Speaker 1: Welcome to how the money. I'm Joel and I am Matt,
Speaker 1: and today we're answering your listener questions. You know what, buddy,
Speaker 1: this is our listener question Monday episode, where every other
Speaker 1: Monday we answer listener questions that folks send our way
Speaker 1: via voice memo. Would you like it if we were
Speaker 1: talking to people live, old school radio, and we're taking calls?
Speaker 1: We're like, all right, Tommy and Sandy, we see it
Speaker 1: on the line. You've done that before. I have done
Speaker 1: that before. Keep paying it on the line for us
Speaker 1: and we'll get back to you here right after this break. Now,
Speaker 1: I think I'd be a lot of fun if we actually,
Speaker 1: when we do get to engage with listeners, like we
Speaker 1: just talked about on Friday, how we went to Finn
Speaker 1: Con and a bunch of nerdy financial personal finance folks there,
Speaker 1: and actually, when we landed at the airport work, we
Speaker 1: ran into a listener. Gosh, I'm trying to remember what
Speaker 1: his name was. It was such a quick, quick hang
Speaker 1: for twelve seconds. Took a quick picture, but really, as
Speaker 1: we're hopping into our Uber, yes, I know, I wish
Speaker 1: we had gotten more time, but literally, are Uber was
Speaker 1: pulling up, but it's it's one of those things where
Speaker 1: those interactions like energize me, and so if we got
Speaker 1: to do them, even just digitally or over the phone,
Speaker 1: I'll be down. You just want to be a celebrity,
Speaker 1: you just want you want your face blastered on, trust me,
Speaker 1: Milk Carton's. Now that's not when I'm into. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: don't want to get abducted, but I'd like that. That's
Speaker 1: when your face is on the milk carton. But when,
Speaker 1: when you hear from here, from listeners via email, when
Speaker 1: we get to hear their voices or get to see
Speaker 1: him in person like that is more exciting to me
Speaker 1: than having my face on a billboard. Absolutely no, I
Speaker 1: completely agree, especially hearing from listeners who have made changes
Speaker 1: to their lives. And so we don't always get around
Speaker 1: to responding to every single email that comes our way. We,
Speaker 1: I would say, we get back to like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: maybecent of them, but those, somehow, the people who don't
Speaker 1: get fun and sort like, what's wrong with me? Man?
Speaker 1: I guess sometimes they just sad. You having put any
Speaker 1: numb is that sometimes we slip through the gate and
Speaker 1: then you just got some busy days. That doesn't mean
Speaker 1: we don't love you anyway. I don't know how we
Speaker 1: got on talking about that, but we've got five awesome
Speaker 1: listener questions we are going to get to. Uh. We
Speaker 1: have a listener who is considering a creative way to
Speaker 1: lower her mortgage payment. We're gonna get to that one.
Speaker 1: Another listener. He's got a solar panel dilemma that he's facing,
Speaker 1: as well as somebody else who's considering forfeiting some I
Speaker 1: bond interest. We'll get to those three, plus a couple others,
Speaker 1: right after this. I like it all right. One thing.
Speaker 1: It made it sound like we' about to take a break. No,
Speaker 1: I wanted to. I want to mention real quick that
Speaker 1: I just started reading matt the brothers Karamasov, and it
Speaker 1: is a I've never read it. It's wait a minute,
Speaker 1: that's that's supposedly the best novel of all time. That's
Speaker 1: a Russian book. I can't. You're like a turncoade over here.
Speaker 1: You can't be reading Russian literature. No, the the Russian
Speaker 1: authors are still some of the best, especially from from
Speaker 1: that era. You're about to get canceled. Now. Everybody, like,
Speaker 1: almost everybody like. If you, if you, if you, like
Speaker 1: looked up a list of best books of all time,
Speaker 1: this book would be on there, but I've always been
Speaker 1: reticent to tackle it because it's like a thousand pages. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's super thick, and so I'm like, I'm more like
Speaker 1: the three page book kind of Guy. And but I
Speaker 1: realized I just have to finally read this book because
Speaker 1: if it really is one of the best books ever written,
Speaker 1: I can't let the fact that it's humongous get in
Speaker 1: my way and prevent me from reading a masterpiece. And
Speaker 1: so I decided like, okay, how do I do this?
Speaker 1: I'M gonna do it one by at a time, one
Speaker 1: chapter at a time, I'm gonna get into so I'm
Speaker 1: trying to read one chapter a day. That's my goal,
Speaker 1: and it might take me like four or five six
Speaker 1: months to read this book. How many chapters are there?
Speaker 1: So that I don't know exactly how many chapters there are,
Speaker 1: but there's like a chapter ten, ten page chapters, and
Speaker 1: it's about a thousand pages. Six months. So okay, so
Speaker 1: it's probably like three and a half month, let's right.
Speaker 1: Is it likely likely how long I feel like it's
Speaker 1: taking me that loan. So, so you're reading a long book.
Speaker 1: I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF WARREN BUFFETTS auto biophy, not autobiography.
Speaker 1: I think it's the only biography that was officially approved
Speaker 1: by by Warren Buffett, but it's something like that. I
Speaker 1: think it's it's over eight hundred pages and it's taken me, Oh,
Speaker 1: all time to get through this. It is a beast
Speaker 1: but also really interesting. So wait, how how far into
Speaker 1: yours are you? So I'm like a hundred fifty pages.
Speaker 1: I'm of the way through, enjoying it so far. Enjoying
Speaker 1: it so far. Learn anything? UH, yeah, for sure. It's
Speaker 1: just it's really well written. I'm so glad. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm reading it and I think one of the most
Speaker 1: popular sub stacks out there is people who are literally
Speaker 1: reading Frankenstein like a few pages at a time or
Speaker 1: something like that, if you just get it in box
Speaker 1: every day. And I thought, well, that's so cool, little
Speaker 1: snippets every single day. Yeah, and like that's how that's
Speaker 1: how you can get the job done, and I think
Speaker 1: the same thing can be true sometimes if you're maybe
Speaker 1: I have a lot of financial hurdles, obstacles in your way.
Speaker 1: You feel like you're making progress slower than you want
Speaker 1: to take that one bite at a time approach, like
Speaker 1: you can't do it all in one day. You can't
Speaker 1: do it all in one fell swoop. It takes time
Speaker 1: to get your to get your money together, just like
Speaker 1: it takes time to read a freaking thousand page books.
Speaker 1: So Um, hopefully that is encouraging to how the money
Speaker 1: listeners out there and I will report back when I
Speaker 1: finish this book in three months time. Check back in
Speaker 1: around Christmas. Uh Nights Man. All right, let's introduce the
Speaker 1: beer that we are going to enjoy during this episode.
Speaker 1: This is a German chocolate cake, another beer that's a
Speaker 1: part of the guilty pleasures series over at wicked weed.
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to enjoying this one. We will share
Speaker 1: our thoughts at the end of the episode. All right,
Speaker 1: let's get to our first question up. By the way,
Speaker 1: if you have a question for us, you can submit
Speaker 1: yours at how to money dot com. Slash ask. Super
Speaker 1: Simple directions there, and we love to hear your lovely
Speaker 1: voice on the next ask htm episode. But this one
Speaker 1: comes from a Listenermott, who wants to know about recasting
Speaker 1: a mortgage, which isn't something we've talked about very much. Hi,
Speaker 1: Matt and Joel, this is Rachel from Minneapolis. My husband
Speaker 1: and I are currently in money gear seven and recently
Speaker 1: purchased our second home, where we hope to be for
Speaker 1: at least the next ten years, at a purchase price
Speaker 1: of four hundred and eighty thousand, with a thirty year
Speaker 1: mortgage at four point nine interest and ten percent down.
Speaker 1: Once the sale of our first home is complete in
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks, we'll walk away with enough equity
Speaker 1: to pay down the mortgage past so we only carry
Speaker 1: P M I for one month and also refill some
Speaker 1: savings buckets we used to buy the new home. Once
Speaker 1: we pay down the new mortgage, we have the chance
Speaker 1: to recast the loan, since it will be within the
Speaker 1: first sixty days. This means they would keep our interest
Speaker 1: rate the same, but it just our monthly payments to
Speaker 1: be based on the new loan value of around three
Speaker 1: four K over thirty years versus the original Fot k
Speaker 1: over thirty years, our monthly payments would go down about
Speaker 1: four d our question is this, is it better to
Speaker 1: recast the mortgage that we have a lower monthly payment,
Speaker 1: or would it be better to leave it as is
Speaker 1: and just appreciate that paying down the mortgage a big
Speaker 1: chunk right away means paying off the mortgage sooner than
Speaker 1: thirty years. As a side note, we have a friend
Speaker 1: who rents one of our spare bedrooms currently. He is
Speaker 1: moving with us and renting the basement of the new place,
Speaker 1: so he'll be paying part of that mortgage when he
Speaker 1: moves out. Someday. The new basement will be used as
Speaker 1: an AIRBNB and a guest space. Thanks, guys. If you're
Speaker 1: ever in Minneapolis, let us know and we'll take you
Speaker 1: to our favorites of the thirty plus Craft Breweries. Uh,
Speaker 1: plus craft breweries. I had no idea there are that
Speaker 1: mini breweries up there in Minnesota. Did she said this
Speaker 1: in Minneapolis, our Minneapolis. So that's that's a lot of brewers.
Speaker 1: I Guess Minneapolis is. It's bigger than I think it's.
Speaker 1: It's a decent well, it's got the Minneapolis Saint. Paul
Speaker 1: Combo Right, that's true. It's like a dual city. I
Speaker 1: have never been there, so we will visit there one
Speaker 1: of these days. But Rachel thinks. So much for your question.
Speaker 1: And you mentioned too that you are in money year
Speaker 1: number seven, which I wanted to highlight, because that means
Speaker 1: you have a ton of flexibility. Uh, and that also
Speaker 1: means that you have worked really hard to get where
Speaker 1: you are currently. By the way, if you don't know
Speaker 1: about the money years, it's basically our financial order of operations.
Speaker 1: You can find those at how the money dot com.
Speaker 1: If you click the start here button, you can kind
Speaker 1: of see you follow along and figure out which money
Speaker 1: you're you're ine. That's right. Yeah, and also, Rachel, she
Speaker 1: didn't say this in her voice memo, but in her
Speaker 1: email she told us that she actually recently quit her
Speaker 1: job as a civil engineer in order to work part
Speaker 1: time at a local coffee shop and to launch her
Speaker 1: own etsy business. So we know that she has been
Speaker 1: working really hard and now she's kind of on more
Speaker 1: of that coast slash Burrista fire a path. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: love that, because we know that civil engineers make more
Speaker 1: money than Barissa's just just almost all the time, right
Speaker 1: across the board. Yeah, I can pretty much guarantee that
Speaker 1: that's like. But to be able to do well enough
Speaker 1: with your money to where you can make that decision
Speaker 1: consciously and say I just like working in the coffee
Speaker 1: shop more than I like this other job. I think
Speaker 1: that's so cool and that's the kind of power you have,
Speaker 1: that you achieve as you handle your finance as well,
Speaker 1: like Rachel has. And it sounds like to Matt that
Speaker 1: that Rachel, that she's letting her financial choices be determined
Speaker 1: by and informed. Why? We talked about that a lot,
Speaker 1: but it's crucial in order to ensure that your money
Speaker 1: gets funneled into the most helpful places for you personally.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about mortgage recasting here, Matt, because it's
Speaker 1: it's like I said, it's not something we've talked about
Speaker 1: a lot, but there are some real parks for at
Speaker 1: least some folks to doing a mortgage recast, and it's
Speaker 1: very different than a refinance, which is typically the thing
Speaker 1: you hear about. But the thing about refinancing is that
Speaker 1: it's expensive, as everyone knows. It's gonna cost you thousands
Speaker 1: of dollars to to refinance your mortgage, and doing a
Speaker 1: refinance is a major pain. You gotta provide all of
Speaker 1: your information, your paste dubs, your tax documentation like there's
Speaker 1: just there's a lot of paperwork involved in approved for
Speaker 1: a giant loan again, that's right. Yeah, yeah, and in
Speaker 1: addition to that, doing a refinance right now it doesn't
Speaker 1: make much sense because rates have gone up. You don't
Speaker 1: want to go from a three and a half percent
Speaker 1: rate to a seven percent rate. That's just dump. But
Speaker 1: but if you can do a recast with your current
Speaker 1: mortgage provider, you can pay a lump sum and you
Speaker 1: can lower your mortgage payments for years to come. It
Speaker 1: basically it reambortizes the loan, which can be a pretty
Speaker 1: cool option. If that is what you're after, if that's
Speaker 1: what works for your situation, that's right. Yeah, so when
Speaker 1: you pay a lump sum to your mortage provider without recasting,
Speaker 1: you will lessen the overall life of the loan because
Speaker 1: you're paying down that principal balance, which means you will
Speaker 1: run out of balance to pay down, basically, but you're
Speaker 1: not going to reduce how much you owe every single month.
Speaker 1: You'RE gonna pay off the mortgage sooner, but your payments
Speaker 1: will stay the same. But when you do opt to
Speaker 1: do a recast, you you can actually lower that monthly amount,
Speaker 1: that mortgage amount, while key being those other terms in place.
Speaker 1: You're able to keep the number of years you have left,
Speaker 1: you're able to keep your mortgage rate locked in place.
Speaker 1: Hopefully that rate is lower than than more things currently
Speaker 1: are and you would want to hang onto it. And
Speaker 1: if there is a fee, if it does cost you
Speaker 1: some money, it is going to be so much less
Speaker 1: than what you pay for maybe a couple hundred bucks.
Speaker 1: But the range I saw out there, it's sometimes free
Speaker 1: up to at most maybe five hundred bucks, which is
Speaker 1: a fraction of what you're looking to pay when you
Speaker 1: are looking at a refinance. And again, this is particularly
Speaker 1: advantageous in Rachel's case because not only will it lower
Speaker 1: the monthly mortgage amount, that will also eliminate that Pesky
Speaker 1: P M, I. That private mortgage insurance, saving her a
Speaker 1: ton of money for years to come. So, you know,
Speaker 1: for these reasons, it sounds like this is a great decision.
Speaker 1: This is a slam dunk yes from us to take
Speaker 1: advantage of this recast opportunity. And and again, Matt you
Speaker 1: started off by talking about the fact that Rachel is
Speaker 1: in money year number seven, which means the world is
Speaker 1: her oyster. She is basically at this point of financial
Speaker 1: independence where she can make moves for a lot of
Speaker 1: different reasons that make just sense to her. Right that
Speaker 1: because she's got just ultimate flexibility over her finances at
Speaker 1: this point and and this this might not make quite
Speaker 1: as much sense, though, for for some folks who haven't
Speaker 1: made quite this much progress to their finances. For example,
Speaker 1: if you were like just getting started your money gear
Speaker 1: number two or three, you're saving up that fund, you're
Speaker 1: trying to get that that company match in Your Four,
Speaker 1: O one K, it would probably makes sense for you
Speaker 1: to use that lump sum of money to get a
Speaker 1: company match to make sure you're fully taking advantage of
Speaker 1: that perk, or to pay off higher interest consumer debt. Like,
Speaker 1: instead of opting to put a lump some down on
Speaker 1: that mortgage, you might instead want to pay down credit
Speaker 1: card debt that you still owe. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, like
Speaker 1: that would mathematically, of course, make the most sense, which
Speaker 1: is why I think it's important that Rachel pointed out
Speaker 1: the fact that they are on money gear number seven,
Speaker 1: because when it comes to some of those other things,
Speaker 1: those are steps that they've already eliminated. Yeah, if you
Speaker 1: if they were much earlier, long in their in their
Speaker 1: personal finance progress, we would say, I don't know, you
Speaker 1: want to hold off, you want to achieve some other
Speaker 1: things first. You might want to prior ties, putting your
Speaker 1: funds elsewhere before you recast this mortgage and put a
Speaker 1: lump sum into it. But we just want you to
Speaker 1: take into account all those different variables. But for Rachel,
Speaker 1: definitely take advantage of this recast offer. Yeah, I will
Speaker 1: say so. Like what we kind of talk through some
Speaker 1: of the math, like the mathematical reasons for her to
Speaker 1: make sure to have accomplished those other things right, like
Speaker 1: eliminating high interest rate consumer debt, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: But there are like personal reasons to not pay this
Speaker 1: lump sum to wants her mortgage as well. And so, Rachel,
Speaker 1: This wasn't something you mentioned in your voice memo or
Speaker 1: anything that you shared with us, but if you had
Speaker 1: some other goals that y'all wanted to see happen sometime soon,
Speaker 1: that also might be another reason to potentially consider not
Speaker 1: doing the recast right. Like you could see this lump
Speaker 1: sum of money as seed money, say you wanted to
Speaker 1: start your own business and it was going to require
Speaker 1: some upfront capital. That would be a great reason to
Speaker 1: not necessarily take all of this money and then dump
Speaker 1: it into your primary residence. It sounds like it's going
Speaker 1: to keep those other goals in mind as well. Agreed. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it sounds like even though after they do this recast
Speaker 1: and get rid of P M I, they'll still have
Speaker 1: maybe some money left over from that home so, which
Speaker 1: I think is best of both worlds, because you and
Speaker 1: I we don't really like P m I. It's kind
Speaker 1: of feels like throwing money away every month then, and
Speaker 1: so to be able to get rid of it through
Speaker 1: this recast is a brilliant move. And so, Rachel, it
Speaker 1: sounds like that's probably the best move for you and less,
Speaker 1: like Matt said, you've got some killer business idea that
Speaker 1: you just got a fun right away. So, Rachel, we
Speaker 1: wish you guys the best of luck moving forward. You
Speaker 1: guys are already already crushing it. Matt, we've got more
Speaker 1: questions to get to, including a frugal or cheap when
Speaker 1: it comes to buying a board game. We'll get to
Speaker 1: that one right after this. All right, we're gonna get
Speaker 1: to that I bons question here in in a minute,
Speaker 1: but first let's get to that one from a listener
Speaker 1: who has a frugal or cheap for us. Hi, Matt
Speaker 1: and Joel, this is Wayne from Philadelphia. I have a
Speaker 1: frugal or cheap? I'd like to hear your opinion on
Speaker 1: a day ago, I bought a board game from Amazon. Today,
Speaker 1: when checking the same listing, I noticed that was nine
Speaker 1: dollars cheaper. Yes, still sold by Amazon, so not a
Speaker 1: different seller. This board game hasn't even been shipped yet,
Speaker 1: so I figured, Hey, Amazon probably will give me the
Speaker 1: nine dollars. It should be a pretty simple interaction. So
Speaker 1: I contact their support and I say, Hey, guys, nine
Speaker 1: dollars cheaper. Could you just give me the difference? Amazon
Speaker 1: apparently has a policy where they just don't do that.
Speaker 1: The solution I was provided with was to set up
Speaker 1: a return and then bring it to a coal's or
Speaker 1: whole foods, which is very possible and I guess I'm
Speaker 1: happy to do that, but it just doesn't make a
Speaker 1: lot of sense to me. Why would you push support
Speaker 1: to have your customers waste their time and energy to
Speaker 1: return an item when you're already going to have to
Speaker 1: ship out the same item to that same customer? And
Speaker 1: what makes it even more ridiculous is that I've already
Speaker 1: purchased the second board game and both of them will
Speaker 1: be delivered tomorrow. So I will have to take one
Speaker 1: of those two coals and or whole foods to get
Speaker 1: my full refund. So my question. Nine dollars. Am I
Speaker 1: being frugal or cheap making such a big deal over that?
Speaker 1: And then, on top of that, am I crazy, like,
Speaker 1: wouldn't this just be easier if they just go oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: nine dollars cheaper, it's yours, because we know you're just
Speaker 1: gonna cancel the item and return it anyways, you have it.
Speaker 1: Are they relying on people being lazy, or are they
Speaker 1: just so big that they don't see the inefficiencies of
Speaker 1: their own company? Yes, that's right, I'm criticizing Amazon. Come
Speaker 1: at me, Bezos. Let me know what you think, guys,
Speaker 1: and have a good one. All Right, Matt. First off,
Speaker 1: I think we have to tell Jeff bezos this is
Speaker 1: Wayne here speaking, not not us. I don't want to
Speaker 1: get attacked. That guy's really muscular. We can even he's
Speaker 1: really strong. We can send bezos Wayne's email and his
Speaker 1: home address. Wayne, you're on the hook for this, not us. No,
Speaker 1: I'm just kidding, but uh, I just want to say
Speaker 1: to Matt like that the first offer was on to
Speaker 1: hear that Wayne is buying board games because board games
Speaker 1: are basically the best hobby in the world for Frugal
Speaker 1: folks that disc golf. I don't know. We like we
Speaker 1: like to talk about like cool hobbies that don't cost
Speaker 1: you very much money. Board Games is one of those.
Speaker 1: It's one of those things. That's how we roll man
Speaker 1: by one time and you can play endless amounts of times,
Speaker 1: right and and you know what? You and I, we
Speaker 1: don't really play as much as we used to, sadly,
Speaker 1: but we we played every night on our annual beach
Speaker 1: vacation this past this past summer, didn't we? It just
Speaker 1: goes to show that we have lots of other things
Speaker 1: going on in our day to day lives, but when
Speaker 1: we go off in vacate, specifically, we UH. Like the
Speaker 1: past few years we've been playing acquired it's such a
Speaker 1: good game and I don't know what's going on, but
Speaker 1: my wife destroys, but it never used to be the case.
Speaker 1: We could always count on her to bring in the
Speaker 1: rear for us and and one of us. We played
Speaker 1: like five nights in a row, sometimes multiple games per night.
Speaker 1: Did you win once? I think I didn't. I think.
Speaker 1: I think. I think. I only want like once. Maybe twice,
Speaker 1: but the rest of the entire rest of the trip
Speaker 1: she just totally mopped the floor with this dude. I
Speaker 1: don't know if she was cheating or what she had
Speaker 1: going on, but but yeah, if you're in prostgate for
Speaker 1: dominating in a choir, if you're a budding real estate investor,
Speaker 1: acquire might be a fun board game to check out because,
Speaker 1: my gosh, it's so good. Well, it's not just real estate,
Speaker 1: but it's it talks. I mean it incorporates shares and
Speaker 1: so it has like this investing elements. It's fantastic. I
Speaker 1: think that's probably that's why we like it so much,
Speaker 1: because it kind of combines investing and real estate all
Speaker 1: in one, although we like other ones to like. Viticulture
Speaker 1: is a good one about like, but once the last
Speaker 1: time you play vinticulture over the past three years, the
Speaker 1: number of times you've you've played a choir versus some
Speaker 1: of these other a lot more. Acquire has definitely been
Speaker 1: at the top of the list, even though the version
Speaker 1: that we have is terrible, like the design of the game.
Speaker 1: Every time we play it we complain about it and
Speaker 1: maybe will actually like by one of the old school,
Speaker 1: like vintage versions of the game. The game was just
Speaker 1: laid out better than yeah, yeah, exactly. But let's get
Speaker 1: to Wayne's questions. He's asking if this is a frugal
Speaker 1: or cheap move, and we're gonna say that it depends,
Speaker 1: because there are obviously a number of factors involved in
Speaker 1: a decision like this. Um First of all, Wayne, I'm
Speaker 1: glad you reached out to customer service, because that's a
Speaker 1: great first step. It'll often work out for you to
Speaker 1: to get your money back. Sadly not in this case.
Speaker 1: But you know, now you've got to figure out how
Speaker 1: much your time is worth. We talked about this actually
Speaker 1: back in episode nine, and you know, if that whole
Speaker 1: foods uh, if that return site or the coals, if
Speaker 1: that's on your way to work, for instance, or if
Speaker 1: it's just a walk or a bike ride away, then
Speaker 1: we would say typically, Hey, this is totally worth it.
Speaker 1: That's something that you're already gonna do right, that you
Speaker 1: can incorporate into your life. But if we're talking about
Speaker 1: it like a fifteen minute drive, it's less likely going
Speaker 1: to make sense for you. Although now that you've already
Speaker 1: ordered the new one, now that you have to showing up,
Speaker 1: YOU'RE gonna be out more than is nine bucks if
Speaker 1: you don't make that return. is a different question. Before
Speaker 1: he ordered the second one because it's but now that
Speaker 1: you've ordered the second one, it's like you're gonna be
Speaker 1: out forty something dollars instead of just nine dollars. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: he could hang onto that second copy of it, maybe
Speaker 1: give it to a friend if if you really likes it.
Speaker 1: But I will say too, I mean that's something. Well,
Speaker 1: we've never talked about this, but since we moved out
Speaker 1: to the BURBS, drawl y'all definitely took advantage of the
Speaker 1: free ups Amazon pickup at your front door. Right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we've done that back in the day, but they don't
Speaker 1: do that out here in the burbs, and so we
Speaker 1: actually do have to save up our packages, if we
Speaker 1: do have returns, and take them back to the up store.
Speaker 1: But the good thing is like a formative drive. But
Speaker 1: it's still not well and it's directly across from the Costco.
Speaker 1: It's like right there. So that's a visit that we
Speaker 1: do make fairly off right. Well, and the reality is
Speaker 1: too for Wayne and for everyone else out there that
Speaker 1: I don't know. Prices are changing constantly online. So if
Speaker 1: it's not like there's a static price and it changes
Speaker 1: and there's a sale once a month or anything like this.
Speaker 1: Like sometimes dozens or more times in a single twenty
Speaker 1: four our period, a price can fluctuating. So the likelihood
Speaker 1: that there is a price drop from what you paid
Speaker 1: an hour ago is just higher than it's ever been before,
Speaker 1: and that makes it more difficult to know whether or
Speaker 1: not you're getting a great deal because of just how
Speaker 1: opaque prices have gotten. And so we would say camel, camel,
Speaker 1: camel and honey are great browser plug ins tell you
Speaker 1: see what the price has been over the past ninety days.
Speaker 1: That's just a quick way to see at a glance,
Speaker 1: like okay, cool, is this? Is this a good deal,
Speaker 1: or or should I be waiting? You can kind of
Speaker 1: tell at a glance whether or not you're getting a deal,
Speaker 1: and that, maybe, combined with a search on a site
Speaker 1: like slick deals, can help you buy with confidence, knowing
Speaker 1: that you're not overpaying. And it's it's you're not always
Speaker 1: gonna get the lowest price, like this is gonna Happen, uh,
Speaker 1: and it might be annoying, but, and you know, it's
Speaker 1: always worth just a quick query to a customer service,
Speaker 1: but it might not always be worth hopping in your
Speaker 1: car driving ten minutes to to save nine bucks. It
Speaker 1: just so much depends on the situation and how community
Speaker 1: it is for you. Totally. Yeah, and he was saying
Speaker 1: like is Amazon just counting on on people being lazy? Yeah, this,
Speaker 1: I feel like this is an example of Amazon like
Speaker 1: just not being cool. Uh. Some credit cards, especially capital
Speaker 1: one credit cards, like the quicksilver card, and we just
Speaker 1: look this up, it'll give you the price difference if
Speaker 1: the price drops. That Quick Silver Card specifically gives you
Speaker 1: a one twenty day window, which is pretty great. That's
Speaker 1: a long amount of time for the price of dropping
Speaker 1: for you to get some money. That's the easiest way
Speaker 1: to kind of get that money back in your pocket
Speaker 1: without if the retailers kind of being stubborn. They got
Speaker 1: your back. We'll link to that card in the show
Speaker 1: notes Um. And so that's credit cards who offer that
Speaker 1: price protection. But then some stores will offer protection as well, Costco,
Speaker 1: for instance. We just mentioned them, but they do that.
Speaker 1: They give you a thirty day window, and so it's
Speaker 1: really easy to go up to the counter. You get
Speaker 1: a small refund thanks to that item. Now being on sale.
Speaker 1: But the thing is, again, we go to costco all
Speaker 1: the stinking time. What I make a separate trip two
Speaker 1: coals to call nine dollars back? Well, you know, it
Speaker 1: depends on the number of things. Again, it depends on
Speaker 1: how much free time I've gotten and what else I've
Speaker 1: got going on. I definitely hate to waste money. It's
Speaker 1: you know, it's difficult for Frugal folks like us to
Speaker 1: leave even nine dollars on the table. But I've also
Speaker 1: come to the point where I'm not necessarily gonna jump
Speaker 1: through a bunch of hoops pour a bunch of time
Speaker 1: into calling just a few bucks back. Makes me think
Speaker 1: about like anytime I left something on facebook marketplace, one
Speaker 1: of the questions I ask myself is will I be
Speaker 1: able to sell this at least for twenty bucks, because
Speaker 1: if it's less than that, I'm going to be more
Speaker 1: likely just to put it out on the curb, do
Speaker 1: a curb alert, even donate the item. But if it's
Speaker 1: more than twenty bucks and I think, Oh, you know,
Speaker 1: there's a chance I might get even thirty, thirty five
Speaker 1: for this, at that point I'm definitely willing to list
Speaker 1: the item. Yeah, because it's just not worth all the
Speaker 1: Hass all the back and forth, your time, people not
Speaker 1: showing up if it's if you're gonna sell something for
Speaker 1: eight dollars right. And so, yeah, your your personal financial
Speaker 1: threshold for how much hassle you're willing to endure for
Speaker 1: that money is. I mean really, it's up to you.
Speaker 1: It's a personal thing. And Yeah, I guess basically Amazon
Speaker 1: is counting on you being lazy, like you said, Wayne,
Speaker 1: that's that's exactly. That's exactly what they're expecting out of you.
Speaker 1: They're expecting on you not to return that item. And
Speaker 1: and whether or not it's lazy, whether or not it's
Speaker 1: frugal or cheap, is probably in the eye the beholder,
Speaker 1: depends on your personal circumstances and, like we said, proximity
Speaker 1: to the return site. So I would say take your
Speaker 1: own personal situation into accounts and then act accordingly. So
Speaker 1: best of luck making a wise decision. And, Matt, I
Speaker 1: don't know if we have like a list by the way,
Speaker 1: of our favorite nerdy board games, but if we don't,
Speaker 1: we should totally put a list together. We could name
Speaker 1: a bunch more right now, but uh, nerdy board games again,
Speaker 1: still just a fantastic pastime and I hope Wayne, hope way,
Speaker 1: you got a good one. That's right. Yeah, Wayne, I
Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed both of those board games if you
Speaker 1: happen to take the UH, if you don't end up
Speaker 1: taking that second board game back, but I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: you're going to. He's gonna Waste Way too much money
Speaker 1: if he doesn't take it. The other one back in exactly. Well, again,
Speaker 1: I think he could totally give it as a gift.
Speaker 1: He's like, I enjoyed this game so much that I
Speaker 1: wanted to gift you with it as well. Our next
Speaker 1: question comes from a listener and he is asking. He's
Speaker 1: he's asking about the interest that you're gonna lose were
Speaker 1: he to pull his money out of this investment a
Speaker 1: little too early. Let's hear that question. Hi, guys, this
Speaker 1: is Scott from West Bomb Beach. Enjoy the PODCAST. My
Speaker 1: question is about I bombs. My wife and I own
Speaker 1: three ten thousand dollar I bombs, all less than five years.
Speaker 1: I know you've mentioned in the past that if you
Speaker 1: withdraw all are part of an I bond before or
Speaker 1: five years is up, that you for or fit one
Speaker 1: quarter of interest. So my question is which quarter of
Speaker 1: interest do you forfeit? Since we have a large variance,
Speaker 1: starting under three all the way up until now we
Speaker 1: have nine and a half percent. Do you forfeit the
Speaker 1: most recent quarter of interest, the earliest quarter of interest or, unlikely,
Speaker 1: can we choose our own quarter that we forfeit? Anyways,
Speaker 1: look forward to your answer. Thanks a lot, Matt. If
Speaker 1: only it were that simple and it was to choose
Speaker 1: your own adventure and you could forfeit the quarter in
Speaker 1: which you got paid the least amount of interest, I
Speaker 1: would say that that would not be simple. That would
Speaker 1: be more complicated, and we know the government can't handle that.
Speaker 1: We're gonna take whatever steps necessary to avoid any more complexity.
Speaker 1: So just personal story here. Trying to pay quarterly taxes
Speaker 1: the other day. We was funny. The website is so
Speaker 1: beyond broken for for doing that, especially for it's like
Speaker 1: you have your pin, which is what you lost. I
Speaker 1: lost my pen. But even the state website is just
Speaker 1: so much better than actually site the Georgia Tax Center. Yeah,
Speaker 1: recently there must have updated their site, because it works
Speaker 1: much more. Yes, it does, and right. But right as
Speaker 1: I was trying to pay my quarterly taxes, the this like, Hey,
Speaker 1: take a survey now, let us know what you think
Speaker 1: about the site. And it looks like something from two
Speaker 1: and I don't even know if they had websites back then,
Speaker 1: but it looks like it was from a pre website
Speaker 1: era Ms Doss, just a flashing green box. I still
Speaker 1: didn't have time to take the survey and tell them
Speaker 1: how much I loathe their website. But let's get to
Speaker 1: Scott's question and Matt, let's set the table here for
Speaker 1: a second first and just talk about I bonds for
Speaker 1: a second, because maybe it's been a minute. We love
Speaker 1: talking about I bonds and and they remained. We've done
Speaker 1: strong there for a couple couple of weeks several months ago.
Speaker 1: But it's time to revisits, time to let folx know
Speaker 1: the beauty of the I bond. They're still stands for inflation,
Speaker 1: by the way. Yeah, they they're inflation index bonds and
Speaker 1: they're still a stellar deal for anyone who has medium
Speaker 1: term savings that they want to sock away or, in
Speaker 1: a decent rate, to return on. But they're not like
Speaker 1: necessarily just want to stick it on the market because
Speaker 1: they could lose their capital right in a short order
Speaker 1: and so, uh, if it, it has to be money
Speaker 1: that you don't need for at least a year and
Speaker 1: you want it back in your hands, likely within a
Speaker 1: few years. Five years is optimal because that's you don't
Speaker 1: forfeit any interest. But there's just no better storage facility
Speaker 1: for that money than I bonds right now, and that
Speaker 1: is because inflation continues to be just nasty, like we
Speaker 1: talked about on Friday, I bonds are a federally guaranteed
Speaker 1: way to make sure your money is keeping pace with
Speaker 1: the actual rate of inflation. And the current rate that
Speaker 1: I bonds are paying is nine point six two percent.
Speaker 1: Compare that to your trusty savings account, even if it's
Speaker 1: one of the better online savings accounts. It's a lot better, right.
Speaker 1: And and that rate is likely going to reset downward
Speaker 1: by just a bit on November one, although it might
Speaker 1: not drop by too much. And and even if rates
Speaker 1: go down a little bit, they're still top notch. are
Speaker 1: still one of the best places to save money in
Speaker 1: the current moment. That's right. It's a fantastic place to
Speaker 1: to soccer ways in thousand dollars. Uh. And, like Scott said,
Speaker 1: you gotta keep any I bonds that you purchased for
Speaker 1: at least a year. You you just can't get that
Speaker 1: money back if it's been less than a year, like
Speaker 1: a lockbox you can't touch. Yeah, but it's true that
Speaker 1: if you don't keep each I bond that you purchased
Speaker 1: for at least five years that you're gonna be forced
Speaker 1: to pay a penalty. Essentially, you're you you have to
Speaker 1: forfeit one quarter of interest, and so Scott wants to
Speaker 1: know about which interest rate that he's gonna be losing
Speaker 1: out on if he opts to cash those I bonds
Speaker 1: out early. It's a great question, and it's not easy
Speaker 1: to see actually on the Treasury Department's website, again, largely
Speaker 1: because that website also looks like something like a website
Speaker 1: that was put together in the eighties. Yeah, I'm sensing
Speaker 1: a theme here, Matt, that for some reason federal government
Speaker 1: websites are poorly constructed. Most of them are. But the
Speaker 1: short answer, Scott, is that you are going to lose
Speaker 1: the most recent quarter of interest. So that means it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a little more gut wrenching actually to cash
Speaker 1: in your I bonds right now, since you'd be forfeiting
Speaker 1: most likely the highest return that you've been been able
Speaker 1: to score. You've been doing this for a number of
Speaker 1: years now, and you're thinking, I don't know, not, just
Speaker 1: most likely, unless he's had an I bond that's fifty
Speaker 1: years old. It's like literally the highest rate of return
Speaker 1: we've seen in a long time exactly, and so it
Speaker 1: makes it a little more painful in order to pull
Speaker 1: that money out. But again, you're you're talking about a
Speaker 1: quarters worth of interest and if you you have other goals,
Speaker 1: if you have other things that you want to do
Speaker 1: with that money, it could make sense for you, and
Speaker 1: I think I would just want to hold on as
Speaker 1: long as I could so that I didn't lose any
Speaker 1: of those higher earning months. That's ideal, right, unless you
Speaker 1: legitimately have something like much better to do with that money. If,
Speaker 1: let's say, you're wanting to invest in a more long
Speaker 1: term way, that might be worth it. But but who
Speaker 1: wants to really lose out on an interest rate of
Speaker 1: nearly ten? Not Many folks are like, yeah, let me
Speaker 1: get let me give that up because it's a good deal.
Speaker 1: And you know we're gonna keep talking about I bonds,
Speaker 1: Matt on the show, as rates change and as the
Speaker 1: value proposition shifts because a year from now, uh, you
Speaker 1: might not be giving quite as much of a return
Speaker 1: if inflation gets tamed quite a bit. But yeah, the
Speaker 1: reality is, Scott, that titching those I bons right now
Speaker 1: unless you've got a much better place for that money
Speaker 1: or you just absolutely have to have the money you've
Speaker 1: stuck into I bonds back in your life immediately. I
Speaker 1: bonds are not the path to riches in most circumstances,
Speaker 1: but they have just been a good short term haven
Speaker 1: as of late. Investing regularly in the stock market is
Speaker 1: still going to be your best path to building wealth,
Speaker 1: but the resurgence of I bonds and the healthy rates
Speaker 1: we've been able to to see attached to those has
Speaker 1: been has been kind of cool to watch. Definitely it's
Speaker 1: been encouraging, to say the least. All right, we've got
Speaker 1: a couple other questions we're gonna get to right after
Speaker 1: the break. They're both gonna have to do with homes.
Speaker 1: Listeners asking about solar panels and another is thinking about
Speaker 1: becoming a first time landlord. We'll get to those right
Speaker 1: after this. All right, Mat that that landlording question we're
Speaker 1: gonna get to in just a second. Is An interesting
Speaker 1: one because this landlord doesn't plan to be in that
Speaker 1: location for very long. We'll get to that in just
Speaker 1: a second, but first let's get a question about using
Speaker 1: the sun to provide energy if your home. Hi, man
Speaker 1: and Joel, my name's Scott and my wife and I
Speaker 1: just bought a home down here in Greenville, South Carolina,
Speaker 1: and we were approached about adding solar to the roof
Speaker 1: and I wanted to just ask your girls opinion on
Speaker 1: solar if it's worthwhile. Um, the pitch the guy gave
Speaker 1: me sounded really nice and send it like it made sense. However,
Speaker 1: I feel like I would just be exchanging a loan
Speaker 1: payment for what I would pay monthly in electricity. I
Speaker 1: would just be switching those two payments out for the
Speaker 1: next twenty five years. Um, I would love to hear
Speaker 1: your opinion on it. UH, yeah, look forward to it.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Greenville. That's uh, that's where my in laws lift.
Speaker 1: It's a little town I like to visit every now
Speaker 1: and then. I went to college just outside of Greenville
Speaker 1: for two years and I will say you're both of
Speaker 1: it's a phenomenal little town in the south. I like it.
Speaker 1: I would they oh, Manos to a lot of good
Speaker 1: outdoorsy stuff. Oh Yeah, they've got that going on, and
Speaker 1: they've got is an eighth state. That's a brewery that
Speaker 1: has some some fantastic beer from before. It really does
Speaker 1: have it punches above its white class for craft beer. Totally.
Speaker 1: That's right. But okay, Scott, one of the first things
Speaker 1: we wanted to mention, uh, is that, like, you said
Speaker 1: that you were approached. Uh, you said that you got pitched.
Speaker 1: These are phrases that we that kind of like put
Speaker 1: up the red flags and reminds sense when we were
Speaker 1: listening to your question. We have mat we you know,
Speaker 1: how the money send. The reality is that sales folks,
Speaker 1: they can make anything sound awesome, but you are gonna
Speaker 1: want to do a lot more due diligence before you
Speaker 1: decide to move forward on an expensive project like this
Speaker 1: or before you you opt to work with this company directly.
Speaker 1: We want you to, you know, to basically do more research.
Speaker 1: You'RE gonna want to know how much money will will
Speaker 1: getting solar on your home cost? How much will it
Speaker 1: actually save you overtime? You know, gaining some of this
Speaker 1: real data, getting some hard numbers, is what we want
Speaker 1: to encourage. You to do. Uh, and then after that,
Speaker 1: getting multiple quotes is going to be key to making
Speaker 1: the smart decision here, is not just going with the
Speaker 1: first guy that happens to walk up. I I'm not
Speaker 1: going to speculate here, but like I would be surprised.
Speaker 1: Maybe I am speculating by saying this, I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: surprised if there are now financing companies and they're basically
Speaker 1: selling solar on behalf of the different installers because, like,
Speaker 1: it makes me think about retail, right, and how they're
Speaker 1: always pushing the credit cards. So often the tail can
Speaker 1: wag the dog. I don't want to be overly skeptical
Speaker 1: or pessimistic here, but I would definitely be wary of
Speaker 1: somebody coming door to door talking to you about solar. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't want anyone coming to my doormat to tell
Speaker 1: me religion or whatever. You know, like that's just typically
Speaker 1: what coies okay, Al Right, I won't turn them away,
Speaker 1: but usually when someone comes to your door, mudgeon over there,
Speaker 1: get off my lawn. Uh. No, I love talking to
Speaker 1: my neighbors, but usually when someone comes to your door
Speaker 1: to sell you something, it's not the best thing for you.
Speaker 1: Right or you would have pursued it on your own.
Speaker 1: And so let's talk about what that due diligence involves,
Speaker 1: like where, where Scotch should start researching. We really like
Speaker 1: the site energy stage dot com. They've got a solar
Speaker 1: calculator that can help you run the numbers before you
Speaker 1: take just like a random salesperson's word for how much
Speaker 1: money it's gonna save you. You get the type in
Speaker 1: your address and they take take things like your roof configuration.
Speaker 1: They incorporate shade data, so the tree coverage basically at
Speaker 1: your house, and then your specific electricity bill. They look
Speaker 1: at all those things, they take it into consideration and
Speaker 1: then they'll show you what the likely PAYPA period is
Speaker 1: going to be, like how long it's gonna gonna take
Speaker 1: you to pay off that solar system. And one caveat,
Speaker 1: by the way, that they spit out is how much
Speaker 1: it's going to increase your property value. And it's kind
Speaker 1: of true. Some of the stats show that homes that
Speaker 1: have solar that if you sell that home, that it
Speaker 1: is going to be worth more than your neighbor's house
Speaker 1: who doesn't have solar. But you take it with a
Speaker 1: grain of salt because your house isn't gonna appreciate like
Speaker 1: overnight because you just stuck the solar system in there.
Speaker 1: But the cool thing is energy stage is also going
Speaker 1: to help you get a few quotes at the same time.
Speaker 1: It's kind of this like one stop shop place and
Speaker 1: and I would say also like take a look at
Speaker 1: that website, but also picked the brain of a neighbor
Speaker 1: or two who might have solar panels on their home.
Speaker 1: They might have recommendations or insights. That would be helpful.
Speaker 1: If you know somebody down the street who just had
Speaker 1: a project like this done, ask them who they went with.
Speaker 1: Was the final cost the same as the estimate they
Speaker 1: were given at the beginning? How was it working with
Speaker 1: this solar installer? I mean you can learn a lot
Speaker 1: just from a quick minute conversation with with the neighbor
Speaker 1: who's done the same thing you're looking to do. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and in particular that side is fantastic. Actually entered our
Speaker 1: new address into there to see kind of what kind
Speaker 1: of data it would it would give me, and I
Speaker 1: think I've been contacted already by four different UH solar installers,
Speaker 1: and so the quotes have ranged, but that side alone
Speaker 1: is going to be phenomenal. And you being able to
Speaker 1: get multiple points of data very easily. And Scott, you
Speaker 1: also mentioned getting a loan, or you said that you
Speaker 1: might be paying on a loan for the next twenty
Speaker 1: five years to get these solar panels. We would want
Speaker 1: you to be really careful in that front, because that
Speaker 1: can increase the cost by a decent bit. How much
Speaker 1: depends on the specific terms of your financing. It's typically
Speaker 1: better to finance that with a helock instead of directly
Speaker 1: with the solar install company or whatever Financi here is,
Speaker 1: you know, working on you know, on their behalf. But
Speaker 1: either way, what happens if you move before you are
Speaker 1: done paying your solar panels off right like? If that
Speaker 1: were to be the case, you might have to make
Speaker 1: a lump some payment on those, and so we would
Speaker 1: rather see you save up and pay for those panels
Speaker 1: in cash. That way, all of the savings are going
Speaker 1: to be going directly to you, and the main thing
Speaker 1: that you want to avoid, no matter what uh like,
Speaker 1: by far the worst option is if you were to
Speaker 1: lease a solar system. Seeing almost anything is a bad
Speaker 1: idea typically, but especially when it comes to solar panels.
Speaker 1: You're talking about TV, a couch or even solar panels.
Speaker 1: Or that's right, but those are the the trickiest arrangements. Uh.
Speaker 1: And by leasing you're gonna miss out on one of
Speaker 1: the biggest financial perks to installing solar on your home,
Speaker 1: which is the pretty enormous federal tax credit. I'm glad
Speaker 1: you brought that up, Matt, because a lot of people
Speaker 1: already know this. But the additional perk of installing solar
Speaker 1: panels is that additional tax break that you're gonna going
Speaker 1: to receive. The United States federal government, in its kindness,
Speaker 1: has said if you install solar panels on your house,
Speaker 1: we will pay for almost a third of that bill.
Speaker 1: And and because of the recent Um so called inflation
Speaker 1: reduction act that was signed into law, the tax credit
Speaker 1: for installing solar is not going to remain at thirty
Speaker 1: for the next decade. It was supposed to phase out
Speaker 1: starting next year, but that's no longer going to be
Speaker 1: the case. So that was kind of lighting a fire
Speaker 1: under a lot of people's butts to get solar put
Speaker 1: on their on the roof. It was dropping down to
Speaker 1: this year. Next year it was gonna be dropping down.
Speaker 1: Is gonna keep dropping down until it was phased out. Well, well,
Speaker 1: now it's gonna stick around at thirty four a while
Speaker 1: to come. So I don't know that that should make
Speaker 1: this process a lot less hectic. You've got more time
Speaker 1: because the federal government will continue for the next decade
Speaker 1: plus to pay that much towards your solar installed bill.
Speaker 1: So we would say take the time to shop around
Speaker 1: and make an informed decision that's best for your overall finances.
Speaker 1: There's just no need to rush into this. There's no
Speaker 1: need to do it a sap or anything like that. Um,
Speaker 1: and that being said, if someone else is is listening
Speaker 1: and they already pulled the trigger, this year you are
Speaker 1: eligible for the full thirty percent tax credit. Just make
Speaker 1: sure that your accountant knows or that your tax software
Speaker 1: that you plug it incorrectly. So do you see that
Speaker 1: tax credit come your way? That's right. You want to
Speaker 1: make sure you've got that two version of the software,
Speaker 1: not that doesn't have I mean, I can't imagine that
Speaker 1: any software that folks are using is like software that
Speaker 1: you actually install onto your computer like a via via,
Speaker 1: a disk. Remember the people used to do that? Right,
Speaker 1: you go to the store and you buy a CD ROM.
Speaker 1: I don't think people do that anymore. It's all over
Speaker 1: the web, baby, Um. And the other part. Two to
Speaker 1: keep in mind is, I think the reality is that
Speaker 1: the price of solar panels, it's going to continue to
Speaker 1: drop as we see more solar installations taking place. Economy
Speaker 1: is a scale like. They are at play here and
Speaker 1: they're going to benefit you. And not only that, but
Speaker 1: just advances in solar technology could dramatically reduce the costs
Speaker 1: as well. For instance, I was reading that engineers are
Speaker 1: using a shoal nanoparticle inc in three D printers that
Speaker 1: allows them to make super thin and flexible solar film, right,
Speaker 1: like this crazy thin film, rather than like the super
Speaker 1: thick and stiff solar panels that were used to uh
Speaker 1: and so, basically like fat heads, remember those? So you
Speaker 1: could like stick the when you're well, they were like
Speaker 1: cutouts of NBA players and football players and okay, it
Speaker 1: sounds like that. Maybe it's like a thicker and you
Speaker 1: can just like stick it directly to your roof. Is
Speaker 1: that what we're talking essentially, like you can roll them out.
Speaker 1: I pictured them like x Ray screens for film or whatever.
Speaker 1: That's how I envisioned it. Um, actually there's some some researchers,
Speaker 1: researchers down in Australia that we're using these things to
Speaker 1: drive their tesla all the way around the entire continent. Really,
Speaker 1: they just like put it all around the outside of
Speaker 1: the vehicle. They would drive all day and then they
Speaker 1: had like a huge roll of it and that and
Speaker 1: once they got to wherever they're going, they would just
Speaker 1: unroll it and it would just recharge the Tesla. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's cool, evidently. Yeah, but the bottom line, though, is
Speaker 1: that with the financial incentives, with the widespread adoption as
Speaker 1: more and more folks install solar uh and with panel
Speaker 1: innovation and all of these things are going to continue
Speaker 1: to drive the price down year after year, and so
Speaker 1: we don't necessarily want you to be in a rush
Speaker 1: to do this, especially when that rush means that you're
Speaker 1: financing it, which means you're paying more than you need to.
Speaker 1: I know I'm definitely excited about the possibility of solar
Speaker 1: and what it could mean for us moving forward, but
Speaker 1: it's you know, when you're an early adopter, a lot
Speaker 1: of times you get stuck with the oldest, most inefficient
Speaker 1: technology and, dude, it makes me think about remember the
Speaker 1: giant satellite dishes you would see on people, like at
Speaker 1: People's houses, especially when you're driving out in the country,
Speaker 1: and like literally it's a satellite dishes that's like twelve
Speaker 1: ft across or something like that. They're huge. And how
Speaker 1: many years later was it before folks had that were
Speaker 1: like only a foot across that would go on the
Speaker 1: corner of Your House? And I'm sure those folks who
Speaker 1: had the big ones are like Dang it, which we
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been the early adopters out here, even though that's,
Speaker 1: you know, that's how they were able to watch the
Speaker 1: news and do whatever. There's gonna be a lot of
Speaker 1: ingenuity in this space and it is going to drop
Speaker 1: the cost, like you said, and it's gonna make it
Speaker 1: less of an ice or in all likelihood, to you
Speaker 1: install solar on your roof, for in your yard, and
Speaker 1: especially if you don't have the money to pay for
Speaker 1: it yet. And now we know that the federal tax
Speaker 1: incentive is going to be robust for years and years
Speaker 1: to come. Why I rush? Yeah, there's just no reason
Speaker 1: to rush into it, but it's Scott, best of luck
Speaker 1: in your shopping solar panels. It's one of those things
Speaker 1: to matt that that buying it can ultimately, over time,
Speaker 1: save you money. So, Um, I think if it I
Speaker 1: do like that. Maybe not quite as an investment, but
Speaker 1: kind of sort of. So it's it's in the van
Speaker 1: at least, so it's got good luck on that one. But, Matt,
Speaker 1: let's get to our our last question for this episode.
Speaker 1: This one is about becoming a landlord when you move
Speaker 1: all the time. Hey, guys, this is a hunter from Logan, UTAH.
Speaker 1: So in December I'll finish up Grad school and then
Speaker 1: I'll start my first full time job. In January we'll
Speaker 1: be moving across the country and we're starting to think
Speaker 1: about buying a house in that new location. However, we
Speaker 1: know that we'll only be living there for a year
Speaker 1: or two before relocating and that that's likely the pattern
Speaker 1: that the first six or eight years of my crew
Speaker 1: will take, knowing that we'd want to rent out those
Speaker 1: houses that we buy in each place after leaving. But
Speaker 1: I don't know enough about being a landlord to consider
Speaker 1: all of the difficulties of doing it remotely. What kind
Speaker 1: of things should I be considering and one of my
Speaker 1: best options, if we do decide to go down that path,
Speaker 1: I love your show and my wife has also recently
Speaker 1: started listening. We love how discussing episodes can help us
Speaker 1: talk about our goals and our opinions about personal finance.
Speaker 1: As a bonus question, we'd love to know what you
Speaker 1: guys consider your greatest hits or the best five or
Speaker 1: six episodes for a new listener like my wife, to
Speaker 1: serve as a basic introduction to some of the most
Speaker 1: important aspects of personal finance. Thanks for taking my questions
Speaker 1: and for making a great podcast. All right, hunter, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for your question and, by the way,
Speaker 1: I love that you are listening to the show with
Speaker 1: your wife. Just makes me happy, like literally kind of
Speaker 1: makes me smile, thinking that like you two are kind
Speaker 1: of sitting there listening to Joel and I talk about
Speaker 1: you now. Not only are we talking about personal finances,
Speaker 1: but we're talking about you and and your money right now.
Speaker 1: Can you believe it? I hope they're like smoking a
Speaker 1: pipe by a fireplace with like the tweet jacket on.
Speaker 1: Why does like like a like a fireside chat? Exactly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're like really fun of the Olden Radio Days. But Hunter,
Speaker 1: congrats on being like almost done with Grad School. But
Speaker 1: when it comes to buying a house. We almost never
Speaker 1: want folks to buy a home if they only plan
Speaker 1: on living there for just a year or two. If
Speaker 1: that were to be the case, wrenching. It's almost always
Speaker 1: going to be a better option. Uh. The only exception
Speaker 1: is if you plan to then keep that home and
Speaker 1: rent it out, like you're thinking. Uh. And even then, though,
Speaker 1: it's not always going to be a slam dunk. But yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll go ahead and give you our thoughts, though, and
Speaker 1: you know how to know whether or not it's going
Speaker 1: to make sense for you and your wife. That's right
Speaker 1: when it comes down to Matt Really, when it comes
Speaker 1: to real estate investing in general, if you were to
Speaker 1: say what's the most important thing, I think there's a
Speaker 1: couple most important things. It's it's hard to nail it
Speaker 1: down to just one thing, but buying right is, in
Speaker 1: all likelihood the most important thing to get right, and
Speaker 1: that's because, you know, most folks, when they're buying a
Speaker 1: primary home in particular, they're thinking about through whether or
Speaker 1: not it fits into their budget, which is obviously an
Speaker 1: important consideration, but they're also thinking about a slew of
Speaker 1: other things, paint colors, fixtures, curb appeal, but what never
Speaker 1: really crosses your mind is whether or not it's going
Speaker 1: to make a good rental. That is not a question
Speaker 1: most homebuyers actually ask, like well, if, if I decided
Speaker 1: to rent this out in a couple of years, would
Speaker 1: the numbers make sense? But that is going to need
Speaker 1: to be a lynch pin consideration for hunter, because, and hunter,
Speaker 1: you're gonna want to find a property that suits you
Speaker 1: well for living in but that also has the ability
Speaker 1: to cash flow for years to come. That means doing
Speaker 1: some market research to find out what the rent amount
Speaker 1: is likely to be on the place that you're buying
Speaker 1: and what your mortgage is likely to be too. And
Speaker 1: as an investor, you're gonna be hoping for appreciation as well.
Speaker 1: That's understandable. But while that home going up in value,
Speaker 1: it can help build your network. Think of it as
Speaker 1: kind of the Cherry on top, not something to to
Speaker 1: bank on, but buying right to buying the right house,
Speaker 1: not a house it's just you can afford and it's
Speaker 1: going to make sense for you to live in for
Speaker 1: the time being. You want to make sure the numbers
Speaker 1: on that house makes sense from a rental, from a
Speaker 1: landlord perspective, when you're crunching the numbers, you want to
Speaker 1: make sure that you're looking at all of the different expenses, because,
Speaker 1: is owning any property, but especially a rental property. It's
Speaker 1: not going to be cheap because of course you're gonna
Speaker 1: need to set aside money for repairs and you'll inevitably
Speaker 1: need to have the added expense of hiring a property
Speaker 1: management company to help you to run that rental when
Speaker 1: you leave like that's something that you need a factor in. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, you like you might be able to self
Speaker 1: manage from far away, but that's likely going to be difficult,
Speaker 1: especially if you're planning to do this, I mean house
Speaker 1: after House. Like I like the idea. I like that
Speaker 1: you're thinking that there's a chance that I might be
Speaker 1: able to own some investment properties and some very promising
Speaker 1: neighborhoods and cities all across the country. I like the diversity,
Speaker 1: I like the potential there, but that also might be
Speaker 1: quite difficult. But either way, the typical property manager is
Speaker 1: going to take a typically a ten percent cut of
Speaker 1: the monthly rent amount and they'll Alston take half, if
Speaker 1: not all, of the first month's rent for finding a
Speaker 1: new tenant Um and so it's certainly possible in many
Speaker 1: markets to still find a profitable rental even with all
Speaker 1: of these different expenses factored in, but you want to
Speaker 1: make sure that you are are assuming those costs before
Speaker 1: you pounce. You need to calculate all of those expenses,
Speaker 1: because if that property can't make money even with those
Speaker 1: costs factored in, uh it is not going to be
Speaker 1: worth it. You need to basically go into this with
Speaker 1: your Eyes Wide Open. Agreed, Matt. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: calculations to run, a lot of due diligence that's required
Speaker 1: on hunter's part before starting to make offers and finding
Speaker 1: the House that he wants, that he wants to live
Speaker 1: in for the next couple of years, because he has
Speaker 1: to make make sure it makes sense for the long haul.
Speaker 1: And I would also suggest that that hunter gets creative,
Speaker 1: because he'll likely be able to increase the likelihood that
Speaker 1: this is a goodbye if he purchases a multifamily home
Speaker 1: instead of a single family home. Or if you attempt
Speaker 1: to buy a home that needs some extra fixing up, maybe, hunter,
Speaker 1: that you don't mind doing while you're living there, something
Speaker 1: that is a little more beat up. It's not as
Speaker 1: good looking. By doing that, you're you're gonna be able
Speaker 1: to force some appreciation into the property, improving it in
Speaker 1: order to increase the value and increase the amount you're
Speaker 1: gonna be able to charge for rent in the future.
Speaker 1: So if you don't mind living in kind of a
Speaker 1: constant workspace for while you're living in that home, you're more,
Speaker 1: much more likely to be able to get a much
Speaker 1: better deal. And the sweat equity you pour into that house,
Speaker 1: he's going to help make the numbers work even more
Speaker 1: in your favor. Exactly. Yeah, the more that you can
Speaker 1: think outside of the box when it comes to real estate,
Speaker 1: the greater returns you can generate. It makes me think
Speaker 1: of our friends Carl and Mindy Jensen. They do what
Speaker 1: they what they call live and flips, where they buy
Speaker 1: a home, it's their primary residence. They do a lot
Speaker 1: of work on that property, on that house while they're
Speaker 1: living in it Um and because it was their primary
Speaker 1: they don't have to pay any capital gains once they sell,
Speaker 1: all of that appreciation flows to them tax free Um.
Speaker 1: And so the last part of your question their hunter.
Speaker 1: You're asking about the greatest hits, which we don't necessarily have.
Speaker 1: The greatest hits. We have five sixty eight episodes as
Speaker 1: greatest hits. Hunter like, honestly, I think for most folks
Speaker 1: who are like, well, how do I start listening to
Speaker 1: the show? Just I would say just start listening to
Speaker 1: it because every episode I don't think we're necessarily building
Speaker 1: on previous episodes so that it's required that you have
Speaker 1: to go back and be able to listen to previous episodes.
Speaker 1: For back to episode. We're for back, but we we
Speaker 1: typically explain what it is that we're talking about, hopefully
Speaker 1: in a way that somebody who's never heard anybody talk
Speaker 1: about personal finance before can sit down and start listening
Speaker 1: and learning right off the bat. It's our goal. We
Speaker 1: won't always do it well, but let me try. But
Speaker 1: thanks to a question from a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 1: actually we we did pick a top ten list of
Speaker 1: episodes to listen to. If you are newer to the
Speaker 1: personal finance uh, it is up on our website and
Speaker 1: you can easily access it from the start here button.
Speaker 1: But but yeah, let your wife know that we are
Speaker 1: appreciative of her listening and we wish you guys the
Speaker 1: best of luck starting your journey into becoming landlords. Uh,
Speaker 1: you just you have to do it. You have to
Speaker 1: think about it in a way that most other people
Speaker 1: are not thinking about it. It means buying a house
Speaker 1: that you are not necessarily super proud of. Like like
Speaker 1: it may, it might not be in love with the
Speaker 1: House exactly, it may not have that curb appeal right
Speaker 1: like you invite your friends over and they're going to
Speaker 1: be like, Oh, this is where you live, it's cute,
Speaker 1: I love the exposed food paneling that's been UN painted
Speaker 1: for years. But then just make sure they give you
Speaker 1: a solid thirty minutes, at least an hour, to where
Speaker 1: you start sharing with them what your plan is to
Speaker 1: do with that property and then additional properties down the road,
Speaker 1: and they're going to be coming to you with all
Speaker 1: their financial questions. Building wealth is not always beautiful, it
Speaker 1: is not always easy, and, especially when you're looking into
Speaker 1: rental real estate, like it's going to take doing some
Speaker 1: things that are uncomfortable in order to make the numbers work,
Speaker 1: in order to grow your bottom line. So hopefully you're
Speaker 1: willing to do that, hunter, and if so, then I
Speaker 1: think you can be successful in this endeavor most off.
Speaker 1: All right, good luck to you guys. Matt, let's get
Speaker 1: back to the beer we had on this episode. This
Speaker 1: is called German chocolate cake and it is by a
Speaker 1: stout by wicked weed brewing. What were your thoughts on
Speaker 1: this beer? Yeah, I'm glad we actually were able to
Speaker 1: share this because I read in the past two weeks
Speaker 1: this is the second German chocolate cake stout that I had.
Speaker 1: I had one of those when when we're down in
Speaker 1: the Orlando add a little pub that you and I
Speaker 1: popped into. But yeah, it's got those big dark roasty flavors,
Speaker 1: I guess, all the kind of flavors that you think
Speaker 1: of when you're thinking of a German chocolate k a
Speaker 1: little bit of coconut, a lot of chocolate, kind of yeah,
Speaker 1: one of those Dessert Beers for sure, that are becoming
Speaker 1: more and more popular and in particular, as the temperatures
Speaker 1: are starting to drop, man like I am totally getting
Speaker 1: an Itche to have some of the some of these
Speaker 1: bigger wintertime beers. It's totally fine and okay to enjoy
Speaker 1: big dark beers in the middle of the summer, but
Speaker 1: now that it's like the evenings around here at least
Speaker 1: are they've been a lot cooler you biked up the
Speaker 1: mountain yesterday with your son. When I wrote in this
Speaker 1: morning I was just like, oh my gosh, that the
Speaker 1: Christmas that you feel in the air, in particular when
Speaker 1: you're riding on, riding on the bike. It is unbeatable
Speaker 1: and it makes me just want to curl up, have
Speaker 1: that that smoking jacket with a tweet, sitting fireside a pipe.
Speaker 1: It's it's that whole vibe all over again. But Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I'm glad you and I got to enjoy another one
Speaker 1: of these wicked Weed Beers today on the podcast. But
Speaker 1: that is going to be it. Will make sure to
Speaker 1: link to any of the resources, anything that we may
Speaker 1: have mentioned during this episode, up on our show notes,
Speaker 1: up on the website at how the money dot com.
Speaker 1: That's right and by away. Our newsletter is only getting
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Speaker 1: being a part of the how to money community. All right, maw,
Speaker 1: that's going to do it for this episode. Until next time,
Speaker 1: best friends out, best friends out