Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt,
Speaker 1: and today we're discussing three percent mortgages, second hand steels,
Speaker 1: and leg room lunacy. You know what, buddy, this is
Speaker 1: our Friday Flights. Well, we're gonna talk about some of
Speaker 1: the different stories we came across this week, the most
Speaker 1: important headlines that we think you need to pay attention
Speaker 1: to real quick. I wanted to share a quick personal
Speaker 1: anecdote though, So back in the spring when we listened
Speaker 1: our house, back when the housing market was quite hot,
Speaker 1: in particular for the sellers out there, we had a
Speaker 1: number of offers, a number of competitive offers on our
Speaker 1: Place two in particular, we were trying to decide between
Speaker 1: but one of the buyers they had included within their
Speaker 1: offer the ability to stay in mountain cabin. Have we
Speaker 1: talked about this on the show? I can't remember, so
Speaker 1: if we if we have, it's always have to know
Speaker 1: what we've talked about only in real life with you
Speaker 1: and me sitting here in the office, versus what we've
Speaker 1: talked about on the show. And granted, this wouldn't have
Speaker 1: tipped the scales if the other offer was super strong.
Speaker 1: If they had come in with a really high price.
Speaker 1: At that point, it just kind of comes down to
Speaker 1: the numbers. You kind of have to do the math.
Speaker 1: You don't want to overvalue this mountain cabin stay. It's yeah,
Speaker 1: what can I book this formally night let's say exactly
Speaker 1: it's value if maybe an extra thousand bucks, but it
Speaker 1: was still enough to put them on our radar, maybe
Speaker 1: a little bit more than otherwise. Right. But simultaneously I
Speaker 1: was a little bit curious to see if we were
Speaker 1: actually going to take advantage of that, because it's one
Speaker 1: of those things were on paper. It seems like this
Speaker 1: nice perk's offer literally a tent and you're like, dang it,
Speaker 1: no they failed again. They did include pictures and it
Speaker 1: looked really nice, and we thought, oh, this is this
Speaker 1: is actually something we should consider as we're making a decision. Well,
Speaker 1: the good news is that we actually just booked it.
Speaker 1: We we've kind of been in touch with them, and
Speaker 1: we weren't sure if we're going to reach out to
Speaker 1: them and they're gonna say, oh, by the way, it's
Speaker 1: book for the next two years. That was a joke,
Speaker 1: but we know it's in the contract man. No, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was, And that is something that we just books.
Speaker 1: I'm actually, yeah, we're looking forward to doing that this
Speaker 1: this fall for a few days. But the reason I
Speaker 1: wanted to share that is because it was a way
Speaker 1: that these buyers that they got creative in order to
Speaker 1: get the house that they wanted. Uh. And we're actually
Speaker 1: seeing that in other ways, not necessarily from the buyer's standpoint,
Speaker 1: but from the seller standpoint. So our first story, we're
Speaker 1: gonna talk about mortgage loan assumptions because obviously mortgage rates,
Speaker 1: you know, like they're still low if you if you
Speaker 1: take kind of like if you zoom out and take
Speaker 1: a long term look. I kinda want to make a
Speaker 1: joke about assumptions here, by the way, because I don't know,
Speaker 1: you know what they say about people who make assumptions,
Speaker 1: right man, But I think this type of assumptions, though,
Speaker 1: are a good thing. Exactly. Yeah, So let's just like
Speaker 1: spell that out real quick. This assumption is literally you
Speaker 1: taking over somebody else's mortgage, right, So not going out
Speaker 1: and getting your own mortgage, but when someone is selling
Speaker 1: that house, you are saying, not only am I taking
Speaker 1: your house, when I'm taking your mortgage at the same time, exactly,
Speaker 1: And and The interesting thing is that almost nobody did
Speaker 1: this for a whole lot of years. But as mortgage
Speaker 1: rates have risen just astronomically recently, we've we've seen a
Speaker 1: lot more mortgage assumptions taking place now that rates are
Speaker 1: in the six percent range. It's pricing some folks out
Speaker 1: of the out of the housing market. Well, if you
Speaker 1: get that same house, same price, but with a three
Speaker 1: percent mortgage, you might be able to afford it, right,
Speaker 1: And there are what will point out a big chunk
Speaker 1: of loans that are not assumable based on the way
Speaker 1: the contract is written from that mortgage lender, like they
Speaker 1: can't transfer it into your name. These are specifically government
Speaker 1: backboard like that like v A loans, loans, U s
Speaker 1: d A loans, some of these loans that are directly
Speaker 1: backed by the US government exactly. So. The interesting thing though,
Speaker 1: is as you're out there searching for homes to buy,
Speaker 1: you're going to likely see people touting this inside of
Speaker 1: the listing, right because if they have this two point
Speaker 1: seven five percent mortgage or three and a half percent
Speaker 1: mortgage that they're willing to let you assume that's an
Speaker 1: that's a huge check mark for them and for their property.
Speaker 1: They're gonna get a lot more potential buyers if those
Speaker 1: buyers know that they can take on that much lower mortgage.
Speaker 1: Right at the same time, I will say it's a
Speaker 1: tricky process though, even if you even if the house
Speaker 1: does come with an assumable loan, for instance, it maybe
Speaker 1: that loan might only cover the purchase price and you've
Speaker 1: got to either bring cash or get another. Loans are
Speaker 1: so much higher likely than when they actually purchase that home.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it may not only it may only cover
Speaker 1: a small portion of the overall purchase price of that property. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but that Wall Street Journal article about assumable mortgages was
Speaker 1: something I was like, I I know it's more common
Speaker 1: actually in other countries, I believe in Great Britain. It's
Speaker 1: one of those things. It's kind of hard for the course,
Speaker 1: and it would it would seem like this should be
Speaker 1: more normal here where you don't have to but the
Speaker 1: bank's benefit right from every time somebody does takes out
Speaker 1: a fresh new loan, when if we just had more
Speaker 1: assumable loans, it would cut down on some of those
Speaker 1: transaction fees that were always railing against matt when it
Speaker 1: comes to buying and selling real estate. I would love
Speaker 1: to see more mortgage loans become assumable, more people transferring
Speaker 1: mortgages to each other as they buy or sell a house.
Speaker 1: But I don't know. It's good to see at least
Speaker 1: a little bit of uptick in this regard, that's right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so there is a way for you to get that
Speaker 1: two and three quarters mortgage radees, but they're they're just
Speaker 1: you and far between. Not not terribly easy, but it's possible,
Speaker 1: all right. So we talked recently about the duopoly and
Speaker 1: the monopoly reality that most folks face when it comes
Speaker 1: to paying for internet at home. There are really just
Speaker 1: a few companies around the country who are out there
Speaker 1: competing with each other. So the options they remain pretty crappy,
Speaker 1: and the prices because of that, they stay pretty high.
Speaker 1: Speeds are low, and your mostly bill is exorbit But
Speaker 1: one thing that we failed to mission is that technology
Speaker 1: is helping to bring more competition to the space, helping
Speaker 1: this to hopefully become more of a problem of the past.
Speaker 1: Some of the major cell phone companies out there, like
Speaker 1: Verizon and T Mobile, they are selling their five G
Speaker 1: cell service, but it's not just cell phone service, it's
Speaker 1: actually gonna be able to replace your current WiFi set
Speaker 1: up that you have at home. And the price, it's
Speaker 1: it's not all that bad either. It's like it's a
Speaker 1: fifty bucks from T Mobile. Uh and plans start at
Speaker 1: fifty dollars as well with Verizon, although folks who currently
Speaker 1: have Verizon for cell phone service they can get an
Speaker 1: even lower rate by bundling. I haven't tested these out personally,
Speaker 1: but from what we've read, the reviews look really good
Speaker 1: and the price is good as well. Uh And so
Speaker 1: it's it's good to see that there these are some
Speaker 1: kind of like realistic options that would allow you to
Speaker 1: take a completely different approach to getting internet at home
Speaker 1: as opposed to going the more traditional path, which always
Speaker 1: feels so cumbersome as well. Right, like you, So you
Speaker 1: have to be there in person because the guy is
Speaker 1: going to show up. I think he's gonna drill a
Speaker 1: random hole in your house. Who knows where exactly, He's
Speaker 1: just gonna drill over everyone. When we moved in the
Speaker 1: A T and T guy came out, we we had
Speaker 1: to talk a long time about where he's gonna put
Speaker 1: this whole and it was just kind of I don't know, it.
Speaker 1: It took a long time. These five five G service
Speaker 1: at it seems like it's it's going to be the future.
Speaker 1: And the speeds or something like in the in the
Speaker 1: average range of a hundred megs up to like a
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty megs with a couple of these plans,
Speaker 1: So it's worth looking into. Let's say, if you're currently
Speaker 1: paying for internet service every single month, but that speed
Speaker 1: is going to serve you just fine, or maybe you
Speaker 1: just found that like yeah, you've called the customer retention
Speaker 1: department again, like we've suggested, and they have finally got
Speaker 1: onto your game, and then they're not lowering your rate anymore.
Speaker 1: Typically they will, but not always. Well, it might be
Speaker 1: it might be time to try out one of these
Speaker 1: five G plans, and if you do, let us know,
Speaker 1: let us know how it goes. And that one thing
Speaker 1: you you mentioned was that if you are currently a
Speaker 1: Verizon customer, you can get an even better deal on
Speaker 1: this five G service. Sadly that means that you're paying
Speaker 1: so much extra though for cell phone service that's probably
Speaker 1: not worth it. If you mean, if you just leave,
Speaker 1: sit down and do the math, like take the whole
Speaker 1: picture into account, right, because if maybe you are with
Speaker 1: Mint Mobile, uh, and you've got that price down and
Speaker 1: you are able to pay maybe more than you want
Speaker 1: to because you are with Comcast. But if your overall
Speaker 1: net cost is going to be lower, of course, stick
Speaker 1: with what you've got going on. But if you do
Speaker 1: the math and you realize that, you know what, paying
Speaker 1: more for a Verizon cellfone service, uh, that would allow
Speaker 1: me to pay a lot less for my home internet,
Speaker 1: you could totally come out ahead. Yeah, because I think
Speaker 1: comes down to the numbers. Baby. I saw if you're
Speaker 1: actually a Verizon cell customer, you can get the internet
Speaker 1: for as low as twenty five dollars a month. It
Speaker 1: was like, that's pretty good, pretty sweet. Yeah. Alright, let's
Speaker 1: talk about travel for a second, because we had travel
Speaker 1: expert Scott Kais on the show a while back. Matt
Speaker 1: and we we talked a little bit about leg room
Speaker 1: on airplanes or the lack thereof, and airlines are, of course,
Speaker 1: they're doing their best to charge us more for tiny
Speaker 1: slivers of extra space as they've shrunk the distance between
Speaker 1: seats by a meaningful number of inches over the past
Speaker 1: couple of decades. Matt, I'm six ft six and so
Speaker 1: every inch of leg room they take away. I feel
Speaker 1: it like in my knees, in my back, all over,
Speaker 1: and so I don't love feel it in a pinky.
Speaker 1: It hurts there too, exactly exactly. My left ear lobe
Speaker 1: particularly throbs Matt on these long flights. But I've actually
Speaker 1: seen some drawings recently for potential cabin configurations where you're
Speaker 1: more in like an upright seat where they're packing a
Speaker 1: whole lot more people in and you're in this like
Speaker 1: semi standing positions, like an adjustable bike seat basically strattle,
Speaker 1: and you're yeah, it's almost like the steading roller coasters
Speaker 1: that you like, get It's almost exactly like that. That's
Speaker 1: the best. Yeah, that's one only lasts uh forty five seconds,
Speaker 1: whereas the other last for four and a half out
Speaker 1: right right, Well, I mean no, no carriers have actually
Speaker 1: tried to implement anything like this yet. But the interesting
Speaker 1: thing is they might not have the chance because apparently
Speaker 1: the Department of Transportation is considering imposing a minimum seat
Speaker 1: requirements for how much legroom people have, and it's currently
Speaker 1: open for public comment on their site. Now, I, Matt,
Speaker 1: like I told you, I don't like being crammed into
Speaker 1: a seat. I don't like feeling like a sardine where
Speaker 1: my knees are literally buffled up against the seat and
Speaker 1: front of me. But I will say I also like
Speaker 1: saving money, and I am more than willing to endure
Speaker 1: some discomfort to save an extra couple hundred dollars on
Speaker 1: a three or four hour flight. So I'm not the
Speaker 1: kind of person who wants to fly first class, who
Speaker 1: wants even the premium economy. Stick me in the back
Speaker 1: with all the regular folks who also have their knees
Speaker 1: cram begins to seat in front of them. Um, if
Speaker 1: it means I get to save money, I'm totally cool
Speaker 1: with it. So we're stuck hearing you complaining about it,
Speaker 1: like Jill does not want to be forced to pay that,
Speaker 1: But you always shall have the option to pay for that,
Speaker 1: all right. Like that's the thing that we love so
Speaker 1: much about the way things I guess currently are is
Speaker 1: that you have the choice. Like imagine if you wanted
Speaker 1: to fly somewhere you didn't have a ton of money,
Speaker 1: but you gotta fly, Well, you're probably gonna consider going
Speaker 1: with Spirit or you know, somebody like that where you
Speaker 1: can basically sneer at you the whole time. You know,
Speaker 1: like they're going to charge you for every little thing,
Speaker 1: But it is most likely absolutely be the best way
Speaker 1: to save and to be able to fly there for
Speaker 1: the least amount of money possible. But if these regulations pass, uh,
Speaker 1: guess what, that more affordable fare isn't going to exist
Speaker 1: because essentially you're you're you're forcing the airlines to pass
Speaker 1: some of those costs onto you. One of the other
Speaker 1: most beautiful things about the major discounters like Spirit Matt
Speaker 1: is the number show. When Spirit comes into a market,
Speaker 1: the amount of money that the major airlines are charging
Speaker 1: for seats goes down to So it's not just the
Speaker 1: fact that they're tramping people into cheap seats on on
Speaker 1: the Spirit airlines and that you could save money that way.
Speaker 1: It just because of the competition. Just because there are
Speaker 1: cheaper seats on Spirit means that their competitors, the even
Speaker 1: the ones that are are fullfair airlines, are gonna they're
Speaker 1: gonna be cheaper too, exactly because if they're forced to
Speaker 1: have fewer seats on these planes, that's going to lead
Speaker 1: to higher prices. Uh. But you know, so in the end,
Speaker 1: we'll we'll see what happens. We don't know, um fingers
Speaker 1: across those of the airlines that they keep doing their
Speaker 1: thing and that customers they are able to choose the
Speaker 1: airline that they want to do business with accordingly, because
Speaker 1: that's the thing. Over time, it depends on It's not
Speaker 1: even just you and what you're gradually getting used to,
Speaker 1: but like it depends maybe from trip to trip or
Speaker 1: even year to year. You might have like a really
Speaker 1: good year and you're thinking, you know it, you know,
Speaker 1: if I'm flying anywhere this year, I'm gonna do first class. Baby, like,
Speaker 1: no longer shall my knees be crammed. But like let's
Speaker 1: say three years from now, in fact, growth three more
Speaker 1: inches and it becomes just untenable. Likely you're done growing.
Speaker 1: But but you have the option. And that's what I
Speaker 1: love the most is that folks have the option to
Speaker 1: do that. Although that being said, some of these, uh,
Speaker 1: the extra leg room seats out there, they come with
Speaker 1: extra perks, like free drinks, which is kind of cool,
Speaker 1: and you know, flying so that your knees so that
Speaker 1: they don't ram into the seat in front of you,
Speaker 1: like that might be your craft beer equivalent, or you
Speaker 1: might feel that that's just a basic human need from
Speaker 1: your your point of view, But I think what's important
Speaker 1: to keep in mind is that do you want to
Speaker 1: have the choice to make this purchase on your own
Speaker 1: or do you want to be forced? Do you want
Speaker 1: to be coerced into paying more? Because everybody is having
Speaker 1: to provide, you know, fewer seats on a plane, they're
Speaker 1: having to provide more leg room for everybody. Like, I
Speaker 1: want people to have the choice, that's all. I can't
Speaker 1: imagine getting behind the wheel of Masa Miyata. Those things
Speaker 1: seem tiny, and I think they should be wiped off
Speaker 1: the face of the earth. Accordingly, like people who are
Speaker 1: six six probably shouldn't be dry in those cars. So
Speaker 1: there's a lot of Masa Miata fans. There's like, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of people who are five four who taking
Speaker 1: circuit and all they do is raise hota. Really do
Speaker 1: you know that? Yeah? You remember Corey, our our old buddy.
Speaker 1: He used to be part of this uh Miata group
Speaker 1: and they all got their mia have like a cult
Speaker 1: following take him to the track. I would imagine the
Speaker 1: cult following is mostly involved short people. But ironically enough,
Speaker 1: Core was at least six, he was decent, and he
Speaker 1: drove a Miata. Maybe they've got more legroom than I'm
Speaker 1: giving them credit for him. Maybe so well, speaking of
Speaker 1: the airlines, last week the U. S Department of Transportation,
Speaker 1: they published a really helpful chart that's gonna allow you
Speaker 1: to know what you're entitled to if you're affected by
Speaker 1: what's known as a controllable flight cancelation or delay. And
Speaker 1: this includes things like maintenance problems or let's say they
Speaker 1: don't have the right crew members for your flight, baggage
Speaker 1: loading or fueling problems. Will actually link to this in
Speaker 1: the show notes. But for example, if there's an overnight delay,
Speaker 1: virtually all of the airline carriers they've admitted to providing
Speaker 1: passengers with a complimentary hotel stay, all of them except
Speaker 1: for one matt Uh not Spirit actually, but Frontier. But yeah,
Speaker 1: just because an airline hasn't committed to certain amenities across
Speaker 1: the board, just because they're not listed on this website
Speaker 1: as offering that benefit, that doesn't mean that they won't
Speaker 1: hook you up if you ask. So it's important to
Speaker 1: know that it's often up to the discretion of the
Speaker 1: individual carrier and even the actual employee who you're speaking with, right,
Speaker 1: So it depends if if what what seats they sat
Speaker 1: in in order to Is Jan having a good day?
Speaker 1: We don't know, but maybe Margaret over here is feeling
Speaker 1: a little little happier and she's willing to make sure
Speaker 1: you're taking care of right, But she got to set
Speaker 1: in that extra first class seat. She didn't have to.
Speaker 1: What's the jump? Is that the jump seat that the
Speaker 1: uh the airline doesn't Is that the best seat in
Speaker 1: the in the house. No, not the bet They're just
Speaker 1: like a little fold out like a piece of wood
Speaker 1: or something like that. They do not look super comfortable.
Speaker 1: Let's well, well, yeah, I just it's just is important
Speaker 1: to mention one that this exists and that you can
Speaker 1: kind of see what you're entitled to, but also that
Speaker 1: even if you're not publicly entitled to some sort of
Speaker 1: compensation for one of these, you know, for a cancelation
Speaker 1: or for a delay, you can still advocate for yourself
Speaker 1: often again Matt via Twitter. Twitter is one of the
Speaker 1: best ways to get ahold of airline customer service and
Speaker 1: and lots of times they'll take care of you when
Speaker 1: legally they're not even required to. That's right, dude, All right,
Speaker 1: we have several other stories we're gonna get to including
Speaker 1: sacrificing a little bit of your privacy in order to
Speaker 1: save more on insurance. We've got that story plus a
Speaker 1: few others right after this. All right, we're going to
Speaker 1: continue here on the Friday flight. We're gonna talk continue
Speaker 1: to cover some stories that we found interesting this week,
Speaker 1: how they pertain to your personal finances. And of course
Speaker 1: we always get to the ludicrous headline of the week
Speaker 1: that's right now, and this one comes from Axios. The
Speaker 1: headline reads new company encourages donate now, pay later charitable giving,
Speaker 1: and the headline Matt just gave me the willies. I
Speaker 1: was like, I know where this is going. It cannot
Speaker 1: be good. It's basically by now, pay later. But instead
Speaker 1: of spending your money on an item you want, it's
Speaker 1: for giving money away to a cause that you care about.
Speaker 1: Let's just say we were not surprised to see that.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's as as you see that, you're like, well,
Speaker 1: of course, yeah, about of course it went there, that
Speaker 1: this is where it went. Yeah, it's it's kind of
Speaker 1: it's inevitable, right, It's it's a domino effect. We start
Speaker 1: with BNPL, we get to g mp L and now yeah,
Speaker 1: you don't even have to have the money in your
Speaker 1: possession to give two causes you care about. They're just
Speaker 1: so many problems with this though that it's it's hard
Speaker 1: to know really where to start. Like one, you're giving
Speaker 1: away money you don't have to give to there's now
Speaker 1: a middleman taking a cut of your donation somewhere between
Speaker 1: eight and fifteen percent. So the charity that you couldn't
Speaker 1: wait to support until you actually had the money, well
Speaker 1: now they're not getting anywhere near the full benefit they
Speaker 1: would have if you gave to them directly. Although I
Speaker 1: will say that one of the things that the company
Speaker 1: behind this that like one of their stats was that
Speaker 1: something will give twice as much if they're presented with
Speaker 1: this option. Whether or not that that is a good
Speaker 1: thing is like, that's another debate, right, But the fact
Speaker 1: that certain nonprofits out there are able to potentially receive
Speaker 1: even even more money, that's what the BNP is a
Speaker 1: good argument have said the whole the whole time, folks
Speaker 1: will spend more, Yeah, hey, put us on your website Amazon,
Speaker 1: and because people are gonna have bigger shopping carts because
Speaker 1: they're gonna buy more than they can actually afford and
Speaker 1: this is going to be good all the way around
Speaker 1: for everyone. It's going to increase your bottom line. But
Speaker 1: when you're giving away more money, I get why that
Speaker 1: sounds nice to the charitable organizations. Hey, people are gonna
Speaker 1: give more money to you, but they're giving money that
Speaker 1: they don't have. And so we would say this, this
Speaker 1: major league sucks. And we are all about supporting nonprofits
Speaker 1: that are doing good work. We would say it's a
Speaker 1: great thing to budget for monthly or annual giving. But
Speaker 1: this feels shady and almost predatory, and it's definitely not
Speaker 1: the best way to make those donations happen. So if
Speaker 1: you see a gift now, pay later button, avoid it.
Speaker 1: Don't do it. Because it's another modern iteration of a
Speaker 1: stupid fintech offering that is bad for bad for individuals,
Speaker 1: it's bad for consumers. I will say, I'm willing to
Speaker 1: play Devil's advocate a little bright here because so like
Speaker 1: in this way, like simultaneously, I feel like it could
Speaker 1: be a good thing if it allows somebody to commit
Speaker 1: to a behavior that they might want to do but
Speaker 1: that they find themselves not doing over time, right like
Speaker 1: like I will see it almost like a tool, not
Speaker 1: inherently a bad or an evil thing, but as a
Speaker 1: tool that someone could potentially utilize. You're just sitting over
Speaker 1: there staring at me that you can potentially utilize as
Speaker 1: like a commitment device, right and so like in that way,
Speaker 1: I almost feel also do the same with a recurring
Speaker 1: credit card donation to my friend. You totally could. Yeah,
Speaker 1: absolutely so I get what you're saying. And we've said
Speaker 1: the same thing about bnpls, that they're not inherently wrong
Speaker 1: or inherently bad. It's just that most people use them
Speaker 1: slow us the typically yes they buy or give money that, yeah,
Speaker 1: they use importantly. And so that's why the the end
Speaker 1: matters so much so much, right, and so the means
Speaker 1: to the end here in this case, the end is
Speaker 1: to give that money away when you're using it to
Speaker 1: buy more junk, like more crap. I think that to
Speaker 1: me that feels more pernicious, right, Like that's when you're
Speaker 1: you're not really thinking through like do you really need
Speaker 1: all this stuff? Now? Do you really need that fancy
Speaker 1: pair of running shorts or something. I'm just picking on
Speaker 1: myself because that's like the last thing I bought but
Speaker 1: not via pay now. But forgiving is not much better
Speaker 1: than right, And it's not about going into debt. Obviously,
Speaker 1: if you're doing that, then then that's something that we
Speaker 1: would discourage and a lot of people are well in
Speaker 1: that case, I absolutely would discourage it. But yeah, the
Speaker 1: ability for somebody, I do see there being benefits, sort
Speaker 1: of like with by not pay later, there are some
Speaker 1: benefits if say, it does allow somebody to turn their
Speaker 1: credit around a little bit because those payments get counted
Speaker 1: towards their credit. In the same way, I do see
Speaker 1: there being some slight benefits potentially to having give now,
Speaker 1: pay later be an option, and especially considering the f
Speaker 1: are willing to give a little bit more of their
Speaker 1: money away if presented without option. But that's well, And
Speaker 1: so whether you're giving it or their future money, they don't.
Speaker 1: That is true. Which is the problem, right it is
Speaker 1: that is at the crux of the problem is people saying,
Speaker 1: I want to do this thing now, but I don't
Speaker 1: have the money to do it, But I'm gonna gonna
Speaker 1: go ahead and commit to it because this tool exists
Speaker 1: for me to be able to do that, and and
Speaker 1: that's what we talk like. Credit cards are are similar
Speaker 1: in that way, although it's a shorter timeframe, and it
Speaker 1: really can be as a method of payment, and it
Speaker 1: comes with even better rewards. The only reward for bnp
Speaker 1: L most of the time is just the ability to
Speaker 1: hold off doing something you would have done otherwise. Whereas
Speaker 1: credit cards offer additional benefits, we say, I mean ultimately,
Speaker 1: if someone can't afford it, right, if they are like
Speaker 1: where it does feel like a loan in order to
Speaker 1: give that seems like a very unhealthy, very unhealthy behavior,
Speaker 1: as opposed to seeing it as a way for some
Speaker 1: folks I think are just entering into that mindset of
Speaker 1: like they are seeing themselves months a month, and even
Speaker 1: though discourage that, we want people to look ahead, We
Speaker 1: want folks to plan and to budget and to do
Speaker 1: things a little more proactively. I think there are a
Speaker 1: lot of folks who are entering into this way of
Speaker 1: handling their money where they are looking at it more
Speaker 1: as just a kind of like a monthly amount, like
Speaker 1: a subscription. This is how much I pay every month
Speaker 1: that goes towards my you know, Netflix, or this is
Speaker 1: how much I end up paying every month towards my groceries.
Speaker 1: I think I would say a c H though, or
Speaker 1: setting up a monthly put it on autopilot shore but
Speaker 1: by now give later to me could set you up
Speaker 1: to be in a position, a financial position you don't
Speaker 1: want to find yourself in. Exactly. Yeah, I mean, ultimately
Speaker 1: we don't like it, but I guess I do see
Speaker 1: this as being a slight way that there someone is
Speaker 1: using this technology for good. Obviously, if folks are using
Speaker 1: it for consumables, then I think that's a very bad thing.
Speaker 1: And unfortunately that is how a lot of folks are
Speaker 1: are using it. That's that's why it's wrecking the personal
Speaker 1: finances of a lot of a lot of young folks. Actually,
Speaker 1: The Times had an article this past weekend about how
Speaker 1: more individuals are turning to buy now, pay later for
Speaker 1: just like basic purchases like gross trees. And then, of
Speaker 1: course what ends up happening. Folks start spending more while
Speaker 1: they're at the grocery store because they can pay for
Speaker 1: multiple installments. And so why not get the the gourmet
Speaker 1: cheese where I'm gonna go ahead and get the the
Speaker 1: name brand cereal because it's a little bit nicer than
Speaker 1: the off brand stuff. I'll just pay for it over time.
Speaker 1: And so when you use it in this way, these
Speaker 1: products are basically loans, and so taking out a loan
Speaker 1: to buy groceries, we feel as a as a recipe
Speaker 1: for disaster. We want you to be planning ahead in advance.
Speaker 1: And while at the moment it does kind of seem
Speaker 1: like you're a gray area, I think ultimately it feels
Speaker 1: like that this is going to go. It's gonna start
Speaker 1: leaning more in the direction of it being a massive
Speaker 1: negative as opposed to being something that you can use
Speaker 1: to your advantage. I agreed, And we've talked about how
Speaker 1: some buy now, pay later companies are starting to report
Speaker 1: to the credit bureaus, and so if you're a really
Speaker 1: savvy consumer who doesn't have a great credit score, it's
Speaker 1: you know, buying thoughtfully occasionally an item through BNPL when
Speaker 1: you have the money, I'm ensuring that you pay it off.
Speaker 1: As agreed, well, that can help boost your credit score.
Speaker 1: But for the most part, especially seeing that story about groceries,
Speaker 1: it's just it's a bar to see people getting into
Speaker 1: financial situations they wouldn't otherwise because these products exist and
Speaker 1: they're using them thinking that they're better than they actually are.
Speaker 1: Um when for the most part people use them poorly.
Speaker 1: It's a tool, but it's it's mostly a crappy tool
Speaker 1: for for most people. Let's let's move on the map.
Speaker 1: There's a new survey from a company called Higher Visibility,
Speaker 1: and they found that of gen z ears want to
Speaker 1: become social media influencers. And when I read that, I
Speaker 1: was like, you know what, that's that's not necessarily a
Speaker 1: bad thing. I think it's okay to want to influence
Speaker 1: the people around you. And it is true that some
Speaker 1: social media content creators are able to make real money. Uh,
Speaker 1: but it's also true that there are only a select
Speaker 1: few who make legitimate income doing so, who make a
Speaker 1: meaningful amount, right, who make enough to I don't know,
Speaker 1: pay the bills. And I guess, you know, influencers maybe
Speaker 1: are kind of the new pro athletes. That's like the
Speaker 1: new hot job that people want. But we all know
Speaker 1: by now that the percentage of folks who make it
Speaker 1: to the pros in that field is infantessimally small too.
Speaker 1: You know. We had linebacker Brain and Copeland on recently,
Speaker 1: and he talked about how difficult difficult it was to
Speaker 1: make in the NFL, especially as an undrafted player. Uh,
Speaker 1: not trying to crush the dreams of the youngsters out there,
Speaker 1: But it's wise to not put that profession on such
Speaker 1: a pedestal and to put all your eggs in that basket.
Speaker 1: It's okay to dabble and to see what happens, but
Speaker 1: putting all of your efforts there, it's just it's not
Speaker 1: a good idea because again, so few people are actually
Speaker 1: gonna make money, and I know a lot of people
Speaker 1: in that space. I don't have any hate for the
Speaker 1: influencer crowd out there. I think it's I think it's
Speaker 1: totally fine. I don't really participate much, um, but I'm
Speaker 1: totally cool that people make money online in that way.
Speaker 1: But it's just important to mention that something like the
Speaker 1: one percent or even the point one percent, that's where
Speaker 1: most of the money is going. And there's a whole
Speaker 1: lot of I want to be influencers out there who
Speaker 1: who aren't making to dime. I like how you said
Speaker 1: it's okay to influence other people like you just completely
Speaker 1: strip the word influencer of it's like negative connotation that
Speaker 1: comes with it. Well, I think for some people the
Speaker 1: reality is like they have a good heart and they
Speaker 1: want to share cool things with the world, and so
Speaker 1: there's nothing wrong with being out there and talking to
Speaker 1: your friends and sharing with others how you think or
Speaker 1: how you feel about something. To be honest, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of crappy influencers out there who doing terrible things.
Speaker 1: But I think most people the reason they want to
Speaker 1: do this is because it sounds like fun and they
Speaker 1: want to share something cool with others. And I think
Speaker 1: I think that motive that desire is good. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about saving money by being healthy? Uh, Joel,
Speaker 1: you know there's that saying that is it like an
Speaker 1: ounce of prevention that's worth a pound of cure um.
Speaker 1: Though as a country, I feel like like we've not
Speaker 1: been great at internalizing that when it comes to medicine
Speaker 1: or or honestly a lot of important elements of our
Speaker 1: society either. But apparently more insurance companies are starting to
Speaker 1: lean in this direction, implementing something called active insurance. Uh.
Speaker 1: And so basically insurance companies they will reward you for
Speaker 1: good behavior, which will have a direct impact on both
Speaker 1: their bottom line and of course yours, which is why
Speaker 1: we're talking about it. Maybe your waistline too, if it's
Speaker 1: a health insurance Yeah. And so, like one example is, yeah,
Speaker 1: wearing like a health insurance company provided device to track
Speaker 1: your physical activity. Uh, and if you start exercising and
Speaker 1: losing weight, you might see reduced premiums or you know,
Speaker 1: some other money saving rewards. Uh. The reality, man, is
Speaker 1: that like these sorts of products are going to continue
Speaker 1: to proliferate. And we think that that's a that's a
Speaker 1: good thing when it comes to our ability to save money,
Speaker 1: but honestly for our collective health as well, if we
Speaker 1: just jump through a few hoops, I see this as
Speaker 1: a as a great way for us to potentially like
Speaker 1: we're sacrificing a little bit of privacy, uh, the insurance
Speaker 1: companies maybe know a little bit more about us. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: this could be kind of like a frugal versus cheap,
Speaker 1: where you know, are we being cheap because we're sacrificing
Speaker 1: our data here in the short term in order to
Speaker 1: save money here in the short term, but in the
Speaker 1: long run to all of these companies they know more
Speaker 1: about us. I do think that that will be a
Speaker 1: good question for future discussions, but definitely something to keep
Speaker 1: in mind as well. Before you which we often all do,
Speaker 1: just instinctively click the checkbox that I agree with the
Speaker 1: whatever that consen Who's got the time to read all
Speaker 1: of those, man, But I totally agree, but reports, I guess, so, yeah,
Speaker 1: they're digging into those fine print for us. But the
Speaker 1: last job I had, the last real job before podcasting
Speaker 1: full time, we had this thing called Know your Numbers.
Speaker 1: And what they did was once a year, Emily and
Speaker 1: I would go into into the into the office. They
Speaker 1: would bring some nurses there, they would draw some blood,
Speaker 1: they measure your waistline, all that kind of stuff. They
Speaker 1: took like five different numbers, checker blood pressure, checker blood pressure.
Speaker 1: They want to make sure that you are meeting some
Speaker 1: sort of requirements. And if you do that, if you
Speaker 1: agree you don't, you didn't have to. You could continue
Speaker 1: to pay full freight for health insurance. But if you
Speaker 1: agreed to get your numbers measured and you were good
Speaker 1: on at least three out of five of those numbers,
Speaker 1: you got four hundred bucks back off of your premiums.
Speaker 1: And so that was the kind of thing where I'm like,
Speaker 1: of course, I'm going to trade them knowing my blood
Speaker 1: pressure and waistline's eyes for foreigner bucks, no problem. And
Speaker 1: so that those are the kind of things that more
Speaker 1: and more insurance companies are participating in trying to make
Speaker 1: sure that you're living healthy and that's gonna be good
Speaker 1: for you. It's gonna save you money. But there might
Speaker 1: even be additional incentives on top of it. Uh. And
Speaker 1: so I don't know. I like to see these sorts
Speaker 1: of things. But you're right, Matt, there are some of
Speaker 1: those privacy concerns intertwined in these programs too. But let's
Speaker 1: let's talk about something else. About a new report from
Speaker 1: a firm called Global Data, which just made me think
Speaker 1: of Global Gym from Dodgeball. The ben Stiller's Gym finds
Speaker 1: that of Americans are actively involved in selling and buying
Speaker 1: used goods secondhand. So basically sites like eBay, Facebook, Marketplace,
Speaker 1: and offer up. They are booming right now. And that's understandable.
Speaker 1: Lots of folks are saying that inflation is a major
Speaker 1: reason that they're opting to go to the shrout. Hey,
Speaker 1: everything costs more, so I'm trying to buy more stuff
Speaker 1: used and we hope that trend sticks around. We think
Speaker 1: that's great. Yeah, technology has made buying and selling used
Speaker 1: goods easier than it's ever been, and we think that
Speaker 1: it's it's always a great time to be using those
Speaker 1: sites to pay less for consumer goods and to sell
Speaker 1: unwanted items, and Matt, it's also just me easier to
Speaker 1: get more money for those goods. Think about going back
Speaker 1: to garage sales. You could get pennies on the dollar because,
Speaker 1: like you're the sphere, the amount of people you could
Speaker 1: reach it was really people who were walking or driving
Speaker 1: by who would see your stuff and maybe stop specific
Speaker 1: beholding geographic audience exactly to look at your stuff. Whereas
Speaker 1: now with these with these sites, you can reach a
Speaker 1: whole lot more folks, folks who are willing to drive
Speaker 1: and pay top dollar for that item. And you have.
Speaker 1: Speaking of which, Matt, there are less than four months
Speaker 1: now left in the Sell your Stuff Challenge, So just
Speaker 1: for stuff, I just need to get my sheet updated
Speaker 1: because I haven't done, and I've been doing pretty good
Speaker 1: to you, I got I gotta update my sheet as well.
Speaker 1: I'm curious to see where I'm at. I think I'm
Speaker 1: I think maybe I'm just a little bit behind. But
Speaker 1: for how the money listeners out there who are participating,
Speaker 1: we all that at the beginning of this year selling
Speaker 1: one item a week. I'm curious too, I'm so curious
Speaker 1: to see the results, Matt, to see how many items
Speaker 1: people actually sold and see maybe who made the most
Speaker 1: money this year too. Yeah, and actually there's another story
Speaker 1: about all of the different athletic gear that folks bought
Speaker 1: during the pandemic. How it's been plumbing in value. So
Speaker 1: not only can you use sites like eBay to sell
Speaker 1: the stuff that you no longer want, but as a consumer,
Speaker 1: you can take advantage of the prices, the plumbering values
Speaker 1: that that folks are having to sell their stuff for
Speaker 1: because they're no longer worth what they paid for it.
Speaker 1: I'm search for a mountain bike because but the problem
Speaker 1: is I'm freakishly tall, and nobody has the extra large frames.
Speaker 1: So everybody's got those medium sized frames. Gets you the
Speaker 1: medium sized frame, but then get you an extra long
Speaker 1: ce post. Those are like the monster batas of bikes.
Speaker 1: But what about new stuff, because it's actually it's hard
Speaker 1: to believe, but the Holidays, they're really around the corner.
Speaker 1: And I think there's a chance that we're gonna see
Speaker 1: a lot more Black Friday deals this year. A friend
Speaker 1: of the show, Ben Carlson, he thinks, so we tend
Speaker 1: to agree basic how it works for months on end
Speaker 1: supply chain issues they were a serious problem. But now
Speaker 1: there's been an over correction, right, Like imagine the pendulum
Speaker 1: swinging and it was far off over to one side
Speaker 1: where there wasn't enough supply, and now it's swung back
Speaker 1: that bull whip effect and there are there's an abundance
Speaker 1: of supply. Uh so change like Walmart and Target have
Speaker 1: excess inventory. We've got too much stuff. Of course, these
Speaker 1: different companies, they're gonna have to reduce prices in a
Speaker 1: serious way in order to entice you to remove that inventory,
Speaker 1: uh you know, from their warehouses. But keep in mind,
Speaker 1: the best way to save the most money is by
Speaker 1: not buying any of this stuff you know altogether. Don't
Speaker 1: be enticed by the fort off, by the seventy percent
Speaker 1: off sales that you know that you might see. Ask
Speaker 1: yourself first, is there a way that I could just
Speaker 1: do without this item completely? Without thinking that? You know,
Speaker 1: you're the smartest consumer out there because you are taking
Speaker 1: advantage of the deals. Plus I can pay pay for
Speaker 1: it in six installments over time through buy now, pay
Speaker 1: later only only if you're giving that money away, this
Speaker 1: is the deal of a lifetime. Probably not so. Yeah,
Speaker 1: although we are likely to see more deals, the best
Speaker 1: deals are going to be buying used still on a
Speaker 1: lot of these sites for the most part. Um. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I like that you said to Matt, start budgeting now.
Speaker 1: Like I think most people aren't thinking about the holidays yet,
Speaker 1: but it really is right around the corner, and you
Speaker 1: can make the holidays a whole lot less financially painful
Speaker 1: if you start thinking now and you start saving now.
Speaker 1: Maybe come up with an exact total of what you're
Speaker 1: gonna want to spend on gifts and start setting money
Speaker 1: aside to every paycheck so that you have the cash
Speaker 1: you need to pay for the presidents you want to
Speaker 1: buy when it comes to when it comes Christmas time.
Speaker 1: That's right, all right, Well, that's gonna do it, Matt.
Speaker 1: For this episode, we hope that you guys have a
Speaker 1: great weekend, and we hope to see you back here
Speaker 1: on Monday. Matt and I are going to publish a
Speaker 1: conversation that we just had with Sarah Wilson. She's known
Speaker 1: as budget Girl on YouTube and she's pretty rad, Matt,
Speaker 1: So I'm looking forward to releasing that episode on Monday.
Speaker 1: That's right, man, So that's gonna be for this one though.
Speaker 1: Until next time, best Friends Out, Best Friends Out, m