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Speaker 1: Welcome to How to Money. I'm Joel, I am Matt,

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Speaker 1: and today we're talking about miserable millionaires, more shrinkflation, and

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Speaker 1: dumb dorm insurance.

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Speaker 2: You know, it's Friday, which means it's time to go

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Speaker 2: over the news from this past week and how it

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Speaker 2: pertains to your personal finances. But before we get to

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Speaker 2: the actual headlines, Joel, let's kick it off with a

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Speaker 2: quick tip in the pursuit of excellence and the ability

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Speaker 2: for How to Money listeners to save more money. You

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Speaker 2: and I have we're doing a little bit of self

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Speaker 2: experimentation and we're trying out some new cell phone service. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: a new cell phone carrier called US Mobile. So they've been.

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Speaker 1: Around for a minute, we just haven't really talked about them,

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Speaker 1: but it seems like their product, their service, and their

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Speaker 1: price points gotten better. So you and I we're like,

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Speaker 1: let's be guinea pigs.

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Speaker 2: Have they revamped what they what they were offering because

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Speaker 2: they weren't really on my radar up until I think

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Speaker 2: they have, So I think they've They look like that

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Speaker 2: they're kind of like an old school and VN O

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Speaker 2: really is that weird to say like an old school

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Speaker 2: because mvnas are relatively new, but like compared to Mints

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Speaker 2: like Mint. You see their site, which by the way,

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Speaker 2: we're still fans of, like Mint mobile, US mobile sites

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Speaker 2: better what yeah, oh funny. It just feels way more

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Speaker 2: like two point zero and kind of fun got the

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Speaker 2: little fox and the rocketed maneuverability.

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Speaker 1: The maneuverability isn't as good actually as the US Mobile

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Speaker 1: side ux user Yeah, user experience. But the thing people

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Speaker 1: want to know about, I guess is how much money

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Speaker 1: you can save? Why we're doing this the price, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and so the the reason we thought about switching is

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Speaker 1: because they released a couple of times. We were Emily

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Speaker 1: and I were on the five gig plan with Mint.

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Speaker 1: We were on Mint Mobile for years and Mint Mobile

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Speaker 1: still is an awesome service that you should consider still great,

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Speaker 1: but we were like, ah, man unlimited. It seems like

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Speaker 1: it's actually not much more expensive on some of the

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Speaker 1: other carriers. So we're going from potentially fifteen dollars a

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Speaker 1: month with Mint, and when we went over, we had

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Speaker 1: to pay Mint a little extra like enter twenty bucks

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Speaker 1: to reload a couple extra gigs, which got frustrating and

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Speaker 1: expensive over time.

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Speaker 2: It's more of an inconvenience honestly, like compared to the cost. Right, Like,

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Speaker 2: it's also not fun to have to pay per gig

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Speaker 2: when you go over, but it's like the hassle of

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Speaker 2: being like, oh sorry, you right out right, you got

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Speaker 2: to do something about that. Yeah, well, and that's what

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Speaker 2: you're trying to avoid is the heartache from Emily.

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Speaker 1: And then the price per gig is ridiculous at that point,

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Speaker 1: so you'd be better off to have a slightly more

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Speaker 1: expensive plan every single month and never have to worry

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Speaker 1: about that. So US Mobile seventeen dollars and fifty cents

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Speaker 1: a month for unlimited everything. Yes, they're read the details

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Speaker 1: about when you get throttled after using a certain amount

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Speaker 1: of data, stuff like that, but I was like, it's

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Speaker 1: worth a shot. And the cool thing is, I think

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Speaker 1: Mint has a free seven day trial. US Mobile has

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Speaker 1: a free thirty day trial.

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Speaker 2: It's really stinking cool. So I've been doing that.

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Speaker 1: Emily and I have been doing that, and we've basically

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Speaker 1: noticed and I think this is actually the most ringing

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Speaker 1: endorsement you can give, no discernible change.

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Speaker 2: It works just the same. Okay. So one of the

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Speaker 2: benefits of US Mobile is the fact that you can

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Speaker 2: choose from two different networks. What network did you choose?

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Speaker 2: Are y'all doing?

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Speaker 1: Oh?

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Speaker 2: I forget what it was called.

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Speaker 1: There's two different not the Warp one, not the dark

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Speaker 1: Oh really? Yeah, so because I heard is different than

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Speaker 1: the dark Star. Oh dark okay, So I did Warp,

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Speaker 1: not Dark Stars. So dark Star okay. Dark Star apparently

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Speaker 1: runs on AT and t's network, so US Mobile has

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Speaker 1: multiple networks they do this, which is how Star Wars

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Speaker 1: rylokin does that sound dark Star, which also makes sense

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Speaker 1: because the AT and T logo, I guess it kind

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Speaker 1: of looks like the dust Star.

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Speaker 2: Is that why they called it that? So I actually

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Speaker 2: started out because I looked at the maps, because they

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Speaker 2: got the coverage maps of both of those, and so

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Speaker 2: I knew that dark Star was AT and T. I know,

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Speaker 2: I knew that Warp was Verizon, and I looked at

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Speaker 2: the coverage map for where we live and it looked

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Speaker 2: like the AT and T map coverage map was slightly better.

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Speaker 2: And so for the past couple of weeks, I've been

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Speaker 2: doing Dark Star, which I also kind of like the

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Speaker 2: fact that says dark Star up in the top corner,

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Speaker 2: which is kind of fun. But I think I've noticed

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Speaker 2: that it has not been quite as good as Mint.

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Speaker 2: So I actually switched. And this is one of the

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Speaker 2: things that makes it so great is you can literally

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Speaker 2: switch networks in the middle of a period of a

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Speaker 2: pay period because it's all through the eSIM. Your phone's

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Speaker 2: offline for like five or ten minutes or something like

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Speaker 2: that while the new eSIM gets activated, but literally, So

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Speaker 2: I switched from dark Star, which is AIGHTE and T

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Speaker 2: two WARP which is Verizon, and I have seen much

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Speaker 2: better coverage with WARP. Yeah, it's good, and that's one

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Speaker 2: of the selling points that US Mobile has is not

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Speaker 2: just the cheap service, but that, hey, we're on multiple networks,

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Speaker 2: so you can flip flop back and forth if you

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Speaker 2: need to. So just let you guys know where. Doing

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Speaker 2: this as a trial period, it's still like the early

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Speaker 2: stages of it because I have not yet hit the

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Speaker 2: ten gig limit yet to where it's they're going to

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Speaker 2: start slowing it down. That area. The only downside and

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Speaker 2: the only thing to kind of watch out for.

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Speaker 1: Still better than the five gigs for fifteen I was getting.

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Speaker 1: Now get a minimum ten gigs for seventeen fifty and

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Speaker 1: technically unlimited, but I don't know how slow it is.

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Speaker 2: You want to hear my last little tip then, because

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Speaker 2: it's so easy. I was getting ready to switch Kate over,

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Speaker 2: and they were really not happy with the fact that

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Speaker 2: I was getting ready to drop her off too, and

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Speaker 2: so they started throwing numbers out as to like, hey, well,

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Speaker 2: what if we gave you this special and it was

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Speaker 2: better and we've been on the Phax mobile was Mint

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Speaker 2: was yeah, I'm on the phone with customer support with Mint,

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Speaker 2: and we see we don't deal with the five gig

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Speaker 2: because Kate got on me too many times of her

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Speaker 2: running out of data, and so we bumped us. We

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Speaker 2: bumped ourselves up to the fifteen gig, which means we're

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Speaker 2: paying two hundred and forty bucks for the year, which

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Speaker 2: comes out to twenty dollars a month. And the lady

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Speaker 2: I was talking to you was saying, well, looks like

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Speaker 2: there's a special deal and we can offer you the

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Speaker 2: fifteen gig for one hundred and eighty dollars, and I

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Speaker 2: was like, oh really. I was like, oh, that's that's great.

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Speaker 2: I'll keep that in mind for next time. Let's go

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Speaker 2: ahead and switch. And she's like, Okay, hang on and

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Speaker 2: she like, you hear the keyboard typing, she dropped it

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Speaker 2: down to one sixty Oh wow, one hundred and sixty bucks,

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Speaker 2: which comes out to like thirteen dollars and change. That's great,

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Speaker 2: four fifteen gig. So I actually I left her on

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Speaker 2: Mint okay, yeah, because I was like, all right, babe,

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Speaker 2: have you been happy with the coverage? She's like, yeah, totally.

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Speaker 2: And so I saw that as a way for us

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Speaker 2: to compare one of the new networks with US Mobile

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Speaker 2: to the old T Mobile network, which is what Mint uses.

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Speaker 2: And so sometimes you gotta play hard to get to

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Speaker 2: get the deal. What's so great about this, though, is

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Speaker 2: the fact that competition. You've got another player entering into

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Speaker 2: the scene. And now Ryan Reynolds has to find a

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Speaker 2: way to keep his customers and keep all the Mint

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Speaker 2: mobile users happy.

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Speaker 1: And I've even seen visible offering T Mobile customers and Mint.

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Speaker 1: Mint users count as T Mobile customers fifteen dollars a

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Speaker 1: month unlimited service for the next five years. So whoa, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean that's a commitment. That's a commitment. No, but no,

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Speaker 1: but you don't have it's not a they're guaranteeing it

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Speaker 1: for five years. You don't have to sign up. Okay,

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Speaker 1: it's not a contract.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, all right.

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Speaker 1: But so that's the cool thing is there's so much

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Speaker 1: It's amazing how in an era of inflation, what's deflationary

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Speaker 1: is self fun playing prices.

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Speaker 2: So love it.

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Speaker 1: Us Mobile going to give it a shot, and I

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Speaker 1: might even try some of these other ones, Matt, because

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Speaker 1: the price point might keep dropping. At some point, self

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Speaker 1: service is going to be like free. That's what it

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Speaker 1: feels like.

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Speaker 2: Honestly, we might get to that point because they're going

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Speaker 2: to pay you in order to get their hands on

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Speaker 2: your data. Yeah, I guess. So.

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Speaker 1: All right, let's move on, Matt. Let's get to the

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Speaker 1: Friday Flight, the sampling of stories we found interesting this week.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk about toys for a second. I don't know

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Speaker 1: if you've noticed this, Matt, I don't know. I haven't

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Speaker 1: seen any catalogs come in the mail yet. My kids,

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Speaker 1: you just wait for those.

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Speaker 2: You just wait. It'll be in the mailbox before you

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Speaker 2: know it. Come Monday, it'll be there.

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Speaker 1: They found they found the old catalog from last year

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Speaker 1: under the couch recently, and they were obsessed with it again.

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Speaker 1: I had to throw it in the trash and I did

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Speaker 1: not want them to see it. But we're starting to

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Speaker 1: see lists come out of the hot toys for this

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Speaker 1: Christmas season. Barbie is apparently back. Legos never went away,

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Speaker 1: They've always been hot. Bluey, that's another hot toy. Everybody

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Speaker 1: loves Blue. I think there were more streaming hours of

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Speaker 1: Blue than any other show. Yeah, in the US. In

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Speaker 1: addition to that, Christmas aisles are popping up everywhere at

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Speaker 1: Costco selling the Christmas trees. All the Christmas stuff is

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Speaker 1: up already. The Halloween stuff has been put away. It

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Speaker 1: feels too soon. I'm not gonna lie.

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Speaker 2: It's just rushing us along through life. I know, yeah,

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Speaker 2: I'm not a fan.

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Speaker 1: Let's uh, let's wait for the Christmas season. But I

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Speaker 1: think what this brings up a couple of things. Businesses, Yes,

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Speaker 1: are clamoring for your holiday, but I think this is

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Speaker 1: just a friendly reminder from us as I'm starting to

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Speaker 1: see this stuff pop up, start budgeting, start saving for

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Speaker 1: those purchases.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 1: Ultimately, what we're fans of is people saving throughout the

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Speaker 1: year so you're not overwhelmed. Come this season and you're like, ah, man,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna spend more than I have on hand. But Hey,

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Speaker 1: maybe you can't go back to January. You can't time

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Speaker 1: travel back to January and start saving for Christmas ahead

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Speaker 1: of time, but you can start saving now. You still

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Speaker 1: have time to kind of ramp up your savings and

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Speaker 1: so that you're not going into debt. You don't want

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Speaker 1: to find yourself, of course in January with a ridiculous

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Speaker 1: credit card bill on hand.

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Speaker 2: I know this sounds crazy, but you can start looking

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Speaker 2: ahead a little bit, so Christmas twenty twenty five. And yes,

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Speaker 2: you can't go back in time, but this is literally

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Speaker 2: why at the end of the year, Kate and we

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Speaker 2: sit down and we review our finances and we look

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Speaker 2: at the money that we spent when it comes to

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Speaker 2: Christmas presents, when it comes to birthday presents, and what

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Speaker 2: is it anniversaries as well, Like we've got a special

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Speaker 2: category that we that we spend oh in gifts like

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Speaker 2: teacher gifts, teacher appreciation, end of the year kind of

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Speaker 2: stuff that you know, when you have more kids, and

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Speaker 2: when we start having a lot more teachers as they

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Speaker 2: get into these higher grades, it really adds up. And

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Speaker 2: so the ability to start saving for that. Literally we

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Speaker 2: add all those up, we get a total amount and

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Speaker 2: then we divide that by twelve for the next year.

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Speaker 2: That way, every single month we're essentially like dollar cost average,

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Speaker 2: not dollar cost. We're just sending aside a small installment

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Speaker 2: so that we're not like you.

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Speaker 1: Said, it's a seeking fund, right like that, that's what

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Speaker 1: it's called. And you know what you're going to spend

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Speaker 1: in all likelihood, and you're you slowly but surely ahead

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Speaker 1: of time, and you know you want to spend that,

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Speaker 1: So just be prepared and to be a little bit

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Speaker 1: more proactive. Like Christmas happens every year we for some reason,

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Speaker 1: so many people always get caught up off guard and

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Speaker 1: didn't be.

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Speaker 2: A surprise as much to their financial chagrin. Yeah, so

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Speaker 2: good news is there's a bank rate survey and they

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Speaker 2: find that a third of folks are planning on spending

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Speaker 2: less this holiday season. Actually, so that's great, A solid

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Speaker 2: chunk of shopper say that they plan on starting their shopping.

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Speaker 2: Now I love both of these things, right, So again,

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Speaker 2: spreading your shopping out where you're able to hunt for

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Speaker 2: bargains on the front, then I think that can lead

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Speaker 2: to increased savings. But then the bad news, the bad

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Speaker 2: part of the survey is that nearly a third, so

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Speaker 2: it was twenty seven percent of people are planning to

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Speaker 2: go into debt for holiday spending.

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Speaker 1: They're not much like, ah, maybe they're planning on it,

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Speaker 1: They're like, literally, this is my plan.

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Speaker 2: This is how they're going to be able to afford it,

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Speaker 2: which we obviously hate. So again, I think the ability

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Speaker 2: to proactively plan for that is the way to go.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, one of the things that Amanda said on Wednesday's

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Speaker 1: episode was it's just not worth it to go into

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Speaker 1: debt to try and keep up appearances. Matt and I

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Speaker 1: think sometimes, well, the things she's spot on, I think

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Speaker 1: sometimes when it comes to Christmas, the appearance is yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm flush and I'm gonna buy everybody awesome Christmas presents,

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Speaker 1: when if you're not and you can't financially handle that,

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Speaker 1: now is the perfect time to have that conversation. It's

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Speaker 1: to set expectations. So we actually have an article about

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Speaker 1: creating a holiday budget that we'll link to in the

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Speaker 1: show notes. But also make sure you are are upfront, honest,

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Speaker 1: and having those talks with your friends and family before

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Speaker 1: or you get to Christmas Eve, because that's a recipe

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Speaker 1: for relational disaster. Having that conversation about maybe hey, let's

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Speaker 1: just buy for only the kids this year, or if

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Speaker 1: that's the financial position you find yourself in. I think

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Speaker 1: people respect that, yeah, and so yeah, just don't feel ashamed.

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Speaker 1: I guess to have that conversation to broach the topic.

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Speaker 1: And it could be something like, doesn't have to be

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Speaker 1: like all dour and sad and gray. Yeah, like there's

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Speaker 1: a way that you can do that but still make

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Speaker 1: it fun. Yeah, you just got to be a little

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Speaker 1: bit more creative. And it might not be that you're

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Speaker 1: strapped for cash. It might just be that you have

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Speaker 1: other financial goals you want to achieve. And so yeah,

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Speaker 1: you can say it like that, like, hey, listen, we're

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Speaker 1: working on this, this, and this right now, We're gonna

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Speaker 1: have to tame our Christmas spending down. Is that okay

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Speaker 1: with you guys? That's a great way to.

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Speaker 2: Start the con THO. We actually, I don't know how

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Speaker 2: folks would feel about this, but Kate and I asked

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Speaker 2: family and extended family instead of doing getting us kind

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Speaker 2: of random gifts to supply or not to supply, but

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Speaker 2: to help us to be able to purchase equipment for

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Speaker 2: the business that we're starting. At that point, in time,

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Speaker 2: and I would say most folks were on board with that,

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Speaker 2: and that was a great way for us to not

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Speaker 2: to go into debt in order to get that off

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Speaker 2: the ground. Speaking of surveys, there is a new one

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Speaker 2: from Loop that finds that more Americans are abusing return policies.

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Speaker 2: We've talked about this. Folks are they're lying about products

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Speaker 2: not showing up. They're wearing stuff and then returning it,

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Speaker 2: which is gosh, I hate that, man, that's like so

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Speaker 2: freaking tacky. Some folks are claiming that items are defective

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Speaker 2: when they weren't, all in hopes for a refund when

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Speaker 2: it actually isn't deserved. Retailers are finally starting to wise

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Speaker 2: up and they are making their return policies less generous,

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Speaker 2: which then harms honest customers who experience real issues. You're

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Speaker 2: basically ruining the party for everybody. Yeah, and so we

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Speaker 2: want folks to not be afraid to return items obviously

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Speaker 2: that aren't up to snuff. But just don't be one

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Speaker 2: of these people, please. But there is a slight silver lining,

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Speaker 2: which is that some companies and some brands, they're not

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Speaker 2: changing the overall return policy for everybody, but they are

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Speaker 2: cracking down on customers who present consistent issues. They're starting

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Speaker 2: to keep a little file on you, a little dossier.

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Speaker 2: And so if you like a company or a brand

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Speaker 2: and you want to keep shopping there, well, if you

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Speaker 2: abuse the return policies exhibiting this type of behavior, it

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Speaker 2: could lead to you not being able to do business

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Speaker 2: with them anymore.

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Speaker 1: When mister Smith, this is your eighth return this.

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Speaker 2: Month, exactly. Yeah, I think this is a much better

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Speaker 2: way to go, and it could be a way that

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Speaker 2: companies are able to maintain just higher levels of customers

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Speaker 2: serve because you don't want to burn everybody, right right.

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Speaker 1: I think that's one of the reasons for some price

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Speaker 1: inflation too, man. I think some of the companies that

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Speaker 1: offer the most generous return policies have kind of higher

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Speaker 1: prices on some of the items that they sell. So

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Speaker 1: it's one of their marketing things. And because they're saying, listen,

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Speaker 1: you can return it, no questions asked, even years down

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Speaker 1: the road, Well, you're going to pay a little more

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Speaker 1: for the item up front for that privilege, which I'm

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Speaker 1: also okay with because and you just have to remember too,

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Speaker 1: keep them oud. What is the return policy of that company?

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Speaker 1: For instance, Like we've talked about Darn Tough socks, Bambas

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Speaker 1: has something similar like one hundred percent satisfaction guarantee and

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Speaker 1: if there's holes in your socks, they'll send you new ones.

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Speaker 2: Because Bambas don't. I'm not a huge fan. You've like

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Speaker 2: Mamba's in the last, but like they're cozy when you

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Speaker 2: take them on. They have not held up at all all,

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Speaker 2: could not compared to the Darn tuffs a least send

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Speaker 2: them an email. I just did with just a couple

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Speaker 2: of mine because there's holes in them, and they send

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Speaker 2: me new socks. Bomb is dead. Yeah, nice, so interesting. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: all you gotta do.

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Speaker 1: And you don't even have to send them pictures. You

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Speaker 1: just literally say this is the order, ye I got?

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Speaker 1: I got holes of my socks.

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Speaker 2: Guys. Yeah, but I do, I mean I do.

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Speaker 1: I sent them pictures because I didn't want to be

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Speaker 1: that's I mean, coercive individuals.

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Speaker 2: I want to. I feel bad for kind of throwing

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Speaker 2: them under the bus, but that's one of the reasons.

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Speaker 2: I'm just like, they haven't really held up, Unlike like

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Speaker 2: darn toff are amazing, dude, Like truly, I'm like, are

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Speaker 2: these things ever gonna wear out.

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Speaker 1: Well, if they do, like with either one of those companies,

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Speaker 1: you can get another product return, but that is their policy.

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Speaker 1: And they charge more for the socks up front because

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Speaker 1: you can get a three dollars pair of socks or

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Speaker 1: you can get a fifteen dollars pair of socks. But

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Speaker 1: as long as there's a guarantee behind the fifteen dollars

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Speaker 1: pair of socks, I don't mind spending more because if

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Speaker 1: they do wear out, they're gonna send me another pair.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk about retirement, Matt. There's good news on the

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Speaker 1: retirement front. There are more four oh one K millionaires

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Speaker 1: than ever before these days. It doesn't I guess take

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Speaker 1: a rocket scientist to figure out that that would be

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Speaker 1: the case considering how well the stock market has been

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Speaker 1: performing recently, you know, with that we're still near all

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Speaker 1: time highs. But Fidelity reports that they house almost half

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Speaker 1: a million four to one k's that have accrued more

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Speaker 1: than a million dollars in assets. And it's not only

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Speaker 1: because the assets are growing, that's part of it, obviously,

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Speaker 1: but investing habits are getting better too, So the average

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Speaker 1: Fidelity four o one K savings rate. Matt, this is

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Speaker 1: what I zeroed in I'm like, oh, yeah, cool, half

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Speaker 1: a million millionaires with Fidelity four on ks.

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Speaker 2: That's super cool.

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Speaker 1: But the average savings rate in a Fidelity four O

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Speaker 1: one K is fourteen point two percent, which is getting

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Speaker 1: really close to our fifteen percent minimum investment amount suggestion.

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Speaker 2: It's amazing.

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Speaker 1: So that's good. That's we're celebrating. And I think this

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Speaker 1: is just a reminder too. When I saw this, I'm like, oh,

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Speaker 1: that's really cool. But slow and steady wins the race.

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Speaker 1: And I would be willing to bet that the vast

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Speaker 1: majority of those those four to one k millionaires yes,

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Speaker 1: are in their fifties and sixties. They've been getting the

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Speaker 1: match and increasing their personal contribution amount year over year,

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Speaker 1: and it just took time, but they got there. They

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Speaker 1: got to where they wanted to go. And I think

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Speaker 1: this has encouragement, especially for our listener base who is

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Speaker 1: mostly younger let's say, jen Z and millennials. If you

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Speaker 1: do the same, you're going to get there too. And

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Speaker 1: I saw this article from our friend Sam Over at

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Speaker 1: Financial Samurai. He ran the numbers Ogan Sam Dogan, and

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Speaker 1: he found that if you max your four oh one

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Speaker 1: K contribution, I'm not saying that's easy. It can be

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Speaker 1: really difficult to do that. It can take years for

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Speaker 1: you to get there.

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Speaker 2: Just to designe twenty three thousand dollars, right, that's all

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Speaker 2: about every year. It's simple.

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Speaker 1: But he basically found it's going to take you eighteen

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Speaker 1: years to get there with contribution limits set where they

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Speaker 1: are at twenty three grand. So think about that if

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Speaker 1: you were and again, really hard to do. It is simple,

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Speaker 1: it's not easy. But if you can max that four

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Speaker 1: one k out every year over eighteen years, with the

402
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Speaker 1: returns that you're going to get, I think about starting

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Speaker 1: off as a twenty two year old, you could be

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Speaker 1: a millionaire by the time you're forty Yep.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I think what that highlights is the fact that

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Speaker 2: I think for a lot of folks it seems like

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Speaker 2: something that is completely unattainable. But what he's pointing out

408
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Speaker 2: here is that no, like there is a game plan,

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Speaker 2: this is actually attainable, even though it is a tall ask.

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Speaker 1: And I think sometimes people say, oh, low and slow,

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Speaker 1: that's gonna take too long. Let me let me try

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Speaker 1: to get there faster, and that's how people get burned exactly.

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Speaker 2: They're going for that for those different get rich quick schemes.

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Speaker 2: But you'll even though there are more millionaires than ever,

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Speaker 2: only a third of folks who have a million bucks

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Speaker 2: in the retirement account think of themselves as wealthy. And

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Speaker 2: I get it right, because we've experienced inflation. Right overall

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Speaker 2: prices are twenty five percent higher than pre PAM. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: a million bucks in twenty nineteen eight the same as

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Speaker 2: a million bucks. No, having a million dollars, Like even

421
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Speaker 2: back in the nineties when we first heard about having

422
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Speaker 2: a million dollars as kids. Uh, if you had million

423
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Speaker 2: dollars back then, that was way more impressive than having

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Speaker 2: a million dollars today. But that is still a massive

425
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Speaker 2: number to hit in your wealth building journey, Like if

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Speaker 2: your net worth is more than a million dollars, like

427
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Speaker 2: you are legit wealthy and I'm incially on like a

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Speaker 2: worldwide scale, Oh my gosh. Yes. And the problem though

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Speaker 2: is that it's just it comes down to lifestyle, because

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Speaker 2: what is a million dollars if you are living on

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Speaker 2: if you're an elitist living on one of the coasts,

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Speaker 2: you know, like if you are living in and around

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00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:02,240
Speaker 2: New York City, if you're living on the West Coast

434
00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:05,080
Speaker 2: near San friand or la. Yes, that doesn't get you

435
00:18:05,119 --> 00:18:08,080
Speaker 2: as far. But there's a difference between knowing that you

436
00:18:08,119 --> 00:18:11,040
Speaker 2: want to continue to work towards saving and investing more

437
00:18:11,359 --> 00:18:15,600
Speaker 2: versus accepting the fact that oh, well I'm not actually wealthy. No, no,

438
00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:18,359
Speaker 2: truly you are wealthy. Doesn't mean that you can totally

439
00:18:18,359 --> 00:18:21,000
Speaker 2: bag work altogether. Doesn't mean that you can go around

440
00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:23,040
Speaker 2: travel around the world, or you're not working to stop

441
00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:25,720
Speaker 2: investing exactly. Yeah, No, those are still things that you

442
00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:26,119
Speaker 2: need to do.

443
00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:28,280
Speaker 1: I think it's a really good point, and we actually

444
00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:30,639
Speaker 1: have an article on our site about how to become

445
00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:35,600
Speaker 1: an IRA millionaire. Obviously, the contributions are limits are smaller

446
00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:38,040
Speaker 1: on those accounts, but you can still hit that just

447
00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:41,560
Speaker 1: under four decades if you get after it. So this

448
00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:43,320
Speaker 1: isn't the show where you're gonna learn about how to

449
00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:46,080
Speaker 1: become a millionaire overnight. If you turn into those just

450
00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:49,680
Speaker 1: be careful because you might lose your money. But it's

451
00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:52,800
Speaker 1: amazing that these tax advantaged accounts, Matt, just slow and

452
00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:56,080
Speaker 1: steady can win the race. And speaking of which, Matt

453
00:18:56,119 --> 00:18:59,040
Speaker 1: think lofty promises are out there all over the place

454
00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:02,800
Speaker 1: because they're buying into people's desire to want to build

455
00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:06,000
Speaker 1: wealth more quickly and to kind of avoid the hard

456
00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:08,960
Speaker 1: work and the time that it typically takes. Well. Investment

457
00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:11,800
Speaker 1: writer jason's Wig of The Wall Street Journal, he wrote

458
00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:16,159
Speaker 1: about some of these promises of lofty returns and how

459
00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:19,560
Speaker 1: they hoodwink people essentially into giving their money over to

460
00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:22,159
Speaker 1: companies that might not have your best interest at heart.

461
00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:24,840
Speaker 1: And so there was this one company he profiled. They

462
00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:28,040
Speaker 1: were promising lofty returns. It was this startup internet bank.

463
00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:32,040
Speaker 1: The company was promising and I quote colossal yields that

464
00:19:32,119 --> 00:19:35,239
Speaker 1: were and I quote risk free in the fifteen to

465
00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:39,960
Speaker 1: seventeen percent range. Yeah, oh that sounds good likely, right,

466
00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:43,359
Speaker 1: Not when someone promises that's like the Bernie made Off scam,

467
00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:45,280
Speaker 1: right where it's like, let's promise a little bit above

468
00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:48,080
Speaker 1: average and the money never goes down. You're always making money.

469
00:19:48,119 --> 00:19:51,240
Speaker 1: Somehow I found this without fail to al smart everybody else.

470
00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:51,520
Speaker 2: Right.

471
00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:54,760
Speaker 1: This company even touted the FDIC insurance through up to

472
00:19:54,760 --> 00:19:58,080
Speaker 1: two million bucks, which sounds nice if only it were true.

473
00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:01,159
Speaker 1: The fine print was jar and sketchy. I'm not going

474
00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:03,439
Speaker 1: to get into all the details, but the lesson from

475
00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:05,600
Speaker 1: this one is if it sounds too good to be true,

476
00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:09,680
Speaker 1: it probably is and risk free returns far in excess

477
00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:12,320
Speaker 1: of what the best online banks are offering, far in

478
00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:14,840
Speaker 1: excess of what the stock market is able to reliably

479
00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:17,679
Speaker 1: generate year every year should set off alarm bells in

480
00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:20,439
Speaker 1: your head. If you want to enjoy higher returns, be

481
00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:24,119
Speaker 1: ready to experience more volatility. It's the inevitable rule of

482
00:20:24,119 --> 00:20:26,800
Speaker 1: wealth building. And if you want to enjoy much higher

483
00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:29,439
Speaker 1: returns and somebody is telling you they can offer it

484
00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:31,000
Speaker 1: to you, you probably should run away.

485
00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:33,200
Speaker 2: And if you're not sure, hit us up. We always

486
00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:35,639
Speaker 2: like to field listener questions. You can even email us

487
00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:38,000
Speaker 2: a It helps us to kind of like tap into

488
00:20:38,040 --> 00:20:40,399
Speaker 2: the how to money hive mind to help other listeners

489
00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:43,200
Speaker 2: out there, but also be personally. I want to know

490
00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:44,600
Speaker 2: if there's a new account out there where I can

491
00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:47,639
Speaker 2: earn let's say six and a half percent or seven percent.

492
00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:48,679
Speaker 2: That kind of thing made me think.

493
00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:52,520
Speaker 1: I saw another bank recently, Matt, and they were offering

494
00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:55,240
Speaker 1: eight percent returns, And then you dig into the fine

495
00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:58,760
Speaker 1: print and you get that extra three percent for three months.

496
00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:02,000
Speaker 1: So yes, technically getting eight percent returns for a hot minute,

497
00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:03,840
Speaker 1: but then it drops back down to normal levels, so

498
00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:07,240
Speaker 1: that even that it's like, well, it's not completely untrue.

499
00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:09,120
Speaker 1: It's just for a limited time only.

500
00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:10,480
Speaker 2: Then you want to know what kind of hoops you

501
00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:12,480
Speaker 2: have to jump through, and less and less am I

502
00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:14,760
Speaker 2: willing to jump through different hoops as opposed to staying

503
00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:16,640
Speaker 2: with a solid bank for the long haul. But Joe,

504
00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:18,280
Speaker 2: we've got more to get to. We're gonna share our

505
00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:20,640
Speaker 2: thoughts on the new iPhone. We're gonna talk about how

506
00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:23,240
Speaker 2: Kamala and Trump, how they might make you spend more money.

507
00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:32,879
Speaker 2: We'll get to that more right after this. All right,

508
00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:33,760
Speaker 2: now we're back to the break.

509
00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:36,440
Speaker 1: I'm a little disappointed you didn't mention the other candidate's

510
00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:39,560
Speaker 1: running for president that nobody knows about. But Chase Oliver

511
00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:43,440
Speaker 1: is also running, just nobody knows it. All right, let's

512
00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:45,280
Speaker 1: get to the ludicrous headline of the week. This one

513
00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:48,679
Speaker 1: comes from Bloomberg and to the headline reads, Americans have

514
00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:52,720
Speaker 1: a new piggybank to raid their houses. We don't like

515
00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:56,200
Speaker 1: seeing these sorts of headlines that Matt and I think.

516
00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:59,880
Speaker 1: What is causing people to think about tapping into their

517
00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:04,160
Speaker 1: home for some money is that, hey, stimulus money's gone.

518
00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:07,439
Speaker 1: My bank account balance is dwindling. Interest rates for borrows

519
00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:09,280
Speaker 1: are starting to tick down, so maybe my helock is

520
00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:11,320
Speaker 1: starting to look a little more attractive. And then at

521
00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:14,360
Speaker 1: the same time, I've got more money in home equity

522
00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:17,600
Speaker 1: than ever before, So why shouldn't I get money from

523
00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:20,480
Speaker 1: that location? Why shouldn't I tap it? And if you

524
00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:22,480
Speaker 1: bought a house for like two hundred thousand bucks in

525
00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:25,360
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, it's probably worth double that at least in

526
00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:26,280
Speaker 1: lots of the country.

527
00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:28,159
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I get the appeal. Yeah, I think the

528
00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:30,679
Speaker 2: only saving grace, honestly, is the fact that home prizes

529
00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:32,680
Speaker 2: half slowed down a little bit, Like could you imagine

530
00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:34,840
Speaker 2: if they continued at the clip that we had experienced

531
00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:38,359
Speaker 2: in twenty one twenty two, Oh my gosh, Like because

532
00:22:38,359 --> 00:22:40,640
Speaker 2: people would whole lock, but they would only be seeing

533
00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:41,400
Speaker 2: dollars signs.

534
00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:44,120
Speaker 1: So I think the numbers bear out that there's what

535
00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:47,200
Speaker 1: thirty four trillion dollars in home equity overall, which means

536
00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:49,720
Speaker 1: the average American has something like three hundred thousand dollars

537
00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:52,359
Speaker 1: in equity. Obviously this is going to vary depending on

538
00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:54,520
Speaker 1: how old you are when you bought your home, where

539
00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:56,879
Speaker 1: you live, all that kind of stuff, But with an

540
00:22:56,880 --> 00:22:58,920
Speaker 1: average of three hundred thousand bucks in equity and two

541
00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:02,920
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars of that being tappable. People are saying, well, yeah,

542
00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:04,879
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think I should borrow some money,

543
00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:07,800
Speaker 1: even if it just to take a vacation or to

544
00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:10,400
Speaker 1: buy a car or something like that. And there are

545
00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:13,920
Speaker 1: some instances where using home equity dollars can make sense,

546
00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:17,720
Speaker 1: like doing home improvements when you have a reasonable payoff timeline.

547
00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:19,879
Speaker 1: Still we'd rather see you save up for that, but

548
00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:22,560
Speaker 1: it's at least worth mentioning that is a reasonable use

549
00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:25,560
Speaker 1: of a home equity line of credit. But don't treat

550
00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:27,000
Speaker 1: your home like a piggy bank. You're going to see

551
00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:28,320
Speaker 1: more and more of these headlines and you're going to

552
00:23:28,359 --> 00:23:32,320
Speaker 1: get more emails directly from lenders saying why not the

553
00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:34,520
Speaker 1: rates are going down, this is the perfect time to

554
00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:37,840
Speaker 1: start taking money out of your home. Well, I wouldn't

555
00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:39,639
Speaker 1: bank on the fact that declining rates are going to

556
00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:41,840
Speaker 1: lower your payment in the future, saving you more money.

557
00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:43,760
Speaker 1: That's I think another selling point that people are going

558
00:23:43,840 --> 00:23:47,760
Speaker 1: to say. Helocks are a financial tool that are incredibly

559
00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:51,120
Speaker 1: easy to mishandle It's really easy to take money out

560
00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:52,960
Speaker 1: of your home to open up one of those helocks. Matt,

561
00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:54,960
Speaker 1: the banks and the credit unions, they make it super

562
00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:57,480
Speaker 1: easy and there might not even be closing costs involved.

563
00:23:57,520 --> 00:23:59,399
Speaker 1: So it's simple to set up and it's not going

564
00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:01,239
Speaker 1: to cost you any money on the front end. But

565
00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:03,760
Speaker 1: if you do draw down on that significantly, you could

566
00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:06,480
Speaker 1: find yourself in financial pain that you didn't have to

567
00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:06,800
Speaker 1: get in.

568
00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:09,440
Speaker 2: So there's an interesting article in the Journal from Julia

569
00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:14,280
Speaker 2: Carpenter and she alleges that what she caused election fatigue

570
00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:17,760
Speaker 2: is causing overspending, at least it is for her. There

571
00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:20,280
Speaker 2: aren't any stats about whether or not this is a

572
00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:24,120
Speaker 2: prevalent phenomena, and so maybe this is a bit anecdotal. Though.

573
00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:26,719
Speaker 2: We did just have a presidential debate on Tuesday, But

574
00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:29,960
Speaker 2: we are coming down to the wire and political ads

575
00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:32,760
Speaker 2: are basically everywhere everywhere we turn. I'm getting all the

576
00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:34,720
Speaker 2: texts too, mad. I don't know about you. I just

577
00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:36,520
Speaker 2: heard you get I hear report junk on all day.

578
00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:38,199
Speaker 2: Did you get that one Tuesday night, like late at

579
00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:40,480
Speaker 2: night where it's just like hey you join yeah, yes,

580
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:44,520
Speaker 2: don't text me late at night. No. But it sure

581
00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:47,199
Speaker 2: seems like just generally speaking, as a culture, we're just

582
00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:50,600
Speaker 2: putting more of our hope in campaigns and in politicians

583
00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:53,280
Speaker 2: and the president, which honestly is kind of sad the

584
00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:55,960
Speaker 2: fact that we're starting to see our political figures as

585
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:59,400
Speaker 2: heroes as opposed to others in our lives, maybe who

586
00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:02,120
Speaker 2: should be seen as heroes who are taking a more

587
00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:06,800
Speaker 2: self sacrificial route. But we don't want political anxiety to

588
00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:10,480
Speaker 2: turn your finances upside down. Bottom line, the national and

589
00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:13,440
Speaker 2: world events they're not always pretty. And so the more

590
00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:15,600
Speaker 2: that we can tune out the twenty four to seven

591
00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:18,199
Speaker 2: news cycle, the more that we can ignore the day

592
00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:20,600
Speaker 2: to day political barrage, I think, the happier we're going

593
00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:22,400
Speaker 2: to be, and the less likely we're going to feel

594
00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:24,960
Speaker 2: compelled to spend in order to combat these bad feelings.

595
00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:28,080
Speaker 2: I think when we realize that the daily news cycle

596
00:25:28,359 --> 00:25:32,280
Speaker 2: that it truly does not have an impact on the

597
00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:33,880
Speaker 2: bottom line of our lives. Like it makes me think

598
00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:35,800
Speaker 2: of the stock market, right, and we tell folks to

599
00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:38,679
Speaker 2: ignore the day to day gyrations because what do we

600
00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:40,240
Speaker 2: want you to do. We want you to zoom out,

601
00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:43,120
Speaker 2: We want you to see that oh over the long haul, Yeah,

602
00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:46,800
Speaker 2: stock market goes historically speaking up into the right, Yeah,

603
00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:49,080
Speaker 2: and the day to day movements don't matter. And so

604
00:25:49,119 --> 00:25:51,720
Speaker 2: in a similar way, people can get so stressed out

605
00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:55,280
Speaker 2: about the political environment and what's going on in media,

606
00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:57,800
Speaker 2: but just zoom out, and what happens when you zoom

607
00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:00,200
Speaker 2: out you see that our country, the United States, it's

608
00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:02,399
Speaker 2: still an amazing place to be. I'm so fortunate to

609
00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:05,080
Speaker 2: have been born here. It makes me think of Warren

610
00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:09,159
Speaker 2: Buffett talks about that we have all won the Ovarian lottery,

611
00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:11,200
Speaker 2: the fact that we were fortunate enough to be born

612
00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:13,720
Speaker 2: in this country, as opposed to I would say the

613
00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:16,040
Speaker 2: vast majority of people in the rest of the world

614
00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:17,720
Speaker 2: who can't say the same for where it is that

615
00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:18,040
Speaker 2: they live.

616
00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:20,879
Speaker 1: It's like, the more you watch the news and the

617
00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:23,840
Speaker 1: political sphere, the worse you think our country is. And

618
00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:26,080
Speaker 1: the more you talk to your neighbors and hang out

619
00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:29,440
Speaker 1: with friends and visit local businesses, the more you're like, man,

620
00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:31,439
Speaker 1: our country's actually in pretty good shape. And so if

621
00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:34,199
Speaker 1: we get out of our own heads and get out

622
00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:36,520
Speaker 1: of that space and just get out in the real world,

623
00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:39,880
Speaker 1: the likelihood is we're gonna have a more optimistic view

624
00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:42,119
Speaker 1: and we're going to be less stressed out. And I

625
00:26:42,119 --> 00:26:44,280
Speaker 1: do agree that stress spending is a real thing. And

626
00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:47,080
Speaker 1: so at least for this author, she's saying, what stresses

627
00:26:47,119 --> 00:26:50,200
Speaker 1: me out is politics, and I'm spending more because of it. Well,

628
00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:52,640
Speaker 1: whatever it is that's stressing you out too, I guess

629
00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:54,880
Speaker 1: from a broader perspective, i'd have to just be politics. Yeah,

630
00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:56,800
Speaker 1: it can be a bunch of other things, like put

631
00:26:56,840 --> 00:26:59,040
Speaker 1: your finger on it so that you can see the

632
00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:03,080
Speaker 1: correlation between stress and spending, so that you can hopefully

633
00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:05,159
Speaker 1: nip it in the bud and kind of create some

634
00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:08,760
Speaker 1: barriers to spending willy nilly when you do get stressed out.

635
00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:10,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is something that we do have control over

636
00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:11,600
Speaker 2: what it is that we're spending.

637
00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:14,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think especially in this season, when we

638
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:17,600
Speaker 1: don't have control over I mean, what is it seven states, Matt,

639
00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:19,520
Speaker 1: that really matter in this election anyway? So if you

640
00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:21,760
Speaker 1: live in like most of the country, your vote has

641
00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:25,639
Speaker 1: very little impact and you don't have control even in

642
00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:28,000
Speaker 1: the seven states that matter, Like, you don't have much

643
00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:30,480
Speaker 1: control at all over the outcome anyway, And so we

644
00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:32,800
Speaker 1: have to be focused more on what we can control

645
00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:35,359
Speaker 1: than the things that are out of our hands. And

646
00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:38,600
Speaker 1: sorry to point this out, but there's something else that's

647
00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:41,480
Speaker 1: out of our control, and that is a phenomenon. Note

648
00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:45,199
Speaker 1: as shrink flation and shrink plation tends to get a

649
00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:48,760
Speaker 1: bad rap, especially from politicians, Matt, we're just talking about politics.

650
00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:52,120
Speaker 1: We've always said that shrinklation is not a bad thing,

651
00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:55,160
Speaker 1: although it is important for us as consumers to pay

652
00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:57,840
Speaker 1: attention to it and to recognize it because as things

653
00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:01,440
Speaker 1: get more expensive, we have two choice to pay more

654
00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:05,359
Speaker 1: or to get less for our dollars, and so shrink

655
00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:09,159
Speaker 1: flation essentially opts for the ladder of those two options.

656
00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:10,760
Speaker 1: And we saw there were a couple of stories on

657
00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:12,800
Speaker 1: that this week. One was about how toilet paper rolls

658
00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:15,399
Speaker 1: are shrinking, which is totally true, and there was like

659
00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:18,000
Speaker 1: a nobody wants to read this, it's a long form

660
00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:19,919
Speaker 1: piece about the shrinking.

661
00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:21,440
Speaker 2: Sharmon roll or whatever. I actually don't mind that, because

662
00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:22,720
Speaker 2: you know what I hate is when there's like the

663
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:24,560
Speaker 2: jumbo roll and you put a fresh roll in there

664
00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:26,359
Speaker 2: and it's too tight to pull, yeah, and then it

665
00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:27,679
Speaker 2: ends up breaking. Yeah. I hate that.

666
00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:29,760
Speaker 1: But here's the thing, Like, you just have to realize

667
00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:31,840
Speaker 1: that the solution isn't to crack down on companies for

668
00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:33,639
Speaker 1: shrinking their product, because what they're trying to do is

669
00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:37,760
Speaker 1: keep the price the same For consumers. The solution is

670
00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:40,520
Speaker 1: to pay attention to unit pricing and to change our

671
00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:41,760
Speaker 1: buying habits accordingly.

672
00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:42,480
Speaker 2: And so if the.

673
00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:45,240
Speaker 1: Sharman role is shrinking, but the costco role isn't, I'm

674
00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:47,240
Speaker 1: going with the costco role. And guess what, I'm going

675
00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:50,040
Speaker 1: with the costco roll of toilet paper, no matter what.

676
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:52,479
Speaker 1: But if you pay attention to unit pricing, that is,

677
00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:55,560
Speaker 1: and it's on there. It's when you're at the grocery store.

678
00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:58,120
Speaker 1: When you're at costco, you can see price per item

679
00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:00,320
Speaker 1: or price per foot or whatever it is. Look at

680
00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:03,480
Speaker 1: that and let that help you decide which product is

681
00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:05,760
Speaker 1: going to make the most sense for you. You might say, oh,

682
00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:07,600
Speaker 1: if you look at the branding on the package, you

683
00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:08,840
Speaker 1: might think one thing. But if you look at the

684
00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:11,040
Speaker 1: unit price, it'll help put things in the right perspective

685
00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:12,200
Speaker 1: to help you make the right choice.

686
00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:17,120
Speaker 2: So another article discussed shrinkflation in the hotel rewards sector.

687
00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:21,320
Speaker 2: They're following the lead of airlines, who are they're essentially

688
00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:24,080
Speaker 2: the kings of dolling out points only to inflate them

689
00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:26,440
Speaker 2: away over time. It's honestly, it's kind of like one

690
00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:28,880
Speaker 2: of the few downsides that I've never really thought of

691
00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:31,200
Speaker 2: of the fact that airline points don't expire, is the

692
00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:33,040
Speaker 2: fact that like, oh yeah, they kind of maybe they

693
00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:35,240
Speaker 2: want you to hang on to those and definitely because

694
00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:36,680
Speaker 2: eventually they're worth nothing.

695
00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:39,680
Speaker 1: It's yeah, you let them linger and then they linger

696
00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:40,520
Speaker 1: into worthlessness.

697
00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:43,440
Speaker 2: It's yeah, they're eighty percent water. They just drivel up.

698
00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:47,320
Speaker 2: It's nothing so hotels. A hotel room that might have

699
00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:49,400
Speaker 2: cost forty thousand points a few years ago, it might

700
00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:52,120
Speaker 2: cost you something like one hundred thousand points now even

701
00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:54,280
Speaker 2: more than that. But this is a type of shrinkflation

702
00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:56,800
Speaker 2: that feels a bit more insidious because of the fact

703
00:29:56,800 --> 00:29:58,680
Speaker 2: that they think it seems like they have a bit

704
00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:01,960
Speaker 2: more control over the value of those points. And the

705
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:05,120
Speaker 2: only real way to combat this version of shrinkflation is

706
00:30:05,120 --> 00:30:07,000
Speaker 2: to use your points in a reasonable amount of time,

707
00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:09,280
Speaker 2: because the longer they sit there, the less valuable they

708
00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:12,160
Speaker 2: become as they shrivel up. So if you've got airline

709
00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:14,160
Speaker 2: points but a flight with them, saying, and the same

710
00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:16,320
Speaker 2: is true if you have hotel rewards points.

711
00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:19,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's talk about a random kind of thing, Matt. Here,

712
00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:21,240
Speaker 1: our kids went to back to school a month ago,

713
00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:23,200
Speaker 1: but a whole lot of school systems have only recently

714
00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:25,840
Speaker 1: started back up, and colleges typically started even later. I'm

715
00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:28,920
Speaker 1: seeing all the photos of friends sending their kids off

716
00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:31,640
Speaker 1: to college for the first time. It's adorable, And I'm

717
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:33,320
Speaker 1: also like, did we look that young when we went

718
00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:33,920
Speaker 1: to college?

719
00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:37,600
Speaker 2: We probably did. Was I a young little idiot? Yes?

720
00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:38,440
Speaker 2: I was? Yes.

721
00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:41,640
Speaker 1: Well, something else that happens when kids go off to

722
00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:43,760
Speaker 1: college is like, well, you have to think about different

723
00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:46,480
Speaker 1: kinds of insurance. And there's one insurance product that we've

724
00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:51,080
Speaker 1: been seeing more written about lately. It's dorm insurance. And

725
00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:53,240
Speaker 1: it's like, what really is this? Do we have to

726
00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:56,200
Speaker 1: ensure our dorm room possessions too? And the question is

727
00:30:56,240 --> 00:30:59,120
Speaker 1: should you have it? Well, the answer might not be

728
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:03,640
Speaker 1: the most satisfying. It depends because, first, before just buying

729
00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:08,000
Speaker 1: dorm insurance in knee jerk reaction to cover your child's possessions,

730
00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:12,400
Speaker 1: check your homeowner's insurance policy to see if your child's

731
00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:15,240
Speaker 1: positions are covered while they're away at school. They likely

732
00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:18,840
Speaker 1: are electronics, clothing, all that stuff. You might already have

733
00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:20,920
Speaker 1: coverage for it, and you might not need a separate

734
00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:24,480
Speaker 1: policy despite the fact that it's actually not that expensive. Basically,

735
00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:28,120
Speaker 1: it could be repetitive and unnecessary. And even though it's cheap,

736
00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:30,320
Speaker 1: like I said, it's not that expensive, it's kind of

737
00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:33,479
Speaker 1: akin to Renter's insurance. The question is also do they

738
00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:36,640
Speaker 1: have enough stuff worth insuring. Maybe they're going to school

739
00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:38,880
Speaker 1: with twelve hundred bucks worth of stuff, and even if

740
00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:41,720
Speaker 1: you're paying twenty bucks a month, well, it'd be better

741
00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:44,800
Speaker 1: off to self insurance to not have that dorm insurance anyway,

742
00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:48,200
Speaker 1: So you might see more pitches for dorm insurance, and

743
00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:50,480
Speaker 1: there might be some cases where it makes sense, but

744
00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:52,880
Speaker 1: I think for most folks matter, it's either redundant or

745
00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:54,200
Speaker 1: not necessary, and self.

746
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:57,120
Speaker 2: Insurance better redundant insurance exactly. And the fact too, I

747
00:31:57,160 --> 00:31:59,520
Speaker 2: think a lot of parents in particular might be thinking, oh,

748
00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:03,000
Speaker 2: that's a that's an expensive laptop or your phone. We'll

749
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:04,520
Speaker 2: get to that here in a second. Your phone, that's

750
00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:07,280
Speaker 2: an expensive, brand new iPhone. But like, I think that's

751
00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:09,040
Speaker 2: less of an issue today because of the fact that

752
00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:12,320
Speaker 2: security is built into these devices so well, Like think

753
00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:15,280
Speaker 2: about some of like the US government, they're trying to

754
00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:17,040
Speaker 2: like they're talking to Apple when they're trying to break

755
00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:20,280
Speaker 2: into somebody's phone to get like important information and they

756
00:32:20,280 --> 00:32:22,880
Speaker 2: can't because of the fact that the security on these

757
00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:25,760
Speaker 2: devices is essentially so buttoned up, and so I think

758
00:32:25,800 --> 00:32:28,000
Speaker 2: that's less of the less of a concern. And so's

759
00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:30,160
Speaker 2: the what's the other thing that you're ensuring against, Well,

760
00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:33,080
Speaker 2: like it's if you damage it yourself, to which there

761
00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:35,400
Speaker 2: I would say, there are a lot of more affordable options,

762
00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:37,920
Speaker 2: like having your phone in a case, or just like

763
00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:40,280
Speaker 2: taking care of your laptop, or paying.

764
00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:42,240
Speaker 1: Yourself on bill with the right credit cards because you

765
00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:43,160
Speaker 1: get insurance and.

766
00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:45,480
Speaker 2: It's built in. But just not maintaining our device, Like

767
00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:49,000
Speaker 2: we've got an eleven year old laptop. Yes, it's getting

768
00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:51,440
Speaker 2: long in the tooth, but dude, that thing still works

769
00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:53,720
Speaker 2: really well. And it's because we just take care of it.

770
00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:56,280
Speaker 2: We literally I clean that thing and make sure that

771
00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:57,480
Speaker 2: we set it up on the shelf to where the

772
00:32:57,520 --> 00:32:59,080
Speaker 2: kids aren't going to talk nice to it and we're

773
00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:01,200
Speaker 2: going to damage the thing. I think that is a

774
00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:04,160
Speaker 2: certainly much more affordable way to prolong our devices, to

775
00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:06,040
Speaker 2: make sure that we are able to use them off

776
00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:08,880
Speaker 2: into the future. And I mentioned iPhone. Don't get the

777
00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:11,520
Speaker 2: new iPhone? What is it this world? The sixteen at

778
00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:12,320
Speaker 2: this point, but.

779
00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:16,000
Speaker 1: Matt the cameras are in alignment now and it's gonna Yeah,

780
00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:16,440
Speaker 1: I don't.

781
00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:18,400
Speaker 2: Know it's got two is it one button or two buttons?

782
00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:21,200
Speaker 2: I thought there's like multiple buttons now that like the

783
00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:23,800
Speaker 2: action buttons. Yeah, it doesn't matter who cares. Get you

784
00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:28,000
Speaker 2: a referbed directly from Apple, don't get it from Amazon, folks, Yeah,

785
00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:30,520
Speaker 2: because you had an issue with some of those. Indeed, indeed,

786
00:33:30,840 --> 00:33:34,600
Speaker 2: but do consider getting a new pair of AirPods, that is,

787
00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:38,320
Speaker 2: if your hearing's not great. And I say that because well,

788
00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:42,480
Speaker 2: specifically AirPod pros, so AirPod pros. Regular AirPods are pretty affordable,

789
00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:45,240
Speaker 2: but the pros are incredibly expensive.

790
00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:48,120
Speaker 1: I regular AirPods are kind of expensive compared to their

791
00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:49,600
Speaker 1: non name brand equivalents too.

792
00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:51,200
Speaker 2: Though that's true in the fact that they just they

793
00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:52,800
Speaker 2: just sit there in your ear and they just I

794
00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:54,840
Speaker 2: don't know, they're they're able to easily fall out.

795
00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:57,080
Speaker 1: But I've got a twenty dollar pair of in ear

796
00:33:57,240 --> 00:33:58,160
Speaker 1: buds and they work great.

797
00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:00,280
Speaker 2: I've got a slightly more expensive pair that I really like.

798
00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:03,040
Speaker 2: But but the AirPod pros are crazy expensive. If you're

799
00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:05,600
Speaker 2: just listening to a podcast like this or if you're

800
00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:10,080
Speaker 2: listening to music, But they are a very affordable hearing aid,

801
00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:13,600
Speaker 2: which is what Apple is now purporting to offer via

802
00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:17,520
Speaker 2: their AirPod Pros prescription hearing aids. They typically cost thousands

803
00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:19,840
Speaker 2: of dollars for some of the nicer ones. And I

804
00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:23,080
Speaker 2: don't know if AirPods function as well as the ridiculously

805
00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:25,600
Speaker 2: expensive hearing aids that you have to go to a

806
00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:28,239
Speaker 2: doc in order to get tested for. We'll see. But

807
00:34:28,360 --> 00:34:31,600
Speaker 2: technology has come a long way, and it's pretty incredible

808
00:34:31,600 --> 00:34:34,040
Speaker 2: to think that not that long ago it was illegal

809
00:34:34,080 --> 00:34:37,120
Speaker 2: to sell hearing aids over the counter. That is really crazy.

810
00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:39,600
Speaker 1: Just literally two years ago it was illegal, it was

811
00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:41,719
Speaker 1: paying you didn't sell some of these hearing aids over

812
00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:44,760
Speaker 1: the counter. And now a company like Apple is saying,

813
00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:48,359
Speaker 1: we've made it cheap and we've revolutionized people's ability with like.

814
00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:50,879
Speaker 2: Hearing tests and the ability like. So what I'm saying, though,

815
00:34:50,920 --> 00:34:52,600
Speaker 2: is don't go out and buy a pair of AirPod

816
00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:55,640
Speaker 2: pros if you think that you are losing your hearing,

817
00:34:55,680 --> 00:34:58,480
Speaker 2: because if that's the case, you're just in denial, Like

818
00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:02,400
Speaker 2: you're a gen xer, maybe even an older millennial, and

819
00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:05,400
Speaker 2: maybe you do need to get your ears checked. Because

820
00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:07,200
Speaker 2: the other thing is I just think it's cool that

821
00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:10,520
Speaker 2: they're offering this as an option if you already have it.

822
00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:13,200
Speaker 2: Like if I had a pair of AirPod pros, I

823
00:35:13,200 --> 00:35:15,840
Speaker 2: can't say AirPod pros today it's like a three times

824
00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:18,000
Speaker 2: Tungu twister. Oh would totally pop those into my ear.

825
00:35:18,239 --> 00:35:20,000
Speaker 2: See how my hearing's going? Yes, I think there's a

826
00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:22,520
Speaker 2: chance I might be losing my hearing. I don't know.

827
00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:25,920
Speaker 1: And hearing aids have historically been incredibly expensive, and so.

828
00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:27,480
Speaker 2: For they're getting more affordable.

829
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:30,440
Speaker 1: That's the thing, because of the rule change and the

830
00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:32,120
Speaker 1: fact that you can buy over the counter heearing aids

831
00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:33,920
Speaker 1: now and Costco has been one of the go to

832
00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:37,600
Speaker 1: places for hearing aids because they have some of the

833
00:35:37,719 --> 00:35:41,000
Speaker 1: cheapest solid hearing aids. Because there's there's like there are

834
00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:45,000
Speaker 1: differences in type and in performance from hearing aids, and

835
00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:47,960
Speaker 1: Costco's really good ones for a reasonable price, and so

836
00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:50,120
Speaker 1: that's I'm curious about these, Like at the two fifty

837
00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:52,839
Speaker 1: price point, that's really good for hearing aids. How good

838
00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:53,239
Speaker 1: are they?

839
00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:55,920
Speaker 2: Though? Is? What what are you gonna do? Though? Are you? Like?

840
00:35:56,120 --> 00:35:58,040
Speaker 2: I like that it exists. I don't want people to

841
00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:00,279
Speaker 2: turn to them for hearing aids. You know. So it's

842
00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:02,520
Speaker 2: sort of like it's added value folks, because are you

843
00:36:02,560 --> 00:36:04,479
Speaker 2: also then going to walk around with it, like because

844
00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:07,160
Speaker 2: you hate the way air pods elect, Like you're always like, oh,

845
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:09,680
Speaker 2: they got the stems hanging down and they're white. I think, goofy,

846
00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:11,880
Speaker 2: that's the thing. You're gonna end up looking like the

847
00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:13,880
Speaker 2: dude and Baby Driver. We got the air pods in

848
00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:15,799
Speaker 2: constantly and it's like, oh, yeah, these my hearing age.

849
00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:17,640
Speaker 1: But if they if they took me from not hearing

850
00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:19,920
Speaker 1: well to hearing it to being better in conversation, I

851
00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:21,880
Speaker 1: would totally wear them when I would get over it.

852
00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:24,480
Speaker 2: The National Council on Aging, they've they've always got great

853
00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:26,480
Speaker 2: write ups on some of the more affordable ones out there,

854
00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:29,799
Speaker 2: and like you can get a decent pair for less

855
00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:32,319
Speaker 2: than a thousand dollars, Like there's some decent ones that

856
00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:34,000
Speaker 2: are in the hundreds. Maybe we'll link to that in

857
00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:35,799
Speaker 2: the show notes as well, and you might probably can

858
00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:37,960
Speaker 2: hide them a lot better. Yeah, and exactly, they go

859
00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:40,880
Speaker 2: into your ear. They're a little more discreet. They're flesh

860
00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:43,759
Speaker 2: colored as a pair, you know, compared to like bright white. Yeah,

861
00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:45,719
Speaker 2: I think it's cool that they're offering this not unlike

862
00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:47,720
Speaker 2: some of the other health apps that are built into

863
00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:50,799
Speaker 2: Apple watches and phones. But at the same time, it

864
00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:53,280
Speaker 2: doesn't that doesn't replace your doctor.

865
00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:57,120
Speaker 1: You know, it's look at you being solidly on the

866
00:36:57,120 --> 00:36:57,760
Speaker 1: side of doctors.

867
00:36:57,800 --> 00:36:58,160
Speaker 2: That's rare.

868
00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:02,600
Speaker 1: That is, actually never goes to see the doctor. I

869
00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:05,120
Speaker 1: don't know the last time you wait, not too long ago.

870
00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:07,320
Speaker 1: But for the most part, yeah, avoid them.

871
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:10,200
Speaker 2: I don't know, maybe I'm wise enough, Joel. It's maybe

872
00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:13,080
Speaker 2: it's cheap, not frugal to completely avoid the dentist or

873
00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:13,799
Speaker 2: the dermatology.

874
00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:17,120
Speaker 1: It also becomes more necessary as we get older. We've

875
00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:20,319
Speaker 1: crossed the forty year old threshold, so indeed doctor has

876
00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:22,480
Speaker 1: become more part of our lives. All right, thank you

877
00:37:22,520 --> 00:37:24,719
Speaker 1: so much for listening. As always, we'll put links to

878
00:37:24,719 --> 00:37:26,200
Speaker 1: some of the stuff we mentioned up in the show

879
00:37:26,239 --> 00:37:29,120
Speaker 1: notes on our website at howtomoney dot com. But Matt,

880
00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:30,960
Speaker 1: that's going to do it for this one. Until next time,

881
00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:33,479
Speaker 1: Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out.