WEBVTT - Friday Flight - Credit Score Supremacy, Avoiding Alts, & Points in Purgatory #930 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:01.320 Welcome to Had of Money. 0:00:01.400 --> 0:00:04.480 I'm Joel, I'm Matt, and today we're talking about credit 0:00:04.519 --> 0:00:21.160 score supremacy, avoiding alts and points in purgatory. 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:30.240 Look at hu Jewel alliteration on point. Today with our 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:32.960 Friday Flight to the Max, our weekly roundup of the 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:35.240 news stories that we came across this week and specifically 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:37.479 the ones we think you should pay attention to and 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:39.960 how it's going to impact your wallet. We hope everyone 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:44.200 is staying warm out there. It's like nationwide sub zero 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:45.559 or sub freezing temperature. 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:49.120 Most of the kid is in California, which geez hearts 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:51.000 go out to all our friends and one impacted out 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:51.839 there listeners out there. 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:54.120 Yeah, well, I was going to say, so, we've we 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:57.920 talked recently about my sort of close phone versus open 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:00.240 cell spray poam, you know, with a with a house 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:02.680 and all that insulation. Yeah, yeah, all of that. I 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:04.520 don't want to talk about that. I've got another sort 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:09.600 of insulation breakthrough a lot of research trying to figure 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:11.840 this thing out, especially now when it's so cold in 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:14.640 the house and you can feel the cold through the floors. Man. 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:18.080 And so I've been considering getting our cross space in 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:20.600 the existing part of the home spray phoned because that's 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:22.959 something folks do they anyway. 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:25.160 Especially just for comfort. Like I know it will reduce 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:29.360 your energy bills, but it will also just make your feet. 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:32.199 Yeah, absolutely, it makes it. It just insulates that cross 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:34.120 space even more. But I got to thinking about it, 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:35.640 and I'm not going to do it. And here's why. 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:38.840 Because I came across honestly a bunch of different articles. 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:43.880 But cinderblock has a fairly high R value value or whatever, like, 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:46.319 it's fairly insulated. And on top of that, you consider 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:47.880 the fact that there's like a foam board on the 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:51.400 outside of that, then an air gap and then brick. Well, 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:54.880 all that equals to a fairly insulated cross space. You 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:56.320 don't need ad more. So you don't need to do 0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:58.960 that leak. You could, but you don't. It's not necessary, 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:00.680 I guess, is what I'm saying. And that got me. 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:02.720 Might be overkill. It might be overkilled. But then I've 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:04.600 got to ask myself, well, why is the cross space 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:10.040 so cold? So here's my insulation breakthrough or my insulation realization, jol, 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:12.560 which is that the very cross space. Did you like 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:15.640 that the cross space door that I was going through 0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:19.760 is not insulated, and so I looked it up. Guess 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:23.040 what the R value is of a half inch piece 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:26.720 of plywood of OSB gotta be minimal? It is less 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:29.960 is less than one? Okay, So basically I've got a 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:32.640 You know, most folks, if you've got a brick house, 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:34.919 like you have a fairly well insulated cross space that's 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:36.280 for all the cold air is coming in. But it's 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:38.240 like there's not even a door on there, like the 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:40.240 cold air is just pouring in. And it makes so 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:43.400 much sense because in the on our main level of 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:46.079 the house, like that is the coldest section and that's 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:47.600 one of the things where it's like, man, why is 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:49.560 it It's just so cold down here? It's not actually 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:51.840 that cold in other parts of the main floor, but 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:54.760 that portion of the house near the laundry room, oh, 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:57.360 which happens to be where the cross space access is. 0:02:57.400 --> 0:02:59.440 My question for you, then, is I going to insulate 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:00.959 that door? Yeah? Better believe it. 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:04.120 Is it similar though to when you have like attic 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:06.160 access and people will put those I've got one of 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:10.080 those zipper like et space hats. 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:12.200 Yeah, basically is that what they put on the cross 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:14.520 space door. I've only minimally looked into it, but I 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:17.040 know that I am at least going to put some 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:19.520 foam back or board, which adds a little bit. But 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:22.679 I'm also considering They sell these different canister kits even 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:26.400 at home depot, where it's much more affordable and you 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:29.840 can it's a spray foam application, and I'm thinking about 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:33.080 buying one of those consumer grade spray foam application kits, 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:36.040 going in the cross space, putting a mask on, shutting 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:38.400 the door and spraying over it, springing the back of 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:41.400 the door, yeah, letting it cure, and then cutting my 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:43.920 way out essentially just with like a razor blade. So 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:47.400 it's still really half home improvement half escape room. Yeah, 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:49.480 it's really tight because you don't That's that's one of 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:54.000 the other issues with actual air leaks that can come sometimes. 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:56.760 It's not just insulation, is the fact that like, hey, 0:03:56.800 --> 0:03:58.760 if you can see a gap, if you can see 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:02.520 sky out from your cross space, there's cold air obviously 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:05.120 getting in there. But anyway, all that to say, this 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:08.080 is a way to avoid spending thousands of dollars on 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:10.960 an encapsulation which you may not need. Instead, I'm going 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:15.560 to take this low cost budget approach to finding the 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:18.240 most low hanging fruit, and man, that cross based door 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:20.880 is one hundred percent the lowest hanging fruit when it 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:22.440 comes to keeping that space warm. 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:25.080 Well, let us know how it goes and how it 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:28.360 changes kind of your environment near where that door is 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:29.080 in your main. 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:31.279 To man, it has to yeah, but that Yeah, you're right. 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:32.320 I'm really hopeful a. 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:34.400 Small amount of DIY I think could save you a 0:04:34.400 --> 0:04:36.360 lot of money and get you where you want to 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:37.680 go without overdoing it. 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:39.640 Yeah. And that's why I was thinking the phone backer 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:41.039 board because I was thinking, you know what, I could 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:44.320 even cut it to be slightly larger than the actual door. Yeah, 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:46.919 and that's that's really affordable, right, just a piece of whatever. 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:49.080 Maybe I'll even double it up, I don't know. Yeah, 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:51.080 but sticking that on, they're making it slightly larger that way, 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:54.320 when it closes, it's like it overlaps the crack in 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:55.960 the door. To sure, Oh you know what I'm saying. 0:04:57.160 --> 0:04:59.200 I think that because there's always a game plywood there. 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:01.440 It's not there's always a little gap there. It seems 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:02.880 like exactly, that's a good way to fix that. 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:04.360 Anyway. I wanted to share that with all the folks 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:06.520 out there. Who might be thinking something similar where they're like, man, 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:08.960 my feet are so cold, how do we how do 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:11.039 we fix this? Yeah, this might be a solution. I 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:14.160 like it. I like it. And that's enough house talk. Yeah, 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:17.840 enough enough house which that truly is like our favorite channel. Now. 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:19.920 I have that set up a really on the same 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:22.040 because the same sung It's got all these free channels 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:25.080 included H and whatever you turn the TV on, it 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:27.640 always goes to some default channel, and so I always 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:30.480 have it set there because I love seeing all these 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:34.120 home improvement projects. It's like classic Americana. I love it. 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:36.200 I think most people here talk like this or they 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:38.839 think about having to do something like this themselves on 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:41.680 their own home, and they just get bummed out. I 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:44.400 get stoked. Yeah, you love home promos. 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:46.039 I'm like most of the people listening who are like, 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:49.800 let's screw that. They're not terribly interested. But let's move 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:51.320 on with a Friday flight mass that to talk about 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:54.080 let's do them home. Let's talk about cars. Turns out 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:57.440 January is the best time to buy a used car. 0:05:57.560 --> 0:05:59.560 This is according to our friends over at car Edge. 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:01.640 You know, we have had Ray and Zach on the 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:05.520 show last year and they provided a lot of great 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:08.160 advice when it comes to shopping for cars and getting 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:10.359 the best price. Well, the reasons that January is the 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:12.520 best time to buy a used car is because there 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:15.880 are more trade ins on the lot, because you know, 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:18.080 people upgrading their car, buying the new car, trading in 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:20.400 their old car in December, that's a popular time to do. 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:22.920 That makes sense for used cars now in abundance. 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:24.440 That was one of the things they said was that 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:26.400 you get a good deal at the end of the month, 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:27.920 you get a better deal at the end of the quarter. 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:30.400 You get the best deals at the end of the year. Yeap. 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:32.360 So if you want to buy a new car, e 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:35.880 might want to wait eleven and a half months. Within 0:06:36.279 --> 0:06:38.839 Spring actually is typically when people start to look to 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:43.200 upgrade their used car ride too often because of a 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:46.000 tax refund cash infusion. So we're in this sweet spot 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:48.960 where there's an abundance of used cars and not all 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:52.760 that many people looking. Car prices Obviously they fluctuate according 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:55.800 to supply and demand, and so supplies high demand isn't 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:57.640 so basically for. 0:06:57.600 --> 0:06:58.200 Everyone out there. 0:06:58.200 --> 0:07:00.680 If you're like I'm looking for a used car, I 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:02.680 don't know when I'm going to start, well, now it 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:05.320 might be the best time actually, and it might even 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:08.520 be a good time to consider an electric vehicle, specifically 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:11.480 from rental car company Hurts. They bought Oh yeah, we've 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:13.160 talked about this before, Maat, but this continues to be 0:07:13.160 --> 0:07:15.239 a problem for them. They bought a ton of Teslas, 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:16.800 they weren't able to rent them out in the numbers 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:19.600 that they hoped, and they're even I saw it. I 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:22.560 think it was in Jelopnik. They're even soliciting people who 0:07:22.640 --> 0:07:25.400 just rent an EV. Now they're telling them at the 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:27.200 end of the rental period, hey, do you actually want 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:28.680 to buy this car. Here's what we'll sell it to 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:30.520 you for. You don't even need to take your things out, 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:33.040 just to just keep on driving. Really really incredible, Like 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:35.160 Hurts really wants to get rid of some of these 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:38.080 Teslas and other evs that they bought. Wow, their loss 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:39.920 could be your gain. It's at least worth taking a 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:42.240 look to see. But I mean some of those cars 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:45.760 are priced at sub twenty thousand dollars. That's not bad 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:47.600 for like an EV if it's in good condition. 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:49.680 Absolutely, And it makes sense that they're wanting to unload 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:52.200 these because like if you think about it. If you 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:54.120 let's say you're a business traveler and you're just flying 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:57.040 into a city for the day, You're not thinking about like, 0:07:57.080 --> 0:07:58.360 you don't want to have to learn how to drive 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:00.120 an EV you don't want to have to learn the 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:01.640 ins and outs of a tesla if that's not what 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:03.720 you typically drive. You want something that you're used to. 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:06.200 You're going to get to work or the office wherever 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:08.320 you're visiting. I don't know how this works, make your 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:10.120 sales calls or something like that. You don't don't have 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:12.640 to find a place to charge. No, Yeah, And when 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:15.760 it comes to if it is an overnight trip, where 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:18.040 are you typically staying. Most folks are staying at a hotel, 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:21.120 but how many of those give you the ability to charge? 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:23.200 I mean, is not that easy. And this is something 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:25.800 Kate and I learned firsthand when we went out to Colorado. 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:27.960 I wanted to try out the tesla and I was like, man, 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:29.400 it's kind of a pain in the butt actually to 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:32.000 stay at a condo where I can't charge the thing. 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:35.280 And we were forced to find the superchargers, which was 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:39.040 fairly easy, but still budgeting the time to because you 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:41.120 still have to sit there while it's charging, even on 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:43.600 a supercharger, and the cost it was just as expensive 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:45.920 as gasoline. Yeah, and that's why it's better to own. 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:48.600 It makes a ton of rent. All the advantage is 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:50.960 being able to drive it home, pulled into your garage 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:54.160 and do that slow basic charge. That's where the real 0:08:54.160 --> 0:08:57.320 savings come in. Absolutely, No, the real savings is buying 0:08:57.720 --> 0:08:59.920 not a new car but a used car. Because the 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:02.760 average price of a new car these asual is it's 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:06.280 still close to fifty thousand dollars, which is it's difficult 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:07.360 for me to wrap my mind around. 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:09.080 I want to say, if I'm recalling correctly, is like 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:12.120 and seventy three dollars average price for a new car 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:13.359 so expensive. 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:17.160 Twenty percent of buyers now have a monthly payment of 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:20.840 one thousand dollars or more. And certainly some of this 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:23.920 we can blame on inflation, but that's only a part 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:27.360 of it. Felix Salmon over at Axios. He highlights that 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:31.200 our tastes they account for most of the price increased. 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:34.600 We like nice things or less content with compacts in 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:37.560 sedans than we used to be, and upgrading to the 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:41.000 suv or upgrading to that truck. It costs dramatically more. 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:42.920 And so when you're thinking about your next car, just 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:45.480 keep that in mind. For some folks, a three to 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:49.360 row shuv maybe it is necessary. But if not, man, 0:09:49.440 --> 0:09:51.360 a smaller car is going to save you a lot 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:53.520 more money in almost every way as well. 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:56.439 Yeah, I think that's really important to highlight, Matt. I 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:58.240 think a lot of it's like that Spider Man meme 0:09:58.320 --> 0:10:00.960 where all the Spider Man are at each other. I 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:02.880 think it's really easy to point in inflation, but then 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:05.199 there's a finger pointing back at you, and it's like, well, 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:07.680 did you have to buy the biggest possible car on 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:10.439 the planet. And when you're talking about those big SUVs, 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:13.800 we're typically talking about seventy plus thousand dollars rides. And 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:17.040 so maybe you need it, maybe you don't, and if 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:18.880 you don't, you can save a lot of money. And 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:22.000 this coincides perfectly with something else I saw about the 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:24.199 amount of space that the average American has in their 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:27.479 home these days. The number of homes with extra bedrooms 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:29.880 just hitting all time high. So like we are gluttons 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:34.240 for space and we're expanding maybe even when we don't need. 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:36.920 To, or just such a facy rich nation yea, our 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:39.959 tastes have exceeded our pocket book. That's true, that's right, Yeah, 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:42.400 and so yes, similar to buying the larger car, that 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:45.800 extra space is going to cost you big time. Zillow 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:50.199 estimates that the average three bedroom home costs three hundred 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:53.000 and thirty six thousand dollars, but the average four bedroom 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:55.959 home costs four hundred and ninety six thousand dollars. That's 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:58.400 a more than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars difference, 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:02.000 which is substantial. And there's nothing wrong with having a 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:04.319 home office or having a guest room, right, having maybe 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:06.320 a little bit more room than you need. 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:09.040 But and especially you know post COVID more people working 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:11.480 from home, Like I get that you want a separate 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:13.840 space like that. But given that homes are one of 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:16.840 our most expensive purchases, it's important to go in eyes 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:19.680 wide open and know that buying a beastly home, one 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:22.280 that's maybe larger than you actually need, with space that 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:24.840 you're not going to put to use very well, it 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:28.439 comes with financial consequences. And Matt, I think sometimes people 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:32.520 think about, well, what about when the rare occurrences where 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:34.679 people are staying at your home yep, or maybe Hey, 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:37.640 the holidays just finished and you had someone staying at 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:39.400 your home for four or five days, and you're like, gosh, 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:41.720 don't want to live through those tight quarters again next 0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:45.520 Christmas when it comes around, Well, maybe think about renting 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:47.839 that special person in your life, your parents or whoever 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:50.679 they might be, renting them something around the corner. And 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:53.240 that is way cheaper you pay for it yourself, even 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:56.079 how much cheaper is that than renovating, adding on or 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:57.400 buying a new, bigger house. 0:11:57.200 --> 0:11:59.000 Tens of thousands of dollars. And the same thing is 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:01.040 true when it comes to to vehicles. Like a common 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:04.400 thread between silk houses and autos is the fact that, 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:07.760 like we're planning for these edge case scenarios that rarely happen, 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:11.800 and we catastrophize what would happen if we were in need? Right, 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:13.800 and so like I'm thinking of like going back to 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:15.599 cars and trucks. Folks are like, well, I want to 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:17.200 have a truck because I want to be able to 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:19.880 pick up the new refrigerator because we're going to upgrade 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:22.840 our appliances or whatever. A couple of things here. First off, 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:25.280 Costco and Home Depot they all deliver. Yeah, so you 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:27.920 don't even need the truck. Secondly, if you actually do 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:30.319 need a pickup, well, for you could borrow it. But 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:32.480 let's say you don't have any friends with trucks. Okay, 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:34.520 you can still go to home depot and rent the 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:37.520 stupid truck for twenty bucks for a flatbed. And there's 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:40.080 a big difference between paying twenty twenty five bucks to 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:43.600 rent a pickup truck versus financing a seventy five thousand 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:47.200 dollars decked out whatever fancy pickup truck. That people are 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:48.200 spending so much money on this. 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:51.280 And it's I think it's just so easy to feel that, 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:54.240 especially in the aftermath of a visit like that, and say, 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:55.679 we got to do something about this house. 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:58.000 It's getting too tight. But is it really getting too tight? 0:12:58.080 --> 0:12:59.360 Let's just sign up for some payments. Yeah. 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:01.760 And it's just interesting to see that Americans have gotten 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:04.160 accustomed to having more space than they actually need. Part 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:06.480 of that is increasing home sizes, part of that is 0:13:06.520 --> 0:13:08.959 declining family sizes. It's kind of both of those things 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:11.600 happening simultaneously. But we used to get by with a 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:14.000 heck of a lot less space in this country, and 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:16.440 to think, I don't know the twenty five hundred square 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:18.280 foot house is getting pretty tight from my family of 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:20.680 three like that. I think that's the phenomenon that you 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:22.120 and I would love to combat a little here. 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:27.160 Absolutely, Joel's talk about debt, specifically medical debt, because it's 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:30.160 no longer going to show up on credit reports, or 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:34.079 actually will it, Joel, We will see. That's what That's 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:36.040 what all the headlines are saying. At least, it's another 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:40.080 political tug of war the outgoing Biden administration. They have 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:43.400 finalized a rule that is going to end the inclusion 0:13:43.800 --> 0:13:47.719 of all medical debt on credit reports moving forward. We've 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:50.520 already seen the removal of sub five hundred dollars medical 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:53.440 bills from being reported to credit bureaus, which has helped 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:56.680 a lot of folks not have their scores crushed thanks 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:58.560 to just, you know, a minor bill that they couldn't 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:00.880 afford to pay, or even maybe that they forgot to pay. 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:04.080 But this much bigger rule change would mean that medical 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:08.040 debt of any size can no longer plague people on 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:11.040 the credit front, and it would impact close to fifteen 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:15.400 million people according to the CFPB. But I think it 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:19.080 is unlikely to stick because again of the way that 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:22.880 we arrived to this rule being implemented. It's not that 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:26.600 we don't feel for folks who have medical debt, certainly, but. 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:30.280 And it's not that the system doesn't have meaningful problems 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:32.040 with sure how medical debt. 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:35.000 Is, but the way you arrive at solving these problems 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:37.800 and matters a ton and to say, carte blanche, oh, 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:39.480 we're going to change the rules. We're going to change 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:42.360 the standards. As to the idea is that, well, everyone's 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:44.800 credit score is going to be boosted. But like, think 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:47.240 about the last time you had, like just think about 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:49.600 great inflation with teachers. What if a teacher says, hey, 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:52.160 I'm only going to give a's this semester, Well, guess 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:55.000 what that A no longer means anything because everybody got 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:58.400 an A. And so what do colleges then do. They're like, Okay, well, 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:00.880 we're actually looking for people that have high than A 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:02.720 four point zero. We're looking for the students out there, 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:04.400 they have the four point two to four point three 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:07.880 who are tacking on the ap classes. That's what I 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:10.360 see happening here is that there's not going to be 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:13.080 this sort of long term benefit to folks because lenders 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:14.840 are still going to cover their butts. They're still going 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:17.760 to find ways to filter through applicants that are out there, 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:20.320 and they want the best applicants who are looking to 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:22.560 take loans from banks and credit unilll. 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:24.320 The other thing is that this might be this might 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:26.000 not live for very long because it. 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:27.720 Is assuming the best that it is able to stick 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:28.080 around for. 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:32.200 Literally, you know, weeks away from transition to the next presidency, 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:35.480 the next administration, and this could be overturned and with 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:39.120 stroke of a pen. So when we don't arrive at 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:43.560 legislation in the proper way, which is typically through congressional action, 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:47.800 which they have been loath to work, it seems the 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:50.920 sort of back and forth politics and legislation that we've seen, 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:55.120 specifically from executive branches and administrations going back and forth, 0:15:55.520 --> 0:15:57.000 we see more of that, and that means that these 0:15:57.040 --> 0:16:00.440 changes aren't necessarily standing the test of time to stay. 0:16:00.520 --> 0:16:00.760 Yeah. 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:02.280 Oh, and by the way, we have an episode go 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:04.160 back and listen in to episode seven sixteen if you 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:08.000 want to know how to fight back against medical debt again. Oh, 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:10.920 the system sucks, doctor Virgie. Doctor Virgie, she was wonderful 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:16.040 and the system is again not consumer friendly. The healthcare 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:19.760 system the health insurance system and then the reporting of 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:22.960 health debt to your credit report. But if you want 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:24.400 to know how to battle that in your life, you 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:26.320 got to stick up for yourself. Episode seven to sixteen 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:27.600 is for you. Will link to that in the show 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:30.280 notes And Matt this brings up too, you're kind of 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:33.520 getting at maybe how credit scores are becoming less relevant 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:37.480 if we're not taking into account certain factors for credit reports. 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:41.240 And I guess the importance of credit scores has been 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:44.160 widely debated in the personal finance community. Some people think 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:46.200 that they matter, other people would say that they don't. 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:48.280 Dave Ramsey in particular, is one of those guys who 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:49.760 would say, oh, he loves. 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:52.200 The I love debt score. That's what he calls it. 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:54.120 Heytes that thing, right, And you and I have said, well, no, 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:56.160 it's it's not the best thing in the world, but 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:59.200 it's smart to jump through the hoops to make sure 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:02.880 that your credit score stays solid. And so this Yahoo 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:05.800 Finance article detailed why you shouldn't listen to Dave Ramsey's 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:08.920 advice on living without a credit score, and we wholeheartedly 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:12.879 agree with it. The credit scoring system is flawed. The 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:16.720 credit bureaus are error prone and not great at responding 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:19.440 to your concerns. There was actually another lawsuit just filed 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:23.520 against TransUnion this week because guess what, they don't deal 0:17:23.520 --> 0:17:27.359 with consumer complaints well at all. And that's phrasing it nicely. 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:30.359 But at the same time, you know, the game isn't 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:32.480 all that hard to play once you kind of dig 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:35.720 into the rules, and not playing the game of trying 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:38.320 to have a solid credit score makes your life harder. 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:41.480 You know, not tending to your credit score. It can 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:44.560 lead to higher mortgage rates, higher insurance costs in most 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:47.119 states around the country, to not getting a rental that 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:50.240 you're interested in getting if you know you are. Let's 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:52.800 say you're trying to go down the street and you say, oh, hey, 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:54.679 I want to apply to live at this property. Well, 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:56.720 the landlord might say, I don't know. Your credit score 0:17:56.800 --> 0:17:59.400 is pretty rough. Sorry, you can't live here. So you're 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:01.359