Speaker 1: Welcome to Out of Money. I'm Joel, I'm Matt. Today
Speaker 1: we're talking frustrating fees, degree doubts, and upper middle class ascendency.
Speaker 2: That's right, buddy, this is our Friday flight, and we're
Speaker 2: gonna talk about the personal finance stories that we want
Speaker 2: to talk about. That's right, because it's going to help you.
Speaker 2: Our listener all the how the money he's out there.
Speaker 1: Now, what do we'll take, Well, we will take all
Speaker 1: the besties out there. Yeah, and I will say we
Speaker 1: will take your If you've got a story you think
Speaker 1: we should talk about, we will take your emails. Listener
Speaker 1: sends stuff in all the time. They're like, you should
Speaker 1: stuff we talk about is stuff that folks that not
Speaker 1: half is That's not true. Yeah. Now, most of it
Speaker 1: the stuff that we have found we're interested in. But
Speaker 1: if you have something you think would be a value,
Speaker 1: you're like, I just want to hear Matt and Joel
Speaker 1: talk about that. Let us know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I wanted to quickly share what I guess
Speaker 2: Monday's episode, I talked about diverting my dryer vent and
Speaker 2: speaking of hearing back from listeners, a listener reached out
Speaker 2: and said.
Speaker 1: Hey, there's actually a product that solves.
Speaker 2: That problem, and it's this conversion kit and it it
Speaker 2: forces the dryer exhaust into like a bucket sort of
Speaker 2: thing where there's water. And I'm pretty sure I've actually
Speaker 2: seen these before. I mean, so maybe that's where my
Speaker 2: head was at when I was talking about diverting that.
Speaker 2: But anyway, I hadn't looked into it. But a listener said, hey,
Speaker 2: this exists because I was actually planning on installing a
Speaker 2: dryer that couldn't be on an exterior wall. And he's like,
Speaker 2: this is a solution. So yeah, how cool?
Speaker 1: Is that makes sense? There's a solution. Yeah, that's why
Speaker 1: you probably three D prints I jump up do it.
Speaker 1: And where we learn a lot just from replies from
Speaker 1: questions that we ask on the the end of the void.
Speaker 1: And then there's somebody smarter than us. Usually he's like,
Speaker 1: I've got a solution for your problem there. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: a great way that we get to hear back from it.
Speaker 1: By the way, can I just say there was speaking
Speaker 1: of listeners, there was somebody in the Facebook group who posted,
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe two three weeks ago saying something
Speaker 1: being very very nervous about where things stood from an
Speaker 1: investing in stock market perspective and talked about radically changing
Speaker 1: their investing strategy and hope they didn't do that. I know,
Speaker 1: I hope not too. And other replies obviously very classic
Speaker 1: and helpful in the Facebook group, a lot of hold
Speaker 1: the really smart people, Yeah, stay the course. And I
Speaker 1: just want to say, that's what folks were saying. I
Speaker 1: did not necessarily assume, oh, we'll be back at all
Speaker 1: time highs by you know, mid April. But we are, Matt,
Speaker 1: we are. And it's just the as of the time
Speaker 1: of this recording, right, And I don't have any predictions.
Speaker 1: Well yeah quickly that can change on a time for sure.
Speaker 1: But I think it's just worth noting right that we
Speaker 1: this is why we talk about investing over the long term,
Speaker 1: what happens. I was just talking with another friend about
Speaker 1: like what my thoughts are on the investing in the
Speaker 1: next decade or so, and I'm like, man, I'm just
Speaker 1: I'm optimistic. And optimism usually sounds a little dumb, like
Speaker 1: don't you see all the risks that the hurdles that
Speaker 1: lay ahead of us on the road. And it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I see them, Like, for sure, we talk about those
Speaker 1: risks we'll talk about some today right on the show,
Speaker 1: But that doesn't mean that over the long term we
Speaker 1: don't still believe in the engine, the economic engine of
Speaker 1: the United States, and that we should all be like
Speaker 1: putting our money into the stock market to be beneficiaries
Speaker 1: of the intelligence and the brilliance that US companies in particular.
Speaker 1: But you know, we're talking about investing in the world
Speaker 1: as well have to offer.
Speaker 2: So totally, there's a lot of n A sais out there.
Speaker 2: But I have a lot of confidence in folks who
Speaker 2: are looking to make the world a better place right,
Speaker 2: who are like their life's work is to leave the
Speaker 2: world in a better place than where they found it,
Speaker 2: which is I think a good life motto.
Speaker 1: And sometimes like that kind of clashes with our idea
Speaker 1: of what the good life is. Think, man, I'm just
Speaker 1: thinking there's a tangent. I'm just thinking about the Molotov
Speaker 1: cocktails on Open AI, right, and that I don't think
Speaker 1: the idea of violence is ever warranted. But I also
Speaker 1: understand how kind of people feel angsty about artificial intelligence
Speaker 1: right now. So yeah, but violence is not the solution.
Speaker 2: No, it's not, okay, And we go segue to a
Speaker 2: I talked speaking of robots.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about let's a completely different direction. Okay, let's
Speaker 1: talk about bag fees. We've all gotten used to airlines
Speaker 1: and all the all the hikes. Yes, yeah, we've all
Speaker 1: gotten used to bag fees. But Matt, I remember a
Speaker 1: simpler time when they didn't exist, Because I think bag
Speaker 1: feeds got instituted just before twenty ten.
Speaker 2: I remember similar times when airplanes didn't exist and we
Speaker 2: didn't have to worry about anything associated.
Speaker 1: That's true. I just took the horse and buggy wherever
Speaker 1: we wanted to go.
Speaker 2: Uh, you got to worry about where oats and what
Speaker 2: to do with the poop, all the poop. It's just yeah,
Speaker 2: can you can you imagine that was actually oh gosh,
Speaker 2: what what historian talked about?
Speaker 1: That?
Speaker 2: Just the vast amounts of energy that had to go
Speaker 2: towards clearing the streets of poop. Yeah, like in New
Speaker 2: York City back hundred years ago.
Speaker 1: So I don't live in that the existence exactly.
Speaker 2: I'm not, and I'll say that I'm glad. So, yeah,
Speaker 2: we are in a great place right now. It's amazing
Speaker 2: the technology, technology that we have and the ability to
Speaker 2: fly across the country just to like go see a friend.
Speaker 1: Incredible, but it's getting more expensive, and part of that
Speaker 1: is jet fuel surch charges and you know, ticket price hikes.
Speaker 1: But then it's also increased bag fees. And some people
Speaker 1: used to fly Southwest to avoid bag fees. They can't
Speaker 1: do that any longer because Southwest is just like all
Speaker 1: the other airlines now. Other people pack light. That's one
Speaker 1: of my kind of favorite ways to avoid back fees.
Speaker 1: Don't check bags as often as you can.
Speaker 2: Keep an out for Joel in the airport with his
Speaker 2: cargo shorts on my car back to the pack to
Speaker 2: the bridge.
Speaker 1: I don't work carter shorts. Not my jam but I
Speaker 1: die yet. But I've got my Koto packs. We've talked
Speaker 1: about this, my Kodopasi twenty eight liter bag that I
Speaker 1: can fit the best man everything I need for like
Speaker 1: five days in.
Speaker 2: I think it's my favorite product that we've never been
Speaker 2: I don't know, we have a lot of favorite products.
Speaker 2: Like I'm looking at mine's right over there on the floor.
Speaker 2: It's my daily commuter bag. It's so great and I
Speaker 2: was actually wearing it rucking slash running, slash hiking with
Speaker 2: Kate last week over spring break.
Speaker 1: It makes it great that versatile so great is the best.
Speaker 2: Yeah, also fits within the tight little container and all
Speaker 2: exactly al Cheapo airlines, that's right, who are going to.
Speaker 1: Make you check it because they're trying to stick it
Speaker 1: to you. Other people mattch choose to get credit cards
Speaker 1: to help them avoid bag fees, which is not a
Speaker 1: bad route as well. Yeah, that can be a smart
Speaker 1: way to go, especially if you fly one airline regularly,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna see I think more people jumping through
Speaker 1: more hoops to avoid bag fees because they're going up.
Speaker 1: Three of the big six airlines have raised bag fees
Speaker 1: in recent days. It's kind of like one makes the
Speaker 1: announcement and then the dominoes are gonna fall in rapid
Speaker 1: succession from there. And part of the reason that they're
Speaker 1: raising bag fees instead of raising fares is because they
Speaker 1: think you'll notice less and because because like the fee
Speaker 1: at the end, you're like, oh, was it forty dollars
Speaker 1: before and now it's fifty I don't remember, and you
Speaker 1: just pay it. And they also don't pay tax on
Speaker 1: feed derived income. So I think that is another reason
Speaker 1: when you just look at like the incentive that these
Speaker 1: airlines have they have incentives to raise fees before they
Speaker 1: raise fares, so and those fees tend to be kind
Speaker 1: of sticky. How when have you ever seen a bag
Speaker 1: fee go down in price? Like it just it doesn't happen.
Speaker 1: But this is just the stakes are higher now, so
Speaker 1: it makes even more sense to try to avoid bag
Speaker 1: fees however you can.
Speaker 2: It'll be interesting to see if the other three are
Speaker 2: able to hold the line and not raise fees because
Speaker 2: as I mean, a big part of the increases obviously
Speaker 2: have to do with the.
Speaker 1: Straight of horror moves.
Speaker 2: But as there's more hope and talks that it's going
Speaker 2: to open, especially with Europe, you know, like all the
Speaker 2: European countries are meeting and trying to figure out a
Speaker 2: way to how can we manage this, how can we
Speaker 2: ensure that the oil can continue to flow. It'll be
Speaker 2: interesting to see whether or not those other three are
Speaker 2: able to actually have never raised their fees, and you
Speaker 2: start to see those gain and popularity as everyone's wanting
Speaker 2: to book with them as opposed to Delta, right, like
Speaker 2: they're the most one of the more recent ones to
Speaker 2: raise fees. I just hope that spirit is able to
Speaker 2: make it man like you know, like there's a lot
Speaker 2: to talk about, like them liquidizing. I just want there
Speaker 2: to be an affordable option for folks that's equivalent to
Speaker 2: Ryan Air.
Speaker 1: Right in Europe, and of us have ever flown Spirit
Speaker 1: before floing Spirit? Okay, you fly, I didn't think you had. Okay,
Speaker 1: it's been a minute, but we don't fly with regularity.
Speaker 1: But because they exist, we all pay cheaper price.
Speaker 2: Yes, And I just want there to be like a
Speaker 2: greyhound bus version of an airplane like that. I said, well, no,
Speaker 2: that's more like what it's like in Europe with Ryanair.
Speaker 2: But still I want there to be a super affordable megabus.
Speaker 1: Folks, Megabus which we haven't talked about a long time either,
Speaker 1: which is a good option a cheap folks get around
Speaker 1: the country. It's true.
Speaker 2: Another fee though, that's been rising consistently, are HOA fees.
Speaker 2: They are up twenty six percent since twenty nineteen. Uh
Speaker 2: So you've got special assessments, you've got larger pairs that
Speaker 2: are needed, and all of these can be painful for homeowners.
Speaker 2: Uh these have been increasing and some longtime condo owners,
Speaker 2: for instance, are paying more in fees more on their
Speaker 2: HOA than they are for their actual mortgage. Folks who
Speaker 2: have locked in, you know, they refinanced, and they're like,
Speaker 2: you know, I'm pretty happy with my two point three
Speaker 2: percent mortgage.
Speaker 1: They stretched ten years ago when prices were lower, they
Speaker 1: stretched it out or even Yeah.
Speaker 2: I guess I'm thinking even back to when a lot
Speaker 2: of condos that during the Great Recession went for I
Speaker 2: went for nothing a song, But I still.
Speaker 1: Remember going shopping with my little sister, trying to help
Speaker 1: her find a condo, choosing one of those forty five
Speaker 1: thousand dollars, like that is so in a sweet part
Speaker 1: of town.
Speaker 2: Crazy crazy, yeah. And so now the average condo or
Speaker 2: town home HOA is four hundred and twenty five dollars.
Speaker 2: Obviously it's gonna be less for single family homes, but
Speaker 2: we're seeing those on the rise too. And like, you
Speaker 2: are getting something for your money, right, like you you
Speaker 2: are receiving something, but it is obviously worth considering the
Speaker 2: trade offs. We want you to know what you are
Speaker 2: getting in return. We want you to know, especially if
Speaker 2: you're considering purchasing a condo, right, like, if you're like Joel,
Speaker 2: or if you yourself are the one who is looking
Speaker 2: at some of these some of these different properties, like
Speaker 2: what sort of financial shape is the hon Like, these
Speaker 2: are the kind of questions you need to ask, like
Speaker 2: ask for the reserve fund balance, see if there's a
Speaker 2: reserve study that's been performed, look at the budget, look
Speaker 2: at recent financial statements. You don't have to be a
Speaker 2: financial expert to you do need to be a personal
Speaker 2: finance enthusiast, I think, because essentially what you're looking at
Speaker 2: are the same sort of transactions that you would see
Speaker 2: within your own sort of ledger statement, like what is
Speaker 2: the balance, what are the transactions looking like that they.
Speaker 1: Actually have cash in the bank in case something happens
Speaker 1: to the property or updates need to be made in
Speaker 1: the next year or two.
Speaker 2: Or can they even provide you with these statements? If
Speaker 2: they can't, well that's definitely a that's definitely a bad sign.
Speaker 1: And just what is the general state of the property,
Speaker 1: because if you're like, oh, they don't have the building,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, building, but it looks like the roof needs
Speaker 1: be replaced on this whole condo unit in the next
Speaker 1: year or two because it's fallen apart or man, there's
Speaker 1: paint chipping off everywhere. This is obviously going to be
Speaker 1: a plausive rough then a special assessment might be coming
Speaker 1: down the pike. I might get hit with it, and
Speaker 1: there's yeah, that's a tough tough spot to be and
Speaker 1: makes you think a friend who bought a condo in Florida,
Speaker 1: he literally had to run for president of the HOA
Speaker 1: because it was so poorly managed and it became this
Speaker 1: part time job and headache for him for a really
Speaker 1: long time. And so yeah, if the HOA is poorly run,
Speaker 1: poorly managed, doesn't have the funds on hand, you could
Speaker 1: be entering into a nightmare. Not to mention just the
Speaker 1: perpetual costs right that come with the internet.
Speaker 2: Joy, I think maybe what's not the heart of that
Speaker 2: is thinking that I don't know, for younger folks out there,
Speaker 2: and not even all that young, but you just always
Speaker 2: expect that there's somebody who's responsible, that's going to take
Speaker 2: care of this. But that's us, right, Like, I mean,
Speaker 2: we're older millennials, but I'm sure there are plenty of
Speaker 2: millennials who are right now realizing that, oh, man, like
Speaker 2: you are encountering more situations, more organizations, more institutions where
Speaker 2: there's nobody who's actually doing the right thing, and so
Speaker 2: much of this is now essentially becoming our I don't
Speaker 2: want to call it a burden, but it's our responsibility
Speaker 2: and sort of like we were saying earlier as far
Speaker 2: as like leaving the world in a better place than
Speaker 2: how you found it, Like, I think that that could
Speaker 2: be a helpful way if you have the capacity to
Speaker 2: sort of take on some of these problems themselves. Not
Speaker 2: to see it necessarily as a burden, but see this
Speaker 2: as a way for you to contribute to societ and
Speaker 2: to help people around you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and on top of that, to protect the purchase
Speaker 1: you've made. Right, So it's like, yeah, there's a little
Speaker 1: bit of selfishness in there. Yeah, but you can also
Speaker 1: like serve your neighbors. It is good to be self
Speaker 1: interested in this way. Yeah, one hundred percent. Well, and
Speaker 1: just makes me think of just the term dilapidata comes
Speaker 1: to mind when I think about the housing stock in
Speaker 1: the country. There was an article written recently about how
Speaker 1: just so many homes across the country are older, they're
Speaker 1: getting long in the tooth, they need they need more
Speaker 1: work done to them. Like literally the house next to
Speaker 1: where we record has been bottom the top, like completely
Speaker 1: redone because it was built in what like the nineteen
Speaker 1: eighteen range, nineteen twenties, that's what I would guess. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's new sighting maybe nineteen ten, new front porch
Speaker 1: just put on, like they just had to do everything
Speaker 1: in that house because it was so dang old and
Speaker 1: it hadn't been updated in so long. And so the
Speaker 1: average age of a home in the United States is
Speaker 1: now forty four years old, which is almost about your.
Speaker 2: Age, which is no, that is literally exactly how my
Speaker 2: home is. Yeah, the house it right now.
Speaker 1: Mine is forty four years old. Mine's a little bit
Speaker 1: older than that, but it was built in the sixties. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: fifty nine, fifty nine, Okay, there you go. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: are our homes fit into this category? But those have
Speaker 1: we have years a little bit older made updates to them.
Speaker 1: But the cost of home maintenance has been exceeding inflation,
Speaker 1: and so I think we would all be wise to
Speaker 1: set aside extra money for home repairs and expenses. Like
Speaker 1: probably two or more percent of your home's value on
Speaker 1: average is what you should be budgeting. You can't predict
Speaker 1: everything that will go wrong with your home, but you
Speaker 1: can be financially prepared, and especially if you live in
Speaker 1: a cool, older home, right, that by definition is going
Speaker 1: to suck up more of your money. It's got so
Speaker 1: much character, right, and character that character costs money. I
Speaker 1: love it. I love the character, and then you realize
Speaker 1: just how much money it costs to keep that thing up.
Speaker 2: I will say one of the nicest things about living
Speaker 2: in a home that's only forty four years old is
Speaker 2: the fact that it's at least built with modern building codes.
Speaker 2: There's no sort of surprises waiting for me when I
Speaker 2: drill into a wall or when I yeah, I've been
Speaker 2: taking on more projects and we'll save this update maybe
Speaker 2: for some other time. But it's just nice to know
Speaker 2: that there are fewer surprises than some of the older
Speaker 2: properties we used to live in, where it's just like
Speaker 2: you who knows. Yeah, I think it is maybe being
Speaker 2: similar to driving a two thousand and five car versus
Speaker 2: like a nineteen seventy five car.
Speaker 1: Two thousand and five is modern enough right where you're
Speaker 1: enough and it's fairly easy to fix. If you get
Speaker 1: then that a total death trap. Yeah, I don't know
Speaker 1: what to do.
Speaker 2: Like, have you seen pictures of like speaking of the fifties,
Speaker 2: you know, your house being from like the fifties.
Speaker 1: Have you seen kids car seats from the fifties, No, dude,
Speaker 1: they got to be pathetic.
Speaker 2: It is the craziest, Like I mean, they look like
Speaker 2: total death trap guillotines, but just like with a kid
Speaker 2: sitting in it on the front seat, like with like
Speaker 2: a piece of webbing, like barely you know, it's yeah.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. I don't about how we used to
Speaker 1: fix backwards, you know in the buicks and which is
Speaker 1: honestly probably pretty safe.
Speaker 2: I would guess if you're facing backwards, if you're buffled,
Speaker 2: if you're oh yeah, yeah, if you're just bouncing around
Speaker 2: back there, yeah, which is likely how a lot of
Speaker 2: the station went right, more likely likely operating. All right, hey,
Speaker 2: let's talk about let's talk about tax refunds. Did you
Speaker 2: have you gotten your tax refund?
Speaker 1: Not yet? Your old one? Right? Yes? Do you see it?
Speaker 2: How do you view your tax refund? Do you see
Speaker 2: it as like a I guess more like from a
Speaker 2: political same point. Do you view it as like a
Speaker 2: tax an interest free loan to the government that I
Speaker 2: finally get to get back, or do you view it as, oh,
Speaker 2: here is a way for me to pay what I uh,
Speaker 2: what I need to pay to the government in order
Speaker 2: to provide for the common streets, military, you know, just
Speaker 2: all all that.
Speaker 1: I see it both ways. Like I see like it's
Speaker 1: part of it is a civic duty to keep Like
Speaker 1: there's and there's a lot of good that comes from
Speaker 1: my tax dollars. But then I also see there's a
Speaker 1: lot of waste and abuse, right and there's especially certain
Speaker 1: parts of the country you might point to and say, well,
Speaker 1: that's really poorly run, and it's nice to live in
Speaker 1: a place where it feels like your tax dollars are
Speaker 1: being used.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I think that's a good way of viewing.
Speaker 2: I don't think I have very very many emotions tied
Speaker 2: to it, Like I just I do it because I
Speaker 2: know I'm supposed to. I'm I'm also trying to minimize
Speaker 2: how much I owe because I don't want to have
Speaker 2: to pay more than I that I need to. But
Speaker 2: then I'm also very hopeful of that it's used an
Speaker 2: efficient and used to the it's put to good use.
Speaker 1: And again maybe should run for public office match so
Speaker 1: you can ensure that it's similar to running for hoa board.
Speaker 1: But it makes you specifically asked about how I feel
Speaker 1: about the refund as well. And I think some people
Speaker 1: man like who are over optimizers. They want to get
Speaker 1: it down to the pending or they want to get
Speaker 1: so close that their refund is minimal, or they have
Speaker 1: to pay a small amount. And I don't think that's unwise,
Speaker 1: but I also don't obsess over that to that extent.
Speaker 1: I like to be in the ballpark and if I
Speaker 1: get I think, if I get a little bit of
Speaker 1: a refund, great and I'll use it, you know, to
Speaker 1: further my financial goals. And if I have to pay
Speaker 1: a little bit, I'm prepared for that. Also.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, good news for folks who count on it,
Speaker 2: because refunds are up eleven percent on average, and a
Speaker 2: lending Tree survey reveals that folks are overwhelmingly spending their
Speaker 2: refund dollars on the necess They're not spending this money,
Speaker 2: this new found these new found riches, or this deposit
Speaker 2: on splurges in their life, and this makes sense given
Speaker 2: the recent inflation data, rising gas prices, the uncertainty that
Speaker 2: the future holds.
Speaker 1: Thirty four percent said.
Speaker 2: They plan to use their refund dollars to pay for rent, groceries,
Speaker 2: or on bills, which there's a part of me that
Speaker 2: there's a part of me.
Speaker 1: That's sad about that.
Speaker 2: Right, So half of the survey participants say that they
Speaker 2: rely on their tax refund to get by.
Speaker 1: So like that, I hate that.
Speaker 2: But as far as folks who obviously I want those
Speaker 2: folks to be less dependent on their on their tax refund.
Speaker 2: But as far as the folks who are just like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm going to use it on the necessities, right, I
Speaker 2: can totally resonate with that, because if you approach your
Speaker 2: finances from a very fungible point of view, it goes
Speaker 2: into the general coffer, the all mixed household coffer, and
Speaker 2: then it just gets It's not like I'm earmarking that
Speaker 2: for something special, yes, per se Right, So because it's
Speaker 2: fungible and the way we operate our finances, it just yeah,
Speaker 2: that money is going to go to everything that we
Speaker 2: have decided we're going to allocate our funds to. We
Speaker 2: did that back in January at the beginning of this
Speaker 2: year for twenty twenty six. So I think some of
Speaker 2: it might come down to how it is that you've
Speaker 2: view your money, how you earmark things, how you'd like
Speaker 2: to save for things. It comes down to perhaps personality
Speaker 2: and maybe this feels like more of an emotional response.
Speaker 1: Well based on the headline, So the three thousand dollars refund, Yeah,
Speaker 1: of course it's going to basically because like everything's more expensive,
Speaker 1: don't you get it? And so I think there's probably
Speaker 1: some of that in this. Probably. I think people just
Speaker 1: feel very understandably, so, especially when you're talking about maybe
Speaker 1: parody of wage increases and price increases. It you don't
Speaker 1: feel like you're getting ahead. And as you know, then
Speaker 1: something like gas prices going up, costing you an extra
Speaker 1: sixty seventy dollars a month, You're like, well, I guess
Speaker 1: that's where this is going, because what is what it
Speaker 1: feels like? Yeah, that is the reality for some people
Speaker 1: to Yeah.
Speaker 2: I do want folks to be smart about using the refunds, obviously,
Speaker 2: because this is a way to meaningfully boost your savings
Speaker 2: to pay off debt. Like a lot of folks aren't
Speaker 2: getting that sort of influx, that infusion of cash, and
Speaker 2: so don't fritter it away. To a certain extent, I
Speaker 2: like that folks are doing the quote unquote responsible adulting.
Speaker 2: Oh the whole responsibility follows to me sort of theme
Speaker 2: again right, like, oh, this is something that I need
Speaker 2: to be smart about, as opposed to being like you're
Speaker 2: in your twenties and you're just like, I'm going to
Speaker 2: put that towards a new mountain bike, you know, or
Speaker 2: something like that, and we like bikes. But still absolutely, yeah,
Speaker 2: you have a plan, have a plan, especially when we're
Speaker 2: talking about increased increased tax refunds this year, have a
Speaker 2: plan for it. Be smart, be smart, identify your top goals,
Speaker 2: start funneling your money in that direction. And on that note, Matt,
Speaker 2: there could be other money in the ether waiting for
Speaker 2: how money listeners more bonus dollars.
Speaker 1: Our good friend and former co worker, he just wrote
Speaker 1: a piece about unclaim money for the Motley Fool, which
Speaker 1: made me think, oh, it's a good it's a good
Speaker 1: idea to mention this again. Maybe we talked about this
Speaker 1: a couple times a year, and it's worth highlighting because
Speaker 1: every time we do, we get a bunch of emails
Speaker 1: from listeners who are like, dude, thank you, I just
Speaker 1: found free money. I didn't think it was possible. There
Speaker 1: are a lot of ways that your money could have
Speaker 1: gone missing in the past. It could even be like
Speaker 1: an old tax refund check that you did in cash
Speaker 1: that money after some time, it goes to the state
Speaker 1: as the whole. It's not like the state now owns
Speaker 1: that money, it's theirs, but they are the holder of
Speaker 1: those dollars that are yours. And so it's worth checking.
Speaker 1: Even if you think there's no way that there's money
Speaker 1: sitting around waiting for you, it's worth checking the websites
Speaker 1: unclaimed dot org and missing money dot com. Those are
Speaker 1: the sites to check to see if there actually is
Speaker 1: money in your name from maybe an old bank account
Speaker 1: that you forgot about that has been closed and that
Speaker 1: money goes to the state. But yeah, there could be
Speaker 1: a little bit of money out there for you that
Speaker 1: you weren't aware of totally. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So interestingly enough, the FDC, they actually just had a
Speaker 2: press release about scammers who are calling you to tell
Speaker 2: you about unclaimed money as well, and they'll make it
Speaker 2: sound like that you're owed a ton of money, like
Speaker 2: thousands of dollars, and you get super pumped and excited
Speaker 2: about that, and you're like, oh, let me.
Speaker 1: Take advantage of this. This is the thing, man, Joel, we're
Speaker 1: talking about, right, Yeah, But that's not the case.
Speaker 2: And in fact, it's a phishing scam and they are
Speaker 2: attempting to get you to send them money, and.
Speaker 1: So don't do that.
Speaker 2: If there is actually money that's owed to you, it's
Speaker 2: typically not that much, like we're talking in like the
Speaker 2: fifty to one point fifty maybe two hundred dollars range.
Speaker 2: Don't respond to those calls or those texts. Instead, just
Speaker 2: go straight to the websites that that Joel mentioned, unclaimed
Speaker 2: dot org and missing money dot com.
Speaker 1: Well, this makes you think, Matt. The FTC also just
Speaker 1: recently announced that Americans lost record sums to scams in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. A lot of people out they're not
Speaker 1: taking our advice. Fifteen point nine billion dollars was lost
Speaker 1: to scammers apparently last year. And that's really it could
Speaker 1: be more than that, right, So, imposter scams are the
Speaker 1: most ubiquitous someone claiming to be let's say, from the irs,
Speaker 1: right irs. I don't know how many of those messages
Speaker 1: you get on your phone, Matt on a daily basis.
Speaker 1: It feels like I get a couple every day, is what.
Speaker 1: It's probably not accurate, but like that's how it feels.
Speaker 1: At least they're constant, a constant barrage of these things,
Speaker 1: and then of course artificial intelligence is only accelerating these
Speaker 1: scams and financial losses are climbing. And Mike Piper, who
Speaker 1: is actually our guests this week talking about social security,
Speaker 1: I hope that was helpful a lot of people. He
Speaker 1: had an article on his side about how much easier
Speaker 1: it is to fall for a scam on a mobile device,
Speaker 1: And we're on our mobile devices more, I believe it
Speaker 1: than ever think about even just I think people are
Speaker 1: watching TV on TVs less, are watching on their phones
Speaker 1: more and more used to it like TV than it
Speaker 1: was laptop in the bed, And I was like, I
Speaker 1: just watch everything on my phone. We do so much
Speaker 1: on our phone. Our guard is down, and it's harder
Speaker 1: to see certain things right on a phone versus on
Speaker 1: a desktop as well. So like a scammy email address,
Speaker 1: it's just hard to you know, when you're in Gmail
Speaker 1: or whatever whatever mail app you use, it's harder to
Speaker 1: identify the sender. And so it's easier than ever for
Speaker 1: scammers to fake like a Vanguard email and to make
Speaker 1: it look like a professional one. And so yeah, when
Speaker 1: it comes down to it, just beware, don't respond to
Speaker 1: those emails log in to the website directly, use two
Speaker 1: factor authentication. Those are ways to help protect yourself. But
Speaker 1: we've also talked about this Matt too. It used to
Speaker 1: be like, oh, those scams are preying on the elderly,
Speaker 1: and there's obviously still some of that, but we're seeing
Speaker 1: a lot more scams targeted towards younger folks gen Z
Speaker 1: and millennials, and they are more at risk because they're
Speaker 1: using their devices and they're you know, coming across people
Speaker 1: on social media or via kind of unsolicited emails that
Speaker 1: are out to get them.
Speaker 2: That's right, Yeah, I think I think a big part
Speaker 2: of the cell the getting scammed on your cell phone,
Speaker 2: on your mobile device is the fact that you're not
Speaker 2: necessarily in the headspace to think clearly about whatever it
Speaker 2: is that you're currently doing right, Like you're on the move.
Speaker 2: Like the reason that when you sit down to a
Speaker 2: computer or to a desktop, or you're sitting down in
Speaker 2: the office, Okay, let me finally respond to that Vanguard request.
Speaker 2: You log in via the methods that you typically do,
Speaker 2: and you are in the headspace and you're like, wait
Speaker 2: a minute, this doesn't look right as opposed to you know,
Speaker 2: quick text that you might receive and you actually maybe
Speaker 2: you didn't even mean to click it, and all of
Speaker 2: a sudden, you're on a website. Now it looks like
Speaker 2: the official website. You're like, well, shoot, maybe I'll go
Speaker 2: ahead and log in. Yeah, you're just like in a
Speaker 2: different headspace. I think when you're on your mobile device
Speaker 2: on the move, maybe you're surrounded by kids, maybe you're
Speaker 2: in the middle of an order at a restaurant.
Speaker 1: Or something like that.
Speaker 2: You know, like I picture all these life slortter of
Speaker 2: circumstances that would cause you to quickly not properly vet
Speaker 2: a request like that. But man, we've got more to
Speaker 2: get to during our Friday flight today, including we'll talk
Speaker 2: about whether or not it makes sense to plunk down
Speaker 2: the change and get that degree. Are you going to
Speaker 2: earn that money back? We'll get to that more right
Speaker 2: after this.
Speaker 1: Anybody guess what we're back. We're gonna continue along with
Speaker 1: the Friday flight. Let's do it. This is the second half.
Speaker 1: I'm on the edge of my seat.
Speaker 2: The third quarter, I guess is what takes place after halftime.
Speaker 2: This is the ludicrous headline of the week, which is
Speaker 2: from the Washington Post, and the headline reads some of
Speaker 2: the most popular graduate degrees don't pay off financially study fines.
Speaker 2: So you might be hearing this and think, oh, should
Speaker 2: I be going back to school for a graduate degree, Well,
Speaker 2: we would recommend that you consider the likely payoff. Of course,
Speaker 2: this is how to money. We want you to focus
Speaker 2: on the ROI. And a study released by the Yale
Speaker 2: Tobin Center for Economic Policy finds that doctors and lawyers,
Speaker 2: on average, they tend to get loads of value from
Speaker 2: their MD right, so from that extra schooling and so
Speaker 2: the study it takes into account the years of reduced
Speaker 2: pay while you're getting the degree. Right, So there's a
Speaker 2: period of time there's like a what's you know, there's a.
Speaker 1: Trade off the opportunity to call us for a while
Speaker 1: exactly while you're getting the degree in order to make
Speaker 1: more later. So there's that.
Speaker 2: There's also the cost of actual that you got to
Speaker 2: pay to get that said degree. But then of course
Speaker 2: it's considering the potential higher lifetime earnings as well, and
Speaker 2: turns out getting an MBA it's a bit of it.
Speaker 2: It's more of a murky proposition versus let's say an md.
Speaker 1: A slam dunk in the same way.
Speaker 2: For an NBA the payoff is far smaller, which means
Speaker 2: more NBA degree holders, you know, they're not benefiting a
Speaker 2: whole lot. It turns out that a graduate degree in
Speaker 2: clinical psychology it should be pursued specifically for the love
Speaker 2: of the game, because it showed that the payoff is
Speaker 2: often negative and man, I was kind of surprising to
Speaker 2: see that. And of course this is is looking at
Speaker 2: the ROI, right, it's looking at the return on all
Speaker 2: those factors, the most important of which I think is
Speaker 2: the cost of getting again said degree, right, because if
Speaker 2: you look at the actual increase in earnings, the actual
Speaker 2: increase in income across the board, no matter like it
Speaker 2: goes up, right, you get the degree, you're going to
Speaker 2: see higher wages. But whether or not it's worth the
Speaker 2: actual abolishment ROI standpoint, that's when you have to start considering, ooh,
Speaker 2: maybe there's an alternative to this again, if you're just
Speaker 2: looking at it through or via a financial the personal
Speaker 2: finance sunglasses that you put on when you listen.
Speaker 1: Our show, and that's certainly not the only thing you
Speaker 1: think about when you're getting a higher degree, but that no,
Speaker 1: that has to have a major impact, right. We always
Speaker 1: start with the money, and then we talk about all
Speaker 1: the soft stuff because most of the time you're not like,
Speaker 1: let me go get that degree so I can make
Speaker 1: less for the next like two decades. Like that's not
Speaker 1: usually the hope that people have when they go back
Speaker 1: to school, especially taking that time off and away from
Speaker 1: work or the hustle at night, right, putting themselves through
Speaker 1: to get that mass sacrifice me And that's yah, that's
Speaker 1: what you're what you're taking on there. Literally just talking
Speaker 1: to Noboddy who's about to get his about to get
Speaker 1: his masters, And I didn't ask you. I don't know
Speaker 1: how much more he's going to get paid for it
Speaker 1: because he's kind of staying in the same role, the
Speaker 1: same job. So I'm curious how that's going to playoff form.
Speaker 1: What is he going to get it? See?
Speaker 2: Like that's because again, like I mean, there's such like
Speaker 2: when we're talking about nbas, there's a big difference between
Speaker 2: paying two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for an NBA
Speaker 2: at Columbia versus like ten thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: At Western Carolina. That's right, That's right. It's like it's
Speaker 1: the same letters.
Speaker 2: If you're looking for the the you know the credentials,
Speaker 2: but obviously you know we're going to say, well, that's
Speaker 2: not why you're doing it, you dummy, Like like the
Speaker 2: reason you go to Columbia is for the network, Like
Speaker 2: that is the product. And I totally understand that, but
Speaker 2: keep that in mind when you're paying, you know, maybe
Speaker 2: a bit more than you need to for a specific degree.
Speaker 1: And I think it is worth considering what kind of
Speaker 1: work do I want to do for a long time
Speaker 1: because that sort of ability to stick to it and
Speaker 1: not hate your life in the job that you're performing
Speaker 1: is crucial. That that was a big part of the
Speaker 1: reason that that Emily went back to school to become
Speaker 1: a therapist and was like, oh, yeah, this probably will
Speaker 1: be better from like a it'll be flexible, it'll be
Speaker 1: a better hourly rate than when I could command doing
Speaker 1: something else, and it's something that I love. So it
Speaker 1: hit a bunch of things. Although overall she's not going
Speaker 1: to get paid and insane like an insane amount, like
Speaker 1: that's just not if you're looking to make like two
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty grand a year, probably don't go be
Speaker 1: a marriage and family therapist. That's not gonna that's not
Speaker 1: gonna do it, and so the ro's all. It's worth
Speaker 1: acknowledging that the ROI doesn't always come in dollars, but
Speaker 1: it could provide slightly higher income, better job security. Those
Speaker 1: things are also worth thinking about. And continuing on the
Speaker 1: thought of the value of college, Matt for just a second,
Speaker 1: there's more opportunity these days to go to college for free.
Speaker 1: The Washington Posts created a list of colleges that are
Speaker 1: offering free tuition across forty five states in the country.
Speaker 1: Many have a minimum GPA maximum income requirements, so if
Speaker 1: you make too much right, you don't qualify for the
Speaker 1: free tuition. We've seen this especially at some of the
Speaker 1: IVY leagues, saying, Hey, anybody that makes whose family makes
Speaker 1: less than two hundred k, your kid gets to come
Speaker 1: here and they don't owe a dime intuition, which I
Speaker 1: think is really cool. But yeah, as the cost of
Speaker 1: college continues to climb and the headlines about a lack
Speaker 1: of affordability just proliferate, we're seeing them all the time.
Speaker 1: Free options to keep the cost down are clutch, and
Speaker 1: I'm just glad that the Washington Posts made it kind
Speaker 1: of easily accessible to see them all in one place.
Speaker 1: We'll link to it in the show notes. But especially
Speaker 1: like when you're talking to a young person or you're
Speaker 1: talking to someone about going back to school, it's not
Speaker 1: just that idea of like should I get this degree,
Speaker 1: It's well, how long is it going to take you?
Speaker 1: How much is it going to cost? Can you bring
Speaker 1: the cost down in different ways? And if you can,
Speaker 1: then it's going to make the value of that degree.
Speaker 1: I think it just increases the value. That is right.
Speaker 1: Let's get to the shrinking middle class here in America.
Speaker 2: Joel, because we talked earlier about how more folks are
Speaker 2: using their tax refunds to pay for necessities in life,
Speaker 2: and that might lead a lot of folks to believe that, man,
Speaker 2: everybody is struggling.
Speaker 1: It's actually not.
Speaker 2: So there are more upper middle class Americans now than
Speaker 2: ever before. And this is according to a new study
Speaker 2: from the American Enterprise Institute. Thirty one percent of Americans
Speaker 2: are now upper middle class compared to ten percent about.
Speaker 1: Forty five years ago. So that's a huge jump.
Speaker 2: It's a massive jump, man, Yeah, folks in this category.
Speaker 2: And so that means folks were earning between one hundred
Speaker 2: and thirty three thousand dollars up to four hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: What's fascinating is that they don't tend to think of
Speaker 2: themselves as upper middle class folks, but they are, according
Speaker 2: to the data, according to the numbers, and so despite
Speaker 2: a lot of pessimism I think in recent years, it's
Speaker 2: just incredible to see data that reflects the reality of
Speaker 2: growing income of people who are building massive amounts of wealth,
Speaker 2: truly for a large swath of Americans. And this No,
Speaker 2: this doesn't mean that the rich get richer while the
Speaker 2: poor are getting poor, because.
Speaker 1: There are actually fewer.
Speaker 2: Poor and lower class Americans now as well. So everyone man,
Speaker 2: everybody is on the rise.
Speaker 1: The rising tide is lifting the average of all boats.
Speaker 2: Yes, and that certainly does not mean that inequality is
Speaker 2: not an unimportant issue. But there's also evidence here to
Speaker 2: suggest that standards of living are on the rise. Incomes
Speaker 2: they continue to rise, and it's just really cool and
Speaker 2: encouraging to see that. The data seems to show that
Speaker 2: the key to moving up the wealth ladder has a
Speaker 2: lot to do with marriage or at least cohabitation, the
Speaker 2: ability to pulley resources. I'm not surprising it also has
Speaker 2: a lot to do with education, and I think anyone
Speaker 2: who is down on America it should look at that article.
Speaker 2: And of course we always link to all the articles
Speaker 2: that we mentioned on the podcast because it's so inspiring
Speaker 2: to hear these folks we're talking about, like, oh man,
Speaker 2: I didn't have the ability or for me for my
Speaker 2: parents to buy me a.
Speaker 1: Baseball glove, like that was a struggle.
Speaker 2: And it's just incredible that that is not the same
Speaker 2: upbringing that I'm going to be able to provide for
Speaker 2: my family. Is just so freaking cool. It gets me
Speaker 2: fired up, Like it makes me excited for again, all
Speaker 2: the companies out there doing amazing things elevating the elevating
Speaker 2: standards of living that we're all able to participate in,
Speaker 2: whether or not you yourself are super optimistic about where
Speaker 2: things are going or not. And I think there is
Speaker 2: a lot of pessimism right now about well, how long
Speaker 2: is this going to continue? Right like will the next
Speaker 2: generation be as well off as our generation? And in
Speaker 2: US history, I think there has been more optimism than
Speaker 2: there is now. And again, I don't want to sound
Speaker 2: like a Pollyanna, but I think there are still lots
Speaker 2: of reasons to be optimistic about and just looking at
Speaker 2: recent history of the last forty five years, like what has occurred,
Speaker 2: it's helpful to highlight that section to see, well, what
Speaker 2: has changed, and to maybe reflect a little more on
Speaker 2: our collective. Obviously not everyone is thriving at the same rate,
Speaker 2: but it's like our collective ability to thrive, it really
Speaker 2: has increased. And yeah, we our goal on this podcast
Speaker 2: is to point out things like that so hopefully we
Speaker 2: can understand the position that we're in better and handle
Speaker 2: the money that comes into our lives in an efficient
Speaker 2: and intelligent way. Yeah, and not to mention the fact
Speaker 2: that all the negative headlines are get all the attention,
Speaker 2: so I feel like we have to work extra hard.
Speaker 2: It's just an uphill battle in order to present some
Speaker 2: of this positive news for folks, as opposed to just
Speaker 2: easily it's so easy to like backslide down into all
Speaker 2: the negative stuff as opposed to highlighting and lifting up
Speaker 2: some of the good stuff.
Speaker 1: That's I remember a few years back there was like
Speaker 1: some some website that was all it did was they
Speaker 1: wrote stuff like hopeful stuff and like my grandma will
Speaker 1: send me the story, you know, and it was a
Speaker 1: little bit annoying at times. You know, but I do
Speaker 1: think there is something about putting out that positive stuff
Speaker 1: into the world and recognizing this because it's so easy
Speaker 1: to see the negative stuff. There's a lot of it
Speaker 1: that can be highlighted, and it fills our newspapers. But
Speaker 1: when we talk about the good stuff, like, it's worth
Speaker 1: highlighting that too. But you know, while the percentage of
Speaker 1: poor or lower class Americans is smaller, Matt, there's still
Speaker 1: the population hurt most by inflation, which is rearing it's
Speaker 1: ugly head again. Like we most recent inflation reading was
Speaker 1: much higher than it had been, and that's rising. Gas
Speaker 1: prices are big culprit in that they and they take
Speaker 1: a disproportionate bite out of a smaller paycheck, and they're
Speaker 1: hurting found this interesting and this makes total sense. They're
Speaker 1: hurting gig workers in particular. Two, it's like lift and
Speaker 1: uber drivers, right, Unlike the airlines that can't institute fees
Speaker 1: on their passengers, they are essentially subject to the whims
Speaker 1: of lift and uber and they don't have the ability
Speaker 1: to control their pricing. And so this this Wall Street
Speaker 1: Journal article highlighted the kind of three three second decision
Speaker 1: tree that drivers have to use as to whether they're
Speaker 1: going to accept or reject a ride, like, okay, how
Speaker 1: far is that? How much they's going to cost me
Speaker 1: a gas? We'll be able to get another ride that
Speaker 1: brings me back here quickly. But if I don't accept
Speaker 1: this ride, then how long am I even be sitting
Speaker 1: here waiting for the next ride? And it's really like
Speaker 1: it's hard out there for ride shair drivers, And so
Speaker 1: driving ride shair has never been a highly lucrative endeavor,
Speaker 1: but the financials are are just worse now. So I
Speaker 1: have to imagine that a lot will pivot to other
Speaker 1: gigs where no gas is needed, at least for a
Speaker 1: while if possible. And for many who do use this
Speaker 1: as like a full time way to make income, useddvs
Speaker 1: or are looking more enticing, especially if you're a ride
Speaker 1: shair driver one of those people who is driving forty
Speaker 1: to fifty hours a week.
Speaker 2: Does that work as far as like, well, I mean,
Speaker 2: what does it look like to recharge your EV though
Speaker 2: when it comes to like as far as like I mean,
Speaker 2: my impression of lift and new or drivers is that
Speaker 2: they're just constantly look, they're just moving from one to
Speaker 2: the next, and like any downtime is just my time
Speaker 2: that they're not making money. So I don't know, because
Speaker 2: even with like a level two charger, I mean, it
Speaker 2: still takes a lot.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I never owned it. You owned an EV,
Speaker 1: so I've got a little less pretty quick you can,
Speaker 1: I mean, you can get let's say, like a supercharger,
Speaker 1: maybe like fifteen fifteen minutes you can well, no, is
Speaker 1: that I don't know, is it the supercharger that's well,
Speaker 1: I know, like a supercharger I did use because when
Speaker 1: we rented a Tesla with via Turo, Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: and yeah, we sat there for like fifteen minutes, which
Speaker 1: isn't too different than like, you know, pulling into a
Speaker 1: gas station and filling up. Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I've certainly ridden around in some teslas and I'm like,
Speaker 2: how do you do it? As far as maybe I.
Speaker 1: Should take a lunch break at home and you plug
Speaker 1: it in, yeah, charger, and then you head back out
Speaker 1: there on the streets, take take a little break. Can
Speaker 1: you think about a gash you're probably willing to make some.
Speaker 2: Pivots, Yeah, certainly tip if you can afford it to
Speaker 2: maybe help keep some of these folks on the road. Honestly,
Speaker 2: and this is where the market's beautiful. Because what happens
Speaker 2: if folks aren't tipping extra and you're they're incurring a
Speaker 2: larger expense. The market forces will cause some of those
Speaker 2: folks to say, well, this isn't worth it anymore, Like
Speaker 2: you said, right, folks pivoting to non gasoline based gigs,
Speaker 2: which then does what, Oh well, it reduces the supply
Speaker 2: of drivers, which then does what the algorithm adjusts, and
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, those drivers who are still in
Speaker 2: the pool are getting paid more. Right, So I guess
Speaker 2: one way or the other, it will we're gonna.
Speaker 1: Have to pay.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if if you want to catch a ride share.
Speaker 2: But did you see the article too about I Freak
Speaker 2: the name of the website, But they were talking about
Speaker 2: drivers who are pitching life insurance, so like they're they're
Speaker 2: like side hustle. While they're side hustling, they're hilarious. They're
Speaker 2: poking fun at like hot moms who are hawking Mary kay.
Speaker 2: And so now you got uber drivers who are driving
Speaker 2: in uh yeah, driving their tesla's around and they're like, hey,
Speaker 2: would you like life insurance?
Speaker 1: It's like, why would I want life insurance? Not here,
Speaker 1: not now, not in this way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean I think that's maybe the moral
Speaker 2: of the story, the fact that like, life insurance is great,
Speaker 2: but maybe don't purchase it in the backseat of the
Speaker 2: uber or lyft that happens to pick you up, right, Like,
Speaker 2: these are one of those decisions.
Speaker 1: Maybe shop around, know how much coverage you need and compare,
Speaker 1: compare prices to in terms, and know you know what
Speaker 1: kind of life insurance policy you're buying in the first place. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: first of all, do do you have a family? Do
Speaker 1: you have anybody who is dependent on you for your income?
Speaker 1: But then beyond that, it's sort of like the scams
Speaker 1: with ingrainted. Maybe this isn't necessarily a scam, but it's
Speaker 1: like the scammers who are hitting you up on your phone,
Speaker 1: Like that's not the time or place for you necessarily
Speaker 1: to be logging in and updating your beneficiary or whatever,
Speaker 1: you know whatever the scammers are trying to get out
Speaker 1: of you on your mobile device. In a similar way,
Speaker 1: I don't want folks buying life insurance in the back
Speaker 1: of the uber. Yeah you're on the way to the
Speaker 1: airport or something like that. Yeah, we've got a show
Speaker 1: notes up on the website. At howdomoney dot com, where
Speaker 1: we'll link to all the different stories that we mentioned
Speaker 1: today as well as other resources. Cuting, we'll put an
Speaker 1: article about how to think about buying life insurance, like
Speaker 1: the parameters you need to if you're like Angel just
Speaker 1: brought up life insurance, I'm not gonna buy in the
Speaker 1: backseat of maneuver, but I never do that. La do
Speaker 1: need a policy? Well, yeah, we've got an article that'll
Speaker 1: help you through that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but that's gonna be it for this episode. We
Speaker 2: hope everyone has a great weekend. Oh, we're gonna be
Speaker 2: We're gonna be running some this weekend.
Speaker 1: We got a little little Oh.
Speaker 2: What we didn't share was I can't believe we didn't
Speaker 2: share this. We didn't share the five k the local
Speaker 2: the local five k race. Uh, you won gold, my friend.
Speaker 1: In the old man age group. Certainly not overall. What's
Speaker 1: fun is that I also won silver. We crushed it,
Speaker 1: And I can't believe that because I left.
Speaker 2: And I didn't stick around for the thing for you,
Speaker 2: you picked it up for which I do appreciate. But
Speaker 2: it would have been so great to have had a
Speaker 2: picture of you and me with our medals.
Speaker 1: With the mayor with a mayor in the middle, which
Speaker 1: this old guy. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Anyway, I hope you do well this weekend you too,
Speaker 2: Thank you fun to run together, It'll be a lot
Speaker 2: of fun. Yeah, but we hope you have great plans
Speaker 2: for this weekend as well, and we'll see you back
Speaker 2: here on Monday with a fresh ask how to Money episode.
Speaker 1: We will see you then, So until next time, Best
Speaker 1: friends out, Best friends Out.