Speaker 1: Episode one, where to Save your Money. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, friends,
Speaker 1: and live with your life. Here your host Jen and
Speaker 1: Jill mhmm. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name
Speaker 1: is Jen, my name is Jill, and today we are
Speaker 1: talking about where to save your money. This was a
Speaker 1: request from our Frugal Friends community group on Facebook, so
Speaker 1: it's kind of expounding a little bit on our Frugal
Speaker 1: Banking episode and where we're talking specifically about saving So
Speaker 1: we love this topic and we especially love today's sponsor.
Speaker 1: Let me give me a drum roll, The Future of
Speaker 1: Frugal Summit. We are so super over the moon to
Speaker 1: announce our first Frugal Living Summit, the first of its kind,
Speaker 1: and the theme for this year is the future of
Speaker 1: Frugal because you know, we like a little alliteration. We
Speaker 1: believe a frugal lifestyle is a solution to many of
Speaker 1: the problems we face today, from overspending and overwhelm all
Speaker 1: the way to climate change. And so we're bringing together
Speaker 1: twenty speakers over four days for this wait for it free,
Speaker 1: our favorite f word virtual event to help us explore
Speaker 1: what it looks like to choose frugality enthusiastically, not just
Speaker 1: as a means to an end. Registrations opens June, but
Speaker 1: we wanted to announce some of our speakers today because
Speaker 1: we are so excited about them, and we're sure you
Speaker 1: alb two all right, So these are just some of them,
Speaker 1: but we have Liz Tens of Meet the Frugal Woods,
Speaker 1: Sarah Wilson of Budget Girl, Rich Jones of Paychecks and Balances,
Speaker 1: Emily Stoke all of the pre loved podcast, Andy Hill
Speaker 1: of Marriage, Kids and Money, Alison bag Early of Inspired Budget,
Speaker 1: Nick Loper of The Side Hustle Show, Christine Platte of
Speaker 1: The Afro Minimalist, and many more. And in addition to
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Speaker 1: on the wait list and be the first know when
Speaker 1: registration opens next week. There's just so like, even hearing
Speaker 1: this and going through it again with you, there's so
Speaker 1: much to be excited about. Not only so many different
Speaker 1: people who are just experts in their own field talking
Speaker 1: about this, but the potential for participants to win five
Speaker 1: dollars and that it's free is amazing, Like I don't
Speaker 1: really understand how we're doing it, but we're doing it.
Speaker 1: And for those of you who aren't aware, because we
Speaker 1: got this when we went Facebook Live, like, what is
Speaker 1: a summit? It isn't online like conference. Essentially, it's like
Speaker 1: you'll be able to sit in on all of these
Speaker 1: interviews from the comfort of your own home or cafe
Speaker 1: or wherever it is that you can get internet and
Speaker 1: join this. Yes, and there will be interaction in a
Speaker 1: pop up Facebook group. There will be lives that will
Speaker 1: be not on Facebook if you don't want to access that,
Speaker 1: but we will have opportunities for interaction with Jill and
Speaker 1: I and other attendees. So it will feel really like
Speaker 1: something in person, but in the comfort of your own
Speaker 1: home and without having to travel, spend money on travel
Speaker 1: and take days off of work. And so we are
Speaker 1: so epically excited about this, And thank you to our
Speaker 1: sponsor Cube money for the five cash giveaway and uh
Speaker 1: excited to reveal more over the coming weeks to you.
Speaker 1: That is July nine through two, So put it on
Speaker 1: your calendar. It's on my calendar. Yes, I know it's
Speaker 1: on better be on your calendar. It's on my calendar.
Speaker 1: So all right, now let's get into the episode. If
Speaker 1: you want to queue up some episodes to listen to
Speaker 1: after this one, episode one oh one tips for being
Speaker 1: more intentional with your finances. We think intentionality is what
Speaker 1: really breeds being able to save more and increase your savings,
Speaker 1: so episode one oh one really great for that. And
Speaker 1: then also episode one oh eight Smart and Frugal Banking,
Speaker 1: where we talk all about banking and bank accounts. So
Speaker 1: this one specifically diving into saving. So our first article
Speaker 1: is from nerd Wallet and it's titled are you saving
Speaker 1: money in the right place? Good? So are you? I'm not? Um?
Speaker 1: Is this such a good? So this episode is a
Speaker 1: great example of how you are the financial expert and
Speaker 1: I am the common person's representative, people experts on the
Speaker 1: people's person, so I won't be afraid to ask all
Speaker 1: the questions for everyone who's like, yeah, I'm not a
Speaker 1: super pro at this. So I think it's really helpful.
Speaker 1: It's really excellent. If anybody is like me, this is
Speaker 1: not the first thing that I think about, right of
Speaker 1: like where exactly am I putting money? And is it
Speaker 1: in the exact right place? You know? I thought, I
Speaker 1: got debt free and I save money and I don't
Speaker 1: go into more debt and I have a roth ira
Speaker 1: and like I'm golden. But there's still more to learn.
Speaker 1: And this actually has prompted some changes that I'm going
Speaker 1: to make. We'll talk about that in the lightning Ground. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I like that this one kind of starts out
Speaker 1: with factors to consider before you start saving, because sometimes
Speaker 1: you can just start stashing cash kind of without a plan,
Speaker 1: or you can start spending it without a plan. So
Speaker 1: I liked that this one was kind of giving some
Speaker 1: of the things to start with, like you should chat
Speaker 1: for like access to withdrawals and stuff. What did you think? Okay,
Speaker 1: first of all, I thought it was excellent. So actually,
Speaker 1: second of all, I really found it helpful. The way
Speaker 1: that they delineated between short term, medium term, long term savings.
Speaker 1: I think in my mind it has been you've got
Speaker 1: savings and you've got retirement, whereas they broke it down
Speaker 1: even further to consider what is the best place for
Speaker 1: your money depending on how you want to use it.
Speaker 1: I think one of the barriers as far as banking
Speaker 1: and approaching savings accounts is the fees that can come
Speaker 1: along with them, Like I would like to kind of
Speaker 1: have my money in a lot of different places, so
Speaker 1: to speak. But at the same time, some of my
Speaker 1: barriers have been, well, if they're going to charge me,
Speaker 1: or I'm gonna have to have a minimum balance, like
Speaker 1: I'd rather just kind of like keep it pretty simple,
Speaker 1: and that could be preference, and depending on how you
Speaker 1: are with money, then that's fine. But it was really
Speaker 1: helpful to even define, well, what should I be considering
Speaker 1: for money that I'm going to utilize in about a year,
Speaker 1: Like that's how they define short term, medium term being
Speaker 1: longer than a year, and then of course long term
Speaker 1: they even define long term as like four or five
Speaker 1: years plus. That's when you want to start approaching it
Speaker 1: more of like investing than necessarily just saving. And there's
Speaker 1: some different places you can be putting your money. So
Speaker 1: that was a helpful parameter guideline for me to delineate
Speaker 1: between where should it be based on what it's going
Speaker 1: to be used for how long it's going to take
Speaker 1: to get there. So that was big picture helpful for me.
Speaker 1: I wanted to highlight that, Yeah, because it's important to
Speaker 1: have goals that are sooner than retirement. Some people have
Speaker 1: a goal of saving for a house. Some people want
Speaker 1: to save for a really big vacation. We are currently
Speaker 1: saving for rental real estate. So it is it's those
Speaker 1: goals can always change, but you should at least have them.
Speaker 1: Have your one, five, and ten year goals and then
Speaker 1: your retirement goals, and you have the prerogative to change
Speaker 1: them always, but you should at least have them. And
Speaker 1: then these are kind of where to save for those
Speaker 1: different goals. Yeah, So for starters, and this is outlined
Speaker 1: in this article by nerd wallet, they give you some
Speaker 1: factors to consider when you're thinking about where am I
Speaker 1: going to put my money? You want to look at
Speaker 1: what is the access to withdraws? How often can I withdraw?
Speaker 1: At what point can I be withdrawing? How easy is
Speaker 1: it to withdraw? The answer to to what you want
Speaker 1: is then going to depend on some of these other
Speaker 1: things that we talk about, But you want to know
Speaker 1: what is the access to withdraws? What is the interest
Speaker 1: rate of this bucket that you might put your money into.
Speaker 1: Is it a good interest rate for the type of
Speaker 1: account that it is. And then you want to consider
Speaker 1: length of time, how far away is your goal? Again,
Speaker 1: that kind of hails back to that overarching piece that
Speaker 1: we just talked about. And again they do reference here
Speaker 1: that if it's longer than four to five years of
Speaker 1: a length of time when you then need to access
Speaker 1: that money, that's when it's worth considering should I invest this,
Speaker 1: I don't need to touch it, or you know this
Speaker 1: is for something four to five years down the road,
Speaker 1: maybe I look more at investing versus just approaching this
Speaker 1: from a savings mindset, But that length of time is
Speaker 1: important to define. Yeah, I think the biggest thing between
Speaker 1: accounts is besides access, interest rate and and I think
Speaker 1: ensure like the f d I c insurance. When you
Speaker 1: put your money in an f d I c ensured account,
Speaker 1: then you have protection on it, and that's what you
Speaker 1: need in shorter term settings. But that also means that
Speaker 1: you don't get the benefit of growth in the market,
Speaker 1: so you're going to see very low interest which is
Speaker 1: fine because really your biggest priority is that you keep
Speaker 1: the money so that you can use it soon. But
Speaker 1: then you have on the other hand, is growth more important,
Speaker 1: and we want to look long term for that, But
Speaker 1: you don't get the FDIC insurance, and so that's okay too.
Speaker 1: Both are good. You just need to know which one
Speaker 1: do you want at which time. So let's talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about short term savings. So for here we
Speaker 1: have some high yield savings accounts, money markets, and cash
Speaker 1: management accounts. So I think we at this point we
Speaker 1: know what a high yield savings account is, but just
Speaker 1: to refresh your memory, these are accounts that are typically
Speaker 1: offered by online banks because they don't have the overhead
Speaker 1: a brick and mortar bank does, so they can pass
Speaker 1: on the interest that they make loaning your money out
Speaker 1: to other people. They pass on some of that interest
Speaker 1: to you, not a lot, because these accounts are f
Speaker 1: d i C insured, but more than point oh one
Speaker 1: or point oh five percent, which is typical for brick
Speaker 1: and mortar banks. Right now, we're seeing about point five
Speaker 1: and so these are relatively new. What you would see
Speaker 1: before high yield savings accounts were money market accounts. Those
Speaker 1: were more popular um and so they are offered by
Speaker 1: brick and mortar banks have some checking features and have
Speaker 1: a little higher interest rates, maybe not as high as
Speaker 1: a high yield, but definitely higher than a checking account.
Speaker 1: Money markets. Money market accounts have been around a long time,
Speaker 1: and then you have cash management accounts, which is typically
Speaker 1: the same thing as a money market. They are offered
Speaker 1: by brokerages rather than banks. So when I talk about investing,
Speaker 1: I think the biggest thing I try to emphasize with
Speaker 1: your especially rath I Ra is that when you put
Speaker 1: money into your account, you must then invest it, because
Speaker 1: when you put money into your brokerage account, it sits
Speaker 1: in a cash management account, basically just a money market.
Speaker 1: But then you have to take the money from your
Speaker 1: cash management account and invest it into things like index funds.
Speaker 1: And so that's what we have for short term savings, questions, concerns.
Speaker 1: It's all good. So then beyond that, and again the
Speaker 1: short term savings, we're talking a year, two years, maybe
Speaker 1: then you move into your medium term savings, the things
Speaker 1: that you might want to have access to, your building
Speaker 1: up for a goal that's you know, three to five
Speaker 1: years in the future, maybe two to four years in
Speaker 1: the future. All of the places that you would store
Speaker 1: your money for that type of savings goal would pretty
Speaker 1: much be the same as what Jen just listed out
Speaker 1: for short term, except you also have the additional option
Speaker 1: of a c D or certificate of deposit. So the
Speaker 1: thing with c d s is, yes, you put a
Speaker 1: certain amount of money in they usually have higher interest rates,
Speaker 1: but you typically can't touch it for a specified amount
Speaker 1: of time, and you can choose that amount of time.
Speaker 1: Certainly you've got a couple of years, to five years,
Speaker 1: to ten years, you name it. If you did go
Speaker 1: this route for a medium term savings goal, then you
Speaker 1: would want to choose a CD that has a maturation
Speaker 1: date just before the time frame you hope to withdraw,
Speaker 1: meaning you can withdraw at the time you want to
Speaker 1: withdraw without any penalties. So just keep that in mind.
Speaker 1: There certainly are some CDs that you can get at
Speaker 1: our penalty free. You can withdraw penalty free. You're probably
Speaker 1: going to have a lower interest rate on those though,
Speaker 1: when you're not going to have the penalty. The thing
Speaker 1: about c ds is that they are currently now around
Speaker 1: the same interest rate as a high yield savings account.
Speaker 1: They're very comparable and they're restrictive. So I never recommend
Speaker 1: c DS as a way to save, honestly. And they
Speaker 1: say that you can maybe save money for a house
Speaker 1: in a c D, and honestly, the housing market increases
Speaker 1: at a rate way higher than a c D. So
Speaker 1: it just doesn't make sense to hold your money in
Speaker 1: a c D for two years versus maybe put a
Speaker 1: little less down for a house earlier. CDs just no
Speaker 1: longer makes sense to me. I'm sure in some cases
Speaker 1: somewhere someone finds them to be useful. It's like putting
Speaker 1: your money on freeze. Yeah, I can't touch this, They'll
Speaker 1: penalize me. Yeah. So I don't particularly like c d
Speaker 1: s if I am going for something medium term. And
Speaker 1: so this is something that we are doing. We are
Speaker 1: putting off our home, our investment property purchase a little
Speaker 1: longer because of all the craziness in the housing market.
Speaker 1: So we did have that money in a highled savings account,
Speaker 1: and so we are currently moving it to a conservative fund,
Speaker 1: a conservative pie at M one finance. And so this
Speaker 1: is more like heavy in bonds, and uh, it's nuts.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not going to explain all the holdings
Speaker 1: of the investing it's m one makes it super easy. Um.
Speaker 1: But it's instead of being super aggressive like what we
Speaker 1: are with our retirement accounts squence, we have a very
Speaker 1: long time horizon. This one is conservative because we're going
Speaker 1: to need it in probably a year or two. So
Speaker 1: that's what we're using for medium term savings. And some
Speaker 1: people would just say, go out and get a bond,
Speaker 1: but I don't typically like to hold a lot of
Speaker 1: bonds outside of a tax advantage retirement account. So since
Speaker 1: this is outside of a tax advantaged retirement account, it's
Speaker 1: kind of it's got some equities in it, but it's
Speaker 1: got enough bonds to still be conservative. So that's not
Speaker 1: on here. But that's like what we're doing, and that's
Speaker 1: not you know, personalized investment advice, but it's kind of
Speaker 1: where I'm going instead of c DS, just to get
Speaker 1: a little bit more than a high old savings account,
Speaker 1: because the high old savings account is not beating inflation,
Speaker 1: it's not keeping up with housing market, and so this
Speaker 1: is kind of our way to keep saving and to
Speaker 1: keep up with the housing market. I mean, inflation is
Speaker 1: not rising. Well, the government's inflation is rising, but other
Speaker 1: inflation is so um, that's kind of what we're doing. Nice,
Speaker 1: thanks for sharing that. Yeah, So speaking of investing, when
Speaker 1: we go to long term savings, that's when we want
Speaker 1: to focus on investing. So with your emergency fund, that's
Speaker 1: more of a medium like savings goal. You don't know
Speaker 1: if you're gonna need it now or like far away
Speaker 1: in the future, So high old savings account for that
Speaker 1: for sure. Again, we love Access Bank right now. We're
Speaker 1: not partial to any bank, but their high old Savings
Speaker 1: account is point six one a p y, no minimum balance,
Speaker 1: there's a minimum deposit, but after that, no minimum balance,
Speaker 1: no fees. So Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash a
Speaker 1: x o s and when you sign up, you support
Speaker 1: the show at no cost, So we love that for
Speaker 1: a high old savings account. And then for investment accounts,
Speaker 1: you you have a lot of freedom with choosing your brokerage,
Speaker 1: so you can choose a four or a one K
Speaker 1: if you're employer offers it if you don't like their options.
Speaker 1: Inside the four oh one K, you also have the
Speaker 1: option of an individual retirement account, which gives you so
Speaker 1: many more options for brokerages and one finance, which is
Speaker 1: where I'm keeping our taxable account. Also has I ra
Speaker 1: a s and they make they're a really great robo advisor.
Speaker 1: And then you also have five twenty nine plans, which
Speaker 1: our tax advantaged accounts for saving for college um. And
Speaker 1: then also the usage of five nine is actually expanding.
Speaker 1: So if you're worried I don't want to save in
Speaker 1: a five twenty nine, I don't know if my kids
Speaker 1: going to college, you can still save in there. And
Speaker 1: I believe by the time our kids go to college,
Speaker 1: it's going to be widely expanded. So actually we UM
Speaker 1: we like college Backer, and so they've actually changed their name.
Speaker 1: It's a five twenty nine kind of tech company, and
Speaker 1: they've changed their named a Backer because now nine are
Speaker 1: expanding beyond just college. UM. Yeah, so you can go
Speaker 1: to Modern Frugality dot com slash Backer and if you
Speaker 1: sign up through their KAI, we'll get fifteen dollars in yeah.
Speaker 1: So so yeah, so those are kind of those are
Speaker 1: your tax advantaged options for long term savings. And when
Speaker 1: we look at long term savings, we really want to
Speaker 1: focus on tax advantaged options because taxes are really the
Speaker 1: biggest fee that you will incur on an investment. So
Speaker 1: it's we talk about like five percent and two percent
Speaker 1: and one percent. Those fees can really eat up your investments.
Speaker 1: But taxes, I mean those can take twenty two of
Speaker 1: every dollar. And so even if maybe your four oh
Speaker 1: one K has some high fees, if it can take
Speaker 1: take away that tax liability, you could still be making
Speaker 1: out on top by focusing on these tax advantaged accounts.
Speaker 1: That's all I got for that one. Yeah, So let's
Speaker 1: dive a little bit more into high yeld savings accounts
Speaker 1: in this article from Business Insider, because most of the time,
Speaker 1: for short term savings and even medium term savings, high
Speaker 1: old savings accounts really are the best because their f
Speaker 1: d I c ensure and they protect your money. So
Speaker 1: let's look at this one. It's by Eric Rosenberg, and
Speaker 1: he wrote for Business Insider, I use HIGHLD savings accounts
Speaker 1: to earn two hundred times more on the money, and
Speaker 1: I can tell you the best ones have three specific features.
Speaker 1: That's the whole title. It's a very long title. It's
Speaker 1: a very short article to write. Most of the article
Speaker 1: is the title. We'll give it to you. Yeah, exactly right.
Speaker 1: So here's what you want to look for, specifically as
Speaker 1: it relates to high yield savings accounts. You want to
Speaker 1: look for good interest rates. Now, listen, an interest rate
Speaker 1: on a high yield savings account, they're not going to
Speaker 1: fluctuate that much, And unfortunately it is not as good
Speaker 1: as what it was maybe about a year ago when
Speaker 1: this title was written. Yeah, however, your your online banks
Speaker 1: that offer high yield accounts, they are better percentage rates
Speaker 1: than your brick and mortar bank. So typically at a
Speaker 1: brick and mortar bank and a savings account, you'll earn
Speaker 1: maybe zero point zero one percent, while an online high
Speaker 1: yield account will get you more. What what are we
Speaker 1: saying now, Jen, it's right now? About six point five
Speaker 1: percent is good. Axos is offering point six one on
Speaker 1: balances up to twenty dollars, so you know, so there
Speaker 1: you go. If you're listening in the summer of twenty one,
Speaker 1: that's kind of right you want to be looking for.
Speaker 1: And this does change obviously if you were if we
Speaker 1: had recorded this in December nineteen, I mean, we were
Speaker 1: seeing really great two percent interest rates. But if yours don't,
Speaker 1: don't high yield savings account hop for this low of
Speaker 1: an interest rate. It does not matter that much. But
Speaker 1: if you're signing up for a new one, look for
Speaker 1: one that has over point five interest rate. So the
Speaker 1: next point that he makes is there should be no
Speaker 1: fees for regular use, so no minimum balance fees. There's
Speaker 1: always going to be some kind of overdraft fee or
Speaker 1: like bounce check fee or something like that, but there
Speaker 1: shouldn't be a fee like if you have to or
Speaker 1: or any really obligations to keep the um, the a
Speaker 1: p Y, the interest rate. So if you have to
Speaker 1: keep a minimum a certain minimum balance, if you have
Speaker 1: to deposit a certain amount every month um, if you
Speaker 1: have to jump through any hoops like be a customer
Speaker 1: of any place or do anything to keep fee free
Speaker 1: or keep your ap y, then it's just not worth it.
Speaker 1: If you don't think I mean obviously, if you think
Speaker 1: like T mobile money now has a thing where you
Speaker 1: can get four ap y if your customer. If you're
Speaker 1: a thing, you're gonna be a T mobile customer the
Speaker 1: rest of your life. Go for it. More power to you.
Speaker 1: But honestly, we want to look more at the ease
Speaker 1: of use and the absence of fees. The only the
Speaker 1: only hoop I want to be able to jump through
Speaker 1: is that I have to maybe sign up for e
Speaker 1: statements instead of paper statements. That's really the only obligation.
Speaker 1: I want to click one button. So that's it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Number three on here. The third and final is you
Speaker 1: should be able to make easy transfers to and from
Speaker 1: linked accounts. Again, we're talking short term, medium term savings.
Speaker 1: We're going to be in and out of this account
Speaker 1: fairly regularly, hopefully not as much as checking account. But
Speaker 1: you want it to be a breeze to be able
Speaker 1: to deposit money take money out. So you want to
Speaker 1: look for something that allows you to link to an
Speaker 1: external account. Not again linking back to number two, those
Speaker 1: no charges and easy for you, m m click of
Speaker 1: a button. Yeah, so make sure it's easy, it's fee free,
Speaker 1: and it has a moderate high yield. I hope that
Speaker 1: one day yields will go back up, But if you're
Speaker 1: looking for interest, then you want to go to a
Speaker 1: investment account like M one taxable brokerage or your retirement account.
Speaker 1: This is not something where we are looking to even
Speaker 1: get ahead of inflation. Honestly, you're not going to keep
Speaker 1: up with inflation in a high yield account. This is
Speaker 1: really just something high yield accounts are most likely to
Speaker 1: not have the fees um and so that's what we
Speaker 1: really like. And they're more tend to be a more
Speaker 1: ethical banks, which is also something we like. UM credit unions.
Speaker 1: If they offered stuff like this, we would be we
Speaker 1: would recommend those just as highly. So the to me,
Speaker 1: the interests is of less importance. It's it's number three
Speaker 1: for me versus number one. But it's still a bank
Speaker 1: that offers a higher yield. I think maybe cares about
Speaker 1: its people more. It's not that's not proven. That's just
Speaker 1: my mindset, so I don't know. It could be true. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and again if you're thinking, oh, I should put my
Speaker 1: money into a high yield savings account, again we're really
Speaker 1: looking Axos Bank. It meets all of these requirements that
Speaker 1: we just talked about with the point six p y
Speaker 1: Again currently as we record this on the precipice of summer.
Speaker 1: And if you open an account with access at frical
Speaker 1: Friends podcast dot com slash a x O S, then
Speaker 1: you support us your friends Jen and Chill. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: know another way you can support us m HM through
Speaker 1: the best time of the week sentins. We that's right,
Speaker 1: it's time for the best minute of your entire week.
Speaker 1: Maybe a baby was born and his name is William.
Speaker 1: Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died,
Speaker 1: and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 1: Stuck bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clint, This it's the Bills
Speaker 1: of the week. Hey, ladies, love your podcast. I wanted
Speaker 1: to submit a bill of the week, um, but first
Speaker 1: I wanted to say that I mus remember you saying
Speaker 1: that it can be hard to distinguish whose voices who,
Speaker 1: and I have a way to do that. I think
Speaker 1: of your name the Jen and Jill, So then I
Speaker 1: think of Jack and Jill. Then I think of a
Speaker 1: more modern day version of Jack and Jill, where Jack
Speaker 1: is more feminine and Jill is more manly. So then
Speaker 1: I think jin voice is a little more feminine and
Speaker 1: Jill's voices shall always say a little more husky. I
Speaker 1: hope you're not offended by that. Jill. Think you're great
Speaker 1: for being so much younger than Jen. You're just as wise.
Speaker 1: Oh and for the bill of the week, I uh
Speaker 1: was decluttering after lessening to some of your podcasts and
Speaker 1: decided to have a yard. Till made three and fifty dollars,
Speaker 1: and the very next week I had to get a
Speaker 1: plumber out to do some work for my subjecting and
Speaker 1: low and bellell he charged me. So I was able
Speaker 1: to sell a lot of junk and make three or
Speaker 1: fifty bucks and I wasn't expecting and then pay the
Speaker 1: plumber without breaking a sweat, because you know, it was
Speaker 1: a win win situation. There was all thanks to your podcast,
Speaker 1: So thank you very much to keep up great work.
Speaker 1: And by Jin and by Jill, I had to just
Speaker 1: take a break for a second. I had to go
Speaker 1: you were I'd come back over your chair with black
Speaker 1: I doubled over, I think is the term. I not
Speaker 1: have been more thrilled for that, not offended. Um, I
Speaker 1: would prefer I prefer that you think my voice is
Speaker 1: more husky than Valley girl like right, anything is better
Speaker 1: than I think that we have the most anti Valley
Speaker 1: girls voices. But again we're always a topic of conversation,
Speaker 1: so we can't steer clear of it. And I will
Speaker 1: say there was a time when I was at home,
Speaker 1: you know, when home phones existed, and I answered, I
Speaker 1: was probably in high school. It was my grandfather on
Speaker 1: the other end, so I didn't hear that often. And
Speaker 1: he said he thought I was my brother He's like,
Speaker 1: oh hey there, Andrew boy, your voice is getting deep.
Speaker 1: How big are your feet these days? What shoe size
Speaker 1: are you wearing? Like? What? What? What a weird exchange? Grandpa?
Speaker 1: Your voice is deep? What shoe size are you wearing?
Speaker 1: This is Jill, Thank you, Oh my gosh, and congrats
Speaker 1: on your bill too. I don't mean to shadow your bills,
Speaker 1: shadow your bill, honestly, I was. I had well done
Speaker 1: saving money on home maintenance. You have entertained us. Oh,
Speaker 1: I can't wait to see how the next bill stacks up. Hi,
Speaker 1: frugal friends. This is Hannah calling from Oklahoma City. My
Speaker 1: bill of the week is celebrating my husband. Micah Mica
Speaker 1: is very easy going. He is very laid back, go
Speaker 1: with the flow. That's why I fell in love with him.
Speaker 1: But those character traits often fall into other categories, like
Speaker 1: managing our finances. So I just wanted to celebrate my
Speaker 1: husband because he took time to be intentional and he
Speaker 1: researched a better car insurance option for us, and he
Speaker 1: did all the paperwork that we needed to to switch
Speaker 1: car insurance companies. And now you're saving about seventy seven
Speaker 1: dollars per month on car insurance. So that is a
Speaker 1: bill that I am very excited to see come out
Speaker 1: of my account because every time it comes out, it
Speaker 1: reminds me that we're saving money and that my laid back,
Speaker 1: easy going husband also is very intentional and on board
Speaker 1: with our finances. So thanks for real friends. Love your podcast,
Speaker 1: Keep it up, Hannah. Yes, what a great gift for
Speaker 1: Mica to give you. Oh my gosh, Hannah, what a
Speaker 1: steep Saving seventy a month is nothing to sneeze at.
Speaker 1: That is one of my least favorite tasks, as once
Speaker 1: I have something secured, just completely upsetting the basket to
Speaker 1: try to get a better rate. It's so good when
Speaker 1: I can carve out time to do it. You are
Speaker 1: inspiring me or your husband is inspiring me. Well done.
Speaker 1: Thanks for sharing great savings and so thrilled that he
Speaker 1: cared for you and valued you both in this way. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: If you want to submit your bill of the week,
Speaker 1: whether it is an analysis of our voices, a bill
Speaker 1: that you saved, or a bill that your husband saved
Speaker 1: for you, please please visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com
Speaker 1: slash bill. I can't even focus anymore. I can't focus anymore.
Speaker 1: From the moment I was called husky, and now it's
Speaker 1: time for round, all right, So we're going to talk
Speaker 1: about where we save our money. Let's get real and
Speaker 1: raw and vulnerable. Where is your money, Jill? What is
Speaker 1: the account number? What is the round? From her? What's
Speaker 1: your social Let's tell us. Okay, So can I still
Speaker 1: say I moved less than a year ago, so you know,
Speaker 1: take all of this into consideration. So we just moved
Speaker 1: out of state. I do still have some of my
Speaker 1: money in a brick and mortar bank back in Pennsylvania,
Speaker 1: but I could do so much online that I still
Speaker 1: utilize it. I will say I keep it because it
Speaker 1: was a local bank and they didn't have any fees.
Speaker 1: I'm able to have a lot of different accounts with
Speaker 1: no fees, and I really like being able to see
Speaker 1: different buckets of money, like rather having it all in
Speaker 1: one place and then keeping a separate tally of how
Speaker 1: much I have a lot of too different places. This
Speaker 1: has allowed me to have like a lot of little accounts,
Speaker 1: and I've not been able to find that anywhere else where.
Speaker 1: I can also easily access my money, so I know
Speaker 1: I need to get it out. I'm working on it,
Speaker 1: so I got a brick and mortar bank back in
Speaker 1: p A. Also have an account with Chase where I've
Speaker 1: got a checking and savings and my credit card and
Speaker 1: my mortgage through them, so that's convenient. So I do
Speaker 1: have checking and savings accounts and I have it separated
Speaker 1: for me. That helps. So I've got a savings account then,
Speaker 1: because well, thankfully I've moved into employee status, but Eric
Speaker 1: is still a subcontractor or yeah, kind of technically owns
Speaker 1: his own business, so we have to pay taxes like
Speaker 1: they don't get taken out of his paychecks. So I
Speaker 1: keep a separate tax account, checking account sinking funds, emergency funds.
Speaker 1: I kind of keep it all separate and that just
Speaker 1: helps me visually. But my goal, after having talked with
Speaker 1: you so much, Jen and doing this episode, is to
Speaker 1: move that tax account and savings account into a high
Speaker 1: yield savings account. I think that would help me nice
Speaker 1: well for Regal friends dot Com, slash a x os,
Speaker 1: And that's what I'm doing. That's good and I love
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not against like brick and mortar for
Speaker 1: the sake of brick and mortar. I love credit unions
Speaker 1: and those are brick and mortar, but I do. I
Speaker 1: just hate big banks and how manipulative they are, and
Speaker 1: they invest in a lot of things that I would
Speaker 1: rather not put my money in. So that is why
Speaker 1: we were Our mortgage was with Wells Fargo and we
Speaker 1: moved it to a credit union. We could have gotten
Speaker 1: a little bit lower of a rate maybe moving it
Speaker 1: to another bank, but negligible, and we really wanted that
Speaker 1: to go into the community versus to a bank. So
Speaker 1: that's kind of that's a helpful consideration what this topic, right,
Speaker 1: if you're considering refinancing. We didn't know what we were
Speaker 1: doing when we got our mortgage, so we just did
Speaker 1: whatever they told us. And then after the fact, I
Speaker 1: kind of came to my senses shortly after. But so yeah,
Speaker 1: so that was important to me. And we do our
Speaker 1: regular checking and saving at a credit union and our
Speaker 1: savings are at high yield savings accounts. We have multiple
Speaker 1: for different reasons. One is my old business account that
Speaker 1: I moved to an actual business account because my account
Speaker 1: was like, you know, that's not separate from your personal
Speaker 1: finances and it really should be. So so now i've
Speaker 1: business accounts, highyield savings accounts. But what I actually from
Speaker 1: doing this episode, was motivated to do kept accountable. I've
Speaker 1: been saying for so long. Then I'm going to move
Speaker 1: our money from um our high Heal savings account to
Speaker 1: the brokerage to the investments at m one um. And
Speaker 1: now that we know that we're not going to be
Speaker 1: getting any rental real estate this year, I have started
Speaker 1: that process and I'm doing it over kind of six
Speaker 1: transactions and it should be well on its way by now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: into a conservative their general investing conservative pie. So it's
Speaker 1: not keeping up with the local real estate market rise,
Speaker 1: but it is beating inflation, and that is the goal
Speaker 1: is just to be inflation. It's mostly bonds with some equities,
Speaker 1: so that is where we're keeping our money. Well done. Well.
Speaker 1: If you all want to tell us where you're keeping
Speaker 1: your money, go to Frugal Friends Facebook group community when
Speaker 1: you talk about a mouthful Brugal Friends community group on Facebook.
Speaker 1: We love to chat about this stuff, and or just
Speaker 1: send me your routing number in your accounting thanks much.
Speaker 1: Don't actually don't do that too much responsibility. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening everyone, and thank you also for your kind reviews.
Speaker 1: There are so many of you being kind for every
Speaker 1: one of you that's unkind, there's like five hundred of
Speaker 1: you that are kind, so that's great. And we don't
Speaker 1: think any of you listening are unkind because we just
Speaker 1: assume they don't listen anymore. They've dropped off by the
Speaker 1: time we get to this point. Okay, this one's from
Speaker 1: Wigion fifty three sevente One of my favorite pods happens
Speaker 1: to be five stars. Thanks Wigion. Lots of good info
Speaker 1: in each podcast. They'll take our coals and give you
Speaker 1: the high points. I learned that you can negotiate bills
Speaker 1: or use bill cutters with a Z, buy food in
Speaker 1: season to save money, take used cars to a mechanic
Speaker 1: before you buy, and that you can save money at
Speaker 1: pawnshops by negotiating and paying cash. Also inspired me to
Speaker 1: finally get rid of most of the crap in my house,
Speaker 1: including the eight percent of clothes I never wear. Have
Speaker 1: made some nice profits on Facebook market. Yes, CHANGING love
Speaker 1: this review for so many reasons. I mean, I definitely
Speaker 1: love it for its five stars. That is the maximum
Speaker 1: amount of stars that I want, and that makes me happy.
Speaker 1: But also I love all the tips that the very
Speaker 1: tangible this is what you've taken away from the podcast
Speaker 1: in the way that's actually improved your situation, So glad
Speaker 1: to hear that. Yes, thank you so much for letting
Speaker 1: us know. We also want to thank our friends who
Speaker 1: share these episodes on social media. So when you share
Speaker 1: the latest episode and tag us on face Book or Instagram,
Speaker 1: we're gonna add you to our monthly drawing for every
Speaker 1: five tags and reviews week. At each month, we are
Speaker 1: giving away a copy of the Frugal Friends workbook. So
Speaker 1: keep leaving us those reviews, those that they happen to
Speaker 1: be five stars, that's great on iTunes or Stitcher. Send
Speaker 1: us a screenshot of that review to Frugal Friends podcast
Speaker 1: at gmail dot com. That enters you into that drawing,
Speaker 1: and don't forget to tag us on so show and
Speaker 1: we will see you next week by Frugal Friends is
Speaker 1: produced by Eric Sirian and next week registration opens for
Speaker 1: the Future of Frugal Summit. Gonna have a summit, going
Speaker 1: to be online, going over the three gonna be the best? Um. Yes,
Speaker 1: what a great song. Yes, the Future of Frugal is bright. Jen.
Speaker 1: I love to talk about husky voice. Are you saying that?
Speaker 1: In um? Let's talk about some of the highlights with
Speaker 1: the summit, just to get everybody listening amped. So we
Speaker 1: have the five cash giveaway from our sponsor Cube. Money.
Speaker 1: Cannot get over that, Can I win? Can I win? It?
Speaker 1: Absolutely not. We have um several annual memberships to our
Speaker 1: upcoming Accountability and Social club. Oh that that means a
Speaker 1: whole other episode, and that will have a whole another
Speaker 1: this other thing that is so needed. I was realizing
Speaker 1: this and I get it. We'll probably talk about this
Speaker 1: in in the other episode when we talk about this,
Speaker 1: these topics, right, this thought of what is the best
Speaker 1: place to be putting my money that I'm saving up
Speaker 1: for I just wouldn't think about this if it weren't
Speaker 1: for a community or people asking the questions or giving
Speaker 1: guidance and support. And again, we all have to make
Speaker 1: our own decisions, but so many of the wise decisions
Speaker 1: I've been able to make with my finances is because
Speaker 1: of community. It's like where else do you go? And I,
Speaker 1: at least for me, it's not as if I've got
Speaker 1: a close knit community right around me physically that is
Speaker 1: giving me all these tips Like I would imagine and
Speaker 1: probably pretty similar in that way, like you have to
Speaker 1: go outside of yourself for that and just how crucial
Speaker 1: an integral this has been for me, and then as
Speaker 1: we read reviews and engage with people online, how important
Speaker 1: that is. And so just elevating that platform and making
Speaker 1: that more accessible, giving more content to people. I'm really
Speaker 1: excited about that. It's the natural next step for us,
Speaker 1: and I think it's going to bring so much value
Speaker 1: to people. Yeah, I mean the words you just said
Speaker 1: right there. That's why I don't do one on one
Speaker 1: like financial coaching, because I believe the power of community
Speaker 1: and not know, Like, you don't know what you don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know what you don't know, but somebody else
Speaker 1: may not know something and they ask a question and
Speaker 1: then you know what you don't know, and everybody gets
Speaker 1: the answer they need in one shot. And so like
Speaker 1: I've loved group coaching, and so I just think, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is a natural next step for us to to take,
Speaker 1: and I'm really excited to kind of dive deeper into
Speaker 1: that later. But like we are also going to have
Speaker 1: a game running throughout the summit, and so it is
Speaker 1: a Bingo card that is going to run throughout the
Speaker 1: summit um. Yeah, and you can fill it in for
Speaker 1: your chance to win certain prizes and that is going
Speaker 1: to culminate on the very last day. And they're going
Speaker 1: to be themed like the Olympics, because the butts up
Speaker 1: right to the Olympics. The opening ceremonies are the day
Speaker 1: after our closing ceremonies so to speak. So um, it's
Speaker 1: going to be a little Olympics themed for that. Um
Speaker 1: so thrilled. Yeah, And you're going to get to actually
Speaker 1: like interact potentially if you want to with other attendees
Speaker 1: and join and join like a little team. So it's
Speaker 1: going to be like a team game if you want.
Speaker 1: We totally plan your own too, And so yeah, it's
Speaker 1: just going to be a lot of fun. There's going
Speaker 1: to be live happy hours every night in Eastern for
Speaker 1: four nights, and yeah, and goodie bags. Every registrant will
Speaker 1: get a goodie bag, a virtual goodie bag, and there's
Speaker 1: just more free stuff, free stuff content. It's just free. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So we are free with an opportunity to win five
Speaker 1: hundred dollars. I mean, our community is excited about five dollars,
Speaker 1: I'm sure Heck, I get excited about pennies on the ground.
Speaker 1: You want to talk five hundred dollars. That's a bit
Speaker 1: of a game changer. You can do a lot with
Speaker 1: five hundred dollars. Over here is going to try and
Speaker 1: change your name and enter Yes, I can finally get
Speaker 1: that water feature for Eric. You will know if you
Speaker 1: if we find a water if we find a water
Speaker 1: feature in your house, I'm gonna I'm gonna take a
Speaker 1: picture and that's going to be easil your way into
Speaker 1: that cube giveaway. Looking forward to it.