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

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Speaker 1: Today we're talking costly car insurance, cryptocons, and incredible eyebonds.

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Speaker 1: That's right, buddy. Happy Friday, everybody. This is the Friday

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Speaker 1: Flight and we're gonna discuss some of the different headlines

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Speaker 1: that we came across this week, the ones so we

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Speaker 1: think are going to impact your money the most. Joel,

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Speaker 1: before we get to the stories, I guess this is

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Speaker 1: kind of a story. Did you did you see the

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Speaker 1: new Aldi apparel? Oh? Did I ever Aldie swag? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: I guess I'm curious. Did you did you buy anything? No?

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Speaker 1: I have not bought anything. So for folks who don't know,

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Speaker 1: Aldi has released a line of Aldi War Essentially, I

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Speaker 1: don't know how else to describe it, but it's adorable.

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Speaker 1: It's a navy or different, but it's got their like

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Speaker 1: their red and orange and yellow yellow. Yeah, the Aldi colors,

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Speaker 1: you know, the fast food colors that make you think

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Speaker 1: about food. But I did not buy any, but I

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Speaker 1: would definitely wear it is. I know, it's decent. Looking

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Speaker 1: burned in our Facebook group, he posted about it this

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Speaker 1: week and I was like, what did what did he get? Well?

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Speaker 1: I think he got like the whole kitten little he

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Speaker 1: looks like an Aldi employee and the picture he posted

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Speaker 1: and I got only they looked that cool in the

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Speaker 1: actual stores, right, Yeah they're not. They were like the

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Speaker 1: standard like black pants, right and Aldi employee polo or whatever. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: well I went by, just had to go to all

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Speaker 1: the anyway for something, and so I did buy a

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Speaker 1: fanny pack. You did. And I also I got a

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Speaker 1: pair of those slides, man, because there were five bucks,

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Speaker 1: so I don't think they're going to be comfortable. Well,

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Speaker 1: it was just kind of like one of those things

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Speaker 1: where it's like it's a brand you love, you got,

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Speaker 1: you got some white former fashion. I would get the slides.

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Speaker 1: I wanted the bucket hat, but they were sold out.

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Speaker 1: Summer's coming, like four dollars the bucket hat. So the

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Speaker 1: slides seemed like a perfect shoe to wear, like in

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Speaker 1: the shower at the gym kind of thing you know

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Speaker 1: you're not necessarily going to be wearing. It's not gonna

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Speaker 1: endure many miles, but a pure ability to sorry about that,

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Speaker 1: well haven't. It's all right, I'll get in there. But

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Speaker 1: I would totally well it's gone rocket. I think it's

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Speaker 1: all gone really well. I think it's one of those

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Speaker 1: things where all these limited release the fan boys and girls,

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Speaker 1: they knew what was up. I didn't realize that maybe

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Speaker 1: I don't know. I'll we'll keep checking. I have to

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Speaker 1: check the secondary market for that action. But I think

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Speaker 1: I'll sell. But I will sell it not it's not

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Speaker 1: going to be cheap on anyway. It looked really cool.

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Speaker 1: That's the thing, like compared to like, for instance, like

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Speaker 1: it makes me think of her Kirkland signature. You've seen

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Speaker 1: their sweaters and their two shirts and whatnot. I like Costco,

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Speaker 1: but it's not great looking. Well, part of me thinks

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Speaker 1: that the nerdiness is the appeal, like the fact that

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Speaker 1: it's so straightful like it is one. It is full

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Speaker 1: on one. You look like a club. You look like

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Speaker 1: a Kirkland signature product when you wear that exactly. And

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Speaker 1: I think that's part of the problem is that I'm afraid,

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Speaker 1: Like I thought about getting you one of the shirts,

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Speaker 1: like for your birthday earlier, but I thought, I'm not

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Speaker 1: sure if you'd wear it, not because you wouldn't want

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Speaker 1: to rep Costco, but because I was afraid the fit

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Speaker 1: might might be like a beeft sort of look yeah, exactly,

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Speaker 1: like no stretch, not fitted at all. That's why I opted.

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Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, probably not. I appreciate that might

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Speaker 1: be wasted money. Well, and yeah, I've got some Aldi

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Speaker 1: swag left at your local alb It's it's super cheap

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Speaker 1: and it's kind of adorable. So yeah, represent literally where

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Speaker 1: that display your frugalness? Yeah, when your sleeve for everyone

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Speaker 1: to see. Exactly. All right, let's move on. Let's get

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Speaker 1: to the Friday flight. The story sampling of stories that

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Speaker 1: we found interesting in the realm of personal finances, the

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Speaker 1: real finance stories. Yeah, yeah, I mean that's just a

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Speaker 1: fun fun Let's talk about the credit bureaus for a second,

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Speaker 1: the opposite of all the something that people instead of

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Speaker 1: love to love, love to hate. Well, people definitely hate

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Speaker 1: the credit bureaus and the three major bureaus, Equifax, Experience,

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Speaker 1: and TransUnion. They top the charts, not in a good way,

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Speaker 1: but again in twenty twenty two based on the number

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Speaker 1: of complaints reported to the CFPB about them, the number

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Speaker 1: of folks reaching out for help nearly doubled, matts six

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Speaker 1: hundred thousand complaints in total from consumers nationwide. Complaints about

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Speaker 1: experience our local hometown, awful credit bureau We're up the most. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: three hundred and thirty four percent plan to represent Unfortunately

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Speaker 1: in the worsflay find a bad way, right. And it's

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Speaker 1: not just customer service issues, right, It's that's hundreds of

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Speaker 1: thousands of folks whose score is likely being weighed down

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Speaker 1: by inaccurate information that the credit bureaus just can't seem

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Speaker 1: to find the time to get off their hands and

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Speaker 1: actually help these people. And those are just the people

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Speaker 1: who are reporting, you know, these inaccuracies. They can impact

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Speaker 1: your rate on your loan, they can affect someone's ability

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Speaker 1: to get a loan at all. Credit report mishaps are

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Speaker 1: a massive problem. And I'm just continue to be shocked

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Speaker 1: at the way the credit bureaus handle themselves and that

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Speaker 1: their inability to respond to customer complaints even as they

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Speaker 1: grow exponentially. Yeah, and I will say I'm going to

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Speaker 1: cut them the tiniest, the tiniest amount of slack because

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Speaker 1: there are more and more companies out there who are

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Speaker 1: reporting that they'll be able to get negative information off

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Speaker 1: of your credit reports even if it's accurate. And so

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Speaker 1: there's a bunch of these scamy companies out there, especially

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Speaker 1: on social media that say that they'll eliminate that in

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Speaker 1: what they I do like they're going in and filing

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Speaker 1: these complaints as well. And so some of these complaints

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Speaker 1: I think might be on behalf of consumers who have

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Speaker 1: accurate information. So there's a chance it might not be

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Speaker 1: as bad as the numbers show, but it's still a

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Speaker 1: big problem. And so because inaccurate information could be reported

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Speaker 1: to your credit report, it's just smart to check your

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Speaker 1: report for potentially inaccurate information that could be denting your score,

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Speaker 1: and you can do that at annual Credit report dot

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Speaker 1: com for free. And if something's not right, and some

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Speaker 1: estimates say that over twenty percent of reports do have

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Speaker 1: inaccurate information on there. That's forty two million Americans in total.

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Speaker 1: The contest that with the bureau directly, and if you

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Speaker 1: get a bogus response or if they're not responding in

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Speaker 1: a timely manner, you can file a complaint directly with

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Speaker 1: the CFPB, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and you can

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Speaker 1: do that over at Consumer Finance dot gov forward slash complaint,

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Speaker 1: let your voice be heard. The CFPB. They did note

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Speaker 1: that the bureaus are responding a little more effectively to

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Speaker 1: recent complaints, even as more complaints are being filed and

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Speaker 1: as they're they're stacking up. But you know, it just

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Speaker 1: sucks that the credit system is such a mess. But

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Speaker 1: you've got to stand up for yourself, and that's one

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Speaker 1: way that you can. Yep. And so if you're getting

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Speaker 1: stonewalled by the Credit bureau of the CFPB, is maybe

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Speaker 1: your way to kind of get through their lack of

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Speaker 1: response and so that that complaint can go a long way.

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Speaker 1: Stay equivalent of let me speak to your manager, right, yeah,

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Speaker 1: And typically they're like, no, I don't care. And then

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Speaker 1: you do this and they're like, wait a second. We

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Speaker 1: don't want them to be mad at us, so all right,

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Speaker 1: we'll respond. Well, in the credit bureaus, they don't do

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Speaker 1: a great job of fixing those errors on the credit reports.

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Speaker 1: That is that's kind of one of the complaints that

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Speaker 1: the CFPB gets. But that's unfortunately how credit scoring works

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Speaker 1: in our country, Like it's it's a game we're all

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Speaker 1: kind of forced to play, but play we must write

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Speaker 1: because the stakes are just too high for us to

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Speaker 1: opt out. Some people would say, no, you don't, you

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Speaker 1: don't need a credit score or you don't need to

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Speaker 1: worry about the system. Just don't pay attention to it

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Speaker 1: and you'll be fine. And we would say, no, that's

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Speaker 1: that's probably shortsighted. It's unwise. For example, let's talk about

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Speaker 1: a thirty year mortgage, because if you've got to score

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Speaker 1: in the upper six hundreds, you might pay something like

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Speaker 1: forty thousand dollars more over the life of a three

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Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars loan. Then if your score had been

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Speaker 1: in the mid seven hundreds, right, which is crazy to

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Speaker 1: think that, you would pay tens of thousands of dollars

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Speaker 1: granted over to thirty years, But that's still a lot

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Speaker 1: of money. It has a real financial impact just because

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Speaker 1: you didn't pay attention close enough to your score. So

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Speaker 1: it pays to pay attention. And perfection is not needed,

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Speaker 1: by the way, I think some people assume that, oh,

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Speaker 1: if I'm gonna work on my credit score, I gotta

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Speaker 1: get it straight up to eight fifty, I gotta hit

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Speaker 1: I gotta hit the perfect spot. And some people obsess

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Speaker 1: overgetting that perfect score. But the truth is, once you're

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Speaker 1: in that seven forty seven sixty plus range, raising your

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Speaker 1: score has almost no impact. Like seven sixty plus means

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Speaker 1: you're going to qualify for the best rates, the best

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Speaker 1: terms on basically any loan product in existence. And so

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Speaker 1: it's kind of like going from an A plus to

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Speaker 1: an A plus plus. Who cares? Who cares? And so

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Speaker 1: episode two eighty seven we talked more about credit scores.

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Speaker 1: You can go back and listen to that will link

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Speaker 1: to it in the show notes. But yeah, while you

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Speaker 1: should be paying attention, you also don't need to obsess, Like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: pay a little bit of attention, but don't overdo it exactly. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and your credit score is also going to impact what

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Speaker 1: you pay in car insurance as well. It's going to

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Speaker 1: depend on the specific insure. But poor credit raises rates

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Speaker 1: by seventy two percent compared to having good credit, according

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Speaker 1: to the latest data. And so you combine that with

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Speaker 1: the fact that car insurance rates are climbing anyways, and

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Speaker 1: you've got a recipe for paying more to ensure your ride.

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Speaker 1: And the reason that we're all likely seeing our rates

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Speaker 1: on the rise is because nearly all of the major

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Speaker 1: car insurers last year reported underwriting losses. And this is

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Speaker 1: just because of multitude of factors, like the higher cost

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Speaker 1: of labor to actually repair cars, just more expensive parts,

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Speaker 1: plus just the inflation of use cars and rental cars

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Speaker 1: that insurers had to fork out, you know, when you

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Speaker 1: were not able to actually drive your own vehicle like

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Speaker 1: you normally would. And of course, since these are profits

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Speaker 1: seeking companies, they're going to pass this costs onto us,

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Speaker 1: and that is why you're seeing higher premiums quoted to

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Speaker 1: you for this coming year. Yeah, but it's tough to

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Speaker 1: stomach when you get that notice in the mail or

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Speaker 1: in your email in all likelihood right where it says

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Speaker 1: that your rates have gone up somewhere fifteen to twenty

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Speaker 1: percent range, and you're like, oh man, it just feels

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Speaker 1: like an inflation pylon, and it's like, how am I

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Speaker 1: going to find the room in my budget now for

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Speaker 1: this increased bill too? But there are some steps that

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Speaker 1: you can take to make sure that you're paying as

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Speaker 1: little as possible, and we already mentioned the credit score.

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Speaker 1: The credit score is going to have a major impact

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Speaker 1: in a lot of states. Not all states allow for

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Speaker 1: insurers to use your credit score to determine your rate,

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Speaker 1: but in a lot of states they can and it

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Speaker 1: will have an impact. So seeking to raise your score

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Speaker 1: is an important step to take. In order to make

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Speaker 1: sure that you're getting the lowest rates on car insurance possible.

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Speaker 1: An easy next step would be to raise your deductible.

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Speaker 1: Like two hundred and fifty dollars is a common default

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Speaker 1: deductible amount, But if you've got an emergency fund set

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Speaker 1: aside of like three to six months of your expenses,

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Speaker 1: or at the very least that twenty four hundred and

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Speaker 1: sixty seven dollars amount that we always recommend, you should

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Speaker 1: be able to self insure at least to a certain degree.

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Speaker 1: That means you can likely afford to pay a higher

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Speaker 1: deductible because this is the type of emergency you've been

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Speaker 1: planning for. So we would suggest that you reach out

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Speaker 1: to your insurance provider see what would happen and run

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Speaker 1: the numbers. If you bumped that deductible amount up to

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Speaker 1: five hundred dollars or even a thousand dollars, you might

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Speaker 1: find substantial savings. You might even be able to get

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Speaker 1: your your insurance right under what you're paying last year,

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Speaker 1: even after this massive bump up you're supposed to receive.

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Speaker 1: This is one of those things most people don't think about,

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Speaker 1: like bumping up your deductible. It's it's one of those

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Speaker 1: boring personal finance things that gets lost in the weeds

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Speaker 1: and so, but it really is amazing how much it

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Speaker 1: can save you. And the goal again with car insurance

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Speaker 1: is to not use it. And so if you have

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Speaker 1: the ability to self ensure and your goal is to

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Speaker 1: not use your car insurance, I mean, granted, accidents happen,

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Speaker 1: but raising your deductible can have a meaningful impact when

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Speaker 1: it comes to keep more dollars in your own pocket. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: we often talk too about the fact that we don't

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Speaker 1: want you necessarily tapping your emergency fund for just a

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Speaker 1: fun expense. Right, Like, it's spring, I feel like maybe

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of music festival some things out there

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Speaker 1: going on, and so maybe you're thinking, Oh, I could

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Speaker 1: really like to happen too that emergency fund to buy

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Speaker 1: like a couple tickets for the festival this weekend. No,

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Speaker 1: that's not what that's for. But the ability to tap

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Speaker 1: that amount for a deductible that you might have to

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Speaker 1: pay because you wreckt your card, that's what it's actually for.

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Speaker 1: And so what I'm pointing out here is that we

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Speaker 1: are drilling into the heads of our listeners that we

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Speaker 1: don't want you touch in your emergency fund. But this

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Speaker 1: is actually a legitimate expense. This is a legitimate thing

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Speaker 1: to cover were it to arise. But I agree to

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Speaker 1: that's a really easy thing that folks can do in

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Speaker 1: order to reduce their premiums. But beyond that, if you're

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Speaker 1: wanting to see some significant savings, you're gonna need a

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Speaker 1: shop around. And it's important to note that we are

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Speaker 1: not rewarded for being loyal to our car insurance providers.

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Speaker 1: So specifically, we'd recommend for folks to reach out to

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Speaker 1: policy Genius, or you can look up an independent agent

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Speaker 1: or an insurance broker in your area Trusted Choice. That's

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Speaker 1: actually a good resource. That's a website if you don't

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Speaker 1: know where to start, but they can help you to

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Speaker 1: find one of those independent agents. And what's so great

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Speaker 1: a them is that they'll be able to help you

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Speaker 1: to find the best rates, that they'll help you to

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Speaker 1: find the best products for your particular situation, and they'll

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Speaker 1: be able to shop it around for you, sort of

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Speaker 1: like policy Genius would. Yeah, so that's Trusted Choice dot com.

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Speaker 1: By the way, if you're looking to find an independent

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Speaker 1: agent kind of in your area, who can help you

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Speaker 1: do that. And yet you could go to every single

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Speaker 1: individual website on your own and kind of price this out.

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Speaker 1: But if you're looking for kind of like an aggregator,

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Speaker 1: which boy aggregators say, what's a lot of time and

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Speaker 1: energy in our lives? I would say that Yet doing

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Speaker 1: something like this, turning to policy genius or trusted choice

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Speaker 1: just helps make the shopping process a lot simpler, a

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Speaker 1: lot quicker to check a bunch of different prices from

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Speaker 1: a bunch of different insurers at one time. And there

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Speaker 1: are other little things you can do too if you

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Speaker 1: opt to stay with your current ensure. I think it's

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Speaker 1: important to harangue to a certain extent your agent and

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Speaker 1: ask what discounts are available that maybe are that they

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Speaker 1: haven't offered to you, or and start to ask those questions.

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Speaker 1: There might be a way to monitor your driving for

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Speaker 1: thirty or sixty days that, if you are a good driver,

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Speaker 1: could lower the that you pay. There are all sorts

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Speaker 1: of different things to mind. A little bit of invasion

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Speaker 1: of privacy me neither going to allow me to save

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Speaker 1: some money. Yeah, exactly, I've done that before and it's

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Speaker 1: it's definitely helped cut my premiums. Another thing you can

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Speaker 1: do to watch me the whole time, set up a

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Speaker 1: live camera. We've also talked about how you people can

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Speaker 1: take like a defensive driving course, and sometimes you can

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Speaker 1: take those online. They're not annoying you not to go

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Speaker 1: in person. Just thirty minutes of your time taking a

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Speaker 1: defensive driving course online, paying twenty or twenty five bucks

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Speaker 1: or whatever whatever it costs. I did one with AARP

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Speaker 1: a bunch of years back. That thing saved me hundreds

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Speaker 1: and hundreds of dollars over the years, just thirty minutes

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Speaker 1: of my time and twenty bucks. So those are the

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Speaker 1: kind of things it's worth reaching out to your agent,

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Speaker 1: to your insurance company to ask first, Hey, is that

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Speaker 1: actually going to save me money? What else can I

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Speaker 1: do to save money? Start asking those questions, start pulling

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Speaker 1: out that thread, and you might be surprised at how

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Speaker 1: much you're actually able to save. That's right, buddy, But

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Speaker 1: we've got several additional stories that we're going to get to. Yes,

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Speaker 1: we will talk about some crypto cons, but we also

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Speaker 1: want to make sure that you are able to get

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Speaker 1: the best return on some medium term savings. Will get

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Speaker 1: to all of those plus more right after this. All right, Matt,

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Speaker 1: we're back from the break. Of course, we always got

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Speaker 1: to get to our ludicrous headline of the week on

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Speaker 1: every Friday flights and this one, this one comes from

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Speaker 1: listener Gary. He sent us an email this week and

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Speaker 1: here's the title. Title Max fined for violating the Military

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Speaker 1: Lending Act the MLA. That sounds pretty messed up, so

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Speaker 1: let's talk about it. Title Max was recently fined fifteen

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Speaker 1: million dollars by the CFPB, which really doesn't sound like

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Speaker 1: that much for shady lending and sales practices. And now

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Speaker 1: they're being accused of making prohibited loans to thousands of

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Speaker 1: service members in their families. Apparently they were making loans

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Speaker 1: to military families at interest rates of thirty six percent

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Speaker 1: or more, and some even took out loans at interest

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Speaker 1: rates of more than one hundred percents. And title loans,

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Speaker 1: by the way, are not how to money friendly in

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Speaker 1: any way, like there are the opposite of a smart

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Speaker 1: financial decision. They're worse than getting into credit card debt.

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Speaker 1: And so basically you're using your car as collateral to

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Speaker 1: borrow money at interest rates that are based beyond the pale.

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Speaker 1: And so we're glad to see Title Max being held

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Speaker 1: responsible and specifically when it comes to bilking folks who

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Speaker 1: serve in the military and their families. When it's expressly

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Speaker 1: prohibited by federal law, they deserve finds like this and

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Speaker 1: really all the bad press that comes along with it,

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Speaker 1: that's right. Yeah, yeah, So the Military Lending Act that

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Speaker 1: prevents lenders from or should be preventing lenders from making

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Speaker 1: these loans to service members, but for non military folks

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Speaker 1: there's actually no protection. And by the way, those interest

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Speaker 1: rates that we mentioned, they're not abnormal. It's not like

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Speaker 1: that these are the worst of the worst kind of

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Speaker 1: rates that we're talking about. Here. A pro public review

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Speaker 1: of dozens of contracts, they found that the interest rates

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Speaker 1: range between one hundred and nineteen and one hundred and

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Speaker 1: seventy nine percent, which is just mind blowing. And so

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Speaker 1: earlier we said thirty six percent and you thought that,

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Speaker 1: oh man, that sounds crazy because credit cards are around

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Speaker 1: twenty percent. Now thirty six percent actually, relatively speaking, is

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Speaker 1: actually kind of good. Tamed by title Max Stagers. Yeah, obviously,

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Speaker 1: I feel like our listeners are going to be pretty

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Speaker 1: dang savvy, so I'm sure that this goes without saying,

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Speaker 1: but stay away from these kinds of products at all costs.

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Speaker 1: We want to make sure that not only that you

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Speaker 1: know about this, but your friends and your family members

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Speaker 1: that they know about it as well. We want everyone

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Speaker 1: out there to know the potential consequences associated with getting

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Speaker 1: trapped in this endless cycle of the fees and the

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Speaker 1: amount of interest that you're paying on these loans, the

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Speaker 1: inability to actually escape the clutches of somebody like Title Max. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you think credit card debt keeps you in a trap.

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Speaker 1: This is the kind of debt my god. It's just

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Speaker 1: you literally can't get out of its perpetual It's almost impossible.

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Speaker 1: It's like signing up for a payment for the rest

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Speaker 1: of your life. And they try real hard to kind

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Speaker 1: of create ads and make it seem like that they're friendly,

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Speaker 1: that they're serving the community, but sales associates are often

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Speaker 1: pushed to hide the true price of the loans that

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Speaker 1: their customers are taking out. They're not being told the

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Speaker 1: total cost of the loans. They're not being it's not

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Speaker 1: being explained to them the steps that they would need

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Speaker 1: to take in order to escape though as loans. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: companies like Title Max, they are a plague, and we

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Speaker 1: want folks to stay away. Yes, exactly. And I think

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Speaker 1: sometimes Matt, you and I avoid talking about the worst

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Speaker 1: kinds of financial products just because we assume that our

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Speaker 1: listeners have a higher level of financial literacy. And so

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Speaker 1: we're like, yeah, well, which how the money listeners actually

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Speaker 1: going down to Title Max to take out a loan?

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Speaker 1: Not many, but still it's just just a chance that

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Speaker 1: they might know somebody. Yeah, that's what I think. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I can't imagine many of our listeners have thought about

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Speaker 1: doing this or have actually gone through with this, but

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Speaker 1: it's still I'm glad we're able to bring it to

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Speaker 1: their attention, so hopefully, yeah, they can help somebody else.

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Speaker 1: Or let's talk about crypto for a second, because I

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Speaker 1: do know this. Some of our somehow, the money Listeners,

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Speaker 1: they have fell victim to some crypto scams. And Lindsay

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Speaker 1: Lohan and Jake Paul are a couple of the celebrities

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Speaker 1: that are being accused. Sodial Boy, well he's in there too.

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Speaker 1: He's in there too, And so the SEC has basically

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Speaker 1: told all eight these celebrities think there's eight in total,

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Speaker 1: that they're in big trouble for illegally touting crypto tokens.

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Speaker 1: And I'm glad again that there's a cop on the

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Speaker 1: be here too, because thousands of folks have been ripped

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Speaker 1: off and lost meaningful sums of money thanks to these

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Speaker 1: crypto schemes. I say thousands, it's it could be tens

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Speaker 1: of thousands of people. I'm not one hundred percent sure.

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Speaker 1: And the only crappy thing here with the way the

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Speaker 1: SEC is approaching this kind of wrist slap on celebrities

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Speaker 1: is that what they're having to pay is almost nothing,

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Speaker 1: Like it's so minimal it might be even less than

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Speaker 1: what they made actually pumping this scheme, and they don't

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Speaker 1: have to admit any wrongdoing at the same time, So

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Speaker 1: I don't know when a punishment like it is just

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Speaker 1: so minimal. My guess is that it's not going to

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Speaker 1: deter other celebrities from pitching similar crypto products that are

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Speaker 1: bad for their fans. It's like if someone were to

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Speaker 1: get stopped and they test deposit for a DUI and

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Speaker 1: the cops just said, listen, you don't you do that again,

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Speaker 1: and you're like, oh, okay, officer, and you go into

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Speaker 1: like you need a bigger deterrent to keep that person

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Speaker 1: from making the same mistake and YouTuber coffee Zilla did

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Speaker 1: an excellent expose of Jake Paul's brother, Logan Paul, and

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Speaker 1: some of the crypto scams that he's participated in, which

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Speaker 1: have just i mean stolen tens and tens of thousands

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Speaker 1: of dollars from individuals, amounting to what is likely going

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Speaker 1: to be millions of dollars overall. So just be careful

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Speaker 1: out there, folks. I mean, the world of crypto really

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Speaker 1: still is the wild wild West, and the SEC is

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Speaker 1: kindness sort of attempting to do something about it, at

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Speaker 1: least attempting to crack down on some of the most

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Speaker 1: high profile people who are pushing some of the worst products,

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Speaker 1: but it's still it's just not enough. Yeah. Well, I mean,

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Speaker 1: and so what you said about it being the wild

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Speaker 1: world West, I think that's true because the SEC wants

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Speaker 1: to govern crypto like it is a security but it's

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Speaker 1: not like That's the problem, right, is that there aren't

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Speaker 1: any rules governing it, and so essentially like there's no guardrails,

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Speaker 1: and so because of that, folks like Lindsay Lohan, like

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Speaker 1: Soldier Boy, they're able to out these different coins without

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Speaker 1: explicitly stating that they're being compensated for that, like you

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Speaker 1: would with a security. It's not that we think it

429
00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:54,280
Speaker 1: should be I mean, I personally don't think it should

430
00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:56,800
Speaker 1: be illegal to make speculative bets if you want to, Like,

431
00:19:56,880 --> 00:19:58,840
Speaker 1: that's up to you if you want to. I mean,

432
00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:02,520
Speaker 1: just like with speculating in actual securities, like an actual

433
00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:04,560
Speaker 1: single stock, if you want to go all in, I mean,

434
00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:06,720
Speaker 1: we wouldn't advise you to do that, Like, we don't

435
00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:08,479
Speaker 1: think that that's a great idea. But I guess if

436
00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:10,639
Speaker 1: you really believe in a specific company, or you are

437
00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:13,720
Speaker 1: really a huge fan of like the next board eight

438
00:20:13,760 --> 00:20:15,119
Speaker 1: coin or something like that, and you want to go

439
00:20:15,119 --> 00:20:16,640
Speaker 1: all in, that's that's up to you. I think those

440
00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:19,359
Speaker 1: were those are those are digital artmat not coins. Okay,

441
00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:21,560
Speaker 1: I said the next one, the next one. And so

442
00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:24,840
Speaker 1: what does an industry like crypto do when it's been

443
00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:28,159
Speaker 1: massively tarnish, Well, of course, it rebrands. It's just got

444
00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:30,719
Speaker 1: a branding problem. It's time to rebrand, get a new

445
00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:33,320
Speaker 1: image out there. Yeah, like you got there's a corpse underneath.

446
00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:35,199
Speaker 1: But if you like slap something just pretty over the

447
00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:37,080
Speaker 1: top of it, maybe no one will notice. That's exactly

448
00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:40,159
Speaker 1: what's happening in the crypto space. The Times reported on

449
00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:42,320
Speaker 1: that recently, all of these companies they want to show

450
00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:46,560
Speaker 1: that their trustworthy in the aftermath of someone like Sam

451
00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:49,760
Speaker 1: mcmuan freed coming along and the collapse of FTX. So

452
00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:53,040
Speaker 1: instead of the word crypto being used in messaging from

453
00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:56,359
Speaker 1: these different companies, you're likely going to see defy or

454
00:20:56,440 --> 00:20:59,399
Speaker 1: decentralized more and more, which was honestly, that was one

455
00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:01,439
Speaker 1: of its original selling points, the fact that it's going

456
00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:03,680
Speaker 1: to be a decentralized currency. You're trying to turn away

457
00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:07,480
Speaker 1: from that tarnished word crypto, Yeah, exactly. Yeah, there's the

458
00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:10,320
Speaker 1: different AI themes are popping up more as well. But

459
00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:13,920
Speaker 1: rebranding it doesn't solve the fundamental problem with crypto, which

460
00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:16,480
Speaker 1: is what problem is it actually solving? I think that's

461
00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:19,080
Speaker 1: the honestly, the biggest problem that crypto and all the

462
00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:21,760
Speaker 1: different coins are facing is because there's no proof of concept. Yea,

463
00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:25,000
Speaker 1: so far, it's just been concept and all of that

464
00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:27,880
Speaker 1: excitement built up, you know, built up in a couple

465
00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:29,680
Speaker 1: of years ago around the excitement of what it could

466
00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:32,280
Speaker 1: potentially do, but it's not really doing anything yet. And

467
00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:35,120
Speaker 1: as we are all asking what role crypto should play

468
00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:38,040
Speaker 1: in the lives of our personal finances across the country.

469
00:21:38,040 --> 00:21:40,359
Speaker 1: I think that that's something that's important to keep top

470
00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:42,639
Speaker 1: of mind as we're thinking through what are we actually

471
00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:44,960
Speaker 1: investing our money? And should I be investing my money

472
00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:48,760
Speaker 1: in an index fund, an ETF that is actually comprised

473
00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:52,119
Speaker 1: of companies who are making and selling actual goods and services,

474
00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:56,480
Speaker 1: Or am I investing in the concept or the hope

475
00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:58,600
Speaker 1: of an idea that might at some point come down

476
00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:00,639
Speaker 1: the pike. Yeah, some of these rebranded feel more like

477
00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:03,320
Speaker 1: putting lipstick on a pig than actually providing something meaningful

478
00:22:03,359 --> 00:22:06,360
Speaker 1: to and consumers. That's not to say that something may

479
00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:08,440
Speaker 1: or may not come out of crypto, like it might.

480
00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:11,560
Speaker 1: You never know, but it has yet to be seen.

481
00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:14,600
Speaker 1: We've kind of been skeptical for a lot of years.

482
00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:17,400
Speaker 1: We have always advised people put no more than five

483
00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:20,480
Speaker 1: percent of your money in speculative assets that includes crypto.

484
00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:23,920
Speaker 1: So I get if you want some sort of minimal exposure,

485
00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:27,280
Speaker 1: but don't overdo it. Yeah, and watch out specifically for

486
00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:30,800
Speaker 1: these pumping up crypto schemes that could take advantage of

487
00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:32,720
Speaker 1: your money. If you're going to invest in crypto or

488
00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:34,560
Speaker 1: stick some of your money in crypto. Make sure you

489
00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:36,520
Speaker 1: know what you're doing. By the way, the FTC MAT

490
00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:39,639
Speaker 1: they just released data on how much scams cost Americans

491
00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:42,160
Speaker 1: overall in twenty twenty two. On the topic of scams, Yeah,

492
00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:45,480
Speaker 1: and we were built out of eight point eight billion dollars.

493
00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:47,520
Speaker 1: That's at least just based on the reports that they

494
00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:50,359
Speaker 1: got from consumers. So who knows actually how big the

495
00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:53,920
Speaker 1: number gets in total, But that headline number is up

496
00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:57,200
Speaker 1: thirty percent from twenty twenty one, So scams are still

497
00:22:57,240 --> 00:22:59,240
Speaker 1: alive and well in this country. They've just kind of

498
00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:02,360
Speaker 1: morphed and changed forms like they always do. And investment

499
00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:05,240
Speaker 1: scams like the crypto ones we just talked about, those

500
00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:08,000
Speaker 1: cost us the most collectively. I think like a quarter

501
00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:10,840
Speaker 1: of that total basically came from from crypto scams. Those

502
00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:14,320
Speaker 1: are hot, and social media is the most lucrative medium

503
00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:17,200
Speaker 1: for scam artists. That's kind of how they're preying on people.

504
00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:20,560
Speaker 1: Through promoting things on Twitter or whatever, they're able to

505
00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:22,639
Speaker 1: target the people they think are going to fall for

506
00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:25,400
Speaker 1: their scam so much more easily. But old school phone

507
00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:27,639
Speaker 1: calls are still being used too, and that's actually how

508
00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:30,640
Speaker 1: scammers are able to get the most money per scam,

509
00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:33,600
Speaker 1: So just stay visual and out there. I think we've

510
00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:36,040
Speaker 1: we've talked about how it seems like scams or something

511
00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:38,439
Speaker 1: that only the elderly fall for, but that is not

512
00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:40,639
Speaker 1: true at all. And stats show that a lot of

513
00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:43,600
Speaker 1: young people are falling for scams these days, in bigger

514
00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:45,919
Speaker 1: numbers two, and a lot of that is because of

515
00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:48,480
Speaker 1: just easy access through social media. That's right, man. Yeah,

516
00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:51,160
Speaker 1: especially if somebody's reaching out to you about an investment,

517
00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:53,440
Speaker 1: they are not likely going to deliver and it's likely

518
00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:55,600
Speaker 1: a scam. But something that's not too good to be

519
00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:58,240
Speaker 1: true I bonds, And so we've got a PSA for

520
00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:01,040
Speaker 1: everyone out there, which is to buy I bonds Now.

521
00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:04,160
Speaker 1: Obviously they're hot. About a year ago it was close

522
00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:06,959
Speaker 1: to ten percent nine point six or something. But if

523
00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:09,280
Speaker 1: you purchase I bonds within the next few weeks, you

524
00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:12,680
Speaker 1: can still lock in that olso beautiful six point eight

525
00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:15,760
Speaker 1: nine percent rate. And so even though inflation it does

526
00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:19,119
Speaker 1: remain high, rates could drop below four percent when the

527
00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:22,040
Speaker 1: next adjustment is made at the beginning of May. We're

528
00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:24,120
Speaker 1: still not sure because inflation numbers from March they haven't

529
00:24:24,119 --> 00:24:26,720
Speaker 1: been reported yet. We don't know what the fixed rate

530
00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:28,800
Speaker 1: payout will be but you can still lock in the

531
00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:31,439
Speaker 1: current rate of almost seven percent for at least the

532
00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:35,200
Speaker 1: next six months, even if you buy now, And so

533
00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:37,080
Speaker 1: we want folks to if you were looking for someplace

534
00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:39,600
Speaker 1: to park your medium term savings, I bonds can be

535
00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:42,160
Speaker 1: a great option for you. But remember that the money

536
00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:44,679
Speaker 1: that you invest within an ibond, it's going to be

537
00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:47,760
Speaker 1: locked up for at least one year when you buy those,

538
00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:50,359
Speaker 1: and you're going to forfeit three months worth of interest

539
00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:53,280
Speaker 1: if you don't hold onto those ibonds for at least

540
00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:56,560
Speaker 1: five years, and so you have to hang onto it

541
00:24:56,600 --> 00:24:58,480
Speaker 1: for at least one year, and if you choose to

542
00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:01,600
Speaker 1: exit that position before five years, you're going to forfeit

543
00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:04,719
Speaker 1: three months worth. After that you get all of your

544
00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:06,919
Speaker 1: money back. And so it remains to be seen. But

545
00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:09,480
Speaker 1: this might be the last great time to buy ibonds.

546
00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:12,119
Speaker 1: Who knows, man, the window might be closing and the

547
00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:14,800
Speaker 1: two three years we might be looking back upon this

548
00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:17,000
Speaker 1: era as like you remember back when I bonds or

549
00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:19,480
Speaker 1: like seven ten percent, Oh, those were the golden the

550
00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:21,520
Speaker 1: golden day. I know. Well, it just so much depends

551
00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:24,640
Speaker 1: on how how much inflation goes down, right, And if

552
00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:27,520
Speaker 1: Jay Pale and FED rate hikes are successful, and we

553
00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:29,440
Speaker 1: do start to see inflace should come down in a

554
00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:32,280
Speaker 1: more meaningful way. I bond rates are going to suffer,

555
00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:35,720
Speaker 1: and so yeah, getting get while the getting's good. I

556
00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:37,720
Speaker 1: guess if you have medium term savings that you want

557
00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:39,800
Speaker 1: to earn more on. By the way, there was a

558
00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:43,080
Speaker 1: great post from Retirement revealed about when you should cash

559
00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:45,240
Speaker 1: out the I bonds that you've been buying. So much

560
00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:48,679
Speaker 1: depends on your personal goals, but that post it spells

561
00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:51,400
Speaker 1: out a lot of the idiosyncrasies that you're gonna want

562
00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:54,040
Speaker 1: to consider before you cash out of those eyebonds altogether.

563
00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:55,800
Speaker 1: We'll link to that in the show notes. If you're

564
00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:57,719
Speaker 1: like I bought something like mount and Joel said, I

565
00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:00,359
Speaker 1: just don't know when I should be cash out of

566
00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:03,199
Speaker 1: that position, and so I think he gives a lot

567
00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:05,240
Speaker 1: of thoughts in there that are worth looking into. It's

568
00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:08,240
Speaker 1: also worth mentioning that that CDs are looking more attractive

569
00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:11,119
Speaker 1: than they've been. Yeah, we're scene rates north of five percent,

570
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:13,680
Speaker 1: and you know, with the FED hinting strongly that rates

571
00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:17,000
Speaker 1: are nearing their top, that rate hikes are not likely

572
00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:19,480
Speaker 1: to continue in a major way. It might make sense

573
00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:21,119
Speaker 1: to lock up at least some of your cash in

574
00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:24,000
Speaker 1: order to secure a higher interest rate. Now, Ally and

575
00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:26,680
Speaker 1: Capital One have had great rates on CDs lately. Ally

576
00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:29,119
Speaker 1: has the no penalty CD, which's where I got all

577
00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:30,959
Speaker 1: my money parts. It kind of functions in a lot

578
00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:33,439
Speaker 1: of ways like a high yield savings account because you

579
00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:36,520
Speaker 1: can pull it out without paying any sort of penalty. Yeah. Yeah,

580
00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:38,640
Speaker 1: So I'll kind of give some details on that four

581
00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:40,919
Speaker 1: point seven five I think, yeah, four and three quarters

582
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:43,159
Speaker 1: eleven month no penalty. So what that means you can

583
00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:45,639
Speaker 1: park your entire emergency fund in that thing, earned that

584
00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:47,359
Speaker 1: high rate, and if you need to tap that, like

585
00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:49,879
Speaker 1: we talked about earlier, say you need to hit up

586
00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:52,760
Speaker 1: some of that money for your deductible that you need

587
00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:54,720
Speaker 1: to pay because you raise your limit up to a

588
00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:57,600
Speaker 1: thousand bucks, Well, you are not penalized. You have access

589
00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:00,000
Speaker 1: to all that money, and you can then turn right

590
00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:02,240
Speaker 1: around if you have to break into that you know,

591
00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:05,920
Speaker 1: that little piggy bank, yeah, and repurchase another no penalty CD. Yeah.

592
00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:08,560
Speaker 1: And if you're looking to score at slightly even higher

593
00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:11,879
Speaker 1: rate to return without a little less flexibility, Schwab actually

594
00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:13,560
Speaker 1: has some of the best offers on the market right now,

595
00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:16,600
Speaker 1: short term CDs like six ish month terms at that

596
00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:19,520
Speaker 1: discount brokerage are basically like five and a half percent.

597
00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:22,240
Speaker 1: So it's pretty great. That's pretty darn good. So if

598
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:24,040
Speaker 1: you're like I don't know about ie bonds and I

599
00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:26,600
Speaker 1: don't want to go through the piece of crap Treasury

600
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:29,400
Speaker 1: Direct dot com website, which I'll agree it's pretty trashy,

601
00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:33,040
Speaker 1: and you just kind of want something a little more straightforward. See,

602
00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:36,000
Speaker 1: if you're already really good, that's already built into in particular,

603
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:37,960
Speaker 1: if you're already banking with them. They make it so easy.

604
00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:39,480
Speaker 1: And for a long time we were not singing the

605
00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:42,159
Speaker 1: praises of CDs because rates we're going to keep going up,

606
00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:43,800
Speaker 1: and so it just made sense to keep your money

607
00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:46,360
Speaker 1: in high yield savings and not locking into a rate

608
00:27:46,359 --> 00:27:49,360
Speaker 1: as rates were going to continue to rise. But now

609
00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:51,600
Speaker 1: CDs make more sense because it looks like we're getting

610
00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:53,760
Speaker 1: close to the top of rate rises. Yeah, and so

611
00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:56,520
Speaker 1: and rates are pretty strong. Had a lot of because

612
00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:58,720
Speaker 1: like we're near the top, like we're maybe we're near

613
00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:02,200
Speaker 1: the pinnacle, the zenith. Yeah, it could be so all right, Matt,

614
00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:04,320
Speaker 1: that's going to do it for this episode. Please go

615
00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:06,600
Speaker 1: on prank What Are Your Friends Tomorrow? For April Fools

616
00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:09,720
Speaker 1: and go check out how to money dot com if

617
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:11,639
Speaker 1: you want the show notes for this episode, if you

618
00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:14,280
Speaker 1: want some of the links that we mentioned, But Matt,

619
00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:16,520
Speaker 1: that's going to do it. Until next time. Best Friends Out,

620
00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:17,760
Speaker 1: Best Friends Out,