk
Speaker 2: with a friend going for a hike or a walk
Speaker 2: or something like that. I know they're not trained in
Speaker 2: the same way, but that can actually be a free
Speaker 2: way to unburden some of those things that you've got
Speaker 2: on your mind, get you thinking about certain events in
Speaker 2: a healthier way. Perhaps, what do you think.
Speaker 1: About again, I know it's not the same. I'm just saying, yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Get what you're saying, though, because I mean, sometimes you
Speaker 2: just need space and for someone to kind of like
Speaker 2: ask some questions. And I think part of the loneliness
Speaker 2: epidemic that we were going through as a country is
Speaker 2: because we're not hanging out with friends as much on
Speaker 2: that people to talk. We feel like we need to
Speaker 2: professionalize everything. And that's true. Again, my wife's studying to
Speaker 2: be a professional there, but she's awesome at it. And
Speaker 2: why are you talking down the industry, Joals. I'm just
Speaker 2: saying like that, if we have had more people in
Speaker 2: our communities and in our neighbors that we're more connected to,
Speaker 2: we might find that we needed to professionalize that just
Speaker 2: a little less. I totally agree on the note of
Speaker 2: mental health. Put down your phone after work hours, folks.
Speaker 2: This isn't going to be shocking, but a recent survey
Speaker 2: found that responding to work emails after hours, it's going
Speaker 2: to lead the burnout. Yet the majority of Americans are
Speaker 2: doing this very thing because they feel like they have to.
Speaker 2: And so is that actually true though, Like do they
Speaker 2: have to get back.
Speaker 1: To their boss or do they just feel like that
Speaker 1: or do you?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like, if your boss expects that you're going to
Speaker 2: respond immediately, even if it's dinner time, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I might say it might it could be time for
Speaker 2: like a heart to heart sort of conversation with your boss.
Speaker 2: Maybe you can negotiate some new expectations on both ends.
Speaker 2: But the truth is, and this is another story we
Speaker 2: came across the c suite, the upper crust in the
Speaker 2: workplace hierarchy. They are doing it, so maybe you should
Speaker 2: consider it as well. More CEOs are migrating back to
Speaker 2: dumb phones basically in order to reduce interruptions within their
Speaker 2: within their workday. There is a bit of, uh, sort
Speaker 2: of like an anti tech movement that's happening, Joel, and
Speaker 2: I think embracing it, at least in moderation could help
Speaker 2: your personal as well as your professional life. That being said,
Speaker 2: I don't want people to think that they have to
Speaker 2: spend more money on these new gadgets that are going
Speaker 2: to cost you money. That are dumb. I saw that
Speaker 2: the you know what I'm saying, the new light phones
Speaker 2: coming out and the version three. What's what's the price
Speaker 2: of the eight hundred bucks? Oh, it's the same prices
Speaker 2: as my phone.
Speaker 1: Ridiculous.
Speaker 2: It's so stupid. And so this is where we can
Speaker 2: fall into that trap of consumption and thinking that, oh,
Speaker 2: I got to consume in order to fix all my problems.
Speaker 2: But sometimes yes, certain tools are helpful and they can
Speaker 2: allow us to achieve some of the goals that we're
Speaker 2: looking to achieve. But don't forget about self discipline and
Speaker 2: the fact that it's takes Like you can buy that
Speaker 2: stupid phone, it's been eight hundred bucks on a light phone,
Speaker 2: but if you don't use it, and if you still
Speaker 2: go back to the one that's pinging you from work,
Speaker 2: turn off your notifications. First of all, I think that's
Speaker 2: a super easy way to minimize some of the distractions
Speaker 2: and minimize interruptions in your personal life. But in another room,
Speaker 2: to put it in the room, set like draw a
Speaker 2: line in the sand and set some rules around so
Speaker 2: when you try off notifications, like the badge notifications will
Speaker 2: go away as well, like the little red number down
Speaker 2: there on your email. I don't want to be notified.
Speaker 2: I don't want there to be a banner that pops
Speaker 2: up on my phone every single time that I receive
Speaker 2: an email. And I know that we're maybe speaking from
Speaker 2: a position of luxury jeel like, this is the ability
Speaker 2: for us to be our own boss. Some folks out
Speaker 2: there might be saying, well, good for you, guys, I
Speaker 2: can't actually do.
Speaker 1: That, but I have a real boss.
Speaker 2: And he said, but what I guess what we're maybe
Speaker 2: highlighting here is it is something that is worth fighting for,
Speaker 2: and it's honestly, it is the number one reason to
Speaker 2: consider working for yourself. And your boss actually might expect
Speaker 2: that you're gonna reply quickly because you normally reply quickly,
Speaker 2: and so you might have set an expectation by just
Speaker 2: how responsive you've been. And so maybe that's part of
Speaker 2: the heart to heart is saying, listen, I have been responsive,
Speaker 2: but I'm trying to like detox some of the tech
Speaker 2: that's happening in my life in the evening times. And
Speaker 2: so you know, if you say I need to check
Speaker 2: my email one time, I at nine pm before I
Speaker 2: like hit the hay or whatever, maybe that's the one
Speaker 2: thing you give on. But I'm not going to be
Speaker 2: responding at all hours of the evening because I want
Speaker 2: to enjoy that time. And you're right, I think what
Speaker 2: is Australia that basically made it illegal for bosses now
Speaker 2: to contact.
Speaker 1: You in the evening.
Speaker 2: I don't know if we need a law, but we
Speaker 2: do maybe need more open lines of communication. And yes,
Speaker 2: it makes me think of actually what happened this week
Speaker 2: with with Amazon. We're living in a far less worker
Speaker 2: centric environment than we were a couple of years ago.
Speaker 2: Amazon is calling employees back to the office full time
Speaker 2: starting in January, and there are some unhappy Amazon employees
Speaker 2: out there, even though I think that I saw also
Speaker 2: that they gave that Amazon employees now have free access
Speaker 2: to Prime. Sorry, that's not gonna that's not going to
Speaker 2: make up for the fact that you got to go
Speaker 2: back to the office. I did see that part. I
Speaker 2: was like, they I should have free access to Amazon. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they didn't have it already. Come on, it was like
Speaker 2: way too cheap. So it's not just Amazon. The percentage
Speaker 2: of time the average American is working from home has
Speaker 2: dropped actually quite a bit since twenty twenty, when of course,
Speaker 2: that was the way a lot of business had to
Speaker 2: be conducted. We just weren't doing anything in person. And
Speaker 2: I think we're going to see more of this. I
Speaker 2: think this Amazon putting the foot down five days a week,
Speaker 2: you're coming back into the office or you're out of here.
Speaker 2: Those sorts of ultimatums are ramping up. And then when
Speaker 2: a company as big as Amazon does it that, we're
Speaker 2: going to see more employers follow suits. It's true, and
Speaker 2: the less competitive the labor market becomes, the more employees
Speaker 2: are going to be forced to take it on the chin.
Speaker 2: And we know that in office work leads to more
Speaker 2: advancement and pay hikes, especially.
Speaker 1: For younger workers.
Speaker 2: If your work from home stat status starts to change
Speaker 2: and you don't like it, though, tap your network for
Speaker 2: better opportunities. And if you really really hate the idea,
Speaker 2: it's really important to start ramping up your savings so
Speaker 2: you have more options. So some of those those Amazon
Speaker 2: employees that have a nine month emergency fund saved up,
Speaker 2: they might say, screw you, I'm not coming back in.
Speaker 2: I'm and we were talking to I was talking to
Speaker 2: somebody last night who says, man, I working from home
Speaker 2: has changed my life. I have more time for hobbies.
Speaker 2: I don't feel like I'm run ragged at the end
Speaker 2: of the day, and I think a lot of people
Speaker 2: feel that way, and understandably so. So if that's of
Speaker 2: crucial importance to you, pushback. But if you're still in
Speaker 2: the I'm trying to advance my career, ramp up my
Speaker 2: earnings phase, going back in could be the best thing
Speaker 2: for you. I am surprised to see that though, Like
Speaker 2: so before it was only they only needed to be
Speaker 2: in like three days, three out of five days of
Speaker 2: the week. Yeah, now they're adding those additional two days. Gosh,
Speaker 2: it really does Like guys, I thought we hybrid we worked,
Speaker 2: was working well. I thought it was going to work out,
Speaker 2: but that no longer seems to be the case. Another
Speaker 2: Amazon related story, they're actually trying to compete with my
Speaker 2: favorite grocery storeageol Aldi. Amazon's unrolling their new Amazon Saver line.
Speaker 2: It's the snow frills extremely affordable sort of line, which
Speaker 2: sounds exactly like all these value proposition Yeah, it's still
Speaker 2: a relatively small lineup of food products, but everything costs
Speaker 2: less than five dollars. And Amazon they've already got some
Speaker 2: of their own proprietory brands, but none of them have
Speaker 2: minimized the price to this extent, that's for sure. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they haven't really targeted the super cheap store brand thing.
Speaker 2: They've had kind of their more high falutint semi fancy
Speaker 2: organice brands and stuff like that. And now they're like no, no,
Speaker 2: all the and llegal laser eyes on you, focused on you.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean there's been a lot made about gouging in
Speaker 2: the grocery elles, but just the cost of eating at home,
Speaker 2: like honestly, Doe, they have always been more affordable than
Speaker 2: going out to eat. And this Amazon launch is a
Speaker 2: reminder that while prices they're certainly not going back to
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen levels, and we are seeing inflation come down,
Speaker 2: but prices are not going to go back to where
Speaker 2: they used to be. That being said, there's still a
Speaker 2: healthy amount of competition across the grocery store spectrum and
Speaker 2: where you choose to shop, which specific brands that you
Speaker 2: choose to buy, they will be a determining factor in
Speaker 2: your overall grocery budget. Personally, though, I will say I'm
Speaker 2: not super impressed with what I'm seeing when it comes
Speaker 2: to the Amazon stadth, I haven't ordered something, okay, being
Speaker 2: I would love to see you trying totally just Canp's
Speaker 2: look delicious? I'm totally judging a book by its cover.
Speaker 2: It just looks super generic and discounted. Whereas like when
Speaker 2: I go to All the like all the and Costco
Speaker 2: feel value driven to me, and especially Costco right like,
Speaker 2: because you're getting like they have some nicer brands.
Speaker 1: You're saying, it feels more like a dollar store product.
Speaker 2: It does, it does, and so you're paying a similar
Speaker 2: price as what you might pay at All the but
Speaker 2: it feels like you're getting something that that's even cheaper. Yeah,
Speaker 2: So I don't know. Maybe I will just be an.
Speaker 1: All the loyalist for whatever I think you will be.
Speaker 1: I'll give it a shot.
Speaker 2: I'll see if there's something there that where I can
Speaker 2: do sort of like a beta test, like compare some
Speaker 2: apples to apples. Okay, not literally, they don't really have
Speaker 2: apples this Amazon Savor line, but yeah, like canpis to canpis?
Speaker 2: I guess, sure and report back, let us know what
Speaker 2: you think. But I think more than hey, look at
Speaker 2: this great new, super cheap, awesome food product from Amazon.
Speaker 2: It's it's more of a kind of what you were saying,
Speaker 2: highlighting the fact that they're having to compete with grocery
Speaker 2: stores that have cut costs significantly, that are saving consumers
Speaker 2: money regularly, and Amazon's like, well, we don't want to
Speaker 2: get it left out completely, get left in the dust
Speaker 2: by the Aldis and the leadals of this world. Right,
Speaker 2: speaking of hiking grocery prices, though Matt new Data finds
Speaker 2: it the coffee prices have been going up significantly. All Right,
Speaker 2: I guess I'm just gonna pay more. Yeah, I get so,
Speaker 2: are you?
Speaker 1: Is that what's gonna happen?
Speaker 2: Like you're gonna buy the fancy stuff, no matter what
Speaker 2: are you gonna it's coffee. Coffee is like a non
Speaker 2: negotiable man, Like, would you if the that's like one
Speaker 2: of those inflexible it doesn't matter what the price goes to.
Speaker 2: Almost yeah, Like I think I would still consume coffee.
Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of parents out there and
Speaker 2: a lot of workers who would be like, yeah, I
Speaker 2: still got to get my coffee. You're not going to
Speaker 2: like pull a Tim Ferriss and just cut caffeine out
Speaker 2: of your life.
Speaker 1: Did he do that?
Speaker 2: I think he did Oh yeah, I don't think I
Speaker 2: could do that. I think he said he slept better.
Speaker 2: But like, yeah, so we've already seen those prices going up.
Speaker 2: My bag at Costco went from like ten bucks to
Speaker 2: fifteen bucks over the course of like a year, and
Speaker 2: it might be going up even more. And at risk
Speaker 2: of being those idiots who tell you to drink your
Speaker 2: coffee at home because that's what's gonna allow you to
Speaker 2: retire ten years earlier, which of course it's not. But
Speaker 2: drink your coffee at home, because it's the more you
Speaker 2: do that, the more it will save you money. Jill's like,
Speaker 2: I'm saying, I'm not going to say the thing, but
Speaker 2: then I'm going to say the thing. It is just
Speaker 2: if you can play if you're paying five bucks a
Speaker 2: pop for coffee, and how you complain about the price
Speaker 2: of coffee and you do that five six days a week,
Speaker 2: expected does that?
Speaker 1: It does matter?
Speaker 2: And I still think there are ways to enjoy your
Speaker 2: nice cup of coffee out Like it's been a minute
Speaker 2: since we've talked about this. You and I we still
Speaker 2: every single Monday walk to our favorite coffee shop.
Speaker 1: And enjoy an espresso drink.
Speaker 2: We do it once a week, once a week, and
Speaker 2: it makes it feel like a treat. And I think
Speaker 2: if you do it five or six days a week,
Speaker 2: it feels like the routine and something you expect. Then
Speaker 2: start it starts losing its luster. You can make a
Speaker 2: fine cup of coffee at home. In fact, man, I
Speaker 2: feel like sometimes the coffee you're making is better than well,
Speaker 2: like a lot of the local coffee shops are promo
Speaker 2: thank you well just because like you, you dial it.
Speaker 1: You've kind of dialed in. Man.
Speaker 2: You've got a very scientific approach to how you make
Speaker 2: your coffee. You read a loss of words because you
Speaker 2: didn't know the term birgrinder.
Speaker 1: That's what it is.
Speaker 2: It No, it's more than that, because you're getting the
Speaker 2: you're geting the temperature at the right, you're talking about
Speaker 2: the special kettle, the number of rams of coffee.
Speaker 1: I'm just like, that's more my style. Man.
Speaker 2: I get into my coffee maker and hoping it turns
Speaker 2: out okay, I have to research it, figure it out,
Speaker 2: and then for the rest of my life I get
Speaker 2: to do this thing at a discounted rate. You don't
Speaker 2: have to do it that way, but know that ultimately
Speaker 2: it might save you some money.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, before we wrap things up, let's give a quick
Speaker 2: newsletter referral shout out to Megan C. Meghan, we really
Speaker 2: appreciate you sharing the how to Money newsletter, which comes
Speaker 2: out every Tuesday morning, to some of her friends who
Speaker 2: she loves the most, or maybe family members. That's the
Speaker 2: ultimate expression of love, is to share a newsletter that
Speaker 2: matters to you with the people you care about, right.
Speaker 2: Or a podcast, Yeah, or even a website how tomoney
Speaker 2: dot com. That's where you can find our show notes
Speaker 2: for this episode and the different stories that we discussed.
Speaker 2: But buddy, that's going to be it for this episode.
Speaker 2: So until next time, Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out.