Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel, I'm Matt.
Speaker 2: Today we're talking four oh one K bullets, crappy coffee,
Speaker 2: and bitcoin bashing.
Speaker 1: You know, my buddy, this is our Friday Flights where
Speaker 1: we're gonna cover our favorite headlines from the past week
Speaker 1: and all the stories that you mentioned plus more. I
Speaker 1: was gonna say, and do you have anything personal that
Speaker 1: you want to share? Say, favorite headlines, but favorite headlines
Speaker 1: we love to hate to. That's what the Lucas headline,
Speaker 1: the Lucras headline. Yeah, gotta gotta talk about suff we hate.
Speaker 1: Do we have a little Friday flight appetizer? Are we
Speaker 1: just gonna cut straight to let's go straight to it? Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel like we got a longer one. So yeah,
Speaker 1: let's let's let's get off. Let's talk about four to
Speaker 1: one k mullets to begin with. And did you ever
Speaker 1: have a mullet? As a as a kid in the
Speaker 1: late ladies? Across the street from had a rat tail?
Speaker 1: You remember rat tails? I had a rat tail? Oh
Speaker 1: did you? Oh? Of course she did, like a little one,
Speaker 1: but nothing not like how long we talking about here?
Speaker 1: Like how long is this right tail? Like a foot?
Speaker 1: His was probably good eight to ten inches. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: really good. So I used to work in the public
Speaker 1: schools up in North Carolina right after undergrad and one
Speaker 1: of my like one of the kids I was I
Speaker 1: was working with, had a mullet with the rat tail.
Speaker 1: I didn't know you could do both. That's impressive. It
Speaker 1: was really good. So this is back in like five
Speaker 1: o six.
Speaker 2: Do you remember the tire tracks on the side of
Speaker 2: the I always wanted that. My mom would never let
Speaker 2: me get that haircut. Yeah, thinking about doing it was like, sorry, son,
Speaker 2: you're not allowed to be that cool, right, think about it. Well,
Speaker 2: I don't know if it was cool or not, but
Speaker 2: of school today's at least for a minute. Yeah, I'm like,
Speaker 2: we were direct. Maybe I'll do it at the age
Speaker 2: of forty one, just to show her, you know.
Speaker 1: Who's that guy with a mustache and then the race
Speaker 1: racing stripes down on the side of his uh that.
Speaker 2: Said weird personal finance podcaster fell up and I love it. Okay,
Speaker 2: So mullets and four one K mullets, like I think
Speaker 2: you and I are mostly we're not in the know
Speaker 2: about what's actually cool, like our mullets. Cooled mullets are
Speaker 2: totally cool. Supposedly they're trending their back but it's not.
Speaker 1: It's not especially like the messy mullet, you know, the
Speaker 1: kind of bullet the guys with the curly hair. I
Speaker 1: think there's a big difference in the mullets today that
Speaker 1: are popular. It seems like there's still like something going
Speaker 1: on in the front. It's not it's not. Yeah that
Speaker 1: it's kind of got like the mcguy or look exactly,
Speaker 1: I wanted to be just like everyone else. Let the
Speaker 1: back round.
Speaker 2: I just don't think of that as a traditional bullet.
Speaker 2: But okay, we'll say mullets are hot right now and
Speaker 2: four A one K bullets. That's a new term to me.
Speaker 2: But I guess as mullets have kind of come back
Speaker 2: into vogue, fancy or less trashy ones and quarter zips,
Speaker 2: I guess those are back too.
Speaker 1: Math the quarterszips.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna be wearing those. I'll tell you that
Speaker 2: you don't like quarter zips.
Speaker 1: Nah, not my jam. You're not cool enough for it.
Speaker 1: That's that's the thing. You're you're you're you're airing or
Speaker 1: you are defaulting to your millennial ways. And the quote dude,
Speaker 1: so funny, I will say, you are revamping the dress
Speaker 1: code the uniform at the kids' school, huh, And they
Speaker 1: recently included quarter zips and all the parents went nuts,
Speaker 1: like in a good way. Everyone was so pumped about
Speaker 1: the quarter zips. So evidently they quarter zips and molsita.
Speaker 1: And how does this relate to money? And let's get
Speaker 1: to the four one k part.
Speaker 2: Well, apparently social media posts are linking the rise of
Speaker 2: the now sexy again mullet and the hotness of the
Speaker 2: four oh one k, Like four one k's are as
Speaker 2: hot as a dude supporting a really good looking mullet. Okay,
Speaker 2: and you and I neither rest are supporting sporting mullets
Speaker 2: these days, but we're all about making the four on
Speaker 2: k sexy again.
Speaker 1: I think for it. Whatever it takes man, whatever flavor, whatever,
Speaker 1: headlines to have to be out there in order to
Speaker 1: drive people to the most underrated way that majority of
Speaker 1: Americans are going to become actual million millionaires. Yes, the
Speaker 1: four one K four one k ira millionaires. That's how
Speaker 1: you're gonna happen. It's going to happen for the vast
Speaker 1: majority of people. So well done, gen zers, young folks.
Speaker 1: If you've got to match take advantage. It's it's money
Speaker 1: gear number two for a reason. People the four O
Speaker 1: one K, And I'm just lad it's getting light shit
Speaker 1: on it by being culturally relevant. I'm totally fine with
Speaker 1: that if that's what it takes. But you know what, dude,
Speaker 1: being financially responsible and investing for your future it's always
Speaker 1: been cool, you know why, Because it's cool to be
Speaker 1: able to achieve the financial goals that you have in life,
Speaker 1: like whether that's like paying cash for a car or
Speaker 1: putting down a saving up and down payment for a
Speaker 1: house like these, Like who doesn't want these different things?
Speaker 1: And it's almost as if we're having to convince people that, like,
Speaker 1: oh no, it's actually cool to be responsible, have options
Speaker 1: to not be bro yeah go figure makes me think
Speaker 1: of conversation as having recently someone about like ambition, and
Speaker 1: he was talking about how he was just a total
Speaker 1: bum until he met his girlfriend and wanted to propose
Speaker 1: to her and to be able to marry her and
Speaker 1: spend the rest of his life with her, and so
Speaker 1: that caused him necessity. It's the mother of all inventures, right,
Speaker 1: and so like, yeah, you don't have a reason necessarily
Speaker 1: to be responsible until all of a sudden there's something
Speaker 1: that you want, and that's what personal finance is all about.
Speaker 1: I love that The New York Post relatedly here, they
Speaker 1: had an article about the rise of the Solo four
Speaker 1: one K, which is happening because we've seen a rise
Speaker 1: in small business formation. This is post COVID, which is
Speaker 1: I think great for the country. So we got to
Speaker 1: make sure that the Solo four one K gets the
Speaker 1: same kind of love as the regular workplace variety. That way,
Speaker 1: all the small business folks out there know what they've
Speaker 1: got access to. It's pretty sweet, Joel. You know, we've
Speaker 1: had ours with Fidelity, Our Solo four one k's there
Speaker 1: with Fideli for a while. They recently launched a ROTH version,
Speaker 1: which I'm all about. Yeah, I was waiting for that.
Speaker 1: Glad folks have the option to get some of those
Speaker 1: post tax dollars socked away as well, and all the
Speaker 1: big low cost providers are making it easier. They're requiring
Speaker 1: less paperwork in order to open these things. And we've
Speaker 1: actually got more information. We've actually got old podcasts on
Speaker 1: this as well, where we talk about the Solo four
Speaker 1: one K, where we go into it in more depth.
Speaker 1: It is well worth learning about if you are an
Speaker 1: independent worker and want to sock away more for retirement.
Speaker 2: Yeah, solo four one k's leave on them. Don't sleep
Speaker 2: on the regular pour along gays. They're cool folks. Yeah,
Speaker 2: do the cool thing.
Speaker 1: Also, being earnest and going after the thing you want
Speaker 1: totally in being earnest and sincere. I want to see
Speaker 1: more of that. Man.
Speaker 2: That was the Chalo May acceptance speech right where he
Speaker 2: said I want to be great. I forget what award
Speaker 2: ceremony was at for the reason the.
Speaker 1: Ping Pong movie. Did he would an award for that?
Speaker 2: It might have been for a different I don't remember,
Speaker 2: or no, maybe it was. Maybe it was for that
Speaker 2: the Golden Globes or something like that, and I think
Speaker 2: he won Best Actor and his in his acceptance speech
Speaker 2: he basically talked about how he wants to be great,
Speaker 2: and I was like, man, yeah, put it out there
Speaker 2: as opposed to I don't know, not pretending that you
Speaker 2: don't care, but truly, yeah, you pretend you don't care
Speaker 2: enough and eventually guess what.
Speaker 1: You don't care. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I'm not like a huge chalome buff or anything like that,
Speaker 2: but it made me like I'm rooting for you, buddy,
Speaker 2: if that's what you want. I like that attitude. Go
Speaker 2: out there, take off some good roles, get or done.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about spending mat for a second coffee is
Speaker 2: a non negotiable.
Speaker 1: In our budgets both the years of mind.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you probably dedicate a slightly bigger line
Speaker 2: item in your budget to coffee.
Speaker 1: Then I do. I spend a little more time probably
Speaker 1: on it in the mornings. Yeah, we do.
Speaker 2: We also buy the nicer beans, I would say, on average, and.
Speaker 1: Yeah maybe so Yeah, so you're doing costco I'm one
Speaker 1: step up with the counterculture.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but even even still like the disparities minimal because
Speaker 2: we mostly make our coffee at home.
Speaker 1: And I still think it's a difference man cost of
Speaker 1: coffee outs as opposed to as opposed to doing it
Speaker 1: at home.
Speaker 2: Not to try to like make it not cool to
Speaker 2: get coffee out, but I think it's once a week.
Speaker 2: It's probably a good rhythm. That's what we do. If
Speaker 2: you do it every day, just do it with intentionality.
Speaker 2: But there was a new Washington Post article and it
Speaker 2: argued that the cheap, sub fifty dollar coffee makers, the
Speaker 2: ones that make super crappy coffee, the ones that go
Speaker 2: buy the Moniker mister Coffee most of the time.
Speaker 1: Rights, that's like.
Speaker 2: The ubiquitous name out there, But there's like all sorts
Speaker 2: of just throwaway coffee makers that will brew a bad
Speaker 2: cup of coffee no matter what beans you put in there,
Speaker 2: or just it won't be able to do your beans justice.
Speaker 1: Okay, right, I yeah, go ahead, Okay, keep going, because
Speaker 1: like I'm going to push back a little bit. Who
Speaker 1: was this Washington washing.
Speaker 2: One of the things they were saying is one that
Speaker 2: it improves, it proves an inferior cup. And then the
Speaker 2: other thing they were saying was that these these machines,
Speaker 2: these cheaper ones, typically don't last very long. And so
Speaker 2: why why go through that process? If you if you're
Speaker 2: going to try to make decent coffee at home, why
Speaker 2: not buy yourself a nicer coffee maker that's going to
Speaker 2: stand the test of time and it's gonna brew a
Speaker 2: better cup simultaneously. This is one of those things kind
Speaker 2: of like a mattress, right that you use every day
Speaker 2: that it's true you want to sleep on it eight
Speaker 2: hours a day, So why not that that's probably something
Speaker 2: that's worth prioritizing spending a little bit more money on
Speaker 2: although you're sleeping on a hand meadown mattress for like
Speaker 2: two decades or something.
Speaker 1: Like that, slept well, yeah, it's still the most comfortable
Speaker 1: mattress in the entire height.
Speaker 2: If it's the most comfortable mattress, then that's awesome. Keep
Speaker 2: it around, Like what does it take to get our
Speaker 2: current mattress to that level? Well, curate machines, that's another one,
Speaker 2: right that people. I think that's convenience. Usually curios are awful,
Speaker 2: not great.
Speaker 1: So they're all full from a coffee standpoint, But then
Speaker 1: also from the waste standpoint, the waste and the money.
Speaker 1: So I want to coffee is gonna cost you more too.
Speaker 1: I want to loop back a little bit because I
Speaker 1: do think like and this is coming from like more
Speaker 1: of the coffee snop kind of guy, right, Like I've
Speaker 1: gone through all the different phases, like I used to
Speaker 1: do V sixty, Like I back, you know, I used
Speaker 1: to do the French.
Speaker 2: Press, right, but get another language now. But I'm sure
Speaker 2: some of the listeners out there you.
Speaker 1: Can make a pretty dang good cup of coffee using
Speaker 1: a cheap mister coffee, Like the one we have is
Speaker 1: just the I mean it's the Mister Coffee equivalent from Amazon.
Speaker 1: I think it was like twenty twenty five dollars. And
Speaker 1: when it comes down to the biggest factor is grinding
Speaker 1: your beans fresh. And so if you get a decent grinder,
Speaker 1: you can make a pretty dang decent cup of coffee
Speaker 1: with a plastic, fairly affordable coffee maker as long as
Speaker 1: you are cleaning the filter. And I think that's the
Speaker 1: biggest thing. People don't do it vinegar like vinegar and water.
Speaker 1: I mean, we don't we use it when we have
Speaker 1: family over and we're trying to make a ton of
Speaker 1: coffee all at once. And so I mean, I'm using
Speaker 1: dish soap, but I'm doing it daily as a is
Speaker 1: the most what do you wash it daily? Yeah? Okay,
Speaker 1: most folks they just kind of knock the grind the
Speaker 1: coffee grounds out and they kind of rinse it off
Speaker 1: maybe and then they put the tomorrow's coffee in there,
Speaker 1: and so what what's all the oils and all that
Speaker 1: old build up? Man, Like, you don't want that, Like
Speaker 1: if you were even just to clean it with some
Speaker 1: just regular dish. So it's going to make a world
Speaker 1: of difference when it comes to your your nest cup.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing that most people don't do. They
Speaker 1: don't dedicate the time that they want it to be easy,
Speaker 1: which is why the curing seems to be satisfying this
Speaker 1: need for a lot of folks because they people don't
Speaker 1: like to clean. But I'm just pushing back just slightly
Speaker 1: because I've made some pretty dang good coffee on a
Speaker 1: very cheap coffee maker.
Speaker 2: Okay, And maybe one of the things you're you're highlighting
Speaker 2: is it sounds like you'd be willing to spend a
Speaker 2: lot more money on a good grinder than on a
Speaker 2: good machine. Yes, okay, Yeah, get you a burn, nice
Speaker 2: great grinder, clean your machine, you're good to go.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean it doesn't have to be super fancy,
Speaker 1: but like a Bartza or even like a conical boatom like,
Speaker 1: you can get a pretty good grind that's way better
Speaker 1: than stuff that's preground that.
Speaker 2: The fifteen dollars ones you get on Amazon that have
Speaker 2: the two blaze will go, yeah, you don't want that, Okay, So,
Speaker 2: but Matt knows more about coffee than I do. But
Speaker 2: I thought this was this is just another checkbox in
Speaker 2: the kind of buy once, cry once thing, like buy
Speaker 2: something that like the the what is it Mocha Master
Speaker 2: technovorm that's something that we have the Naha.
Speaker 1: Version of that by cells. But it's performed pretty well
Speaker 1: for y'all. It's been great. It's been great. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: the Mocha Master that's it's a fe hundred bucks, isn't.
Speaker 2: It it is? I think the one I got was
Speaker 2: on sale. I think it's normally one fifty. I think
Speaker 2: I got it on self for fifty bucks. So I
Speaker 2: got a really good deal on it. But it's one
Speaker 2: of those things where I hopefully we'll have it for
Speaker 2: you know, a decade to come.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Okay, wait, the real one, the name brand one
Speaker 1: is like three four hundred. That's like three hundred bucks. Okay,
Speaker 1: but yours normally as one hundred. You got one fifty
Speaker 1: and I got it for fifty okay, gotcha? Gotcha?
Speaker 2: So but yeah, those those are expensive. But then again,
Speaker 2: when you think about it.
Speaker 1: Do you take care of it though? And you keep
Speaker 1: it around? Actually, so there's an because I am a
Speaker 1: coffee nerd, there's a there's a similar Mocha Master maker
Speaker 1: that I don't know who is making it, and the
Speaker 1: way that they release different lotments of it is like
Speaker 1: on a month to month basis. But it's I want
Speaker 1: to say, it's called like simply good Coffee or something
Speaker 1: like that, and it is based on the design of
Speaker 1: a Mocha Master, but no plastic parts, because a lot
Speaker 1: of coffee snubs are like, oh, but the plastic it
Speaker 1: absorbs the smells, the odors, it absorbs some of the oil,
Speaker 1: and it's all glass or stainless steel or something like that.
Speaker 1: And so evidently that's like the next step up that
Speaker 1: a lot of the coffee nerds are are kind of
Speaker 1: geeking out. Okay, but again that's I mean, taking it
Speaker 1: to the next level. And I'm not necessarily wanting folks
Speaker 1: to go out there to spend money if they are
Speaker 1: completely happy with whatever they have.
Speaker 2: The next time your coffee maker breaks, maybe, And this
Speaker 2: is the way with a lot of things in life.
Speaker 2: I think oftentimes we look to the cheapest replacement, and
Speaker 2: there is like when I'm buying chews for my kids, man,
Speaker 2: I'm not buying them, like my daughter really wants a
Speaker 2: pair of hookas right now, even on sale they're like
Speaker 2: seventy five dollars and I'm like, sorry, we just you're
Speaker 2: gonna wear them for like three months, like pretty pricey.
Speaker 2: We're not spending that much money on chooes.
Speaker 1: But have y'all gotten those uber cheap ones? And how
Speaker 1: long do those last?
Speaker 2: About as long as they do too, No, some of
Speaker 2: them have worn out before they were done with them.
Speaker 1: But you gotta find the sweet spot, like that's what
Speaker 1: that's what's so tough because we've gotten the uber cheap
Speaker 1: Amazon shoes that are just like foam and cloth, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, where is the It's like it's like an
Speaker 1: animal without its bones, you know, It's like, where's the
Speaker 1: actual structure of the shoe. And then recently one of
Speaker 1: our daughter we got her a pair of new balances
Speaker 1: that were on sale and oh my goodness, they have
Speaker 1: lasted so much longer. Yeah, that than at least the
Speaker 1: phone ones.
Speaker 2: I'll say, especially if you can hand me down or
Speaker 2: we talk about buy good stuff, but buy it secondhand
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 1: Let's go yeah. Uh.
Speaker 2: Speaking of pricing, match turns out Americans hate the idea
Speaker 2: of surveillance pricing. Dynamic pricing is one thing, right, where
Speaker 2: prices shift based on the demand or time of day.
Speaker 2: People are people are mostly used to that. At this point,
Speaker 2: we tend to understand that plane tickets are gonna they're
Speaker 2: often going to be at this sweet spot pricing around
Speaker 2: two to three months ahead of our trip. That's that's
Speaker 2: when the lowest prices are likely to occur. But technology
Speaker 2: is making it easier for retailers to gather data on
Speaker 2: us and to charge more if they think that you
Speaker 2: or I are going to pay more. So roughly two
Speaker 2: thirds of Americans are concerned about this, and two thirds
Speaker 2: of folks who responded to this survey said they would
Speaker 2: not shop at a retailer again if they were charged
Speaker 2: more than other patrons. Just I think that it's a
Speaker 2: general idea of unfairness that people hate. Like, wait a second,
Speaker 2: Sheila just came in here before me, and she paid
Speaker 2: twenty percent less than I did, and not just because
Speaker 2: she like cut off the coupon in the Sunday paper,
Speaker 2: but because you like her more or something like that.
Speaker 2: Like that's how people assume surveillance pricing is working, and
Speaker 2: they're not wrong to a certain extent. New York enacted
Speaker 2: a law last year requiring a clear and visible disclaimer
Speaker 2: when a retailer uses surveillance pricing. So I'm curious to
Speaker 2: see what that's going to look like.
Speaker 1: In the wild.
Speaker 2: But this is a growing battle for consumers, for retailers alike,
Speaker 2: and I don't know, I'm just curious, like, do you
Speaker 2: feel the same way as the average consumer?
Speaker 1: How do you feel about surveillance pricing? No concerns, No concerns. No,
Speaker 1: I think it's I mean, we'll see if it plays out.
Speaker 1: But like I mean, I don't think there's stores who
Speaker 1: are actually doing it in person. So oftentimes I think
Speaker 1: it comes down to surveillance. What is it's cookies, it's
Speaker 1: having your data, and I kind of see it. I
Speaker 1: also saw in that survey like that thirty percent of
Speaker 1: Americans are also thinking, oh, there's a chance this could
Speaker 1: be more fair. And I think maybe the train of
Speaker 1: thought that those folks are entering into is the fact that, oh, retailers,
Speaker 1: once your information, they want your email and like your
Speaker 1: phone number more or less more often these days, and
Speaker 1: why because they want to market to you, like they
Speaker 1: want to like, oh, we just had a President's Day sale, right,
Speaker 1: And so I will see it. Anytime I have been tracked,
Speaker 1: I feel like I've benefited slightly from the ability to
Speaker 1: get deals as opposed to being afraid that prices might
Speaker 1: be more expensive. But certainly look around and check and
Speaker 1: shop around see what the prices are. But I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm so okay and used to the fact that I'm
Speaker 1: sacrificing my data being watched for the potential to get
Speaker 1: a better price at some point.
Speaker 2: So I think it does highlight that reality that as
Speaker 2: the surveillance pricing becomes more and more of the norm,
Speaker 2: that tracking prices and not assuming that you're getting the
Speaker 2: best deal because or the deal that ever the price
Speaker 2: that everyone else is getting, just because that's the way
Speaker 2: it's always been. It's worth you know, using a site
Speaker 2: like Camel Camel Camel Tech actually track prices what's been
Speaker 2: happening in the past with the past pricing of this
Speaker 2: item and shopping around with different providers. Instead of the
Speaker 2: people who are going to pay the most are the
Speaker 2: people who are hyper loyal and are not doing their
Speaker 2: due diligence.
Speaker 1: I totally agree. Well, buddy, let's keep moving. I think
Speaker 1: we could cover the facts that headline credit card debt
Speaker 1: just hit a record high. That's something we could talk
Speaker 1: about every week every Friday.
Speaker 2: Here he doesn't ever seem to go down, does it.
Speaker 1: It did for a minute there posts when we were
Speaker 1: getting all the stimum money.
Speaker 2: Isn't that always interesting too? How Like when the economic
Speaker 2: hold savings on the end, Well, when economic times are toughest,
Speaker 2: people tend to draw back and they start to pay
Speaker 2: off debt. When times are good, people are like, ah,
Speaker 2: let's keep spending.
Speaker 1: People are assessing their own finances to the extent that
Speaker 1: they're willing to right like, because it seems like a
Speaker 1: lot of folks are getting sloppy with their money. But
Speaker 1: what that means is that they're just comfortable with that
Speaker 1: amount of debt. Essentially, it turns out we're almost at
Speaker 1: one point three trillion dollars now. Specifically in credit card debt,
Speaker 1: I think it's like one point two to eight. But
Speaker 1: there's been a large rise in credit card loans that
Speaker 1: are also in serious delinquency, So folks are in over
Speaker 1: their heads to the point that they can't pay the minimum.
Speaker 1: And on top of that, man as we invent newer
Speaker 1: forms of debt like buy not pay later, paying for
Speaker 1: all of these different companies, I think it's harder to
Speaker 1: have a finger on the pulse of exactly how debt
Speaker 1: laden US consumers are right now. So although forty six
Speaker 1: percent of Americans carry a credit card balance, we are
Speaker 1: very much against you caring a balance, certainly, how to
Speaker 1: money listeners, it's just so difficult to overcome a twenty
Speaker 1: plus percent interest rate. These are not the escalator steps
Speaker 1: that we want you running up as it's come down.
Speaker 1: It's just incredibly hard and you might be thinking it's
Speaker 1: not that much, Well, you know what, even it's just
Speaker 1: the principle, like, we don't want you paying that, even
Speaker 1: if it is quote unquote manageable.
Speaker 2: That makes me think about the end of my conversation
Speaker 2: with Shauna Game earlier this week, and the one thing
Speaker 2: I just want to respond to it. I was like,
Speaker 2: what piece of personal finance advice or a rule or
Speaker 2: you okay breaking? And she was like having credit card debt?
Speaker 2: And I was like, no, agree or disagree on that one.
Speaker 2: It's just to me, there's nothing good that comes from it.
Speaker 1: And don't want to hit restart on another thirty minute
Speaker 1: conversations where we could just talk about credit card because.
Speaker 2: I think it's just so detrimental and we've gotten way
Speaker 2: too used to carrying some credit card debt with us
Speaker 2: wherever we go. It's like this little little satchel that
Speaker 2: we have attached to our back for the average American,
Speaker 2: and there's like, I guess this is normal, but it's
Speaker 2: just it's not normal. And the quicker we get rid
Speaker 2: of it, the more easily we're going to be able
Speaker 2: to make progress towards all the other financial goals that
Speaker 2: we have. But eliminating the credit card debt from your
Speaker 2: life is such a important part of that. You don't
Speaker 2: want to be a part of that one point to
Speaker 2: eight trillion dollars.
Speaker 1: Statistic to do it. Don't do it.
Speaker 2: But in default on all kinds of debts are rising
Speaker 2: right now. The share of US loans in any type
Speaker 2: of delinquency is the highest it's been since twenty seventeen,
Speaker 2: So we were starting to enter just another dismal period
Speaker 2: of debt reality in the United States.
Speaker 1: Right now.
Speaker 2: Delinquency rates across all US household debt hit the highest
Speaker 2: level in basically a decade. And this default uptick is
Speaker 2: hitting folks with high incomes too, so it's not just
Speaker 2: people on the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum. Debt
Speaker 2: to income ratios are rising quickly as well, so for
Speaker 2: the longest time, there was very little mortgage delinquency. That's
Speaker 2: even ticking up, which kind of makes sense. If you
Speaker 2: bought a home in the last couple of years, you
Speaker 2: paid a good amount, you paid a lot for it,
Speaker 2: and you also have a high interest rate, and you're
Speaker 2: struggling to make that mortgage payment for the first time
Speaker 2: in a long time, you might not be able to
Speaker 2: sell it for what you paid for it, and yeah,
Speaker 2: you might be a risk for default. We've talked about
Speaker 2: the pitiful state of student loan and car loans quite
Speaker 2: a bit on the show recently too, So there's just
Speaker 2: a lot of negative stuff happening in the debt space.
Speaker 2: Sam Rowe put it this way. Matt, I thought this
Speaker 2: was well tempered. He said, well, we've experienced in recent
Speaker 2: years his household finance is normalizing from unusually strong levels
Speaker 2: to relatively worse levels, and he says they're arguably still good.
Speaker 2: I think good is an.
Speaker 1: Overstatement because it's a relative term. Yeah, is relative to
Speaker 1: Matt and Joel. No. No, but like what we want
Speaker 1: for that's not what we want for you, Like you said,
Speaker 1: we want folks like we just have a higher standard
Speaker 1: for folks out there, right, But for average Americans, I
Speaker 1: understand what he's getting at, which is that essentially we
Speaker 1: are returning to kind of that pre pan level which
Speaker 1: wasn't like terrible, wasn't terrible term. I think it's really
Speaker 1: easy to see the headline number go up and not
Speaker 1: think about all the other relative factors at play in
Speaker 1: household finances, and so people will use that as like
Speaker 1: scare mongering headlines, But the truth is we're not in
Speaker 1: the best spot, and these numbers reflect real people who
Speaker 1: are in a tough financial situation. They're not handling their
Speaker 1: finances all that well. Totally. Yeah, I think it's time
Speaker 1: for folks to I think what's going to happen is
Speaker 1: folks are going to start tightening up a little bit
Speaker 1: and they're going to realize that oh okay, starting to
Speaker 1: see delinquencies on the rise. And as for individuals like
Speaker 1: I do wonder because like the slight good news on
Speaker 1: a very macro level, like at a very high levels,
Speaker 1: that we are seeing inflation come down, right like recent
Speaker 1: numbers have shown that, and also real wages we've seen
Speaker 1: that go up, and so I would not be surprised.
Speaker 1: I mean, again, hopefully some people will use this to
Speaker 1: their advantage. What we don't want is folks to hear
Speaker 1: that and to say, oh, I'm going to automatically get
Speaker 1: out of debt because inflation is coming down, real wages
Speaker 1: are going up. That's not how it works. Like a
Speaker 1: lot of times, what could easily happen is you would say, oh,
Speaker 1: now my money can go further and I can buy
Speaker 1: more stuff. Like it takes that's the typical American response. Yes,
Speaker 1: it takes you being I guess waking up and realizing
Speaker 1: going by like the earnestness and like going after something.
Speaker 1: It takes you realizing that, oh, nobody cares about my
Speaker 1: money as much as I do, Like there is nobody
Speaker 1: else who's going to step up to and like you
Speaker 1: can turn to money management international, We've talked about them before.
Speaker 1: You can go with different organizations that can like walk
Speaker 1: alongside you and help you to claw your way out
Speaker 1: of a massive hole of debt. But nobody truly is
Speaker 1: going to care or should be caring as much as
Speaker 1: you do. So on a personal level, I think it
Speaker 1: takes individuals wanting something better for themselves. If that is you,
Speaker 1: If let's say you are in a situation, you've got
Speaker 1: a ton of debt and someone's calling you. They're hounding
Speaker 1: you about that debt. It is important to know your rights.
Speaker 1: The FTC, the Federal Trade Commission, they just put out
Speaker 1: a notice about what debt collectors can and can't do.
Speaker 1: I'm supposed to realize that there are laws in place,
Speaker 1: and debt collectors are required to send you valid information
Speaker 1: about the debt that they call about within five days
Speaker 1: of that phone call. So the Fair Debt Collecting Practices Act,
Speaker 1: it requires calls also to be between eight and nine pm.
Speaker 1: So what that means is no eight am and nine PMS.
Speaker 1: What did I say?
Speaker 2: You just said eight and nine, but I'm sorry eight Yeah,
Speaker 2: eight in the morning. They don't have just one hour.
Speaker 2: They got most of the day. But if they're calling
Speaker 2: you early in the morning or late at night, they're
Speaker 2: in violation of this federal law.
Speaker 1: Yeah, specifically the like super late, middle of the night
Speaker 1: kind of harassment calls. So know that they are not
Speaker 1: allowed to call after nine pm. And if you say
Speaker 1: that your employer forbids them to call you at work,
Speaker 1: that's something that they have to respect. They can't call
Speaker 1: you if you deny it. While you're at work, and
Speaker 1: they can't threaten illegal actions. You can even demand that
Speaker 1: they stop contacting you all together. Now, keep in mind,
Speaker 1: this doesn't mean that debt automatically goes away. You're just
Speaker 1: kind of hitting the mute button on on. You're turning
Speaker 1: off your ringer essentially on the debts collections alarm. And
Speaker 1: of course, if that debt is yours, like you do
Speaker 1: still have to pay it, but just know your rights.
Speaker 1: If you find yourself in a debt collection situation to
Speaker 1: where it feels like if it's starting to stress you
Speaker 1: out a little bit, that you've got some options.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and there are a lot of I think debt
Speaker 2: collectors who do their job well, uh and it's just
Speaker 2: a tough business to be in. But then there are
Speaker 2: also a lot of people who have given the debt
Speaker 2: collection industry a black eye because they treat people so poorly.
Speaker 2: And it's really important for you as the as the individual,
Speaker 2: as the consumer to know what your rights are so
Speaker 2: that you're not getting taken advantage of or treated maliciously
Speaker 2: when that's not allowed, that's not legal, that's right. Are
Speaker 2: we got more to get to Matt including man, can
Speaker 2: your pet be a provider tax benefit for you. We'll
Speaker 2: get to that and more right after this.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, we're back, and it is now time for
Speaker 1: the Ludacris headline of the week, which is from the
Speaker 1: Washington Post. And this is a I think this is
Speaker 1: gonna be a dooozy Joel. Pets are family, but can
Speaker 1: you claim them as dependents on your tax return? Which
Speaker 1: I gotta say, this feels a little a little clickbaity.
Speaker 2: I do not think of my cats. We have two cats.
Speaker 2: I do not think of them as a part of
Speaker 2: our family in the way that I think of my
Speaker 2: children as part of our family.
Speaker 1: I do wonder if this is like a new strategy
Speaker 1: after the washing posts are they're trying to get profitable again, essentially,
Speaker 1: but it seems like they're going in the direction of
Speaker 1: like BuzzFeed and maybe like the Daily Mail, as opposed
Speaker 1: to like they didn't lay off a lot of folks.
Speaker 1: They don't really substantive journalism. They don't support what their
Speaker 1: mission is right now over there, do they? Yeah? So,
Speaker 1: I know so by you saying that you don't see
Speaker 1: your cats as family, Joel, you know what you are
Speaker 1: tacitly admitting is that pets aren't the same as humans.
Speaker 1: Pets are not the same as kids, despite what some
Speaker 1: people think. Matt, It's true. Okay, yeah, they're not the same,
Speaker 1: right Joel. Directly, folks, it's totally cool.
Speaker 2: If you have a pet that is near and dear
Speaker 2: to your heart.
Speaker 1: I like my cats.
Speaker 2: I think my wife and children love them more. But
Speaker 2: they snucked up with them a whole lot more than
Speaker 2: the stuff up with me. They know they're not going
Speaker 2: to get the same love, right, But that's because they
Speaker 2: know that tall guy with the mustache I got a
Speaker 2: cold heart, right, that's right. I'm a little grinchy at times,
Speaker 2: but I think just the assumption, it was just interesting.
Speaker 2: This article is all about how some people think, because
Speaker 2: their pets are so near and dear to them, that
Speaker 2: they deserve or are likely to get, some sort of
Speaker 2: dependent tax break. Get it's so insane tax credit for
Speaker 2: having animals, because I mean, so you get the child tax.
Speaker 1: Credit, right, it's like two grand or whatever. And I get.
Speaker 1: I mean there's two there's two separate conversations going on here, right, Like,
Speaker 1: on one hand, we're talking about the potential for pets
Speaker 1: to be considered family, and I think that's totally fine.
Speaker 1: Like there's plenty of folks out there, and they don't
Speaker 1: just like their cats, Joel, they love them. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know if I've ever like we've talked about how
Speaker 1: we've had dogs and whatnot. I don't know if I've
Speaker 1: like shared how much. And I would say that I
Speaker 1: loved my dog, like we had a great day Stella,
Speaker 1: like we had her for so long. You have a
Speaker 1: portrait of her. That's how much dude? Were those like
Speaker 1: it was a watercolor that a friend did after she passed.
Speaker 1: It was the and I don't you want to talk
Speaker 1: about I'll probably start tearing up, but like the decision
Speaker 1: to have to put her down, and she had she
Speaker 1: was sick and had cancer. Dude, it like wrecked us,
Speaker 1: Like we I was surprised at how much it destroyed
Speaker 1: Kidenite specifically. But there is a big difference even still
Speaker 1: from like loving your pet and also expecting to receive
Speaker 1: some sort of like government tax credit because oh, kids
Speaker 1: get tax tax breaks, And I think folks are only
Speaker 1: looking at the finances because they're like, well, I spend
Speaker 1: more on my dog than you spend on your kids,
Speaker 1: So like, why don't I get a tax break, but
Speaker 1: there's a I would say there's a difference, and I
Speaker 1: would say that most there is a difference. First Americans
Speaker 1: probably agree, that's why it's why pets don't get Social
Speaker 1: Security numbers, you know, like just because he's not the
Speaker 1: same just well yeah, and just because the irs requires
Speaker 1: that you're dependent be a human.
Speaker 2: It doesn't seem that controversial to me, but I guess
Speaker 2: it is in some corners of the internet. And so
Speaker 2: I love it if you love your animal to that extent.
Speaker 2: But same here, No, there is there is no tax
Speaker 2: benefit for that love. Speaking of offspring, Matt and Love,
Speaker 2: Babysitting is expensive. Sometimes you gotta have childcare for your
Speaker 2: pets and for your.
Speaker 1: Maybe you should have fewer kids and more cats. That's
Speaker 1: one of your selling points on Cats are easier, you
Speaker 1: let them go for the weekend, easier to leave town.
Speaker 2: It costs a whole lot less. You don't have to
Speaker 2: board them or put them up. You have to someone
Speaker 2: come by and check every third day.
Speaker 1: That's pretty nice. It is nice not gonna lie.
Speaker 2: So cat's overdogs for that reason, although I don't know,
Speaker 2: part of me wants like a Golden Retriever someday, So
Speaker 2: that'd be pretty cool one of these days. But I
Speaker 2: think you and I were both both basically at this
Speaker 2: point where we're past the phase of needing a whole
Speaker 2: bunch of childcare. Occasionally, right, it's necessary, especially if like
Speaker 2: we're going on a longer away trip or something like that,
Speaker 2: but mostly when it's just a quick night out, our
Speaker 2: oldest they can watch their siblings. But this website Urban
Speaker 2: Sitter tracks the national hourly rate for a babysitter. It
Speaker 2: was kind of shocking to me. I didn't realize it
Speaker 2: was this bad. Twenty six dollars an hour for one kid,
Speaker 2: thirty bucks an hour for two kids.
Speaker 1: That's the going rates on average across the country. That
Speaker 1: in sane. That blew my mind.
Speaker 2: Obviously, it costs more in big cities like San Francisco,
Speaker 2: big expensive cities. It costs less in you know, smaller
Speaker 2: cities like San Antonio, for instance. But that's so much money,
Speaker 2: and babysitting is a tough job. I get it, babysitters
Speaker 2: deserved to get paid. But if you've got kids, consider
Speaker 2: the date night swap. If this is if you're like,
Speaker 2: oh man, the date nights feel so expensive because not
Speaker 2: only were we going out to dinner or a show
Speaker 2: or something like that. But we're also having to pay
Speaker 2: the babysitter, and my goodness is not as cheap as
Speaker 2: it used to be Dad's. We'd have How long did we.
Speaker 1: Do the baby night? The date night swap? Was that for?
Speaker 1: We did it for a solid decade, ten years, man,
Speaker 1: because it was once the once the big garil start
Speaker 1: once they get past that ten year mark. Yes, went
Speaker 1: around when they were eleven. I think that's yeah pretty much.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So basically that means I would put we would
Speaker 2: put our kids to bed, then you would come over
Speaker 2: and just hang out while read, watch TV, do push
Speaker 2: ups whatever you like to do. Never did push up,
Speaker 2: and then vice versa. The next week, I'd be over
Speaker 2: at your house. And that saved us so much money
Speaker 2: and just made date nights more regular and more affordable.
Speaker 2: So if if you're looking for like some some cheap
Speaker 2: ways to finagle and reduce your babysitting bill, consider.
Speaker 1: That big fans of the date night swap. So the
Speaker 1: opposite of having young ones is being a being old
Speaker 1: Joel being a boomer, I guess unless you are Robert
Speaker 1: de Niro, didn't he have a new baby with his
Speaker 1: young wife when he was like eighty years old. I
Speaker 1: think he was in his early eighties. He just had
Speaker 1: a baby. Yeah, So, okay, we talked about the K
Speaker 1: shaped economy at the beginning of the year, But the
Speaker 1: gray shaped economy, that's the new cutesy term that folks
Speaker 1: are throwing around. That's because more consumer spending is being
Speaker 1: done by older Americans right now. More of them own
Speaker 1: a home, more of them own stocks, which means they
Speaker 1: have done overwhelmingly well on the wealth front, and they've
Speaker 1: gotten significantly richer over the past five years. It makes
Speaker 1: a lot of sense, right, and so they're often spending
Speaker 1: from wealth, not income, And it's just fascinating and it
Speaker 1: makes sense. It's something that I think a lot of
Speaker 1: folks as to get older. It's a difficult thing to
Speaker 1: grapple with as.
Speaker 2: Well, but isn't that's something we're kind of all striving for.
Speaker 1: It is what we're going for, absolutely, right.
Speaker 2: Is to be able to amass enough wealth to where
Speaker 2: we don't have to have a day job at some point.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: That's financial independence. That's kind of the for a lot
Speaker 2: of how money listeners.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess I'm thinking about making the transition from
Speaker 1: living off of your income as opposed to living off
Speaker 1: your wealth, Right, is that something I think that's what's
Speaker 1: tough to grapple with because when your entire life you
Speaker 1: are being told, oh, you gotta safe, you got to invest,
Speaker 1: as opposed to saying, oh, yeah, I'm actually going to
Speaker 1: spend down on this sum. And it seems like the
Speaker 1: older generation is so it's not a wonderful data point
Speaker 1: for our economy as a whole. But this does point
Speaker 1: to a necessity for younger folks, which is that ownership
Speaker 1: is really crucial. Man, Like, we want folks to be owners.
Speaker 1: We want you to buy stocks by rental properties if
Speaker 1: you are so inclined to be a real estate investor,
Speaker 1: we want you to build that wealth. And basically, we
Speaker 1: don't want your spending to be wholly dependent on your
Speaker 1: income for forever at some point. Yeah, like you said, Joel,
Speaker 1: that is the goal to kind of shift gears, to
Speaker 1: start dreaming about what life might be like once you
Speaker 1: are fully quote unquote traditionally retired. Yeah. It's easy to
Speaker 1: see these.
Speaker 2: Stories on the Great Economy and be like, man, must
Speaker 2: be nice, right, But the reality is that in four decades,
Speaker 2: three decades, three decades for us, probably four decades from
Speaker 2: our listeners. That is the goal, right, that's where we're headed.
Speaker 2: If we consistently do the right things that we are spending,
Speaker 2: we're able to help keep the economy afloat, I guess
Speaker 2: because we have more money to spend because we've done
Speaker 2: smart things with our money in here. Now, all right,
Speaker 2: let's talk about prediction markets, Matt. They raked it in
Speaker 2: during the Super Bowl. Man, some of the statistics that
Speaker 2: I saw were stunning. Didn't realize that people were taking
Speaker 2: quite to this extent. Well, Calshiet downloads and daily active
Speaker 2: users were up an insane amount. Nearly two million folks
Speaker 2: were actively wagering on predictions on game day, apparently, with
Speaker 2: more than a billion dollars being traded. That's not even
Speaker 2: counting polymarket.
Speaker 1: That's literally just calcul money.
Speaker 2: And it wasn't just basic stuff like the outcome of
Speaker 2: the game, right, which is, you know, I'm gonna put
Speaker 2: a hundred bucks on the Seahawks to win then and
Speaker 2: you make you know, ninety seven dollars or whatever it is.
Speaker 2: But it was wagers on a slew of oddities like
Speaker 2: bad Bunny's outfit. Was he gonna wear a skirt I
Speaker 2: think was one of them, which I didn't. I didn't
Speaker 2: realize he was famous for that because I just am
Speaker 2: not I'm clueless as an older millennium about what political
Speaker 2: statements were going to be made. You could bet on
Speaker 2: ads that would run during the game itself. You could
Speaker 2: even bet on whether the word polymarket would get used
Speaker 2: in the broadcast at some point in the evening. And this, just,
Speaker 2: Matt feels like peak gambling insanity to me. I mean,
Speaker 2: I hope it's peaked, but in fact, I don't think
Speaker 2: it is. I think we're still just at the forefront
Speaker 2: of this, especially when you're looking at what's on the
Speaker 2: dock at sports Wise March Madness World Cup coming down
Speaker 2: the pike shortly. It's true, we'll write about more on
Speaker 2: this in the head of Money newsletter this coming week,
Speaker 2: but this is just one of those things. I read
Speaker 2: those numbers and I'm just I'm saddened because I think
Speaker 2: so many people are are wasting time and energy that
Speaker 2: could be better spent in other places. And just think
Speaker 2: about yeah, twenty bucks here, thirty bucks there. One not
Speaker 2: only is it that can lead to addiction, but two
Speaker 2: that money it could be represent meaningful dollars tossed toward
Speaker 2: your nest egg to build for your future.
Speaker 1: Maybe this is just me being overly optimistic, but I
Speaker 1: hope that there is spending that has taken place when
Speaker 1: it comes to gambling like this that is just being
Speaker 1: substituted from other areas in life where maybe it would
Speaker 1: have been wasted, like you're entertainment budget. Yeah, so like
Speaker 1: prior to online, prior to the widespread social acceptance of
Speaker 1: gambling on your phone. Before that, maybe folks were out
Speaker 1: in public in person, you know, blowing some money on
Speaker 1: you know, at a restaurant or a bar, like a
Speaker 1: night out, that sort of thing, which you could argue, well,
Speaker 1: that's a better way to spend money. You are stimulating
Speaker 1: the you know, the economy, you're supporting local jobs, a
Speaker 1: local business, you're having I think maybe the best argument
Speaker 1: would be, oh, you're doing something with real people, like
Speaker 1: you were doing something with friends, and so from a
Speaker 1: societal level, I could see the argument being made that, like,
Speaker 1: you know, things are worse because at least before feel
Speaker 1: like maybe a more wholesome waste of money as opposed
Speaker 1: to this, which feels just like a complete hole where
Speaker 1: this is just like money that's it's like it feels
Speaker 1: like it's falling out of the bottom of your wallet
Speaker 1: as opposed to receiving any benefit from it.
Speaker 2: Going to a casino with a couple of friends would
Speaker 2: be I think, a very different vibe than just sitting
Speaker 2: on your couch and like making predictions about stupid stuff.
Speaker 1: It's a completely different thing. Think about the Hangover, Like,
Speaker 1: I don't even know if people would get it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if the Hangover came out today, because they're like, wait,
Speaker 1: people go to Vegas and party and place bets.
Speaker 2: But I and I would hope that you're right too.
Speaker 2: But I don't know if it is, but I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 1: It's not true.
Speaker 2: And I think that would be like seeing the world
Speaker 2: through Pollyanna towards sort of glasses. To think that people
Speaker 2: are like, well, let me take some money from my uh,
Speaker 2: from my entertainment budget, and I'm kind of putting it
Speaker 2: towards this new set of golf clubs.
Speaker 1: I'm going to put it towards.
Speaker 2: FanDuel gambling or Calshi sports bets predictions and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: I think what's happening is people are are using money
Speaker 2: that they don't have. Sure they're enticed by the apps.
Speaker 2: Is it more gambling? But is it more than what
Speaker 2: they're spending before?
Speaker 1: Right? So maybe I think it is for many people.
Speaker 1: Maybe we can look at credit card levels prior to Calshi,
Speaker 1: prior to polymarkets.
Speaker 2: We can't even look at just the number of calls
Speaker 2: going going into just the national gambling hotline.
Speaker 1: Right, There's totally more people gambling, for sure, But again,
Speaker 1: are we substituting usually accolism, Are we substituting other mental
Speaker 1: disorders or you know, diseases truly that folks were experiencing before,
Speaker 1: and instead they're kind of The funnel for online gambling
Speaker 1: is certainly larger. I just hope that that means that
Speaker 1: it's pulling away from some of the other quote unquote
Speaker 1: acceptable vices from last decade as opposed to what is
Speaker 1: acceptable today, which is online gambling.
Speaker 2: If that were the case, who would make it at
Speaker 2: least slightly less egregious?
Speaker 1: Yes, But like you said, is that the case? I
Speaker 1: don't know. But similar to wagering on random predictions. Bitcoin, man,
Speaker 1: it is not for the faint of heart. The price
Speaker 1: has been cut in half over the past six months.
Speaker 1: That being said, I think volatility it's also crypto's calling card.
Speaker 1: But hotal investors, right, so hold on for dear life.
Speaker 1: They're used to the wild swings. But folks are trying
Speaker 1: to figure out why the price has collapsed so quickly,
Speaker 1: and it seems like Bitcoin purps they seem to be
Speaker 1: one of the culprits. Perps are essentially a debt vehicle
Speaker 1: allowing investors to buy futures contracts, so purpse stands for perpetual,
Speaker 1: so it's sort of this never ending perpetual contract that
Speaker 1: gets extended off into the horizon. And the problem is
Speaker 1: is that the lower the price of bitcoin goes, the
Speaker 1: more folks who bet on rising prices get wiped out,
Speaker 1: which then exacerbates the problem. Basically, their loans were getting
Speaker 1: called as the prices drop, so they have to come
Speaker 1: up with more money to be able to back those contracts,
Speaker 1: meaning that they're having to sell more of their bitcoin
Speaker 1: at a loss, which is driving the prices even lower.
Speaker 1: So the moral of the story, even if you believe
Speaker 1: in the future of bitcoin, the gambling esque behavior that
Speaker 1: we're seeing exhibited in the space is very unsettling, and
Speaker 1: I think it contained a whole lot of folks views
Speaker 1: of their quote unquote investments. And it's another reason to
Speaker 1: keep crypto, your crypto exposure to a minimum, and definitely
Speaker 1: to not take debt vehicles in order to buy mort
Speaker 1: It's the worst, Yeah, because if you look, yeah, diversify, Man,
Speaker 1: this five percent or less. I'm totally fine if folks
Speaker 1: have some Bitcoin, but keep it to five percent or less,
Speaker 1: because guess what isn't down? I think on the year,
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe we're kind of flat that s ANDP.
Speaker 1: I think we're in the green. I know if you
Speaker 1: look at the past year, like we're up over ten percent.
Speaker 1: If you look at the past twelve months, that is
Speaker 1: not the case for bitcoin. I'll tell you what.
Speaker 2: Well, Ben McKenzie, who I'm efforting to get on the show, Matt,
Speaker 2: we'll see if let's make it happen. He's like was
Speaker 2: in I think The od Yeah, so, which I never
Speaker 2: really watched, and so I'm no I did. I'm not
Speaker 2: a fan of him as an actor necessarily, but he
Speaker 2: is a He calls himself a closet economist because he
Speaker 2: actually has an economics degree and he had he wrote
Speaker 2: a book about I think his his hatred for a
Speaker 2: cryptocurrency and he's got a movie coming out later this year,
Speaker 2: and he made this great video that's kind of been
Speaker 2: circling the interwebs. Is one of our listeners reached out
Speaker 2: and shared it with me, and man, he just is
Speaker 2: like talking smack about bitcoin, cryptocurrency and how these assets
Speaker 2: essentially become a part of the regulated financial system via
Speaker 2: exchange traded funds, and and when institutional investors apparently started
Speaker 2: cashing out, he said, you know, they were selling shares
Speaker 2: when bitcoin was peaking. That also helped to push prices down.
Speaker 2: And so I think there's still a lot of reason
Speaker 2: to tread lightly with cryptocurrency, even though bitcoin, in my mind,
Speaker 2: is the least risky of all the cryptocurrencies. Right there's
Speaker 2: potential for bitcoin, and we've talked about the show. On
Speaker 2: the show, we've had experts on I still feel like
Speaker 2: a complete novice on the future bitcoin and where things
Speaker 2: are headed. But I think what's happening right now in
Speaker 2: the space should at least just be a wake up
Speaker 2: call for anybody who might have had too rosy a
Speaker 2: view of where things were headed and how quickly they
Speaker 2: were going to get there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, totally agree. I saw that video as well, and
Speaker 1: he's talking about, and I agree with him that the
Speaker 1: biggest risk could be with all the institutional investors pulling back.
Speaker 1: The worst case scenario is that it takes down the
Speaker 1: entire system right like it's another contagent effect massive crash.
Speaker 1: I personally don't think and you can time stand that.
Speaker 1: I can't imagine that's going to happen because institutional investors,
Speaker 1: and I can't believe I'm about to say this, are
Speaker 1: smarter than retail investors. Their hedging their bets a little bit,
Speaker 1: they're looking at the risk, they're not leveraging themselves like
Speaker 1: a lot of individual investors who were holdling and then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden all of their purps are getting called.
Speaker 1: And I mean they're just in the tank, as opposed
Speaker 1: to institutional investors who by giving their firms any exposure
Speaker 1: at all or taking a lot of risks. So I
Speaker 1: can't imagine that there's a whole lot of big player,
Speaker 1: high level investors who are also in the toilet that
Speaker 1: could potentially cause a casting effect. But you never know,
Speaker 1: you never know. I hope you're right fingers crossed. This
Speaker 1: is again me being optimistic and pollyannish and hoping for
Speaker 1: the best.
Speaker 2: That's usually my role on this podcast, Matt, how dare you?
Speaker 1: How are you? Steal my thunder? That's how I roll.
Speaker 2: Sometimes I'll allow it, but today only all right, that's
Speaker 2: going to do it for this episode. We'll put links
Speaker 2: to some of the stories we mentioned up in the
Speaker 2: show notes on the website at how toomoney dot com.
Speaker 2: Don't forget to sign up for the how to Money
Speaker 2: newsletter comes out every Tuesday at how to money dot
Speaker 2: com slash newsletter.
Speaker 1: That's right, So that's going to be it, buddy, until
Speaker 1: next time. Best turns out, Best Friends Out.