Speaker 1: Welcome to How to Money. I'm Joel, I'm Matt, and
Speaker 1: today we're talking Trump V two, ghost jobs and insufficient savings.
Speaker 2: Personally, Joel, I would have said Trump two point zero.
Speaker 2: That's what everyone's calling it.
Speaker 1: That's why don't you didn't you out me? I like
Speaker 1: V two as well.
Speaker 2: Okay, but uh no, this says our Friday flight, our
Speaker 2: weekly roundup of the different headlines we've come across this week,
Speaker 2: and specifically we're going to talk about how they pertain
Speaker 2: to your money.
Speaker 1: That's someone else's money. This is all about you. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm not infallible with my naming conventions. I will say,
Speaker 1: as you just pointed out, Trump two point h would
Speaker 1: have been better. Well, I just rolled.
Speaker 2: Off the tongue. I think I've heard more folks recently
Speaker 2: talking about it.
Speaker 1: Well, we'll talk about there have been a flurry, there's
Speaker 1: been a flurry of activity this week on the political
Speaker 1: front that does impact your money. We'll get to that
Speaker 1: in just a second. Matt. I logged into the back
Speaker 1: end of my mortgage account recently, though, and you know
Speaker 1: what it said. On the right hand side. They were
Speaker 1: essentially trying to get me to do a cash out refinance,
Speaker 1: which would be a terrible idea.
Speaker 2: Does not surprise me at all because this is a
Speaker 2: newer mortgage servicer. I'm assuming that purchased your old That's
Speaker 2: right there, you go, dude, that is what they do.
Speaker 2: That is the business that they're in. They're all about
Speaker 2: trying to get you to take on some of these
Speaker 2: additional loan products that pad their bottom line.
Speaker 1: And as anybody out there knows, if you've had your
Speaker 1: mortgage for any length of time, rates have gone up significantly.
Speaker 1: A cash out ref would put me in a really,
Speaker 1: really bad financial position. But what it said, like the
Speaker 1: marketing efforts said, your cash out resolution paid down debt
Speaker 1: using equity. And they're trying.
Speaker 2: The new year, new you, that's right messaging and branding.
Speaker 1: They're trying to get that, hey, why don't you get
Speaker 1: a lumps on a cash in your life to I
Speaker 1: don't know, get rid of other crappy debts that might
Speaker 1: be worse than your mortgage. What a bad idea that
Speaker 1: would be for basically everyone, right to take a three
Speaker 1: percent mortgage, turn it into a seven percent mortgage and
Speaker 1: then yeah, maybe pay down ten thousand dollars worth a
Speaker 1: credit card debt or something like that. But then you've
Speaker 1: got that mortgage debt looming for thirty years. The next
Speaker 1: thirty years, you're probably extending the life of that loan
Speaker 1: significantly by doing that cash out refine, I mean cashier refis.
Speaker 1: They just make sense for basically no one.
Speaker 2: Right, just given the fact that there's a chance that
Speaker 2: we never go back to these I think some folks
Speaker 2: are thinking, well, it'll come down at some point. We
Speaker 2: don't know that that is actually going to happen. It
Speaker 2: is yet to be determined those predictions. And we talked
Speaker 2: about this at the time, where you know, real estate
Speaker 2: agents mortgage brokers were telling people, well, Mary, the house date,
Speaker 2: the rate, Yeah, it doesn't look like a great suggestion.
Speaker 1: We set it at the time, and I think we
Speaker 1: have been proven right, and yeah, will rates could rates
Speaker 1: potentially go down in the coming years, Maybe maybe, but
Speaker 1: it's not like totally could. But we don't know that
Speaker 1: they're going to We don't know, all right, man.
Speaker 2: We saw a return to the Oval office for President Trump,
Speaker 2: and I think a lot of folks might be wondering
Speaker 2: how this might impact our economy as a whole. How
Speaker 2: is this going to impact your personal finances? That remains
Speaker 2: to be seen. There's always a whole lot of talk
Speaker 2: and bluster when it comes to President Trump. There's a
Speaker 2: litany of things that we can discuss. For instance, the
Speaker 2: new twenty five percent tariffs against Canada and Mexico that
Speaker 2: could be implemented as early as next week.
Speaker 1: In terris.
Speaker 2: They might serve a geopolitical purpose, but they essentially act
Speaker 2: as a tax on consumers.
Speaker 1: And raising the price of everyday goods right, whether it's
Speaker 1: auto parts, food, the litany of things.
Speaker 2: It's counter to the free market and the ability for
Speaker 2: companies to produce goods at the absolute lowest price. And again,
Speaker 2: I understand it from a geopolitical strategy standpoint, But how
Speaker 2: this impacts Americans, we will see.
Speaker 1: How broad those terrorists are. That will also impact how
Speaker 1: we feel them.
Speaker 2: But there certainly is a chance that inflation, which has
Speaker 2: calmed it could potentially be stoked by this policy change.
Speaker 2: Were executive orders that could have an impact in the
Speaker 2: coming months, like an attempt to curb building restrictions in
Speaker 2: order to increase supply. How that actually will work in reality,
Speaker 2: It's it's gonna be hard to discern.
Speaker 1: It sounds good on paper, but yeah, well yeah, how
Speaker 1: well for that, Yeah, because that's what we need.
Speaker 2: For instance, when it comes to housing, the largest line
Speaker 2: item on everyone's monthly budget, more supply leads to lower prices.
Speaker 1: Building codes are often local. So how is some sort
Speaker 1: of you know, yeah, and which is yeah. Everyone who
Speaker 1: is a big fan of Trump, of course, is praising
Speaker 1: the stroke of the pen, the phone call, and the
Speaker 1: ability to make everyone's lives better here in the States.
Speaker 1: But Dave Chappelle, he actually said it really well on
Speaker 1: Saturday Night Live. He said, whether people voted for.
Speaker 2: You or not, everyone is counting on you good luck,
Speaker 2: which I appreciate. Always count on Dave Chappelle to inject
Speaker 2: a little bit of common sense into the discourse of
Speaker 2: the time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I appreciate Dave, and that well said. Right, Well,
Speaker 1: so we are. We're hoping for the best. We always
Speaker 1: hope for the best for our presents, whether you've voted
Speaker 1: for them or not, because we want the best for
Speaker 1: our country and the three hundred and forty million people
Speaker 1: inside of it. I'm sure we're gonna have a lot
Speaker 1: to talk about in the coming months. Matt on the
Speaker 1: political front and how the political regime change impacts are
Speaker 1: our finances, because it will, it will have an impact.
Speaker 2: And hopefully we will pay attention to the headlines that
Speaker 2: are actually going to matter, Yeah, and the things that
Speaker 2: are actually going to happen, because I'm sure so many
Speaker 2: media companies are like, yeah, strops back in office because
Speaker 2: it gives them something to report on this and like
Speaker 2: the craziness that oftentimes comes from the.
Speaker 1: Tweets or truths or whatever it is that Trump is saying,
Speaker 1: and you and I will attempt to our best to
Speaker 1: keep it a political and focus on the money stuff. Indeed,
Speaker 1: one thing we have to discuss is the meme coins
Speaker 1: that the President and the first Lady launched a head
Speaker 1: of the inauguration. It was kind of a crazy stunt, right, and.
Speaker 2: Politics aside, It doesn't matter where you laying on the spectrum.
Speaker 1: This is ridiculous, and we've kind of trashed meme coins thoroughly,
Speaker 1: and the cryptocurrency space. We have, i think, given a
Speaker 1: lot of caution in our assessment of cryptocurrency and what
Speaker 1: kind of approach normal investors should have towards crypto. And
Speaker 1: some folks did make money in this kind of mean
Speaker 1: coin bonanza if they bought early. They bought that Trump
Speaker 1: coin early, then the cashed out quick. But this is
Speaker 1: just another reminder that the mean coin space is rife
Speaker 1: with grift. The majority of people lose money. And it's
Speaker 1: interesting too, Matt, because the crypto space, I think they
Speaker 1: were hoping that a Trump presidency would usher in vibes
Speaker 1: of legitimacy, and there has been a lot of talk about,
Speaker 1: you know, bitcoin in particular having a national Bitcoin Strategic
Speaker 1: Reserve or something like that. Is that going to be
Speaker 1: a boon to some of the more popular, more long
Speaker 1: standing cryptocurrencies. Maybe if it happens. Yeah, But just this
Speaker 1: little stunt, I guess hasn't really aided in the legitimacy
Speaker 1: of crypto. It hasn't started off in a good way.
Speaker 1: And the takeaway for individuals listening is don't participate in
Speaker 1: the mean coin insanity no matter w Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: will say, be ready to lose your shirt if you yeah.
Speaker 1: And again this is I think this is an a
Speaker 1: political statement, but this shouldn't be anything new for folks
Speaker 1: who have like followed what it is that Trump has done,
Speaker 1: Like this is like typical behavior for him, right, Like
Speaker 1: more recently, it's like the branded it's the dumb Lee
Speaker 1: Greenwood bibles that Trump is selling for.
Speaker 2: How much was he selling this for?
Speaker 1: I don't six.
Speaker 2: But then like the sneakers then, but even before he
Speaker 2: was president, would you look great in those? By the way,
Speaker 2: even before he was president? Like the like the Trump
Speaker 2: steaks and the vodka, like this is something that he does.
Speaker 2: And so on one hand, it's just it's more of
Speaker 2: the same. I will say, I was shocked to see
Speaker 2: the pastor that gave one of the benedictions at the
Speaker 2: end of the inaugural address or whatever, he launched.
Speaker 1: A meme coin.
Speaker 2: Oh really, yes, that is incredibly disheartening, Like like that
Speaker 2: makes me angry. This is like a pastor, someone who's
Speaker 2: supposed to be forsaking worldly riches in a self sacrificial
Speaker 2: way to serve other people, and man talk about like
Speaker 2: that made me really upset when I when I heard that.
Speaker 2: It just feels so counter to what someone who is
Speaker 2: in ministry or someone who's a pastor that they should
Speaker 2: be doing.
Speaker 1: Does this mean we're canceling the launch of our mean
Speaker 1: coin that we have planned.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, we're not ministry.
Speaker 1: But we can do it. We can do it, Okay.
Speaker 2: Something else though, that struck me was the mandate for
Speaker 2: government workers to return to the office. Dude, working from home.
Speaker 2: So twenty twenty, we're turning to the office rto. That's
Speaker 2: the name of the game now. And I will say
Speaker 2: there's evidence that working from home, at least at the
Speaker 2: federal level hasn't had great results. That is costing the
Speaker 2: government therefore us as taxpayers billions of dollars.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a report issued kind of towards the end
Speaker 1: of last year, I think from one of the senator's
Speaker 1: offices that headlined, you know, just how much less productive
Speaker 1: certain government agencies and certain individuals have been and just
Speaker 1: how costly that's become.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, dude, we're talking especially like given all the
Speaker 2: office space that is sitting empty, like that's real estate,
Speaker 2: is incredibly expensive. And similar to the companies who have
Speaker 2: issued returned to off orders, I think the government they
Speaker 2: may not be crying you or river if you end
Speaker 2: up quitting over this. It appears that increased efficiency at
Speaker 2: the office and a trimm or payroll are simultaneous goals.
Speaker 2: So we think that the smartest employers out there who
Speaker 2: are looking to retain top notch talent will offer more
Speaker 2: of a hybrid or more of a flex approach where
Speaker 2: they do trust their great employees to do their job
Speaker 2: wherever they are. But I do think as an employee
Speaker 2: you might have to make up difficult choice if going
Speaker 2: back into the office, let's say five days a week,
Speaker 2: if that's going to be too tough of a pill
Speaker 2: to swallow. I think eventually it'll settle out somewhere in
Speaker 2: the middle, because I think there had to be this
Speaker 2: sort of hard correct right, Like the pendulum swung so
Speaker 2: far to one side and now I think it's almost
Speaker 2: having to swing hard in the other direction in order
Speaker 2: to I don't know for employees, for employers to communicate
Speaker 2: too employees that they're taking this a bit more seriously,
Speaker 2: But I think it'll eventually settle somewhere in the middle.
Speaker 1: And so much depends on the industry, right, and it
Speaker 1: depends on specific employees too, like how long have they
Speaker 1: been with the company, how well do they know that
Speaker 1: ask how well are they able to communicate with people
Speaker 1: who are also working remotely. But I guess on the
Speaker 1: flip side of this, this could impact the government's ability
Speaker 1: to hire some of the top talent if some of
Speaker 1: that top talent says, yeah, I'm not coming to the
Speaker 1: office five days a week. I'm not doing that DC
Speaker 1: hellish DC commute that I'm imagining is pretty rough, depending
Speaker 1: on where you live and how far your commute is.
Speaker 1: But I do think that the RTO trend is only
Speaker 1: going to increase in the coming months, and that's going
Speaker 1: to impact a lot of how to Money listeners if
Speaker 1: their employer is kind of keen on pulling that off too,
Speaker 1: all right, Matt, Something else that everyone might want to
Speaker 1: consider is rethinking their emergency fund, how much money they
Speaker 1: have stored up in their high yield savings account. MarketWatch
Speaker 1: pointed this out that changing economic realities might mean that
Speaker 1: you don't have enough money saved up in your bank account.
Speaker 1: You might not have enough liquidity, and instead of the
Speaker 1: traditional three to six months that is typically recommended, some
Speaker 1: folks are opting to increase the amount of money they
Speaker 1: have on hand to nine months or even more. And
Speaker 1: that is I think a potentially smart move, specifically if
Speaker 1: your industry or your particular job is less stable, right,
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, if you're in a position that feels
Speaker 1: a little more precarious, like I would want to have
Speaker 1: more cash on hand, that seems like a smart move.
Speaker 1: The average duration of unemployment has actually gone up as well,
Speaker 1: lasting on average five and a half months, So if
Speaker 1: you lose your job, you're talking almost six months to
Speaker 1: get the next one. So yeah, if that's the case,
Speaker 1: three months certainly doesn't seem like quite enough. I guess
Speaker 1: I kind of bland somewhere in the middle on this though.
Speaker 1: Mat I think that telling people to save up nine
Speaker 1: plus months worth of expenses that can feel a little
Speaker 1: demoralizing because it's really hard to do and how much
Speaker 1: you actually need it really does depend on a variety
Speaker 1: of factors, like are you a two income household, do
Speaker 1: you have a bare bones budget that you could implement
Speaker 1: immediately upon the loss of a job, and how much
Speaker 1: would that actually save you? Because if you're willing to
Speaker 1: do that, hey, what looks like three months worth the
Speaker 1: normal expenses could be five months worth of bare bones
Speaker 1: budget expenses. And ultimately, I think having six months worth
Speaker 1: of any fund it's better than having three. And some
Speaker 1: folks might understandably need or want to save even more.
Speaker 1: And I think if you do experience a job loss,
Speaker 1: you are going to be thankful that you thought ahead
Speaker 1: of time, that you were planning, and that you had
Speaker 1: a little bit extra on hand, that's true.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And as we talked with Katie North about this
Speaker 2: past Wednesday about sabbaticals, you might be able to parlay
Speaker 2: some of those additional funds into a sabbatical where you're
Speaker 2: being a little more introspective there.
Speaker 1: Time off losing your job means a severance. If you've
Speaker 1: got plenty of savings on hand and then three, five,
Speaker 1: six months worth of severance, it's like set.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, okay, the unemployment rate is low, but that
Speaker 2: doesn't mean that the job market is booming for job
Speaker 2: seekers out there, or that hunting for a new gig
Speaker 2: is easy. This is a part of why it takes
Speaker 2: longer for most average job seekers to find a new gig,
Speaker 2: and part of the difficulty is navigating a slew of
Speaker 2: job postings online, many of which are so hiring platform Greenhouse.
Speaker 2: They just released an analysis of online job listings and
Speaker 2: they found that one in five are fake listings. And
Speaker 2: it's not that the listing itself is an actual scam,
Speaker 2: but that there was never actually any hiring activity for
Speaker 2: that listed job. And so you might be wondering why
Speaker 2: a company would do such a thing, Why would they
Speaker 2: post a position that they don't actually intend to fill.
Speaker 1: It does seem sailing well.
Speaker 2: It could be their speculation that could be in an
Speaker 2: attempt to project growth that's not actually happening. Evidently, some
Speaker 2: companies are using it as sort of like a fishing
Speaker 2: line that they keep out permanently in hopes of catching
Speaker 2: a rare talent.
Speaker 1: But still, what would like a rare fish be man,
Speaker 1: if you got a rare fish just leaving that line out.
Speaker 2: Narwhall, I don't know that's a whale though, right, Yeah,
Speaker 2: but it doesn't make it any easier for hard to
Speaker 2: reel that in who are looking for work. It's something
Speaker 2: to be aware of that you think it's going to
Speaker 2: be easier than you think. In part, I think because
Speaker 2: there are so like, oh, everywhere I look, there's a
Speaker 2: job listing. The Internet makes job hunting easy, right, It
Speaker 2: makes it look so simple and jobs appear to be plentiful,
Speaker 2: But that is not the case.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think just kind of approving some of those
Speaker 1: job boards. It's not that you can't find a job online,
Speaker 1: or that those job listings aren't helpful and can't put
Speaker 1: you in the right direction, can't get you at least
Speaker 1: on the right trail in the right scent. But I
Speaker 1: think it can get your hopes up when you see
Speaker 1: a position that looks awesome and it looks like it
Speaker 1: pays well, and then you never hear back upon reaching
Speaker 1: out or applying. That's just kind of the reality of
Speaker 1: you have to kind of like cast your net wide
Speaker 1: on the Internet and you're just hoping for someone to
Speaker 1: respond on the other end. Seeing that, Matt, you mentioned
Speaker 1: that these listings are not scams, We'll see that just
Speaker 1: had a piece about job scams, and they're coming in
Speaker 1: to folks via text message, like actual job scams. Yeah, yeah, gotcha.
Speaker 1: These are just fake the ones you talked about. But
Speaker 1: now we're talking about actual scammy jobs. What's happening in
Speaker 1: these text messages that the person who's sending you the
Speaker 1: message pretends to be a recruiter who has a solid
Speaker 1: work from home job, and hey, maybe your employer just
Speaker 1: said you got to come back to the office four
Speaker 1: days a week and you're like, wait, I don't know.
Speaker 2: Taking me back to twenty twenty, yeah, I like this work.
Speaker 1: From home job that this person's texting me about. But
Speaker 1: what they're trying to get you to do is to
Speaker 1: pay them for like a starter kit. Hey you got
Speaker 1: this awesome job, but we have to mail you a
Speaker 1: computer and stuff like that, so you need to send
Speaker 1: us like seven or eight hundred bucks that's going to
Speaker 1: get this ball rolling. Well, the truth is, no legitimate
Speaker 1: employer needs money from you upfront, so be careful, especially
Speaker 1: if you're getting any text message about employment. It is
Speaker 1: almost inevitably a scam. Most employers are going to reach
Speaker 1: out via email, right It's like when the irs a
Speaker 1: going to text you either, So be careful the medium
Speaker 1: that's being used. And I think this is also just
Speaker 1: a good time out to issue a reminder that the
Speaker 1: majority of jobs come through a good old fashioned networking.
Speaker 1: It's not that online job hunting is a complete waste
Speaker 1: of time. Again, I think it can put you on
Speaker 1: the right sense, but we're still talking about eighty percent,
Speaker 1: only eighty percent of those listings being legit, and we're
Speaker 1: talking about the potential for scams as well, So don't
Speaker 1: neglect the tried and true method that has worked for decades.
Speaker 1: It really does. So much of the time come down
Speaker 1: to who you know, keeping that network active, staying in
Speaker 1: touch with people who might be consequential in your career
Speaker 1: moving forward.
Speaker 2: That's right, man, And speaking of networking reminds me a
Speaker 2: friend of the show, Jordan Harbinger, who always talks about
Speaker 2: digging the well before you need it, before.
Speaker 1: You're thirsty, man, before you're thirsty. But we've got more
Speaker 1: to get to.
Speaker 2: We're gonna talk about the direction that rents have been
Speaker 2: trending over the past year.
Speaker 1: We'll get to that and more right after this. We
Speaker 1: are back. Now it's time, as always, to get to
Speaker 1: the ludicrous headline of the week. This one comes from
Speaker 1: the Washington Post and WAPO. Yeah. Listener Kathy posted this
Speaker 1: in not a fancy neighborhood, it's a media organization that
Speaker 1: sound like a fast neighborhood. Listener Kathy posted this in
Speaker 1: the how to Money Facebook group, and if you're not
Speaker 1: a member of the how to Money Facebook group, go
Speaker 1: check it out because twelve thousand plus members helping each
Speaker 1: other out with their personal finances. But the title of
Speaker 1: this article was toys are a scam gets right to
Speaker 1: the point. And maybe we're saying this too late now,
Speaker 1: like that kind of headlight. Maybe we're covering this after
Speaker 1: the fact, because Christmas was, after all, about a month ago. Well,
Speaker 1: I will say.
Speaker 2: We talked we had a similar story to this prior
Speaker 2: to like leading up to Christmas. We're giving folks awarding,
Speaker 2: like give them a little heads up.
Speaker 1: This is a news to us well, and you and
Speaker 1: I we talked about like some of the changes we
Speaker 1: were making to what we were buying our kids this
Speaker 1: Christmas because of the toy overload. Right, but the gist
Speaker 1: of this article is that kids ask for toys, we
Speaker 1: buy them, and then those toys don't get played with
Speaker 1: very much. Classic and the author they actually make a
Speaker 1: distinction which I appreciated, between like bikes and games and
Speaker 1: art supplies versus basically all the other toys out there.
Speaker 1: And I think even my kids got obsessed for a
Speaker 1: minute with those surprise toys. It was like a little
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just plastic crap and then they're they're
Speaker 1: inside of like a ball or whatever, and you open
Speaker 1: it up and you have no idea what's going to
Speaker 1: be inside, but it's one of like four different things.
Speaker 1: It's like a puppy dog, stuffed animal or something like that. Right,
Speaker 1: when do you buy these toys? Uh? Target, I guess, Okay,
Speaker 1: my parents got some of these for of them they
Speaker 1: kind of fed into the It's more about the thrill
Speaker 1: of the hunt, right, yeah, exactly, as opposed to like
Speaker 1: that thing gets tossed aside, it's played with again. So
Speaker 1: I've been there as a parent, and as much as
Speaker 1: my kids don't want to hear it, I think there
Speaker 1: is a lot of truth to the claim that toys
Speaker 1: are a scam. I think the authors onto something here.
Speaker 1: My kids have too many toys, and some they play
Speaker 1: with religiously, but others get used rarely, if ever. And
Speaker 1: I bet I think actually now is the time to
Speaker 1: talk about this because my guess is that every parent
Speaker 1: out there can see this clearly. Right now, Matt, We've
Speaker 1: got a delivery of a big bookshelf the other day.
Speaker 1: Oh and do you know how many hours my kids
Speaker 1: played with the cardboard dude that that the bookshelf came in.
Speaker 1: It's classic. It's it's amazing. Yeah, Like it's almost like
Speaker 1: a meme from the nineties or something like that, but
Speaker 1: like it's so true the fact that even the toys
Speaker 1: that they receive often it's like, oh, what can we
Speaker 1: do with this box?
Speaker 2: Or oh the bubble rap, Like the amount of time
Speaker 2: my kids play popping the little bubble wrap, which honestly
Speaker 2: is rare and rare now because normally now it's just
Speaker 2: like the big air pockets yeah, which sounds like a
Speaker 2: shotgun going off inside the house, versus like the little yeah,
Speaker 2: the small ones. But I think a solution could be
Speaker 2: it's obviously hard to get your kids to want less stuff,
Speaker 2: but I do think that the ads that they see
Speaker 2: certainly is going to influence what they want. Like, we
Speaker 2: are all in a better place now, I think than
Speaker 2: we were when cable was dominant, Like do you remember
Speaker 2: the constant stream of toy ads when we were kids?
Speaker 1: My parents remember it.
Speaker 2: How would I have ever known about Hungry Hungry hippos
Speaker 2: if I hadn't seen those kids playing with it on
Speaker 2: the TV.
Speaker 1: There are fortunately fewer.
Speaker 2: Commercials on streaming, and oftentimes it's not for kids toys.
Speaker 2: It's like for perfume. And we talked about this, how
Speaker 2: I like change my tune on going with the lower
Speaker 2: cost streaming plan. Letting like the ability to expose them
Speaker 2: to advertising something to inoculate them, and for that to
Speaker 2: be a launching off point for us to have these conversations.
Speaker 2: And I love too that it's not toys because that
Speaker 2: would honestly be a little bit trickier, as opposed to
Speaker 2: ads that they think are terrible and that they think
Speaker 2: are so dumb, Like when the perfume and the colonna
Speaker 2: ads come on, they like roll their eyes, they make
Speaker 2: barfing noises.
Speaker 1: They are the worst. They're the worst.
Speaker 2: It's like Katie Perry on Mars or something. They're confused
Speaker 2: because they're like, well, how does that? How's that supposed
Speaker 2: to sell a perfume? And it's like, well, you can't
Speaker 2: show a smell, and so they what they're trying to do.
Speaker 1: Is show you that this is creative feeling. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: could be this cool or this is the kind of
Speaker 1: life that you could.
Speaker 2: You would have this many friends and you'd be dancing
Speaker 2: at night and driving in this car, running along this
Speaker 2: beach with the moon. You know, all the things that
Speaker 2: they show. And it's a great way for us to
Speaker 2: have these kind of conversations. But I totally agree it's
Speaker 2: the things that spur creativity in additional things, as opposed
Speaker 2: to the toys being an end in and of themselves.
Speaker 2: Like it makes me think of our my youngest, my son,
Speaker 2: you know what his favorite thing to do is, like
Speaker 2: right now, it's freezing outside, and so we've been reading
Speaker 2: a lot of books. But aside from that, like when
Speaker 2: we go outside, what he loves to do is find
Speaker 2: scraps of wood that the builders, that the framers have
Speaker 2: left all around the house, and he takes those pieces
Speaker 2: of wood. He's got a little wittedly knife and he
Speaker 2: carves them into swords. So he's got the secret stash
Speaker 2: of wooden swords and neighbors daggers.
Speaker 1: Knives and you know what he wants.
Speaker 2: He doesn't want toy see whatts me to like join
Speaker 2: him in this creative world that he's created, Like that
Speaker 2: is so much fun.
Speaker 1: He's not playing with half the stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that we would have gotten for him at Christmas,
Speaker 2: but we actually didn't because we scaled back because we
Speaker 2: did have this conversation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, at a.
Speaker 2: Time when we're like, hey, we're gonna do the switch,
Speaker 2: the Nintendo switch.
Speaker 1: Yes, well, and that's why we talked about this beforehand.
Speaker 1: But it's it's actually worked out really well. Like the
Speaker 1: you and I both got a Nintendo switch for the kids,
Speaker 1: and now they've announced that Nintendo switch too, and I'm
Speaker 1: totally fine with the fact that we'll have the one
Speaker 1: for many years and not be upgrading.
Speaker 2: Well, I think we also knew that it was coming,
Speaker 2: which is why they were on sale. It's a bundle
Speaker 2: with Mario kard.
Speaker 1: Eight, you know well, and that has been kind of
Speaker 1: a fun way to do things together as a family
Speaker 1: to play. It's almost like a board game, a digital
Speaker 1: version of a board game totally, and so it's better
Speaker 1: than watching TV, I think. But we also did that
Speaker 1: in an attempt to not just add a bunch of
Speaker 1: random crap to our to our households, and so the one,
Speaker 1: the bigger present made a big, big difference in you
Speaker 1: in second splash, Yeah, you guys got aerial silks for
Speaker 1: your daughter Evy recently, and you guys have been they've
Speaker 1: been playing on that stuff that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, dude, Well here's what's awesome as well. Talk about
Speaker 2: the teaching kids the value of a dollar. We didn't
Speaker 2: buy that for them. The kids all chipped in together,
Speaker 2: oh really, and we said, hey, you know, by the
Speaker 2: time Christmas rolls around, this is something that we consider
Speaker 2: buying for y'all. But they they wanted it now, and
Speaker 2: so they all they got together and conspired. They didn't conspire,
Speaker 2: but they're like, hey, okay, I'm willing to put this
Speaker 2: much towards it. And so I don't think Westy, I
Speaker 2: don't think he contributed any money.
Speaker 1: But the girls, they all pitched in. I mean he
Speaker 1: doesn't get to use him. Uh, he actually doesn't use him.
Speaker 1: He's not as interested.
Speaker 2: He's like, I don't understand why these pieces of cloth
Speaker 2: hanging from the bailing, why that's.
Speaker 1: So much fun.
Speaker 2: But yeah, when your girls came over, man, they played
Speaker 2: on it for hours, literally for hours.
Speaker 1: It's so much fun.
Speaker 2: And again, it leads to other activity and it just
Speaker 2: leads to a healthier kind of lifestyle as well, you know,
Speaker 2: just like y'all with rock climbing, Like y'all have gotten
Speaker 2: into that more like it's something that leads to something else,
Speaker 2: additional skills, the building of strength and character, you know,
Speaker 2: like all these awesome sort of side effects as opposed
Speaker 2: to just like vegging out and playing.
Speaker 1: With a toy. Yeah. And I think maybe as a society,
Speaker 1: we've kind of made it seem like, oh, you show
Speaker 1: your kids that you love them if you buy them
Speaker 1: plastic stuff. I think it's important for us to push
Speaker 1: back on that. And it's I think it's really important
Speaker 1: to have a well conceived family approach to toy accumulation right,
Speaker 1: and to communicate that in a kind and understandable way
Speaker 1: to your kids so that when the topic comes up,
Speaker 1: they understand because they might see that catalog in the mail,
Speaker 1: point to it, circle stuff in it, and be like,
Speaker 1: I want this giant piece of plastic. And it's not
Speaker 1: that you will never buy them a toy ever, but
Speaker 1: I think kind of having an ethos about how much
Speaker 1: you do allow into your house. One it could save
Speaker 1: you money, but two it can like prevent you from
Speaker 1: pulling your hair out because that stuff gets literally all
Speaker 1: over the floor too.
Speaker 2: Totally okay, Kiosks, Joel, They are becoming the norm for
Speaker 2: ordering food, at least at some fast food chains. I'm
Speaker 2: thinking of McDonald's in particular, Shake Shack. They're actually leaning
Speaker 2: into Kiosk as well. But interestingly enough, it turns out
Speaker 2: it's not about reducing employee headcount in order.
Speaker 1: To save on labor costs.
Speaker 2: All.
Speaker 1: That's the knee jerk reaction people have. It's like, Oh,
Speaker 1: they're just trying to cut cutstaff.
Speaker 2: We're gonna yeah, it's all about the mechanization and robots everywhere. No,
Speaker 2: these restaurants they seem to be keeping all their employees,
Speaker 2: they're just redirecting them to other tasks. The reason that
Speaker 2: the kiosk and the screens are all there is because
Speaker 2: it's about selling you more food. CNN they highlighted the
Speaker 2: upselling that's occurring at these kiosks, and you got you know,
Speaker 2: maybe a minimum wage worker, that person there brand new
Speaker 2: on the job. They might forget to ask you to
Speaker 2: supersize your meal. But guess what, especially if it's a
Speaker 2: long line. That's true a computer, it never forgets. Which
Speaker 2: it kind of surprises me because you think I would
Speaker 2: think a smiling face and get interaction with a guest
Speaker 2: there at the store that might lead to me maybe
Speaker 2: supersizing it. But I guess again, maybe the problem is
Speaker 2: is you got folks you don't care whether or not
Speaker 2: you supersize it. Right, they're just there earning a paycheck,
Speaker 2: and there's a lot of money to be made when
Speaker 2: it comes to some of that upselling that takes place.
Speaker 1: We're not living in those Morgan's Purlock Supersize met days anymore. Matt,
Speaker 1: that still was like the game changing documentary of our time,
Speaker 1: I feel like, but he would go to a lot
Speaker 1: of restaurants and they didn't ask him to supersize.
Speaker 2: Really, the whole documentary was erroneous because of the fact
Speaker 2: that it came out after the fact that he was an.
Speaker 1: Alcoholic when he went into the doctor and he's just like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, the toll this has taken on your
Speaker 1: liver and turns out he was like, could have been
Speaker 1: the fifteen Gen and Tonics that's doing that. Yeah, that's right. Well,
Speaker 1: I don't really like those kioski there. I feel like
Speaker 1: they are always takes me a minute to navigate to
Speaker 1: what I'm trying to get. I would rather i'm a
Speaker 1: ult school matter rather order with the actual human being.
Speaker 1: It's just becoming less regular at some of these restaurants.
Speaker 1: But hey, I'm not really going to McDonald's anyway. So,
Speaker 1: but just a word to the wise else out there,
Speaker 1: don't let the computer make you spend more money. While
Speaker 1: we're talking about food and spending money, Americans are tipping
Speaker 1: less than they have in recent years. Prices have yes
Speaker 1: risen significantly, particularly at restaurants, and folks are being less
Speaker 1: generous with their servers because of it, Like as the
Speaker 1: price tag goes up on their meal at whatever, restaurant
Speaker 1: they're eating at. They're saying, hmm, I just don't feel
Speaker 1: like I can tip as much because of that. And
Speaker 1: it's true, yes, eating out is quite expensive. When you
Speaker 1: look at the inflation charts, it's become far more expensive
Speaker 1: than eating out at home. Like the rate of inflation
Speaker 1: on food at the grocery store versus food at restaurants
Speaker 1: has grown, right, so that the prices are climbing faster
Speaker 1: essentially at when you eat out, and that can be frustrating, Right, Matt,
Speaker 1: I think I would personally opt for the European model
Speaker 1: if given a choice, I think you would. I think
Speaker 1: you prefer the tipping model.
Speaker 2: That's a right, Yeah, don't really haven't opinion right now? Okay,
Speaker 2: well it's it's also gotten you want to take the
Speaker 2: Steve Bizemi. Yes, well, it's also it's and more confusing
Speaker 2: as some restaurants have implemented mandatory fees than people are like, well,
Speaker 2: where are those fees going? Is this the tip or
Speaker 2: is this just going to the owners of the restaurant.
Speaker 2: So I think as a consumer it's become more difficult
Speaker 2: to know how much to tip because of some of
Speaker 2: those ancillary fees as well. I think it's important to
Speaker 2: ask right if you see a fee that you don't understand,
Speaker 2: and also to not take your frustration out on your
Speaker 2: server by being a bad tipper. And I think the
Speaker 2: ultimate solution for a lot of people is going to
Speaker 2: be to eat out less so that you can still
Speaker 2: tip reasonably when you do go out. Eating out less
Speaker 2: is obviously going to save you a lot of money
Speaker 2: eating more meals at home, but tipping less, yeah, it
Speaker 2: might be a way to cut down your eating out budget,
Speaker 2: but it's not a good one, that's right. Let's talk
Speaker 2: about housing, Joel. Folks say that one of the best
Speaker 2: things about owning your house as opposed to renting is
Speaker 2: that your payment it stays the same while rents continually increase.
Speaker 2: But that's only kind of true, and it's actually really
Speaker 2: it's not as true as of late. While folks who
Speaker 2: bought between let's say that rate recessions so it lu's
Speaker 2: two thousand and nine up to about twenty twenty three,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe they find themselves in a decent spot.
Speaker 2: The economics of home ownership are changing, even if you
Speaker 2: bought at a good price with a reasonable rate, and
Speaker 2: that's because insurance and taxes have been rising really quickly.
Speaker 2: Today a third of the mortgage payment goes towards those
Speaker 2: two line items, which is a record amount. And for
Speaker 2: almost ten percent of homeowners, they make up more than
Speaker 2: half of your mortgage.
Speaker 1: Pains and crazy, that's insane.
Speaker 2: It means your annual escrow notice is more frightening than
Speaker 2: ever and some homeowners are having a tough time dealing
Speaker 2: with significant payment increases. And so we bring this up
Speaker 2: to highlight that there's no silver bullet here as opposed
Speaker 2: to maybe loosening some building regulations to increase the supply,
Speaker 2: but challenge property tax increases if they are out of line.
Speaker 2: If that's something that you've seen we've mentioned own well before.
Speaker 2: More of an automated service. They take a cut of
Speaker 2: the amount that they're able to reduce your property tax increase. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but only they succeeds. So if they fail, you don't
Speaker 2: pay them. They don't pay money upfront. Shop around for
Speaker 2: your homeowners insurance and I think this used to be
Speaker 2: something that maybe was a little bit more of like
Speaker 2: a cheap guy or a frugal guy thing to do.
Speaker 2: But like self insure more, raise your your deductible so
Speaker 2: that you're not as reliant on your insurance when something
Speaker 2: happens to your house, because you're gonna save money immediately
Speaker 2: now because you're gonna see your premiums decrease when you
Speaker 2: increase your deductible. But over time, because you are less
Speaker 2: reliant on your insurance, it means you're less likely to
Speaker 2: use it, which means you're not gonna get booted, not
Speaker 2: booted off your insurance, but they're not gonna ejacuorrates up
Speaker 2: to sky high levels. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think part of the reason that we've
Speaker 1: seen increases to the extent that we have is just
Speaker 1: inflation in general, right, rising home prices, rising costs of
Speaker 1: building like that means that if something does happen in
Speaker 1: your home, the insurance going to be out more money,
Speaker 1: so hey, they've got to cover that in premium increases.
Speaker 1: But it's also natural disasters in parts of the country,
Speaker 1: and particularly thinking about places like Florida and California, But
Speaker 1: that impacts people not just in those states, but really
Speaker 1: across the country. As insurers sometimes disperse the pain a
Speaker 1: little more widely, it's become really tough out there for
Speaker 1: homeowners from an insurance expense in the last couple of
Speaker 1: years in particular, and not to go back to the
Speaker 1: well on this too much, Matt, but home ownership is
Speaker 1: often seen as the number one way to build wealth. Like,
Speaker 1: there are a lot of people out there who truly
Speaker 1: believe that owning a home is their best way to
Speaker 1: achieve the American dream and to be able to retire successfully.
Speaker 1: And when you look at the numbers, it does kind
Speaker 1: of sort of look like that, right, that owning the
Speaker 1: home is what contributes to more greater levels of financial independence.
Speaker 1: Homeowners do have a much greater net worth than renters.
Speaker 1: But it's really just not that simple, right when it
Speaker 1: comes down to it, home ownership is not the key
Speaker 1: to building wealth. Investing in general is, which, in part
Speaker 1: having a mortgage payment forces you to do. It's like,
Speaker 1: you know, it's that forced method of saving yah. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: But if you had taken the additional money and invested instead,
Speaker 1: you might have come out ahead over the years. Better
Speaker 1: investments out there, for sure. Yeah. But case in point here,
Speaker 1: I think this actually kind of highlights the fact that
Speaker 1: renting might make more sense than buying for a lot
Speaker 1: of people. Rents are actually down over the past twelve months.
Speaker 1: Most people think again. Rents go up year after year,
Speaker 1: and especially during COVID and stuff like that, it felt
Speaker 1: like rents were going up at an insane pace because
Speaker 1: they were. Well, that has not just slowed down, but
Speaker 1: rent growth is actually declining. So you might have to
Speaker 1: be able to get a better deal on the apartment
Speaker 1: or the home that you're renting next month or next year.
Speaker 1: And you know, buying can be a solid personal decision
Speaker 1: and a reasonable financial one if that's what you're into.
Speaker 1: It has provided outsize gains at certain points in time,
Speaker 1: but you got to contend with the trade offs of
Speaker 1: home ownership as well. Home maintenance, for instance, Matt averages
Speaker 1: something like five hundred dollars a month. According to Zillo,
Speaker 1: you got to contend with all the costs of home
Speaker 1: ownership before taking the plunge. Insurance, right, maintenance, taxes, all
Speaker 1: that stuff all skyrocket and quickly impacting homeowners Printing might
Speaker 1: not seem quite as bad when you take all those
Speaker 1: costs into account, and you'll have more financial flexibility and
Speaker 1: room to invest if you wait a little longer. I
Speaker 1: don't want to like dissuade everyone and say homeownership bad,
Speaker 1: don't do it, but it's just not as simple as
Speaker 1: a lot of people have made it out to be either.
Speaker 1: That's true.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you can especially get a deal if you
Speaker 2: are looking at an apartment which has seen the largest
Speaker 2: declines over the past twelve months. We've had a flurry
Speaker 2: of newsletter sign ups Joel and so we want to
Speaker 2: give a quick referral shout out to Joanna V as
Speaker 2: well as h Whitworth for recommending the how To Money
Speaker 2: newsletter to a bunch of their friends. And you can
Speaker 2: find the how to Money newsletter over at housemoney dot
Speaker 2: com for slash that's right, you guessed it newsletter. But
Speaker 2: we will see you back here on Monday with a
Speaker 2: fresh ask how to Money episode, and we hope that
Speaker 2: everyone has a fantastic weekend.
Speaker 1: Buddy.
Speaker 2: Until next time, best friends Out, Best Friends Out.
Speaker 1: The