Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt,
Speaker 1: and today we're discussing perpetual quitting, secondhand surge, and debt
Speaker 1: management plans. That's right, buddy. This is our Friday flight
Speaker 1: where we're gonna talk about some of the different stories
Speaker 1: we came across this week, specifically how they pertain to
Speaker 1: our finances. And I'll say, real quick, my voice sounds
Speaker 1: a little bit rough. You are under the weather. I
Speaker 1: got that. I think I've just got a nasty summer cold.
Speaker 1: But I will persevere and get through this episode. The
Speaker 1: podcast cannot go on without you. I cannot go solo.
Speaker 1: The show must go on. But I see a note
Speaker 1: here about a sixteen year old driver. What's out all? Okay,
Speaker 1: So my neighbor, right, my neighbor, they she just turned
Speaker 1: sixteen and she got she got a new car, not
Speaker 1: not a brand new car, but a very nice out
Speaker 1: East station Wagon, And oh yeah, dude, that's what I want.
Speaker 1: I love this Audi stations running the family and her
Speaker 1: parents both of her parents drive out East too, and
Speaker 1: so it's I just thought it was kind of funny
Speaker 1: that as I like saw her basically getting into her
Speaker 1: brain new car I was super excited for you know,
Speaker 1: obviously that's a really cool thing for a sixteen really
Speaker 1: get a car. I didn't. I bought my own first car,
Speaker 1: and I remember it costs so it was to feel
Speaker 1: in this Audi Wagon, even used. I'm guessing it costs
Speaker 1: a little more than a few thousands. Her car is
Speaker 1: nicer than the one car that we own as a family,
Speaker 1: and I just think it's funny and exactly. I just
Speaker 1: want to say, though, I think some people might see
Speaker 1: that and they might get bummed out. For me, I
Speaker 1: wear that as a badge of honor. I'm like, that's great, because, yeah,
Speaker 1: it just reinforces the fact that we are spending very
Speaker 1: little money on vehicles. We embraced the ugly we exactly,
Speaker 1: and if you embrace it, then it puts a whole
Speaker 1: different spin on things. I think sometimes it's easy to
Speaker 1: see people getting things and you're like, oh, but I
Speaker 1: kind of want that, And if you're like, if you
Speaker 1: know what you want, it makes seeing other people get things,
Speaker 1: it makes it less less jealousy inducing. And so um, yeah,
Speaker 1: congrats to my sixteen year old neighbor in her new car.
Speaker 1: And uh, she listened to the show I don't think so,
Speaker 1: not that I know of. But yeah, it's one of
Speaker 1: those things I don't need to listen to that show
Speaker 1: mom and dad taking care of me. Maybe someday, though,
Speaker 1: when those mom and Dad dollars run out, you'll need
Speaker 1: to test. But all right, well we'll move on and
Speaker 1: I get to the sampling of stories we found this week.
Speaker 1: It is our Friday flight. Let's hope Matt can make
Speaker 1: it the whole way through without heeling over. Oh I
Speaker 1: got this, okay, all right. The first thing, the first
Speaker 1: story we want to talk about, it has to do
Speaker 1: with employment, and it's about people quitting their jobs obviously,
Speaker 1: with the Great Resignation is what it's been titled over
Speaker 1: the past eighteen months, people leaving their jobs, finding new ones,
Speaker 1: getting paid more, which in a lot of respects is great.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing. Folks who moved on to a
Speaker 1: new job last year are actively looking for something else again. Again. Yes,
Speaker 1: they're like, got that new job, not want the new
Speaker 1: new job. Like, hey, I think you're making this a
Speaker 1: habit exactly. And I think this shouldn't come as a
Speaker 1: surprise necessarily, because there are still two jobs out there
Speaker 1: for every job seeker. So it's a very strong job
Speaker 1: market for those who are looking for employment, and depending
Speaker 1: on what position you're in, there might be headhunters reaching
Speaker 1: out to you saying, hey, we got another job and
Speaker 1: you get paid more. And I get how it can
Speaker 1: be hard to resist. But for those folks who made
Speaker 1: the switch last year, either the grass wasn't as green
Speaker 1: as it looked on the other side, maybe they don't
Speaker 1: like their job as much as they thought, or they're
Speaker 1: looking to boost their income in a big way again.
Speaker 1: And I get that impulse, but I think it's important
Speaker 1: Matt to mention that increasing your income it's obviously it's
Speaker 1: easier than normal given the current state of the job market,
Speaker 1: but if you do this too much, it'll start to
Speaker 1: have a detrimental impact on your future. Like once, maybe
Speaker 1: twice is fine, but I think if you have too
Speaker 1: many jobs with less than a year on your resume,
Speaker 1: future potential employers are gonna start to see that. They're
Speaker 1: gonna start to look elsewhere. They're gonna be like, oh, wait,
Speaker 1: is this person going to bounce again? Um if they
Speaker 1: get this new job, so they're not worth the higher
Speaker 1: That's right. It is expensive to bring on and onboard
Speaker 1: new employees. Yeah, and so that's something you need to
Speaker 1: think about. You know, job hopping in order to grow
Speaker 1: your income can be really smart. But if you try
Speaker 1: to do it three or four times, if you try
Speaker 1: to kind of make a big move on the reg
Speaker 1: then this is something that ultimately, I think will come
Speaker 1: back and bite you. That's right. I wonder how many
Speaker 1: folks made that that switched last year and are now
Speaker 1: considering it because they saw how easy it was for
Speaker 1: them to do, right with with so many interviews happening online,
Speaker 1: with the ability to work from home, it's not like
Speaker 1: you have to change your commute. I think for a
Speaker 1: lot of folks the ability to switch jobs there are
Speaker 1: fewer barriers. But I agree, I think you could overdo
Speaker 1: it. It It makes me think about I never really played
Speaker 1: pinball machines, but you know, if you like, would it
Speaker 1: like tilts, if you like shaking machine or something like that. Like,
Speaker 1: I think you can do it a couple of times,
Speaker 1: but if you overdo it, then it like locks down
Speaker 1: the paddles and it's like, hey, you're trying to cheat. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that is how I view job hopping. Let's talk about
Speaker 1: thrift stores, because it looks like more Americans, they actually
Speaker 1: feel comfortable buying things second hand these days, as they
Speaker 1: should should. Yeah, a survey from thread up reveals that
Speaker 1: nine percent of Americans are willing to go all Maclamore
Speaker 1: with it and score their threads from the local thrifts.
Speaker 1: Real popular song for a while. Do people still listen
Speaker 1: to that? I don't think so, but it made its
Speaker 1: mark within our cultural sphere. But but that is up
Speaker 1: from seventy back in twenty nineteen. And I think part
Speaker 1: of the appeal for folks is that they're able to
Speaker 1: buy nicer things when they opt for a second hand
Speaker 1: items over a new one. And this is a trend
Speaker 1: that I like to see. Uh. I mean, how often
Speaker 1: do we talk about kurb alerts here on the show. Um? Frequently,
Speaker 1: we do it a lot. But we want all how
Speaker 1: the money listeners to get into that mindset of being
Speaker 1: thrilled about finding something usable on the side of the road.
Speaker 1: If you think about it, it's sort of like a game.
Speaker 1: It's actually way more fun to buy you stuff, I
Speaker 1: think as well as sort of like you said, it's
Speaker 1: that mindset shift. And if you can view your sixteen
Speaker 1: year old neighbor getting a sweet audio wagon, Uh, not
Speaker 1: necessarily as something that induces jealousy, and instead you see
Speaker 1: your powder blue Homer Honda Odyssey Van as a badge
Speaker 1: of honor. Then it completely shifts things. Uh. And obviously
Speaker 1: that the top reason that folks were willing to buy
Speaker 1: secondhand or buying used or going to thrift shops is
Speaker 1: to save money. With the higher prices that we're all experiencing,
Speaker 1: folks are are switching up their purchasing habits. And I'm
Speaker 1: really interested to see if this is a habit that
Speaker 1: sticks around, because you think back to the Great Depression
Speaker 1: era and like you had an entire generation of folks
Speaker 1: who were impacted very dramatically by this thing and throughout
Speaker 1: their entire lives, where some would say like quite miserly, right,
Speaker 1: like like an unwillingness to spend money, saving and scrimping
Speaker 1: at every turn possible. I am definitely curious to see
Speaker 1: if this is something that continues, or if, when inflation
Speaker 1: resumes it's normal levels, if we basically go back to
Speaker 1: all of our previous spending habits. It's a good question.
Speaker 1: The Great Depression certainly seared something in the minds and
Speaker 1: memories of a lot of individuals, and understandably so. It's
Speaker 1: so much so that their grandkids even talked about their
Speaker 1: grandparents handled money and how they reused it block for
Speaker 1: the rest of their lives. It changed the way they
Speaker 1: lived for in perpetuity. And I hope for some of
Speaker 1: us at least, that that, um what's going on with
Speaker 1: higher prices, with inflation, that when things do combat down,
Speaker 1: that we don't necessarily forget all of the lessons that
Speaker 1: we've learned during this time. R. Yeah, I hope that
Speaker 1: is something that we can take away from these higher prices. Right,
Speaker 1: let's talk about vacations and disconnecting for just a second.
Speaker 1: Match Like, and when I talk about vacations, I'm actually
Speaker 1: thinking about a vacation from social media. And uh, it
Speaker 1: made me. I thought about this because you're gonna quit Twitter.
Speaker 1: I'm not really on Twitter. I I will go on
Speaker 1: there a couple times a week and just see what
Speaker 1: some of my friends are up to, But for the
Speaker 1: most part, I'm not really on social media very much.
Speaker 1: But um, I guess I read this article by Cal
Speaker 1: Newport and he has wrote the book Digital Minimalism. It's
Speaker 1: a book we would recommend to everyone out there. Cal
Speaker 1: has written a lot of great books actually, but he
Speaker 1: actually just wrote a blog post about how taking a
Speaker 1: break from TikTok or Instagram or any of the social
Speaker 1: media apps, well, we'll actually make you happier and less anxious.
Speaker 1: And he cited a study that was done by the
Speaker 1: University of Bath about how taking just a one week
Speaker 1: break its significantly improves people's well being. And here's how
Speaker 1: cal summed it up. Matt he said that social media
Speaker 1: usage hurts your mental health. That's his opinion, and I'm
Speaker 1: inclined to agree with him. I think for most of
Speaker 1: our listeners, taking a week long break this summer and
Speaker 1: seeing how it makes you feel and seeing maybe whether
Speaker 1: it reduces your anxiety and helps you feel more connected
Speaker 1: to the people around you is a good idea. I
Speaker 1: think this summer is a perfect time to take seven
Speaker 1: days and just kind of experiment and see whether staying
Speaker 1: off social media for longer periods of time actually makes
Speaker 1: you feel more human. Like I said, I'm not a
Speaker 1: heavy user, but it's it does make me want to
Speaker 1: just like give it up all together for a week
Speaker 1: and just kind of see the results. So maybe I'll
Speaker 1: report back and let people know how it goes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would agree as well. I think a lot of
Speaker 1: us are sort of shaking our heads that like, yes,
Speaker 1: we know that this is a bad thing, but we
Speaker 1: kind of shrug it off and we may not necessarily
Speaker 1: be willing to actually implement it into our lives. Theoretically,
Speaker 1: we know it's a good thing, but we're not willing
Speaker 1: to actually put it into practice. Like I got to
Speaker 1: think part of it, too, Matt, is that some of
Speaker 1: us out there are addicted. Yea, truly addicted. When you
Speaker 1: look at what addiction is, many people are addicted to
Speaker 1: their smartphones. They are addicted to some of these social
Speaker 1: media apps, and so it's gonna be even harder to
Speaker 1: kind of break not just uh, what's a habit, but
Speaker 1: potentially even an addiction. Totally, yeah, I completely agree. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't say I'm addicted, but I always get caught up
Speaker 1: on my Instagram, like at the end of the day
Speaker 1: or you know, at different points in the day, I
Speaker 1: will continue to refresh until it says end of stories
Speaker 1: or whatever says I guess I'm thinking about posts. But
Speaker 1: the same is true when it comes to stories, and
Speaker 1: there is even like there's a shorter time line when
Speaker 1: it comes to stories. As well, because they're up there
Speaker 1: at the top the oald of the last for twenty
Speaker 1: four hours. I do feel a need to watch all
Speaker 1: of them before they expire because I might miss out.
Speaker 1: I have literally, by the way, never posted an Instagram
Speaker 1: story fun fact about me. But I think what you
Speaker 1: said is true, Like, we're not actually going to know
Speaker 1: the effects of stepping away from that unless we actually try.
Speaker 1: And so, with Instagram being my social media platform of choice,
Speaker 1: at some point this summer, I will also commit to
Speaker 1: doing a seven day I don't know if you want
Speaker 1: to call it a cleanse, but just like a fast
Speaker 1: removing that from my life, because for me, it's just
Speaker 1: the amount of time that it can suck out of
Speaker 1: my life, right Like you're sitting there, hit and refresh
Speaker 1: and then and now they started implementing some of the
Speaker 1: Explore features within the actual timeline, So before you know it,
Speaker 1: I'm watching some guys totally eat it on a skateboard,
Speaker 1: or I'm watching some homebuilders. The algorithm it's like fail
Speaker 1: videos or like architectural like engineering like stuff that totally
Speaker 1: fascinates me and and sucts me in. Yeah, well that's
Speaker 1: the thing. The algorithm knows us better than we know ourselves,
Speaker 1: and it sucks us in and so it's probably a
Speaker 1: good idea to create some sort of hard and fast
Speaker 1: rule and to create some sort of a detox from
Speaker 1: time to time so that you can maybe take a
Speaker 1: better measurement of how it's impacting you and whether or
Speaker 1: not you can survive without it totally. Yeah. So you know,
Speaker 1: this reminds me too that most Americans don't take all
Speaker 1: of their vacation time, and so we're recommending for you
Speaker 1: to take some time off social media, but take some
Speaker 1: actual time off from work as well, because you don't
Speaker 1: have to go somewhere expensive, you don't have to go
Speaker 1: somewhere fancy, you don't even necessarily even need to leave town.
Speaker 1: But just make sure that you're taking some steps to
Speaker 1: remove yourself from your work where you're stepping away from
Speaker 1: the screen at least for a little bit. We do
Speaker 1: believe that breaks will make us all better. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: agree to take a break from social media, but also
Speaker 1: take a break from work. And all right, let's talk
Speaker 1: about lawns for a second. Lawn care, because you know,
Speaker 1: we don't have to remind anyone that there's a severe
Speaker 1: drought occurring in large parts of the country. California is
Speaker 1: in the middle of its third year of severe drought,
Speaker 1: which has led to a bunch of water restrictions. The
Speaker 1: same is true in Texas, you know, where some reservoirs
Speaker 1: are apparently down to less than of capacity, which has
Speaker 1: led you know, a lot of utilities to implement mandatory
Speaker 1: water use restrictions. Now, we went through this in Georgia.
Speaker 1: I don't know, it felt like a decade ago, and
Speaker 1: you know, I forgot about that. That's right. We we well,
Speaker 1: the governor was urging us to take shorter showers, and
Speaker 1: and so I still it's still one of the best
Speaker 1: lines ever said to a shorter shower. Um. But while
Speaker 1: this is a bummer, if you like having a lush,
Speaker 1: green garden or lawn, you know, we're attempting to put
Speaker 1: a positive spin on this because at least you're saving money.
Speaker 1: You're not. It's a little water your lawn. It's all
Speaker 1: about the mindset, that's right, And so the cost of utilities,
Speaker 1: it's a large expense when it comes to owning a home.
Speaker 1: So we're Matt and I were really open to any
Speaker 1: tactic that gives you the option to cut your water Bill.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing. If you don't want your lawn
Speaker 1: to go brown, as everything is just dying off, maybe
Speaker 1: consider going with fake grass or synthetic turf. You know,
Speaker 1: more cities and counties are allowing it across the country,
Speaker 1: and we're seeing a lot more of it around our
Speaker 1: neighborhood as well. Matt, my friends Steve. Our friend Steve,
Speaker 1: he just redid his house and he put turf fin
Speaker 1: instead of grass and it looks great. And the great
Speaker 1: thing on top of that is no more watering, no
Speaker 1: more mowing, no more other expensive upkeep. You don't have
Speaker 1: think it out there and weed the lawn like that
Speaker 1: might have used to do. So I don't know, I
Speaker 1: think maybe maybe Steve's onto something. Maybe he's a starting
Speaker 1: a new trend. Yeah, so there aren't all positives, of course,
Speaker 1: you know, when it comes to artificial turf, because the
Speaker 1: biggest downside is that the fakes off. It's a lot
Speaker 1: more expensive than sod. Specifically, it's around ten times more pricey.
Speaker 1: But of course that one time expense is going to
Speaker 1: save you money over the years on maintenance. Uh, those
Speaker 1: costs seriously add up. And we actually came across a
Speaker 1: really in depth breakdown of the two types of lawns
Speaker 1: that will link to and it turns out that you
Speaker 1: will be able to recoup your upfront costs after about
Speaker 1: six years. And so this is something to consider if
Speaker 1: you like having that picture perfect lawn. Uh. It kind
Speaker 1: of makes me think of like solar panels. There's an
Speaker 1: upfront cost, but the benefit that you're going to be
Speaker 1: able to read from that it pays off in the
Speaker 1: long run, often times what like ten to fifteen years,
Speaker 1: and so it's even less when it comes to artificial turf.
Speaker 1: But if you don't care as much about how your
Speaker 1: yard looks, then you can consider letting your yard go
Speaker 1: to seed. Quite literally, more Americans are considering prairie style
Speaker 1: yards and are completely rethinking their laws altogether. Not only
Speaker 1: you did that right, we did, yeah, and we did
Speaker 1: it somewhat to save money, but it also allows for
Speaker 1: native plant and weeds to actually flower and bloom, which
Speaker 1: is helpful for pollinators who are looking for food after
Speaker 1: that you know, long and cold winter, and so from
Speaker 1: a pollinator standpoint, evidently this is the most important thing
Speaker 1: to consider in the month of May. There's there are
Speaker 1: some communities around the country who started this thing called
Speaker 1: no mo May, and we are actually just out of May.
Speaker 1: But the fact is that is something you can still
Speaker 1: continue to implement in allowing native natural grasses and other
Speaker 1: things to actually blossom. But of course don't forget that
Speaker 1: letting your your lawn, letting your yard go a little
Speaker 1: more natural, is going to save you money when it
Speaker 1: comes to the water that it requires as well. And
Speaker 1: plus I think it actually looks pretty good. Uh you
Speaker 1: know there there are there are ways to make it
Speaker 1: look cool as opposed to just a bunch of dandelions
Speaker 1: like sprowning up. Well, I think to water costs have
Speaker 1: gone up around the country, especially in some of the
Speaker 1: biggest cities because of droughts and water shortages, and so
Speaker 1: take it like your water bill. And if part of
Speaker 1: the reason your water bill is kind of expensive is
Speaker 1: because you're watering your lawn, cut it out and maybe
Speaker 1: you won't only save money, but you'll your lan will
Speaker 1: be more habitable for the helpful creatures out there that
Speaker 1: need it exactly. Well, We've got several other stories that
Speaker 1: we're gonna get to, including when higher education, when those
Speaker 1: advanced degrees don't actually pay off. We'll get to that
Speaker 1: story plus a few others right after this break. We
Speaker 1: are back from the break, and let's get to that
Speaker 1: ludicrous headline of the week, which is, Matt, what you
Speaker 1: just tease to talking about higher education and whether or
Speaker 1: not it is beneficial? And so this this article comes
Speaker 1: from Business Insider, and it's titled Millennials and gen's ears
Speaker 1: are getting swindled by the biggest scam in higher education? Wow,
Speaker 1: what are we gonna uncover here? This is a good story. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: this one is specifically about master's degrees. That's what they're
Speaker 1: writing about, which begs the question, our master's degrees a
Speaker 1: complete waste of time and money? Well, so much of
Speaker 1: that depends on what kind of master's degree you're getting,
Speaker 1: where you're going, and what's your marketability is after the fact.
Speaker 1: And so stats do show that folks who get a
Speaker 1: master's degree are burdened by a whole lot more debt
Speaker 1: than the average person who just comes out of school
Speaker 1: with a bachelor's degree. It's something like thirty two dollars
Speaker 1: on average versus sixty dollars on average, more than double
Speaker 1: that's right for someone who has both a bachelor and
Speaker 1: a master's degree. But here's the thing. Folks with a
Speaker 1: master's degree, they also earned about eighteen percent more than
Speaker 1: someone who only has a bachelor's degree, and that isn't
Speaker 1: necessarily true across the board though some of master's degree
Speaker 1: holders they don't see any meaningful increase in salary with
Speaker 1: that new advanced degree in hand. That would be a
Speaker 1: tough pill to swallow, Matt if you're debt just doubled
Speaker 1: and it's like your paychecks stays the same. You put
Speaker 1: in all that effort years of schooling in order to
Speaker 1: hopefully advance in your career um and be able to generate,
Speaker 1: you know, a greater income, and if that doesn't actually
Speaker 1: come to fruition, that's got to be a bummer, that's right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Master's degrees they can help you to meaningfully advantage, you know,
Speaker 1: within your career or allow you to pivot towards something
Speaker 1: completely completely different that you might enjoy more. But it's
Speaker 1: crucial to pursue higher education with your eyes wide open,
Speaker 1: because that advanced degree doesn't guarantee a higher salary, although
Speaker 1: it almost always is going to mean more debt. Advanced
Speaker 1: degrees in the arts, humanities, and theology evidently almost always
Speaker 1: have a negative return on your investment, and so keep
Speaker 1: that in mind. Don't. Like it's one thing if you're
Speaker 1: talking about lawyers and doctors and like even dennists like
Speaker 1: you're going to see a massive increase within your earning
Speaker 1: potential over the over the course of a number of years.
Speaker 1: But when it comes to some of these other degrees,
Speaker 1: you might want to think twice. And that's this doesn't
Speaker 1: necessarily mean that it's not worth it. People pursue education
Speaker 1: for more than just the ability to make more money.
Speaker 1: Although here at how the money we are often going
Speaker 1: to focus on the side of it. But if you
Speaker 1: assume that more education is always going to equal more money,
Speaker 1: that's just not true. That it is not an assumption
Speaker 1: that you want to make. Uh. And so as always
Speaker 1: we want to recommend for folks to tread lightly with
Speaker 1: student loan debt, especially if it's for a degree that
Speaker 1: puts you in a bigger financial hole without any real
Speaker 1: promise of those future returns. Yeah. Man, that's something that
Speaker 1: that Emily and I had to discuss because she is
Speaker 1: getting a master's degree right now, becoming in order to
Speaker 1: become a licensed therapist. Unfortunately, there's going to be like
Speaker 1: a pretty decent payoff between between what she was making before,
Speaker 1: although you know there were a few years where she
Speaker 1: wasn't working at all and what she's going to be
Speaker 1: able to make as a therapist. But it also provides
Speaker 1: that important level of fulfillment to to get to actually
Speaker 1: do what you want to do with your life. In
Speaker 1: her case, it's a very practical degree, right, It's not
Speaker 1: like she's getting a higher degree in like, like we said,
Speaker 1: the arts, and so now she's going to be able
Speaker 1: to appreciate the arts at a higher level. It's like,
Speaker 1: now this is literally a job in a certification that
Speaker 1: is going to allow her to practice. She's going to
Speaker 1: become an official counselor after she gets that degree. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. So there's definitely both things that you want
Speaker 1: to consider. But it's it's it's not I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people just think it's a slam dunk that
Speaker 1: getting another degree is going to inevitably, um, increase their income.
Speaker 1: But there's such a thing as being over educated, right,
Speaker 1: and sometimes the more degrees you have, it's not necessarily
Speaker 1: going to correlate to making more money. Um. But yeah,
Speaker 1: let's talk about a scam, Matt. The first second that
Speaker 1: could have actually been our ludicrous headline of the week
Speaker 1: if we had so chosen, which actually came from our
Speaker 1: local TV station here in Atlanta. And it turns out
Speaker 1: that a local guy here in town he bought about
Speaker 1: a few homes and he's paying sellers at least partially
Speaker 1: in a worthless cryptocurrency. And apparently this guy he calls
Speaker 1: himself the godfather of real estate, which I gotta say
Speaker 1: is a red flag right there, like, I don't probably
Speaker 1: want to do business with anybody who has that moniker.
Speaker 1: Let's step away from the table if that guy is
Speaker 1: sitting exactly and so yeah, what he does is he
Speaker 1: convinces unsuspecting homeowners to sell to him and to take
Speaker 1: up tot of the proceeds in what are known as traptions, uh,
Speaker 1: which if you want to know what those are, Apparently
Speaker 1: there's some basically a crap coin. They're a cryptocurrency that
Speaker 1: isn't traded on any of the major exchanges. And so
Speaker 1: once the seller saw minds on the dotted line, they
Speaker 1: are now the proud owner of some U S dollars,
Speaker 1: but also an abundance of digital coins that have little
Speaker 1: to no value that they can do actually nothing with
Speaker 1: and so is it then move on their part, Yes
Speaker 1: it is, But is it also nefarious and potentially illegal
Speaker 1: on the part of this godfather real estate, this huckster. Yes,
Speaker 1: it also is. That it's despicable and a man, I
Speaker 1: feel like it's stories like this that just kind of
Speaker 1: sour me on the crypto space in general. It's all
Speaker 1: the scams out there, It's all the people that are
Speaker 1: using a a newish technology in order to hoodwink people
Speaker 1: into giving up something of value in exchange for something
Speaker 1: that's worthless. Well, I mean, it's not that blockchain technology
Speaker 1: doesn't have some serious potential, because we feel that it does.
Speaker 1: But you know, as we've documented here that the crypto
Speaker 1: space is rife with hucksters and different scam artists out there,
Speaker 1: and so our advice would be to never take crypto
Speaker 1: assets that have questionable or dubious worth for an actual
Speaker 1: tangible asset. U S dollars are going to be a
Speaker 1: vastly better medium of exchange when you're selling anything, especially
Speaker 1: something that can command as much money as an actual
Speaker 1: home as actual real estate. We think it's a really
Speaker 1: good thing that crypto prices stuff fallen because we're seeing
Speaker 1: less watercolor conversation around the topic, which likely means dwindling
Speaker 1: interest because we're not crypto experts by by any stretch
Speaker 1: of the imagination. But we've always said and will continue
Speaker 1: to say that buying cryptocurrencies is a speculative move. You
Speaker 1: should enter into those conversations and transactions knowing that you
Speaker 1: could potentially lose it all. So don't put money at
Speaker 1: risk that you aren't willing to completely lose. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: crypto space shows promise, or at least the technology does,
Speaker 1: and and maybe we should actually have an expert on
Speaker 1: here in the near future, Matt, to talk about crypto
Speaker 1: in a little more depth. So we we've actually got
Speaker 1: someone that we're hopefully going to bring on in a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks. So yes, stay tuned for that. But
Speaker 1: let's talk about shrink flation for a second. Mat. That
Speaker 1: is not a scam, but it certainly feels like a
Speaker 1: gut punch when you're your your your favorite food items
Speaker 1: are are they shrink by let's say ten, that's happening,
Speaker 1: and it's happening in the grocery store. Clearly we've talked
Speaker 1: about that, but it's also happening at your favorite neighborhood
Speaker 1: restaurant and also a lot of the bigger chains out there,
Speaker 1: so they're they're just like signs of shrink flation and
Speaker 1: happening basically everywhere. And Bloomberg they reported that Subway is
Speaker 1: putting less meat in its wraps and sich that certain
Speaker 1: Mexican food chains are changing the kind of steak that
Speaker 1: they're using from the nicer cuts to the not so
Speaker 1: nice cuts. Okay, quick interruption. If you had the steak
Speaker 1: from Aldi ever or recently which kind, well, specifically Ribby,
Speaker 1: because Kate was there the other day, I don't think so,
Speaker 1: some well marbled Ribby and we we bought one just
Speaker 1: to try it out. Holy crap, dude, it was so good.
Speaker 1: I was blown away at the quality. So I highly
Speaker 1: recommend laying some eyes on the meat over there at
Speaker 1: least and looking at whether or not the cuts look good.
Speaker 1: And of rant, very small quick rant over. No, I
Speaker 1: mean I like a good steak. I don't eat it
Speaker 1: very often, but if all the is selling it and
Speaker 1: it's really impressed reuter. Okay, Well, other signs of trinflation
Speaker 1: that are happening to mentioned Subway, but Dominoes apparently their
Speaker 1: ten piece wings not got cut to eight and and
Speaker 1: the price stayed the same. So I don't know. A
Speaker 1: part of me thinks that's smaller portion sizes are probably
Speaker 1: a good thing for Americans in general, you know, literally
Speaker 1: speaking of that is true. Yeah, whether we're eating out
Speaker 1: or we're shopping at the grocery store. But it's a
Speaker 1: good idea. We would say to check and see if
Speaker 1: your favorite items are getting smaller, because you want to
Speaker 1: know whether or not the thing that you're paying for
Speaker 1: the cost the same is actually is actually smaller. And
Speaker 1: so one of the best ways Matt for people to
Speaker 1: be able to decipher that is to check the price
Speaker 1: per ounce And that's something I look at frequently, especially
Speaker 1: when most of the time I'm not brand loyal and
Speaker 1: so I'm just literally looking for the best deal, and
Speaker 1: price perounce really is the measurement that's going to help
Speaker 1: you out the most in that regard. Yes, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: most folks surveyed said that they would actually rather have
Speaker 1: their old portion sizes with a higher price tag attached.
Speaker 1: That's what they say. But there's a reason that that
Speaker 1: is not the tactic the businesses are taking, because what
Speaker 1: they're hoping is that you won't notice. But we want
Speaker 1: smart how the money listeners out there to pay attention
Speaker 1: because string inflation is a reality of the times that
Speaker 1: we're living in. We're not going to be able to
Speaker 1: avoid it altogether, but we want you to at least
Speaker 1: be able to recognize it use unit pricing to your advantage.
Speaker 1: And what I think this means for us as we
Speaker 1: go out to restaurants is that that we have to
Speaker 1: make some mental calculations because there are very few of
Speaker 1: us who are nerdy enough to carry around like a
Speaker 1: notepad or to have an ongoing note on our iPhone
Speaker 1: where we're jotting down the price per ounce of a
Speaker 1: particular beer or the price of a burger at our
Speaker 1: favorite restaurant. But just this being on your mind, just
Speaker 1: it being on your radar is enough, I think, to
Speaker 1: start paying attention to the prices at your local restaurants.
Speaker 1: Bottom line, we want you to be a more conscientious
Speaker 1: consumer as opposed to someone who just continues along the
Speaker 1: same behaviors without giving as much thought to the cost. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if I was, if I was going into a subway
Speaker 1: right now. Remember the whole Wendy's commercials with the old
Speaker 1: lady saying where's the beef. That's what I would be
Speaker 1: saying if I was in there, and I might even
Speaker 1: is the roast beef? Pull up that YouTube clip or something.
Speaker 1: But it's a subway. It's it's been a long time.
Speaker 1: I used to subway all the time, like in high
Speaker 1: school and college. I cannot remember the last time I
Speaker 1: stepped inside of subway. No, it's been a minute. The
Speaker 1: whole Jared thing, I think kind of ruined it for me. Well,
Speaker 1: let's not go there, let's not talk about that, but
Speaker 1: let's let's let's do talk about debt here for just
Speaker 1: a second. Map Because for how money listeners who who
Speaker 1: are in a lot of debt, who maybe feel like
Speaker 1: they're in over their head in debt, you know, we've
Speaker 1: talked about different ways that they can go about getting helped,
Speaker 1: some ways that they can go about it themselves to
Speaker 1: help fix their debt problem. It takes time, right, it
Speaker 1: doesn't happen overnight. But for other folks, there are nonprofit
Speaker 1: organizations out there who specialize in helping people for free.
Speaker 1: And the thing is, companies like Money Management International can
Speaker 1: create something that's known as a debt management plan, and
Speaker 1: you know, other folks Matt A. Lot of folks who
Speaker 1: advertise on radio and television, they might tell you to
Speaker 1: stop paying your bills, to pay them directly, and that
Speaker 1: they're going to be able to solve your debt problems
Speaker 1: for you. That's a big red flag. That is kind
Speaker 1: of like that crypto scam. It's gonna leave you, uh,
Speaker 1: screwed over a barrel. But the top nonprofit debt repayment
Speaker 1: companies they can help you by getting you into what's
Speaker 1: known as a debt management plan. And so if you
Speaker 1: want to know how much better it is than maybe
Speaker 1: even just paying off your debt as agreed over time,
Speaker 1: the Money Management International rand the numbers and they just
Speaker 1: posted those recently, and and they took an average amount
Speaker 1: of debt which was just about eighteen thousand dollars and
Speaker 1: an average a PR of And do you know how
Speaker 1: much time that would take you to pay off, Matt,
Speaker 1: I haven't run the number in my mind. I do
Speaker 1: not know one months to pay it off. And that
Speaker 1: eighteen thousand dollars in debt would cost you a total
Speaker 1: of fifty dollars over that period of time. Right, But
Speaker 1: with a debt management plan, your a p R would
Speaker 1: be closer to six percent because these nonprofit organizations are
Speaker 1: actually able to help you lower the interest rate with
Speaker 1: some of your creditors, and you'd pay that debt off
Speaker 1: not in three one months, but forty eight months, and
Speaker 1: you pay not a total of fifty nine dollars amazing,
Speaker 1: but a total of two dollars months to forty months
Speaker 1: is like the biggest thing. Like, just think about the
Speaker 1: amount of life that you have back where you don't
Speaker 1: have to worry about these payments. That's right. So I
Speaker 1: thought that was cool seeing you know, Money Management International's
Speaker 1: annual report on debt management plans and how they help people.
Speaker 1: So I don't it just this is kind of like
Speaker 1: a public service announcement if you are out there and
Speaker 1: you feel overwhelmed by debt. What Money Management International has
Speaker 1: local organizations in almost every state, but you can also
Speaker 1: just talk to someone on the phone, and so we'll
Speaker 1: put a link to their site. Um it's a dot
Speaker 1: org right in our show notes. But with so many
Speaker 1: people out there who are predatory in the debt space,
Speaker 1: this is one of those places where you can turn
Speaker 1: and get actual help and get out of debt like
Speaker 1: much quicker than you thought was possible. Yeah, and Money
Speaker 1: Management International is a specific credit counselor, but there are
Speaker 1: a number of different companies, and we'll make sure to
Speaker 1: link to NFCC, which is the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.
Speaker 1: Will have a link to their site within our show
Speaker 1: notes as well. But Joel is going to be it
Speaker 1: for this episode. I made it through without completely losing
Speaker 1: my voice. Congratulations the Lord, thank you, thank you very much.
Speaker 1: But that's gonna be it. We hope everyone has a
Speaker 1: great weekend and we will see you back here on Monday.
Speaker 1: We've got a great interview lined up with some good
Speaker 1: friends of ours who are local here to Atlanta. That's
Speaker 1: all we're gonna share for now, but you'll have to
Speaker 1: check back in here on Monday to find out who
Speaker 1: it is. We hope to see you then, So Joel,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be it for this episode until next time.
Speaker 1: Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out.