Speaker 1: Episode to seventy top financial lessons learned from Welcome to
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
Speaker 1: embrace simplicity, rights, and liver with your life. Here your
Speaker 1: host Jen and Jill. Mm hm m m m m
Speaker 1: m mmmm. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name
Speaker 1: is Jen, my name is Jill, and today we are
Speaker 1: doing a fun episode that's a little out of character
Speaker 1: with our normal format, so that we can cover the
Speaker 1: top four financial stories of and talk about what they've
Speaker 1: taught us, the bigger lessons we can take away, and
Speaker 1: how this has been another really unique year for your finances.
Speaker 1: And so I'm very excited to kind of I've into
Speaker 1: something a little unique over here on the show. We
Speaker 1: love reflecting back. We love learning from the past to
Speaker 1: help inform the future. What's that saying. If we don't
Speaker 1: understand history, we're bound to repeat it. I butchered itad
Speaker 1: but you know what I mean. And one of the
Speaker 1: lessons we're going to learn is that history does repeat
Speaker 1: itself and there's not a lot you can do to
Speaker 1: keep that from happening. And so to know what to
Speaker 1: do and how to prepare is a big part of
Speaker 1: being financially responsible. There's no one size fits all approach.
Speaker 1: Every year brings its own unique challenges, and we have
Speaker 1: to pivot for those unique challenges. Uh And we don't
Speaker 1: typically cover financial news on the show, so it's gonna
Speaker 1: be a nice little, uh fresh take on financial news
Speaker 1: from a friends style, dipping our toes into it. Well,
Speaker 1: we'll see how it goes. And speaking of seeing how
Speaker 1: it goes learning new things, this show is brought to
Speaker 1: us by learning our lesson. For some of us, it
Speaker 1: takes many mistakes, lectures, even punishment like standing in the
Speaker 1: corner getting our mouths washed out with soap to finally
Speaker 1: learn our lesson. Anyone still did we did? We really
Speaker 1: learn it? While others just need to watch their siblings
Speaker 1: do all the dumb stuff and then choose the opposite
Speaker 1: whichever category you fall into. We've got another opportunity to
Speaker 1: learn some lessons and make some different choices, but this
Speaker 1: one doesn't involve soaper spankings, and it promises to be
Speaker 1: relatively fun. It's the one week spending Megover. This is
Speaker 1: happening January too through six. The second to the six,
Speaker 1: we're hosting a free one week challenge it's going to
Speaker 1: have daily live lessons of private Facebook community uns of
Speaker 1: extra freebes plans, looking back at the past, looking towards
Speaker 1: the future. How can you do values based spending without
Speaker 1: all the guilt anyhow? It's all free. January two through six,
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends Podcast dot com, slash makeover. Go there, sign up,
Speaker 1: transform your spending, learn your lesson. Yes, and if you're
Speaker 1: hearing this episode during or after January two through six,
Speaker 1: do not fret. There will be a replay so you
Speaker 1: can still get all the goodness that we are going through.
Speaker 1: Or maybe you're out of town that week, don't fret.
Speaker 1: Still go to Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash makeover
Speaker 1: to participate in what you can and there will be
Speaker 1: a replay because we want everyone to have the opportunity
Speaker 1: to take part in this spending makeover, to really really
Speaker 1: get into values based spending and really build a foundation
Speaker 1: for it. So we're very, very excited to help you
Speaker 1: do that. All right, So we don't have anything really
Speaker 1: to compare this episode two, so um Goldie just threw
Speaker 1: some interview episodes up in here. So if you like
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends, if you like this episode and you're and
Speaker 1: you're wanting to hear more from us, uh, then check
Speaker 1: out episode to seven, We've Got Money in Life Lessons
Speaker 1: from a Hospice Doctor with Jordan Grummitt. I think that
Speaker 1: one actually is a pretty appropriate one. He Jordan's is
Speaker 1: a hospice doctor and has a really great perspective on
Speaker 1: especially financial independence. He's more in that space and I
Speaker 1: just loved his balance approach to it. And then we
Speaker 1: also have episode two oh nine Financial Adulting with Ashley
Speaker 1: fine Stein GIRs Lee, and that one's also a really
Speaker 1: good one that has a lot of current events in
Speaker 1: her interview and in her book so by the same name,
Speaker 1: Financial Adulting. So those are two great episodes to queue
Speaker 1: up after this one. But you may need a breather
Speaker 1: after this episode because it's all going to be way
Speaker 1: too real. Yeah, every So every episode we we do,
Speaker 1: we we figure that it's going to be relevant for
Speaker 1: maybe half the audience. Half the audience will be into
Speaker 1: it right now, and the other half may not be.
Speaker 1: Another episode of our two sixty nine other episodes could
Speaker 1: be right for you. We're all living today. If you're
Speaker 1: listening to this, you are alive today, and so we
Speaker 1: are all going we're all going through this together today
Speaker 1: and we there's gonna be no scare tactics in this episode.
Speaker 1: It's all going to be hope, encouragement strategy for the future,
Speaker 1: and that's what our goal is. So okay, okay, I
Speaker 1: gotta do a quick pivot over here. Then. Okay. That
Speaker 1: was more of a reminder for Jill and for you
Speaker 1: was scared tactics only. Okay, okay, okay. So let's start
Speaker 1: with our four biggest financial lessons from Kick It Off, Jill. Okay.
Speaker 1: This first article comes from Yahoo Yahoo News, you know
Speaker 1: the one. It's titled why is inflation still so high
Speaker 1: right now? And when can we expect it to finally stop?
Speaker 1: I mean, the overall lesson to be learned is that
Speaker 1: inflation is not controlled, so bummer, we can't control it.
Speaker 1: Were manipulated. It's like one of those things that happens
Speaker 1: to us. But don't worry, there is hope in the
Speaker 1: midst of it. Some of the highlights from this article
Speaker 1: is just as we look back over the last thirty
Speaker 1: years from two th nineteen, the annual average annual inflation
Speaker 1: rate was two point five percent. So if you've definitely
Speaker 1: felt the pinch this last year. Uh, yeah, because it
Speaker 1: really increased a ton and we saw it peak at
Speaker 1: nine point one percent in July. The good news is
Speaker 1: is that it is easing off. It has slightly eased
Speaker 1: for the second month in a row, reaching a point
Speaker 1: three percent in August. Still really high, way higher than
Speaker 1: the average, right for the last thirty years. But yeah,
Speaker 1: the that is the lowest figure though that we've seen
Speaker 1: in four months. So we're not going to get into
Speaker 1: all the different things that drive inflation. You could read
Speaker 1: the article further if you want to know you want
Speaker 1: to take a deeper dive on inflation. We're not economists,
Speaker 1: although it's like it's a short read and you can
Speaker 1: easily understand it. But I think at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, what we're all still gonna wonder is, Okay,
Speaker 1: if I can't control inflation, it's going to happen. Sometimes
Speaker 1: it dips, sometimes it rises. What can I do? Where
Speaker 1: is the hope? Where is my control and influence in this?
Speaker 1: And I think that's another good reminder for us to
Speaker 1: be considering a diversify investment portfolio, so thinking about some
Speaker 1: long term solutions knowing that there's going to be some
Speaker 1: unpredictable uncontrollable ebbs and flows. This is another reason why
Speaker 1: we highly advocate, regardless of your income or wealth status,
Speaker 1: to start young. So if you're listening to this and
Speaker 1: your twenties, fantastic. If in your thirties, that's great too.
Speaker 1: Others of you, there's still more tips to be had,
Speaker 1: but you don't have to have a lot of money
Speaker 1: in order to invest and do well with your money,
Speaker 1: make wise choices, and this is one of those reasons
Speaker 1: we're seeing it right now because sometimes it gets really
Speaker 1: really tight and it causes all of us to freak
Speaker 1: out about our investments, about our gas bill, about groceries,
Speaker 1: and so starting starting young, even if it's starting small,
Speaker 1: diversifying your portfolio, those are going to be some of
Speaker 1: the things that are like at protection hedge around us
Speaker 1: so that we can kind of weather some of these
Speaker 1: storms a little bit more. And if you do want
Speaker 1: to learn a little bit more about recession proofing your finances,
Speaker 1: we had a really great, like amazing, super eye opening
Speaker 1: for me at least interview with Megan Rebuse. That's episode two,
Speaker 1: So if you also want to take a deeper dive
Speaker 1: into that great episode, great tips, There so much good
Speaker 1: stuff on inflation from her. Yeah, some more just tangible tips.
Speaker 1: You all already know this, but connected to this idea
Speaker 1: of inflation, we can be focusing on our emergency fund.
Speaker 1: If we're wondering what's the best most wise decision that
Speaker 1: I can make with my money that's going to help
Speaker 1: me in this regard, fully fund your emergency fund. We
Speaker 1: all know that's going to be different for everybody. Some
Speaker 1: of us it's three months worth of living expenses, some
Speaker 1: at six. Some it's are deductible for our medical insurance.
Speaker 1: Whatever it is. You make that a priority, get your
Speaker 1: emergency fund fully funded. Next is to pay off as
Speaker 1: many credit cards as possible. Typically, your credit cards are
Speaker 1: going to be your highest interest rate loans essentially, so
Speaker 1: if you've got if you've got unpaid credit cards that
Speaker 1: is accruing massive levels of interest, you're going to be
Speaker 1: kind to yourself, kind to your wallet if you focus
Speaker 1: on paying off the highest interest rate credit card first
Speaker 1: and just keep tackling from there and then just continuing
Speaker 1: to get creative all of the This is where all
Speaker 1: of the other Frugal Friends podcast episodes come in handy
Speaker 1: of how do I make wise choices be intentional spend
Speaker 1: around my values, save invest well, just get creative in
Speaker 1: the ways that you can do well and weather the
Speaker 1: storms of inflation. Yeah, and it's also important to note
Speaker 1: that in prices are not inflating at eight percent every month.
Speaker 1: This is a year over year increase, so it's not
Speaker 1: as bad as the news outlets might make it seem
Speaker 1: to be. So we're seeing but it's still extremely high. Right. Um,
Speaker 1: we're seeing like a point four percent to point eight
Speaker 1: percent month over month increase, which is still crazy. Um.
Speaker 1: We usually you want to see the point to or
Speaker 1: or less, so it's still like double what you want
Speaker 1: to see, but it is it is slowing down, so
Speaker 1: I know that it's it's getting better. And just take
Speaker 1: the short term tips and the long term tips. That's
Speaker 1: really all we can do with the lemons we've been given.
Speaker 1: So alright, So our second lesson of this year in
Speaker 1: a news story coming from Kiplinger, and it's eight facts
Speaker 1: you need to know about bear markets. And the lesson
Speaker 1: here is bear markets still exists. They are still, Yes,
Speaker 1: they are. It's that you're doomed to repeat history if
Speaker 1: you don't learn from it. Bear markets are are a psyche.
Speaker 1: Their cyclical bear and bowl markets are cyclical, so you
Speaker 1: can't always avoid bear markets just by by knowing what
Speaker 1: has happened in the past. But for you know, for
Speaker 1: better for worse, we learn. We have always learned a
Speaker 1: lot and implemented new laws and regulations so that we
Speaker 1: learn from the things from past bear markets. So a
Speaker 1: bear market, if you're unsure, it's when they take a
Speaker 1: broad market index like the SMP five hundred and they
Speaker 1: use that as a benchmark, and when that fall or
Speaker 1: more from its peak than we are in a bear market.
Speaker 1: And the average happened around every five years, and the
Speaker 1: average drop decline is actually about thirty three percent for
Speaker 1: a bear market. And before this bear market that we
Speaker 1: are in currently, we had not seen one for eleven years.
Speaker 1: Eleven years, so the average bear market lasts about nine
Speaker 1: to ten months. And we've only been in this one
Speaker 1: since June. I know, it feels like we've been in
Speaker 1: one for three years, not the case. Um, we have
Speaker 1: been in this current bear market since June, so we're
Speaker 1: about six months in. So you're I mean, you're gonna
Speaker 1: be probably seen this for a little while longer. We're
Speaker 1: maybe the nearing the end of it, maybe midway who knows,
Speaker 1: who knows, But as inflation starts to slow down, we
Speaker 1: could see ourselves get out of a bear market. But
Speaker 1: you're you're there, it happens, right, Wow? Is that the hope?
Speaker 1: Is that the hope you're dangling in front of me?
Speaker 1: We could that it will end be out of the
Speaker 1: bear market. Statistically, bowl markets last way, way longer than
Speaker 1: bear markets. But we're in one right now, and it's
Speaker 1: nothing to be scared of. I love this quote from
Speaker 1: the Kiplinger article. It says, most importantly, a patient, long
Speaker 1: term investor who is diversified in accordance with his or
Speaker 1: her age, stage in life and risk tolerance, cannot only
Speaker 1: wait out a bear market, but profit from it. Remember
Speaker 1: the market can be miserable at times, but it's long
Speaker 1: term trend is always up and to the right. Remember
Speaker 1: that the market is miserable right now, but it's long
Speaker 1: term trend is always up into the right over decades.
Speaker 1: We're always going up into the right if you look
Speaker 1: at it over the decades. So our tips for weathering
Speaker 1: this bear market invest invest if you can, because the
Speaker 1: market is on sale and we are, I mean, we're
Speaker 1: pretty much I probably mid mid bear I would say,
Speaker 1: I do not speculate. I only look at data. Uh,
Speaker 1: and it's showing we're probably about mid bear. So you
Speaker 1: probably have you know, a good three or four months
Speaker 1: of stocks being on sale. We'll see, I don't know
Speaker 1: if it's a hit rock bottom. It's looking like it has.
Speaker 1: It is looking like it's going up. But again we
Speaker 1: could see there's always this like we hit rock bottom,
Speaker 1: then we go up a little bit and we go
Speaker 1: down a little more. So that's always a case that
Speaker 1: has happened frequently in the past as well. So if
Speaker 1: you can invest start that rath I r You have
Speaker 1: like three days to start a rath BYRRA to make
Speaker 1: it count for two. So do it now, pull over
Speaker 1: to the side of the road and start one on
Speaker 1: your phone so that you can get that get this
Speaker 1: extra year because you can invest in into your roth
Speaker 1: ey A. You cannot start. To the best of my knowledge,
Speaker 1: there might be loopholes. You cannot start a two roth
Speaker 1: I r A in but you can't invest in it
Speaker 1: up till April unless you have a time travel machine.
Speaker 1: Unless you have a time travel with me, in which
Speaker 1: case you should use it more wisely than just going
Speaker 1: back to there are other tips for you. You can
Speaker 1: email me if you want those. For those of us
Speaker 1: that don't have a time machine, start a rath eyr
Speaker 1: A today and if you can, if you are prepared
Speaker 1: for those tips that we covered back in you know,
Speaker 1: preparing for inflation, then then this is the time to
Speaker 1: do it. And choose diversified index funds. That's a second tip.
Speaker 1: You want to be as diversified as possible because it's
Speaker 1: not just granted, it's not just US stocks that are down.
Speaker 1: It's also international, but sometimes they tend to flip. So
Speaker 1: if US is down, international maybe a little more up,
Speaker 1: YadA YadA. But if you're in like a total stock
Speaker 1: market index, you're gonna get a little bit of everything.
Speaker 1: So like right now, you know when when stocks are down,
Speaker 1: golds a little up and stuff like that, get diversified
Speaker 1: and you can easily do that with four or less
Speaker 1: index funds. And then the third tip, probably the most important,
Speaker 1: it's just don't look at your investments. Don't look put
Speaker 1: money in there and do not look. Uh. This is
Speaker 1: not the same tip that we give with your transactions
Speaker 1: in your budgeting. You should be looking at those. Don't
Speaker 1: look at your investments. It will just make you sad.
Speaker 1: And don't be sad. You have your whole life out
Speaker 1: of you. Yeah, pretend you're playing hide and seek and
Speaker 1: just keep counting m yes and not looking, covering up
Speaker 1: your eyes, waiting for time to pass. We'll tell you
Speaker 1: when you can look. No, we we won't tell you.
Speaker 1: We are not financial advisors. You look when it's when
Speaker 1: you feel like it's the right time for you. But um,
Speaker 1: probably not. In a in a bear market is probably
Speaker 1: not the right time. Okay. Our next lesson learned comes
Speaker 1: from CNBC. This article is titled high mortgage rates, tight
Speaker 1: supply and economic uncertainty. Here's what's happening with the home prices.
Speaker 1: So we you won't do like the fear tactics, but
Speaker 1: CNBC might. Yeah, yeah, I like that. The actual u
Speaker 1: r L is just like what's happening with home prices.
Speaker 1: That's so that's the short. That's the short title, what's happening?
Speaker 1: What the world is going on? I wish it's also
Speaker 1: said yikes, uh, well, yikes, what's happening. Ultimately, the lesson
Speaker 1: learned here is housing crash is not coming. If this
Speaker 1: is our parents were hoping for that, yet I was
Speaker 1: hoping for it not gonna lie. I'm like, yeah, when
Speaker 1: this thing crashes, I'm swooping in. I'm sweeping it all up,
Speaker 1: swooping and sweeping. There won't be any of that. They'll
Speaker 1: be sitting and waiting and I don't know. I guess
Speaker 1: renovating the home. I do happening. Yeah. Oh, so here's
Speaker 1: some of the highlights from the article. A few bullet
Speaker 1: points for you is that even with increasing mortgage rates,
Speaker 1: home prices in our August we're still thirteen point five
Speaker 1: percent higher than August of one, and roughly forty percent
Speaker 1: higher than they were in two thousand nineteen. So, like,
Speaker 1: you are right if you're thinking, my goodness, this, like
Speaker 1: it's changed so much in three years, Yeah, it has.
Speaker 1: Chances are it's not gonna It's not gonna fall drastically. Yeah,
Speaker 1: chances are if you were not living under a rock,
Speaker 1: you already know that. If you were, though, welcome. Yeah,
Speaker 1: mortgage rates hit a twenty year high, spiking over fifty
Speaker 1: percent in six months, and so yeah, the article goes
Speaker 1: through a lot of that, having to do with the
Speaker 1: pandemic and some of the boom that we saw there.
Speaker 1: But then we've also just continued to see this up
Speaker 1: into the right trend that we don't necessarily love. With
Speaker 1: the housing market, the sharp rise in mortgage rates over
Speaker 1: the past several months has made housing more expensive for
Speaker 1: anyone needing alone. And while that has some buyers pulling
Speaker 1: back and some sellers lowering what they're asking for, strong
Speaker 1: demand and tight supplies are supporting the prices. So as
Speaker 1: long as you've got that there, you're not going to
Speaker 1: see a sharp decline. It's so low, like the demand
Speaker 1: or the supply is still so low. Yeah, there is
Speaker 1: about three months of supply in the existing home market,
Speaker 1: which is about half of what is considered a balance market.
Speaker 1: So we would need so so much more supply to
Speaker 1: see a bit of a decrease in that. Hopefully we're
Speaker 1: not going to see like a crazy spike from here,
Speaker 1: but I don't think we're going to see and everything
Speaker 1: is pointing to we're not going to see a massive
Speaker 1: drop we and and of course this is compounded by
Speaker 1: the interest rates that we saw the peak of seven
Speaker 1: percent interest rates, which meant one in eight renters could
Speaker 1: afford to buy a medium priced home. In contrast, nearly
Speaker 1: one in three renter could afford to buy a medium
Speaker 1: priced home just a year earlier when rates were three percent.
Speaker 1: So I mean, there's so many things kind of stacked
Speaker 1: against here, but we are seeing that dip a little
Speaker 1: bit too, easing up, not going back to what we
Speaker 1: saw pre but becoming a little bit more reasonable, but
Speaker 1: still not not going to see a crash. So okay,
Speaker 1: the hope. What can we do here? Because some of
Speaker 1: this is drastically outside of our control. What are you
Speaker 1: going to do about three months worth of supply in
Speaker 1: the existing home market? Uh? I don't know. Maybe no,
Speaker 1: no swooping sweeping, that's not going to happen. But if
Speaker 1: you are buying, if you are in the market right now,
Speaker 1: I think certainly putting down as little as possible is
Speaker 1: can be a decent idea. Of course, you're gonna have
Speaker 1: to look at your personal finances, and we did do
Speaker 1: an episode specifically on home buying in a really hot market,
Speaker 1: so if this is you, feel free to take that
Speaker 1: deeper dive with that episode. But putting down as little
Speaker 1: as possible can help you to have some more cash
Speaker 1: on hand, and then calculating the cost benefit analysis of
Speaker 1: buying points to reduce your interest rate instead of putting
Speaker 1: down a larger down payment, it could be advantageous to
Speaker 1: purchase some of those points for a lower, lower interest
Speaker 1: rate for you and then calculate all of your costs
Speaker 1: in the home buying process while keeping refinancing in mind.
Speaker 1: If you get a high interest rate we're talking kind
Speaker 1: of that between five to seven percent, plan to refinance
Speaker 1: in the next two to three years. So keep that
Speaker 1: in mind as you purchase your home, the reality that
Speaker 1: in a few years, hopefully you'll be able to get
Speaker 1: a better interest rate on your home and you can
Speaker 1: plan to refinance in that time and then have a
Speaker 1: better rate for the duration of your mortgage. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: that was episode to nineteen, the home buying Tips. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, home prices are dropping a little bit, not
Speaker 1: as much as would make it like enticing to buy
Speaker 1: even with these high rates. But but no that I
Speaker 1: mean they'll go down. They will hopefully. Gosh, I can't
Speaker 1: say anything will happen, they should maybe, um So, so
Speaker 1: it's probable that in two to three years you can
Speaker 1: refinance out of that really high rate. It just makes
Speaker 1: it it's just harder to qualify for a mortgage because
Speaker 1: of how high rates are right now and how high
Speaker 1: the prices are. But if you can get a house
Speaker 1: that's less expensive than it was earlier this year with
Speaker 1: the higher rate, if you can still qualify and you
Speaker 1: want to get in, do it, because then you can refinance.
Speaker 1: You can't change the price of your home once you
Speaker 1: buy it. So if you can get in and the
Speaker 1: payment is in your threshold of what you can afford,
Speaker 1: do it. And no, you can refinance in two to
Speaker 1: three years. I mean, you can refinance in as few
Speaker 1: as six months, honestly, but I think you know it's
Speaker 1: safe to say within three years, I think we'll see
Speaker 1: a positive shift in interest rates. And by positive I
Speaker 1: mean a negative yes minus less less yes less lest
Speaker 1: jan I'm excited for this next. Take Tony over here, Hot,
Speaker 1: Take Tony, call me hot, Take Tony. So our last
Speaker 1: one may not be the biggest story of the year,
Speaker 1: but is probably the biggest in the finance world right now.
Speaker 1: And that's the story of f t X. And this
Speaker 1: is coming from There were so many art goes to
Speaker 1: choose from, but I went with this one from Investipedia
Speaker 1: because I really like Investopedia. It's called the Collapse of
Speaker 1: f t X. What went wrong with the crypto exchange.
Speaker 1: And if you are not familiar with crypto, you might
Speaker 1: think that because crypto exchange is such a generic name
Speaker 1: for a fintech, you might just think that the entire
Speaker 1: cryptocurrency market has just collapsed. This is false. Not all
Speaker 1: of crypto has collapsed. But there are some things and
Speaker 1: not even actually crypto related, to be learned from this story.
Speaker 1: So the crypto exchange, it's just like an exchange. It's
Speaker 1: a when I say fintech, it's a it's a financial startup.
Speaker 1: There's a ton of them. There's so many. It's a
Speaker 1: financial startup where you could exchange different cryptocurrencies. Another one
Speaker 1: actually central to the stories called binance, So there are's,
Speaker 1: there are others out there. This has nothing to do
Speaker 1: with the actual like like bitcoin or theory um or
Speaker 1: the cryptocurrencies. Crypto Exchange was just a crypto exchange, a
Speaker 1: very very unique name for what it is, just like finance.
Speaker 1: And what had happened was this is give it to
Speaker 1: us straight, Tony. So it started on Twitter, Well it
Speaker 1: didn't start on Twitter. It started it started when a
Speaker 1: and actually a cryptocurrency site found some shortcomings to f
Speaker 1: t X is the short name I guess for the
Speaker 1: crypto Exchange, even though their coin is ftt so I'm
Speaker 1: not acent sure why it's f t X, but I digress.
Speaker 1: So they found out I think it was coin base
Speaker 1: some where, and they wrote a story, like a pretty
Speaker 1: scathing story on crypto Exchange, and finance, who's actually a
Speaker 1: major investor, is a competitor but also major investor, made
Speaker 1: some comments and then the CEO of the crypto exchange
Speaker 1: got all his panties in a bunch and he started
Speaker 1: being rude on Twitter, and that was his downfall because
Speaker 1: then finance was like, I'm pulling out all my steak
Speaker 1: in this exchange, and that uncovered even more to teach
Speaker 1: them a lesson kind of yeah, punishment. But here's the
Speaker 1: thing that uncovered that the CEOs other business, which was
Speaker 1: a hedge fund, was actually taking money from the crypto
Speaker 1: Exchange without the permission of the investors, and so it
Speaker 1: was essentially a Ponzi scheme. And this was all uncovered
Speaker 1: over the series of this This article was the catalyst
Speaker 1: for it. This was all uncovered over a series of
Speaker 1: ten days. And so what it's what this is teaching
Speaker 1: us not is that crypto is the enemy Crypto is
Speaker 1: not the enemy. I mean, blockchain is going to be
Speaker 1: a really important part of banking in the future in
Speaker 1: whatever way that looks like, I don't know, but it
Speaker 1: is like a really it will be an important technology
Speaker 1: to some extent. What I think that this should teach
Speaker 1: us is that a you should be prioritizing your retirement
Speaker 1: investments first. Crypto is something you play with right now,
Speaker 1: and it should make up no more than it's right now.
Speaker 1: It's about one percent of the currency market, so it
Speaker 1: should make up no more than one percent of your
Speaker 1: portfolio if you want to have some kind of marker,
Speaker 1: so prioritize your retirement savings first. That way, if you
Speaker 1: had money in f t X or any other cryptocurrency exchange,
Speaker 1: you are not suffering from this. Second is also again
Speaker 1: don't view crypto as the enemy. Crypto was not the enemy.
Speaker 1: It was the new shiny thing. And that's actually the
Speaker 1: real lesson of this whole story is don't rely on
Speaker 1: the next new shiny thing. The next new shiny thing
Speaker 1: is not going to save you. Long term consistency in
Speaker 1: investing and long term consistency in intentional spending and earning.
Speaker 1: Those are the unsexy solutions to your problems long term,
Speaker 1: and that's it. The next new shiny thing is not
Speaker 1: your savior. So that's the real lesson in this I know,
Speaker 1: I know, Hot take Downy over boring Bob. At least
Speaker 1: it's not boring Bill never. But Crypto was not the
Speaker 1: enemy in this story. It was the mismanagement of this company.
Speaker 1: And so that brings us to our third tip. Due
Speaker 1: diligence is always worth the time and hassle. So whether
Speaker 1: you are buying a home, whether you are investing for
Speaker 1: a retirement, whether you are listening to a podcast and
Speaker 1: the host says something that you're like, well, I don't
Speaker 1: know of cryptos not the enemy. You do your own
Speaker 1: due diligence because it's always worth the time. It's always
Speaker 1: worth the inconvenience. The reason so many people lost money
Speaker 1: in f t X and they weren't on the public market,
Speaker 1: it was all um, you know, private investors. They lost
Speaker 1: so much money because they wanted to be on the
Speaker 1: cutting edge of the next new shiny thing, and so
Speaker 1: they just put money in and they just played on
Speaker 1: their Super Bowl ads. Do you remember these. F t
Speaker 1: X was the one that had like Crypto Super Bowl
Speaker 1: ads this year was them. They were that they were
Speaker 1: the ones. Yeah, so they were huge this year in
Speaker 1: the crypto space. They were huge and everyone was throwing
Speaker 1: money at them because on the outside it looks like
Speaker 1: everything was working. But as soon as by so funny
Speaker 1: twist in the story, the CEO got rude and then
Speaker 1: all this was the stock plummeted once Finance took their
Speaker 1: their steak out and then Finance was like, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: I'm gonna come save you by buying you out, which
Speaker 1: was a funny thing because FTX did that in like
Speaker 1: January and February bailed out a lot of crypto companies
Speaker 1: and was kind of hailed as a savior almost of
Speaker 1: crypto and uh, Finance was going to do that to
Speaker 1: them until they did their due diligence and found out
Speaker 1: that the owner was using money for private stuff, funneling
Speaker 1: it to a different company off the books, like the
Speaker 1: accounting was obscene, so binance. It was so bad Finance
Speaker 1: decided to not buy so due diligence always worth the
Speaker 1: hassle and investors would have lost a lot less money
Speaker 1: had they done some due diligence, slow and steady, when's
Speaker 1: the race. It's fun to play with new things, and
Speaker 1: that's all fine and good too. But like you're also
Speaker 1: okay if you just do like the traditional slow and
Speaker 1: steady due diligence and to be afraid of new technologies
Speaker 1: and new things. We shouldn't be afraid. We should embrace
Speaker 1: them to the extent that we can afford to embrace
Speaker 1: them cautiously. Always do your due diligence. Wow. Thanks Tony
Speaker 1: for joining us on the show today. We could listen
Speaker 1: to you forever talk about all of the hot takes.
Speaker 1: So thanks for my new podcast, Crypto Chicks. Thanks for
Speaker 1: enlightening us on a little bit of the background. It
Speaker 1: it felt like the highlights and the reels that I
Speaker 1: needed without all the other fluff. And you know what
Speaker 1: else we've got as our next segment we had Tony,
Speaker 1: But up next is the Bill of the week. That's right,
Speaker 1: it's time for the best minute of your entire week.
Speaker 1: Maybe a baby was born and his name is William.
Speaker 1: Maybe you've paid off your mortgage, Maybe your car died
Speaker 1: and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 1: That bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill
Speaker 1: of the week. Hi, Jen and Jill. My name is
Speaker 1: Katherine and I'm from Boston. I'm so excited about this
Speaker 1: bill because I've anticipate hated calling in to share this
Speaker 1: for quite some time. So I graduated college this past
Speaker 1: Mayo and was finishing school with twenty seven thousand dollars
Speaker 1: in student loans. They were all private and didn't qualify
Speaker 1: for the federal loan repayment program. I had made the
Speaker 1: decision when I was going into my senior year so
Speaker 1: a little over a year ago, that I was going
Speaker 1: to pay off my loans as fast as possible, starting
Speaker 1: the month after graduation. So in June, fast forward to
Speaker 1: now in October, I just made my final student loan payment.
Speaker 1: The best part was while I worked to pay off
Speaker 1: the twenty seven thousand dollars in the past five months,
Speaker 1: I was able to max out my four oh one
Speaker 1: K and roth ira at the same time. To ensure
Speaker 1: I was still investing in my future, I put quite
Speaker 1: a bit of my savings towards debt, and most of
Speaker 1: my income from my two jobs went to debt payoff
Speaker 1: and retirement. Since I continued to live at home with
Speaker 1: minimal expenses. Shout out to my mom and Dad, your
Speaker 1: podcast has been so so instrumental in me getting to
Speaker 1: this place. And I'm so thrilled an ecstatic to be
Speaker 1: debt free at twenty two years old. So yeah, that's
Speaker 1: my bill of the week. Thanks for all you do.
Speaker 1: Oh Catherine, Catherine, you twenty two year old, amazing person.
Speaker 1: I was trying to come up with like some some animal,
Speaker 1: but you're just You're an amazing person, twenty two year old.
Speaker 1: You're an amazing animal, beast of a debt payoff finance
Speaker 1: wisdom connoisseur. This is incredible to have a plan before
Speaker 1: even graduating, and and people aren't wrong to come up
Speaker 1: with a plan after graduation and getting all the bills
Speaker 1: in order and figuring out what to pay off. But
Speaker 1: my goodness, were you ahead of the curve to be
Speaker 1: thinking about it before you even graduated, then implement on
Speaker 1: that plan pay it off so quickly and while also
Speaker 1: maxing out your furrow. Okay, rath ire A, you are
Speaker 1: set up, Catherine, well done. And fun fact, Katherine actually
Speaker 1: shared her story with us for our YouTube series Debt
Speaker 1: Free Stories, So starting soon you're gonna be able to
Speaker 1: see season one of Debt Free Stories and Catherine's story
Speaker 1: is one of those, and so we're very excited you'll
Speaker 1: get to hear a little bit more of her story,
Speaker 1: her background, and in hopes that will be an inspiration
Speaker 1: to you if you see yourself in a similar space.
Speaker 1: But we have we have a lot of debt free
Speaker 1: stories from a lot of different people, all relatable stories,
Speaker 1: I think, and Katherine is one of those. So thank you, Catherine.
Speaker 1: Well done, Catherine. If you all listening, have a story
Speaker 1: about a bill that you paid off, if you're twenty
Speaker 1: two and just slaying out there, or if you just
Speaker 1: like met a bill or you know a bill. I mean,
Speaker 1: we'll take it all. Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash bill,
Speaker 1: leave us your bill, and now it's time for round
Speaker 1: all right, So our vulnerable portion of the show. What
Speaker 1: was the hardest financial lesson you had to learn in
Speaker 1: two So gosh, I gotta weed. I gotta weed through
Speaker 1: them all thinking to all the difficulties I think for me,
Speaker 1: and this is a lesson I'm still learning. I don't
Speaker 1: know that I have learned it. It's not like a
Speaker 1: past tense thing. It's a present tense and ongoing. I
Speaker 1: feel I'm learning the same lesson I can't do it
Speaker 1: all all at wants. And this is tough for me
Speaker 1: because I am also doing better financially. Eric and I
Speaker 1: as a household are making more money. We have more
Speaker 1: understanding of finances and how to use them wisely, how
Speaker 1: to spend wisely, how to save, how to invest, and
Speaker 1: so I think sometimes it can frustrate me that even
Speaker 1: with all that knowledge, I still can't and and increased income,
Speaker 1: I still can't do it all, Like there's still always
Speaker 1: gonna be like the next thing or something that is
Speaker 1: a really great idea to do with my money, But
Speaker 1: I can't do it all. I can't cash flow renovations,
Speaker 1: wall fully funding every single sinking fund, wall maxing out
Speaker 1: or raw I ra a wall all investing in all
Speaker 1: these other different types of portfolios like I just can't.
Speaker 1: It's not endless for me. I'm not independently wealthy like that.
Speaker 1: So I think the ongoing lesson of continuing to prioritize, like, okay,
Speaker 1: but what's most important now? What is going to be
Speaker 1: the mile marker that's gonna help me to know when
Speaker 1: when do I need to shift so that I don't
Speaker 1: get so swept up in one goal that I lose
Speaker 1: sight of another goal. But yeah, how to really kind
Speaker 1: of hone in on the priorities, but then also keep
Speaker 1: a pulse on when is it time to shift into
Speaker 1: the next thing that's going to be the best decision
Speaker 1: with my money. Yeah, I think that's like a ongoing
Speaker 1: thing for me. I think I I was, that's always
Speaker 1: going to be something I deal with too. So I'm
Speaker 1: I'm with you. And now if you're there, you're you're
Speaker 1: in good company. Yes, there is permission though because of that,
Speaker 1: like you can't it's not like, oh I need to
Speaker 1: learn this lesson and do better and do all the things.
Speaker 1: Like the lesson is you can't do all of the things.
Speaker 1: So prioritize what's going to be best and most responsible
Speaker 1: for you right now, and then keep reevaluating and making shifts. Yes,
Speaker 1: definitely what about for you John? For me? So, we
Speaker 1: bought another house in May and it was probably so
Speaker 1: we spent basically from January to May looking for something,
Speaker 1: and uh, it was just hard. It was a hard season.
Speaker 1: And so I learned I don't want to be a
Speaker 1: real estate investor. And that's that's hard. I mean, real
Speaker 1: estate investing is a great way to diversify your investments
Speaker 1: and power. You know, if if that's you and you
Speaker 1: love it. I hated it and I hated everything about it,
Speaker 1: and uh I really wanted it to just be over all.
Speaker 1: The time I actually had by the end of it
Speaker 1: had to be like, you do this without me, Travis,
Speaker 1: I can't. I cannot participate in thisscribing from this strong
Speaker 1: I am unsubscribing. Oh, I mean, you did do it
Speaker 1: in historically one of the worst times. And so if
Speaker 1: you're looking for a house in this market, I empathize
Speaker 1: with you, and I also don't envy you because I
Speaker 1: did it and I would not go back. And so
Speaker 1: if you're unsure if this is the right time for
Speaker 1: you to buy, I'm never going to tell you to
Speaker 1: venture out in this market. I'm also not gonna tell
Speaker 1: you be scared of it, because we did it, we
Speaker 1: made it happen, and it's working for us. So it's
Speaker 1: this is such a unique time that it is, and
Speaker 1: it is so dependent on what your gut says. It's
Speaker 1: so dependent on you and what you feel, your intuition,
Speaker 1: your gut, and you really have to listen to what
Speaker 1: your capacity is. And so that was a big thing
Speaker 1: for me is that I will not be becoming the
Speaker 1: real estate mogul that I had once thought maybe I
Speaker 1: would be. And that is me listening to me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's okay. You discover and learn things about yourself along
Speaker 1: the way. This will still be a great thing for
Speaker 1: you all financially, and you just know you might not
Speaker 1: be collecting more properties right right, And that's uh. Some
Speaker 1: people love it and some people don't. And uh, I
Speaker 1: just also gotta ad for where we're at. Of homes
Speaker 1: are being bought by um investors and Florida is not
Speaker 1: slowing down in the way the rest of the country
Speaker 1: is with the home buying stuff. So it is still
Speaker 1: horrible here and it's it just left a bad taste
Speaker 1: in my mouth for many investors in this area too.
Speaker 1: I don't want to be like them. I don't want
Speaker 1: to contribute to the problem in the city. But I
Speaker 1: also I am thankful I get to be a landlord
Speaker 1: that actually lives in this city because that's what we need.
Speaker 1: And so at one point it's it's on one hand,
Speaker 1: I don't want to be the person I don't. I
Speaker 1: have a bad taste in my mouth for now, And
Speaker 1: on the other hand, like I'm glad i am because
Speaker 1: our tenants have been thankful to have a landlord that
Speaker 1: lives ten minutes away instead of one that lives in
Speaker 1: New York. So yeah, yeah, it's learned. Yes, so yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for listening. Um, we want to
Speaker 1: reiterate instead of sharing a win or review, we just
Speaker 1: want to reiterate that we have a free challenge coming up. Okay,
Speaker 1: and we just want to remind you that if you
Speaker 1: haven't already, go to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash
Speaker 1: Makeover and sign up for this one week challenge. There's
Speaker 1: gonna be daily live lessons delivered in a pop up
Speaker 1: Facebook community and to your inbox, so you will get
Speaker 1: the same thing, just a replay to your inbox, So
Speaker 1: don't worry if you don't have Facebook and they're they're
Speaker 1: recorded live during the day, so some people will't even
Speaker 1: be able to be there anyway, so you're gonna get
Speaker 1: it no matter where you are, even if you're listening
Speaker 1: to this. After the six there will be a replay.
Speaker 1: And the goal of this challenge is that in days
Speaker 1: or less, you will have a clear picture of your
Speaker 1: past spending, specifically from the past ninety days that will
Speaker 1: help you figure out your values based spending a foundation
Speaker 1: for that, and then you can implement a plan to
Speaker 1: improve your spending in that aligns with those values. And
Speaker 1: that's what we're going to do over this week. Um
Speaker 1: you're gonna leave with a plan for your spending that
Speaker 1: makes you feel happy not guilty. So if that is
Speaker 1: something that you want to do, you want to spend
Speaker 1: well instead of not spending at all or spending too much,
Speaker 1: then go to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash makeover.
Speaker 1: Definitely before by January second, but even if it's after January,
Speaker 1: sewod still go. Let's do it. See you in January
Speaker 1: and see you next time. Frugal Friends is produced by
Speaker 1: Eric Sirian Jen Do I see the sparkly uh banner?
Speaker 1: Anything behind you? So this I hung up with tape
Speaker 1: and I was like, I wonder if it will just
Speaker 1: work with tape. It doesn't. It fell down as you
Speaker 1: can see, but it is uh. The plan is for
Speaker 1: it to go on either side and it was up
Speaker 1: for a day. Now I have to like really figure
Speaker 1: out how to put it up there. Did it look amazing?
Speaker 1: It looked amazing? Yes, Okay, when we figure out how
Speaker 1: to put it up. Then we record in front of it,
Speaker 1: and whoever is still listening to us now can know
Speaker 1: what we're talking about. To see it in our Debt
Speaker 1: Free Stories recordings, because it's up for those. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: so we're recording this a little bit before. It's just
Speaker 1: a recording. Is a weird time warp. It's like we
Speaker 1: have a time machine, but we don't. We just have
Speaker 1: delayed publishing. Cannot use it to win the lottery in
Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen or to invest in the highest yield stocks.
Speaker 1: But we can wow you with our movie magic. So
Speaker 1: catch it stall in the studio January. I'll tell you
Speaker 1: right now when Debt Free Stories premieres. It premieres January nine, Yes, man,
Speaker 1: right after the makeover. Yes, January nine. Stay tuned, Okay,
Speaker 1: see then,