Speaker 1: Welcome to had the Money. I'm Joel, I'm Matt. Today
Speaker 1: we're talking college cost cutting, predictive credit scores, and work
Speaker 1: perk pruning. Yeah, Joel.
Speaker 2: The thing with pruning is I don't think a lot
Speaker 2: of people. Nobody likes pruning, right, but oftentimes it does
Speaker 2: lead to healthier long term.
Speaker 1: Results if you prune it the right time.
Speaker 2: Yes, if you punt at the right time, if you
Speaker 2: don't over prune, see some yard guys.
Speaker 1: If you do it methodically, pruning too late in the season,
Speaker 1: you're like, no, no, man, you just the blooms are
Speaker 1: already on the flout or on the bush, like, don't,
Speaker 1: don't trim now. But yeah, it's I've always been amazed too,
Speaker 1: and how far you can prune certain things back and
Speaker 1: then how beastly they'll grow the next season. Still I'm
Speaker 1: just like, oh my god, you took it down to
Speaker 1: the nubs and it's still got huge. You're thinking of
Speaker 1: my hydrangees are like that, Well, yeah, they're made to
Speaker 1: be print back.
Speaker 2: Hydrangees creat myrtles in a similar way where you're just like,
Speaker 2: that's not going to live. Yeah, and then next year
Speaker 2: you're like, oh my gosh, which I want to print
Speaker 2: them back even more. Thought you tuned into the lawn
Speaker 2: and Gardens show, didn't get everybody before you know, yeah,
Speaker 2: we'll start talking about this old house territory.
Speaker 1: No, you want to talk about soccer. I just I
Speaker 1: just well, it's been fascinating to see. I just saw
Speaker 1: there was there are US tickets to the next US
Speaker 1: match in I forget what city they're going to be in,
Speaker 1: but there's still there's still tickets available. Do you want
Speaker 1: to know why they're still tickets available even though everyone's
Speaker 1: rabbit about this World Cup in North America because they're
Speaker 1: two dang expensive, super high prices and the World Cup
Speaker 1: man like FIFA just they're they're trying to see how
Speaker 1: much money they can make on this. The other fascinating thing,
Speaker 1: people are spending so much money on World Cup tickets
Speaker 1: that they're reticent to spend big money on lodging when
Speaker 1: they're going to a town to watch some soccer. And
Speaker 1: so what I thought, like, low, where we live, we're
Speaker 1: gonna have some matches. I was like, man, this is
Speaker 1: gonna be It's gonna be awesome for anybody who wants
Speaker 1: is in the short term rental game. Yeah, the Airbnb game,
Speaker 1: and apparently it's not panning out as well as they hope.
Speaker 1: There was an article that I saw about hosts feeling
Speaker 1: the pain. They've put a lot of money into upgrading
Speaker 1: their place listing and making a great listing and thinking,
Speaker 1: oh man, I'm gonna cash in during the World Cup
Speaker 1: and then I'll just keep keep this this place around
Speaker 1: for the long term afterwards. But they're crickets in terms
Speaker 1: of booking their place because people are just reticent to
Speaker 1: spend that much money on especially when the tickets cost
Speaker 1: so much. So I don't know if they're going to
Speaker 1: like pitch their tent in downtown, like near the arena
Speaker 1: or something like that, but for those last minute deals
Speaker 1: maybe yeah. I'll be curious to see what happens. And
Speaker 1: I just wish that these events were not such a
Speaker 1: money grab and that people could go watch some great
Speaker 1: soccer and not you know, have to fork over their
Speaker 1: retirement savings to make it happen. I get it.
Speaker 2: Do you think any of this has to do with
Speaker 2: just the uncertainty in the world as far as like
Speaker 2: the war? Maybe straight of horror moves, which, to be honest,
Speaker 2: I feel like we haven't heard much about folks.
Speaker 1: Folks have kind of moved on from them. They're like, Okay,
Speaker 1: what's the next big story. It's not dominating the headlines
Speaker 1: like it was, but yeah, you know, there's still it
Speaker 1: still leads to a lot to be watching over.
Speaker 2: There business uncertainty, which I think does trickle down to
Speaker 2: main Street, right where folks feel that uncertainty, aren't totally
Speaker 2: sure what's going to be going on. So maybe I
Speaker 2: should keep my money, you know, in my bank account
Speaker 2: and watch the soccer on TV. Perhaps, just yeah, I
Speaker 2: mean with travel costs, the cost of gasoline, you know,
Speaker 2: back back at all time highs jet Field, Yeah, I
Speaker 2: don't know, which.
Speaker 1: We talked about on Wednesday with Kyle Potter and that's right. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: so much good information if you're like, I'm trying to
Speaker 1: travel this summer and I want to do so cheaply.
Speaker 1: Kyle's pretty throber in his assessment thrifty traveler. Yeah, they
Speaker 1: know what's up over there.
Speaker 2: All right, let's talk about higher education because we've been
Speaker 2: I feel like we've been questioning the value of a
Speaker 2: college degree more in recent years.
Speaker 1: For sure here on the show.
Speaker 2: When costs rise significantly, it's I think it's smart to
Speaker 2: question whether it's still worth a price, and in many
Speaker 2: cases it still is, but it's just not nearly as
Speaker 2: clear cut a decision as it used to be. And
Speaker 2: one way to steer the choice in your favor, specifically
Speaker 2: when you're looking at your personal finance, is to reduce
Speaker 2: the cost as well as the time that it takes
Speaker 2: to get your degree.
Speaker 1: Time is money, Matt, That's that's what they say.
Speaker 2: Some schools are offering a three year bachelor's degree now,
Speaker 2: which is going to appeal to many folks, But a
Speaker 2: lot of folks are calling.
Speaker 1: This degree hacking, most overused word in the English language US,
Speaker 1: but still we've been using it to describe anything I
Speaker 1: feel like for the past eight years in particular. But
Speaker 1: this is apparently a thing.
Speaker 2: Some online universities are now allowing people to take unlimited classes,
Speaker 2: leading to some folks who enter the program to finish
Speaker 2: their coursework in months, not years. So the University of
Speaker 2: Maine is one of the leaders who is offering this.
Speaker 2: It's this they're calling it your Pace program, and they've
Speaker 2: reported that some folks are even finishing it in eight weeks,
Speaker 2: which makes me think that.
Speaker 1: I'm not totally sure if it's sinking in much did
Speaker 1: you really learn? Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 2: How much did you actually use chat to do all
Speaker 2: of your coursework for you? This is an argument for
Speaker 2: the Hey, a degree is not the same thing as
Speaker 2: an education, right, Like, you are there on one hand,
Speaker 2: you're getting credentials, but what we're looking for here is competence.
Speaker 2: And I think there's a whole lot of folks who
Speaker 2: maybe entering the workforce or feeling like they're there. Certainly
Speaker 2: are investing in their careers, but are they more competent.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: To me, it feels a lot like cramming for a
Speaker 2: test and just being able to regurgitate the information as
Speaker 2: opposed to being able to engage with the ideas, right
Speaker 2: like where you're grappling with some of the concept that
Speaker 2: concepts that you've learned and thinking through how can I
Speaker 2: apply these principles to better myself, better my company, better
Speaker 2: the world.
Speaker 1: I think when most folks go back to get a
Speaker 1: higher education, they are looking for competence. They're not just
Speaker 1: looking for the credential. They're not just looking for the
Speaker 1: degree and more of the letters after their name. But
Speaker 1: I do think some people just want the credential and yeah,
Speaker 1: that makes sense, Like I kind of understand that. So
Speaker 1: you have to just understand what it is that you're
Speaker 1: looking for. You know, we've talked about how teachers can
Speaker 1: make more money. Let's say if they have a master's
Speaker 1: degree to their name versus just an undergrad and hey,
Speaker 1: if I can get that done in eight weeks, just
Speaker 1: like going hard, I care more about the credential potentially
Speaker 1: in that case, I don't. I'm just like, not everyone
Speaker 1: is looking for the same thing, and so I think
Speaker 1: it's kind of cool this exists that you can save
Speaker 1: a lot of time and money and still get that degree.
Speaker 1: But it's certainly it's certainly not for everyone. And I
Speaker 1: am curious to see if maybe some of these universities
Speaker 1: look into maybe they were like not expecting people to
Speaker 1: finish that that fast, and they're like, maybe throw some
Speaker 1: more guardrails.
Speaker 2: This is not what we intended. But congrats, I'm setting
Speaker 2: a course record, is.
Speaker 1: Againness world record. Congratulations. Well, and if you graduated a
Speaker 1: while back and you have student loan debt, you're you're
Speaker 1: obviously not alone, right, This is a regular feature of
Speaker 1: modern American life and refinancing into a private student loan
Speaker 1: has always come with big potential pitfalls. It's something we
Speaker 1: don't talk about a lot because for most people, especially
Speaker 1: during the pandemic and the years of not needing to
Speaker 1: make a payment, it didn't make any sense, right, it
Speaker 1: was like just completely it wasn't worth discussing. But the
Speaker 1: benefits for some might outweigh the downsides. Right now, some
Speaker 1: lenders are advertising rates as low as three percent, actually
Speaker 1: some even a touch below three percent on private student
Speaker 1: loans the twos, which is crazy. It's impressive. Who thought
Speaker 1: you were going to see a rate like that, right,
Speaker 1: it feels like it feels so twenty eighteen, But federal
Speaker 1: rates are close to six and a half percent. So
Speaker 1: it just shows what a disparity there is. That's like
Speaker 1: somewhat misleading though, because most people don't qualify for the
Speaker 1: best rates many often there's like one guy that qualifies
Speaker 1: for those.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like for the rates as low as two
Speaker 2: point six five, there's this one guy called one guy.
Speaker 1: So you need to know that, Hey, those headline rates
Speaker 1: are not always widely available, right, and so you have
Speaker 1: to have you have to be a highly qualified borrow
Speaker 1: in order to get there. So often you need a
Speaker 1: highly qualified co signer to get the best rock bottom rate,
Speaker 1: So maybe we would not if if your mom called
Speaker 1: us and was like, hey, should I co sign, we
Speaker 1: might tell her to think again. But if you can
Speaker 1: find someone who's highly qualified to co sign with, you
Speaker 1: could help you get the best rates, and you know,
Speaker 1: a REFI could be a brilliant move if you can
Speaker 1: qualify for some of those rates. You're gonna need great
Speaker 1: credit right a low DTI ratio. You're also gonna need
Speaker 1: to choose a shorter loan, so you're gonna to be
Speaker 1: able to pay back that loan more quickly. But it is,
Speaker 1: i will say, for the first time in a long time,
Speaker 1: worth looking into, especially if you like don't owe a
Speaker 1: ton more on your student loans and you're looking to
Speaker 1: get rid of them as quickly as possible. Reducing the
Speaker 1: interest rates significantly by opting for a private student loan
Speaker 1: could make sense. Again. Yeah, there's borrow protections that you lose,
Speaker 1: know the trade offs before you commit, but it's just
Speaker 1: interesting to see this space come alive for the first
Speaker 1: time in a long time. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, you mentioned having a great credit score and how
Speaker 2: important that is. Let's continue that thread because more states
Speaker 2: are considering eliminating the use of credit scores in determining
Speaker 2: insurance premiums. So a few states Iowa, New York, Pennsylvania,
Speaker 2: and Oklahoma. They are all weighing bills that would eliminate
Speaker 2: credit based scores from being allowed to determine how much
Speaker 2: your premium is only a couple states or a few
Speaker 2: so California, Massachusetts, and why only those three states currently
Speaker 2: banned the practice of not taking credit scores into account
Speaker 2: and insurance companies they use credit scorses as part of
Speaker 2: their modeling right. They use it as part of their
Speaker 2: methodology for determining risk across most of the country, but
Speaker 2: that ends up creating disparity, and folks with low scores
Speaker 2: they pay far more in premiums. There's a report and
Speaker 2: it shows that there is a sixty nine percent difference
Speaker 2: between having a good versus bad credit score in what
Speaker 2: you're going to pay, which is in your premiums. Man,
Speaker 2: it's just a bad credit score or you talk about well,
Speaker 2: instead of paying thirty two hundred dollars, you know, every
Speaker 2: six months or annually for my car insurance, I'm paying
Speaker 2: fifty one hundred dollars and that's that's just a lot
Speaker 2: more money. Yeah, so this is one of the reasons
Speaker 2: we talk about maintaining a healthy high credit score, and
Speaker 2: we'll keep our eyes on whether these bills pass. But
Speaker 2: no matter what your your credit score, it still matters,
Speaker 2: even if insurance companies in your state might no longer
Speaker 2: be allowed to consider that when they're assessing risk, which
Speaker 2: then begs a question, right, like, how are they going
Speaker 2: to assess risk? Because even though this may may not
Speaker 2: be a perfect system, it's still a known way for
Speaker 2: you to pay attention to the some of the factors
Speaker 2: that that they're going to take into account when when
Speaker 2: they're trying to try to determine whether or.
Speaker 1: Not they can stay afloat. Essentially, right, when you look
Speaker 1: at the quotes from people in the insurance space, they're like,
Speaker 1: this isn't good for us, Like we need this data.
Speaker 1: Would you like us to continue to operate in your state?
Speaker 1: If so? So?
Speaker 2: I mean, that's one of the potential knock on downstream
Speaker 2: off of not being able to take credit score into account.
Speaker 2: I mean, and again, they're gonna look at other things.
Speaker 2: I'm guessing they're probably going to be more likely to
Speaker 2: look at some of the instances on your clue report, right,
Speaker 2: like how often do you file acclaim? When it comes
Speaker 2: to property homeowners insurance, They're probably going to be sending
Speaker 2: more drones out right, and it's like, oh, I hate
Speaker 2: the drones. I hate that they're telling me what to do.
Speaker 2: And it's just like, well, they got to find a
Speaker 2: way to make sure that everyone is paying their fair
Speaker 2: share essentially, so yeah, we'll.
Speaker 1: See and yeah, the most highly qualified folks in those
Speaker 1: states are likely to see their premiums go up meaningfully,
Speaker 1: and so yeah, it's really is a pick your poison
Speaker 1: sort of mentality here. How do you want your insurance
Speaker 1: premium formula to come about? And I do think the
Speaker 1: credit score is helpful and it makes sense. And of course,
Speaker 1: yet you might be like Joel, you're so naive, like
Speaker 1: the of course the insurance company wants to be able
Speaker 1: to use credit scores, but I understand why they do,
Speaker 1: like it is a piece of data that that does
Speaker 1: tell us something about you as a person. And so yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll see what happens there. And speaking of credit scores,
Speaker 1: Fanny and Freddie are not using predictive credit scores to
Speaker 1: determine mortgage loan eligibility. These scores taken into account a
Speaker 1: wider range of activity than kind of the normal old
Speaker 1: school scores, including stuff like on time rent payments and
Speaker 1: whether you pay your utility bill. As agreed, I like this.
Speaker 1: I like having more information shoved into the credit score
Speaker 1: and still using the credit score right as a helpful barometer,
Speaker 1: but just having more inputs that have to deal with
Speaker 1: maybe less archaic stuff like did you pay your rent
Speaker 1: on time? Like that is a pretty good indicator.
Speaker 2: That include surveys of like your best friend be like, hey,
Speaker 2: did he pay you back on time?
Speaker 1: Right? Did he cover drinks last night? Oh?
Speaker 2: Man, he's such a generous person, Like he gets a
Speaker 2: if they starts crossing over from like just financial to
Speaker 2: like social score, like the Black Mere Episodeka a little.
Speaker 1: Bit, well yeah, I mean I'm even thinking like if
Speaker 1: they had data about whether or not you used a
Speaker 1: gambling app. They're not, this is not included, but think
Speaker 1: about how helpful that would be if you're trying to
Speaker 1: determine privacy. But to get into privacy issues, yes, so,
Speaker 1: I mean we know this. We talked about this regularly.
Speaker 1: The credit scoring model is not always intuitive, and a
Speaker 1: lot of folks assume that just doing the basics well,
Speaker 1: like paying their rent on time every month will improve
Speaker 1: their score. But for the longest time, it hasn't. That
Speaker 1: stuff isn't included. It doesn't impact how their know, how
Speaker 1: their credit score goes up, or what it looks like.
Speaker 1: It's I think we should be adjusting the scoring models,
Speaker 1: not on purpose to make unqualified buyers look better, but
Speaker 1: we should be incorporating more information that indicates whether individuals
Speaker 1: tend to pay bills and debts on time and so. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the use of these predictive credit scores is
Speaker 1: actually going to be a good thing. Buy Now, Pay
Speaker 1: Later is going to be more incorporated too. That's not
Speaker 1: going to help everyone, but it will provide a clearer
Speaker 1: picture when we're talking about risk assessment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, especially as more folks are using buy Now, Pay Later,
Speaker 2: even though it's not our favorite, it's like, Okay, you're
Speaker 2: gonna start considering the data from that. I see now
Speaker 2: how that might actually end up being able to not
Speaker 2: only serve individuals, but then some of these companies as well,
Speaker 2: who are trying.
Speaker 1: To assess risk.
Speaker 2: The fact that you that they're calling this the predictive
Speaker 2: models made me think of the pre cogs from Minority Report.
Speaker 1: Did you ever watch that? Yeah, we talked about.
Speaker 2: That before, so that's you know, and I mentioned that
Speaker 2: the Black Mirror episode, right, Like, that's where it actually
Speaker 2: does start feeling a little dystopian a little bit, where
Speaker 2: it's just like, oh, we're going to use this data
Speaker 2: and project into the future whether or not you're going
Speaker 2: to do what you've intended, and where do you draw
Speaker 2: the line? So like, I don't know if folks haven't
Speaker 2: seen the movie what like, they end up getting rid
Speaker 2: of that program because of the ethical moral dilemma of like, well,
Speaker 2: they didn't actually do it yet, so even though they
Speaker 2: were pre cogging, you know, telling the future that actually, no,
Speaker 2: you were going to commit and there's commit murders, there's yeah,
Speaker 2: there's one thing about pre cogging someone like you were
Speaker 2: going to commit that crime. It's like, yeah, but I
Speaker 2: haven't committed it yet. But it's another thing to say, well,
Speaker 2: let me look at some of your path you've actually done,
Speaker 2: so I can determine and whether or not I should
Speaker 2: loan you lots of money for this house you're looking
Speaker 2: to buy or this car you're looking at.
Speaker 1: It's called due diligence. That's due diligence, like you just
Speaker 1: you have to have a system like that, or ultimately
Speaker 1: what's going to happen is people aren't going to be
Speaker 1: able to access some of the modes of debt that
Speaker 1: they've gotten accustomed to using. And I don't know, in
Speaker 1: some ways that would be ultimately better for a lot
Speaker 1: of people who have too much rope to hang themselves.
Speaker 2: Right, But that's amount that. Yeah, that's when that's when
Speaker 2: you're like, well, this is why we can't have nice things.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And I'll also say there's a big difference between committing
Speaker 2: murder and paying your utility bill. Ye, right, one of
Speaker 2: these is much more frowned upon in our society than
Speaker 2: the other. You don't go to you know, go to
Speaker 2: jail for not paying your rent.
Speaker 1: No, no, you don't. Uh, okay, let's talk about scams
Speaker 1: about the FTC had a few helpful pressure releases recently,
Speaker 1: that one about credit cards. One was to warn people
Speaker 1: against like completely ridiculous offers to lower your credit card
Speaker 1: interest rate. Basically, if you had a call from a
Speaker 1: helpful person who wants to lower the interest on your
Speaker 1: credit card, just hang up on them. It's a scammer.
Speaker 1: You might think It might sound like it's someone from
Speaker 1: your credit card company, but it's not. It's basically they're
Speaker 1: after personal information or they're trying to get you to
Speaker 1: pay them money with promises to help reduce your debt
Speaker 1: or your interest rate. It's totally fake. The flip side
Speaker 1: of this, Matt, is that you actually might be able
Speaker 1: to get your interest rate lowered on your credit card.
Speaker 1: And I'll tell folks, if you call your credit card company. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so you're just speaking of the wrong person when the
Speaker 1: scammer calls. You call your credit card company. Don't wait
Speaker 1: for them to come to you, because that's the wrong person. Yes,
Speaker 1: you need to be the proactive party here. And I
Speaker 1: love the idea we've talked about just credit card interest
Speaker 1: rates going up like clockwork, which has definitely been the
Speaker 1: case over the past five or six years. But you
Speaker 1: really might be able to legitimately get an APR reduction
Speaker 1: just by asking, just by calling up. We want you
Speaker 1: to pay off your debt quickly, but asking for a
Speaker 1: real lower rate directly from your credit card company, that
Speaker 1: could help you make more progress faster. Yeah.
Speaker 2: The problem is that I think the type of behaviors
Speaker 2: that would cause someone to do that right, being proactive,
Speaker 2: like coming up with the plan, finding the number to
Speaker 2: call the bank or the credit card company, and navocate
Speaker 2: for yourself. Those same behaviors. I feel like we tend
Speaker 2: to see folks away from getting into credit card debt.
Speaker 1: In the first place.
Speaker 2: So it's unfortunate that the folks who probably need it
Speaker 2: the most of who who would be best served, unfortunately
Speaker 2: aren't the folks who are naturally doing that to begin
Speaker 2: most likely prey unless you've been asleep at the wheel
Speaker 2: of your personal finances, and we would say, oh, welcome
Speaker 2: to the party, and this is called how to money.
Speaker 2: This is how you do it, and we would encourage
Speaker 2: you to make sure that you don't steer your car
Speaker 2: into this oncoming cliff. Yes, that you've been barreling towards
Speaker 2: with you down without even realizing it while we're talking
Speaker 2: about scams. Well that we hate credit cards, but just
Speaker 2: like if you if you have a way that you've
Speaker 2: been put it down, yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel like
Speaker 2: we need like a David Goggin sort of like wake
Speaker 2: up call for these people, like what are you doing.
Speaker 2: You're just sitting there in your comfy soft chair and
Speaker 2: these are out working. You man, they're out out there.
Speaker 2: They're taking your money. Gosh, they are, and they are.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's that's what's what's going on, and you
Speaker 2: need to not being a slave some plastic. I was
Speaker 2: gonna say, we're talking about scams, but the FTC they
Speaker 2: also had a warning about expiring rewards or the different
Speaker 2: points that folks are running. More and more folks are
Speaker 2: getting texts about their rewards expiring soon. You're sent a
Speaker 2: link to quote unquote savior points. But of course it's
Speaker 2: a phishing scam. It looks like a real sight, but
Speaker 2: it's not. They're attempting to get your personal information from you.
Speaker 1: And you know, like we.
Speaker 2: Talk about scammers, they are winning the battle against young
Speaker 2: folks in particular, largely because and I will consider us
Speaker 2: in this category, Jewel, we're on our phones a lot
Speaker 2: more and we're a bit more prone to mistakes, and
Speaker 2: we are less attentive. When we're out on our phones.
Speaker 2: We're you know, got our kids pulling out. You oh,
Speaker 2: we got to go over here.
Speaker 1: And you see a.
Speaker 2: Text and you're thinking, oh, no, my whatever it is
Speaker 2: like my big coin's at risk, Oh my credit card's
Speaker 2: been hacked, or you know whatever, the thing might be
Speaker 2: for you split second decisions exactly. Don't click those links
Speaker 2: if you are concerned about that. Make sure you are
Speaker 2: going to the u URL yourself, log into the actual
Speaker 2: app that you have used in the past that's on
Speaker 2: your phone. Don't fall prey to these fishing scams.
Speaker 1: All right, we got more we get to Matt, including
Speaker 1: free ice cream, talking about that right after this. I
Speaker 1: love that free ice cream story. But first, joll you
Speaker 1: know it has to do with wone addiction too, so
Speaker 1: we'll cross look at it. I love that. That's right.
Speaker 2: Of course, we've got our ludicrous headline of the week
Speaker 2: to get to first. This week is from Business Insider,
Speaker 2: who writes PTO parental leave pensions, even the most prized
Speaker 2: benefits are on the chopping block. And context here is
Speaker 2: that the job market has been a bit more resilient
Speaker 2: than Mini had predicted over the past year. But even still,
Speaker 2: if you look closely, there are signs of things now
Speaker 2: being as good as they once were. I feel like
Speaker 2: we're past the what felt like the I don't know
Speaker 2: the golden age. I don't want to say golden age,
Speaker 2: but a clear indicator is when companies start reducing the
Speaker 2: benefits that they offer workers, right, So they're not No
Speaker 2: one's getting fired, folks aren't getting paid off.
Speaker 1: They are in tech companies, Yeah, well they are Facebook,
Speaker 1: and and what's what's the other app with the with
Speaker 1: the ghosts or the yellow and the ghost Oh snapchat, Snapchat.
Speaker 1: They're laying people. Well, people aren't people are snapping chatting.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I never did snapchat. I never never.
Speaker 1: That was not one that I was into.
Speaker 2: Yes, there are some of those prominent examples, but for
Speaker 2: everyone else, you're thinking, oh, I feel like we're maybe
Speaker 2: we kind of made it through that storm. They're looking
Speaker 2: around at all their coworkers and everyone's here, everyone's intact.
Speaker 2: But what's happening is that your company is reducing the
Speaker 2: four one K match or they're scaling back on the
Speaker 2: parental leave dates or a number of dates or weeks
Speaker 2: that you're allowed to take. So this is just a
Speaker 2: reminder to factor those into your total compensation. If your
Speaker 2: employer is out there reducing perks, this might be a
Speaker 2: sign of a bigger issues potentially on the horizon. So
Speaker 2: it's just worth I think maybe even prepping your resume,
Speaker 2: maybe starting to generally tap your network a little bit
Speaker 2: maybe starting your search. This is an instance where if
Speaker 2: you start to see some of those signs, right maybe.
Speaker 1: Writing on the wall.
Speaker 2: Payroll came in late this month for the first never
Speaker 2: had that happen before. This is like one of those
Speaker 2: instances of just being a little alert to what's going
Speaker 2: on there at your company.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, And I've worked at companies where this has happened,
Speaker 1: and it's demoralizing to the workforce even just to be like, hey,
Speaker 1: we're taking away the four one K match right now,
Speaker 1: and people like, oh my god, really and so yeah,
Speaker 1: and it also might be a sign of things to come.
Speaker 1: So it's worth at least preparing making sure you know
Speaker 1: if things get worse, and it's not just the chopping
Speaker 1: of benefits, and it's the chopping of your position that
Speaker 1: you are in a good position to like move forward.
Speaker 1: Let's get to that free ice cream story, Matt Fair
Speaker 1: story all week and you were just talking about a
Speaker 1: phone addiction. Well, like Jonathan Hype, cal Newport, other tech
Speaker 1: minimalist evangelists, they've they've gotten through, I think to a
Speaker 1: lot of people. We especially when it comes to how
Speaker 1: we treat phones with our kids, with young people and
Speaker 1: school school aged. We're just like making big changes. There
Speaker 1: are states who are, like at the state level, not
Speaker 1: just even at the school district level, attempting to ban
Speaker 1: phones in schools, which I think is probably good for everyone, right,
Speaker 1: and the young people are happier too when nobody has
Speaker 1: phones out at school. And some Chick fil A locations
Speaker 1: are trying to promote more phone free family time by
Speaker 1: offering free ice cream. I believe they actually call it
Speaker 1: the ice dream, Matt, if you're a Chick fil A
Speaker 1: fishing ono or if.
Speaker 2: You are an ice cream affishing on it because it
Speaker 2: technically does not have the proper amount of fact.
Speaker 1: Yeah, considered ice cream custard fan than ice cream, and
Speaker 1: like extra whole for ice cream so good, it's so good.
Speaker 1: You usually get it from the chains that are based
Speaker 1: out of Wisconsin because that's we're custard. It's originally from
Speaker 1: a Culver. Culver's is one, ok, just one called Freddy,
Speaker 1: so it has a good custard too. So yeah, it's
Speaker 1: just it's just more delicious than ice cream. But I
Speaker 1: still like ice cream.
Speaker 2: I feel like when I hear custard, it just makes
Speaker 2: me think it's got more egg in it.
Speaker 1: For some reason it does. Is that accurate? That sounds right? Okay,
Speaker 1: I don't just know what's delicious.
Speaker 2: I personally like ice cream because it's so icy and refreshing.
Speaker 2: It is good, especially down here in.
Speaker 1: This AUTH kind of tastes like homemade vanilla ice cream
Speaker 1: if you've had a like hand turned or whatever at home,
Speaker 1: which I think that's why I like it. I think
Speaker 1: so delicious. I think that's the appeal. So you can
Speaker 1: go get some, at least at some Chick fil A
Speaker 1: locations if you stick your phone in a box the
Speaker 1: whole time while you're having your meal. And I like this, man,
Speaker 1: because I think we get all we can all use
Speaker 1: some incentives to do the right thing right. Maybe this
Speaker 1: is like the kick in the butt we need to
Speaker 1: have better boundaries when they're having meals. And then you
Speaker 1: take it home when you have a box there and
Speaker 1: you don't get free ice cream for it. Maybe, but
Speaker 1: at least it just sizes you. Yeah, I think that's I.
Speaker 2: Love I overall. I didn't realize that this was as
Speaker 2: why it spread of a practice. I thought this was
Speaker 2: more of like a local thing here in Georgia. But
Speaker 2: I mean a lot of it's not called a lot
Speaker 2: of locations. You can't call it a chain because it's not.
Speaker 2: It's different than the franchise McDonald's model, right sure, but
Speaker 2: a lot of the locations there are a lot of
Speaker 2: folks who are participating in this, and I think from
Speaker 2: a culture setting standpoint, and that's one of the things
Speaker 2: with Chick fil A is they're trying to promote, you know,
Speaker 2: whether or not you agree with this or not, like,
Speaker 2: according to their definition, wholesome family values, and this is
Speaker 2: a way to do it. And I am one hundred
Speaker 2: percent on board with this promoting conversation, right as opposed
Speaker 2: to folks just on their phones scrolling, not talking to
Speaker 2: each other, Like that's not the that's a sad world,
Speaker 2: you know, and that's not the kind of world I
Speaker 2: want to live in.
Speaker 1: Well, I think culturally, the kind of family meal has
Speaker 1: been degraded and it doesn't happen nearly as often as
Speaker 1: it used to. And I do think that is one
Speaker 1: of the places families used to come together predominantly to
Speaker 1: talk about their days, to talk about there, to talk
Speaker 1: about all sorts of things, and it is it's a
Speaker 1: shame that we do that less and less as a
Speaker 1: culture and something we care about a whole lot in
Speaker 1: our family. I know you guys do too, and so
Speaker 1: trying to bring that back. Man, give free ice cream
Speaker 1: as a reward. I'm all about it. Man.
Speaker 2: While we're talking about food, not surprising, it seems like
Speaker 2: AI might be helping when it comes.
Speaker 1: To food waste.
Speaker 2: Of course, food waste remains a problem for us, not
Speaker 2: only like on an individual level, but just when it
Speaker 2: comes to just like the I don't know what do
Speaker 2: you call it, the grocery industry or whatever, But there's
Speaker 2: a new AI tool that's targeting the supply chains and
Speaker 2: the sort of macro problem by helping grocery stores.
Speaker 1: To dial in their ordering.
Speaker 2: So there's a tool now called a Fresh and it's
Speaker 2: helping to solve the complicated and expensive problem through data
Speaker 2: and learning. It's taking like we were talking about credit
Speaker 2: scores and how like more data is better, but it's
Speaker 2: just how do you sort through all that data?
Speaker 1: How do you weigh that data? How how do you
Speaker 1: take that.
Speaker 2: Data and use that to create informed and driven actions? Right,
Speaker 2: And so it's taken pieces of information like even the weather.
Speaker 2: It's taken like when people are receiving food stamps and
Speaker 2: demonstrating how that is going to impact shopper behavior, and
Speaker 2: some stores who have implemented this have seen a twenty
Speaker 2: to twenty five percent reduction in food waste, which is tremendous.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: And on an individual level, you think about how much
Speaker 2: I think the American each American household ends up losing
Speaker 2: something like three thousand dollars a year in food just
Speaker 2: straight to the garbage, just straight to food that was wasted,
Speaker 2: and so on a personal level, I think the best
Speaker 2: ways that we can save are to plan our purchases,
Speaker 2: get better about meal planning, and of course to eat
Speaker 2: your leftovers, which is something you're gonna hear me talk
Speaker 2: about all the time. And actually maybe I'll share a
Speaker 2: way that I've failed recently. You are, that's that's rare.
Speaker 2: You're the leftover man.
Speaker 1: I am.
Speaker 2: I am, and just generally avoiding some of those impulse purchases,
Speaker 2: which I will say I am not good at whenever
Speaker 2: I go into the grocery store because I haven't flexed
Speaker 2: that muscle as much like Kate is our primary food
Speaker 2: purchaser in our home, and whenever I go, man, I'm.
Speaker 1: By random solf. I'm such a sucker. Yes, I really am.
Speaker 1: I'm real flabby when it comes to avoiding the things
Speaker 1: that we don't normally buy. I think that is actually
Speaker 1: one of the selling points for buying your groceries online
Speaker 1: if you can, you know. But like that curb pickup
Speaker 1: or whatever, and curbs I pick up is probably wait wait,
Speaker 1: wait better because you're not paying nearly as many fees
Speaker 1: and they bring it out to you. But it's like
Speaker 1: the happy medium. That's right exactly. But that and it's
Speaker 1: because we're often our own worst enemy when we go
Speaker 1: into the groceries.
Speaker 2: It's a decent argument for it. No, okay, So I'll
Speaker 2: share one of the ways I failed. Kay and I
Speaker 2: we have been trying to incorporate more fruits into our
Speaker 2: diet because we're like, man, we don't we don't we
Speaker 2: eat great or proper amounts of protein and veggies and
Speaker 2: you know everything else. I was like, we don't eat
Speaker 2: a ton of fruits. So we've been amping that up,
Speaker 2: and it's just man, I'm like, all right, we got
Speaker 2: all these blueberries and strawberries and pears and whatnot, and
Speaker 2: you start you leave them in there for a little bit,
Speaker 2: and before you know, they start getting soft and I'm like,
Speaker 2: I'm stuck eating all those all this fruit that I'm
Speaker 2: just like, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna toss it.
Speaker 2: But there have been a few casualties.
Speaker 1: The moldy blueberries. I'm anyway, I gotta do it.
Speaker 2: No, blueberries never go bad in our household. Really, they're
Speaker 2: my absolute favorite. But it's just it takes work, and
Speaker 2: that's why. And because you have to you have to
Speaker 2: prep fruit. You gotta wash it in some cases if
Speaker 2: we're putting it in kids lunches, like you gotta you
Speaker 2: gotta chop it up a little bit, and it's so
Speaker 2: much easier to grab it, even a thing of nuts, right,
Speaker 2: I'll take the cap off, you just dump.
Speaker 1: It in your hand and you're eating.
Speaker 2: So there's additional work that's involved, and that's what it
Speaker 2: takes when it comes to if you're if it's an
Speaker 2: emphasis on nutrition and variety of diet, it takes a
Speaker 2: little more work. Or if you're being driven from a
Speaker 2: financial standpoint, if you are looking to cut back on
Speaker 2: how much money you're wasting because you're not actually eating
Speaker 2: the food, it takes a little bit more work, but
Speaker 2: it's worth it, and produce just goes bad more quickly, right, Like, yeah,
Speaker 2: raspberries not as shelf stable.
Speaker 1: I swear, like three or four days in. We gotta
Speaker 1: eat them quick, and so you just have to Also
Speaker 1: some one of the solutions for food food waste might
Speaker 1: be buying less and making more grocery runs, which sounds
Speaker 1: frustrating from a time standpoint, but might be better from
Speaker 1: a food waste tank. True, yeah, depends. But the Wall
Speaker 1: Street Journal Matt detailed how Americans are kind of going
Speaker 1: the young adult route, taking the college college frat boy
Speaker 1: I guess approach to how they imbibe alcoholic beverages. Right now,
Speaker 1: they're pregaming. You know. Pregaming was totally a thing you'd
Speaker 1: go to a concert or a show. It's better than binging. Yeah,
Speaker 1: better than binging, But you drink a couple of beers beforehand.
Speaker 1: Direction I thought, you're going, oh no, not not a pinging,
Speaker 1: but like you pre game because you want to drink
Speaker 1: a couple of beers beforehand so you don't have to
Speaker 1: buy the expensive beers at the venue. Just I get
Speaker 1: behind that. That's just smarts right there, right, that's just smarts.
Speaker 1: But people in our age now are doing the same
Speaker 1: thing because they're just realizing how expensive it is to
Speaker 1: go out and order a beverage.
Speaker 2: That's because it's the same frat boys from twenty years ago.
Speaker 2: I guess, well, it's because of inflation. And you're just
Speaker 2: I think you're just if you're not shocked at the
Speaker 2: price of a booze or.
Speaker 1: A beer when you go out to see a show
Speaker 1: or concert or a sporting event, now, then you're not
Speaker 1: paying attention. You're forking over way too much money. You
Speaker 1: and I were find ourselves drinking less in general. What's
Speaker 1: just saving us money? But enjoying a beer or a
Speaker 1: cocktail before the event you're attending it will lead to
Speaker 1: massive savings. I was just starting to a buddy he
Speaker 1: went to see a concert at an outdoor amphitheater locally.
Speaker 1: I don't remember if he said the beers are twenty
Speaker 1: two or twenty five dollars, but they were crazy expensive
Speaker 1: and the cocktails just as much, if not more. That
Speaker 1: sounds about right, and he bought it. Anyway. I'm the
Speaker 1: kind of guy who's like, not when I go to shows.
Speaker 1: I've talked on this show about how I'm going to
Speaker 1: more concerts, and guess what, I'm just not drinking, like
Speaker 1: I'll maybe have a beer before and if I'm at
Speaker 1: a restaurant this close by, or I'm just like abstaining
Speaker 1: because it's so expensive and I'm just not willing to
Speaker 1: spend that much on a beer.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So the issue here is frequency, And what you're
Speaker 2: doing is you've recently been increasing the number of shows
Speaker 2: you've been going to. Right, But if you and so
Speaker 2: I don't know how many shows you're gonna go to
Speaker 2: this year, but let's just say you're going to one
Speaker 2: show a month, like those you know, all those expensive beers,
Speaker 2: they start adding up and you're just like, oh, geez.
Speaker 2: You know, it's not just one hundred dollars on concert beer.
Speaker 2: It's not just the ticket price. It's also everything else
Speaker 2: that goes into make I can get a special evening
Speaker 2: as opposed to someone like me, where like I'm going to.
Speaker 1: Like one, maybe two shows a year, and.
Speaker 2: When i go, guess what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: get even if it's a twenty five dollars beer dual,
Speaker 2: I'm probably gonna get the twenty five dollars beer because
Speaker 2: it's just a part of what makes it special. In
Speaker 2: that rare instance that that I'm gonna do that. It
Speaker 2: kind of makes me think about movie theaters. Did you
Speaker 2: see that we've crossed the threshold now for the fifty
Speaker 2: dollars movie theater ticket or whatever. And I view it
Speaker 2: in a similar way. I think more folks are willing
Speaker 2: to pay these high dollar ticket prices because this is
Speaker 2: in the data. People are not going to the movies
Speaker 2: as often, like ten twenty years ago, we haven't had
Speaker 2: the bounce back. Yeah no, yeah, yeah, I mean it
Speaker 2: was a big.
Speaker 1: Because they need to make better movies, and you make
Speaker 1: better movies, but it's nice to be able to watch
Speaker 1: a movie at home. Everyone's got big screens, but a
Speaker 1: lot of folks even got the sound system, and you're like,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, I can make my own cocon rum
Speaker 1: with my own popcorn and it's just delicious.
Speaker 2: And it's because of that folks are looking for a
Speaker 2: more premium experience, and personally, I can actually get behind
Speaker 2: that because in a similar way, I'm not going to
Speaker 2: go to see a movie all the time. I might
Speaker 2: go to one or two movies over the course of
Speaker 2: the year, and when I do, I do want it
Speaker 2: to be a better experience than when I'm going to
Speaker 2: experience at home, Like, I'm really comfortable at home, so
Speaker 2: it better be there needs to be something special about it, which.
Speaker 1: Means it needs to be a fancy lay back seat.
Speaker 2: Oh it's or this like The Odyssey right fully shot
Speaker 2: in Imax, Christopher, No, like it's it's that sort of experience.
Speaker 1: When does that come out, by the way, this summer?
Speaker 1: I think summer. I think it's over the summer. Oh yeah, yeah, yah,
Speaker 1: I'm actually pretty that one. I might go see you
Speaker 1: in theater. Dude, you want to go see it? I'm
Speaker 1: pumped about that. But that's the sort of thing that
Speaker 1: I'm willing to shell out for as opposed to the
Speaker 1: run of the mill sort of show or I'm sorry movie.
Speaker 1: It's like, I'm going to wait until that that shows
Speaker 1: up at home on streaming. So it's just shocking because
Speaker 1: I think the average price of a ticket is still
Speaker 1: I mean it's still expensive, like sixteen dollars maybe for
Speaker 1: sure the average admission to a movie, but the typical
Speaker 1: price any one ticket to a movie cancross your field.
Speaker 1: That was very crazy. Yeah, that's like the Imax the
Speaker 1: new release run.
Speaker 2: Yeah, opening night, it's that whole it's you know, they're
Speaker 2: going for folks who are looking for that cachet, which
Speaker 2: is what made something like movie Pass so appealing to
Speaker 2: people who love to go to movies because you could
Speaker 2: go see unlimited movies or at least a few a
Speaker 2: month for a really reduced price.
Speaker 1: I think movie Pass came back. I don't know if
Speaker 1: they're still around now, though I'd be curious to know
Speaker 1: if any how to money listeners use movie Pass or
Speaker 1: I have a way to save money where they're going
Speaker 1: to movies. Holler at us. We don't really go to many,
Speaker 1: but we're happy to relay that on the show. Just
Speaker 1: when Yeah, it's hard to go out for a night,
Speaker 1: and I get why people would say, ah, man, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna buy five tickets if we get any concessions now too,
Speaker 1: we're one hundred dollars range for a family to go
Speaker 1: to the movies. Let's stay at home, get some nice snacks,
Speaker 1: and just I'm telling you hang here exactly all right, last,
Speaker 1: but not leasse, Let's talk about flights for just a second.
Speaker 1: Talked about that with Kyle on Wednesday. So much good
Speaker 1: info there. But it's been like this common wisdom in
Speaker 1: the travel industry that Tuesday is the cheapest day to
Speaker 1: buy flights. Looking to purcha that plane ticket for your
Speaker 1: next trip, do it on Tuesdays. But and there's a
Speaker 1: lot more that goes into it than just that. But
Speaker 1: Expedia found that that's actually not as true as it
Speaker 1: used to be. They found that Fridays tend to have
Speaker 1: the best deals nowadays, Sundays are actually the most expensive
Speaker 1: days to book. But even still, like, the discrepancy is
Speaker 1: not enormous between those days. I think it's like a
Speaker 1: three percent difference on average, minimal. Yeah, but here's the
Speaker 1: big thing that I took away from this report, Matt,
Speaker 1: Airfare is changing all the time. The average fare changes
Speaker 1: something like one hundred and thirty five times a year,
Speaker 1: So if you check two days ago, the fair is
Speaker 1: probably different than the last time you looked. And this
Speaker 1: is why air fair alerts and rebooking like Kyle talked
Speaker 1: about on that episode to get airfare credits if you
Speaker 1: overpaid initially is a smart way to proceed. And the
Speaker 1: other thing is not just booking on Tuesday, which is
Speaker 1: no longer the best advice, but flying on Tuesdays will
Speaker 1: still on average save you money. So you're trying to Yeah,
Speaker 1: trying to leave on a different day of the week,
Speaker 1: you might spend a little more leaving on Tuesday. If
Speaker 1: you go Tuesday to Tuesday, it's actually probably the best,
Speaker 1: the best way to say money tell you that not
Speaker 1: only three percent, maybe six percent savings. So take that
Speaker 1: vacation instead of like Monday through Friday and be like,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go Tuesday to Tuesday, dude. Nice.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, that's gonna be it for our Friday flight.
Speaker 2: We hope everyone has a wonderful, beautiful weekend. We'll see
Speaker 2: you back here on Monday with a fresh ask how
Speaker 2: to Money episode, and you can find any well all
Speaker 2: the stories that we mentioned during this episode up on
Speaker 2: our show notes up on the website, specifically at howtomoney
Speaker 2: dot com.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be it, buddy. So until next time, best
Speaker 1: friends out and best friends Out,