WEBVTT - Friday Flight - Checkout Hacks, Calming Compounding, & Balenciaga Babies #588 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.000 Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt, 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:27.600 and today we're discussing checkout hacks, calming, compounding, and Balenciaga babies. Dude, 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:32.320 I barely know what Balenciaga is. There's no Emily doesn't 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:36.600 own any course, it's not a turn that we often 0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:39.320 use and so but we know it's a fancy fashion. 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:42.839 I was going for the little Yeah, it's a fancy brand. Uh. 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:45.199 We are going to talk about the money that we 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:47.520 spend on babies, but this is our Friday fight. Uh. 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:50.879 And specifically we're talking about some of the different headlines 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:53.559 we've come across and specifically how those headlines are going 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:57.280 to impact your money, your ability to earn an invest 0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:00.000 and to spend. But it looks like you've got a person, 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:01.920 well Finnance win here that you want to talk about. Yeah, 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:04.480 so I'm saving five hundred bucks this here for making 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:06.800 one move. We've talked about the show on the show before, 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:09.920 but we I just bought our house and they were 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:12.200 in July, right. We we moved in up here to 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:15.760 our new stopping grounds in July of this year, and 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:19.600 so many moving parts when we're buying a house that 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:23.240 I forgot to kind of think about what my deductible 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:26.240 is going to be on this new property, and that's 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:27.959 not something I have looked at either. I went back 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:30.600 in to look at my at my premiums, and I 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:32.240 was like, wait, this is is kind of high. Is 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:34.800 as kind of expensive as I'm like shopping everything, I'm 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:37.200 like literally reaching out to other insurers and stuff. It 0:01:37.240 --> 0:01:40.080 turns out I've got a decent rate overall for all 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:42.520 the policies. I have a lot of layover policies, the 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:45.680 car insurance policy, the home policy. But I was like, 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:47.600 there's gotta be a way for me to cut this down. 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:51.480 And of course, yes, raising my deductible was a great 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:53.720 way for me to say five dred bucks more than 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:58.080 every single year. Granted it went a lot higher. So 0:01:58.120 --> 0:02:01.040 my deductible is now not even a firm number. It 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:04.440 is a percentage of the home's value. So it's just 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:07.080 if something happens like I have to have a lot 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:10.239 of money on it to make a what's the percentage? 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:12.160 So I'm at three percent, you can do two or 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:15.400 three percent, which is my insurance cooking. And so based 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:17.960 on the amount of money I've got currently stashed away 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:20.480 in savings. I feel comfortable self insuring for this and 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:24.000 just taking taking that savings on the premium amount everyone 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:27.800 plus as you know, sure, the goal of this insurance 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:29.560 is is to never use it. Yeah, never use it. 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:31.840 You want to make sure that it's it's got to 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:35.679 be for something catastrophic, right, Otherwise, were you to use it, 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:38.600 you're going to see this rates skyrocket. Oftentimes it said 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:41.119 that if you use it, you lose it. But uh, man, 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:42.919 that's what made you so you were just shopping around 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:45.920 your insurance because typically I just got an angel reminder 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:48.280 comes around and so we bought our homes. Well we 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:50.480 got our house back in the spring. Uh And so 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:52.600 I feel like I would that would pop pop up 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:54.520 on my radar maybe in like February. So it was 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:57.840 because I got a notice of a bump up in 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:02.000 my car insurance rates by something close. So it was 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:04.200 it was a huge increase, and I saw I reached 0:03:04.240 --> 0:03:05.959 back out to to my agent. I'm like, hey, what's 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:09.160 going on here? Like why so much? But this is honestly, 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:11.160 it's the reality for a lot of people around the country, 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:13.600 like rates or skyrock a lot of car insurance and 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:16.400 raising their raising the rates a lot exactly. So I 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:17.880 was like, how can we how can we knock this 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:20.280 one down? Sadly there wasn't much to do on that front, 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:21.560 but I was like, I gotta find somewhere else to 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:24.080 cut back if if my car insurance is going up 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:27.680 by by this drastic amount. So, uh, unfortunately we have 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:29.880 one car. Unfortunately it's a cheap car, so we don't 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:32.720 have full coverage. So even though it's going up, it's 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:36.040 it's relative, right, it's but it's uh, it's still I'm 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:37.640 glad I was able to find a way to claw 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:40.080 some savings back at the same time, jack up that 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:42.760 deductible on your home insurance because that isn't that insurance 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:45.520 that you typically want to see yourself using. But do 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:47.560 make sure you've got that emergency fund set aside to 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:51.360 handle that really high deductible if and when that event 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:53.520 ever does come. Yeah, and just a good reminder to 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:55.360 all of our listeners out there to take a look. 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:56.840 Do you know what your deductible is? And do you 0:03:56.880 --> 0:03:58.400 know how much you could say if you raised it? 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:00.280 And can you afford to raise it, like you have 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:03.120 the money on hand to self ensure Those are those 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:05.560 are important questions, but We'll hope you ask him because 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:07.280 it could could save you a lot of money. All right, man, 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:10.280 let's get to our Friday flight. So this is that 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:12.920 quick sampling of stories that we found interesting this week. 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:15.360 And first we want to get to I bonds. And 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:18.640 despite the litany of issues that we heard about from 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:21.720 listeners and you know, from the interwebs in general, the 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:24.760 Treasury Department they managed to sell almost one billion dollars 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:28.440 worth of I bonds in a single day last Friday. 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:32.120 It's a tremendous amount of of money flowing into I bons, 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:34.680 something that most folks hadn't even heard of before. If 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:37.000 you missed out because of some of those web glitches, 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:39.160 or maybe it just wasn't even on your radar up 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:42.040 until now. That's okay. The new rate on I bons 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:44.800 has shrunk, but it's still uh in my opinion, do 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:48.799 it like a super solid six point eight nine almost seven. 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:52.080 And it's actually higher than most had predicted because the 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:55.800 Treasury Department they added a point four percent fixed rate 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:58.800 of interest in addition to to netting the rate of inflation. 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:02.840 So this means that even as inflation eases, you'll still 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:06.559 have a fixed rate floor to count on. Which still 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:09.960 makes I bonds an attractive buy for a decent checken folks. 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:12.360 But it's also important to mention that I bonds there 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:14.760 are a great tool for medium term savers. We're talking 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:17.400 at least I mean, you can't touch it for at 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:19.320 least one year, but you know, if not two to 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:21.680 three years, that is a good time friend. To keep 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:23.480 in mind, this isn't money that you need to have 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:26.600 access to immediately. But I mean, said younger, folks with 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:28.919 an even longer time horizon are still better off stalking 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:33.599 away money into the stock market via those tax advantage accounts. Um. 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:35.680 But the the other thing to point out two is 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:38.960 that fixed rate floor, that point four percent, that's actually 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:40.960 good for the full length of the bond. So we're 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:44.159 talking a solid thirty years, and granted it's not much, 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:45.640 but it is nice to know that you can kind 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:47.880 of always count on at least that point four percent. 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:49.640 And there's not a whole lot of folks, let's say 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:51.360 inflation does go back to normal, who are gonna want 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:53.640 to hold on to this I bond for full thirty years? 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:56.480 I can't imagine most of our listeners are gonna probably 0:05:56.480 --> 0:05:58.800 not as the rate does go back down. But you're right. 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:01.200 I think it's it isn't. Weren't to mention as well 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:02.960 that I bans have gotten a lot of press. We've 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:06.000 talked about I bonds quite a bit, but still even 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:07.920 while I bonds remained a great deal, they remain a 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:10.479 great deal for certain folks in certain situations. And there 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:12.640 are a lot of people who would be better served 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:15.640 by investing more and not even really considering I bonds. 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:17.880 But yeah, so much comes down to the individual. And 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:19.880 let's talk about gift giving for a second, map because 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:22.160 we are getting close to that time of year. There's 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:24.200 a new survey that I saw this week that came 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:27.360 out from TransUnion, one of the credit bureaus, and it 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:30.320 found that a decent chunk of shoppers are changing the 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:33.040 way they think about buying gifts for their loved ones 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:36.640 this coming holiday season. I think largely due to the 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:39.440 reality of inflation, which is part of the reason I 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:41.920 bonds are so valuable right now. But a third of 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:45.760 folks said they planned to buy fewer gifts. Overall, seventeen 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:48.600 percent of people said they planned to buy cheap gifts, 0:06:48.839 --> 0:06:52.560 and thirteen percent said they are turning to more practical 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:56.560 gift options over the holidays, And I gotta say, Matt, 0:06:56.640 --> 0:06:59.000 I mostly like the people are pivoting in these ways. 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:00.800 I think this is a good sign because we do 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:04.200 have to make different decisions as inflation roars. Like if 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:06.360 your salary hasn't kept up with the pace of inflation, 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:09.320 you you're spending power has gone down and you have 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:13.520 to change accordingly. So, yeah, buying fewer gifts, as long 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:16.200 as you're communicating that with potential family and friends, I'd 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:18.600 say that's one of the best ways to go totally. Yeah. 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:20.920 We actually talked about this last year with Meg Nordman 0:07:21.440 --> 0:07:24.800 on how to have a minimalist Christmas. We can link 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:26.800 to that episode in their show notes. And you know, 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:28.840 you definitely don't want to just show up without any 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:32.640 gifts on the day of the family gets together because 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:35.440 you're tied on cash. That's not cool. But other friends 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:38.320 and family members, uh, they're they're likely filling the inflation 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:42.360 pinch as well, and they will probably welcome this conversation. 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:44.760 It'll actually be a relief for them. Uh. And so 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:47.640 that earlier that you make this phone call or even 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:51.400 better FaceTime, the better. We're still in early November, so 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:53.840 you know, cleaning the air about gift expectations now. It's 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:56.640 a smart move. And if you haven't even started thinking 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:58.160 about gifts at all, for the gifts that you are 0:07:58.160 --> 0:07:59.960 going to get, I think it also makes sense to 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:02.920 start thinking now. Um. I say this because we recently 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:05.760 purchased a gift for my father in law. This is 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:08.320 a gift that we had kind of thought of last year. 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:09.960 We didn't pull the trigger on it, but it was 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:12.880 still on our minds, and uh, it popped up thirty 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:14.520 It is like thirty or forty pc off on slick 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:17.440 Deals one of their daily emails. Nice So slick Deals, 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:19.600 Deal News. Those are sites that we talk about often. 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:21.600 But if you thought about it ahead of time, if 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:23.760 you've identified those gifts, then they can be on your radar. 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:26.640 That way you can be sure to find the best deal. Yeah. 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:28.440 I like that. And and again I do like that 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:31.720 idea too, of just fewer gifts overall. I think, especially 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:36.920 like when we talked with Meg, fewer quality gifts, just 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:39.560 not the junk, not buying for adults, just saying listen, 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:41.800 we're not doing gift giving for adults this year, or 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:43.199 something like that. That That can actually take a lot of 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:45.200 the pressure off because sometimes we're like, oh, I gotta 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:48.120 get something, and it's hard to Like my dad, love 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:50.280 the guy, I don't know how to buy anything for him, 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:52.880 Like it's he's so hard to shop for. And so 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:56.560 sometimes calling off the gift giving can actually like make 0:08:56.640 --> 0:09:00.440 it a better holiday and only give gifts for kiddos 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:02.600 under fifteen or eighteen, I don't know whatever. I think 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:05.120 that's when you bust out the coupon for a night 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:07.480 out on the town with you and me, pops, rather 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:10.040 than an actual item that you you package. I've gone 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:13.080 to that well many times at this point. But yeah, 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:15.880 it's it's worth thinking about, like as everything is getting 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:19.559 more expensive, like do you change your your tactics when 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:21.360 it comes to buying gifts this year? And all right, 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:24.240 malict's get that to that Balenciaga baby's story. I really 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:26.720 like this one. This one was probably my favorite article 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:29.400 from the past week from the Atlantic, and it was 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:33.480 titled Babies Don't Need Fancy Things, which I love. That's 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:35.600 a great title and in and of itself great headlines. 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:38.760 So freaking true because weddings and babies are, of course, 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:42.520 two places where folks will spend insane amounts of money 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:46.000 without really batting an eye. So yeah, from fancy strollers 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:50.439 to newfangled sleeping devices. The amount of money slashing around 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:53.920 in like even just like the baby development spased match 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:57.200 to develop new products. It's astronomical. And marketers, of course, 0:09:57.240 --> 0:09:59.040 they want you to spend your money on the products 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:01.560 that they've created. The best line in this article mat 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:04.760 was when it said that these marketers equate certain kinds 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:08.600 of consumption with responsible parenting. They that's true. They are 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:11.480 selling you. That's the brainwashing that has occurred. Yes, in 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:14.080 order to be a good parent, you have to get 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:17.600 these items. Uh. The pressure is real for parents because 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:21.439 they see that marketing. They internalize it and they feel like, well, 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:23.320 I got to spend money to show that I actually 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:25.400 love my kid. But we say, we agree with this 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:28.680 article's babies don't need fancy things. And it's hard to 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:32.520 turn a deaf ear to this finely tuned marketing machine 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:35.040 trying to part you from your dollars. But we would 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:38.200 say it's it's in your best financial interest to at 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:40.600 least try to put on the ear muffs, give it 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:42.240 a shot, say la la la la, la la la, 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:45.200 and and and try to avoid all of the fancy 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:47.640 schmancy baby stuff that's coming down the pipe. Yeah, and 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:49.439 we've got a lot of kidos, Joel, Like you, you've 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:52.080 you've got three kids. We have four. Our youngest dudes 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:55.360 they're still toddlers, so we feel this pressure ourselves. Um, 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:58.800 and we've seen how so many baby items they're described 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:02.640 as miracle purchases. Right, they're gonna fix whatever ails your baby. 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:05.200 Therefore it's going to decrease your stress levels as well. 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:08.439 The biggest money making promise, honestly is it's like anything 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:10.000 that will get your kids to sleep through the night, 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:12.680 even sell diapers now, that will promise better sleep for 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:15.360 your child. Seriously, I gotta say, what they're really promising 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:18.000 is what you care about more, is less about your 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:19.560 child sleep and more about your own sleep. Like if 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:22.280 they sleep, I'll sleep absolutely because you know that if 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:25.400 you can sleep and function during the day like that 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:27.800 is gonna make everybody happier. Like I definitely get that. 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:31.040 I mean this honestly. It makes me think of recently 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:34.240 our youngest he's been walking into our room in the 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:36.760 middle of the night, not sleeping through the night. And 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:40.160 this started a conversation between Kate and I and We're like, 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:42.000 you know, maybe what he needs is a big boy 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:44.880 bed because he's not really sleeping on it. It's just 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:48.280 like this little cheap phone mattress. We talked about this 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:50.040 for a little bit before it clicked him ahead and 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:52.320 I realized that we were it was a cell phone like, 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:54.600 we were falling into this trap. We weren't even being 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:57.319 presented with any marketing or advertising messages. It was us 0:11:57.320 --> 0:12:00.280 convincing ourselves that maybe the solution here is the to 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:02.960 spend money to buy something a little bit fancier, something 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:05.080 a little bit nicer. But then I remember that, wait 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:08.120 a minute, our oldest daughter slept in that toddler bed 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:11.720 for until she was like five years old. So we're 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:14.480 convincing ourselves that, oh, yeah, it's it's not even a 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:17.320 real bed. It's just like this fake, pretend, little cheap 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:20.760 ikea toddler bed with like a four inch foam mattress, 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:23.640 until we were able to look back at history and 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:26.080 to realize that, wait a minute, this is not necessary. 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:28.720 And it turns out it's because he had a cold. 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:30.400 When I have a cold, I don't sleep that well 0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:32.720 at night, and he is totally back to sleeping through 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:35.040 the night. Well, no additional dollars spent. It makes me 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:37.600 think too that there's just like this massive gap between 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:41.560 these expensive new baby items and then they're used value 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:44.240 on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace. And so that's one way 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:46.120 around it. If you are going to get yeah, if 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:49.440 you feel the need to get the snow whatever, the 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:53.319 baby sleeper that rotates at different times to make sure 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:57.000 that they sleep at their optimal levels, whatever, then buy 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:00.160 it used at least because they're they're like si new, 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:01.120 but I bet you can get one for a few 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:03.720 hundred dollars on Facebook marketplace like. And the thing is, 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:06.280 you don't keep many of these items around in your 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:10.120 life very long as your kid ages up, Like you're 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:12.760 getting rid of baby and kids stuff all the time. Yeah, 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:16.200 it's a revolving door of items. But we have and 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:19.640 provide for so buying new makes less sense by used 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:20.760 at least if you want to get some of those 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:22.640 fancy stuff, and then maybe at least you're not going 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:24.160 to lose a lot of money in the process because 0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:26.640 then you can sell it used again and maybe might 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:28.160 be able to even get what you what you paid 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:30.520 for it. And exactly there you go, and honestly it 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:32.560 seems like the fancier the item, the more likely the 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:34.360 uter break. I feel like I saw there's articles this 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:37.119 past week of some sort of like baby stroller that's 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:38.800 been like breaking in half. It's like one of those 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:41.560 double baby strollers. Did you see that doesn't sound good? 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:45.760 I know that's the it's like completely collapsing and so 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:49.960 more money, more problems. That's why I approach it compared 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:52.280 to just like the classic crib or some of these 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:55.960 other items that are pretty basic. I think the simpler 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:57.319 that we can keep it, the better off will be. 0:13:57.480 --> 0:13:59.719 And you are still a good parent even if you 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:02.360 don't bamboukoo dollars on all this crap that you're being 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:05.360 told you need to the love and attention and that 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:07.800 you're providing your kids, not the crap that you're buying 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:10.640 for them. Uh. Actually, speaking of buying stuff, there is 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:14.160 an interesting article on MSN money based on a TikTok 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:17.920 video about a new checkout hack that you might only consider, 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:20.520 especially if you're you're one of these folks who are 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:22.560 you know, who's always got like a pocket full of 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:25.120 spare change. You got that jar in the corner of 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:26.400 your room and you're trying to figure out what do 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:28.480 I do with all these coins? Exactly? Yeah, well, it 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:31.040 always works me to see folks using the coin star 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:34.640 machines at the grocery stores. Right they show up with 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:38.240 their jars and they turn that spare change into dollar bills. Uh. 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:40.280 But this is a bad route to take because cornstar 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:43.520 takes up to twelve and a half percent plus a 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:48.520 fifty cent transaction fee. Uh, and so instead of convenience exactly. 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:50.880 But what's crazy is that these often times you see 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:54.400 these at grocery stores, right, Well, instead, just take those 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:56.920 coins and use them when you're making a purchase at 0:14:56.920 --> 0:14:58.800 a self checkout kiosk. Well, the thing is you can 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:01.680 literally bring if you eighty bucks worth of change, yes, 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:03.600 and if you have like a giant draw or feel 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:05.440 bad about so you don't have to feel bad about 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:07.680 it if you're using it a self checkout, because the 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:11.440 computer fine with that. But hopefully, hopefully you won't fill 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:15.440 up their coin reservoir. Uh and we will not accept 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:19.240 any more quarters. But yeah, self spare change. It kind 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:21.960 of sucks rolling your change. That's not fun either, But 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:25.400 dumping those coins into the self checkout machines specifically to 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:27.880 you know, spend them down for purchases you're already making. 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:30.280 We think that's brilliant. Do make sure that you keep 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:32.720 a quarter though, for when you do go to Aldi, 0:15:32.880 --> 0:15:34.920 that you've got that quarter to be able to snag 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:37.800 that cart. But just the ability to take the edge 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:40.160 off as well. I like the idea of just always 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:42.080 spending down some of the change that you've got, like 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:44.680 in the ashtray of your car, maybe in your pocket, 0:15:44.720 --> 0:15:46.840 that kind of thing. But either way, this takes the 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:49.320 edge off of higher prices that we're seeing in the 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:51.840 grocery store. And speaking of Aldi, we we actually have 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:53.920 another Aldi story that we're gonna get to right after 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:56.480 the break. We'll talk about car Loans on the Rise, 0:15:56.560 --> 0:15:58.680 as well as five nine accounts. We'll get to all 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:10.160 of that right after this. All right, Matt, let's keep going. 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:12.480 It's our Friday Flights. We've got a lot more stories 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:14.640 to get to this week. And of course, every week 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:17.680 we tackle the ludicrous headline of the week, and this 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:21.840 one comes from CNBC and it reads, inflation has caused 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:26.920 adults to stop or reduce retirement savings. Bad news. Yeah, 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:29.440 we don't like seeing this because, yeah, we want people 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:34.120 obviously contributing to their tax advantage retirement accounts, especially especially 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:37.200 right now when the market is on sale, so investing 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:40.520 for your future. To us, it's non negotiable, right that 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:44.920 the idea of paying yourself first is crucial before you 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:47.320 start paying all those other bills. Yeah, it really is. 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:49.120 A friend of Joel is that this is a mutual 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:52.240 friend of ours. Reached out was like, Hey, my employer 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:54.840 is offering a high deductible healthcare healthcare plan and it's 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:56.600 got an h s A. What do you think I 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:59.360 should do? And I was like, oh, absolutely yeah, and 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:02.080 this employer chips in they will pay into that hs 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:04.119 A for you as well, so there's more free money there. 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:06.360 And but then he said, well, what if I don't 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:08.240 want to say from my retirement, And I don't know 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:11.920 if he was joking or not, like, than, you can't 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:14.280 be my friends. That's exactly what I said. But we 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:16.440 haven't talked about it in person yet. That's kind of 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:18.280 one of those conversations that you probably want to follow 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:20.520 up with in person rather than text. Well, just to 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:22.639 make sure he knows who's talking to Yeah, he knows 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:25.040 where I stand. Yeah. Well. In addition, in addition to 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:29.240 this people reducing their retirement contributions. Matt. The even more 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:33.040 shocking stat I saw in this article was that of 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:35.720 respondents said that they opted to take money out of 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:38.600 their retirement account in order to combat the higher prices 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:41.960 that we're seeing, which is even worse. Right, So it's 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:44.640 one thing to reduce or to even stop your retirement 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:48.000 contributions altogether for a period of time. Slow in the flow. Yeah, 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:50.280 that's a different tactic, and it's one that we don't 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:53.560 find as appalling. But when you're talking about taking money 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:57.439 out of your retirement account, you're reversing the flow that 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:00.679 prevents That creates bigger problems. And so if you're opting 0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:02.280 to grab that money, let's say, in the form of 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:05.560 something like a hardship withdrawal, which has gotten easier in 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:08.720 recent years, so people can more easily say, yeah, I 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:10.960 got a hardship, but you don't really have to. It's 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:14.439 it's there's a more lenient process of approval for you 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:16.720 to snag that money. Well, that's even worse because you're 0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:18.920 taking your money out of the market at a really 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:21.719 bad time. You likely have less money overall in that 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:24.920 retirement account because of sagging values and and On top 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:26.800 of that, folks who who go this route are gonna 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:30.080 pay taxes and a ten percent penalty on those withdrawals, 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:32.399 and they're gonna have less money, say for their future. 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:35.960 So you'd say, yes, stopping the account contributions for a 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:38.119 little period of time while you're getting back on your feet, 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:40.520 that's one thing. But taking money out of your retirement 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:44.440 account is another. You should really be avoiding taking money 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:46.639 out of your retirement accounts, specifically your four one K 0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:49.480