WEBVTT - Friday Flight - Erupting Equity, Apprenticeships that Pay, & Scammy Savings #636 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.080 Welcome to Had the Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt, 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:06.480 and today we're talking erupting equity, apprenticeships that pay and 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:29.520 scammy savings. That's right, man, this is a Friday Flight episode. 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:31.080 And by the way, those are only three of the 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:33.680 different stories that we're going to cover during this episode. 0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:35.599 We've had so much more, got plenty more to get 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:38.720 to during this episode. But first we are actually going 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:43.640 to discuss this feature. This specifically, it's a widget that 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:46.559 was brought to our attention by listener Mike. So he 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:48.760 was listening to our credit cards episode. This is just 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:51.040 a couple of weeks ago, and we were talking about 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:55.280 the need for credit cards to somehow keep their customers 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:58.000 more informed as to what their what they're running totals are, 0:00:58.000 --> 0:00:59.840 what their current balances are. Although what we said, that's 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:02.480 necessarily the goal of the credit card companies, but wouldn't 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:04.240 it be nice that's not what they want to do. 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:07.199 But guess what Apple? So Apple has a credit card 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:11.240 and they've got this sweet widget that allows you to 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:15.000 monitor your balance on your home screen on your stink 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:17.400 and iPhone. This is something that we were not even 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:20.960 aware of, but might pointed it out and because obviously 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:22.800 that's one of the downsides of credit cards, right, is 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:25.400 the fact that if you aren't checking your balance every day, 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:29.279 and most people aren't, you have the chance of overspending. Essentially, 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:30.360 like you're going to get to the end of the 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:32.120 billing cycle. It's not going to be until you get 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:34.400 your statement that you realize, oh crap, we actually went 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:38.360 over budget because we weren't keeping up with how we're spending. 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:41.080 So I think this has the potential to curb the 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:44.960 amounts of overspending that folks might be tempted into doing. Yeah, 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:47.400 I think it's really cool, and I'm glad that Apple 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:49.960 launch something like that for their card, because we want 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:52.040 people to kind of feel the pain of their spending, 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:54.720 and some people just naturally do. They're naturally frugal, and 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:56.960 so every I'm kind of one of those people. Anytime 0:01:57.000 --> 0:01:58.560 I spend money or my wife's like, hey, we're gonna 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:00.560 get this thing, and I'm like, do we really mute it? Though, 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:03.360 I'm like kind of panicking just a little bit, And 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:05.640 so it comes to you're spending it, then you're like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:09.160 afford it. I need it, though I'm shocking about and 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:12.679 so but it's one of those things where it's having 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:14.760 it up front and center in front of you and 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:17.440 coming face to face with how just how much money 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:20.720 you owe to the credit card company will likely reduce 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:22.520 how much you spend. So I think it's like one 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:24.919 of those behavioral things. It's going to absolutely help a 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:27.320 lot of people out well, and especially given how often 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:29.200 we check our phones, right, and so this is literally 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:31.320 a widget. It's an app that you install on your 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:33.040 phone and it's on your home screen and it shows 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:35.640 you how much you've spent. You can like do like 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:37.960 a week view or a month view, but it shows 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:40.079 you how much you spent even on individual days. Nice, 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:42.440 just in this nice little, cool little graphics. So I 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:43.960 think it's an awesome tool. And one of the cool 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:46.240 things actually about the Apple card they they give you 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:48.720 two percent cash back when you use it with Apple Pay. 0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:51.000 So an Apple Pay is accepted almost everywhere now, so 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:52.600 double click that home button, Yeah, you still get the 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:55.080 two percent, which is a great sort of catch all card. 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:56.960 So I don't know if you saw this too, but 0:02:57.120 --> 0:02:59.760 I think Capital One they are actually about too, or 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:01.799 maybe they already have released their own version of the 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:05.959 widget as well. Oh, really, so if more cards are 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:07.880 going to be jumping on this bandwagon, this is something 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:10.560 that we can totally get behind. And I'm glad to 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:13.040 see somebody like Apple, I guess, in this case setting 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:15.840 the example as to maybe how some of these banks 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:19.480 should be treating their customers, the non bank treating the 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:22.400 banks at apps. Well, it's honestly, I think it takes 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:24.840 a company like Apple sometimes to enter into its I 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:26.440 mean just think about Tesla, right, Like, you get a 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:29.080 company who is an a quote unquote outsider, and they 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:31.360 enter into a new industry, like a new space, and 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:33.519 all of a sudden, everybody else, all the old players, 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:35.760 they have to adapt. Yeah, I think we're going to 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:39.040 see that disruption. I think mentality. Yeah, that does. Yeah, 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:40.800 it's upsets the Apple cart. It changes the way other 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:44.440 people do business too, an Apple cart. Yeah, and nice, 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:46.600 So big thanks to listener Mike for letting us know 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:49.480 that that's cool and definitely good heads up for other 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:51.880 Apple card users out there. But Matt, let's get onto 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:53.920 the Friday flight. It's a quick sampling of stories we 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:56.760 found interesting this week in the realm of personal financeers 0:03:56.760 --> 0:04:00.000 a lot to cover today and over the past decade, 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:03.680 Apparently the number of registered apprenticeships has risen by sixty 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:05.640 four percent. I saw that stat and I was like, 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:07.200 just did a little like this pump in the air. 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:09.400 I was like, Wooo, this is great. And that's according 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:12.000 to the latest data from the US Department of Labor, 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:16.920 And basically, apprenticeships are becoming a more utilized alternative to 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:20.200 just a traditional college education. And this is really just 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:21.760 a great thing, and it's something that you and I 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:24.880 have championed for for years. We've had remember our episode 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:27.479 with Ken Rusk about blue collar work, and there's a 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:29.760 dearth of people willing to consider this option. We've pushed 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:34.359 everybody so hard into the colleges for everyone path, but 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:36.479 that's just not true and it's coming back to bite 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:39.360 some people. But a lot of young people are responding differently, 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:41.800 and they're saying no, I think an apprenticeship is a 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:44.640 decent alternative, whether you're working in a trade or learning 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:46.359 from a professional in the space that you want to 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:48.440 be in. That can be a great way to go 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:51.440 about building a career, right, and you can skip loads 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:54.200 of college debt and the time it takes to go 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:57.360 to college too, and start earning a solid income earlier. 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:00.400 And so it goes back to the question we've tackled 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:02.560 on the show a few times, is college still a 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:05.760 worthwhile pursuit? And the answer is always maybe, because it 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:08.080 comes down to a value proposition, right. I mean, the 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:11.159 Bureau of Labor Statistics, they say that the average college 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:13.640 graduate is going to earn a million dollars more over 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:17.159 their lifetime than their high school grad equivalent, and folks 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:19.839 with a college degree are twenty percent more likely to 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:22.080 own a home, and a massive amount of the new 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:24.720 jobs that are being created are going to college educated folks. 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:27.520 But we're also seeing the tide start to turn a 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:30.479 little bit, and especially with how much a college education 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:33.640 costs these days, it's not a slam dunk decision. And 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:35.960 the unemployment rate is lower for folks who have a 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:38.839 college education a college degree as well, and so basically, 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:41.800 if we enter into a recession, the folks, the individuals 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:45.240 with a college education are going to be impacted less severely. 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:47.480 And so basically, at the end of the day, we're 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:50.040 talking about college degree holders earning more money. They've got 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:53.120 more job security and more opportunity as well, and all 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:55.599 of these things sound like a lot of positives in 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:58.599 our book. But again, we've also seen the costs of 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:02.560 higher education rocket. I think I saw an infographic recently. 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:05.280 Tuition costs are one hundred and seventy percent higher than 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:07.480 they were twenty years ago. Like the only thing that 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:11.000 has increased in cost more than education, let me guess, oh, 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:13.640 you know, healthcare? Healthcare, which was like over two percent. 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:15.520 It's crazy. I mean, those are the top two things 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:17.719 that have gone up a lot of other things. Actually 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:19.840 in our lives, we assume everything's gotten more expensive, but 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:23.800 it's not true, like TVs gotten much more affordable, are 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:27.479 more affordable. Yeah, But I mean some folks in specific 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:29.919 fields of study, when it comes to the degrees that 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:32.719 they're pursuing, like they find it almost impossible to overcome 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:36.080 the cost of their very very expensive education. I'm thinking 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:39.080 specifically in the fields of like psychology, or if you 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:43.159 got a religion degree, or if like an art history degree. 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:46.919 These are all things that are really difficult if in particular, 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:49.640 if you want to like a private out of state college. So, 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:51.560 I don't know, we wanted to share this because while 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:55.080 opting to go to college that was rarely a bad decision. 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:58.599 Thirty years ago, there is a lot more number crunching 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:01.160 that needs to happen before you that decision these days, 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:03.920 and the story that we're referencing, they talked about how 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:06.240 a lot of different companies they're they're highlighting the fact 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:08.800 that there is a labor shortage. There just are not 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:11.679 enough workers, and so many of them are essentially providing 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:13.960 that on the job training. And what's so great about 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:16.440 that is, I mean you literally are earning a solid 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:18.800 income right out of school, like right out of high school. 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:20.800 And what this made me think of was just being 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:23.640 flexible with what jobs you might want to pursue it 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:25.240 or like what career path you want to take it. 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:28.160 It makes me think of travel and the most affordable 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:31.000 way to score like the cheapest airfare is well, look 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:33.680 for the deals, look for the opportunity, go to look 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:35.720 for those deals, find that opportunity, let the deal drive 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:37.760 the destination, and then you convince yourself, you know, you know, 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:39.520 convince yourself, but you're like, all right, what could we 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:41.480 do when we were we to go to this country? 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:43.200 And in a similar way, I think this is a 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:46.600 bigger decision obviously obviously than just a vacation, but see 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:47.880 what kind of training they're going to be able to 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:51.320 provide you and you're essentially receiving a free education. Maybe 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:53.280 that works out for a while, maybe it doesn't, But 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:55.480 during that period of time you can then look to 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:59.480 potentially other employers who might then be offering to cover 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:01.400 the cost of a higher education that the cost of 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:04.360 a bachelor's degree. In that case, I think it just 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:07.600 pays to be flexible and to consider everything should be 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:09.920 open for consideration when it comes to a job. Well, 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:11.880 and the folks who end up in the worst position 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:14.200 possible are the folks who went to college for a 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:16.400 year or two or three but didn't end up getting 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:18.120 that three And so there's a lot of people in 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:20.840 that boat too, hold the downside without any upside. Yeah, 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:23.800 And I think those are people who, in many, many 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:26.640 times we're pushed into a college degree is the way 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:29.800 you need to go. They've been indoctrinated when the reality 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:33.640 is getting an apprenticeship or taking that entrepreneurial approach from 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:35.920 an early age might have been better than racking up 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:38.720 college debt without anything to show for it. Which on 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:40.839 that nomat let's talk about student loan debt for a second. 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:42.880 How bad is it? It's really bad. I think we've 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:44.320 found that for a long time where we're still something 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:47.440 like one point seven trillion dollars an outstanding student loan debt, 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:49.760 but more than more than half of the folks in 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:53.280 a recent survey said that their loan payments being paused 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:57.600 are basically a necessity for them to be able to 0:08:57.600 --> 0:09:00.560 remain financially stable. That's a survey that canut from Credit 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:03.160 Harma this week, and basically what they're saying is when 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:08.000 payments resume, I'm screwed, which to me is just it's 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:10.640 hard to fathom that we've had payments paused for this long, 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:14.000 just basically a line item removed from people's budgets, and 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:17.040 folks are saying, like, I still now that that's been 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:19.199 gone for this long, I don't know how I'm going 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:22.640 to approach it when that eventually does come back into 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:24.720 my life. People are just getting they've gotten used to 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:27.000 not having the payment. Yeah, And the longer we continue 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:29.120 to go down this path, which could continue for many 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:30.880 months to come, the harder it's going to be for 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:33.000 these folks to face down that payment again. And so 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:34.920 I get why people are saying this. I think what 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:36.320 a lot of people are saying is like really, like 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:38.880 I just don't want my student loan to resume, which 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:42.000 I get. Like if I had that opportunity to not 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:44.280 pay my mortgage or wave away a certain debt in 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:46.120 my life, like I would, I would probably take it 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:48.640 if I had some sort of magical ability. But I 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:51.960 do want our listeners at least to prepare for the 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:54.760 reality the student loans are going to resume at some point. Totally. 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:56.640 It kind of makes me think of like the snooze 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:59.120 button on an alarm. Yeah, you're thinking, oh, I could 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:01.880 not ever wake up without us snooze button. Well guess 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:04.320 what what if snooze buttons didn't exist, Well, you just 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:06.880 get up, Yeah, Like like your learn would go off 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:08.680 and that would be your single that it's time to 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:11.440 wake up. But because the snooze button exists, you know, 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:14.520 we can't imagine life without it. It's it's like Parkinson's law, 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:17.560 like you will take up all the time necessary or 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:19.760 all the time that you are given in order to 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:22.079 complete a job. Right, It's like that, except for with money. 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:25.360 And so we've just absorbed that those dollars that folks 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:27.120 aren't putting towards our student loans, and there and it 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:30.240 is going towards their monthly expenses, right, Like, maybe they 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:34.360 only had twelve hundred dollars worth of expendable income before 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:36.920 and now they've got fifteen hundred, and they're thinking, well, yeah, 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:38.920 I'm gonna I'm gonna find a way to spend that 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:41.520 that extra three hundred bucks a month. Yeah, it's incredibly 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:44.440 easy for us to justify our spending when we don't 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:46.840 have other goals. And so that's why it's so important 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:48.880 for us to have a plan, because I mean, we 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:51.079 don't obviously, we don't want most folks with student loan 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:52.959 debt right now paying that you know, paying down their 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:56.240 debt while this pauses in place Like this is that's 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:58.480 the policy currently, and we want you to be able 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:01.199 to utilize the rules and the policy and the laws 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:03.080 in order for you to get ahead the most with 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:05.160 your money. But we do want you to use the 0:11:05.200 --> 0:11:07.880 dollars that you would be spending to make other personal 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:11.640 finance progress, right Like, don't just absorb and incorporate those 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:13.880 dollars into your spending. We want you to pay off 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:15.360 those other debts. We want you to build up your 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:18.800 savings or even invest more of that money for your future. 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:21.320 You've still got some time to get prepared for those 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:23.360 payments to resume. We don't want you to waste this 0:11:23.440 --> 0:11:27.200 time versus being able to completely hit the ground running 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:30.040 once those payments fire back up. Yeah, and again we 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:32.200 don't know when they're going to fire back up. Will 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:34.640 that remains to be seen. We'll let you know, kind 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:38.400 of like as that news comes out, as so much 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:40.720 has to do with the Supreme Court decision right now 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:44.440 on that partial loan forgiveness. But yeah, there are steps 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:47.320 you can take to be to start getting prepared right now. 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:49.240 The fact that half of people are like I'd be 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:51.480 up to creek without a paddle, that's just that's scary news. 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:54.319 I hate seeing that. But let's talk about e bikes, 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:56.320 Matt for a second. That's one of my favorite topics. 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:58.360 And ebikes are awesome. We haven't talked about in a while, 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:00.880 but I saw we haven't talked about Yeah ebikes or 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:04.040 traditional biking. Yeah, and eat trad bikes. I like both. 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:07.640 I like both. I'm an equal opportunity bike employer over here. 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:10.640 I'm a trad guy personally, Yes you are, well, I 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:14.040 rode my trad bike today. But Ribban, who makes a 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:17.280 bunch of awesome electric trucks and SUVs. Well a couple 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:20.480 they apparently want to electrify everything, and they announced that 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:22.800 they're working on an ebike, which I thought was really cool, 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:26.520 super cool, although if they're priced anything like their trucks are, 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:29.000 I probably won't be able to afford it. They're probably 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:31.240 gonna be really expensive, but they're also going to look 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:33.719 really cool. I'm sure. I'm yeah, I'm guessing there. Well, 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:36.160 I saw that there's a chance that it's not an 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:40.760 actual bicycle but a motorcycle man, which I could totally 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:43.560 I could see myself getting on in e motorcy. Yeah, 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:45.120 I think so if my wife would let me, I 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:47.880 would wouldn't be awesome If they decided to start making 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:51.079 those electric motorcycles in the plant or in the factory 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:52.719 that's going to be opening up here in Atlanta, that 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:54.240 would be awesome. Well, so I just I guess I 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:56.120 just want to push people don't necessarily hold out for 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:57.320 the Ribby and e bike. You might be a little 0:12:57.320 --> 0:12:59.079 too expensive, but a lot of other e bikes are 0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:02.079 are pretty inexpensive, and they're going to save you a 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:03.280 lot of money. If it means you're going to be 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:05.160 in your car less and one of our list verse 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:07.839 he sent us in an email about ebikes in Denver, 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:09.959 and there's like government subsidies that have been put in 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:13.080 place to spur adoption and Bloomberg actually they had an 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:16.240 article about how successful that incentive program has been. The 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:19.160 subsidies are are pretty big. It's like four hundred bucks 0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:21.560 off a new regular ebike and nine hundred bucks off 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:25.360 a cargo ebike, which just makes them ridiculously affordable. If 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:27.680 that's the case. And so yeah, if you're buying like 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:30.560 a fairly basic one, not one of the fancy soon 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:33.240 to be ribbian ones, you can probably snag it for 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:35.280 like a few hundred bucks, which isn't bad. And if 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:36.360 he gets you out there on the bike, if he 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:38.440 get you out there on the trails means more exercise. 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:40.440 It also means using your car less. I think this 0:13:40.520 --> 0:13:42.600 is like a win win win. Yeah, And obviously this 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:44.959 is going to cost the city of Denver a decent 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:48.200 chunk of money over time. However, it could have a 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:52.160 significant positive downstream effects. Like it's not just that more 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:53.960 folks are going to be getting the ebikes you know 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:56.800 who otherwise might not have, which is great, but the 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:00.199 city just overall is experiencing a ripple effect of more 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:03.960 bikes on the road. There's more advocacy happening in order 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:07.320 to create more bike lanes, which benefit all bikers out there. 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:09.120 And some of my guess is that this program's not 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:12.120 only going to change how folks get around in the 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:14.800 Mile High High City, but it's gonna change the city 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:16.599 itself for the better. Right, Like, not only is it 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:18.440 gonna it's going to improve the quality of life for 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:20.360 those who live there, They're going to be healthier, those 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:22.600 folks are going to be spending less money on the 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:25.160 cost of transportation. But not to mention like this is 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:28.200 a this is a greener alternative than driving around and 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:32.560 very heavy expensive vehicles. Yeah, and some like For instance, 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:36.080 in California, some cities already have incentives as well, but 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:39.080 I think the whole state of California is adopting incentives 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:42.400 to spurt ebike adoption as well. They make cities better 0:14:42.400 --> 0:14:44.520 and they make people healthier. So the more we all 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:46.240 get on our bikes, I think it's a good thing. 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:48.440 All right, let's quickly touch on something else before the 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:51.720 break here, Matt, babysitting rates just came out and they've 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:54.640 apparently risen ten percent over the past year. Baby sitting 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:55.800 in a chief. I was like, literally over at a 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:58.040 friend's house the other day and there they have a daughter. 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:00.560 She is in I want to say, seven, finth grade, 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:02.080 and her mom was like, oh, yeah, she'll baby sit 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:03.760 for twelve bucks an hour, and she was correct her mom. 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:05.520 She's like, now it's fifteen now, and I was like, oh, 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:08.440 my goodness, Like inflation is going up in a major 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:11.960 way even for these young middle schools. Babe, you feel 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:14.960 pretty good about the ten dollars per hour babysitter high schooler. 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:17.760 There you go, who we have? You're getting a deal weak, Yeah, 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:20.320 we are, because we also tit pretty well because the 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:22.920 national average apparently is twenty five dollars per hour. If 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:25.600 you hire a babysitter for two kids, you've got four, 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:27.760 so it's gonna be even more than that, and that 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:30.280 just that just makes a night out on the town 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:33.600 prohibitively expensive. And so I just wanted to share, Hey, yeah, 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:36.000 this this sucks, but we have a remedy that more 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:38.080 and more people should consider because you and I we 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:41.000 don't have to use babysitters all that often, but we 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:42.360 still get out there on the town. We still get 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:46.920 date nights with our partner, and it's because we do 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:49.320 date nights swaps and so you come over and watch 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:50.920 my kids once a week. I come over and watch 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:53.040 your kids once a week. We've put them to bed already, 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:54.720 so it's like the seven thirty to ten o'clock sort 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:56.920 of timeframe. But I think it's perfect. More and more 0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:59.080 people should consider this good because it's tough to get 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:01.320 out for three out your time, seventy five bucks plus 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:02.760 the price of dinner or the show or whatever we 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:05.240 want to go do it just it becomes I think 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:07.840 more people avoid date nights because of how expensive they are, 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:11.080 and specifically how expensive babysitting in So I just want 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:13.400 to encourage people. You see these numbers, but there's a 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:16.240 way to make sure you're not paying that much. Absolutely, 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:18.600 and then when you aren't going out on these date nights, 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:21.080 then your relationship suffers. Yeah. So yeah, the ability for 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:23.160 us to get out twice a month, for y'all to 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:25.120 be able to get out twice a month, well worth 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:27.960 you know, hopping over to y'all's place and sitting there 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:31.080 and reading or watching some TV, listening to a podcast, 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:33.640 which is often oftentimes what I'm doing as well. But Joel, 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:36.280 we've got several other stories that we're gonna get to. Specifically, 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:39.480 we're going to spend a minute talking about flexible spending 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:42.520 accounts and how so many Americans aren't flushing money down 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:44.000 the tour that we're going to talk about how you 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:46.440 can take advantage of that money that you have already 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:48.200 set aside. We'll get to that, plus a few other 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:59.760 stories right after this. All right, we're back. The Friday 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:02.640 flight continues. Matt, you mentioned people flushing money down the toilet. 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:04.760 Have you ever heard the song cat flushing a toilet? 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:06.640 But we've talked, we talked about it. My kids love 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:10.280 that song. It's terrible. But it was when we were 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:12.960 talking about the guy, the folks who make those songs 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:15.560 and the royalties that oh yeah, remember, I think I 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:17.520 guess crushing it just based on how many times my 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:19.840 kids will play that song. But we'll get to that 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:21.960 story about flushing money down the toilet in a second, 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:24.600 But first let's get to the ludicrous headline of the week. 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:27.240 And this one comes from the Wall Street Journal, and 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:30.399 the headline title was the cameras worked fine. Their maker 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:32.760 said they had reached the end of their life. And 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:34.760 it makes me think of actually the ludicrous headline from 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:37.359 a couple of weeks ago Matt about hp Hewlett Packard 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:40.119 remotely shutting down printers on their customers. And we're just 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:42.359 living in this day and age where it feels like 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:44.639 we don't fully own the things that we buy, which 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:47.080 is tough to stomach and it sucks. Yeah, And in 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:50.600 this case it was camera company are Low. They implemented 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:52.600