Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt,
Speaker 1: and today we're discussing retreating rewards, new tax brackets in
Speaker 1: workplace traps. That's right, Joel. This is our Friday flat
Speaker 1: where we are tackling the most important headlines and specifically
Speaker 1: we are going to address how those stories are going
Speaker 1: to impact your personal finances. By the way, I love
Speaker 1: that workplace traps one. I'm excited to get to that
Speaker 1: one because not only is it an acronym the stance
Speaker 1: or something, but it's also like a trap you gotta
Speaker 1: watch how for So it's kind of athlete named. It's
Speaker 1: so appropriately named. Yeah. But first, actually we don't have
Speaker 1: any banter. We're gonna kind of launch straight into things.
Speaker 1: But this first thing is something that we are incredibly
Speaker 1: excited to share with you, our listener. We have just
Speaker 1: launched the how to Money credit card our tool up
Speaker 1: on the website. If you go to How the Money
Speaker 1: dot com forward slash credit Cards, that's gonna take you
Speaker 1: to this page that is going to allow you to
Speaker 1: see all of the different credit card offers that are
Speaker 1: out there. And what's great about this thing is that
Speaker 1: you can easily filter what it is that you're looking for, uh,
Speaker 1: and so whether that's specific airlines, whether you're looking for
Speaker 1: a card without any annual fees or zero percent transaction
Speaker 1: fee when you are abroad traveling, this tool has all
Speaker 1: of those features baked into it. We're just so pumped
Speaker 1: because I think this is gonna become sort of like
Speaker 1: a just a one stop shop for folks as they
Speaker 1: are looking for the next credit card that they're considering getting. No,
Speaker 1: I agree, it's pretty cool. It's gonna help you because
Speaker 1: everybody spends money differently, and they want different things out
Speaker 1: of a credit card, and so absolutely this tool is
Speaker 1: going to help you more quickly dial in and find
Speaker 1: which one makes the most sense for you. We've written
Speaker 1: content about you know, which how credit cards that you
Speaker 1: and I've used, Matt, But our situation is different than yours,
Speaker 1: and so we might benefit from a Costco card where
Speaker 1: you might not because you don't have a Costco near
Speaker 1: nearby where you live or something like that. And so
Speaker 1: you can you can more easily, kind of based on
Speaker 1: just a quick couple clicks of the mouse, find the
Speaker 1: credit card that's going to make the most sense for you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just work those sliders, Yeah, like it allows you to
Speaker 1: easily determine, like what your parameters are going to be
Speaker 1: used reading some long what kind of dollar value does
Speaker 1: each of these cards give you? So it's gonna spell
Speaker 1: that out too. So yeah, we'd be curious to know
Speaker 1: here your feedback after you give it a go, let
Speaker 1: us know whether it makes sense for you and how
Speaker 1: it helps. So yeah, that sound of money dot com
Speaker 1: slash credit cards or also just go to the main
Speaker 1: homepage and you'll see that you can click on the
Speaker 1: top right corner and you'll get there too. That's right.
Speaker 1: I So we launched this earlier this week, and I
Speaker 1: even signed up for a new credit card through our
Speaker 1: new tool. I signed up for a Southwest card because
Speaker 1: my plan is to snag that Companion Pass hopefully, you
Speaker 1: know sometimes like we talked about with Brian Kelly exactly, Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: But and then you get two years of the free
Speaker 1: Companion brilliant. Yeah, I'm still looking forward to because I've
Speaker 1: never tried to get that Companion Pass. And Kate and
Speaker 1: I we've been talking about, yeah, doing some doing some
Speaker 1: more traveling. But if you're listening and you're like, well,
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not really big into traveling. Guess what,
Speaker 1: there's a cash back option as well, and so instead
Speaker 1: of clicking the airline's thing, you can just hit the
Speaker 1: cash backslider and it'll show you all the cards that's
Speaker 1: got the best cash back offers for you. But here's
Speaker 1: the thing we like, we say all that with a
Speaker 1: with a caveat here, because it's also really important to
Speaker 1: be careful with credit cards. Uh, we're speaking out of
Speaker 1: like both sides of our mouth here, double we always do,
Speaker 1: we have to always do you have to include that
Speaker 1: every time you talk about it or else. I don't know,
Speaker 1: We're just not We're giving people all the information they needed.
Speaker 1: We we definitely take a nuanced approach to I mean
Speaker 1: to everything right like like, there's both sides of the
Speaker 1: argument and write like credit cards they can provide amazing
Speaker 1: benefits for folks who are disciplined right who pay off
Speaker 1: the balance on time and in full every month. But
Speaker 1: credit card interest rates are on the rise. The average
Speaker 1: right now it's currently over eighteen percent, which is the
Speaker 1: highest it's been in thirty years. Americans nowtent more on
Speaker 1: their credit cards than they did a year ago. This
Speaker 1: is according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: if you're in credit card debt, you don't need a
Speaker 1: new card, right, well, maybe a balance transfer card. We
Speaker 1: actually do have an article on that up on the site.
Speaker 1: But you need to put your your current one, your
Speaker 1: current credit card on ice and man, you need to
Speaker 1: get a plan to pay that balance off as soon
Speaker 1: as possible. This is why we recommend the site undebt
Speaker 1: dot it. So it's undebt it and they will help
Speaker 1: you to put together a plan that's gonna work for you,
Speaker 1: whether that's focusing on a car that has the highest
Speaker 1: interest rate, whether that's focusing on any balances that you
Speaker 1: might have that are the largest, or maybe even a
Speaker 1: hybrid approach. The interesting thing is, I feel like credit
Speaker 1: cards can be a double edge short and they can
Speaker 1: totally are kind of like slice through your travel cost
Speaker 1: or give you just insane cash back and rewards and
Speaker 1: stuff like that, which is great for your personal finances,
Speaker 1: but they can also have and for a lot of people,
Speaker 1: they have the inverse effect where they're slicing a hole
Speaker 1: in their finances and and the slice on the hole
Speaker 1: in the bottom of your purse, yeah, wallet, exactly. It's
Speaker 1: draining money out of your life, which is the exact
Speaker 1: opposite of what we we think. You can use credit
Speaker 1: cards effectively, but you can also use them poorly. And
Speaker 1: if you're using them effectively, get the right ones that
Speaker 1: are going to maximize rewards for you. But if you're not,
Speaker 1: stay away from them and find a way to get
Speaker 1: out of that credit card. Yet, you need be careful
Speaker 1: because balances are on the rise. I saw like we
Speaker 1: are nearing the highest So the highest levels were right
Speaker 1: before the pandemic, like right right around three years ago,
Speaker 1: October of nineteen, and it was over like nwenties something
Speaker 1: billion billion with a beat nine seven billion, And I
Speaker 1: would not be surprised that trillion. I know it's gonna
Speaker 1: kind of be insane, but I wouldn't be surprised if
Speaker 1: we get there before the end of the year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we really might. Well, let's let's talk about another topic, Matt,
Speaker 1: that remains top of mind for folks right now, and
Speaker 1: that is the president's recent move to grant student loanforgiveness
Speaker 1: to millions and millions of borrowers. A lot of people
Speaker 1: have been anxiously awaiting the application for that to become
Speaker 1: publicly available because that was going to get post on
Speaker 1: the posted on the Department of Education's website. Well, that
Speaker 1: just happened this past weekend. And so if you qualify
Speaker 1: for student loan forgiveness but you haven't yet filled out
Speaker 1: the application, will post a link to that in our
Speaker 1: show notes as well. It should take all of like
Speaker 1: three minutes to fill out. It's not very long. But
Speaker 1: it's also important to mention that some folks, by the way,
Speaker 1: who are eligible for loan forgiveness under the PSLF program,
Speaker 1: the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, have until Halloween to
Speaker 1: file a waiver that can help them receive credit for
Speaker 1: payments that might not have previously qualified. So we'll link
Speaker 1: to that as well in the show notes. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of moving parts, a lot of student loan stuff
Speaker 1: going going on, but time is of the essence, specifically
Speaker 1: on the PSLF one. The deadline for the student Loan
Speaker 1: Forgiveness application. You've got till the end of the year,
Speaker 1: so you can take a sweet time on that if
Speaker 1: you want um, But when it comes to the PSLF
Speaker 1: waiver that you gotta get done and the next week
Speaker 1: and half basically, and basically I mean go ahead and
Speaker 1: sit out and knock them both out. Like like Joe said,
Speaker 1: it only took a couple of minutes. Um, you will
Speaker 1: have to put your Social Security number and their folks
Speaker 1: were kind of worried about that. But this is the
Speaker 1: federal student aid website. So you see that dot gov.
Speaker 1: You know you're in the right place. Do avoid uh
Speaker 1: talking to anybody who reaches out to you directly, like
Speaker 1: whether it's an email, text message, and social media. If
Speaker 1: you venmil me a hundred bucks, I'll excite it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: obviously you want to avoid that, but there are certainly
Speaker 1: more attempts by those folks with more folks signing up
Speaker 1: for that actual student unforgiveness and jel yeah, you said
Speaker 1: you've got until Halloween to to sign up for that
Speaker 1: PSLF waivers specifically, speaking of Halloween, candy is more expensive
Speaker 1: this year. Uh, stats still free for me. I just
Speaker 1: s tell my kids, got that daddy tax right. The
Speaker 1: price of candy, it's it's actually almost exactly in line
Speaker 1: with the cost of other grocery store items. It's up
Speaker 1: about year of a year. And so how is it
Speaker 1: that you keep candy costs low while still having a
Speaker 1: great time this season? Well, you buy the bigger bags. Duh.
Speaker 1: If you're planning on giving out tons of candy anyway,
Speaker 1: the you know, the bags that have at least two
Speaker 1: hundred pieces in there, that's going to get you the
Speaker 1: most bang for your buck where you're able to lower
Speaker 1: the cost of each individual east. Uh, that's at least
Speaker 1: typically the case. And you know you can find those
Speaker 1: big old bags at warehouse clubs like Sam's or Costco. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's gonna save your money. Then grabbing the twenty count
Speaker 1: bag at a place like Target or Walmart. Right. Well,
Speaker 1: I saw somebody in our Facebook group, Matt said they
Speaker 1: buy the big big candy bar size, like the king
Speaker 1: king size. Yeah we'll not king size, but like not
Speaker 1: the tiny ones, right standards standard sized candy bars. And
Speaker 1: I was like, you, okay, I hope that someone. I
Speaker 1: think one of our listeners was like, I hope that's
Speaker 1: your craft beer equivalent, because hey, maybe and maybe it is,
Speaker 1: and maybe it is. Maybe you love to see the
Speaker 1: joy on a kid's face when you're handing them like
Speaker 1: a giant candy bar, and everywhere else are getting the
Speaker 1: tiny ones. But you gotta make sure you're prepared to
Speaker 1: spend the big bucks for it because it's gonna cost
Speaker 1: more of this year. So yeah, that's definitely when the
Speaker 1: daddy tacks kicks in because you see that one, you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: that one's for that one's for mom and your daddy.
Speaker 1: The little ones are those are for you. But we
Speaker 1: sent off the top. That's how you teach your kids
Speaker 1: of money lesson right there, right Well, and I hate
Speaker 1: to beat a dead horse, Matt, but last week, you know,
Speaker 1: we you and I we talked about fancy pet restaurants
Speaker 1: charging seventy five bucks for a three or meal for
Speaker 1: your dog. But and and just I just want to
Speaker 1: say this because while we're on the note of Halloween, well,
Speaker 1: pet owners are buying more expensive Halloween costumes for their pets.
Speaker 1: So that that's that came out this week. The National
Speaker 1: Retail Federation says that folks are likely to spend seven
Speaker 1: million dollars on costumes. So much money. It's it's crazy,
Speaker 1: it really is. And you know, I don't Here's what
Speaker 1: I would suggest. Instead of spending money on a costume
Speaker 1: for your pet, allow them to be a part of
Speaker 1: your costume without having to get dressed up. So, in particular,
Speaker 1: it works best if you have a hairless cat, then
Speaker 1: you can be dr Evil from Austin Powers. That's I
Speaker 1: don't know, that's just like one thought. But naked cat,
Speaker 1: I guess all cats are naked. Maybe to shave your
Speaker 1: cat if it does have fair sure, that's totally fun
Speaker 1: with that, right, that's maybe I'll do that with with
Speaker 1: one of ours. But I'm not gonna go hard on
Speaker 1: this one. But yeah, spending spending on Halloween costumes, it
Speaker 1: can bring lots of joy. I totally get it. It's
Speaker 1: totally okay to dress your your dog up like a
Speaker 1: pumpkin or a hot dog, which apparently are the top
Speaker 1: two choices this year. But just don't go overboard and
Speaker 1: maybe just maybe think about getting one used off Facebook
Speaker 1: or something like that, or just reuse a costume from
Speaker 1: last year. Check out eBay as well forget pet costumes.
Speaker 1: Did you see the most popular kids costumes Spider Man?
Speaker 1: Which classic? Right? And well, guess what our son is
Speaker 1: going to be dressed up? He's a three year old
Speaker 1: and he wants to be dressed up as Spider Man.
Speaker 1: I didn't realize that we were so like basic middle class,
Speaker 1: but I was like, oh wow, I guess that's not
Speaker 1: really unique. To me, it's unique because you know, we've
Speaker 1: had all girls up until now. So he's like, I
Speaker 1: want to be Spiderman. I'm like, buddy, that's awesome. Sitting
Speaker 1: to the majority of all kids who are participating in
Speaker 1: Halloween was Spiderman in the Princess You're just like everyone else,
Speaker 1: all right. Well, so those bags of candy, they're not
Speaker 1: the only thing is getting smaller. Retail rewards have been
Speaker 1: shrinking as well. Airlines like Delta they've been raising the
Speaker 1: bar to achieve different status levels, and Duncan Donuts they
Speaker 1: are pairing back reward perks for their customers as well.
Speaker 1: The biggest or for regular visitors at Dunkin Donuts is
Speaker 1: that they did away with their freebie birthday drink line
Speaker 1: too far, so you can slash that off of the
Speaker 1: all the places to visit on your birthday list. But
Speaker 1: they're also requiring more visits to crew some of those
Speaker 1: you know, different free coffee benefits and drinks throughout the
Speaker 1: year as well. Uh. And honestly, that like this is
Speaker 1: just part of the reality of inflation. It's one way
Speaker 1: that businesses are able to fight back and it often
Speaker 1: allows them to keep other price increases in check. And
Speaker 1: so I know some folks are pretty bummed about things.
Speaker 1: But would you rather lose some of these benefits or
Speaker 1: would you rather see the price of actual coffee, of
Speaker 1: the actual product go up across the board and a
Speaker 1: dozen donuts to take up two bucks, or would you
Speaker 1: rather miss out on some of these rewards. I get
Speaker 1: it exactly. It's tough sledding out there, but retailers have
Speaker 1: to make choices as their cost of doing business goes up.
Speaker 1: And so this is one of those things where we're
Speaker 1: gonna take it on the chin as or at least
Speaker 1: people who like dunking donuts a lot are going to
Speaker 1: take it on the chin. Let's talk about the new
Speaker 1: tax brackets for a second map because you know, one
Speaker 1: benefit bit of inflation, a silver lining, if you will,
Speaker 1: is that the I R S has has changed changed
Speaker 1: up the tax brackets for next year for tax three.
Speaker 1: And obviously what you pay in taxes is dependent on
Speaker 1: a bunch of different things. It's depending on your specific situation,
Speaker 1: your income, your filing status. You know how much you're
Speaker 1: giving away, how much you're contributing through retirement accounts, like
Speaker 1: all of the above. But the nice thing is the
Speaker 1: tax tax brackets have gone up basically in line with
Speaker 1: what we've seen for inflation. You can see those new
Speaker 1: tax brackets. Will link to the I r S website
Speaker 1: on our website at how to money dot com, so
Speaker 1: you can see specifically where you might fall in. But
Speaker 1: the standard deduction is also going up, which is another
Speaker 1: good thing for taxes. Uh. It's twenty seven thousand, seven
Speaker 1: hundred dollars for married folks next year and eight hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty dollars for single individuals. And man, it makes
Speaker 1: sense for the vast majority of folks to take the
Speaker 1: standard deduction something close to American of Americans can and
Speaker 1: should take the standard deduction, right, they'd be worse off
Speaker 1: if they chose to optimize because the standarduction is is
Speaker 1: so rich, And it's just nice to see that climb
Speaker 1: by a meaningful amount. That, combined with the tax bracket increases,
Speaker 1: I think could see a decent chuck of Americans paying
Speaker 1: less in federal income tax next year. Exactly. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: that's yeah, Like you said, it's kind of a silver lining.
Speaker 1: But some some clearly some definite good news is on
Speaker 1: the retirement account front. We have seen those contribution limits
Speaker 1: on the rise as well. You're gonna be able to
Speaker 1: put sixty dollars into iras next year. That's five hundred
Speaker 1: bucks more than last year. Uh. And you can contribute
Speaker 1: to thousand dollars more to a four one K or
Speaker 1: a four or three B up to two thousand, five
Speaker 1: hundred dollars. So this is all great for those of
Speaker 1: us who are looking to dramatically save and invest for
Speaker 1: our retirement. On that note, hs A limits they actually
Speaker 1: went up by a few hundred bucks as well. Uh.
Speaker 1: Individuals can contribute two hundred dollars more than they could
Speaker 1: last year for a grand total of three thousand, eight
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty dollars. And married folks and contribute four
Speaker 1: dollars more for a total of seven thousand, seven hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty dollars. And so keep in mind that's for
Speaker 1: hs A s, which are health savings accounts. Those are
Speaker 1: the accounts that we see as the number one account
Speaker 1: basically to invest into. They've got that triple tax advantage.
Speaker 1: To get more money into those is two amazing things.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, uh. And so even though those dollar amounts
Speaker 1: seem small, just realize the benefit that they're gonna be
Speaker 1: able to provide you is it's sort of like three
Speaker 1: x if you don't think about it that way. But
Speaker 1: don't confuse hs A S with f essays flexible spending
Speaker 1: accounts because those limits are actually increasing as well, from
Speaker 1: fifty to three thousand fifty dollars as well. Uh So
Speaker 1: bottom line, you know, if you're getting after it's nice
Speaker 1: to know that you'll be able to funnel a little
Speaker 1: more money, a little more dough into those pre tax
Speaker 1: retirement accounts starting January one. And so what that means
Speaker 1: if if you're like me and you set aside five
Speaker 1: hundred bucks every single month for the next year, right,
Speaker 1: and so I always want to make sure I've got
Speaker 1: they're always over retrieving ready to go, because you, I mean,
Speaker 1: history shows you earn more like you see higher returns
Speaker 1: with the most time in the market versus timing the market.
Speaker 1: And so it's better to get that money in a
Speaker 1: SAP as soon as possible. Uh And so what that
Speaker 1: means though, is that there's a five difference to make up.
Speaker 1: So just make sure that you stash away an extra
Speaker 1: to fifty uh for November and December. That way you
Speaker 1: do have that not just six thousand dollars come January,
Speaker 1: but that full ready to rip, and then moving forward
Speaker 1: you are looking at something more like it's like five
Speaker 1: bucks if you want to make sure you have that
Speaker 1: full just over a month. There you go. So yeah,
Speaker 1: if you want to, if you're starting January, if you're
Speaker 1: if you're not like Matt, you're not over achieving, You're
Speaker 1: just contributing the the amount every month to try to
Speaker 1: max it out. In January, you're gonna start wanting to
Speaker 1: put away five a month to max it out, whereas
Speaker 1: before you were just doing There you go. All right,
Speaker 1: we got more stories to get to, including a fascinating
Speaker 1: new study about how where you work is going to
Speaker 1: make a major difference in your economic mobility and your
Speaker 1: your financial success. Will get to that and more right
Speaker 1: after this break. Alright, we're back from the break, and
Speaker 1: we've got several additional stories to get to, uh, including
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about the new Apple banking product that's
Speaker 1: gonna be rolling out. But before we get to that, Joe,
Speaker 1: we've got our ludicrous headline of the week, and this
Speaker 1: one comes from Business Insider, and it reads, the era
Speaker 1: of free returns maybe coming to an end. Oh man,
Speaker 1: This is bad news because basically some businesses out there,
Speaker 1: they're starting to charge fees to return the stuff that
Speaker 1: you've ordered online. And the reason for that is returns
Speaker 1: can be a massive headache for retailers that costs them
Speaker 1: quite a bit of money. I totally understand they're desired
Speaker 1: to to do this. It almost has felt like it's
Speaker 1: like a lost leader, like the ability for them to
Speaker 1: offer free return shipping in order to kind of vacuum
Speaker 1: up all those consumers out there to get you beholden
Speaker 1: to that website or to that service, depending on the
Speaker 1: condition of that the item is in once it gets returned,
Speaker 1: sometimes it's unsellable and sometimes they just have to donate it,
Speaker 1: or it costs money and labor to put that item
Speaker 1: back on the shelf, or it's not perfect conditions, so
Speaker 1: I get a retaler. So often it returns to a
Speaker 1: big problem for you. Do you care? Like if you
Speaker 1: buy something alone and you can tell that it has
Speaker 1: already been returned, because you can kind of tell, right like,
Speaker 1: does that bother you? It depends. It depends on whether
Speaker 1: it's clearly busted, like and sometimes obviously if it's busted,
Speaker 1: it's like okay, no, this is legit broken, but like
Speaker 1: we ordered something recently and you could tell that it
Speaker 1: they had tried it out, and I was like, you
Speaker 1: know what. At first, I was kind of offended because like,
Speaker 1: how dare they send me something that's not perfectly new?
Speaker 1: But at the same time, I don't know, like when
Speaker 1: you go in store in person and buy something, like
Speaker 1: whether it's a shirt or something, like people try things
Speaker 1: on and how is that all that different I guess
Speaker 1: than somebody making return themselves. And it feels different, I
Speaker 1: guess because we're not necessarily used to it's not that
Speaker 1: as used, but it's something that someone else's touched, you know,
Speaker 1: it's not like it's straight from the manufacturer. But if
Speaker 1: you are wondering which retailers are trying these return fees out, uh,
Speaker 1: some companies who have admitted to doing this our h
Speaker 1: and m Zara. Uh, not just the fast fashion folks
Speaker 1: out there, but other retailers as well, like Jay Crew,
Speaker 1: Crews not fast fashion. That's to me, they're kind of
Speaker 1: like in the middle, J C. Penny, DWS, Abercrombie. Um,
Speaker 1: they're still around actually, believe it or not. That's also
Speaker 1: news to me. That was Joel's other other high school
Speaker 1: job was standing out in front, like I've bench pressed
Speaker 1: enough to do that, but others other retailers are likely
Speaker 1: going to follow suit if there isn't too much of
Speaker 1: a revolt. And we, of course we hate fees and
Speaker 1: we want you to avoid them. You know, you can
Speaker 1: sometimes avoid these return fees if you are part of
Speaker 1: some of these different membership programs that these retailers are offering,
Speaker 1: or by returning the items in person instead of shipping
Speaker 1: them back. It's you know, like, we know that that
Speaker 1: it's going to be annoying, but my be what you
Speaker 1: have to do in order to avoid these these return fees.
Speaker 1: And some work with third party companies so you can
Speaker 1: drop them off in a more convenient location. Let's say
Speaker 1: you do buy from a j CRU or something like that,
Speaker 1: and you're like, there's no store anywhere nearby me, I
Speaker 1: have to send it back, but they're gonna charge me
Speaker 1: a few to do it. Well, sometimes they work with
Speaker 1: the third party companies so you can drop it off
Speaker 1: at like UPS store or something like that to make
Speaker 1: it a little bit easier and also allow you to
Speaker 1: avoid some of those fees. I think Happy Returns is
Speaker 1: one of these companies that does that on behalf of
Speaker 1: certain retailers like a Walgreens. I feel like they were
Speaker 1: one of those partners as well. That might be Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you can return into a few different places
Speaker 1: if you're doing it through Happy returns, But you also
Speaker 1: might want to reconsider where you do your shopping. Right
Speaker 1: if a retailer that you like, even if ordering online
Speaker 1: is incredibly convenient and easy, well, if it's becoming more
Speaker 1: annoying and expensive to return the items that you get,
Speaker 1: you're like, wait a second, this doesn't fit the way
Speaker 1: I wanted it to, this doesn't look the way it
Speaker 1: looked online, then we would say you might want to
Speaker 1: think twice about buying from that retailer if they're going
Speaker 1: to charge your fees to take it back. Shopping in
Speaker 1: person is another thing, and I'm not keen on doing
Speaker 1: that myself, map, but I know some people are like
Speaker 1: they've gotten used to shopping online, but maybe maybe they
Speaker 1: have realized that they're spending too much buying stuff online anyway,
Speaker 1: and shopping in person is the best way to test
Speaker 1: stuff out so you don't find yourself in the position
Speaker 1: of having to send stuff back you know, all the time,
Speaker 1: or the or holding onto things because you forgot to
Speaker 1: make returns. That's a problem too that people run into.
Speaker 1: So yeah, those are a few ways to fight back against.
Speaker 1: Gotta be intentional about it. Yeah, potential potential few return
Speaker 1: charges that you might encounter. But I mean that being said,
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be really tough because I think
Speaker 1: individuals consumers have fallen in love with free returns over
Speaker 1: the past several years. Um, you've all. I forget his
Speaker 1: last name. Sapiens is the book that he wrote though,
Speaker 1: but he talks about how initially when we experience something,
Speaker 1: it's a luxury, but then we start taking those luxuries
Speaker 1: for granted, and pretty soon we we start depending on
Speaker 1: all those things. Two days shipping was a novelty until
Speaker 1: I was like, I wanted to want the additional costs
Speaker 1: and responsibilities in our lives. I wanted three hours after cooking.
Speaker 1: Now we have to, like, it's gonna take some serious, intentional,
Speaker 1: like active behavior in order to fight this desire to
Speaker 1: continue down this path that we've basically been trained to
Speaker 1: go down. But Jola's hit on another story which this
Speaker 1: actually could have been our our ludicrous headline. I feel
Speaker 1: like we always come across the couple every week. We're
Speaker 1: that kind of makes in there, man, because there's a
Speaker 1: couple that really suck a little bit. Uh. And it
Speaker 1: is that more US companies they're charging their employees for training.
Speaker 1: We we actually talked about this recently pet Smart. They're
Speaker 1: they're charging employees thousands of dollars if they received training
Speaker 1: but then don't stay with a company for at least
Speaker 1: a couple of years. Not cool at all. But it
Speaker 1: looks like now that pet smart isn't alone. Reuters they
Speaker 1: had an article this week that said that nearly ten
Speaker 1: percent of US workers are covered by a TRAP and Joel,
Speaker 1: this is what you're referring to earlier. This is a
Speaker 1: training repayment agreement provision. And it's not like the businesses
Speaker 1: are calling it that because of course they would have
Speaker 1: wanted to avoid the acronym traffic. This is an acronym
Speaker 1: that critics have coin your employee, please sign this trap um.
Speaker 1: It's like, wait, what, your red flags aren't going up
Speaker 1: when they slide that across the table and paying attention
Speaker 1: if it's not yeah, and said, it's just yeah an
Speaker 1: appropriate acronym for saying that the training like this is
Speaker 1: on you if you don't stay at the company for
Speaker 1: a specified period of time. So it's not just pet Smart,
Speaker 1: it's other places to nurses, truck driver, salon workers and
Speaker 1: more are being forced into signing these traps, and it
Speaker 1: often keeps people locked into a job that they'd otherwise
Speaker 1: like to leave, but it would cost them too much
Speaker 1: to go elsewhere. They're like, man, I would go down
Speaker 1: the road the labor markets robust. I can make more
Speaker 1: money over there. But because I signed this piece of paper,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna owe my current employer money for the training
Speaker 1: that I received, and I don't have that cash on hand.
Speaker 1: It's a real problem. So we would say, make sure
Speaker 1: you know what you're signing when you get a new
Speaker 1: job that requires training. If it says trap at the top, runaway.
Speaker 1: But even if it doesn't read the fine print, make
Speaker 1: sure you know what you're getting into, know how much
Speaker 1: it's gonna cost you if you decide this job isn't
Speaker 1: for you before the agreement expires. And they also note
Speaker 1: in the story that lawmakers are considering legislation to put
Speaker 1: some boundaries on these sorts of agreements, which could be
Speaker 1: a good thing, but until then, it's on you to
Speaker 1: look out for yourself and to watch out for these
Speaker 1: workplace traps that apparently here, you know, getting more people
Speaker 1: than I thought. I didn't realize, Matt, ten percent of
Speaker 1: the workforces, a lot of has signed something like this. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a lot of folks. It's a big deal. The
Speaker 1: truth is working for the right company that goes a
Speaker 1: long way, right, A company that that that treats you well,
Speaker 1: like a like a human being, that doesn't set traps
Speaker 1: for you. A new five year study by the Burning
Speaker 1: Glass Institute, they find that where you work has a
Speaker 1: lot to do with your potential for career advancement. It's
Speaker 1: less about your like your specific title, or your specific job,
Speaker 1: or even an industry, and it's more about the company
Speaker 1: that you opt to work at. This the study literally
Speaker 1: listed out the top companies that offer folks the most
Speaker 1: economic and job opportunity the most chances for advancement. Will
Speaker 1: link to the study in the show notes. But some
Speaker 1: companies that were there near the top of the list
Speaker 1: where Apple, A T and t Amex, Microsoft, Liberty Mutual
Speaker 1: Southwest as well, so they double shout out to Southwest.
Speaker 1: They were all near the top of the heap and
Speaker 1: companies that you should feel pretty good about working for. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and Costco actually made it in the top see that.
Speaker 1: I think they were in Nestling in their number twenty three.
Speaker 1: They treat their employees well, they do, and it's it's true.
Speaker 1: I think every company has a culture, and it's it's
Speaker 1: just easier than ever before to figure out what that
Speaker 1: company culture is before you start applying for jobs. Often times,
Speaker 1: before the Internet mat it was like word of mouth.
Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, it was a great place to work.
Speaker 1: They treat me well. But now, back when companies were
Speaker 1: also small and so I mean that probably worked back
Speaker 1: in the day, right, because it's like, well, it was
Speaker 1: easier back then because the companies were smaller, and it's like, well, yeah,
Speaker 1: you still had it. I don't know, it took maybe
Speaker 1: a little more legwork for you. But now that these
Speaker 1: companies are big and massive, it's like, how are you
Speaker 1: supposed to figure out how they're treating this entire division
Speaker 1: of people? Internet? Yeah, technology studies studies like this one,
Speaker 1: workplace forums sites like glass door are really helpful to
Speaker 1: analyze companies before you start applying. Milly Nilly and we
Speaker 1: would say to prioritize companies that do right by their
Speaker 1: employees right trying to ask folks who worked there about
Speaker 1: how that company approaches pay raises and promotions before you
Speaker 1: even agree to go in for an interview. And this study,
Speaker 1: by the way, Matt, it's got this great interactive tool
Speaker 1: on their website so you can kind of dig down
Speaker 1: and see which companies rank well on a bunch of
Speaker 1: different factors. So we would say it's definitely worth checking
Speaker 1: out and going there. But a lot of a lot
Speaker 1: of great tools that were recommending exactly well. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: and I thought it was important to mention too that
Speaker 1: Dollar Tree Dollar General offered some of the most room
Speaker 1: for advancement for folks without a college degree. And they
Speaker 1: specifically have a button on this site that says like
Speaker 1: I don't have a college degree, boom, which companies are
Speaker 1: going to be best for me in that position? And
Speaker 1: they highlight like people specifically at a Dollar Tree and
Speaker 1: stuff like that, even if you don't have a college degree,
Speaker 1: you can end up at something make a district manager
Speaker 1: making big money without ever having gone to college, which
Speaker 1: I think is cool. So unlike working for Microsoft or Intel,
Speaker 1: who have very high standards as to snagging that entry level,
Speaker 1: that initial position exactly, but there's it's it's nice to
Speaker 1: see it broken out like that. I think this tool
Speaker 1: and seeing super which companies are great at promoting people
Speaker 1: and increasing their pay Like, man, those are the companies
Speaker 1: I'd want to be applying applying at first. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: plus it's just good to be able to I feel
Speaker 1: like we crap all over Dollar General and uh because
Speaker 1: he was like that. But there's opportunity. It's also good
Speaker 1: to see though that they are it seems like they're
Speaker 1: doing a great job when it comes to the kind
Speaker 1: of culture that they're fostering within their companies. Well, Jola's
Speaker 1: get to this story for all the Apple fan boys
Speaker 1: out there, finger Els fan boys. I'm not sure if
Speaker 1: we needed another online bank, but we're definitely going to
Speaker 1: be getting one. We've well, you know, we've talked about
Speaker 1: the virtues of online banks regularly on the show. We
Speaker 1: like Ally Discover, C, I, T, and Marcus. These are
Speaker 1: some of the best ones out there. And actually Marcus
Speaker 1: is run by Goldman Sachs, who partnered with Apple to
Speaker 1: launch their credit card. Well now they're actually partnering to
Speaker 1: launch an Apple branded bank and with more than half
Speaker 1: of Americans as Apple users. It's worth noting that you
Speaker 1: might be seeing a lot more about this new product soon.
Speaker 1: It's honestly right, at this point, it's too early to
Speaker 1: tell whether or not it's going to be worth signing
Speaker 1: up for. I will say that Marcus, like their high
Speaker 1: Yield Savings account, currently is offering a rate at two
Speaker 1: point three five percent, which, again, like we said, that
Speaker 1: is solid and hopefully we see something exactly the same
Speaker 1: or at least very very comparable that Apple is able
Speaker 1: to offer. It's still not what uh C I T
Speaker 1: is offering. I mean, we can barely keep up with them.
Speaker 1: They rolled out three percent earlier this week, which is crazy.
Speaker 1: But you know, we know that this account will feature
Speaker 1: no minimums, no fees, but we don't know what the
Speaker 1: actual interest rate's going to be. Uh well you know,
Speaker 1: nor you know what additional features they're going to be
Speaker 1: offering as well. But either way, they can't hurt to
Speaker 1: have another solid competitor within the online making space, and
Speaker 1: we'll make sure to keep you all updated when we
Speaker 1: know more. For sure. Yeah, as an Android user, of course,
Speaker 1: I will not be using this bank, Matthew, unless they
Speaker 1: are actually tough here top notch. But we'll see. I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's even Google will allow me to
Speaker 1: get the Apple on my Pixel phone. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Apple and Google don't say like you can't get there
Speaker 1: from here, Sorry, you gotta go on your web browser, idiot,
Speaker 1: which you know. If it's good enough, maybe I'll do it.
Speaker 1: But last story of the day, Matt, let's let's talk
Speaker 1: about Aldi for a second. CNN had an article listener
Speaker 1: Masa said this one our way, and basically, even though
Speaker 1: you and I we've been preaching the Aldi gospel for
Speaker 1: years now, it feels like we've been like John the Baptist,
Speaker 1: crying in the wilderness with a few people listening. But yeah,
Speaker 1: conversions are happening more rapidly now, especially amongst middle and
Speaker 1: high income folks who are becoming more price sensitive as
Speaker 1: inflation just obviously continues to be a major problem. Foot
Speaker 1: traffic into all these stores is up double digits percentage points,
Speaker 1: and that makes sense to me, right, food prices are
Speaker 1: on the rise. Just the act of changing where you
Speaker 1: buy your groceries can lower your bill dramatically. No cup
Speaker 1: on clipping necessary, which is my kind of thing, because
Speaker 1: I don't like huvans. I hate doing that stuff. And
Speaker 1: and but all the inlital are the two top low
Speaker 1: cost options that most folks should consider. And if you've
Speaker 1: yet to venture into one, we would say this weekend
Speaker 1: it's a perfect time to check one out. And you're
Speaker 1: not the only one who's gonna be doing it. More
Speaker 1: and more folks are are leaning towards the discount grocer's
Speaker 1: and the truth is they could lop a decent portion
Speaker 1: off your grocery bill every single month then, especially as
Speaker 1: it keeps going higher and higher thanks to inflation, like
Speaker 1: you gotta fight back in some way. This is the
Speaker 1: easiest way, we would say to fight back and say big,
Speaker 1: that's right, man, But that is going to be it
Speaker 1: for our Friday flight. Don't forget to check out the
Speaker 1: credit card tool. So how do money dot com forward
Speaker 1: slash credit cards? And we hope everyone has a great weekend.
Speaker 1: We'll see you back here on Monday. We actually have
Speaker 1: got a great interview lined up and we're gonna be
Speaker 1: talking about crypto. It's been a minute since we've we've
Speaker 1: talked about that. Crypto is like locked away in the
Speaker 1: freezer right now, in the depths of despair. But it's
Speaker 1: worth talking about winter. We had an expert that we're
Speaker 1: bringing on who is a journalist. She talks about crypto
Speaker 1: every day for a living, so I'm curious to We're
Speaker 1: curious to pick her brain. Here her thoughts and we'll
Speaker 1: share that with you on Monday. Absolutely, but Joe, that's
Speaker 1: going to be it for this one. Buddy, until next time,
Speaker 1: Best friends out, Best Friends Out.