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Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I'm Matt,

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Speaker 1: and today we're talking about using credit cards like a pro. Alright, Matt.

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Speaker 1: First thing on everybody's minds after last week this awesome

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Speaker 1: giveaway we have to update people on. Yeah, thanks to

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Speaker 1: everybody that got on our Instagram and uh figured out

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Speaker 1: how to how to register and be a part of

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Speaker 1: our giveaway. And thanks to Republic Wireless as well for

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Speaker 1: giving us that sweet giveaway. Man, they totally hooked us

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Speaker 1: up with that and we couldn't have done without him. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: sweet deal. Dollars towards a new phone and a lot

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Speaker 1: of phones are free because with that and three months

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Speaker 1: of free service. And as you guys know from from

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Speaker 1: listening to the last episode two, we're fans of Republic

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Speaker 1: Wireless no matter what their plan. Pricing is just you know,

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Speaker 1: among the cheapest out there, and uh they've all they've

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Speaker 1: got great phones you can bring your own. Just a

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Speaker 1: great company to consider doing business with. Yeah, so you

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Speaker 1: wanna announce too, Yeah, Matt, So the winner is drumroll please,

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Speaker 1: Brian Sebezma. Brian, thanks for following us on Instagram. Thanks

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Speaker 1: for entering our giveaway. It was a lot of fun.

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Speaker 1: We'll get the republic wireless stuff over too soon. And

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Speaker 1: that six pack of awesome beer. Yeah, that was a

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Speaker 1: sweet giveaway. Man. I'm hoping we can do more of these,

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Speaker 1: you know, in the future. Just giving away free stuff,

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Speaker 1: giving away things that aren't ours to give is a

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Speaker 1: lot of fun. You know, that's pretty awesome. Maybe maybe

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Speaker 1: at some point we'll give away an autograph pair of

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Speaker 1: your George. Oh yeah, I think those would would go

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Speaker 1: for a lot of money. You know how the show

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Speaker 1: Arrested Development, Like, you'll watch something in season one and

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Speaker 1: then in season three it comes back the George thing.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm telling you, it's gonna make it at

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Speaker 1: least like every third episode it's gonna make an appearance.

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Speaker 1: I thought you're gonna talk about what's his name? Being

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Speaker 1: a never nude. So it's crazy, is I never even

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Speaker 1: watched uh Arrested Development. I watched like the first season

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Speaker 1: then just got sick of it because your sense of

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Speaker 1: humor is lacking. I don't maybe so, man, Like I

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Speaker 1: think you and I we have a little bit different

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Speaker 1: since the humor and we just we didn't dig it, man, Matt,

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Speaker 1: real quick before we get into the topic of credit cards.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to talk about last year and what that

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Speaker 1: meant in the craft beer world, because you know, we

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Speaker 1: like beer. Uh found this stat interesting that it was

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Speaker 1: a really fantastic year for craft beer in a lot

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Speaker 1: of ways. We had almost a thousand breweries new breweries

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Speaker 1: open up in the United States total. Uh, But on

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Speaker 1: the flip side, we had a hundred and sixty five

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Speaker 1: breweries closed down. UM, So I kind of wanted to

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Speaker 1: know your thoughts on this. It seems like craft beer

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Speaker 1: feels like it's like flying high, but then there's this

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Speaker 1: contracting in part of the industry too. So what do

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Speaker 1: you think about all those breweries? Man, I think those

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Speaker 1: breweries that well, I mean, it's competition, right, and so

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Speaker 1: a lot of it, Like, yes, there's still a ton

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Speaker 1: of people out there that are wanting like a good

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Speaker 1: local craft beer nearer they're living. But there's a lot

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Speaker 1: of breweries that have been opened for a while that

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Speaker 1: you know, may not be that good. It's when you've

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Speaker 1: kind of had these middle of the road breweries that

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Speaker 1: aren't really crashing it locally, and they're also not big

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Speaker 1: enough to really you know, work the system and make

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Speaker 1: it happen from a distribution standpoint, and I think those

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Speaker 1: guys are the ones who are dropping out, because there

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Speaker 1: are a lot of these smaller guys that are starting

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Speaker 1: out and putting out new, amazing stuff, and you know,

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Speaker 1: given those guys a run for their money. Yeah, it's

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Speaker 1: gonna be interesting to see what happens over the next

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Speaker 1: couple of years, because, um, there's just not room to

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Speaker 1: continue to grow at I think it's such a torrid

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Speaker 1: pace that we've been at, and I think some of

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Speaker 1: those bigger breweries that some of the national and some

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Speaker 1: of the regional breweries just got used to growing at

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Speaker 1: growth rates and that's just not sustainable, especially with all

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Speaker 1: the competition and how craft beer is getting more localized.

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Speaker 1: So you know, we've got so many more small, small

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Speaker 1: craft breweries that we can bike to or a quick drive,

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Speaker 1: and so we're just buying a lot more locally. You know,

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Speaker 1: you picked up a beer that we're gonna have on

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Speaker 1: the show hopefully next week that is just from a

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Speaker 1: brew pub down the street that started canning, and so

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Speaker 1: that's just that's just kind of the trend right now.

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Speaker 1: And and I think we're gonna see more of that,

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Speaker 1: and I think we're gonna see probably some more open

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Speaker 1: that are all that are neighborhood focused, that are incredibly small, yep,

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Speaker 1: but that make their presence known in the community. And

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Speaker 1: then we're gonna see some of the bigger players, whether

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Speaker 1: they're regional or national, either just losing steam and losing

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Speaker 1: market share or also maybe getting to the point over

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Speaker 1: over a few years time where they had shuttered their

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Speaker 1: doors completely. Yeah. I was talking to a buddy over

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Speaker 1: at Monday night Monday Night brewing, and that's one of

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Speaker 1: the things he was excited about seeing in the future

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Speaker 1: is all of these I mean there's small towns across

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Speaker 1: the country, you know, like across every state, there's these

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Speaker 1: all these smaller towns. And even in these smaller towns,

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Speaker 1: there's breweries that are kind of popping up and they

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Speaker 1: are becoming sort of like the local brewery that's making

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Speaker 1: awesome beer. It's like the equivalent of like a farmer's market,

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Speaker 1: except for its beer, you know, instead of like go

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Speaker 1: into your local farmers market and getting fresh samantas and

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Speaker 1: veggies in the summer or eggs, that's where you're getting

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Speaker 1: your beer. Now. It's it's sort of following that model.

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Speaker 1: And that's exciting. Yeah. And I think the key to

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Speaker 1: the whole thing, and I think it makes complete sense,

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Speaker 1: is good beer. And I think it doesn't matter whether

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Speaker 1: you're a big national brewer or you are my next

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Speaker 1: far group pub. There are a couple of local breweries

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Speaker 1: that you and I rarely visit just because we don't

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Speaker 1: really enjoy their beer. We don't think they're making great stuff.

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Speaker 1: We try to support them and go every once in

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Speaker 1: a while, but it's just, you know, it's not our

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Speaker 1: favorite beers. Then there are other places really close to

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Speaker 1: us that have amazing beers. For instance, the beer we're

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Speaker 1: about to drink is one of our favorite beers, and

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Speaker 1: it's this big national brewery. And I think the key

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Speaker 1: comes down to if you're making great beers and you're

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Speaker 1: making what the public wants, it doesn't matter if you're

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Speaker 1: distributed in all fifty states or you literally have to

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Speaker 1: go to the place where it's made to pick it up.

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Speaker 1: As long as you're making good beer, it's gonna sell.

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Speaker 1: People are gonna find you. Yeah. And the word of

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Speaker 1: mouth in the craft beer scene is is like worth

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Speaker 1: its weight in gold. And so speaking of beer, we

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Speaker 1: told you last week Bull of our brewing company UM

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Speaker 1: out of Kansas City was kind enough to send us

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Speaker 1: to awesome bottles of beer, and we had the Grand

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Speaker 1: Crew last week, which we were amazing, super fond of

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Speaker 1: good and uh, this week we're cracking Love Child number eight.

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Speaker 1: So this is a sour beer that they make annually

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Speaker 1: or or twice a year. Yeah, I think they do

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Speaker 1: it once a year and it's a sour So it's

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Speaker 1: a I mean literally in the complete opposite direction, the

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Speaker 1: other end of the spectrum when it comes to beer light, sour, tart, acidic,

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Speaker 1: you know, all the different sort of qualities that you

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Speaker 1: typically don't find. And a stout blended with a quad

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Speaker 1: which is what what we had by them last week.

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Speaker 1: I think I've I started drinking this particular beer back

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Speaker 1: when it was Love Shot number five. I think the

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Speaker 1: Love Shot number five was the first one I've had,

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Speaker 1: and then six, and I don't know if I had seven.

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Speaker 1: So well, this I love to read the labels and

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Speaker 1: and see what kind of quirkiness comes out there. This

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Speaker 1: one's awesome because what's to say specifically, because it's a

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Speaker 1: sour beer and it's got multiple different strains in it.

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Speaker 1: Let go Bacsilus and Bretton to miacies. It says these

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Speaker 1: may change over time because these beers do develop in

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Speaker 1: the bottle, So this is uh, these may change over time.

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Speaker 1: But don't we all it's so true Bolivart. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I agree, I'm not the same man that I was yesterday. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean it brings a level of humanity to their beers.

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Speaker 1: That's like, hey, just be patient, all right. But let's

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Speaker 1: I love that sound, man, I know, there's not not

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Speaker 1: much better than that. This one is pouring and beautiful

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Speaker 1: golden color. I'm just gonna put it all on my glass.

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Speaker 1: What color is that? It's just almost like a nice

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Speaker 1: olden amber, you know. It's like a murky, murky golden color.

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Speaker 1: It's got a great nose to it. So this is

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Speaker 1: why I'm super excited about this. I remember the love

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Speaker 1: Shots always being pretty aggressive with their acidity levels, which

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Speaker 1: is one of the things I love. Yep, just had

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Speaker 1: a taste still is that's great. It's really at like, um,

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Speaker 1: it's like a clean version of a goose, almost like

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Speaker 1: a much cleaner It's still got a little funk to it,

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Speaker 1: but a little bit of funk, little bit of sweetness

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Speaker 1: just the right amount of sweetness for me. Man. That is,

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Speaker 1: I really like delicious, some a nice funk factor to

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Speaker 1: the beer. And on the back too. I mentioned the

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Speaker 1: label they describe that it's got some funk, a fair

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Speaker 1: amount of sour, and a little bit of fruit notes.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, I kind of like those like scales like

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Speaker 1: that kind of help you understand what you're getting into

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Speaker 1: when you pop the top. Super tasty alright, Matt, So

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Speaker 1: the first rule of using credit cards like a pro,

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Speaker 1: pay them off every month. We're gonna touch on some

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Speaker 1: things that can help people that don't carry credit card debt,

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Speaker 1: how to use their credit cards better, how to make

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Speaker 1: wise decisions when it comes to you know, what credit

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Speaker 1: cards they get and how to utilize them. But the

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Speaker 1: first rule, the very first thing you have to talk about.

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Speaker 1: If you are listening to this and you don't pay

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Speaker 1: off your credit card balance every month, that is your

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Speaker 1: first and really most glaring goal that you need to accomplish.

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Speaker 1: You want to sure that your credit card is getting

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Speaker 1: paid off and that you're not accruing crazy amounts of interest. Yeah, man,

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Speaker 1: that's step one. Like, that's the very first thing you

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Speaker 1: need to need to do, Like before we get into

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Speaker 1: the little nuance and the tips or whatever. I mean,

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Speaker 1: if you're carrying a balance and you're you're paying interest,

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Speaker 1: you are not using a credit card like a pro,

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Speaker 1: and you need to like go back and do that first. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's essentially one on one maybe even just like a

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Speaker 1: remedial class you need to take. Uh. And I know

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Speaker 1: that you know, there are a lot of people that

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Speaker 1: have struggled with taking out too much credit card debt

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Speaker 1: and and they're you know, working on paying it back

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Speaker 1: and it can be tough. So I just want to

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Speaker 1: encourage you if you are one of those people struggling

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Speaker 1: under a weight of credit card debt, like you can

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Speaker 1: do it, and there are a lot of tools out

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Speaker 1: there to help you. But also know that it needs

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Speaker 1: to be almost a singular focus for you to pay

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Speaker 1: that off before you really start taking many of these

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Speaker 1: other financial lessons, financial ideas and under consideration. Because if

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Speaker 1: you're paying you know, nineteen interest every month on this

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Speaker 1: credit card and you're only paying the minimum them or

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Speaker 1: you're paying more than the minimum, but you find it

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Speaker 1: hard to really make much of a dent in that balance,

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Speaker 1: you just need to be putting all of your efforts

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Speaker 1: into that one area. I mean, unless you've got like

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Speaker 1: some sort of crazy title loan or something like that,

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Speaker 1: that's even worse. I mean, this is probably the worst

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Speaker 1: debt in your life percentage wise, and so all of

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Speaker 1: your focus needs to be going at that. And I

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Speaker 1: just encourage you that if you do have a lot

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Speaker 1: of credit card debt, go at it. You can do it. Uh.

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Speaker 1: And there's a lot of success stories out there of

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Speaker 1: people not even making tons of money, but that are

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Speaker 1: able to pay it on their debt in a quick

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Speaker 1: amount of time just by focusing on it intently. Yeah, Joel,

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Speaker 1: that's a good word of advice. And and really we

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Speaker 1: want to encourage folks just to think about sort of

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Speaker 1: your behaviors and your patterns, like you, like, we want

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Speaker 1: you to know yourself. And if you know that by

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Speaker 1: applying for another credit card, that's gonna maybe encourage you

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Speaker 1: to go into more debt or maybe even spend more

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Speaker 1: than you typically would. We'll kind of get into that

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Speaker 1: later on. But this is this may not be the

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Speaker 1: episode for you. This may not be sort of the

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Speaker 1: sort of week or the maybe you know, the sort

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Speaker 1: of financial life hack that would be great for you

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Speaker 1: to do, and so it's just important to kind of

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Speaker 1: know yourself, know what your tendencies are, and take that

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Speaker 1: into account before you hop onto nerd wallet and start

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Speaker 1: looking up all the best credit cards right that offer

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Speaker 1: sweet bonuses. And so one thing you should consider if

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Speaker 1: you have credit card debt, whether it's you know, a

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Speaker 1: large balance or a small balance, and you have good credit,

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Speaker 1: the only reason we would encourage you to open up

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Speaker 1: another credit card is if you could do this one thing,

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Speaker 1: open up a credit card that has a promotional zero

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Speaker 1: percent interest rate. So if you've got a credit score

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Speaker 1: and go back and listen to our episode on credit

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Speaker 1: scores and now to improve that. But if you have

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Speaker 1: a good credit score that's typically seven seven forty year above,

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Speaker 1: if you're in that range, you're likely getting offers in

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Speaker 1: the mail with zero percent promotional interest rates of twelve, fifteen,

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Speaker 1: eighteen months. And if you've got a credit card balance,

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Speaker 1: it would be wise to open up a zero percent

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Speaker 1: credit card, transfer the balance over and pay that likely

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Speaker 1: three percent fee to do that, and then essentially give

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Speaker 1: yourself fifteen eighteen months to tablet as quickly as possible

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Speaker 1: where you're not paying any interest on the debt itself.

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Speaker 1: And so if you have a good credit it's worth

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Speaker 1: kind of going down that path. And that's the only

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Speaker 1: real reason that we would consider telling you to open

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Speaker 1: up another credit card. But again, if it's going to

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Speaker 1: cause you to to snowball into more and more debt,

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Speaker 1: it's not worth it. You just need to cut it

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Speaker 1: off all together, toss them in the freezer, and just

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Speaker 1: start paying it down with that laser like focus. Yes,

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Speaker 1: that's definitely more of a route for someone that's like

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Speaker 1: turning over new leaf, right if it's if they're like,

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Speaker 1: you know what, I'm We're done with this, We're done

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Speaker 1: carrying a balance. We're not gonna have credit card payments anymore.

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Speaker 1: It's gonna take someone that is just all about knocking

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Speaker 1: it out. Yes, So now the rest of this podcast

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Speaker 1: is dedicated to the people that use credit cards and

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Speaker 1: pay them off every month. If you're one of the

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Speaker 1: people doing that, all the rest of these tips are

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Speaker 1: for you. Yeah, man, So for those folks, a credit

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Speaker 1: card is essentially a tool. You know, it's just like

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Speaker 1: a great sort of product that we can sort of

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Speaker 1: hack and and use in a way that you know,

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Speaker 1: we essentially are able to work the system kind of

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Speaker 1: play the game and get some pretty sweet bonuses along

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Speaker 1: the way. Yeah, and our in our country, we have

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Speaker 1: a lot of people in credit card debt, and that

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Speaker 1: actually allows people that use their credit cards wisely to

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Speaker 1: get some great perks and great cash back rewards. And

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Speaker 1: that's essentially because people that are you know, have the

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Speaker 1: credit card debt and are paying high interest rates or

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Speaker 1: subsidizing the people that get points, and and they're they're

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Speaker 1: subsidizing the rewards that that we get as credit card

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Speaker 1: users that use it wisely. And man, I kind of

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Speaker 1: like in this system to In our state, the lottery

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Speaker 1: ticket sales benefit middle class and upper class families by

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Speaker 1: providing free pre k and free college. And I personally

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Speaker 1: benefited from both of those things in this state. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: same here, And uh, I don't like it. I don't

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Speaker 1: like the fact that essentially it's a huge, huge transfer

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Speaker 1: of wealth from the poorts people. It's a crap system. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: who can't afford it. I don't think that's a good thing.

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Speaker 1: But that is the way the system is currently constructed,

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Speaker 1: and the credit card system is much the same way,

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Speaker 1: and so I don't like it. I don't like that,

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Speaker 1: you know, the poorest people who can't pay their bills

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Speaker 1: are paying exorbitant interest rates. But it does provide an

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Speaker 1: ability for us to get returns that we otherwise wouldn't

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Speaker 1: ye ji also for better or worse. That's kind of

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Speaker 1: one of the biggest benefits of of the credit cards

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Speaker 1: are the points, like the points in the cash back

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Speaker 1: or the miles depending on you know, all the different

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Speaker 1: cards out there have the different reward that they focus on.

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Speaker 1: And that's the biggest reason why I use the credit

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Speaker 1: card is is I mean we use it to pay

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Speaker 1: for everything. I mean, everything that we can possibly pay

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Speaker 1: for with credit card, we we throw it on the

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Speaker 1: credit card and we yeah, we get the cash back.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, man, if you want to use a credit

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Speaker 1: card like a pro, you're gonna use credit cards that

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Speaker 1: benefit you the most. And there's a lot of advertising

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Speaker 1: in the credit card industry. You know, commercials all the time, NonStop.

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Speaker 1: When you're web surfing, you know, you'll see ads on

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Speaker 1: almost every website. You know, get this credit card, this

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Speaker 1: one will make it life better. Go travel to Tahiti

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Speaker 1: if you get this credit card. And I think unless

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Speaker 1: you're really, really really into the credit card game, the

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Speaker 1: easiest and best thing for you to do when getting

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Speaker 1: a credit card is to maximize cash back because there's

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Speaker 1: all sorts of loopholes when it comes to booking travel

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Speaker 1: composed the blackout dates. Yeah, and maybe you think you

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Speaker 1: want to travel, maybe you didn't realize all the things

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Speaker 1: that it took to actually redeem those rewards. And so

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Speaker 1: I think the easiest thing for people to do is

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Speaker 1: to get the highest percentage cash back that they can.

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Speaker 1: And so my favorite two cards are the City Double

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Speaker 1: Cash Card because you get one percent when you make

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Speaker 1: the purchase and another one percent when you pay. That's

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Speaker 1: two percent back. And the card that I use most

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Speaker 1: of the time is the Fidelity Investments Visa Reward Card,

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Speaker 1: and that's two percent cash back that I can transfer

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Speaker 1: into a retirement account. I can open up an investment

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Speaker 1: account with Fidelity with the rewards, and the great thing

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Speaker 1: about it is you're getting two percent on your money.

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Speaker 1: If you transfer that money to U qualified Fidelity account,

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Speaker 1: you could transfer it into a five account for your kids.

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Speaker 1: There's all sorts of options with that card, but I

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Speaker 1: think the easiest and best thing to do if you

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Speaker 1: don't really know exactly what you're spending is like the

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Speaker 1: two percent is just an easy thing to follow. There's

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Speaker 1: all sorts of rotating rewards cards where every three months

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Speaker 1: it's five percent in this category or that category. I

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Speaker 1: think for most people were too busy, like we don't,

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Speaker 1: it's hard to track of right. So one of my

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Speaker 1: cards has that too, where they're like, would you like

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Speaker 1: to enroll and getting you know, an extra three percent

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Speaker 1: or whatever on home improvement stores, and it's just like, well,

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Speaker 1: I mean yeah, because I'm logged in, I'll click yes

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Speaker 1: because it doesn't require anything, you know, really extra of me.

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Speaker 1: But uh yeah, man, I'm totally with you. Like for us,

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Speaker 1: we've never used credit card for miles. We like to

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Speaker 1: use it more as additional income as opposed to sort

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Speaker 1: of like this bonus where we sort of get this

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Speaker 1: thing and we kind of have this little prize and

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Speaker 1: we get to do something with it. And by using

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Speaker 1: that additional money to kind of plug back into our

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Speaker 1: system where we've already sort of predecided what our priorities are,

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Speaker 1: and then we'll use that to fund travel, or we

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Speaker 1: might use that to fund you know, at line United

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Speaker 1: tickets or something else that's fun that we might want

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Speaker 1: to do. We keep it super simple. And we're totally

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Speaker 1: with you, like we don't worry about the loopholes and

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Speaker 1: just everything, all the hoops you need to jump through

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Speaker 1: in order to make it work. From a mile standpoint, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think if you want the set it and forget

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Speaker 1: it approach, then that's the easiest one to do. If

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Speaker 1: you don't want to be thinking about fulfilling all these

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Speaker 1: obligations in order to book to travel, the easiest thing

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Speaker 1: is to pull out the two percent cash back card

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Speaker 1: because likely the one you're using is offering you inferior

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Speaker 1: rewards than two and so switch to that card and

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Speaker 1: get better rewards. I will say at different times I've

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Speaker 1: I've gotten travel reward cards, and I usually when I

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Speaker 1: do that, I go for a specific airline. For instance,

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Speaker 1: I recently got a Southwest credit card when they had

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Speaker 1: a special with extra points, so I got sixty instead

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Speaker 1: of the normal forty, and you know what, that's enough

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Speaker 1: points for me to book a round trip ticket for

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Speaker 1: my whole family of four if I wait for a

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Speaker 1: sale on Southwest across the country. Right. So that's a

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Speaker 1: sweet deal. But just be careful when you're getting a

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Speaker 1: credit card that offers you travel rewards points. Know what

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Speaker 1: you're getting into, know that you'll you want to make

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Speaker 1: sure you you'll know how to redeem them. Uh, that's

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Speaker 1: really important when you're considering what cards you're gonna get,

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Speaker 1: and if you know you're not gonna go through those steps,

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Speaker 1: just go with simple two percent cash back cards. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, man, the points the cash back and then

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Speaker 1: for me, Man, recently the past few years, I've been

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Speaker 1: really into the sign up bonuses. That's another sort of

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Speaker 1: pro that I feel like we've been able to work.

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Speaker 1: And honestly, just about every three months or so, I'll

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Speaker 1: apply for a new card that's offering anywhere between three

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Speaker 1: hundreds of eight hundred dollars for a sign up bonus

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Speaker 1: if you spend a certain amount of money within you know,

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Speaker 1: like typically three months or something something like that. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: So when you're considering what credit card you're gonna get,

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Speaker 1: consider what the rewards are and whether you're actually gonna

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Speaker 1: know how to use them, and if you're not going

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Speaker 1: to take the time to figure out how to redeem

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Speaker 1: the miles, don't be suede a commercial and sign up

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Speaker 1: for a credit card just because oh I want to

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Speaker 1: go to Tahiti. Instead, get a cash back credit card

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Speaker 1: and consider the sign up bonus too. So some of

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Speaker 1: these credit cards are going to offer you know, richer

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Speaker 1: sign up bonuses and it might be worth it to

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Speaker 1: make three bucks off the bat if you're gonna fulfill

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Speaker 1: those obligations of spending within the first ninety days. That

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Speaker 1: can be a really great perk of getting a new

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Speaker 1: credit card too. Yeah, and a good place to look

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Speaker 1: those up would be nerd wallet dot com. They basically

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Speaker 1: have all the credit cards, they've reviewed them all. They

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Speaker 1: kind of have all the information laid outside by side,

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Speaker 1: so you can it's really easy to kind of compare

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Speaker 1: look at the different costs associated with it and the

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Speaker 1: different percentage of cash back that you get, plus any

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Speaker 1: sort of sign up bonuses on there as well. So

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Speaker 1: that's a great tool. Yeah, another way to use a

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Speaker 1: credit card like a pro It's easier to track than cash.

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Speaker 1: So if you have been kind of working on a

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Speaker 1: cash system that has its pros as well, usually tend

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Speaker 1: to spend less. But I love how easy it is

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Speaker 1: to track my credit card spending in Mint. I just

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Speaker 1: tie it straight in there. It's easy to kind of

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Speaker 1: run through how I've spent my money over the past month.

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Speaker 1: Or yesterday even just based on how I use my

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Speaker 1: credit cards, and I can see kind of, you know,

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Speaker 1: how our families doing overall pretty quickly, and where our

430
00:20:09,119 --> 00:20:12,000
Speaker 1: money goes. It's just so much easier to track, yes man.

431
00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:14,480
Speaker 1: And if you listen back to our episode on budgets,

432
00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:17,639
Speaker 1: I think it was episode number two. That's basically the

433
00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:20,480
Speaker 1: easiest way to get started on creating a budget is

434
00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:23,720
Speaker 1: looking at your actual expenses, and the easiest way to

435
00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:25,840
Speaker 1: do that is looking at your credit card statement from

436
00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:28,040
Speaker 1: the from the month before. So a lot of times

437
00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:29,920
Speaker 1: people are get overwhelmed, you know, they don't know even

438
00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:31,880
Speaker 1: know where to start when it comes to making a budget,

439
00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:34,479
Speaker 1: And the best place to start is by looking at

440
00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:36,840
Speaker 1: what you typically spend. And it's easy to do that

441
00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:39,080
Speaker 1: by again, just looking at your credit card statement. Man.

442
00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:42,719
Speaker 1: Another pro of using a credit card is that fraudulent

443
00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:46,000
Speaker 1: charges and unauthorized transactions cannot be held against you like

444
00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:48,440
Speaker 1: they can with a debit card. Yeah, have you ever

445
00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:52,359
Speaker 1: just disputed a fraudulent charge in your card before? I

446
00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:55,200
Speaker 1: don't know if I've disputed a fraudulent charge, but I've

447
00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:57,760
Speaker 1: definitely filed a charge back against a merchant for not

448
00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:00,960
Speaker 1: delivering goods like they should have. And so that's definitely

449
00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:03,560
Speaker 1: a perk of using a credit card. And I will

450
00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:07,000
Speaker 1: say debit cards, many of them provide some of these

451
00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:09,480
Speaker 1: same features of the credit card on their own, but

452
00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:13,320
Speaker 1: they're not legally held to the same standard as credit cards.

453
00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:16,240
Speaker 1: And so using a credit card for your purchases does

454
00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:17,919
Speaker 1: put you in a better situation when it comes to

455
00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:20,520
Speaker 1: your rights, and typically too with a credit card. I mean,

456
00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:24,359
Speaker 1: if there's an unauthorized transaction, that's not money out of

457
00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:26,199
Speaker 1: your pocket yet, like it's charged on the card and

458
00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:28,520
Speaker 1: you can dispute it. But that's one of the disadvantages

459
00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:31,560
Speaker 1: of say, like a debit card, right, Like folks say

460
00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:33,040
Speaker 1: that like, oh, you have the same kind of protection.

461
00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:34,879
Speaker 1: It's a visa card. It still got that protection, what

462
00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:37,040
Speaker 1: except with a debit card, like that money is already

463
00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:39,480
Speaker 1: out of your wallet, like and you've gotta get it back, yeah,

464
00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:41,840
Speaker 1: and you've got to get it back, versus saying that like,

465
00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:44,520
Speaker 1: oh no, this isn't something I charged on, you know,

466
00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:47,280
Speaker 1: with your credit card. And in that case, by the

467
00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:49,840
Speaker 1: time the statement actually rolls around and by the time

468
00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:51,560
Speaker 1: you have to actually pay, it'll it's gonna roll off

469
00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:54,000
Speaker 1: they'll you know, they'll address it. Same thing with you know,

470
00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:56,640
Speaker 1: booking a rental car or a hotel or something like that.

471
00:21:56,640 --> 00:21:59,120
Speaker 1: They'll put a hold on your account usually, and when

472
00:21:59,119 --> 00:22:00,800
Speaker 1: you have a credit card you don't to worry about that.

473
00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:02,560
Speaker 1: But if you have a debit card and you overdraw

474
00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:04,680
Speaker 1: your account because they put a hold on it, you're

475
00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:06,879
Speaker 1: liable for over draft fees. Yeah. Man, it's been a

476
00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:09,639
Speaker 1: long time actually since I've had an actual, you know,

477
00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:12,399
Speaker 1: fake fraudulent charge whatever my credit card. It would mean

478
00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:14,320
Speaker 1: it was years ago. The credit card company caught it

479
00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:16,119
Speaker 1: before I did, and they gave me a call and

480
00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:18,760
Speaker 1: we're just like, hey, are you making plane ticket purchases

481
00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:22,080
Speaker 1: in like Israel? And I was like, nope, it's not me. Yeah,

482
00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:23,800
Speaker 1: And in that case, it was super easy, I was.

483
00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:26,280
Speaker 1: I just said, these are not my charges, and they

484
00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:28,520
Speaker 1: just shut down the account. They sent me a new card,

485
00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:30,760
Speaker 1: you know, and it's super easy. So one tip if

486
00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:32,879
Speaker 1: you want to use your credit card, you're worried about

487
00:22:32,920 --> 00:22:35,440
Speaker 1: getting into debt and you want the parks of using

488
00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:38,720
Speaker 1: a credit card, but you kind of want that ease

489
00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:40,920
Speaker 1: of mind of paying with a debit card and knowing

490
00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:43,440
Speaker 1: that that's taken care of. There's a really cool new

491
00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:47,280
Speaker 1: app called debt Eze, and essentially Debatize uses your credit

492
00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:50,359
Speaker 1: card but treats it like a debit card. How does

493
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:52,800
Speaker 1: it work, man, because that sounds awesome. So you make

494
00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:55,480
Speaker 1: purchases on your credit card like you normally would, they

495
00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:58,840
Speaker 1: deduct the amount from your checking account every day, and

496
00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:00,600
Speaker 1: at the end of the month, they pay your credit

497
00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:03,479
Speaker 1: card bill. So yeah, so it's really cool, Like it

498
00:23:03,520 --> 00:23:05,360
Speaker 1: feels like it's this day by day thing and you're

499
00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:08,040
Speaker 1: not racking up this like huge four thousand dollar bill

500
00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:09,800
Speaker 1: or two thousand dollar bill at the end of the month.

501
00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:12,520
Speaker 1: You're paying it off every day, so you're actually seeing

502
00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:15,320
Speaker 1: the balance in your account shrink. But you're using it

503
00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:18,399
Speaker 1: a credit card, and you have interesting those perks of

504
00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:22,200
Speaker 1: a credit card without accruing a huge debt that you

505
00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:23,560
Speaker 1: might or might not be able to pay at the

506
00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:24,880
Speaker 1: end of the month. If you want to check that out,

507
00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:28,680
Speaker 1: go to debitize dot com and you can see the details.

508
00:23:29,040 --> 00:23:31,160
Speaker 1: And then the one of the last advantages of using

509
00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:34,040
Speaker 1: our credit card is like the builts in sort of

510
00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:37,040
Speaker 1: rental car insurance, like the purchase protection or like the

511
00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:39,720
Speaker 1: extended warranties and anything like that. I personally have never

512
00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:42,560
Speaker 1: used that. It's been there in case something like that

513
00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:45,760
Speaker 1: word to happen. But but yeah, man, I've never actually

514
00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:47,960
Speaker 1: had to sort of like tap into that feature of

515
00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:50,119
Speaker 1: of of a credit card, so I don't have personal

516
00:23:50,119 --> 00:23:53,080
Speaker 1: experience as far as that goes. I have actually used

517
00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:55,640
Speaker 1: the rental car insurance really in my credit card one time.

518
00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:59,520
Speaker 1: I got a minor accident in South Africa and uh

519
00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:02,520
Speaker 1: and so it came in really helpful save me a

520
00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:05,080
Speaker 1: lot of money. Was it easy? Yeah, it was super

521
00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:08,600
Speaker 1: easy to use too. Yeah. So I would say, look

522
00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:14,320
Speaker 1: at those services that your credit card offers, like trip cancelation, insurance,

523
00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:18,159
Speaker 1: rental card coverage, the extended warranty. So specifically, let's say

524
00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:20,320
Speaker 1: you're buying a television, you want to make sure you

525
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:23,439
Speaker 1: use the credit card in your wallet that offers a

526
00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:26,960
Speaker 1: doubling of the warranty offered by the manufacturing fu facturer's warranty. Yeah,

527
00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:29,480
Speaker 1: so it's really some of those perks are really neat.

528
00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:31,359
Speaker 1: You just have to remember that they're there and you

529
00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:33,359
Speaker 1: have to meet all the requirements. So, for instance, when

530
00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:37,760
Speaker 1: you're booking a rental car, you have to make your

531
00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:40,760
Speaker 1: initial booking reservation with that credit card and then actually

532
00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:43,320
Speaker 1: pay with that credit card as well. If you don't

533
00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:46,000
Speaker 1: do both, you're not going to be covered. So make

534
00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:47,800
Speaker 1: sure you read the fine print. But there are some

535
00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:51,000
Speaker 1: really cool perks that credit cards offer. Besides just the

536
00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:55,320
Speaker 1: rewards that they tout, there are awesome protections for you

537
00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:56,720
Speaker 1: on top of that. You know, one of my credit

538
00:24:56,720 --> 00:24:58,840
Speaker 1: cards offers like con concierge service, so I could get

539
00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:01,520
Speaker 1: tickets to I know, use it because it sounds fancy.

540
00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:04,800
Speaker 1: It sounds too fancy for me, please, Yeah, But like

541
00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:07,040
Speaker 1: if I really wanted tickets to, like, I don't know,

542
00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:09,800
Speaker 1: Taylor Swift Last a Minute tomorrow night, I don't know,

543
00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:12,040
Speaker 1: I could call them. They don't know. They might have

544
00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:14,000
Speaker 1: the hook up. I have no idea. So that's kind

545
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:15,800
Speaker 1: of cool. Make sure, you know, look in those fine

546
00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:18,240
Speaker 1: prints and and see kind of what your credit card offers,

547
00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:20,800
Speaker 1: and make sure you're making the right purchases with each

548
00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:23,719
Speaker 1: credit card, because there's some cool stuff. I know. Some

549
00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:30,840
Speaker 1: fancy travel credit cards offer you free admission to airport lounges,

550
00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:33,280
Speaker 1: and that can be really cool perk if you travel

551
00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:35,480
Speaker 1: a lot. Yeah, that would be something good to look

552
00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:36,919
Speaker 1: at I guess if you know you're about to make

553
00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:39,800
Speaker 1: a bigger purchase, uh, somewhere where it would be you know,

554
00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:42,359
Speaker 1: say extra handy, did like Joel said, kind of have

555
00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:44,679
Speaker 1: that extended warranty or you know, like if you know

556
00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:46,600
Speaker 1: you're gonna be traveling, it definitely might be worth looking

557
00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:49,040
Speaker 1: at that card. Obviously, make sure you don't have a

558
00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:52,040
Speaker 1: foreign transaction fee um associated with that card when you're

559
00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:54,760
Speaker 1: when you're traveling. But yeah, man, I couldn't imagine being

560
00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:57,119
Speaker 1: in another country and then get it getting an erect

561
00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:00,879
Speaker 1: like having that extra insurance essentially see valuable. Yeah. And

562
00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:03,159
Speaker 1: I want to say too that at some point I

563
00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:05,520
Speaker 1: hope to get into like the travel hacking thing. And

564
00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:08,080
Speaker 1: I know there's a lot of people that are super

565
00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:11,440
Speaker 1: into travel hacking and using credit cards, essentially opening a

566
00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:13,560
Speaker 1: credit card, taking the perks and the sign up bonuses,

567
00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:15,840
Speaker 1: and booking a whole trip for their family for fifty

568
00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:18,159
Speaker 1: dollars or less, and and that's really cool and I

569
00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:20,919
Speaker 1: love that idea. For me, I'm just not brushed up

570
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:24,120
Speaker 1: enough on that and not interested in brushing up enough yet.

571
00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:26,440
Speaker 1: But hopefully, you know, at some point when I have

572
00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:29,240
Speaker 1: more free time, I look look forward to using credit

573
00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:31,399
Speaker 1: cards for stuff like that. Yeah, And I love that idea,

574
00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:34,280
Speaker 1: but I'm just not there yet. Yeah. Yeah, same here, man.

575
00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:35,919
Speaker 1: I look forward to the day when I have to

576
00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:39,760
Speaker 1: do all the mile researching because that means I'll be

577
00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:41,840
Speaker 1: traveling a lot more and have a lot more time.

578
00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:45,280
Speaker 1: Don't quite have that at the moment. Yeah, with you've

579
00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:47,160
Speaker 1: got three young kids. I've got two young kids. Were

580
00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:49,760
Speaker 1: just traveling once a year, and you know, if we're

581
00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:52,159
Speaker 1: lucky right now, not doing much jet setting with our

582
00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:54,520
Speaker 1: with our kids in tow. Yeah. So let's talk about

583
00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:56,960
Speaker 1: some of the cons of using a credit card real quick, Matt. Yeah,

584
00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:59,000
Speaker 1: those were all the pros that we just covered, you know,

585
00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:02,800
Speaker 1: every all the advantages and benefits of using a credit card.

586
00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:05,800
Speaker 1: And there's definitely some some cons, some things that we

587
00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:08,159
Speaker 1: need to be wary of, make sure we're not getting

588
00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:11,359
Speaker 1: hammered or paying more than we need to be paying. Yeah. Man.

589
00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:13,440
Speaker 1: One of the first I put this in parentheses cons

590
00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:16,159
Speaker 1: is annual fee credit cards. And so there are a

591
00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:18,119
Speaker 1: lot of credit cards that charge you an annual fee.

592
00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:21,639
Speaker 1: And I will say for most people it is a

593
00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:24,199
Speaker 1: con because they're not getting their money's worth. They might

594
00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:28,840
Speaker 1: be paying annual fee and they're not making their money

595
00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:32,119
Speaker 1: back because they're not using their rewards properly. Yeah. A

596
00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:34,760
Speaker 1: lot of times those those annual fees are associated with

597
00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:37,800
Speaker 1: cards that have slightly higher cash back, and you think,

598
00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:41,320
Speaker 1: oh man, that'll totally be worth it. But in a

599
00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:44,040
Speaker 1: lot of those cases, sometimes those will be business cards

600
00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:46,639
Speaker 1: or just sort of these fancy personal cards, and you

601
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:49,280
Speaker 1: need to be spending a lot of money on that card.

602
00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:51,920
Speaker 1: The fact is you don't need to be encouraged to

603
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:54,679
Speaker 1: spend more money just to make sure you're getting your

604
00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:57,360
Speaker 1: money is worth out of your annual fee card. There's

605
00:27:57,400 --> 00:27:59,440
Speaker 1: something kind of messed up and twisted about that thinking

606
00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:01,960
Speaker 1: that like, oh man, I gotta make sure it's worth

607
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:03,800
Speaker 1: it for me to keep this card with an annual fee.

608
00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:05,760
Speaker 1: Therefore I need to spend extra money so I get

609
00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:08,960
Speaker 1: the extra rewards and slippery slope, Yeah that you just

610
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:11,520
Speaker 1: don't do that. Yeah. So I mentioned my Southwest card

611
00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:15,080
Speaker 1: that I got that will, when we book on a sale,

612
00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:17,680
Speaker 1: give us probably four round trip tickets pretty easily across

613
00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:20,359
Speaker 1: the country for our family, which is awesome. That's like

614
00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:21,879
Speaker 1: the reason I got it, because I had it in

615
00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:23,760
Speaker 1: mind I'm going to book tickets to go see my

616
00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:28,040
Speaker 1: family in the Northwest, and it carries an annual fee,

617
00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:31,320
Speaker 1: but it's worth it because I know what I got

618
00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:34,119
Speaker 1: from signing up, and after I book those tickets, I

619
00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:37,679
Speaker 1: might cancel it. Yeah. Oh, man, absolutely, that's kind of

620
00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:40,000
Speaker 1: my m O. Like it's the same thing. Like if

621
00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:42,160
Speaker 1: there's a card that I'm going to sign up for

622
00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:44,280
Speaker 1: that has a really sweet sign up bonus, like one

623
00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:47,920
Speaker 1: specifically that I recently redeemed and got eight fifty bucks

624
00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:51,600
Speaker 1: cash cash back. Man, that's huge. Granted that card had

625
00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:54,480
Speaker 1: a nine dollar annual fee, and so I just gotta

626
00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:56,520
Speaker 1: take that into accountans in reality is not eight fifty

627
00:28:56,560 --> 00:28:59,000
Speaker 1: it's more like seven fifty. But even still, that's the

628
00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:01,240
Speaker 1: biggest cash back sign u bonus that there is out

629
00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:03,520
Speaker 1: there right now. And if you can just keep that

630
00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:06,560
Speaker 1: in mind and take that into account when you're weighing

631
00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:09,480
Speaker 1: the benefits out there, sometimes annual fee isn't a huge

632
00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:12,360
Speaker 1: deal as long as you're aware of it. Yeah. Another

633
00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:15,719
Speaker 1: con of using credit cards is your tendency to overspend,

634
00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:19,240
Speaker 1: and that's been well documented throughout the years. Using plastic

635
00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:21,840
Speaker 1: just doesn't register with our brain in the same way

636
00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:26,640
Speaker 1: as handing over physical bills and change. And so if

637
00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:30,240
Speaker 1: you're not able to control your spending when you're using plastic,

638
00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:33,480
Speaker 1: like we talked about earlier, I think you really need

639
00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:35,480
Speaker 1: to consider going to a cash system. I mean, I

640
00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:38,040
Speaker 1: think credit cards are great for a lot of reasons,

641
00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:41,600
Speaker 1: but if you know yourself in particular, you know you

642
00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:44,720
Speaker 1: can't handle it, then moving not even just to a

643
00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:47,080
Speaker 1: debit card, but moving to cash could be the way

644
00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:49,520
Speaker 1: for you to pay for most things. Yeah man. And

645
00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:52,280
Speaker 1: so then another con I guess that I want to

646
00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:55,760
Speaker 1: touch onto is sort of the trap of paying for

647
00:29:56,160 --> 00:30:00,360
Speaker 1: your purchases from yesterday, like yesterday's purchases tomorrow. And what

648
00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:03,080
Speaker 1: I mean by that is thinking that, like cool man,

649
00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:05,640
Speaker 1: there's something I want to get like today, like right now,

650
00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:07,680
Speaker 1: but I don't quite have the money. Like people know

651
00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:11,320
Speaker 1: that it takes close to a month before that charge

652
00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:13,440
Speaker 1: shows up on the statement, you know, like once your

653
00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:16,080
Speaker 1: monthly statement comes in, I'm gonna buy that coach purse,

654
00:30:16,320 --> 00:30:18,800
Speaker 1: yeah yeah, or the Atlanta United Jersey. Yeah that's more

655
00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:21,560
Speaker 1: like uh, and I want them for for a month

656
00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:23,120
Speaker 1: and a half. It's gonna be awesome. I'll have the

657
00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:27,240
Speaker 1: money back by then. They're about the same price too. Yeah, yeah, exactly,

658
00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:30,280
Speaker 1: and then it's another month almost before that statement is

659
00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:34,720
Speaker 1: even due. And so basically you're making charges today assuming

660
00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:36,520
Speaker 1: that you'll have the money you know, in the future.

661
00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:39,840
Speaker 1: But like for us, are income fluctuates. Someone might be

662
00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:41,440
Speaker 1: out of work or something like that, you know where

663
00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:44,000
Speaker 1: where they don't have the or even other expenses that

664
00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:45,760
Speaker 1: come up. There's just other things that that kind of

665
00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:48,280
Speaker 1: come up. And so when you put yourself on that

666
00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:51,840
Speaker 1: cycle of of being anywhere between thirty and sixty days

667
00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:54,640
Speaker 1: sort of removed from that purchase, I just feel like

668
00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:57,640
Speaker 1: that's sort of another slippery slope where you can essentially

669
00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:00,400
Speaker 1: just end up overspending. Yeah, no doubt. And that's a

670
00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:02,040
Speaker 1: common reason that people get into a lot of credit

671
00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:04,600
Speaker 1: cards because they think, I can make this purchase now

672
00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:06,720
Speaker 1: and pay for it. It'll be fine a couple of

673
00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:09,240
Speaker 1: months from now, and I will have the money. But

674
00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:12,040
Speaker 1: if you think that way about too many purchases, you're

675
00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:13,840
Speaker 1: not gonna have the money in two months, and so

676
00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:15,960
Speaker 1: that's that's a huge issue. And then it becomes just

677
00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:19,640
Speaker 1: this sick cycle that repeats itself. And in the same

678
00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:22,680
Speaker 1: way that you know, putting your money into an investment

679
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:25,720
Speaker 1: account or that compounding interest makes such a huge difference

680
00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:27,880
Speaker 1: to your bottom line over time. The same thing happens

681
00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:30,360
Speaker 1: in the opposite direction with credit cards. Can I get

682
00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:32,800
Speaker 1: stuck in that opposite cycle? Well, let's say you're just

683
00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:36,000
Speaker 1: paying the minimum payment every month. If you look at

684
00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:38,960
Speaker 1: your statements, it tells you if you pay the minimum payment,

685
00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:40,840
Speaker 1: it might take you thirty seven years to pay off

686
00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:43,840
Speaker 1: this debt. And that's like legitimately, it could say thirty

687
00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:45,840
Speaker 1: seven years forty s I it could be forever if

688
00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:47,960
Speaker 1: you're only paying the minimum payment. Essentially, if you're paying

689
00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:50,800
Speaker 1: the minimum payment allowed by your credit card issue every month,

690
00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:56,160
Speaker 1: you're accruing interest. Your balance is not being cut down significantly,

691
00:31:56,440 --> 00:31:58,200
Speaker 1: and you're going to be in debt for such a

692
00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:01,880
Speaker 1: long period of time. It's not even funny. Yeah, indefinitely. Yeah.

693
00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:05,040
Speaker 1: And so that sort of mentality when it comes to

694
00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:08,200
Speaker 1: using a credit card actually means you're you're not fit

695
00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:09,760
Speaker 1: for using a credit card and you need to really

696
00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:13,560
Speaker 1: consider moving to cash or UH and and doing that

697
00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:16,040
Speaker 1: taking that focused approach towards your debt, like we talked

698
00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:18,480
Speaker 1: about earlier on Yeah man, and like the way we

699
00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:21,000
Speaker 1: use credit cards is we literally pay them off, you know,

700
00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:23,280
Speaker 1: at the end of every month. Essentially what you're that

701
00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:25,240
Speaker 1: new app that you're talking about does, which I'm totally

702
00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:28,480
Speaker 1: gonna look into you because that's like right up my alley. Um,

703
00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:31,600
Speaker 1: but yeah, I mean, we track our expenses every month

704
00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:34,880
Speaker 1: and then literally on the you know, after the last

705
00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:38,120
Speaker 1: day of the month, um, I schedule a payment for

706
00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:40,440
Speaker 1: all the charges for that month. And that's before you know,

707
00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:42,840
Speaker 1: the statement even rolls in. Because for us, I just

708
00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:46,280
Speaker 1: want to make sure that we're on top of our expenses, um,

709
00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:48,760
Speaker 1: that we're sort of don't have this backlog of of

710
00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:52,080
Speaker 1: charges that we owe, and it just helps us to

711
00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:53,960
Speaker 1: stay on top of things and stay organized. Yeah, and

712
00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:56,400
Speaker 1: that's a great tactic for people to ensure they're using

713
00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:59,000
Speaker 1: their credit card wisely is to pay before the statement

714
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:01,160
Speaker 1: even comes in. And it's really easy to do that online.

715
00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:03,120
Speaker 1: Essentially choose the date at the end of the month,

716
00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:05,240
Speaker 1: like you said, or or figure out a system that

717
00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:08,400
Speaker 1: works for you. But whatever you have to do to

718
00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:11,920
Speaker 1: minimize your chances of getting into recurring credit card debt,

719
00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:13,840
Speaker 1: you want to do. And that's a great tactic for

720
00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:17,040
Speaker 1: ensuring that you never fall down that path. Alright, So

721
00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:19,600
Speaker 1: let's talk about how many credit cards should people have, Matt,

722
00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:22,440
Speaker 1: and what should those credit cards consist of. We already

723
00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:24,480
Speaker 1: kind of talked about how we like cash back cards,

724
00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:26,479
Speaker 1: but how many credit cards do you think the typical

725
00:33:26,560 --> 00:33:31,280
Speaker 1: person should have? I have like currently open, like five. Yeah,

726
00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:34,320
Speaker 1: five is a good number. I think it's good. I

727
00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:37,440
Speaker 1: don't know. I think average person anywhere between three and five.

728
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:40,600
Speaker 1: And that's because of the credit utilization rate that we

729
00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:42,760
Speaker 1: talked about in our how to Approve Your Credit Score

730
00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:45,640
Speaker 1: podcast episode, which you can check out. But I think

731
00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:48,120
Speaker 1: there's a few reasons that you want multiple Let's say

732
00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:50,760
Speaker 1: your credit line gets reduced or credit card gets canceled

733
00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:52,560
Speaker 1: because you're not using it enough. You want to make

734
00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:55,560
Speaker 1: sure you have other lines of credit available to you, uh,

735
00:33:55,560 --> 00:33:58,480
Speaker 1: and you you don't want to be essentially s O

736
00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:00,840
Speaker 1: l when it comes to having a credit card that

737
00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:02,720
Speaker 1: you can use. The other thing is I think you

738
00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:04,880
Speaker 1: want to be able to maximize rewards. So I think

739
00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:07,360
Speaker 1: for the person that is really really lazy about it,

740
00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:09,120
Speaker 1: and I would I would put myself like just a

741
00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:12,040
Speaker 1: little bit above that on the scale of using credit cards.

742
00:34:12,239 --> 00:34:14,040
Speaker 1: So most of my usages I go to the two

743
00:34:14,040 --> 00:34:16,239
Speaker 1: percent card, but I have a couple of others that

744
00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:19,239
Speaker 1: I know that I can use for certain things. So

745
00:34:19,640 --> 00:34:22,320
Speaker 1: I use the Costco card. That's one of my other

746
00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:24,839
Speaker 1: main cards that I use, and I'll tell you why.

747
00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:28,680
Speaker 1: It's because I can get four percent cash back on gas,

748
00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:31,839
Speaker 1: so I always use it when I get gass, three

749
00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:35,240
Speaker 1: percent cash back on restaurants and travel, so I always

750
00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:37,359
Speaker 1: use it when I go out to eat or when

751
00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:39,400
Speaker 1: I'm doing travel stuff, and two percent back when I

752
00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:41,960
Speaker 1: go to Costco. So obviously I always use it at Costco,

753
00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:44,120
Speaker 1: and then for everything else, I use my two percent card.

754
00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:46,319
Speaker 1: That's just kind of my one leg up to on

755
00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:50,680
Speaker 1: some purchases I make a little bit more than two percent.

756
00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:52,440
Speaker 1: But I think for most people, you know, if you've

757
00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:54,560
Speaker 1: got twelve cards and you're trying to figure out which

758
00:34:54,640 --> 00:34:56,520
Speaker 1: card do I use it the supermarket, which card do

759
00:34:56,560 --> 00:34:59,000
Speaker 1: I use for booking travel stuff? That that gets a

760
00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:02,160
Speaker 1: little like, at least for it's too much mentally, and

761
00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:04,399
Speaker 1: so I try to keep it simple with literally three

762
00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:07,000
Speaker 1: credit cards that I cycle back and forth between. But

763
00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:09,200
Speaker 1: I think anywhere between three and five is probably a

764
00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:11,800
Speaker 1: good number for you for a bunch of different reasons.

765
00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:14,319
Speaker 1: And just make sure you can have a simple enough

766
00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:16,640
Speaker 1: method of knowing when to use them so that you

767
00:35:16,920 --> 00:35:20,640
Speaker 1: can do it the right way with every purchase consistently. Yeah,

768
00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:22,960
Speaker 1: I mean the biggest thing there is just to not overcomplicated.

769
00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:25,799
Speaker 1: It's not like we're making bank Like you're not making

770
00:35:25,840 --> 00:35:28,279
Speaker 1: a ton of money with these different bonuses in the

771
00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:30,200
Speaker 1: cash back. This isn't a way to create an income.

772
00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:31,520
Speaker 1: This is a way, do you know, just have like

773
00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:33,360
Speaker 1: a nice little bonus the end of the month or

774
00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:35,400
Speaker 1: at the end of every every few months. So for

775
00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:38,120
Speaker 1: the longest time for us, we've had essentially two main

776
00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:40,040
Speaker 1: cards that we use. We kind of have like our

777
00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:42,120
Speaker 1: main go to card that we use for like in

778
00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:44,160
Speaker 1: person purchases, so if you go to the store and

779
00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:45,880
Speaker 1: you know when we're handing the card over in person,

780
00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:49,760
Speaker 1: but then for all like essentially like utilities and online

781
00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:51,319
Speaker 1: purchases and things like that, we kind of have this

782
00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:54,000
Speaker 1: other like a separate card. From my standpoint, like keeping

783
00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:56,400
Speaker 1: up with finances, it helps me to sort of mentally

784
00:35:56,520 --> 00:36:00,399
Speaker 1: organize what purchases are aware that being said, and I

785
00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:02,440
Speaker 1: have recently signed up for like a new sort of

786
00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:05,120
Speaker 1: sign up bonus card though that's when I hit that

787
00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:08,520
Speaker 1: one card hard across the board. You got two man,

788
00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:10,319
Speaker 1: you got to meet those requires. Yeah, yeah, because sometimes

789
00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:11,879
Speaker 1: they're pretty step. You know, they can be like four

790
00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:14,279
Speaker 1: to five tho dollars in three months, and it can

791
00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:16,120
Speaker 1: be like kind of tough because we can try to

792
00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:18,440
Speaker 1: live pretty frugally and so I have to try to

793
00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:20,520
Speaker 1: make sure I get a bunch of business expenses on there,

794
00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:22,840
Speaker 1: and uh yeah, I gotta gotta hit that quota. But

795
00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:25,840
Speaker 1: in those instances, though, I really like having that single

796
00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:29,719
Speaker 1: card because it's super easy, incredibly simple, laser focused. We're

797
00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:32,840
Speaker 1: using this one card for everything, and we get the

798
00:36:32,840 --> 00:36:34,520
Speaker 1: cash back. But then on top of that, like I said,

799
00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:36,360
Speaker 1: you know, you get get that sign up bonus anywhere

800
00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:39,839
Speaker 1: between like three and in some cases even even eight

801
00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:42,359
Speaker 1: hundred or eight hundred fifty bucks. Yeah. And I think

802
00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:44,879
Speaker 1: one other quick point is you'll probably want to get

803
00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:49,160
Speaker 1: a Visa and a MasterCard, any sort of mix of

804
00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:52,719
Speaker 1: the three major credit card companies Visa, mess Card, AMEX. Yeah,

805
00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:55,879
Speaker 1: you want to get different logos on on a couple

806
00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:58,440
Speaker 1: of different cards just because of where credit cards are accepted,

807
00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:01,160
Speaker 1: and just make sure you have one Visa, one master Card,

808
00:37:01,200 --> 00:37:03,759
Speaker 1: one Visa one American Express. You know, whatever suit, your

809
00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:06,760
Speaker 1: your your needs. Just make sure it's not three visas

810
00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:09,399
Speaker 1: just just in case, or three amex Is or three

811
00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:12,360
Speaker 1: Discover cards. Yeah. Yeah, it's like we don't take Discover

812
00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:15,800
Speaker 1: but that's all I have. Yeah, that's not good and

813
00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:18,959
Speaker 1: real quick, Matt, let's touch on closing a credit card. Yeah,

814
00:37:19,120 --> 00:37:21,239
Speaker 1: we just admitted that we close credit cards, right. I

815
00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:24,640
Speaker 1: think that if you are getting one for the sign

816
00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:28,799
Speaker 1: up bonus only essentially, and you're done with it, You've

817
00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:30,520
Speaker 1: used the bonus and you're done with it, and you

818
00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:33,080
Speaker 1: don't want to pay that annual fee, that's a decent

819
00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:35,640
Speaker 1: reason to close the credit card. I think for the

820
00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:38,759
Speaker 1: most part, closing credit cards is a bad idea, and

821
00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:40,920
Speaker 1: you don't want to close them for no reason. The

822
00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:43,560
Speaker 1: annual fee really is, in my mind, the only good

823
00:37:43,560 --> 00:37:46,040
Speaker 1: reason to close the credit card. Yeah, man, I completely agree.

824
00:37:46,040 --> 00:37:47,600
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna pay that annual fee. You know, I'm

825
00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:49,160
Speaker 1: not gonna pay a hundred bucks a year just to

826
00:37:49,160 --> 00:37:52,320
Speaker 1: have this card if I'm not gonna reap some huge reward.

827
00:37:52,920 --> 00:37:54,960
Speaker 1: So when the time comes, I I really do close it.

828
00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:57,440
Speaker 1: Though you know we cover this in the Credit Score episode.

829
00:37:57,640 --> 00:37:59,480
Speaker 1: The length of credit history like that only makes that

830
00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:02,239
Speaker 1: fifteen per cent of your entire score, and so you know,

831
00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:04,920
Speaker 1: you close a card that portion of your credit score

832
00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:07,680
Speaker 1: that might drop a little bit, and you know you'll

833
00:38:07,719 --> 00:38:10,320
Speaker 1: see a change on your credit score, but it'll rebound

834
00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:13,040
Speaker 1: pretty quickly. That's not gonna impact you, like say, over

835
00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:15,279
Speaker 1: utilizing your credit cards. Yeah, just make sure you know

836
00:38:15,320 --> 00:38:17,440
Speaker 1: what you're doing when you're playing the game, because you

837
00:38:17,680 --> 00:38:19,920
Speaker 1: want to make sure your credit utilization rate is not

838
00:38:19,960 --> 00:38:23,200
Speaker 1: an impacted greatly and that your age of credit history

839
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:26,600
Speaker 1: is an impacted greatly by closing a card. If you're

840
00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:30,400
Speaker 1: closing one, make sure you have three others right that

841
00:38:30,520 --> 00:38:33,399
Speaker 1: have low balances. Sure, you're gonna want to make sure

842
00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:35,680
Speaker 1: that you know what you're doing when you close the

843
00:38:35,719 --> 00:38:38,160
Speaker 1: card and that you already have a good score. And yeah,

844
00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:40,160
Speaker 1: I mean that's not something you want to do, especially

845
00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:42,359
Speaker 1: when you're if you're considering taking out a new loan,

846
00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:45,120
Speaker 1: say for a new home or something like that. A

847
00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:47,560
Speaker 1: lot of times I've found from personal experience that it's

848
00:38:47,600 --> 00:38:49,400
Speaker 1: tough to know what exactly is going to happen to

849
00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:50,960
Speaker 1: your credit score, and so it kind of just takes

850
00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:54,120
Speaker 1: some messing with it. It sounds kind of funny to say,

851
00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:55,680
Speaker 1: but it's not really that big of a deal, like

852
00:38:55,719 --> 00:38:58,399
Speaker 1: it's constantly changing. Just make sure you're not trying to, say,

853
00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:01,640
Speaker 1: apply for a new mortgage for your first home something

854
00:39:01,680 --> 00:39:04,319
Speaker 1: like that, where if your credit score drops some a

855
00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:07,439
Speaker 1: few points where you would be more negatively impacted. Yeah,

856
00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:09,400
Speaker 1: and just make sure you're not messing with it, like

857
00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:11,640
Speaker 1: Matt said, at a point where you're gonna need it,

858
00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:14,200
Speaker 1: to need it exactly at it's very best. So you

859
00:39:14,239 --> 00:39:16,440
Speaker 1: know what, Hey, I'm getting a mortgage in two months,

860
00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:19,080
Speaker 1: or I'm applying, but you know what I'm gonna I'm

861
00:39:19,080 --> 00:39:21,239
Speaker 1: gonna do this credit card hack real quick and sign

862
00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:23,879
Speaker 1: up for this awesome bonus and then cancel it next week. Yeah,

863
00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:26,920
Speaker 1: I want to do five credit card hacks, sign up

864
00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:28,560
Speaker 1: for all of them and drop them all. That's that's

865
00:39:28,560 --> 00:39:30,640
Speaker 1: something you don't want to do, right, Yeah, And it's

866
00:39:31,280 --> 00:39:33,440
Speaker 1: totally fine if you're completely settled in your house you

867
00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:35,759
Speaker 1: don't need access to any credit anytime soon. Your credit

868
00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:38,120
Speaker 1: score doesn't really mean much to you. But if you're

869
00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:40,640
Speaker 1: even close to thinking about getting a loan for anything,

870
00:39:41,239 --> 00:39:43,279
Speaker 1: you don't want to take part in this. So just

871
00:39:43,360 --> 00:39:44,880
Speaker 1: make sure that you're wise when it comes to closing

872
00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:47,960
Speaker 1: your credit card because your credit score matters for a

873
00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:50,560
Speaker 1: lot of reasons and you don't want to negatively impact it,

874
00:39:51,120 --> 00:39:54,160
Speaker 1: even in the short term unless you really know what

875
00:39:54,200 --> 00:39:56,960
Speaker 1: you're doing. Cool man, Let's uh, let's go ahead and

876
00:39:57,000 --> 00:39:58,960
Speaker 1: get to some Facebook questions now, Like right before we

877
00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:01,319
Speaker 1: sat down to record, I'll it's passed up a post

878
00:40:01,360 --> 00:40:04,319
Speaker 1: up in our group and uh, a bunch of folks

879
00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:07,200
Speaker 1: have commented, which is totally awesome. So let's let's get

880
00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:09,520
Speaker 1: to some of these questions. See what folks are saying.

881
00:40:09,520 --> 00:40:12,440
Speaker 1: All right, Brian mentioned not a question but a statement,

882
00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:14,040
Speaker 1: and it's an awesome one. He says, we put all

883
00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:15,680
Speaker 1: of our expenses on a credit card that we can

884
00:40:15,719 --> 00:40:18,360
Speaker 1: and pay the bill monthly. We gotta be disciplined. We

885
00:40:18,440 --> 00:40:20,960
Speaker 1: have a U. S A A limitless cash back card,

886
00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:22,719
Speaker 1: and we earned two and a half percent back on

887
00:40:22,719 --> 00:40:25,440
Speaker 1: all purchases. And Brian, I'll be honest, I hadn't heard

888
00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:27,799
Speaker 1: of this card. Sweet. I looked it up. It's pretty neat.

889
00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:29,839
Speaker 1: It is better than even the two percent cards we

890
00:40:29,840 --> 00:40:31,480
Speaker 1: were talking about. So if you are a U. S

891
00:40:31,520 --> 00:40:34,840
Speaker 1: A A member and direct deposit your paychecks into their bank,

892
00:40:35,520 --> 00:40:38,120
Speaker 1: you can get this USA A limitless cash back card

893
00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:40,000
Speaker 1: and earned two and a a half percent back on everything.

894
00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:42,319
Speaker 1: That's pretty sweet man. And then Zach wrote in, Matt,

895
00:40:42,360 --> 00:40:44,279
Speaker 1: and to talk about something we just talked about. He said,

896
00:40:44,320 --> 00:40:46,160
Speaker 1: when should you cancel the credit cards? Should it be

897
00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:48,719
Speaker 1: based on time, minimal use or when a better deal

898
00:40:48,719 --> 00:40:51,239
Speaker 1: comes along? I mean, yeah, we essentially just kind of

899
00:40:51,239 --> 00:40:54,120
Speaker 1: talked about that. But for a quick recap, if you

900
00:40:54,120 --> 00:40:56,600
Speaker 1: don't have an annual fee, keep it open. It will

901
00:40:56,640 --> 00:40:59,400
Speaker 1: help you maintain a low credit utilization rate, which is

902
00:40:59,400 --> 00:41:02,000
Speaker 1: great for your credit at score. And it's always kind

903
00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:03,440
Speaker 1: of there if you want to be able to take

904
00:41:03,480 --> 00:41:06,160
Speaker 1: advantage of maybe a sweet promotion that they're doing. Hey,

905
00:41:06,200 --> 00:41:08,080
Speaker 1: and the only reason to cancel is an annual fee

906
00:41:08,080 --> 00:41:09,640
Speaker 1: where you feel like you're not getting to benefit from

907
00:41:09,680 --> 00:41:12,240
Speaker 1: the card. And even in that you need to be careful,

908
00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:14,879
Speaker 1: right like we talked about all right, Matt. Also, Josh

909
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:16,719
Speaker 1: Ordening said, should I pay off all my credit card

910
00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:19,040
Speaker 1: debt before saving for a down payment on a house

911
00:41:19,320 --> 00:41:21,400
Speaker 1: or should I try to do both? And if my

912
00:41:21,480 --> 00:41:24,120
Speaker 1: rent is lower than my mortgage would be, should I

913
00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:26,560
Speaker 1: stay where I am until I'm at least credit card

914
00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:29,719
Speaker 1: debt free? So those are yeah, two separate questions. The

915
00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:33,040
Speaker 1: first one should if you have credit card debt before

916
00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:35,359
Speaker 1: saving up for a house, And I think to that

917
00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:37,600
Speaker 1: one we we would both say yes. I mean, it's

918
00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:40,280
Speaker 1: typically credit card debt. I mean, if you have anything

919
00:41:40,320 --> 00:41:42,319
Speaker 1: lower than that you're paying to a credit card, you've

920
00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:44,520
Speaker 1: got a great credit card. But it doesn't even matter

921
00:41:44,520 --> 00:41:46,160
Speaker 1: if it's if you're paying ten percent to a credit card,

922
00:41:46,200 --> 00:41:47,560
Speaker 1: you want to get rid of that. That's I mean,

923
00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:49,680
Speaker 1: that's a high interest rate. You're not going to do

924
00:41:49,719 --> 00:41:52,120
Speaker 1: better than that in savings. So yes, exactly, and you're

925
00:41:52,120 --> 00:41:53,480
Speaker 1: definitely not going to do better than that when it

926
00:41:53,480 --> 00:41:57,759
Speaker 1: comes to seeing equity growing a home. Uh So, first

927
00:41:57,760 --> 00:42:00,520
Speaker 1: things first, pay off that credit card, and I think

928
00:42:00,520 --> 00:42:03,120
Speaker 1: you'll be shocked and surprised at how quickly you are

929
00:42:03,160 --> 00:42:05,239
Speaker 1: then able to save up for a down payment on

930
00:42:05,239 --> 00:42:08,000
Speaker 1: a house. And I think his second question actually reinforces

931
00:42:08,040 --> 00:42:11,640
Speaker 1: what we just said, because his rent is lower than

932
00:42:11,719 --> 00:42:13,960
Speaker 1: his mortgage. If your rent is lower than what a

933
00:42:13,960 --> 00:42:17,400
Speaker 1: mortgage would be where you're buying, you should strongly consider

934
00:42:17,880 --> 00:42:21,719
Speaker 1: continuing to rent because of the costs that are associated

935
00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:24,600
Speaker 1: with buying a house and then maintaining a house. If

936
00:42:24,640 --> 00:42:26,759
Speaker 1: you're happy renting and you're happy where you are, and

937
00:42:26,760 --> 00:42:29,359
Speaker 1: you're in a good situation, and the rent is reasonably low,

938
00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:31,200
Speaker 1: which it sounds like it is where you are. I

939
00:42:31,239 --> 00:42:34,879
Speaker 1: think renting is the best option there, and Matt really

940
00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:37,840
Speaker 1: soon on the podcast, we definitely need to cover the

941
00:42:37,880 --> 00:42:41,200
Speaker 1: age old debate of renting versus buying. Yeah, man, there's

942
00:42:41,239 --> 00:42:43,279
Speaker 1: nothing wrong with renting. You know, live that rent life.

943
00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:46,200
Speaker 1: That's pretty nice, not have to worry about doing all

944
00:42:46,200 --> 00:42:48,719
Speaker 1: those household things that. Yeah, we could, we could talk

945
00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:51,279
Speaker 1: a whole episode about that that alone. Yeah, we'll do

946
00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:53,799
Speaker 1: that real soon. So yeah, Josh, I would say, pay

947
00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:56,000
Speaker 1: off your credit card at first, and stay in that

948
00:42:56,080 --> 00:42:59,799
Speaker 1: rental that's reasonably cheap, and eventually, you know, you'll find

949
00:42:59,800 --> 00:43:03,040
Speaker 1: the time to get into that house of your very own.

950
00:43:03,400 --> 00:43:05,640
Speaker 1: But now it sounds like it's not quite the right time.

951
00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:08,480
Speaker 1: All right, Joel, let's get back to this beer. I

952
00:43:08,520 --> 00:43:10,759
Speaker 1: feel like we like all the beers that we have

953
00:43:10,840 --> 00:43:13,040
Speaker 1: on here. I haven't really had bad words to say

954
00:43:13,040 --> 00:43:15,279
Speaker 1: about almost any of the beers we've had, but I

955
00:43:15,320 --> 00:43:18,080
Speaker 1: think it's because we carefully select and we picked good beers.

956
00:43:18,440 --> 00:43:20,400
Speaker 1: I mean, thanks to Boulevard for sending this one. This

957
00:43:20,520 --> 00:43:24,600
Speaker 1: is uh really tasty. I'm a huge fan. I mean

958
00:43:24,640 --> 00:43:27,000
Speaker 1: it really is in that if you've had some of

959
00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:30,120
Speaker 1: the older love Child's, it's right in that vein. It's

960
00:43:30,160 --> 00:43:33,200
Speaker 1: like a freaking sibling of the ones that came before it,

961
00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:37,040
Speaker 1: and it's it's it's beautiful of the previous Love Child

962
00:43:37,840 --> 00:43:40,799
Speaker 1: Love Child before that. It's delicious. Man. I really love

963
00:43:40,840 --> 00:43:43,959
Speaker 1: how sour it is. It's it's heart. Yeah, it really

964
00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:46,359
Speaker 1: has a great tartness to it. It's still fruity, though.

965
00:43:46,640 --> 00:43:50,799
Speaker 1: This is nice and well balanced and rounded and that's great. Yeah,

966
00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:53,919
Speaker 1: and enough of that funk that kicks in that it's

967
00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:57,239
Speaker 1: not just sour. It kind of gives it like a

968
00:43:57,239 --> 00:43:59,440
Speaker 1: well roundedness. It's got some interest to it other than

969
00:43:59,520 --> 00:44:02,960
Speaker 1: just sourness. Yeah. So Love Child number eight you can

970
00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:05,000
Speaker 1: probably get it in your local bottle shop and maybe

971
00:44:05,040 --> 00:44:07,799
Speaker 1: your maybe your local grocery store. Fancy your grocery store. Yeah,

972
00:44:08,040 --> 00:44:09,200
Speaker 1: you're not gonna be able to pick this up at

973
00:44:09,200 --> 00:44:13,160
Speaker 1: Aldi No, well, no, definitely not. And actually, uh, you know,

974
00:44:13,160 --> 00:44:14,680
Speaker 1: one of our listeners wrote us a note the other

975
00:44:14,760 --> 00:44:17,120
Speaker 1: day said that Aldie actually has a good beer. So Matt,

976
00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:19,520
Speaker 1: we're gonna test that out. Do you remember what it was?

977
00:44:20,040 --> 00:44:21,960
Speaker 1: I don't remember, but I'll look it up. Maybe we'll

978
00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:23,719
Speaker 1: give it a shot on a future show, because I

979
00:44:23,760 --> 00:44:25,560
Speaker 1: do kind of like the idea of drinking beers that

980
00:44:25,640 --> 00:44:27,040
Speaker 1: a lot of other people out there can get, and

981
00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:29,160
Speaker 1: so we'll try to do that more and more, um

982
00:44:29,239 --> 00:44:31,839
Speaker 1: so that if you hear about the beer that we're

983
00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:34,760
Speaker 1: drinking and you you want to partake that, you can,

984
00:44:35,040 --> 00:44:36,759
Speaker 1: you know, run out to your local shop and grab it.

985
00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:39,359
Speaker 1: All right, MAT's a quick recap. Using your credit cards

986
00:44:39,400 --> 00:44:40,960
Speaker 1: like a pro. Yeah, man, The first thing you need

987
00:44:41,000 --> 00:44:43,000
Speaker 1: to make sure you're doing is paying off your card

988
00:44:43,080 --> 00:44:45,200
Speaker 1: every single month. You do not need to be carrying

989
00:44:45,200 --> 00:44:47,680
Speaker 1: a balance. You do not need to only be making

990
00:44:47,800 --> 00:44:50,840
Speaker 1: the minimum payments. The credit card companies are are working

991
00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:53,879
Speaker 1: you like a pro. When that's the case. If you're

992
00:44:53,880 --> 00:44:55,600
Speaker 1: not doing that, do not pass go, do not collect

993
00:44:55,600 --> 00:44:57,759
Speaker 1: two hundred dollars. Go back to square one. Pay off

994
00:44:57,800 --> 00:44:59,520
Speaker 1: your balance every month, and until you can get there,

995
00:44:59,560 --> 00:45:01,640
Speaker 1: the rest of the things don't matter. But assuming you've

996
00:45:01,640 --> 00:45:05,200
Speaker 1: already done that, there's some sweet advantages and then pros

997
00:45:05,239 --> 00:45:08,000
Speaker 1: to to using credit cards, the first of which is

998
00:45:08,120 --> 00:45:11,200
Speaker 1: cash back. Man, you can get some sweet little bonuses

999
00:45:11,239 --> 00:45:12,320
Speaker 1: at the end of the end of the month or

1000
00:45:12,480 --> 00:45:14,640
Speaker 1: end of every couple of months, and maybe even a

1001
00:45:14,640 --> 00:45:17,760
Speaker 1: sweet bonus for signing up. Another pro the credit cards

1002
00:45:17,760 --> 00:45:21,440
Speaker 1: are easier to track than cash spending, and so cash

1003
00:45:21,480 --> 00:45:24,120
Speaker 1: my curb your spending, but using a credit card can

1004
00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:28,200
Speaker 1: be really helpful for seeing where your money goes, tracking

1005
00:45:28,239 --> 00:45:30,120
Speaker 1: it either on your balance sheet that comes in the

1006
00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:32,880
Speaker 1: mail or online every month, or tracking it through an

1007
00:45:32,880 --> 00:45:35,680
Speaker 1: app like Mint. Using a credit card just makes it

1008
00:45:35,880 --> 00:45:39,000
Speaker 1: really easy to see exactly where your money is going. Yeah,

1009
00:45:39,080 --> 00:45:41,000
Speaker 1: especially helpful if you're trying to create a budget for

1010
00:45:41,040 --> 00:45:43,759
Speaker 1: the first time. There are constant credit cards too, and

1011
00:45:43,800 --> 00:45:46,360
Speaker 1: even someone who's using a credit card like they should

1012
00:45:46,360 --> 00:45:49,200
Speaker 1: be used. A con could be an annual fee. And

1013
00:45:49,280 --> 00:45:53,640
Speaker 1: so if you're spending seventy or more dollars a year

1014
00:45:53,680 --> 00:45:55,879
Speaker 1: on an annual fee, but you're not getting the bang

1015
00:45:55,960 --> 00:45:58,040
Speaker 1: for your buck when it comes to rewards, you might

1016
00:45:58,040 --> 00:46:00,520
Speaker 1: want to consider closing that credit card, I mean, and

1017
00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:04,960
Speaker 1: another downside to using credit cards is the tendency to overspend.

1018
00:46:05,400 --> 00:46:09,439
Speaker 1: Instead of feeling you know the bills your cash leave

1019
00:46:09,560 --> 00:46:12,200
Speaker 1: your wallet when you use plastics, sometimes you don't feel

1020
00:46:12,239 --> 00:46:14,240
Speaker 1: it as much. So if you're not tracking and keeping

1021
00:46:14,280 --> 00:46:17,120
Speaker 1: up with your expenses. Uh, it's really easy to to

1022
00:46:17,200 --> 00:46:19,520
Speaker 1: overspend and even blow through your budget. Yeah, it's tough

1023
00:46:19,560 --> 00:46:22,480
Speaker 1: for to see a clean, crisp greenback fly out of

1024
00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:25,760
Speaker 1: your fingers than it is to just slide or insert

1025
00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:28,359
Speaker 1: your credit card. Really, yeah, man, consider paying off your

1026
00:46:28,360 --> 00:46:31,760
Speaker 1: credit card not at the end of every billing statement,

1027
00:46:31,800 --> 00:46:34,480
Speaker 1: but literally at the end of every month. We found

1028
00:46:34,480 --> 00:46:36,359
Speaker 1: that that's incredibly helpful for us to stay on top

1029
00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:39,080
Speaker 1: of our expenses. We don't fall behind that way. And

1030
00:46:39,120 --> 00:46:40,920
Speaker 1: if it's kind of tricky for you to keep up

1031
00:46:40,920 --> 00:46:44,160
Speaker 1: with them, check out that app that Joel mentioned. It's debitized,

1032
00:46:44,200 --> 00:46:48,200
Speaker 1: which is d E B I T I Z, which

1033
00:46:48,239 --> 00:46:50,640
Speaker 1: sounds awesome And I literally I'm totally gonna check that

1034
00:46:50,640 --> 00:46:52,279
Speaker 1: out because that that sounds like something right up my

1035
00:46:52,320 --> 00:46:54,320
Speaker 1: alley might be a way to for us to simplify

1036
00:46:54,320 --> 00:46:57,080
Speaker 1: our life. And another tip, how many credit cards should

1037
00:46:57,080 --> 00:46:59,799
Speaker 1: you have? Well, probably between three and five. Yeah, that's

1038
00:46:59,800 --> 00:47:02,440
Speaker 1: for your credit utilization rate and just in case one

1039
00:47:02,480 --> 00:47:04,080
Speaker 1: of your credit cards gets canceled, you want to make

1040
00:47:04,080 --> 00:47:06,640
Speaker 1: sure you have enough lines of credit available to you.

1041
00:47:07,080 --> 00:47:10,080
Speaker 1: And on top of that, you can maximize your rewards

1042
00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:12,560
Speaker 1: by having you know, between three and five you have

1043
00:47:12,600 --> 00:47:15,960
Speaker 1: specific credit cards for specific usages like I mentioned having

1044
00:47:16,000 --> 00:47:18,960
Speaker 1: a two percent cash back card for everyday purchases, and

1045
00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:21,600
Speaker 1: then having other credit cards that give you higher amounts

1046
00:47:21,840 --> 00:47:25,680
Speaker 1: that specialize in certain things. But don't overdo it, because

1047
00:47:25,719 --> 00:47:27,200
Speaker 1: you want to make sure that your system is easy

1048
00:47:27,320 --> 00:47:29,480
Speaker 1: enough that it's not going to annoy you, and so

1049
00:47:29,600 --> 00:47:32,400
Speaker 1: you're gonna actually be able to use your credit cards

1050
00:47:32,719 --> 00:47:36,680
Speaker 1: properly for maximum benefit. All right, thanks to everyone for listening.

1051
00:47:36,920 --> 00:47:39,319
Speaker 1: Our home on the web is how to money dot com.

1052
00:47:39,400 --> 00:47:41,120
Speaker 1: Check it out. We'll have some show notes up there

1053
00:47:41,120 --> 00:47:43,759
Speaker 1: for you. Yeah, we'll link to things like debtize and

1054
00:47:43,840 --> 00:47:45,680
Speaker 1: some of the credit cards that we think are best.

1055
00:47:46,080 --> 00:47:49,160
Speaker 1: And until next time, Joel, best friends Out, Best Friends Out,