Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and
Speaker 1: Matt's and today we're discussing a new reef I fee
Speaker 1: and additional unemployment benefits rolling out. That's right, Joel. This
Speaker 1: is our Friday episode and we have a lot of
Speaker 1: less We want to make sure that we cover different
Speaker 1: stories that we came across. This week, we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: about how they affects our money, our personal finances. But
Speaker 1: I see here, man, you've got a note about Uber.
Speaker 1: You you decided to start driving for Uber again. No,
Speaker 1: although I don't know if I've ever mentioned on the
Speaker 1: podcast that I did one ride, one little promotion deal
Speaker 1: that they're doing, and you scored a ton of money,
Speaker 1: a thousand dollars to do one rider. Lift Lift had
Speaker 1: this crazy promotion one time where if you would sign
Speaker 1: them through a driver and you got approved within a
Speaker 1: week and you gave just one ride, Like they totally
Speaker 1: bungled the promotion and they should not have made a Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it was a mistake. Was it was this
Speaker 1: sort of like city they like they just paid the
Speaker 1: wire transfer. The wire transfer like somebody hit the wrong
Speaker 1: button and it just forked over. Like hundreds of millions
Speaker 1: of dollars exactly weren't supposed to. They like almost immediately
Speaker 1: changed the terms, like, oh no, you must give at
Speaker 1: least forty rides. But I got in when it was
Speaker 1: just one ride, and so yeah, I gave one ride,
Speaker 1: one lift ride. I made basically a thousand and three
Speaker 1: dollars because the ride was super quick. But um, but yeah,
Speaker 1: so that was that was fun. But I just got
Speaker 1: reminded the other night when I did I never take
Speaker 1: Uber and left rides like it's almost never happens. But
Speaker 1: I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I came
Speaker 1: back from Memphis on on a Southwest flight and to
Speaker 1: get home, my you know, Uber lift ride cost half
Speaker 1: as much as my freaking flight was crazy. But I
Speaker 1: looked it up on Lift and I was like, man,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna hit Hike instead of this. That's that's ridiculous.
Speaker 1: It was like thirty four bucks to get home. And
Speaker 1: then I was like, man, I need to check out Uber,
Speaker 1: Like I don't. I don't know. I think I just
Speaker 1: had been going to Lift by default, and I end
Speaker 1: up checking out Uber and it was twelve dollars cheaper.
Speaker 1: So I guess I just assumed that their way their
Speaker 1: algorithms worked, they were pretty much always consistently priced the same.
Speaker 1: But no, they're not like there's a vast disparity. And
Speaker 1: so before you book a ride, check both apps real
Speaker 1: quick before you press the button to get the car
Speaker 1: coming your way, UM, so that you can make sure
Speaker 1: that you're not spending too much on the ride that's
Speaker 1: gonna take you to wherever you need to get to go. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean recently, I feel like Uber they've kind of
Speaker 1: had their name dragged through the mud a little bit.
Speaker 1: You know, they've been involved through their entire company's history basically,
Speaker 1: and because of that, I feel like more folks are
Speaker 1: taking lift Um. It's kind of seem as like maybe
Speaker 1: the slightly higher end view of right sharing. I don't know,
Speaker 1: maybe that's my personal opinion of it. No, I think
Speaker 1: that's probably that's probably true. I think where it is,
Speaker 1: people assume it's better customer service. It's uh, but quality drivers,
Speaker 1: you know. I don't know if that's the case, though.
Speaker 1: I think most drivers, if you're looking to say it
Speaker 1: twelve bucks, yeah, it's certainly worth checking another app. You know,
Speaker 1: most drivers that I've talked to you because I like
Speaker 1: to talk and I talked to drivers when I'm when
Speaker 1: I'm getting somewhere, many of them say that they drive
Speaker 1: for both and they interchange the apps and and so. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a lot of search pricing where the demand is yeah,
Speaker 1: completely so uh, just a little word of the wise
Speaker 1: tip before you book a ride share, check both platforms
Speaker 1: to shop it a little bit, shop around, like it's
Speaker 1: easy for us to fall into ruts. Actually, next week
Speaker 1: we're talking about paying for convenience than just the different
Speaker 1: charges and fees associated with that. But it's easy to
Speaker 1: pay more because we're creatures. Have happened true? All right,
Speaker 1: But before we get to our Friday flag, one final
Speaker 1: question for you on this topic, because I mentioned that
Speaker 1: I thought about hitchhiking. Have you ever hitchhiked? And is
Speaker 1: hitchhiking for ruler cheap? Ah? Man, That's such a difficult
Speaker 1: question because so much of it depends on the context,
Speaker 1: you know, like like who are you with, Like what
Speaker 1: time of day is it, where are you located? Like
Speaker 1: how many cars are driving down the road? Um, So
Speaker 1: have I ever hitchhike? I was about to say no,
Speaker 1: and I was buying myself time by like throwing out
Speaker 1: all those factors saying too. But I just remembered that
Speaker 1: Kate and I, well, I guess technically hitchhiked in Atlanta
Speaker 1: United Game last year. And so we wanted to get
Speaker 1: down to this lower level like in Atlanta, it's called
Speaker 1: the Gulch and it's where all the tail getting happens.
Speaker 1: It's where all the supporters clubs party. And we had
Speaker 1: ridden our bikes to the bends where Atlanta plays their matches,
Speaker 1: and we were trying to meet some folks down below.
Speaker 1: But the easiest and most direct and fastest way to
Speaker 1: get down there it was to go down this weird,
Speaker 1: crazy ramp that only cars are allowed to go down. Uh,
Speaker 1: and there is an officer there keeping you from walking
Speaker 1: down because there's no sidewalk and it's literally only like
Speaker 1: ten ft wide. It can barely fit cars. And so
Speaker 1: I turned to Kate and I said, I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: walk like a mile to get all the way around
Speaker 1: to go down the steps where you're supposed to go down.
Speaker 1: It's like, let's just see if you can hop in
Speaker 1: someone's car, because cars are pulling down there the park.
Speaker 1: It's like the shortest hitchhike of all time. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: technically it wasn't a hitchhike. I think so, But we
Speaker 1: just kind of knocked on someone's window. They're like, hey,
Speaker 1: can we ride with you to get to get down there,
Speaker 1: And they kind of looked at each other like, yeah, sure,
Speaker 1: this is pre COVID. Maybe definitely pre COVID. We're not
Speaker 1: freaked out by that. But we jumped in the back
Speaker 1: of this little pickup truck had It was a four door,
Speaker 1: so they didn't have to like get out and open
Speaker 1: their doors or anything. There's a small pickup truck, and
Speaker 1: I will say it did kind of freak us out
Speaker 1: because we jumped in and there are knives all over
Speaker 1: the floor, but they're like kitchen knives. And I don't
Speaker 1: know if they like sell those really sharp knives door
Speaker 1: to doors something, but they're chefs kitchen knives on the floorboards.
Speaker 1: And we saw that as we're climbing and can I
Speaker 1: kind of looked at each other. Kind of freaked us
Speaker 1: out a little bit. Maybe think of the beer commercials
Speaker 1: a bud light with the chainsaw guy on the side
Speaker 1: of the road. Yeah, so ye had a case of beer.
Speaker 1: My my hitchhiking eggs. Have he done it? I have?
Speaker 1: I did it? With like two of my buddies, and
Speaker 1: one of my buddies had like really long black hair
Speaker 1: at the time and like a beard. And it was
Speaker 1: right at the time when those Budweiser commercials have come out,
Speaker 1: and so he like out of cardboard, cut a chainsaw
Speaker 1: and a six pack of bud Light. And I think
Speaker 1: that I don't know if that helped or hurt our
Speaker 1: chances are getting ride, but we did get a couple
Speaker 1: of rides. I think we went from Portland to Seattle
Speaker 1: if I remember correctly. So that's like legit hitchhiking. That
Speaker 1: was a real one. Yeah, I love it, dude. Well,
Speaker 1: I think in your case, you're you had three friends
Speaker 1: and so there's certainly power in numbers. But yeah, you
Speaker 1: just never know. Man, there's a bunch of weirdos out
Speaker 1: there and you don't that's to say they want to
Speaker 1: get picked up by the wrong person, that's true. I
Speaker 1: guess I was banking on the fact that we were
Speaker 1: the biggest weirdos in that situation. Exactly when you're the
Speaker 1: biggest weirdo, when you are the largest risk, then oh yeah,
Speaker 1: try to hit hitchhike with whoever you can. Exactly if
Speaker 1: he can make it happen. All right, let's get onto
Speaker 1: the Friday flight bit. And uh yeah, I'm interested to
Speaker 1: hear if any of our listeners are into hitchhiking or
Speaker 1: have ever done it. Um, but it's gotta be some
Speaker 1: good stories out there. Got to be some good ones. Um.
Speaker 1: But all right, so let's get onto the stories that
Speaker 1: we found interesting this week. The first one our friend
Speaker 1: Len Penzo. He he has a personal finance blog and
Speaker 1: every year he does this brown bag Lunch survey and
Speaker 1: his twelfth annual survey just came out and and so yeah,
Speaker 1: I love his cost analysis that he runs on the
Speaker 1: ten most popular sandwiches to figure out which is the
Speaker 1: most affordable brown bag lunch. And not surprisingly, Matt the
Speaker 1: Bologny sandwich came in first. It was the most affordable
Speaker 1: sandwich that he tested, at only thirty four cents of sandwich.
Speaker 1: I think he said it's been the most affordable for
Speaker 1: eight years running like only like a couple of times
Speaker 1: the P, B and J kind of you know, surpass
Speaker 1: it's the number one spot. But it's not so worth
Speaker 1: mentioning too that. I mean, this is kind of like
Speaker 1: a fun thing. It's not like he's necessarily like sitting
Speaker 1: down and making like scientifically equal sandwiches. He's just making
Speaker 1: normal sandwiches and figuring out how much it costs just
Speaker 1: to give folks a frame of reference. I appreciate it
Speaker 1: that he's doing this leg work because this is the
Speaker 1: kind of stuff that normal people need to know. Right,
Speaker 1: But I guess the big question is who actually really
Speaker 1: wants to eat a blogny sandwich, right, dude? I hated
Speaker 1: blowny sandwiches as a kid, and I hate them now
Speaker 1: like I would much rather. I mean, I just mentioned
Speaker 1: P B and J. I love P B and J
Speaker 1: in particular, like you toasted and kind of get that
Speaker 1: PP ANDJ on a toasted sandwich, so good dade you
Speaker 1: a little crunch, I love it. And also to one
Speaker 1: of the other ones he had on there was an
Speaker 1: egg salad sandwich like I would personally much rather enjoy that.
Speaker 1: You know, it does cost more, but even still, it's
Speaker 1: only at seventy one cents per sandwich. Plus I gotta
Speaker 1: think that eggs are gonna be way better for you,
Speaker 1: way more nutritious than bologney. You can even splurge a
Speaker 1: little bit and go for a delicious belt where the
Speaker 1: cost comes in at two dollars and eighty six cents
Speaker 1: per sandwich, which is way expensive. But even still, man,
Speaker 1: you know that's still over a dollar are less in
Speaker 1: the cost of a big mac. Bottom line, you can
Speaker 1: have massive savings if you can avoid going out to
Speaker 1: eat for lunch, which I think fewer folks are doing
Speaker 1: anyway these days because of COVID. More of us are
Speaker 1: working from home, and I think more of us are
Speaker 1: making our own sandwiches too, so for sure, and I
Speaker 1: pretty much still stick to my cheap lunch of carrots,
Speaker 1: apples and almonds almost every day. Man, I still gotta
Speaker 1: jump on that. You gotta jump on the leftover train, dude,
Speaker 1: like leftover times. But it's all leftovers are the best, like,
Speaker 1: especially if you're going into an office environment the left out,
Speaker 1: Like I get that you might offend some of your
Speaker 1: coworkers or something by by heating it up and eating
Speaker 1: and your I don't know, I forget that, man. I'll
Speaker 1: totally show up with a bunch of curry do get
Speaker 1: in the microwave and then after that burned some popcorn
Speaker 1: while on that at Yeah, you would, you're that kind
Speaker 1: of guy. I never did that when I worked in
Speaker 1: the office. All right, let's get onto the next story.
Speaker 1: So there's evidence that traditional one year leases are actually
Speaker 1: on the decline right now. That's because people are looking
Speaker 1: for for shorter term leases and they're looking for more
Speaker 1: flexibility in their living situation, especially because of the economic
Speaker 1: uncertainty and the potential inability for people to be able
Speaker 1: to pay for rent. They're looking for less stringent, least terms,
Speaker 1: which makes a whole lot of sense. And Matt Um,
Speaker 1: we're both landlords, and I've had a couple of instances
Speaker 1: where tenants have had to request greater flexibility in payments,
Speaker 1: and in some cases I've essentially foregone the lease and
Speaker 1: allowed tenants to go month to month. It'll be interesting
Speaker 1: to see too, though, if corporate landlords kind of follow
Speaker 1: the same suit. I think mom and pop landlords have
Speaker 1: a little more flexibility with what they're able to offer people,
Speaker 1: and often to make it in the business as a
Speaker 1: mom and pop landlord, you have to be more flexible. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So it'll be interesting to see if these corporate landlords,
Speaker 1: the bigger apartment complexes are going to offer some of
Speaker 1: those same flexible terms to to tenants. Right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think a good argument could be made that corporate
Speaker 1: landlords might be more able to, but just less willing.
Speaker 1: You know, the mom and Bob landlords might be just
Speaker 1: as able to, or maybe honestly even less able, because
Speaker 1: a lot of individual landlords kind of count on that
Speaker 1: income to provide for their families to pay for their mortgage. Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: I mean that's me. And so a large part of
Speaker 1: it is that I think a lot of times we're
Speaker 1: just more willing to. We don't have like that corporate
Speaker 1: shield where we're focused on profits and you know, sticking
Speaker 1: it to our renters. There's an actual relationship there too, exactly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you know, and so you know. The good news here, though,
Speaker 1: is that from a renter or a possible tendants point
Speaker 1: of view, is that you might be able to score
Speaker 1: at least renewal at an amount that's lower than what
Speaker 1: you are currently paying. I think this is especially true
Speaker 1: if you live in an apartment with a corporate landlord,
Speaker 1: you know, and you're seeing your same unit may be
Speaker 1: listed for less. You know, if your least renewal is
Speaker 1: coming up soon, you have a pretty good argument to
Speaker 1: negotiate down what you pay, you know, or maybe even
Speaker 1: get a month for free if you are going to resign,
Speaker 1: or maybe you might even be able to go months
Speaker 1: a month. Just know that if you don't have a
Speaker 1: lease in place, though, that your rent can go up
Speaker 1: with very little notice. So just know the market, and
Speaker 1: we would encourage you to to ask for better terms
Speaker 1: if you are in a position like that. Yeah, alright, Matt.
Speaker 1: So since we're on the note of housing, let's get
Speaker 1: to something else. This one is specifically for people who
Speaker 1: own a home and are looking to refinance right now.
Speaker 1: If you've been planning on refinancing your home like so
Speaker 1: many people have recently, and so many people are thinking
Speaker 1: about doing as rates have ticked down to to just
Speaker 1: insanely low levels. We'll make sure you do it before September,
Speaker 1: because Fannie May and Freddie Mack are charging a new
Speaker 1: fee for anybody doing a refinance starting next month. A
Speaker 1: half percent fee will be added to refis as Fanny
Speaker 1: and Freddie are looking to make up for for some
Speaker 1: of the increased risk of defaults and foreclosures due to
Speaker 1: the pandemic, and since Fannie and Freddie back about half
Speaker 1: of the mortgages in the US, this fee is likely
Speaker 1: to affect a lot of individuals, and especially when we're
Speaker 1: in the midst of a refi boom. You know, this
Speaker 1: extra half a percent cost could had just a major
Speaker 1: barrier to people, uh in regards to refinancing and whether
Speaker 1: it still makes sense or not. Yeah, that's true, man,
Speaker 1: And you know it's worth noting too that the way
Speaker 1: that this additional fee works is that Fannie and Freddy
Speaker 1: that they are charging the banks this fee, not us
Speaker 1: as homeowners directly, and also it only applies to refis,
Speaker 1: not purchases, so home buyers don't have to worry about this. However,
Speaker 1: given the huge demand like you just mentioned, Jill in
Speaker 1: refinancing lately, you know, due to these super low rates
Speaker 1: like those banks are likely going to pass that fee
Speaker 1: allowing to consumers. There's no reason for them necessarily to
Speaker 1: just absor of that cost when they have way more
Speaker 1: refinances than they can even currently process. I see it
Speaker 1: as a simple illustration of supply and demand. But even still,
Speaker 1: even with the fee, a refight these days is likely
Speaker 1: to still be a great move for a lot of folks,
Speaker 1: especially if they have an interest rate that it might
Speaker 1: be like a point higher than what they can currently
Speaker 1: get now. In my mind, that's a good time to
Speaker 1: seriously consider it. Yeah, for sure, but fees suck. I
Speaker 1: hate paying fees. And when I see headlines at a
Speaker 1: new fees being instituted, I'm like, man, is there is
Speaker 1: there a way around that? Can we like not have
Speaker 1: that fee? Because because fees are just the worst. And yeah,
Speaker 1: and I understand that Fannie and Ferdy are trying to
Speaker 1: essentially protect themselves againsto potential future losses, but I don't know,
Speaker 1: it's a crumbing way to do it. It's just poor
Speaker 1: timing too. You know, Like a lot of folks are
Speaker 1: just going through a lot right now, and a lot
Speaker 1: of folks are are looking to refine to bolster their
Speaker 1: financial position save money every month on their mortgage, and
Speaker 1: so for them to then get stuck with this additional
Speaker 1: fee in the midst of all that, it's it's just
Speaker 1: kind of poor timing, Yeah, for sure, all right, And
Speaker 1: regardless of when you're looking to refine, like you always
Speaker 1: want to make sure you shop with a few lenders
Speaker 1: to make sure that you're getting the best rate possible.
Speaker 1: Another way to get the best rate is to make
Speaker 1: sure that your credit score is in tip top shape
Speaker 1: and credit scores we've talked about them from time to
Speaker 1: time on the show. They're shrouded in a little bit
Speaker 1: of mystery. So remember, the thirty of your score is
Speaker 1: based on your payment history, So that's why making payments
Speaker 1: on time or early is crucial to you getting the
Speaker 1: best rate, to you having the best credit score. Another
Speaker 1: thirty percent of that credit score is based on credit utilization,
Speaker 1: which is a fancy way of saying the amount of
Speaker 1: credit that you're using compared to what you have available.
Speaker 1: So for example, if you've got a credit card with
Speaker 1: the limit of ten thousand dollars, you want to keep
Speaker 1: your balance low, ideally around two thousand dollars or less.
Speaker 1: If you do well on both of those factors, chances
Speaker 1: are your credit score is gonna be rock solid and
Speaker 1: you will qualify for the best rates. Yeah, so that's
Speaker 1: what makes up the bulk of your credit score. The
Speaker 1: remaining is determined by a few atoms like your credit history.
Speaker 1: So you know, that's why we want you to keep
Speaker 1: old accounts open if possible. I feel like we actually
Speaker 1: recently answer that question on a on a recent Ask
Speaker 1: htm episode, So you know, don't close those credit cards
Speaker 1: from college if you can, and afford to keep this
Speaker 1: around in your credit mix. That's another factor. So it
Speaker 1: actually helps some if you have installment loans like student loans,
Speaker 1: as well as revolving credit like credit cards. And then finally,
Speaker 1: what's last year is new credit accounts, So don't open
Speaker 1: a new credit card if you're looking to refi or
Speaker 1: apply for a mortgage anytime soon, if you're wanting to
Speaker 1: get the best rate. All right, Matt, We've got more
Speaker 1: to get to, including how the rollout of kind of
Speaker 1: the newest wave of unemployment benefits, federal unemployment benefits is
Speaker 1: working for people. We'll get to that right after this break,
Speaker 1: during which I'm gonna eat a thirty four cent bologny sandwich.
Speaker 1: All right, Joel, we're back from the break, and you
Speaker 1: know what, you probably could have actually eaten the blowny
Speaker 1: sandwich in a minute that I don't have a tummy.
Speaker 1: E Yeah, we'll be like there's no substance there, Like
Speaker 1: that's the thing with bologney. It's just processed meat, just
Speaker 1: full of just who knows what. I really don't like bologney.
Speaker 1: I can't believe you're all about it. I wonder if
Speaker 1: Land was getting the organic malogney too. Yeah, no way
Speaker 1: to away. So before we talk about the unemployment benefit news,
Speaker 1: let's talk about cars too. Man. I recently saw that
Speaker 1: the average price of a new car is exploding. Dude,
Speaker 1: you know we just talked about ditching a car earlier
Speaker 1: this week, Yet many people are buying new and are
Speaker 1: are spending an average of over thirty five dollars when
Speaker 1: they make that purchase. New cars aren't necessarily evil, Joel.
Speaker 1: You even wrote a post on this up on our
Speaker 1: site about when a new car might make the most
Speaker 1: sense for you. But you know, as the average price
Speaker 1: of a new car skyrockets, uh, the average length of
Speaker 1: a car loan is also getting longer, and that can
Speaker 1: really be a recipe for personal finance issues to pop
Speaker 1: up in your life. You don't want to end up
Speaker 1: in a situation where you just oh way more money
Speaker 1: on a vehicle than it's actually worth. Yeah, so we
Speaker 1: would suggest thinking twice before you start shopping for a
Speaker 1: new car. Could have used one work just as well
Speaker 1: for you. And if you do decide that you really
Speaker 1: want to bring new car, that's okay to right, but
Speaker 1: look for more affordable models that aren't going to struct
Speaker 1: your budget too hard. If you can pay in cash,
Speaker 1: that's great, But if you do need to take out
Speaker 1: a loan, we suggest not buying a car that you
Speaker 1: can't afford to pay off in three years. Thirty six
Speaker 1: months should be the longest length of a loan that
Speaker 1: you should be considering. If you choose longer loan than that,
Speaker 1: really you just can't afford that car. Or like you said, Joel,
Speaker 1: you can just stick with cash. Keep you nice and clean.
Speaker 1: It's ideal, that's for sure. Let's talk a little bit
Speaker 1: about student loans, dude. Since the executive order a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago, more details have come to light on
Speaker 1: relief for student loan borrowers. It now seems very likely
Speaker 1: that the suspension student loan payments and interest accruel is
Speaker 1: now set to last through till the end of the year.
Speaker 1: That's because the Education Secretary has quote unquote broad authority
Speaker 1: to act on something like this according to the White House.
Speaker 1: Uh and then plus two, you know, the continued suspension
Speaker 1: of student loan payments. It seems to have bipartisan support,
Speaker 1: so it's not likely to be challenged. There's a good
Speaker 1: chance that this is actually gonna happen. I'm trying to
Speaker 1: think of something that I have broad authority in life.
Speaker 1: I can't think of anything right now. Your own life,
Speaker 1: your ability to eat leftovers, to not throw food away
Speaker 1: in the trash. That's a good point, all right. Uh
Speaker 1: So yeah, keep in mind that this expected relief is
Speaker 1: not available to those with private student loans, and this
Speaker 1: is specifically for borrowers who have federal student loans, which
Speaker 1: make up about loans out there, so that's good to know.
Speaker 1: And if you have a stafford, a grad plus, a
Speaker 1: parent plus and consolidation loans, all those loans, so we're
Speaker 1: talking to you. And this relief should be automatic too,
Speaker 1: just like it was in the first round under the
Speaker 1: Cares Act, So you shouldn't have to do anything in
Speaker 1: order to not have to pay on your student loan
Speaker 1: through the end of the year while also not accruing
Speaker 1: an interest, which is great. We'll keep you posted those
Speaker 1: more details come together from the Education Department. Sometimes they
Speaker 1: can be a little slow moving, uh, just like they
Speaker 1: were in the implementation of the Cares Act. But this
Speaker 1: is good news for student loan borrowers and it's just
Speaker 1: more of a chance for people to get to save
Speaker 1: what they would have had to pay on these loans.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, there's there's just no downside
Speaker 1: because interest isn't accruing right now. Yeah, and not only
Speaker 1: are folks saving money too, but a lot of individuals
Speaker 1: are just really getting after their debts. Right. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: this postponed your student loan payments, but it doesn't cancel it,
Speaker 1: like you still have to owe money, like you still
Speaker 1: are going to owe those student loans, and so the
Speaker 1: ability to kind of really go after it when there's
Speaker 1: no interest being accrued is fantastic. It also buys you
Speaker 1: a little more time as well. It's to even just
Speaker 1: kind of go after some of the higher rate interest
Speaker 1: debt that you might have, right Like I'm thinking of
Speaker 1: just higher interest rate credit cards that you might have
Speaker 1: sitting around. Go after those instead, because this is a
Speaker 1: great time to knock out some of that debt. If
Speaker 1: you're in a solid spot with your personal finances. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if your income has remained steady and yet you've got
Speaker 1: these student loans that you don't want to pay on
Speaker 1: right now, but you have other depths in your life
Speaker 1: that have higher interest rates, tackle those now. That's a
Speaker 1: that's a good way to go, all right. Another aspect
Speaker 1: of the executive orders that were issued almost two weeks ago.
Speaker 1: It was an extension of unemployment benefits, and it was
Speaker 1: originally announced as like this boost of four dollars a week,
Speaker 1: but in reality, it looks like it's going to be
Speaker 1: more like three a week. As states, we're basically being
Speaker 1: asked to put the remaining Hunter bucks, but most states
Speaker 1: just can't afford that right now. And either way, this
Speaker 1: is a massive decrease, right it's a having of the
Speaker 1: extra six hundred bucks that a lot of folks were
Speaker 1: seeing with the Cares Act, but his Congress was essentially
Speaker 1: unable to come to any sort of a compromise. It's
Speaker 1: certainly better than just a complete removal of any sort
Speaker 1: of federal aid when it comes to additional unemployment altogether. Yeah,
Speaker 1: at the time of this recording, Jewel, eleven states are
Speaker 1: now offering the the extra three dollars and so individuals
Speaker 1: could see those additional funds as early as this week.
Speaker 1: But FEMA is expecting to be able to pay out
Speaker 1: that assistance by the end of the month on average,
Speaker 1: but it could take longer. And that's because if you're
Speaker 1: listening closely, you heard me say FEMA which is the
Speaker 1: Federal Emergency Management Agency and they normally respond to like
Speaker 1: natural disasters and stuff. They've been tasked with administering this relief,
Speaker 1: and officials are are having to roll out a new
Speaker 1: system to work with the existing unemployment system. Uh, it
Speaker 1: might not be the smoothest rollout, and so you know,
Speaker 1: there might be a chance of delays, even though we
Speaker 1: are seeing more states kind of get approved and get
Speaker 1: logged onto the system, so to speak, pretty quickly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I'll have to say, really like, don't bank on
Speaker 1: receiving that extra unemployment relief in a timely manner. Man,
Speaker 1: I still know people that are waiting on thousands upon
Speaker 1: thousands of dollars in unemployment relief from the Cares Act
Speaker 1: that they haven't been able to get. Some people waiting
Speaker 1: on almost twenty dollars of money from crazy government. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's not cool. And so yeah, on that note, if
Speaker 1: you followed kind of how things went the first time
Speaker 1: and how things are still going with those additional unemployment benefits,
Speaker 1: you'll know what we're talking about. It didn't go well.
Speaker 1: A lot of people were left in the lurch, and
Speaker 1: there are still hopes that Congress will come together and
Speaker 1: will pass a bill that will provide a little more
Speaker 1: long lasting additional unemployment assistance. We hope to see that,
Speaker 1: and we'll definitely talk about it on the show if
Speaker 1: it happens. But now more than ever, it's just this
Speaker 1: great time to fire up aside hustle, start sending emails
Speaker 1: and making calls to people in your network in order
Speaker 1: to look for a new job. Right, I think it's
Speaker 1: time for a lot of people to look for longer
Speaker 1: term solutions to employment, even as many industries have been
Speaker 1: hit hard and individuals have been laid off. Right At
Speaker 1: this past Monday, Matt, we we had an interview with
Speaker 1: Josh Breed sing of Minority Mindset, and we talked about entrepreneurship.
Speaker 1: Give it a listen if you haven't, because I think
Speaker 1: it was insport raatel. Joss Breed had this conventional path
Speaker 1: essentially laid before him, and he decided to go in
Speaker 1: a completely different route and he basically started things from
Speaker 1: scratch and built businesses out of nothing. And is that
Speaker 1: this sort of thing that's easy? No, But is it
Speaker 1: this sort of thing that's replicable? Yes? I think so.
Speaker 1: So Yeah. I thought that was a really fun conversation
Speaker 1: with him. And man I gleaned a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: from that chat. Yeah, and all the note of work.
Speaker 1: You know, the job market is changing right now in
Speaker 1: a pretty meaningful way. Like working from home. It's no
Speaker 1: longer a trend, but it's becoming more and more a
Speaker 1: long term reality for us, and many businesses are prioritizing
Speaker 1: full time jobs less and they're focusing on more contract
Speaker 1: work is to begin to list jobs and hire for needs.
Speaker 1: Much of this is due to economic uncertainty, so it's
Speaker 1: great to see that hiring is up and job listenings
Speaker 1: are increasing, but you know, contract where doesn't necessarily provide
Speaker 1: some of the important benefits that many workers are looking for. Yeah,
Speaker 1: benefits healthcare in particular have of course become just like
Speaker 1: this incredibly meaningful thing that goes along with employment. But
Speaker 1: with the economy changing, and you know, we've already seen
Speaker 1: this kind of trend towards gig work, and we're seeing
Speaker 1: contract work become more and more common, many people who
Speaker 1: are getting a new job might not have the benefits
Speaker 1: that they had before. So even while many are thrilled
Speaker 1: to be getting some work after potentially being laid off
Speaker 1: earlier this year, there's still other difficulties associated with that.
Speaker 1: So it's important to note that that is going to
Speaker 1: be a lot of what you'll see if you are
Speaker 1: job hunting right now, and if you do take a
Speaker 1: job offer in the coming weeks or months, it's okay
Speaker 1: to keep looking and applying elsewhere, you know, when you
Speaker 1: do accept some contract work, so you can look for
Speaker 1: the job that is eventually going to be an even
Speaker 1: much better fit for you and your family, in particular
Speaker 1: giving you some of those benefits that that are just
Speaker 1: so important and helpful. And one final note, one final
Speaker 1: story winted to mention man is that the SMP five
Speaker 1: hits a record high this week. It is crazy to
Speaker 1: think about what has happened in the stock market, uh
Speaker 1: these past six months, and it's important to note that
Speaker 1: when the market hits an all time high, it kind
Speaker 1: of it brings out a lot of nasairs, you know,
Speaker 1: who believe that this can't continue. You know, well the
Speaker 1: mark it go up at this rate forever, like, no way,
Speaker 1: that's not gonna happen. But you know, does this week's
Speaker 1: news ensure that you know, we're going to see a
Speaker 1: big decline and stock valuations in the immediate future. That's
Speaker 1: also gonna be a no. Uh. That's why we invest
Speaker 1: consistently and for the long term, because you know, who
Speaker 1: knows what the market will do in the near term.
Speaker 1: It's good to see optimism from investors, but you know,
Speaker 1: don't allow that news to change how it is that
Speaker 1: you invest. Just keep up and continue that slow and
Speaker 1: steady investing approach. Yeah. I think it's easy to get
Speaker 1: sucked into headlines right now, especially as you see record
Speaker 1: high headlines, and everybody's got a response to something like that, right,
Speaker 1: They've got their take on what's gonna happen next, and
Speaker 1: those takes are typically all across the board, and it's
Speaker 1: easy to buy into one or the other. I gotta say,
Speaker 1: I have no idea you know where the stock market
Speaker 1: is going from here, and neither to those people. And
Speaker 1: so yeah, the best thing we can do is stay
Speaker 1: the course, continue doing what we're doing dollar cost averaging,
Speaker 1: investing on the RAG every single week or every single month,
Speaker 1: like you've been doing to build wealth for the long haul.
Speaker 1: That's how you do it, not by reading the headlines
Speaker 1: and responding to those all right, Matt, that's gonna do it.
Speaker 1: For this episode. For listeners that want to check out
Speaker 1: the show notes for this episode, including a link to
Speaker 1: that brown bag lunch survey. We'll have the show notes
Speaker 1: up on our website at how to money dot com.
Speaker 1: And maybe this weekend you're gonna be hanging out with
Speaker 1: some friends or maybe you know you've got some pandemic pals,
Speaker 1: like some families or individuals who you've kind of quarantined with.
Speaker 1: We would appreciate if you haven't already told them about
Speaker 1: our show, that you would mention how the money. You know,
Speaker 1: we appreciate all of our listeners, and we're always looking
Speaker 1: for ways to to get what it is we're talking
Speaker 1: about personal finances in front of new folks who need
Speaker 1: that financial encouragement. So thank you in advance, Joel. That's
Speaker 1: gonna be it, buddy, until next time, Best Friends Out,
Speaker 1: Best Friends Out,