00:00:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt, and we're back, baby Matt.

00:00:24
Speaker 2: We're in a new era, brother.

00:00:26
Speaker 1: So the first thing folks may have realized is that they can Okay, the first thing that we need to do is make our intro music shorter, I think, because for folks who are just listening to this, what they don't see is the fact that we are trying out video for the first time. And I guess we haven't really thought about what we're going to do while the music plays, because in the previous iterations of the show I would always add that after the fact. So this is the first time we've ever heard our music leading into the show like it's a live radio program or something. I know.

00:01:00
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, these dinos two dinosaur podcasters are getting with the times. We're launching video. Bear with us as we kind of figure things out. But if you like I want to see our mildly attractive faces, you can now migrate on over to YouTube. We'll put the link in the show notes on on how to Money dot com. But yeah, my mustache and it's full glory is exists.

00:01:19
Speaker 1: Well, folks get to see it. Can you get it? A little closer to the camera so folks can see it up close. I see what I can do. I want to be like, Yes, what a gift to people. I mean less that, less less of the eyebrow flaring. I channel that from my scene. You feel better about it. I'll be honest. I feel a little insecure because I feel like my uh what do you call the early onset gray? Something about this white. I'm set up in a very temporary spot at home as we're attempting this. Yes, and don't I look way older with I feel like back gorilla. What's that? Guys are majestic? I feel like Anderson Cooper over here with the with the white.

00:01:57
Speaker 2: Nobody hates Anderson Cooper's hair, Okay, like everybody thinks he looks distinguished. You're channeling the same vibe.

00:02:03
Speaker 1: Any any hair is uh is better than no hair? It's true?

00:02:07
Speaker 2: Sure, But yeah, I'm I will say. If you're looking at video, you can see the shirt that I'm wearing. Reppin on a team. Yeah, boy Norway. I'm actually thinking of renaming my my son Earling. He's almost seven years old and he's been used to being called Ezra, but he'll get used to Earling.

00:02:26
Speaker 1: I think you might be able to. I think he can make the change. Hey, one more sort of housekeeping thing before we go to I want folks to know. I want I think we should hear back from folks too as to whether or not like what they think we should do. As far as the video, I think some just some feedback as we attempt this here on Riverside. So yeah, yeah, for the most part, it'll probably sound like this. But like, if we're gonna do do this, I'm just I just do the iMac up in the corner of my bedroom. So this isn't long term either, But anyway, I figure out some background, we'll we'll get the quirks, yeah, and you know, worked out and we'll see. Yeah, we'll still we'll try to make it sound like you're used to but just include video along wheel as well. Yeah, people who are used to that more and more with podcasts obviously exactly, which is why we're doing it. Yeah, that's the thing. There haven't been a ton of folks who who have been clamoring for it, but I do think there are a number of folks who have not heard the how to money gospel because maybe they do all of their listening and watching over on YouTube. Yeah, and so yeah, it's then't how to money pod channel is the channel that we established, Jill, I don't know if you know, if you knew this like seven years ago, but it sat there empty and it's under our how to money pod at Gmail.

00:03:35
Speaker 2: Which actually he just staked our claim, put our flag in the ground and we used it. Yeah, we were just like first yeah, anyway, but I yeah, I think it's clear. I think I want to I just want to be transparent with folks. Folks are getting behind the scenes kind of look, and we've already recorded some content like you've got uh interviews where there's not going to be a video because we've we decided after that that we're gonna do this, so you're gonna see some video come in.

00:03:59
Speaker 3: Uh.

00:03:59
Speaker 1: It's gonna be inconsistent for a few weeks until we kind of get into our groove. But either way, we want to hear back from folks. Sorry to kind of backtrack a little bit and talk about some technical stuff, but sounds like you were kind of launching into what you've been up to the summer, which is rooting for Norway so much World Cup this summer for me and my family and we we just we watched a ton like that was kind of the thing. We all rallied around and like we all got into it and specifically cheer for the US obviously, but then also cheer for Norway. I think Norway captured the hearts and imagination of Americans and just like the world, Like just think of the row. Everybody got into the road, Matt. That was the thing.

00:04:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, you gotta love it was super exciting.

00:04:43
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie. South Korea didn't get very far, so I had to I crossed the Pacific and the Atlantic. I guess you can go the other way, crossed over the land, took the land route and joined you at Norway. There just wasn't much to see as for a South Korea goes. But yeah, yeah, yeah, do you want to share with the folks. What else you got to do? As far as the World Cup.

00:05:08
Speaker 2: I got to I got to go to a match and I just got it was a friend reached out and man just was like, hey, I've got I got an extra ticket. Do you want to go to the England Argentina match? And I was like do I Yeah, that'd be great. So it was man one of the greatest gifts. It was so fun to see it live and in person. You saw me on TV.

00:05:31
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, well that's I made the cut. I think a lot of people would have. The seats that y'all had were incredible. So if you thought you saw Joel, what's wrong? I got this? Like, wait, what's that?

00:05:43
Speaker 2: You can show people? This is like some little plaque from the match that they gave us.

00:05:48
Speaker 1: So if you're on video you can see it. It was like a little FIFA press So I love that you do a show and tell because you know what that does is the folks, that's right, the video feed. So what is that little five by five inch plaque thing that you're holding.

00:06:02
Speaker 2: It just kind of like has because you know, Georgia is the peach state, so it's got like a soccer a bunch of peaches all over. It's kind of an artistic like a plaque for in commemoration of that match, so.

00:06:14
Speaker 1: That it was like a FIFA design and collaboration with Atlanta as a host city specifically. Yeah, okay, nice.

00:06:20
Speaker 2: So that super fun. That was definitely one of the one of the highlights of the summer. A lot of other highlights we can talk about. You know, you and I we both did some some traveling. You celebrated July fourth in epic style. I don't think anybody could have done it better.

00:06:33
Speaker 1: Oh yes, maybe if you're wait, where did where was the Declaration of Independence actually written? Philadelphia? Right? Yeah? So yeah, we took the family up to Colonial Williamsburg for the fourth and we'd never been done that before and it was awesome. It was a ton of fun, so much fun. Kids got to learn a lot. I learned a lot just seeing other folks who are living the life of like I am a printer. Like the printer there, he's like pressing copies of the Declaration of Independence all July third on a two and fifty year old printing press. That's so cool. It's mind blowing. And so I don't know, my patriotic spirit was like at an all time high over the summer.

00:07:13
Speaker 2: But yeah, that was ask him. Did you ask that guy what his thoughts of AI are? That'd beneficent conversation or do you have to like stay in character? And he'd be like, hey, know what you're talking about. Well, you've got folks who are like interpreters like him. Where they're not like like in character the whole time, like they're doing the thing and explain it.

00:07:32
Speaker 1: But then you do have folks who are in character like the whole time. So you'll see Thomas Jefferson walking around and he's you know, it's it's like a like a Renaissance festival where they're like, well, what's that device you're holding their young lady, if you have your phone or something like that. No, I was gonna see the printing press guy was super cranky and evidently that's just his apt like that's just how he is. He's just real feisty. He's like peppering people with questions. He's I don't know, I think he was kind of going for the I just read this book, the Samuel Adams archetype, Like he was just uh yeah, abel kind of rabble rouser sort of type. Anyway, you know, was awesome. They do a ton of fun. What else, y'all do you want to share anything else y'all did over the summer when hiking in Shenandoah National Park, that was one of the highlights. And yeah, oh man, the.

00:08:22
Speaker 2: Most you want to hear what the most expensive part of our trip was. Matt oh you know what it was the emergency room visit.

00:08:31
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I was gonna say, I guess the place you stay, because lodging is always pretty.

00:08:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, you would think typically, but no, it's I haven't gotten the bills yet. But actually, er, we we had to. So we were in like Nowheersville, Virginia, and I'm even like looking it up because we thought my daughter she fell we were hiking. We thought she broke her wrist. Turns out she did break a bone in her wrist. Yeah, and but uh there was nowhere no urgent care to get next ray, so he had to go to the er or like drive hours, which my wife was like no, you know, like I get that we should. She was like no, we're just gonna go. I was like, okay, that's fine. So I mean that's going to be the most expensive part of our trip, and I will see you know how I can negotiate with the hospital on the back end.

00:09:20
Speaker 1: It's it's never never paid the first bill, jool never paid. Oh you didn't pull this podcast called had the money before? Oh my gosh, you should have made her. Did you see the story about the guy that impaled himself on his hiking pole. Yes, did you see the photos? Yes?

00:09:33
Speaker 2: And he had ten miles.

00:09:35
Speaker 1: So, but what the reason he said that he did his So he's with buddies. He wasn't hiking solo, and it was evidently some massive hike and yeah, he was ten miles ten miles out and his buddies were like, dude, we need to like airlift you, and he was just like I think I guess he was a nurse, like a wound nurse. He assessed himself and was like, I'm not going to pay an outrageous hell U what's the helicopter to get air vaculate here? Yeah, and so he credited the cost of what that I mean of getting a helicopter right out of there, and just been like I can handle this. I can hike. So hey, that's just like beast mode. Move right there. I'm impressed to you that he knows that, like, that's gonna be an expensive bill. Do I need to Plus, I'm sure he was just like this is gonna make an awesome story for I mean, whoever I want to tell the story to. If you see the.

00:10:24
Speaker 2: Picture one, you're like, oh my gosh, that's a crazy thing to go through. And then two through.

00:10:30
Speaker 1: His lat muscle. Yes, I couldn't, Like, it looks like ten miles like that. I don't. I don't understand. Miraculous. That's what he should have told so to, just like, hey, I heard about this guy that hike ten miles with a pole through his Torso.

00:10:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, well, fortunately for me, my cousin is a really gifted hand surgeon. And so when we came back here, she saw my daughter and so we've had we've had the best of care for her, and she's gonna be just fine. It's sealing up great. So, yeah, we had a great summer. And one of the ways I think we saved money to Matt, like, neither you or I got on an airplane this summer.

00:11:07
Speaker 1: What we did we just we drove.

00:11:08
Speaker 2: And I know there's a lot of talk about high gas prices, but let's be honest, what's even more expensive is airfare right now? Yeah, so driving, well you might be like, oh, I hate paying now to the extra dollar something a gallon from where things were back in early spring, it's still far better than paying these massively inflated airfare prices, especially when you're talking about taking a family.

00:11:30
Speaker 1: Yes, dude, one hundred percent. Like I'm pretty sure I've shared this with you as far as my overall philosophy when it comes to flying places with the kids, and like, I mean again, we've got a twelve year old, Like we have flown with the kids. We actually kind of took a specific trip just to fly because they were just sad that they had never been on a plane before. It wasn't like we just lew somewhere and food back like it was an actual trip. We were just going for like a joy ride. But that being said, my general philosophy is that, especially when the kids are younger, like we are going to start near where we live and then to slowly branch out because early on Kate was like, oh, I don't know, it'd be really fun to take them to Europe, the cultural experience, the memories, and I'm just like, yeah, babe, that's crazy expensive and ay and we wait five, six, seven years to do this, We're gonna have more money to be able to afford these trips because of compounding and investing, right, so it'll be less of a hit to us personally, like when we decide to pull the trigger, but be from like a percentage of your net worth perspective, yes, exactly, But then be the ability for them to appreciate what it is that we're doing and taking in the cultural sites. It's like, I'm not going to fly all a young family of family with young kids to Paris or to Rome just to eat gelato, like we can we can do that locally, right and so, and a big part of that, like you said, is hitting up places that you can drive to, but just stateside generally speaking. But we'll see. I've got my eyeset on some like more West coast travel next summer, and that might be I don't want to spend two days two days driving in the van in order to get the family. It's like Yellowstone or something like that. You know, like that, Yeah, that's a long trip. That's why I'm just like, oh, geez, okay, is this going to be the beginning of the era where we are going to fly to go to go spots.

00:13:18
Speaker 2: But I think one of the one of the other money saving things. I know you do this really well, and and this is this is something that whenever you're planning a trip, this is something we think.

00:13:26
Speaker 1: About a lot.

00:13:27
Speaker 2: One of the biggest costs now and I think this is like part enjoyment is to go out to eat right, Like, hey, we're visiting this place, let's go out to a restaurant or two that we enjoy. And there's nothing wrong with that. But I was shocked at everyone we met. So we took a family beat trip together like we always do, like your family, my family. Yep, we didn't eat out once. We know rarely, if ever, eat out right when we're on these trips and we're doing I don't think we ever have on the like a couple of years, even like barbecue to take to take that, we got the barbecue to go on the first night because we couldn't get in until later. But like I too, so a we didn't mention the fact that we did the typical family the how to money family beach trip, which is you know, so much stinking fun. It's also yeah, it's just great.

00:14:12
Speaker 1: I love it. Uh but uh but yeah, we always cook at home. And like you said, we were talking to other families, you know, like meet folks out on the beach and stuff, and they're like, oh, it's like one of the first questions they ask, what do you And I'm just like wait, what, Wow, we don't We don't at all do that.

00:14:29
Speaker 2: I didn't even know those restaurants existed, except for maybe on our runs we'll well, we'll run by them and we'll be like, oh, that that's what that was they were talking about.

00:14:37
Speaker 1: There's there. I will say, there's a distinction, okay, And so I don't want to drag So there's a difference between going on a road trip where you're seeing a lot of sights in your schedules pretty packed. We're not doing much cooking on those trips, although for the most part, we do try to start the day with the eggs, Like if you're staying at staying at an airbnb, eggs and toast at home start the day of some you know, a nice meal. That way so stinking affordable. I'm we're not going to go through all that because every minute, every hour is so valuable. Like wherever we're visiting on the road trip, right, guess what we're doing at the beach all day, We're just like sitting on our butts and so like the beach is the perfect time to save money by cooking at home, And yeah, I'm with you, man, a lot of butt sitting.

00:15:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you take advantage of the kitchen and man, your your wife and picular made some delicious meals.

00:15:23
Speaker 1: So I am fortunate to be married to her for many reasons, and you are fortunate to be her friend. Yes, hey, dude, no, Emily's chicken pop pie was mind blowing as well. She did that ahead of time, brought it up.

00:15:36
Speaker 2: But yeah, there's just the whole how you smoked some pork some pork butts ahead of time. So yeah, that was We pre planned some of this stuff. And sometimes it makes it easier if you like pre cook some things and bring them down with you, transport them in a cooler. It's so easy. Yeah, it's frugal, it's easy. It makes her you know, especially when you're feeding eleven people versus just taking necessity. Yes, yeah, versus just the default of going going out.

00:15:55
Speaker 1: Dude. I was just talking to a friend and they're like it was like in the evening, after dinner time. I mean they were saying, hey, let's uh, let's go to a dairy queen, like get it, get ice cream. I was like, okay, that's that's fun. And I'm going through my head thinking, well, we got ice cream back at home, and so it's I don't know for some people they love going out, but man, it's it is definitely not my default reaction as opposed to, how can I do this more affordably and get just as much enjoyment, if not better enjoyment. Because okay, here here's a news update. Here's something from over the summer that we haven't talked about. Wirecutter did a They ranked all the best store bought ice cream that you that you can get, and guess what was very close to the top, if not one of the top spots.

00:16:40
Speaker 2: I know, I know what you're gonna say, because it's the one you get, isn't It's the Aldi Premium.

00:16:44
Speaker 1: It's finally got some recognition. I've been saying this for years, the Aldi. So I don't think it took the very top spot. It was like some faincy expensive brand. But the very next yeah yeah yeah, but the very next one was the Aldi Premium ice cream. It's the black box Vinilla. It's only got five ingredients. And I'm just glad that the folks over a Wirecutter have finally realized what I've been shouting from the mountaintops, especially with the Affigato by the way, you know, you know how good that that junk is for.

00:17:13
Speaker 2: Real man, which I know you've been you've been affigato maxing as the Yellen.

00:17:18
Speaker 1: All right, you want to hit a few more topics here before we take a quick break. Yeah, let's do more of the clock now, because I see the clock ticking. I think the video thing is gonna do a lot for us if we can stay on topic, if we can stay on time. But this is the first one back, so I feel like we'vest a lot that we're just thinking of.

00:17:34
Speaker 2: And I will say normally, this is an ask Team episode and we will take one questionion towards the end it we'll take next Monday kind of be back to normal format.

00:17:43
Speaker 1: But regular programming is what they say in the industry, gual regular program One of the things we we haven't done, Matt is seen the Odyssey, and we have it. But we're going. But we're going because you got us tickets, which I'm so yesterday, because there's twenty one theaters in the whole country that have like the full IMAX experience and they've been a millimeter screen yeah, and they've been crazy sold out. Even if you like wanted to go to one that wasn't sold out. I was looking the seats were there's like three seats and they're in the worst part of the theater, so front row, far right, and it's like, yeah, you don't want to sit there exactly. So we finally got decent tickets, but we're not going for another like three weeks. Yeah, weeks. Because I happened to check it and I saw that. I was like, oh my gosh, they did another drop or something like that. So that's what. Yeah, I fired off the text, I can't wait.

00:18:30
Speaker 2: We're gon drive forty five minutes to see this, but I saw that some people were driving and taking buses and going, you know, taking hours to migrate to see the Odyssey in its full imax glory.

00:18:40
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I think it's going to be worth it. And this is something we talked about over the beach as we're debating it. If I'm going to go out and see a movie, I'm looking for a premium, premium experience because there's you can do so much great stuff at home. Right, let's go back to the ice cream analogy. I can make a pretty dang good ice cream Sunday at home. I can pull a really great off. I gatto you come, we're doing it super cheap. If I'm want to go out somewhere to get ice cream, it needs to be like the best ice cream that the world makes. It's such, it needs to be some fanciful Jenny's flavor that you couldn't concoct at home exactly. And in a similar way when it comes to movies, like everybody's got flat screens now, like everyone's got a pretty decent home setup and they can stream movies, and so I guess if you don't want to wait, that's why people are going out. But otherwise, if I'm going to actually spend the money to go up, I want to. I want to see it like Christopher Nolan intended, you know, in the full seventy millimeter Glory. So that's what I'm.

00:19:32
Speaker 2: Excited, and I think it's worth the wait, and it's worth probably. I haven't even asked you how much you spent on those tickets, but I'm guessing they're like three x what we normally spend on going to the movies.

00:19:40
Speaker 1: So let me it's not actually all that much more. Really, I was like it was gonna be like twenty five bucks. Wait, isn't that what tickets normally cost twenty five.

00:19:49
Speaker 2: Not at the theater we normally go to, it's like eight fifty. Oh okay, I don't know why we have like nineteen sixties throwback pricing on our movie.

00:19:56
Speaker 1: Theater, but we do. Wait, I can't find the email I want to say. It was thirty is either thirty four dollars or forty three dollars a piece a piece, so yes, it was. It's better be worth a splurge. But yeah, that's the thing I want it to be. Like, I am one hundred percent willing to pay that. And then we go see a movie theater in the theaters what like once a year. Yeah, I never, I never go to see movies. This will be worth it. It'll be worth it. And this is the perfect movie too, because you're not getting spoilers because uh no, everyone.

00:20:27
Speaker 2: Knows the story, like it's like the Titanic. You're like, what's gonna happen? Yeah, exactly, all right?

00:20:33
Speaker 1: What else you got?

00:20:35
Speaker 2: Uh?

00:20:35
Speaker 1: Oh?

00:20:35
Speaker 2: I saw the average Date Night for some reason. It cost one hundred and eighty nine dollars now, and so what I was glad to see this was there was a Wall Street Journal article about this that people are taking more extreme measures to make their dates cost a lot less, like when they want to hang out. Man, it makes me think I'm gonna go like a little nostalgic here, my my buddy. Billy Strings. One of the lines in one of his songs says, she loved the things I bought her when I didn't have a dime. And I think sometimes the best things in a relationship are not the most costly things. They're just the ones that you put electra, time, intention, and effort into a million nine. Yeah, Emily and I've been doing. One of the things we've been really enjoying lately is going on longer bike rides together and love it. It costs essentially nothing. We've already got the bikes. We just we drive out to this trail that we can, you know, take a twenty five to thirty mile bike ride on, and we have this lovely time together. We're able to chit chat where in nature. There's all these ways. I think it's Yeah, if the average date and night costs one hundred and eighty nine dollars one, that's ridiculous. It's okay to spend that much on a date on occasion. But if that's average, Like, that's absurd, and you have I think too high of standards for what a date should entail. And there's all these ways to be intentional when you're dating, whether it's someone you're married to or you're not married to, that don't have to run the bill up nearly that high.

00:21:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true, although occasionally you do want to go out for a fancy dinner and in those cases sometimes I mean, I'll be honest, that can be the average. It's not the average date night exactly. Yeah. I think about the really nice restaurant we love to go to and I'm like, we're dropping more than one hundred and eighty nine bucks, but all of our our other date nights are costing a whole lot less. It makes me so, this makes me think of did you see the stats on sports gambling? Talk about entertainment and just how dose people are spending money, and I saw the ridiculous stat of that. I think it was in the US alone last year and the past year that we've spent over one hundred and sixty five billion dollars on sports betting just that alone, which is more than like all other forms of entertainment combined. Essentially which is mind blowing.

00:22:43
Speaker 2: That was because, like I think, sometimes numbers get lost on us, right, like one hundred sixty five billion, hundred sixty five billion, that's that's a ton of money. But to think that it's more than people spend on like movies, books, concerts, sports tickets combined in a single year, that's how big this industry has gotten. And I I don't think we probably have different views on whether or not it's good for society or should people be allowed to do this, But I think if this is something that you know your friends are involved in, or you found yourself doing too much, man, just maybe go back and look at the past year and say how much did I actually spend on this? Because maybe you're not realizing how much money you've actually lost, because it's really easy to think about this couple of times you won maybe a big sum on a random bet that you made, but all those losses add up over time too, So go back and actually look at the facts. Because and for a lot of people, like they find themselves getting addicted to it, Matt, right, And so they're spending money to gamble on sports that they don't actually have, and they're going into debt for it, and that's what worries me to see that it's gotten to be this become this big of an industry. I think it's very worrisome as someone who cares about his community, cares about the people who live around him in this nation, and doesn't want them addicted to spending money they don't have on gambling. That is just like in hopes of a quick return.

00:23:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like it just leads to more degenerate sort of behavior, right, Like there's not much good that you get out of it. Like, oh, you go to a concert, Okay, that's like an event where typically you're going with some friends and there are memories that are that are formed as opposed to bets, which just feel like the bet in and of itself is the entertainment and then it's just gone, like once that bet is, once that thing's over. But yeah, couldn't agree more. Man, All right, Hey, let's let's take it. It's we're at twenty four minutes and thirty seconds is what I see right now, So we're gonna take a quick break. We've talked about what we've done over the summer. We've talked about where the show's headed next. So I guess We've got a few more stories we'll get to, including one quick listener question. This is kind of like a catch all random episode, but we'll get to all that right after this. So I was worried that you couldn't hear the music when I first played the intro at the very beginning of the show. But that's why I was just like, films, can you hear that? And then you were dancing and I was like, Okay, he can hear it now. Sometimes I dance when there's no music, Matt, that's just me dance like no one's watching, Joel. You know something else I realized too, is that typically on Monday episodes we are sharing a beer, but with this being digital and video, what you're drinking, buddy, do you have anything?

00:25:18
Speaker 2: I just have my Nalgene of just water he staying hydrated.

00:25:21
Speaker 1: I've got I've got an iced latte that I that I pulled. I pulled a shot ports and milk over ice, and I'm drinking that right over here. So that sounds delicious. That's kind of a fun little surprise because before we would agree on what we would drink. Now, if one of us wants to crack open a crack opened a brew, it'll be a surprise. Yeah, well so much. There's so many funny potential out uh like what do you call knock on effects of doing the video thing? That are adults starting to delight me.

00:25:51
Speaker 2: We still have some beers the a listener recently sent in, but I think there's two of each, so we'll have to have those.

00:25:57
Speaker 1: Oh okay, we can, we can coordinate those.

00:26:00
Speaker 2: Beer is always going to be a part of what we do because we love craft beer and we love like the message that we can portray through the love of craft beer.

00:26:06
Speaker 1: Yes. Also on another beer note, real quick, I didn't tell you this. When we were leaving the beach with you guys, we stopped at one of your favorite breweries that I had never been to yet, Two Tides. With the Two Tides, Oh my gosh, dude, that place is awesome, so cool. It's just such a cool like I don't know you described it this way before, but like an old bungalow on top of a commercial, that's exactly what it is. It's so weird.

00:26:30
Speaker 2: It's like they just plopped the all the separate rooms, like you're there's a game room and there's like a room with couches that they seem differently. Yeah, yeah, anyway, and the beers are just money. The beers are so good.

00:26:40
Speaker 1: And well it was a perfect one too because we stopped there and there's a coffee shop. Was the coffee shop open when you were there to the off to the side, I don't remember. It's it's in the same space, and so they kind of share like one big long corner. Anyway, it's called that's the coolest part of Savannah for sure. So cool. Yeah. But they I mean, they're they're pulling really good coffee drinks too, So I'm like, uh, thank you very much. I can stop in here, Kate and I can get drinks for the road, coffee drinks, Yeah, coffee drinks for the road, and then buy a bunch of beers to take home. Win win man. I was so happy about that. Anyway, wanted to mention that before you got to the next thing you wanted to talk about. All right, well, let's talk Let's talk about apple stuff for a bit, just because like, I'm curious what percentage of Americans use apple products. Now, it's got to be like really high, probably what three quarters of Americans use, Like an apple product in some way, form or fashion.

00:27:29
Speaker 2: There there's a lot of talk you finally converted. I converted. I would convert back, though I'm not, like I'm not really married to them. Yeah, if I found The reason I switched. I think I've mentioned this before is that the Google Pixels became like they jacked the price up. They used to have good Google Pixel phones for like two hundred and fifty bucks, and when they jacked it up to like five hundred bucks or four to fifty or whatever it was, I was like, hmm, the price gap is not significant enough yet in the same way that it used to be. But they still have better sales sometimes on Pickles pixels.

00:27:58
Speaker 1: So what I go back? I think I would if the right deal came along. But I'm happy where I am too. But there there's talk about the new Apple foldable phone that's just going to raise the price point oh my gosh, in general, right like, and people are going to think they need this new thing. I'm curious to hear what you think about this and its kind of the most recent price hikes. Well oh yeah, yeah, Well, first of all, like the footable phones, I think, do I say that they are going to start at two thousand dollars, Like that's crazy, that's it makes no sense to me, Like, I don't it feels like this is a solution looking for a problem to solve, Right, It's just it's like, oh, just because we can create this foldable screen, we're gonna we're gonna make a device that includes it. Like it just doesn't make sense because phones you can stick in your pocket, right, I'm not like, oh, I wish that was smaller and but also a little bit thicker, Like it's not the direction I'm going. And then if you're looking for a bigger screen, like that's why tablets exist, like an iPad. Right, So I just don't understand who I mean. I'm sure plenty of people will buy it, but I am definitely not interested, so much so that I recently purchased a reform phone and I did not wait for the new drop of the foldable iPhones because I got I've got zero interest in that at all.

00:29:15
Speaker 2: So anyway, yeah, yeah, and well, and Apple is big. You know, there's this type supply of memory that is essentially the culprit behind these price sikes that Apple just announced. Because right, we talked about the new Neo laptop that Apple is putting out put out into the world, and it seems like it's a great device. And it started at what six hundred bucks, and I think even college students could get it for five hundred bucks maybe, I mean it was it's a really student id Yeah, really inexpensive solid laptop. But the price on that's going up by one hundred bucks. The price on other products that Apple cells are going up by two two fifty. Like it's it's so expensive right to buy electronics, He says, for a while, we just saw, at least in a lot of the electronics orbit prices were declining, especially when you think about something like flat screens, TVs or so much competition. Those used people used to steal those matt because they were so expensive, And now why would you steal it? Like we'll get one for one hundred and fifty bucks, Like they're not that expensive. But the we're starting with the team right like, and I think I'm hoping that this causes people to think twice before they upgrade on some sort of set schedule. Yeah, like oh yeah, I get a new laptop every two years or something like that, because one the products are often they last longer, they're they're better made. But as the cost goes up, like the price of upgrading when you don't need to just it makes it feel like less of a slam dunk and more of like maybe I should hold onto this as long as I can so that I'm not working over money.

00:30:40
Speaker 1: I don't need to spend Yeah, one hundred percent. And again I want to reiterate, I just kind of I want to make it a point to encourage folks to consider Apple REFERB because we so I recently got one of those, because we are sort of taking my old phone and what do you call it, matriculating it through our family, and somebody else is going to be using that one. But I'm like, wait a minute, why would somebody buy a newer phone that has like one additional speck, like one additional on paper feature as opposed to when you buy REFERB At Apple. It's a new screen, it's a new battery, it's a new shell. Like, it's a pretty new phone except for perhaps the chip, which is why the prices of all the Apple products are going up. It's because of AI. It's all the chips are going to all the like hyperscalers, just going to all these AI buildouts and they're starting to see a shortagin. It's not just Apple, like, it's going to impact all the different electronics makers. So I appreciate that you didn't say this is an Apple thing, because it's They might be the first one to approach it this way from a strategic Hey, just so you know, heads up, that's their approach as opposed to other companies who are gonna try to follow suit. But I guess nobody wants to be the initial bearer of bad news. But yeah, when the advances that you see with the phones, when they're so minuscule, it does not make sense at all to upgrade regularly, which is one of the arguments for Have you seen the the like the least program that Apple rolled out?

00:32:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, if it's in the video right now, gun to my head because I saw that and I was like, that's I hate that.

00:32:11
Speaker 1: I hate that more than I hate almost anything. Yeah, And honestly, it would have kind of made sense ten years ago, right Like, there is a big difference between the iPhone three and the iPhone four, right. Yeah, I was like an Apple fanboy. I was lining up at the mall with my buddy Steve, like we like that was I was that guy, like the guy's people waiting in line that Yeah, one percent, I was all about it. It had the class. I think that was the first one with a.

00:32:36
Speaker 2: Glass back, dude that with huh oh, yeah it was were you camping out like days in advance?

00:32:41
Speaker 1: Now we weren't that hardcore, but we were there for like yeah, the morning of But that's so far in the past now, Like, who cares, It's all the same at this point.

00:32:50
Speaker 2: Well, I think I saw if you want, like the newest model of iPhone, iPhone seventeen, I don't know if I think seventeen pro something like forty six dollars a month to lease it over a year. Think about you're spending five hundred and fifty something dollars right to borrow the phone for a year and then to give it back. Yeah, and like it's just as to a quick calculator on the year as well, Joel, because we're not sitting there with our antiquated paper and pen.

00:33:19
Speaker 1: That's right, that's right. I get another thing I'm delighted by. All right, Sorry, we're trying to be new.

00:33:23
Speaker 2: School, but like that's the other thing is like you're mentioning that the upgrade cycle doesn't matter as much. I think we're seeing that people are holding onto their phones longer. So this Apple getting into leasing, I think it's going to incentivize some people because it seems like the easy thing. I don't have to actually make the purchase, because forty six dollars a month sounds better than nine hundred and fifty dollars or eight hundred dollars that you might spend or six hundred dollars on the REFERB phone. But ultimately you come out ahead. If you buy the five hundred and six hundred dollars REFERB phone and you hold on to it for forty years, that's going to be a much better cost, right that you pay. But it just means working over the money up front, having that money saved, instead of taking what feels like the easy route of the lease, which is ultimately going to cost you way more over time.

00:34:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, I couldn't you. Just you just need to not be on the like the cutting edge, like the vanguard, right, Like if you are right there, you're constantly getting blunted and just you're taking it on the chin. Yeah, pretty regularly I was thinking, just thinking about other things we received over there, over there over the summer regarding you know, news that impacts our money. Did you get an email from uh meta share so we have health sharing, you also have it as well. Did you get did you see the email about that they're getting rid of the healthy Intensive discount? I did. Oh. I hated that. I hate that. Hey, I hate that it's going to cost us more, but also I just hate that you're removing that carrot that they're dangling in front of folks to say, hey, if you know, if you are paying a little more attention to your health, it'll cost you a little bit less because it should cost the pool overall less money. And you know, they found that it didn't really help I guess all that much. It didn't make sense.

00:35:03
Speaker 2: But it surprises me because I used to work for an employer and they every year they had these like health metrics, and if you hit yeah some of these health metrics, then you got a discount on your insurance, like you paid less than other people. And that makes sense to me, right that healthy people. Ultimately, here's a questions the system less. Did you have to go in and get tested in person? Do they check your blood pressure. See that's the difference.

00:35:25
Speaker 1: And it's self reported, and I think there's a bunch of folks who are just kind of like, ah, it's close enough.

00:35:32
Speaker 2: Ouch, oh my my wist circumference is yeah, is it under thirty six cents?

00:35:37
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah it is. Yeah, that's yeah. It was like, uh, honey, you haven't worn a size thirty one since college? All right, right, yeah, I was zoned about that, you know, because that's one of the great ways that you can save when it comes as spending a little bit less on healthcare.

00:35:54
Speaker 2: But one hundred percent Okay. So this is obviously becoming it's a hotly debated political topic in our society, but it's also just something that's impacting people's bottom lines, like right and left across the country, the cost of health insurance. And there was a new stat that said one in four Americans are staying in a job that maybe they'd otherwise prefer to leave because of health insurance. Matt it is now, it's not the pension that's the golden handcuffs. It's having access to a decent health insurance plan through your employer that's really the golden handcuffs for a lot of people. I'm curious to hear your thoughts. I mean, it makes sense, Like I think, I think that's true, but I think like there's also it feels like you're between a rock and a hard place. There's not other great alternatives for most people when they do have a great health insurance plan and they would like to go do something different, how do they make it happen?

00:36:42
Speaker 1: Oh, I mean, I agree that that is the difficult situation we find ourselves in. It's the state of healthcare in the United States, and like there's a real benefit there. Like we were talking recently about the guy like it maybe think about the guy at Costco. Was in the journal that profiled the guy that is like I'm a millionaire because I worked at Costco and he's been there for for deck aids and decades and he one of the things he cited was the fact that, well, the benefits are so great, and he talks about I think his wife had brain cancer and then he had some issues and they took prolonged leaves of absence from work and it's a real benefit, right, And so we talk about the overall the total compensation package that you are receiving from your employer, not obviously just your your income, not just retirement. But yeah, man, you got to look at the you gotta look at the health benefits. And with that being I mean, that was something that they that was post World War two, right post it was after then there are limits set as to how the government set as to how much additional employers could pay. So what they were trying to do is find another way to compensate their employees without actually increasing their wages. And that's when the whole workplace sponsored health care provider health care was an option for folks. And I hate that it's a thing because it does leave folks tied up the positions jobs perhaps that they want to leave, and so it just makes it which does.

00:38:06
Speaker 2: Prevent economic dynamism and really kind of gunks up the gears a little bit. Yeah, for the ability for someone to say, hey, I want to go start a small business, and that's the hardest leap that most of them have to figure out, right, I think there's a lot of what you can save up enough money, you can have a great idea, you can have a working prototype, you can have a business partner, you can do all these things to get the ball rolling on your business, but then you're like, how are you going to do healthcare? And so typically inside of a marriage, that means one person has the steady job, right the W two nine to five that provides the health insurance, and then the other person is able to kind of go take that leap. But what if both people want to do that, Well, then you're like trying to conjure it together. And because of how expensive things the lack of subsidies, and how expensive it's become to buy healthcare on the open market on the exchange, like people are like, yeah, even at that price point, we can't afford to do that, Like, it just doesn't it just doesn't make financial sense. We have to stick with the job. And so I just wish that there were things we could do to, you know, reduce the cost of health insurance. But part of that is we've kind of done it to ourselves as a nation. And so now people feel this is what they're calling job block. You know, something like twenty three million adults saying like, no, I am locked into this because if I tried to make another move, it's just prohibitively expensive, or I'm leaving my family exposed to a lack of health access and to just the reality that's going to cost way more just I mean, I've talked to the beginning about my daughter breaking her wrist and how expensive that's going to be for us. And my wife has a job where if she would see a few more clients every week, she could potentially get health insurance insurance, which is you put on the pressure. No, I'm not, because like what we've decided is we've got We've tried to plan and be thoughtful about this, but it has taken a lot of planning and aful lot of thoughtfulness because it's so expensive and it's such a big part of our annual spend. But I know for a lot of people, like getting to that point is really difficult. It's it's too high of a hurdle, though over can be. That's the thing.

00:40:07
Speaker 1: I mean, it just depends on your I think your your your personal situation, what you've got going on, because that's the I think that's the other part of it too. As you're kind of talking through it. I don't want folks to think that it's inordinately expensive, because for some folks it may not be right, and so they have in their mind that oh, it's going to cost us. Oh, I don't even know what it's going to cost us. It's going to be, you know, just like an extraordinary amount of money. I just pulled up my budget and we spent one seven and fifty two dollars last year out of pocket on medical stuff. And that's aside from our I think it's three fifty roughly three fifty is what we spend a month. So you're talking about and so that is forty two hundred plus twelve, So you're looking at what's fifty four four hundred bucks. That's not nothing if we're if we're being totally honest with the audience, you avoid medical stuff at all costs, and you like your kids don't go to the dent Like I'm about to take my kids to the dentist tomorrow and I've checked in. I know what I'm paying. But it's one of those things where we try to do it every two years. Expensive. Huh does does most healthcare include orthodontia?

00:41:23
Speaker 2: Usually your your employer has a dental plan as well. The dental plans are, especially if you're buying it on your own, it's very rarely worth the cost it's just worth budgeting for the work that you're going to need and if you need something really really expensive. You know, we've talked about medical tourism before as being an option that more people are taking in. But yeah, I mean, I think for a lot of you, you're you're healthy, your family's mostly healthy, but and you have catastrophic coverage if something where to happen. It's there hoping pays out in terms of medical sharing companies, but like that's a little there's definitely a little bit of hope involved.

00:42:01
Speaker 1: There's definitely, yeah, there's definitely a risk. Yeah, and so that I mean that was last year. The year before twenty twenty four is one thousand bucks more so we spent roughly sixty five hundred total for coverage plus out of pocket. But I will say the year before that it was a lot less. It was we were in like the four thousand. That was maybe a cheaper year where we're like, ah, maybe we don't need to go in. But I'll tell you what it does make those telehealth visits incredible because it's like a twenty five dollar like we used to get it for free. But the ability to not have to leave your home like one of our daughters deals with strip like skin infection. She just I don't know, I'm like, gosh, wash your hands more or something like some people are just carriers, right, Like, Yes, people there's a certain set of population that always have a colony of staff bacteria on their skin, and so therefore when they get injuries, they're more likely to get an infection. But even still, the ability to not have to take the time to go in person when we know exactly what it is right to avoid a local uh physician, and to do the telehealth for twenty five bucks, like right then and there and then just head up to the store to get the antibotics. That helps to alleviate that a little bit. I know, not everybody wants to do. Yeah, clutch for some things. For other things that there's there's a lot of things you call the you'll telehealth about and they'll be like you need to go see somebody. Yeah, And then there's then there's some things where they really can be helpful. Yeah, totally all right, I agree.

00:43:26
Speaker 2: Should we uh, let's take a break, yeah, and and get to in just a second, we're gonna take a question from a listeners. This is normally our listener questions Monday episode and uh, and then we'll say Cyonara from our first YouTube fora.

00:43:51
Speaker 1: We would like Bevis to my head when we do that. I was channeling my inner. Uh Beavis, I think it? Does he have the top of here? I was gonna say, I don't know, No, I think Bevis is the one. He's the blonde hair guy. So that that would be you, what would be me? Yeah? Uh so yeah, like you said earlier, you want to go ahead and take the should go ahead and do the listener question. This is yet again new territory, new territory. We have never done this before, but I've got it queued up. Yes, Soul reached out to us and she wanted to Yeah, just kind of probe and ask us a few questions regarding us being able to take a break over the summer.

00:44:28
Speaker 3: Hi met and Joel's Yes, a little calling from Maryland. Here are just a couple questions, since I know you're looking for some freshies. First one is this summer will be one year since you're sabbatical, so I'm curious what are some ways that you continue to instill some changes that came from that sabbatical. And also what are some practices or shifts that you may have wanted but you didn't. Just an interesting thought experiment, just to help review your experiences from that time. And Second, if you could have your dream dinner party of personal finance folks alive or dead, who would you have Let's say you could invite up to five people. All right, Well, I hope you're doing well. Thanks again for everything you do on the podcast.

00:45:07
Speaker 1: Thanks bye, nice, thank you.

00:45:09
Speaker 2: Yes, well, okay, So Jesus talked about money. Can I include him as like a personal finance influencer he's yeah.

00:45:16
Speaker 1: At the top of the invite list. I guess yes, Yeah, Jesus he there are more parables about money than any other topic in the New Testament? Isn't that correct? I could be wrong.

00:45:30
Speaker 2: I believe so, and I think there's good, yeah, good reason for it, because it's really easy for us to get very attached to money and then get to the later on in our life and be like, why did I make that such a central part of things?

00:45:40
Speaker 1: You know?

00:45:41
Speaker 2: And that's part of the premise of in the purpose of the show is to put money in its proper place.

00:45:45
Speaker 1: Yeah. By the way, was Jesus Christ super savior one of our besties that we rolled over the summer or yeah, I think so, okay, well it was the Ancient Money Truth this or something that was from a couple of years ago that was a fun one. Yeah, okay, yes, well asked three questions. First of all, takeaways from last summers sabbatical that we are still kind of finding a way to incorporate into our lives now. Yeah, which you got anything?

00:46:16
Speaker 2: I think one of the things that we did coming back from last summer was to start making a plan for the next summer, for this past summer that just occurred, and and to say we want elements of that every summer, like we we don't want it to be one and done. And and the I would say the other thing, the kind of weekly rhythms that we started the institute after our sabbatical were our focused work time was very intentional, highly intentional, but it was it was reduced like we just like we we did not work on Fridays. I forget when exactly we started that, but.

00:46:52
Speaker 1: We also did that before last summer.

00:46:54
Speaker 2: But okay, I think it but then too, even just Monday through Thursday, like the way our days looked and were structured, just looked different so that it felt our lives felt a bit more RESTful and family oriented and and so just you know, what is it Parkinson's law where that the amount of time you give to work like it's gonna it's gonna take up the time. Yeah, and so if you reduce the time that you give to work, can you still be And obviously there's like a limit to that, right we I don't think we could record three excellent podcasts a week and dedicate three hours to it, like it wouldn't be very good. But the reality is we there were places where we could cut back, and so we in terms of time and some of the things that we gave our time to for work, and we're able to kind of become more optimized and efficient and still get just as much joy out of the work we're doing. I think creates something that's just as helpful for people and then at the same time have a little more like freedom in our regular routine.

00:47:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I totally agree. Yeah. I think the biggest thing is the fact that at we essentially did something very similar this summer that we did last summer. So like last summer weeks, we we set it up more like a sabbatical, where like, I feel like this summer we worked a little bit more like little little bits here and there where we were just kind of like maintaining the business, Whereas last year I think we had bigger chunks of time where I know where I was completely shunned, like shun up from the from the actual.

00:48:26
Speaker 2: Work in order to a little more like shun unsheh exactly.

00:48:32
Speaker 1: It's more of a revolving window or revolving door this year. But last year I treated it personally, I treated it more like an actual sabbatical where I'm just like, cool, We've got a great show. We really like what we do, what we're doing here, I love how we're helping people. Is this the right thing to continue doing? Just like trying to step away from the actual work in order to gain perspective. Whereas this year it felt less like a subtle and I wouldn't even call it a sabbatical this year, as opposed to saying, man, we own our own business. We have put ourselves in the position to be able to take summers off. I want to be able to spend time with my family. Why not? And so this year just felt more it was less introspective, just as fun. And I want to say too, I guess, okay, here here's what wormon mind's that it makes me think about. You know how, back when we had kids, we put the date nights on the calendar, repeating every week and no matter what, even if you and so basically for folks that need to get caught up. One week, Kate and I would have a date night, You would come over babysit the kids. The next week, you and Emily would go out on a date night. I would watch your house, watch your kids. But we did not move that unless it was list somebody was out of town. Basically like we always did it. And we did that for ten years, and there already there were days when I didn't want to do that, or Kate and I weren't like yeah, mostly because you didn't want to watch my kids. No, no, not not that like came and I were like not on speaking turn Now we weren't on not speaking terms. But sometimes you just don't be like going out on a date. Right. But the fact that it was baked into the calendar, it was baked into our schedules and rhythms and routines, and you know what that meant that you were going to be coming over at whatever it was, seven thirty seven o'clock. I don't know. I can't remember when we used tod what time we would do seven thirty. Yeah, because we put the kids, that's right, when they were younger at that point. But then guess what, because we went out on that date night, it caused Kate and I to grow closer together, and so the structure of that was incredibly beneficial, I know for mine and Kate's relationship. I'm sure you would say the same thing. And in a similar way, that's how I feel about this summer from last summer. Like last summer, it's just like I think we need to do this, like let's let's try this out, let's experiment, let's see this summer It's like, oh, let's do it. And because it was there, I was certainly looking forward to it, but I was able to approach it in a way that I think almost there were times that I was receiving things from this summer break that I think I appreciated more because we did it last summer, right, And like I'm just thinking about at one point at the beach, our kids were all maybe that was this, Like the last night, they were all running. They had just gotten into shoving mass. We were pushing each other into the inlet. It was funny, and their kids were getting hurt whatever. We were walking back down the beach. This is in the evening, like sunsetting, and there are just this gaggle of kids all together. They're all friends. You see the relationship, And like I was able to zoom out a little bit now, I was able to say to myself, this is so good. And I was able to not just like view it like through my eyes, but almost to see myself in that situation. And I found that I was appreciating that in a way that I haven't in the past. In that last year, It's like I was striving for that maybe in the past, whereas now, having practiced it a little bit, I'm able to recognize that in a way that I appreciate it just more fully. Does that make sense? Yeah, okay, yeah, I'm not sure if I communicated that well, But that's just what sometimes come ahead. It takes a rhythm, right of doing something to where you can edge a level deeper into the impact that I can have money right, And so there was something I think about this summer that we approach it with like a less like kind of a existential like what are we doing and where are our lives going from here? And more of like this is like a rhythm we're going to institute that is good for us as individuals, good for our families, good for our business, good for us. Like, dude, I'm chomping at the bit, like I'm so excited to be back and to try video now and to like see where this where what we do can go. Because the whole goal behind this, the whole goal of our show is for us to have a good time, but also the main main goal is to help and serve other people. Yeah, and so if we can offer advice that leads to life change, and we get emails all the time from listeners and it's so edifying for us to be like, wow, amazing, you've been listening and it's helped you, it's impacted you. Like that's at the end of the day. All we can ask, right is that not to have the biggest audience ever, not that YouTube's gonna make us Internet famous, could care less, but that this show would have impact on the people who listen, that it would help them understand and think through whatever's going on in their finances better so that they can live a healthier life and have a healthier relationship to their money. At the end of the day, that's that's what I care about. And I think that time away gives me a better perspective towards it that you can't get when you're just in it day in and day out. You need a little bit of time away, better appreciate, be able to approach it. Yeah, yeah, appreciation then and approach a healthy approach to it. It's yeah. It kind of makes me think of travel too, Like the first time you go on vacation abroad is different than the second time you do it, because like the second time, like there's just little tricks and little things that you do and you're able to appreciate. Like you come back from the first one and you're like, ah, I wish we'd have done more that. I wish we'd have done more of that, And there's just a level of appreciation for it as opposed to trying to force it the first time. I feel like this time, I'm like, oh, last year I said that I want to enjoy more time with my kids. I was still learning how to do that, you know, because there's times where I'm just like, well, I got some time. I'm just gonna take on this massive project out out in the yard, and I'm like, you know, beasting it for two weeks, as opposed to being like, oh no, that's actually slowed down and what does it actually look like to spend time with the kids. Appreciate that time. It's it's connecting more of what I say that I want and what I value to Like last year, it's like it was like I don't know, there's some distance. But now I'm like, oh, it's like it's getting closer to what I what I'm claiming right. There's less cognitive dissonance, which is always a good feeling when you are living in a way, when you're living in a way that aligns naturally with your values. But and I think so often that's what creates just a lot of anxiety and hardship in people's lives, is the gap between what they say the want and the way they're living. I know it does for me, Yes, I know it does for me. Like that's those are the places where I need to lean into and be formed and like and hopefully have like make to make different attempts and a different approach in the future so that I can become more of the person who like the things that I say align with the things that I do. Yeah, okay, So anything that you did last summer that you didn't do that you wish you could do better, A better job, you got anything there? Just skip that part.

00:55:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm trying to think if there's anything I wish I could done better. I think no, I don't think so, Like, I don't think there was anything.

00:55:32
Speaker 1: Joel's like nailed it.

00:55:35
Speaker 2: I will say the thing that I really clocked that I liked. I liked the travel and some of the little trips that we did. We didn't have as much. My wife's working more this summer, so we didn't have as much ability to travel, so I was hanging with the kids more, doing more like you know, pool hangs and little day stuff. But the thing that I and I love that slight difference, But the thing that I really like more than more than anything. I think a lot of times, like we we make travel seem like it's the greatest thing in modern history. Like to be able to take big trips is like that's everyone's goal, it seems like. Sometimes so there's like travel poor and travel lust, and you want to be able to do that, right, don't you want to travel?

00:56:17
Speaker 1: Right? Right?

00:56:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd like to travel as much as the next person. But there's something great about the rhythms of not working and being at home and having some of that time is a beautiful thing. And so don't assume that just because you're not working, you've got to like be on a plane and go somewhere.

00:56:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, yep, yeah, we did a better job. But I mean last year we intentionally wanted to have a longer road trip, which we'd never done. We definitely did not do that this summer. Still had a still had a good time. Okay, real quick. She mentioned the personal finance people that you would have over for dinner. Who would that be? We've already mentioned Jesus Christ.

00:56:55
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, And so I was trying to not go to metal with it in my answer because I was like, oh, you could do like Warren Buffett and stuff, But I don't think he's not like a I don't think personal he's like any research this business and find where there's untap value, right essentially, But would I like to hang out with Warren Buffett, Yeah, of course, for sure, who wouldn't what a He's close interesting war Buffet, human maybe, But I'm gonna go with like my best friends in the personal finance space who I think are also really smart. So I put our buddy Chad Carson, who's really smart about real estate in there, our friend Jesse Kramer. Love, that dude lives up in Rochester, New York, doing some great stuff and he's just a great guy, so I'd love to hang out with him. The mad scientist who we got to visit in person in Scotland. Brandon Love hanging out with that guy, Justin Peters, who's runs the podcast five Minded, fantastic guy, really thoughtful, ask gay.

00:57:47
Speaker 1: Question and literally runs as well. Which is where my little like I feel like the folks. I'll be honest, I don't consume a whole lot of virtually any personal finance content, and I don't know if that makes me a pariah within the personal finance space, the fact that like, oh, he doesn't support the other the other folks, but like I want to the folks I would want to have over are the Okay, Morgan Housel, I'll totally have him over because he does so much research and has such great stories and ties it to what's going on. I just love him as a storyteller. I would love just to sit there and pepper him with questions and have him tell me stories. But besides that, I'm thinking of people who I know, and the reason I would want to hang with him is because I'm interested in what they're into outside of personal finance. And so for instance, justin Peters, he's a runner. Who else did you mention? Oh Brandon, He's so into craft beer that like, and music and music and and so like, like it makes me think of like even Carl Mindy's Carl Jensen, and like he takes on these home projects and he calls it. What does he call it? Like something tourism, like building tourism or something like he like he'll go visit a friend for a month, work on a project with him and him that's fun. I'm like, dude, that kind of sounds awesome, Like that's that's my kind of fun because I'm I try to be hanged. I like doing stuff around the house. But he's using his financial independence in an interesting way. Yes, yeah, absolutely, I think the closest I get to actual personal finance content. Like, honestly, I think about Jordan Grummitt doc G because anytime I've listened to him recently, like he is grappling with the kind of stuff that I'm starting, the kind of questions that I'm starting to ask, which is spending the money that you've saved and invested over the years, in decades and being okay with that? And I sense like a type of peace that he has, not that I'm anywhere near, Like he's so much wealthier than I am, but I love how he's talking about feeling comfortable with spending large amounts of money and without necessarily being like, oh, but we're going to maintain this in order to generate this kind of revenue. Is there's a certain level of trust and letting go that you have to get to that I feel like he's arrived at. So anytime he talks about stuff like that, I try to see if I can give it a listen or read it.

01:00:07
Speaker 2: But our buddy Chad, he's into soccer, he's into sabbaticals, and he's into building bike paths and biking, so like, there's just so much in common with these people that we mentioned you're right. I think I hadn't really thought about that. But yeah, the reason I like them is because they have They're really thoughtful, They've got varied interests that they pursue a whole, like they're all in on it, you know. And because of that, they're fascinating. It's not people and so it's.

01:00:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're not sitting around talking about roth iras like no, until we're talking about all the other stuff outside of what we talk about day and day out on the show. And to me, like and it just drives home the point of what's money for. It's to do awesome things. It's not to have whatever you know, net Worth placard on your wall and to be like I finally did it, I hit my number. No, it's about all the other real life, amazing things that you can do with that money, the lives that you can impact. How did you get and teach your kids, how you can improve your community, Like that's what it's all about, man, And anytime I see somebody doing that, well, I want to do that. Well, right, I'm trying to think of like I can't think of any like other Dad. I feel like we're like solidly in the dad personal finance space or whatever. But like any dudes out there doing that, I would love to. I'd probably want to have more for dinner and talk about like dad stuff, Like, hell, how are you talking about? Oh, yes, we do have money kids, but also you need to work and go out there and kill your own thing and bring it home and cook it right, Like, how do you find that balance between providing for them, not spoiling them, and being able to provide them, hopefully with a better life than what it is that we had. Not that there's anything wrong with our lives growing up, but like we're always striving to be better. Right.

01:01:50
Speaker 2: So I was just just talking to my oldest who just turned thirteen. So I have a teenager now, which I don't feel old enough to be the dad of a teenager, but I am. And we're talking about when I started working, and I started working at fourteen at a fast food restaurant, and so she was like, well, can I get a job on fourteen? And I'm like, yeah, you can totally get a chap when you're fourteen. That sounds great, And so we're gonna be thoughtful about that and how much do you work and what does that look like, and are you going to try to do an entrepreneurial thing? Are you going to go to try to work somewhere and learn stuff. I ran into Matt just the other day. This guy who managed was a manager at the restaurant I worked at I was fourteen. Yeah. I took a selvy with him. I'll show you the picture, and he was like it, just show.

01:02:35
Speaker 1: Me now, can you pull it up? Is it? What? Did it take too long?

01:02:37
Speaker 3: You know?

01:02:37
Speaker 1: I can't. Well, I think what you're pointing to while I'm just gonna I'll buy you some time, is that these are the things that we're wrestling with day in and day out, and so because of that, those are.

01:02:46
Speaker 2: The say that I love it. That's so cool, dude, Like that's Jason, and Jason's the man. And I learned so much working for people like Jason as an idiot fourteen year old. And I was like, Jason, do you remember how all were? And he was very kind, He's like, you weren't that dumb? And I'm like, yeah, wo I know it was.

01:03:06
Speaker 1: I know, I know. I was like, I'm not that smart now, so you know, yeah, I had to have been down there.

01:03:10
Speaker 2: It wasn't the five to fifteen an hour that I made, although that wasn't insignificant, but it was it was that those kinds of relationships, and it was the It was learning how to be a good worker, how to interact relationally with coworkers, how to not be as much of an idiot. Those are the things that really moved the needle for me. Fourteen fifteen, sixteen year old working.

01:03:29
Speaker 1: That's what you learn.

01:03:30
Speaker 2: And I think when you put too much emphasis on school and academics, there should be a big emphasis there, right, it's really important. We don't minimize that in our house, but we do say that it like to be a fully well rounded human. I do think does she have to start working at fourteen?

01:03:44
Speaker 1: No? But will she need to start working by like sixteen and be like her head pointed in that direction? Yeah, yeah, I think there's other ways to do it as far as like there are also ways even like our daughter who's also about to turn thirteen, but she's got like a regular babysitting gig, and so when it comes to communicating well with that family or responding in a quasi professional way, showing up on time, you know, like the first few times, it's like She's supposed to be over there at like five pm or something like that, and she it's like five pm. She's like, oh, I got to get over there. I'm like, oh, you're late, Like you need to be there, you know, just me saying that and then her seeing the maybe the response. You know, they're very kind, but if they were just like, Okay, yeah, think we're gonna get out of here. You know, it's seven alo, you know whatever, it's it's five o'clock. So just some of those little lessons can also be learned in a more sort of casual work environment as opposed to full on W two job. But yeah, that's cool. It's fun that you ran into him. We are running longer than I was expecting. We're just over an hour here, and you got anything else you want to share before we know?

01:04:47
Speaker 2: But I think we there were some good elements that are going to push people towards the video, Like if you want to see that picture of me, we.

01:04:52
Speaker 1: Did so much show and telling baby, I love it. Yeah, yeah, so.

01:04:57
Speaker 2: Come check us out on on YouTube. If you want to keep listening to audio, that's great too.

01:05:00
Speaker 1: I love We'll continue for audio in my ears, so we'll continue pumping it out and yeah, just so folks know, we're I mean, we're manually sticking that over on YouTube ourselves as well. It's not like because iHeart doesn't have that built in. It's not like Spotify where it's like built in and you can choose whether you're gonna do audio or video. So this is at least for now. I think it'd be awesome if if I I mean, I think this is fun, and maybe I Heart will see the value in it and they'll start incorporating it into the feed somehow. Perhaps Yeah, I don't really know, but but yeah, I think we will continue this. What do you think sounds good? Now? This was good? O? Good? I enjoyed it.

01:05:34
Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to being back full on in the fall and take more of your money questions. And if you have those money questions, howdomoney dot com slash ask is the place to go to submit those voice memos and yeah, send them with us. Tell your friends about how to Money. Yeah, it's a good place to be hang out with us more.

01:05:50
Speaker 1: The channel is how to Money pod over at YouTube how to Money Pod. I'm queuing up the exit music.

01:05:57
Speaker 2: Okay, so can I go ahead and say that's going to do for this episode until next time. Best Friends Out, Friends Out,