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Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I'm Matt.

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Speaker 1: Today we're discussing how COVID's hard knocks have exposed our

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Speaker 1: money deficiencies. You know what I like about the fact

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Speaker 1: that we use the word deficiencies in the title of

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Speaker 1: this episode because it it makes me think of nutrition, right,

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Speaker 1: and when we are deficient in something, it means we're

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Speaker 1: we're not we're not healthy. Yeah, there's a bone deficiency

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Speaker 1: and my bones aren't getting something that they need, probably

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Speaker 1: the calcium. That's of calcium and vitamin D. Okay, I

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Speaker 1: think you need the vitamin D in order. That's why

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Speaker 1: the ad vitamin D to milk. Did you know that?

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Speaker 1: I think you need that vitamin in order for your

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Speaker 1: body to absorb the calcium. There we go. There, the

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Speaker 1: more you know. But this also makes me think of

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Speaker 1: this Warm Buffet quote where he talks about out now

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Speaker 1: when the tide goes out, you get to see who's

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Speaker 1: swimming naked. And this isn't a weird like perverted joke

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Speaker 1: on behalf of Mr Buffett, But he's talking about investing

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Speaker 1: and those who are over leveraged and those who are

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Speaker 1: doing riskier speculative buys. Right, And so I think the

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Speaker 1: same can be true when it comes to our money.

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Speaker 1: There are a lot of behaviors that we can engage in, uh,

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Speaker 1: and we can kind of be living on the edge

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Speaker 1: when it comes to our personal finances. And I think

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Speaker 1: for a lot of Americans, COVID has exposed some of

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Speaker 1: those deficiencies, some of those shortcomings as it pertains to

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Speaker 1: our money. So I'm excited to talk about that with

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Speaker 1: you today. Man. Yeah, COVID has definitely revealed some things. Um,

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Speaker 1: COVID has revealed a lot in our personal lives, right

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Speaker 1: in our marriage, maybe, let's say, in our family structure,

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Speaker 1: family dynamics. COVID has done a number on us as

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Speaker 1: a whole. And today we're gonna kind of take a

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Speaker 1: look and see, you know what lessons we can learn

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Speaker 1: what COVID has revealed about our personal finances, Matt, Before

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Speaker 1: we get to that real quick, I wanted to mention

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Speaker 1: I stumbled upon this website baby quip dot com. Have

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Speaker 1: you heard of it? Is it a website that sells

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Speaker 1: baby Q tips? I wish that'd be adorable, but no,

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Speaker 1: this one was specifically a website where you can rent

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Speaker 1: your baby stuff out to other people and uh, let's

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Speaker 1: say you're traveling with an infant and you can't take

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Speaker 1: the crib and the stroller and all that kind of

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Speaker 1: stuff or it's just like too tough, too difficult to

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Speaker 1: bring all that stuff along with you. You You can. I

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Speaker 1: remember seeing people traveling, like you know, in the airport

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Speaker 1: and they've got like the car seat, and I'm just

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Speaker 1: like that looks miserable, like I do not like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm not going to sign up for that, you know,

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Speaker 1: like there's no way that I am willing to travel

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Speaker 1: with my kids, at least not at this age. So

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Speaker 1: instead you can go to baby quip dot com and

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Speaker 1: you can rent your stuff from a local individual where

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Speaker 1: you're traveling too. I thought it was cool that one

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Speaker 1: that you can do that right, Like you can be

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Speaker 1: Let's say you go down to Florida for a week

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Speaker 1: for vacation. You don't want to pack all that baby stuff.

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Speaker 1: You can rent stuff locally from someone who lives there

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Speaker 1: also too, if you have extra baby stuff, this is

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Speaker 1: a way in which you could make money. You can

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Speaker 1: have like a little side houstle going on. Right, It's

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Speaker 1: kind of like Touro for your car. This is like

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Speaker 1: tourow for your baby stuff. You'd be like, all right, West,

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Speaker 1: somebody needs the krypt tonight. You're sleeping on the couch exactly.

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Speaker 1: This makes me think too. I mean, you and I

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Speaker 1: were both on our last babies basically at least, you know,

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Speaker 1: we're not planning on having any more kids. Uh. You

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Speaker 1: and Emily are done for sure. Kate and I were

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Speaker 1: on the way to being completely done with with babies

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Speaker 1: for sure. But it makes me wonder, what is the

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Speaker 1: number one piece of equipments? You know, this is a

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Speaker 1: baby quip baby equipment kind of website. Is there something

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Speaker 1: that you feel like, over the years has paid dividends?

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Speaker 1: You know? When it comes to being able to raise

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Speaker 1: the kids. The first thing that comes to my mind

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Speaker 1: is the that white I kea high chair that it's

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's ubiquitous, you know, it's it's the

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Speaker 1: one that you see everywhere. It's like twenty dollars. We've

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Speaker 1: used that for all four of our kids. Yeah, high

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Speaker 1: chair is clutch and can make it through. For us.

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Speaker 1: I think it was probably a Jockey con stroller that

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Speaker 1: was gifted to us. I think it was like it's

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Speaker 1: seventy five Jock controller. But we've used it for all

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Speaker 1: three kids and it's stood the test of time and

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Speaker 1: it's just like it works, it functions, and it's great.

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Speaker 1: It's it's nothing like it's not one of those fancy ones,

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Speaker 1: but that's not what we need. You know. We're not

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Speaker 1: like fancy joggers running marathons or anything anything like that.

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Speaker 1: So it's it's just like perfect for strolling around the

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Speaker 1: neighborhood and getting over all the you know, we have

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Speaker 1: some crumby sidewalks in our neighborhood, all these like tree

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Speaker 1: roots growing up underneath it. So you actually need a

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Speaker 1: stroller with like solid wheels, like with good jogging stroller wheels.

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Speaker 1: And I think that's probably been like the number one

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Speaker 1: piece of baby equipment that we've like used all the time.

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Speaker 1: And you've used that for the girls, You've used that

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Speaker 1: for your new son as well. Uh, this actually makes

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Speaker 1: me think of as well. Over the years for the

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Speaker 1: kids rooms, we've used a nest cam, but they now

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Speaker 1: require a subscription that you pay every single month if

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Speaker 1: you want to be able to see what happened, you know,

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Speaker 1: and we like to see what happened because there are

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Speaker 1: a lot of fights that happened, and not everyone always

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Speaker 1: tells the truth. But you recently turned us on to

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Speaker 1: this company called Wise w y z E And that's

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Speaker 1: all recently that they came up with a new camera

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Speaker 1: V three. But what's so great about these cameras is

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Speaker 1: the fact that you can stick a little micro SD

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Speaker 1: card in there and it'll record footage locally on that

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Speaker 1: camera and HD and so that's nice. But then of

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Speaker 1: course you gets you completely eliminate that recurring charge and

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Speaker 1: so that's a huge freule win man. And the cameras

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Speaker 1: really cheap too, like some of those Nest cameras are

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Speaker 1: like upwards. I don't even know what they cost down

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Speaker 1: like some of the nice ones, but I mean they're

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Speaker 1: definitely over a hundred bucks. Uh. In this new V

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Speaker 1: three Wise camp bucks pretty sweet. Man's a huge deal.

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Speaker 1: And they've got a new security system I saw too

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Speaker 1: that I think it's seventy bucks a year and that

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Speaker 1: includes actual monitoring. Yeah, we should put a link to

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Speaker 1: that in the show notes. But it's one of those

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Speaker 1: things where, uh, that's something that has drastically come down

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Speaker 1: in price, is home security, you know, system monitoring. I

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Speaker 1: remember when yeah, I remember when simply say, launched, it

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Speaker 1: was fifteen bucks a month for monitoring, and it was like,

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Speaker 1: oh my gosh, how did they do that? And now

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Speaker 1: there's people doing it for you know, like six bucks

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Speaker 1: a month and pennies on the dollar. Yeah, exactly. All right, Well,

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Speaker 1: let's mention the beer that we're having on the show today.

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Speaker 1: This one is a Braxis. It's by Perennial Artisan Nails,

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Speaker 1: and this is a giant stout. So looking forward to

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Speaker 1: sharing this one with you, my friend on the show today.

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Speaker 1: But onto the subject at hand. We're talking about how

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Speaker 1: COVID's hard knox have exposed our money deficiencies. And you know,

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Speaker 1: because we're essentially a year in from COVID being named

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Speaker 1: a pandemic by the World Health Organization, let's take a

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Speaker 1: look back and see kind of what's changed in the

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Speaker 1: past year, because this event has changed everything about how

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Speaker 1: we live and really in short order, when you think

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Speaker 1: about it, uh, mask wearing or double masking, virtual schooling,

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Speaker 1: potting with your best friends, all of those have had

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Speaker 1: an impact. And I don't even think we fully understand

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Speaker 1: all the ways in which COVID has like ravaged and

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Speaker 1: impacted our lives. It's it's also highlighted some of the

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Speaker 1: heroism of like frontline healthcare and grocery store workers. It's

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Speaker 1: changed like how we shop and what we're buying. It's

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Speaker 1: realigned priorities for us personally and in our financial lives.

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Speaker 1: And as vaccinations are ramping up, which is good news,

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Speaker 1: and we kind of start to turn this corner, you know, Matt, you,

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Speaker 1: you and I don't want to forget these important lessons

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Speaker 1: I think are worth caring forward. And that's why we

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Speaker 1: wanted to highlight the important shifts and lessons that we've

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Speaker 1: learned from OVID and some of those glaring money deficiencies

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Speaker 1: that have been brought acutely to our attention. Yeah, I think,

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Speaker 1: I mean down the road when we look back at

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Speaker 1: it's gonna be one of those years. It's going to

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Speaker 1: be one of those events where in the moment right now,

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Speaker 1: I don't think we fully understand the impact that it's

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Speaker 1: going to have on our lives. You know. It kind

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Speaker 1: of makes me think back when nine eleven happened, Uh,

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Speaker 1: Like we didn't truly understand that, you know, the impact

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Speaker 1: that would have on our country. And so you're mentioning

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Speaker 1: kind of, yeah, all the different ways that it's affecting

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Speaker 1: our lives. But here on the show, of course, you know,

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Speaker 1: we dive into personal finance, and so the big question

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Speaker 1: that we're wondering is has COVID changed how we handle

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Speaker 1: our money? You know, we're wondering what kind of impact

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Speaker 1: the pandemic has had on our ability to earn, spend, save,

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Speaker 1: and invest and what happened in the past twelve months

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Speaker 1: that can inform our ability to be financially successful in

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Speaker 1: the future. You know, That's what we're going to be

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Speaker 1: discussing today. How it is that we can continue to

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Speaker 1: apply the financial lessons that we've learned from lockdowns in

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Speaker 1: the pandemic as we are looking to move forward. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and though we're tackling some universal lessons on this episode,

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Speaker 1: there are also some lessons were a bit of an outlier,

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Speaker 1: but I think, you know, maybe a couple of them

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Speaker 1: are worth covering. Uh, let's talk about kind of how

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Speaker 1: the pandemic has impacted our ability to earn money or

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Speaker 1: how we think about earning money. Direct stimulus payments were

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Speaker 1: were one of those things that were unexpected going into

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Speaker 1: I think if you told me in January, guess what

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Speaker 1: the government is going to send you know, thousands of

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Speaker 1: dollars millions, tens of millions of people. I would have

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Speaker 1: been like, yeah, probably not, that's not gonna happen, um,

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Speaker 1: But those payments were necessary to help folks who lost

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Speaker 1: their job, were furloughed, and to also kind of thrust

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Speaker 1: money directly into a struggling economy to kind of help

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Speaker 1: facilitate some of that spending that really does make our

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Speaker 1: economy go. One of the lessons that we learned, I think,

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Speaker 1: over the past twelve months, is that the federal government

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Speaker 1: has this the ability to do some pretty extraordinary things

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Speaker 1: in times of severe need. Other actions that we saw

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Speaker 1: because of the pandemic were PPP loans for small businesses,

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Speaker 1: increased unemployment compensation in the federal reserve, buying assets to

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Speaker 1: keep financial markets functioning. One lesson I know that I learned,

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Speaker 1: although it's maybe a little less practical, is that the

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Speaker 1: government has a lot of power to take some real

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Speaker 1: initiative when our economy starts to sputter, And they definitely

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Speaker 1: stepped in and did something big time, you know, over

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Speaker 1: the past year. Right. But that also raises the question too,

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Speaker 1: how important of a lesson is this one for us

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Speaker 1: to internalize and to remember because ultimately, like we feel,

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Speaker 1: it's not as important as many of the others that

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Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about today because of the you know,

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Speaker 1: the impact we have as individuals on government action is

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Speaker 1: pretty limited. Uh. It was nice to see the government

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Speaker 1: quickly Russian and provide aid with the care Is Act,

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Speaker 1: but we've also seen a lot of dysfunction uh in

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Speaker 1: government since then, and so you know, hoping that future

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Speaker 1: difficulties will sort of release A Night and Shining Armor

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Speaker 1: isn't something I'm going to count on, and so let's

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Speaker 1: move on to some of the things that are going

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Speaker 1: to be more within your control. I feel like if

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Speaker 1: you'd run for president, that would help. Are you calling

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Speaker 1: me a night and Shining Army? Yes, I feel like dude,

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Speaker 1: come on, President, Matt, I'd I jousted you, but I

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Speaker 1: don't think I can make a good resident, all right.

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Speaker 1: I think another Uh, something that we learned that's actually

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Speaker 1: more applicable to how we move forward is about industry shifts.

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Speaker 1: And they're always taking place, they always have been and

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Speaker 1: they always will be. But oftentimes industry shifts happen slowly

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Speaker 1: and we fail to kind of recognize and realize what's

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Speaker 1: happening before our very eyes, because it's not happening as

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Speaker 1: quickly as it has during COVID. COVID, of course, accelerated

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Speaker 1: many of the shifts that were already taking place. Some

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Speaker 1: sectors are still barely alive and haven't really begun their recovery.

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Speaker 1: Although travel has seen an uptick, travel is still a

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Speaker 1: sector that is severely hurt because of the pandemic. I

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Speaker 1: think one of the takeaway lessons is that no specific

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Speaker 1: job or industry is bulletproof, although some are maybe a

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Speaker 1: little more teflon like than others, kind of deflect the blows. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

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Speaker 1: And I think that COVID has created some real incentives

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Speaker 1: for people to think a little more about the future

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Speaker 1: potential of the industry that they work in, and maybe

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Speaker 1: whether or not they should be looking to shift and

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Speaker 1: take the skills that they have and maybe apply them

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Speaker 1: in a completely different sector altogether. And Matt, my day

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Speaker 1: job still last year, when the pandemic was kind of

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Speaker 1: roiling and getting started, was was working in radio and

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Speaker 1: something happened that people were calling the apocalypse. Uh. During

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Speaker 1: during those months, radio advertising fall off a cliff um

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Speaker 1: and it proceeded to come back in large part, but

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Speaker 1: I do think that those months have accelerated the downturn

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Speaker 1: of radio. Radio stations are hurting more than ever before,

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Speaker 1: and we're gonna kind of continue to see it as

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Speaker 1: a medium in decline. It's one of those things like

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Speaker 1: I got into radio at a pretty bad time fifteen

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Speaker 1: years ago, and getting into radio today is like an

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Speaker 1: even worst decision. So it's just kind of interesting to

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Speaker 1: see how that, how that happens, and how something like

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Speaker 1: COVID can accelerate the demise of something that was kind

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Speaker 1: of already headed in that direction. Does it Does it

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Speaker 1: feel weird for you to say like that I was

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Speaker 1: in radio past tense? You know, because like you recently

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Speaker 1: shared on the show like a few weeks ago, how

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Speaker 1: you're now officially full time with the podcast, you know,

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Speaker 1: like we both are. But it's still kind of weird

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Speaker 1: to say though, right it is. But it's also Yeah,

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Speaker 1: when you think about making a shift, making a shift

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Speaker 1: out of an industry that is in decline is a

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Speaker 1: whole lot eas year to do then to make a

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Speaker 1: shift away from an industry that's having a stellar time, Right, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's true. Yeah, So I mean for me personally with

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Speaker 1: wedding photography. I mean, like I feel like my shift,

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Speaker 1: my personal income shift started about like four years ago.

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Speaker 1: We started thinking through that, like, you know what, I

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Speaker 1: don't want to necessarily have my weekends full of other engagements,

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Speaker 1: you know, like time with the kids was becoming a

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Speaker 1: little more precious as they were kind of launching into

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Speaker 1: full time school. Uh, And so that was kind of

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Speaker 1: something we started thinking about back then. It kind of

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Speaker 1: not coincidentally, that's also when we start batting around the

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Speaker 1: idea of the podcast, but even before then, man, Like

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Speaker 1: back in is when you and I both started getting

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Speaker 1: into rental real estate, and dude, that was so clutch

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Speaker 1: for me to be able to have some multiple streams

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Speaker 1: of income, right because if I was purely dependent on

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Speaker 1: a single source, specifically wedding photography, I would have been

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Speaker 1: in a world of hurt. Last year, I mean, the

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Speaker 1: industry ground to a halt. And granted there's not like

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Speaker 1: a major shift that took place or that it is

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Speaker 1: taking place, but I mean basically everything was just put

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Speaker 1: on hiatus. So that kind of leads us suit to

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Speaker 1: our next point, which is the that COVID has just

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Speaker 1: amplified the need, you know, to be working towards having

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Speaker 1: multiple streams of income. You know, if you're married or

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Speaker 1: in a long term relationship, having to paychecks, that's just

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Speaker 1: you know, one great way of doing this. Uh. But

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Speaker 1: you know, even looking beyond just paychecks that you get

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Speaker 1: from a single employer, you know, a way to create

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Speaker 1: more fiscal resiliency is going to be by finding other

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Speaker 1: ways to generate cash flow every single month. We talk

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Speaker 1: here on the show how it's important to start with

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Speaker 1: your day job and then look to ways that you

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Speaker 1: can easily maximize your your earning potential there first. But

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Speaker 1: you know, there is inherent risk involved when the vast

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Speaker 1: majority of your income does come from a single source. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: for sure, And that was something that a lot of

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Speaker 1: people recognized specifically during COVID. It's definitely an argument, I think,

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Speaker 1: to for firing up some entrepreneurial spirit. Maybe it's in

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Speaker 1: you somewhere and it's kind of been laying dormant, or

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Speaker 1: maybe it did kind of come out of you during

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Speaker 1: the pandemic um And for some that means looking to

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Speaker 1: monetize your passion COVID. For some people to turn be

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Speaker 1: into a career as their traditional career of the job

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Speaker 1: where they were working essentially didn't have room for them anymore.

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Speaker 1: I couldn't they couldn't get a paycheck there, and that's

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Speaker 1: been kind of interesting to see some of the people

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Speaker 1: that have had success by striking it on their own

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Speaker 1: when they didn't really have many other great options. You know, Matt,

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Speaker 1: you mentioned war big fans of rental real estate to

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Speaker 1: diverse fire income. That takes time, um and also capital, right,

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Speaker 1: So it's not easy, but COVID made it apparent. The

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Speaker 1: multiple streams of income is incredibly nice to have, and

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Speaker 1: although it's going to take planning and some time to

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Speaker 1: get there, it's definitely worth pursuing. Yeah, man in the

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Speaker 1: statistics support this as well. There are nearly eight more

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Speaker 1: new business applications that were filed last year compared to

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Speaker 1: ten years ago, back in twenty two, So that's encouraging.

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Speaker 1: Folks are making that change. People are pivoting and finding

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Speaker 1: ways to diversify their income. Yes, it's good to see

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Speaker 1: that people are pivoting based on the circumstances, and that

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Speaker 1: is certainly uh an important lesson that we've learned from COVID.

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Speaker 1: You gotta be able to pivot quickly, and lessons that

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Speaker 1: we can learn from the deficiencies that we can easily see.

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Speaker 1: We'll get to some more of us right after this break.

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Speaker 1: All right, we are back, and you know, Joe, basically

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Speaker 1: we were talking about in that first section there some

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Speaker 1: of the hard knocks that we took due to COVID

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Speaker 1: and how that affected our ability to earn money. And

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Speaker 1: so next let's look at some of the other areas

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Speaker 1: that have been impacted by COVID. You know, we've certainly

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Speaker 1: seen spending trends change since COVID started back in April.

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Speaker 1: The largest drop in consumer spending ever recorded occurred. Uh.

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Speaker 1: Since then, though, you know, we've seen online shopping. Uh.

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Speaker 1: It was already a mainstay, but now folks of all

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Speaker 1: ages are getting more comfortable shopping online. Credit Card debt

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Speaker 1: levels went down actually last year. And you know, while

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Speaker 1: that's not what you would expect in the middle of

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Speaker 1: a you know, rampant job loss and and dire economic predictions,

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Speaker 1: it certainly goes to show how much flexibility we have

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Speaker 1: with our money, and too just how often the lack

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Speaker 1: of positive movement. It's it's more about our lack of implementation,

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Speaker 1: not a lack of income or or not a lack

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Speaker 1: of knowing what to do with our money. It's actually

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Speaker 1: our behavior where we need to make those changes. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's true. And and one of the areas that people

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Speaker 1: spend a good bit of money is travel. We saw

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Speaker 1: travel spending, or traditionally people spend money. We saw a

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Speaker 1: deep dive right in travel spending, obviously much to the

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Speaker 1: stagrin of hotels, airlines, all sorts of different companies impacted

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Speaker 1: by the inability to travel or the unwillingness as well

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Speaker 1: to travel. And yeah, I think there are a couple

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Speaker 1: things that we learned through this disruption on how we

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Speaker 1: should think about spending money when it comes to travel.

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Speaker 1: One of the lessons that we've learned, one of the

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Speaker 1: things that the pandemic exposed was that we have to

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Speaker 1: be careful when booking travel through third party sites. Booking

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Speaker 1: a trip through an online travel agent or third party

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Speaker 1: discount site can bring down the cost of your trip,

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Speaker 1: but there are other risks involved when you don't book

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Speaker 1: directly with an airline or a hotel, and it's important

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Speaker 1: to know the trade offs. I mean, Matt, I'm still

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Speaker 1: all about booking a hotel at price line in order

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Speaker 1: to save money, but you might not get the same

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Speaker 1: customer service or the same cancelation benefits when you book

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Speaker 1: a hotel there as opposed to going directly through the

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Speaker 1: hotel itself. Lots of people found less helpful customer service

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Speaker 1: and that refunds were hard to come by when they

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Speaker 1: booked at some of those third party travel sites, and

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Speaker 1: especially like let's say you booked through an independent travel

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Speaker 1: insurance company or individual who runs their own travel insurance agency,

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Speaker 1: sometimes they didn't have the ability to give those refunds.

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Speaker 1: And so how you book travel matters, and it's important

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Speaker 1: to know the fine print when you are booking travel

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Speaker 1: in the future. Yeah, that's right. And and on that note,

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Speaker 1: to travel insurance is more worthwhile than most people thought.

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Speaker 1: That's something that we've learned recently. Uh. And you can

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Speaker 1: purchase a policy on sites like ensure my Trip that

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Speaker 1: will provide real, actual help in case your trip is canceled.

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Speaker 1: And so just make sure to read the fine print

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Speaker 1: of your specific policy. But COVID really drew a big

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Speaker 1: red circle around the importance of travel insurance, whereas in

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Speaker 1: the past, I think it's something that we would have

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Speaker 1: been like, no, that's something that you could absorb, just

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Speaker 1: absorb the cost of that, but now we're realizing it's

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Speaker 1: definitely something worth considering. Yeah, and where your book matters

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Speaker 1: to write. Like when we're talking about the airlines, they

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Speaker 1: all have different responses in the pandemic. We talked to

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Speaker 1: Scott Kuys about this, you know, early on, and some

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Speaker 1: airlines were happy to change your plans or to give

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Speaker 1: you a refund, whereas some airlines were trying to stick

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Speaker 1: you with a credit as opposed to giving you cash

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Speaker 1: back in your hands. Same with some of the cruise lines.

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Speaker 1: Part of my takeaway from all that was like, man,

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Speaker 1: I'm so glad that I fly Southwest most of the

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Speaker 1: time because they pretty much always make it easy to

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Speaker 1: change your plans. And that's a big park. Yeah, that's

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Speaker 1: something that we've learned specifically when it comes to travel,

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Speaker 1: especially travel by airline or by cruise. But you know,

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Speaker 1: as it pertains to just how we spend our money

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Speaker 1: in general. With more folks working from home, commuting has

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Speaker 1: become less of a thing. Uh. And this meant that

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Speaker 1: a lot of folks were shaving quite a bit of

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Speaker 1: i'll spend time out of their days, uh, And they

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Speaker 1: were saving that money as well. Insurers, we're offering partial

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Speaker 1: refunds on auto policies. Uh, we were spending less money

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Speaker 1: on ass uh. In some folks, Joel, like you were

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Speaker 1: ditching a car altogether. COVID just you know, revealed how

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Speaker 1: businesses and how workers alike continued to do things the

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Speaker 1: same way that they had always been done, just despite

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Speaker 1: the potential benefits you know, of shaking things up, uh

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Speaker 1: and allowing working from home in greater numbers. Uh. In

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Speaker 1: this instance, covid is is a reminder that it shouldn't

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Speaker 1: take a pandemic in order for us to make smart

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Speaker 1: shifts and how we live our lives. Uh. And we

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Speaker 1: should question the things that we do every single day.

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Speaker 1: You know, we should at least ask the question of

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Speaker 1: our employer, is this something that is an option? You know,

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Speaker 1: can I work from home? Like? What are the options here? Uh?

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Speaker 1: You know, transportation costs are huge, and so if there's

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Speaker 1: a way that we can reduce some of those costs,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna be for that every single day. Yeah. Is

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Speaker 1: this immutable? Is this like fixed unchangeable? And those are

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Speaker 1: good questions to ask because now a lot more things

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Speaker 1: are changeable and businesses are reacting to what their workforce expects.

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Speaker 1: They have a new expectation about how they can work,

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Speaker 1: where they can work um and hours a day in

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Speaker 1: which they work too. And Matt, I think there's like

430
00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:07,119
Speaker 1: speaks to a greater overall shift essentially that's occurred in

431
00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:09,560
Speaker 1: so many ways that we spend you know, our family,

432
00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:11,240
Speaker 1: We're not going out to restaurants like we used to.

433
00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:15,240
Speaker 1: Uh through and definitely ordering more pizza. I saw a

434
00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:18,000
Speaker 1: storyc pizza sales are like through the roof and that

435
00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:20,760
Speaker 1: it was like pizza is like the perfect pandemic food.

436
00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:23,919
Speaker 1: They already had the delivery thing down. They were already

437
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:25,639
Speaker 1: used to people coming by and just picking up a

438
00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:27,879
Speaker 1: couple of pizzas on Fridays, which is what you and

439
00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:30,240
Speaker 1: our families tend to do every other Friday. We get

440
00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:32,680
Speaker 1: everybody together and we have a pizza party, get that

441
00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:34,200
Speaker 1: kids together. It's a lot of fun. It's one of

442
00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:36,560
Speaker 1: those shifts that was easy to make righte and and

443
00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:38,760
Speaker 1: we've also seen that that a lot of expenses in

444
00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:41,400
Speaker 1: our lives are are less rigid than we previously thought.

445
00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:45,200
Speaker 1: I feel like this is the perfect time for our listeners,

446
00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:47,480
Speaker 1: for all of us to remake our budget and consider

447
00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:50,560
Speaker 1: cutting expenses in our lives. For instance, you just mentioned

448
00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:53,440
Speaker 1: our family, we ditched a car, which lowered our insurance costs,

449
00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:56,720
Speaker 1: which lowered our taxes every year. Um on that car.

450
00:20:56,840 --> 00:20:58,240
Speaker 1: You know, the set of tires you don't have to

451
00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:01,720
Speaker 1: buy every fifty to seventy five thousand miles or whatever exactly.

452
00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:03,760
Speaker 1: It's lowering our electricity bill, but I don't know for

453
00:21:03,840 --> 00:21:05,560
Speaker 1: like twelve bucks a months, so not that much. Well, yeah,

454
00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:07,200
Speaker 1: you have the electric car. Yeah, I'm a little bitter.

455
00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:08,760
Speaker 1: I just recently had to replace some tires on the

456
00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:10,840
Speaker 1: van and so I'm still feeling that burn. A little

457
00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:13,720
Speaker 1: bit expensive. But those are the kind of things I

458
00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:15,520
Speaker 1: think that we can we can really start to rethink

459
00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:18,479
Speaker 1: and remake our budget because when something's imposed on us.

460
00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:20,880
Speaker 1: I think it was former President Obama's chief of staff

461
00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:23,600
Speaker 1: raw Mimanuel who said, never let a good crisis go

462
00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:26,640
Speaker 1: to waste. And I think there's like some wisdom there too,

463
00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:29,560
Speaker 1: not to exploit something, but in essence to be able

464
00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:31,240
Speaker 1: to use it for our own benefit, to use it

465
00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:33,639
Speaker 1: for our own good and for all of us. You know,

466
00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:36,320
Speaker 1: I think it shows we have more control over our life,

467
00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:39,000
Speaker 1: our work, and our finances than maybe we previously thought.

468
00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:43,080
Speaker 1: Drastic changes that have been imposed on us reveal the

469
00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:45,040
Speaker 1: truth that we easily forget that we actually do have

470
00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:47,080
Speaker 1: some of that control. We can make changes in our

471
00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:49,959
Speaker 1: personal lives and in our finances so that our lives

472
00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:51,760
Speaker 1: look a little more like we want them to look,

473
00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:55,480
Speaker 1: and less like they're being constantly shaped by the forces

474
00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:58,159
Speaker 1: around us, um more like they're being shaped from our

475
00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:02,159
Speaker 1: own hopes and desires, shaped from what. Yeah, it's h

476
00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:04,040
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what we would encourage our listeners to do.

477
00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:06,480
Speaker 1: You know, ask yourself, you know, what shifts have you

478
00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:08,600
Speaker 1: made that you can actually keep around? And you know,

479
00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:11,320
Speaker 1: maybe that's eating in more often. Maybe it's buying fewer

480
00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:13,000
Speaker 1: clothes since you don't have to go into the office,

481
00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:15,199
Speaker 1: you feel a little less pressure to have the newest threads.

482
00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:18,119
Speaker 1: Maybe it's exercising at home, Joe, that's something you and

483
00:22:18,119 --> 00:22:20,520
Speaker 1: Emily have been doing. Right, These are all major things

484
00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:23,320
Speaker 1: that have changed for a number of folks, and so

485
00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:26,399
Speaker 1: just think about the shifts that you've already made that

486
00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:29,639
Speaker 1: can stick around after you're vaccinated, after you know COVID

487
00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:32,320
Speaker 1: is no longer part of our zite guys, But also

488
00:22:32,359 --> 00:22:34,240
Speaker 1: do you think about the shifts that you can still

489
00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:36,680
Speaker 1: consider implementing. Maybe these are changes that you've kind of

490
00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:38,879
Speaker 1: stumbled upon, but if you actually step back from it,

491
00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:40,879
Speaker 1: you're like, oh, wow, we're we're saving two dollars a

492
00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:43,320
Speaker 1: month because we're not doing X like whatever that is

493
00:22:43,359 --> 00:22:45,760
Speaker 1: in your life. Uh. Just the ability that we have

494
00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:48,440
Speaker 1: to cut back on spending is just incredible, and that's

495
00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:50,159
Speaker 1: one of the most immediate ways that we can have

496
00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:52,200
Speaker 1: a huge impact when it comes to our personal finances.

497
00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:54,600
Speaker 1: I think the number one way that COVID has impacted

498
00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:57,119
Speaker 1: our family is that it's just reduced a huge amount

499
00:22:57,119 --> 00:22:59,040
Speaker 1: of things that were on the calendar. They were just

500
00:22:59,119 --> 00:23:00,919
Speaker 1: kind of taking off the calend are indefinitely and I'm

501
00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:03,040
Speaker 1: gonna be way more thoughtful about the things I put

502
00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:05,280
Speaker 1: on the calendar in the future. It's easy to let

503
00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:07,920
Speaker 1: these things pop on than they never come off. Um,

504
00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:10,520
Speaker 1: different activities were involved in different neighborhood things that we

505
00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:11,679
Speaker 1: want to be a part of, some of which we

506
00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:14,080
Speaker 1: are excited to get back to and others of which

507
00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:16,520
Speaker 1: I am glad for the lull and I'm not planning

508
00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:18,280
Speaker 1: on getting back to them. And so I think it's

509
00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:20,520
Speaker 1: probably similar with the budget. For a lot of people,

510
00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:23,040
Speaker 1: it's like, man, I really do miss going to eat out.

511
00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:24,359
Speaker 1: But you know what, they didn't have to be a

512
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:26,679
Speaker 1: three line item in my budget. It can be a

513
00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:28,520
Speaker 1: hundred fifty dollar line on item in my budget. And

514
00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:30,639
Speaker 1: that's another way in which I can save moving forward.

515
00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:33,320
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have done that otherwise, but the pandemic has

516
00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:37,040
Speaker 1: revealed this deficiency that I was leaning on eating out

517
00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:39,240
Speaker 1: as a crutch. And you know what, eating in hasn't

518
00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:41,239
Speaker 1: been all that bad, That's right, But let's move on

519
00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:45,200
Speaker 1: and talk about saving. And there's still ten million Americans

520
00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:48,000
Speaker 1: that are unemployed, um, and that's a hard statistic to see,

521
00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:50,160
Speaker 1: and I think that reflects the truth that there's never

522
00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:52,680
Speaker 1: been a better time for people to have a fully

523
00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:56,240
Speaker 1: funded emergency fund. The economy essentially had been booming for

524
00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:59,520
Speaker 1: ten years straight, unemployment wasn't as big of a concern

525
00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:02,919
Speaker 1: for most people. And COVID just really drove on the

526
00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:06,240
Speaker 1: point that the job that you have, you're not promised

527
00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:08,119
Speaker 1: to have that tomorrow, and so you do need to

528
00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:10,760
Speaker 1: have your financial act together in order to weather a

529
00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:13,400
Speaker 1: potential jobless period in your life. And and I think

530
00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:17,320
Speaker 1: this just totally reflects the fact that people need an

531
00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:19,679
Speaker 1: emergency fund to whether that storm. It really drives that

532
00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:22,600
Speaker 1: point home in a big, big way, right. And so

533
00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:24,199
Speaker 1: if you're newer to the show, you know this simply

534
00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:26,879
Speaker 1: just means having cash savings in the bank that you

535
00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:30,240
Speaker 1: can draw on for any unexpected emergencies that arise. You know, like,

536
00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:32,560
Speaker 1: this isn't money that's invested, it's just sitting there waiting

537
00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:35,359
Speaker 1: on those storm clouds to come rolling in. Uh. And

538
00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:37,920
Speaker 1: as far as how much you should have set aside, UH,

539
00:24:38,119 --> 00:24:39,840
Speaker 1: we've talked about this before, but we feel that there

540
00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:42,840
Speaker 1: are two levels of a funded emergency fund. First, it

541
00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:45,240
Speaker 1: means having two thousand, FO hundred and sixty seven dollars

542
00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:47,520
Speaker 1: set aside. This is a basic amount that should be

543
00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:49,919
Speaker 1: your top financial priority, and that's actually money gear number one.

544
00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:52,320
Speaker 1: We go into depth and detail as to why we

545
00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:54,760
Speaker 1: chose that dollar amount. You can go and listen back

546
00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:56,760
Speaker 1: to that episode. We will put it in our show notes.

547
00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:00,600
Speaker 1: But after that, after you're getting in layer match and

548
00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:02,879
Speaker 1: paying off high interest rate in debt, that's when you

549
00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:05,200
Speaker 1: want to have that fully loaded emergency fund. That's when

550
00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:07,520
Speaker 1: you're gonna want to have three to six months worth

551
00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:10,479
Speaker 1: of living expenses set aside. Yeah, And I think one

552
00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:13,960
Speaker 1: of the deficiencies that COVID revealed was that most of

553
00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:16,120
Speaker 1: us can save more than we thought we could um

554
00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:18,480
Speaker 1: and that bore out in the numbers and how people

555
00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:21,640
Speaker 1: responded during the height of the crisis. Right, Yes, since

556
00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:24,320
Speaker 1: the start of the pandemic, the assets that Americans had

557
00:25:24,359 --> 00:25:27,360
Speaker 1: in the bank shot up from seven hundred billion dollars,

558
00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:30,399
Speaker 1: it doubled to one point four trillion dollars. And we

559
00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:32,960
Speaker 1: saw a credit card debt on the decline, Like people

560
00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:34,760
Speaker 1: were paying off credit card debt in the middle of

561
00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:39,520
Speaker 1: lots of unemployment and financial uncertainty. People really use that

562
00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:41,600
Speaker 1: time to save more, like you said, and then to

563
00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:44,639
Speaker 1: pay off debt. And it's it's fascinating though, how in

564
00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:47,199
Speaker 1: normal times we say that we can't do it, but

565
00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:49,920
Speaker 1: then the crisis hits and we find a way. And

566
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:52,000
Speaker 1: we saw the same thing happened back in oh seven

567
00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:54,399
Speaker 1: and oh wait, people paid off their debt and increase

568
00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:57,960
Speaker 1: their savings even while the economy was experiencing just a

569
00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:01,240
Speaker 1: massive amount of turmoil, the same as through in COVID times.

570
00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:03,960
Speaker 1: And it's not I don't think that saving money is easy.

571
00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:06,400
Speaker 1: It's always easier to spend than it is to save,

572
00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:09,480
Speaker 1: But it takes intentionality in order to to save money well.

573
00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:13,320
Speaker 1: But excuses are often a major factor that keeps us

574
00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:16,280
Speaker 1: from ramping up our savings. It's not necessarily that we

575
00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:19,719
Speaker 1: can't prioritize saving more, it's just that we don't. And

576
00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:21,960
Speaker 1: I think that is definitely one of the biggest lessons

577
00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:24,560
Speaker 1: we can learn from COVID. One of the biggest deficiencies

578
00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:28,159
Speaker 1: that it shows us is our inability to prioritize that.

579
00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:31,000
Speaker 1: And this crisis forced us to change what we did

580
00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:33,000
Speaker 1: on a dime, and I hope that most of us

581
00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:36,160
Speaker 1: can kind of stick with that change, that prioritization of

582
00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:38,920
Speaker 1: paying off high interest rate debt and saving more of

583
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:42,200
Speaker 1: our income. That provides a huge mental boost to how

584
00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:44,680
Speaker 1: you feel about your money, while at the same time

585
00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:47,439
Speaker 1: just providing a bunch more financial security too. That's right,

586
00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:49,879
Speaker 1: And so that is how COVID has shown some of

587
00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:51,560
Speaker 1: the deficiencies when it comes to our money in some

588
00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:54,359
Speaker 1: of these areas. We're gonna talk about one more area

589
00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:57,719
Speaker 1: where deficiency was revealed due to COVID, uh, And we're

590
00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:08,960
Speaker 1: gonna get to that one right after this break. All right, man,

591
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:11,040
Speaker 1: let's keep talking about this. Let's talk about COVID and

592
00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:14,399
Speaker 1: how it's impact that our finances. Obviously, it's had a

593
00:27:14,440 --> 00:27:17,400
Speaker 1: major impact in all facets of our life. Some things

594
00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:19,400
Speaker 1: we're ready to get back to normal, right, I think

595
00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:22,240
Speaker 1: most of us are ready to go back with our family,

596
00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:25,760
Speaker 1: to eat at a restaurant and not feel weird about it. Um,

597
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:27,880
Speaker 1: that'll be nice. I think I think we're ready to

598
00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:30,560
Speaker 1: see our neighbors, you know, uh, their faces and not

599
00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:33,359
Speaker 1: just their master versions. There are so many things I

600
00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:36,280
Speaker 1: am ready to get back to normal. Um. But then

601
00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:38,480
Speaker 1: there are other things, like we've talked about where I

602
00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:39,840
Speaker 1: want to learn a lesson from it, and I want

603
00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:41,919
Speaker 1: to change and I want to pivot moving forward. And

604
00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:43,399
Speaker 1: I think you know, the same is true with our

605
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:46,760
Speaker 1: personal finances. There are some lessons that we've learned that

606
00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:49,040
Speaker 1: we need to take forward and not just forget. And

607
00:27:49,119 --> 00:27:51,399
Speaker 1: the seam is true too when it comes to our investing, right,

608
00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:53,760
Speaker 1: Like how it is that we invest our money. And

609
00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:57,400
Speaker 1: the fact is, like COVID hasn't really changed our approach

610
00:27:57,440 --> 00:27:59,560
Speaker 1: to investing, you know, it hasn't changed it all that much.

611
00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:02,520
Speaker 1: Although there are some important, albeit subtle lessons from the

612
00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:05,520
Speaker 1: past year that are really important to point out. And

613
00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:08,359
Speaker 1: the first is the fact that corrections happen. Most folks,

614
00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:12,240
Speaker 1: especially younger millennials maybe who had only the foggiest recollection

615
00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:14,080
Speaker 1: of what happened back in two thousand seven, two thousand

616
00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:16,639
Speaker 1: and eight, uh began to think that the stock market

617
00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:19,879
Speaker 1: maybe only goes up, and the you know, the truth

618
00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:22,040
Speaker 1: is that when you look at a chart of the

619
00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:24,280
Speaker 1: overall market for the past fifty years, you'll see that

620
00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:26,840
Speaker 1: it does mostly go up. You know, like that's mostly true,

621
00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:30,520
Speaker 1: but human behavior always enters the equation, and quite a

622
00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:34,480
Speaker 1: few downturns and recessions should be expected in the lifetime

623
00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:37,480
Speaker 1: of any investor. You know, the stock market is not

624
00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:41,000
Speaker 1: a long term savings account that just allows for far

625
00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:44,120
Speaker 1: higher returns without any risk, without any of those dips.

626
00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:47,160
Speaker 1: And we saw the risk full on in full force

627
00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:50,120
Speaker 1: in March, right, and a lot of people panicking. We

628
00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:52,800
Speaker 1: you know, in retrospect now when we look back, we're like, man,

629
00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:55,160
Speaker 1: that dip was extreme, but it was short lived. But

630
00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:56,800
Speaker 1: we didn't know that that was going to be the case.

631
00:28:56,960 --> 00:28:59,160
Speaker 1: At the time. A lot of people were continuing to

632
00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:02,320
Speaker 1: predict that the stock market would fall further and you know,

633
00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:05,480
Speaker 1: I'll be honest, I thought that the downturn it would

634
00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:07,440
Speaker 1: last a little bit longer than it did. I did

635
00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:09,680
Speaker 1: not think it was gonna last three weeks, you know.

636
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:12,960
Speaker 1: But I think a really important question to ask yourself

637
00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:15,400
Speaker 1: based on that is how did you respond during the

638
00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:18,160
Speaker 1: stock market free fall that happened in March. This is

639
00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:20,880
Speaker 1: one of the most helpful questions that you can ask yourself.

640
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:24,000
Speaker 1: If you made changes to your portfolio when the stock

641
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,880
Speaker 1: market was tanking, then maybe you weren't invested properly in

642
00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:29,040
Speaker 1: the first place. Last year, we all got the chance

643
00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:31,640
Speaker 1: to not just assume what we think we would do

644
00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:34,080
Speaker 1: given a steep market decline, but to see how we

645
00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:37,480
Speaker 1: actually handled it in real life. And that's really informative

646
00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:40,240
Speaker 1: moving forward. Right, Like, if you did make some changes,

647
00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:43,160
Speaker 1: if you sold some stuff, if you moved your assets

648
00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:45,760
Speaker 1: into cash when the stock market was having a tough go,

649
00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:48,680
Speaker 1: then your investment plan in general it needs to change, right.

650
00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:50,720
Speaker 1: That's right. And that's also too why it's so important

651
00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:53,600
Speaker 1: to know like your specific timeline and to have a

652
00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:57,320
Speaker 1: written investment plan. The importance of a personal plan was

653
00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:00,920
Speaker 1: magnified during the early months of COVID for sure. Uh,

654
00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:03,040
Speaker 1: you know, the plan that you can stick to is

655
00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:05,680
Speaker 1: gonna be way better than a plan that keeps you

656
00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:07,880
Speaker 1: up at night that that causes you a lot of stress.

657
00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:09,640
Speaker 1: Joe and I, I mean, you and I were both

658
00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:13,120
Speaker 1: invested in stocks, and we are totally okay with that,

659
00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:15,240
Speaker 1: since you know, we're in the wealth building phase of

660
00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:17,680
Speaker 1: our lives. But make sure that your portfolio is something

661
00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:19,840
Speaker 1: that you can stick with through the good and the

662
00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:22,400
Speaker 1: tough times. Yeah. So let's put it in perspective to Matt.

663
00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:25,240
Speaker 1: If somebody made a change during that time because they

664
00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:27,840
Speaker 1: were like, this is it, this is not good, this

665
00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:30,520
Speaker 1: is going to be an extended downturn and started freaking out. Yeah,

666
00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:32,640
Speaker 1: I can't handle it. Well. If you had made changes

667
00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:36,120
Speaker 1: instead of staying invested, uh, because the markets were tanking

668
00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:38,280
Speaker 1: and you happen to sell at the exact wrong moment,

669
00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:40,680
Speaker 1: you would have missed out on about a seventy five

670
00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:43,440
Speaker 1: percent increase that we've seen in the market since then.

671
00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:47,040
Speaker 1: That's on the SMPI, not some fancy tech stock or

672
00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:49,800
Speaker 1: bitcoin or anything like that, right, Tesla. That's on the

673
00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:51,600
Speaker 1: SMP five hunder, which is you know, one of the

674
00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:55,360
Speaker 1: more conservative indexes out there. Uh, that's unbelievable and to

675
00:30:55,400 --> 00:30:57,760
Speaker 1: think that somebody who pulled out at the wrong time

676
00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:00,200
Speaker 1: they would have missed out on all of that. It's

677
00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:02,600
Speaker 1: good to remember that the market will bounce back. Uh.

678
00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:04,640
Speaker 1: You know, when you look at the past fifty years,

679
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:07,520
Speaker 1: at the rolling fifteen year periods, there's not one single

680
00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:09,520
Speaker 1: fifteen year period where you're not going to average a

681
00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:11,880
Speaker 1: positive return, and so it's good to remind ourselves of that,

682
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:14,320
Speaker 1: especially when things aren't looking so great. So yeah, I

683
00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:16,800
Speaker 1: think so. One of the deficiencies that that we've found

684
00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:19,200
Speaker 1: out in COVID times when it comes to our investing

685
00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:21,680
Speaker 1: is maybe that we're paying a little too much attention

686
00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:24,960
Speaker 1: to the markets to where our investments stand on a

687
00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:27,080
Speaker 1: day to day basis. Maybe we should actually take a

688
00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:31,160
Speaker 1: step back, develop that investment plan, make changes rarely to

689
00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:34,160
Speaker 1: our investment plans, and plan those changes out in advance.

690
00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:37,040
Speaker 1: If emotions are making the roles instead of your investment plan,

691
00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:39,240
Speaker 1: then that is something that needs to change. That's a

692
00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:41,160
Speaker 1: lesson you need to learn from from what's happened in

693
00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:42,680
Speaker 1: the past year. That's true, like you would have been

694
00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:44,520
Speaker 1: better off right in your bike and then having gotten

695
00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:47,120
Speaker 1: hit by a car, getting knocked into a coma for

696
00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:50,560
Speaker 1: three months and then having woken up and be like, wait,

697
00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:52,440
Speaker 1: what's going on? What happened to the markets? Like you

698
00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:54,360
Speaker 1: would have been in a better position. Depends on how

699
00:31:54,520 --> 00:31:57,200
Speaker 1: financially speaking, it depends on how big the hospital bill was.

700
00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:01,040
Speaker 1: Assume you have insurance. I'm not trying to make light

701
00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:02,640
Speaker 1: of if you've ever gotten hit by a car, which

702
00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:05,120
Speaker 1: I have, what you have, I'm seezing you a little,

703
00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:06,880
Speaker 1: trying to think of it, if it was worth it

704
00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:09,320
Speaker 1: or not? What? What? I don't know. It's not fun

705
00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:11,720
Speaker 1: to get hit by a car. Yeah, but it's important though.

706
00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:13,360
Speaker 1: I mean we're talking about investing, and it's important to

707
00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:15,560
Speaker 1: stick with a plan, stick with the decision, and stick

708
00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:17,400
Speaker 1: with whatever is going to work for you and not

709
00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:20,040
Speaker 1: have your actions swayed by your emotions. And if you

710
00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:22,040
Speaker 1: didn't get hurt too badly, like I I didn't have

711
00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:24,040
Speaker 1: like a little shoulder messed up. But it can be

712
00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:25,720
Speaker 1: a good story to tell a cocktail parties and stuff,

713
00:32:25,720 --> 00:32:27,840
Speaker 1: you know, So you're talking about the pain. Actually, I

714
00:32:27,880 --> 00:32:29,880
Speaker 1: heard your daughter there. The girls were over at our

715
00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:31,480
Speaker 1: house for lunch today and I went up there for lunch,

716
00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:33,560
Speaker 1: and I heard your daughter tell a joke, and she goes,

717
00:32:33,680 --> 00:32:36,320
Speaker 1: why did the window go to the doctor? And my

718
00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:38,200
Speaker 1: girls were like why and she's like because it had

719
00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:42,040
Speaker 1: window pane, which I thought was a perfect dad joke.

720
00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:43,400
Speaker 1: Was that one that you you told her? No, she

721
00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:45,360
Speaker 1: really that one for me, But I almost steal that

722
00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:48,080
Speaker 1: one from her. I mean I literally laughed out loud.

723
00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:49,880
Speaker 1: I was like, Oh, that one's really good. It's pretty good,

724
00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:52,280
Speaker 1: especially coming from a seven year olds not as cute

725
00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:55,560
Speaker 1: from a thirty seven year old. It's still good. But uh,

726
00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:57,719
Speaker 1: you know, like I feel like what we're pointing out

727
00:32:57,760 --> 00:32:59,880
Speaker 1: here is the fact that we have control over our lives.

728
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:01,720
Speaker 1: You know, like we we say that there are financial

729
00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:05,000
Speaker 1: goals that we can't attain, but when the you know,

730
00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:07,440
Speaker 1: when the crap hits the fan, we actually are able

731
00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:11,000
Speaker 1: to make dramatic changes to our personal finance habits. The

732
00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:14,680
Speaker 1: pandemic has made that abundantly clear. Back when we were

733
00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:17,280
Speaker 1: kind of coasting along in our pre COVID lives, I

734
00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:20,000
Speaker 1: know there were many areas where I certainly probably lack

735
00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:22,800
Speaker 1: some initiative. Maybe there were you know, maybe some moderate

736
00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:25,360
Speaker 1: financial goals that we had set for ourselves, but like

737
00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:27,800
Speaker 1: and I weren't fully committed, you know, and so for

738
00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:31,200
Speaker 1: many of us, unfortunately, it took something as dramatic and

739
00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:34,320
Speaker 1: jarring as the pandemic to kind of snap us out

740
00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:36,760
Speaker 1: of our our milk toast. Ways. Yeah, man, this whole

741
00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:38,280
Speaker 1: episode two, it makes me think about some of the

742
00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:41,680
Speaker 1: emails we've we've received in recent months from from listeners

743
00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:45,440
Speaker 1: right and and they have been taking action for years

744
00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:48,000
Speaker 1: now based on what they've been hearing on the podcast,

745
00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:51,800
Speaker 1: and a lot of them weren't completely unscathed by COVID.

746
00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:54,400
Speaker 1: Some of them did lose a job or their partner

747
00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:56,360
Speaker 1: lost a job, but they were able to get through

748
00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:58,959
Speaker 1: this time with far less anxiety and hardship because of

749
00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:02,360
Speaker 1: the steady moves that they made in recent years. Uh,

750
00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:05,080
Speaker 1: while they've been listening to the show. They were prepared,

751
00:34:05,320 --> 00:34:08,760
Speaker 1: even for something that you can't prepare for, right And.

752
00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:10,640
Speaker 1: I think it's our hope too, that some of the

753
00:34:10,680 --> 00:34:13,520
Speaker 1: money changes that we've already made due to COVID stick around,

754
00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:15,800
Speaker 1: that some of our listeners have been able to implement

755
00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:19,120
Speaker 1: in their lives, that those will have a stickiness because

756
00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:22,239
Speaker 1: of maybe the traumatic effect that COVID has had on

757
00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:24,399
Speaker 1: all of us. Maybe you were listening and you made

758
00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:26,239
Speaker 1: some of those changes out of necessity, like you had

759
00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:29,000
Speaker 1: to cut back, but you've also found that you've been

760
00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:31,279
Speaker 1: able to boost your ability to save and that has

761
00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:35,319
Speaker 1: provided real financial security. Despite the difficulty, the changes you've

762
00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:38,759
Speaker 1: made are worth keeping for good. Let's make it a

763
00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:41,120
Speaker 1: point to actually learn from the past year, not to

764
00:34:41,200 --> 00:34:43,839
Speaker 1: just have let it happen to us and then immediately

765
00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:46,160
Speaker 1: revert back to the way things were. If we can

766
00:34:46,200 --> 00:34:48,600
Speaker 1: take a look at those deficiencies head on and we

767
00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:50,640
Speaker 1: can learn from them, take the lessons that they have

768
00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:53,760
Speaker 1: to show us, will be more resilient when future events,

769
00:34:54,040 --> 00:34:57,439
Speaker 1: hopefully non pandemic and nature arise. Yeah, what's interesting about

770
00:34:57,440 --> 00:34:59,280
Speaker 1: the pandemic, man, is the fact that, like, the reason

771
00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:02,160
Speaker 1: it was so traumatic for all of us, it was

772
00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:04,680
Speaker 1: because we all experienced it at the same time. But

773
00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:06,960
Speaker 1: like you said, like there are going to be events

774
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:09,239
Speaker 1: that arise and that come up in our lives that

775
00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:11,520
Speaker 1: other people aren't experiencing, right, Like we're we're all going

776
00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:14,200
Speaker 1: to have sort of our own personal pandemics. Uh, And

777
00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:16,320
Speaker 1: that's why it is so important for us to be prepared,

778
00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:18,200
Speaker 1: for us to have learned from this past year. And

779
00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:19,480
Speaker 1: that's a part of I mean That's why we love

780
00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:22,200
Speaker 1: personal fighting so much. Right Like, like you have agency

781
00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:24,720
Speaker 1: over your own life, you have control. There are changes

782
00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:27,480
Speaker 1: that you can make on an individual level. And that

783
00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:29,640
Speaker 1: truly is why we love personal finance so much, is

784
00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:31,319
Speaker 1: that these are changes that you can begin making in

785
00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:34,040
Speaker 1: your life right now. I love that. Yeah, a lot

786
00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:35,920
Speaker 1: of changes based on what we discussed today, right that

787
00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:39,640
Speaker 1: people can have already implemented. And if they haven't learned

788
00:35:39,680 --> 00:35:42,239
Speaker 1: from some of these lessons, maybe um mull them over

789
00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:44,439
Speaker 1: again in your mind and give some thought to how

790
00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:49,520
Speaker 1: you can change. Think again, it is worth truly giving

791
00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:51,680
Speaker 1: it a little more thought again. I think sometimes we

792
00:35:51,760 --> 00:35:55,520
Speaker 1: react to a stimulus and we don't really realize why

793
00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:57,000
Speaker 1: did we react that way? Was that the right way

794
00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:59,160
Speaker 1: to react? And it's a good time to do some

795
00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:02,600
Speaker 1: thinking about how our lives are structured right now? Absolutely well, Matt,

796
00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:03,880
Speaker 1: let's get back to the beer real quick that we

797
00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:06,759
Speaker 1: had on the show. This one is called Abraxis. It's

798
00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:11,279
Speaker 1: a giant stout with chili, pepper, vanilla, cocoa, nibs, something

799
00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:13,960
Speaker 1: else's cinnamon cinnamon as well. Yes, did you pick up?

800
00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:15,360
Speaker 1: Did you pick up on some of those notes? I

801
00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:17,919
Speaker 1: feel like the cinnamon was the biggest note. Yeah, yeah,

802
00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:19,960
Speaker 1: that I that I was getting the cinnamon shine through

803
00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:22,359
Speaker 1: the chili peppers, not so much like not a whole

804
00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:24,399
Speaker 1: lot of heat. Yeah. I was expecting a little more,

805
00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:26,480
Speaker 1: hoping for a little more, because I love beers that

806
00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:28,640
Speaker 1: have that kind of chili pepper kick, a little bit

807
00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:31,160
Speaker 1: of spice. Yeah. But but that's okay, because this was

808
00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:34,440
Speaker 1: a super delicious dessert beer. Even though I would have

809
00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:37,040
Speaker 1: loved the chili peppers to be stepped up a little bit.

810
00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:40,080
Speaker 1: This was smooth, it was rich, it was delicate. It

811
00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:42,840
Speaker 1: was definitely like a beer that you would have truly

812
00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:47,200
Speaker 1: like with your dessert or instead of dessert. Isn't really

813
00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:49,440
Speaker 1: really good, very true. So I've never have you ever

814
00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:52,520
Speaker 1: had Horge Chatta like like out in public? No, I haven't.

815
00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:54,960
Speaker 1: The reason my wife has made some at the house

816
00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:57,479
Speaker 1: and it's it was it's not bad, so weird. Maybe

817
00:36:57,640 --> 00:36:59,279
Speaker 1: our wise we're doing the same thing, or maybe they

818
00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:01,759
Speaker 1: shared a recipe something like that. I've had it at home,

819
00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:04,600
Speaker 1: but I'm not totally sure how legit. It was, Like

820
00:37:04,640 --> 00:37:07,279
Speaker 1: I want to go somewhere where there's somebody's grandma who's

821
00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:09,839
Speaker 1: been making horse shot, you know, for decades, Like that's

822
00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:11,239
Speaker 1: the kind of horse shot I want to try one

823
00:37:11,239 --> 00:37:13,360
Speaker 1: of these days. But I feel like that this reminded

824
00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:15,120
Speaker 1: me of that. Like I saw the bottle that said

825
00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:16,719
Speaker 1: that it has lactose in it, and I feel like

826
00:37:16,719 --> 00:37:18,520
Speaker 1: you can kind of feel some of those milk sugars.

827
00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:20,680
Speaker 1: It kind of just makes it real smooth. Uh. And

828
00:37:20,719 --> 00:37:22,839
Speaker 1: then like you, I definitely picked up on the cinnamon notes.

829
00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:25,279
Speaker 1: But aside from that, when I noticed the most was

830
00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:28,480
Speaker 1: the thickness. Holy crap, this stuff, this beard, like the

831
00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:32,399
Speaker 1: body of this beer was intense motor oil viscosity. More

832
00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:34,919
Speaker 1: than that, dude, it was so thick, so heavy, Like

833
00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:37,480
Speaker 1: I mean, as we're pouring it, I didn't even realize

834
00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:39,880
Speaker 1: that there were bubbles that were dropping down. And I

835
00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:42,160
Speaker 1: mean we almost overfilled the glass because the head was

836
00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:43,759
Speaker 1: kind of like bubbling over, like there was there was

837
00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:47,719
Speaker 1: so much air in there. To me, that was making

838
00:37:47,719 --> 00:37:50,000
Speaker 1: that mistake, But I couldn't even see all the bubbles

839
00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:52,920
Speaker 1: that were being created through the thickness of the of

840
00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:55,279
Speaker 1: the body of this beer. But it's not often that

841
00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:56,359
Speaker 1: we have a beer like this, and it's a lot

842
00:37:56,400 --> 00:37:59,680
Speaker 1: of fun. It's a delicious one. Perennial artisan Ales make

843
00:37:59,760 --> 00:38:01,400
Speaker 1: some really good beers, and so if you ever had

844
00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:05,640
Speaker 1: the chance to try some Abraxis, we would definitely recommend it.

845
00:38:05,719 --> 00:38:08,239
Speaker 1: Is the first time it showed up on Atlanta beer

846
00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:09,719
Speaker 1: shelves and I was like, I gotta pick up a

847
00:38:09,760 --> 00:38:11,920
Speaker 1: bottle of that. I heard things and it was worth it.

848
00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:13,759
Speaker 1: So it was very good. All right, Well, that's gonna

849
00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:16,440
Speaker 1: do it for this episode. For listeners who want the

850
00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:18,239
Speaker 1: show notes for this episode links to some of the

851
00:38:18,239 --> 00:38:20,719
Speaker 1: things that we talked about, including that website where you

852
00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:23,440
Speaker 1: can rent out your baby stuff and maybe make some sidecash.

853
00:38:23,680 --> 00:38:25,440
Speaker 1: We'll put a link to that and more, and that

854
00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:27,480
Speaker 1: will be on our website at how to money dot com.

855
00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:29,560
Speaker 1: That's right, And if you have been listening to the

856
00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:31,480
Speaker 1: show for a while and you found it helpful, we

857
00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:33,080
Speaker 1: would love for you to leave us a review over

858
00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:36,080
Speaker 1: at Apple Podcasts. Leave us a solid one over there,

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00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:37,960
Speaker 1: And if you have already done that, we would love

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00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:40,799
Speaker 1: it if you just simply shared our podcast with a

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00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:43,439
Speaker 1: friend or a family member, someone who you know would

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00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:47,120
Speaker 1: enjoy hearing us talk on about personal finance and money.

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00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:49,239
Speaker 1: Maybe a little bit of craft beer sprinkled in there,

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00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:52,319
Speaker 1: Maybe talking about some baby gadgets and gear that we've

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Speaker 1: enjoyed over the years. All sounds like what we do,

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Speaker 1: all sorts of stuff. Man, but Joel, that's gonna be

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Speaker 1: it for this episode, Buddy, until next time. Best friends out,

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Speaker 1: best friend hands out,