WEBVTT - Friday Flight - 2 Week Test Drives, Micro-Philanthropy, & Scoring Cheaper Pizza #471 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.200 Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt, 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:06.760 and today we're discussing two week test drives, micro giving, 0:00:06.880 --> 0:00:28.639 and scoring cheaper pizza. That's right, Joel. This is our 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:31.480 Friday Flight episode where every week we are going to 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:33.680 cover some of the different stories that we came across. 0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:36.440 This weekend, we're gonna talk about how that news is 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:38.920 going to impact your money. That's right. Yeah. But before 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:41.280 we get to that, we have to announce the winners 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:44.640 from our book giveaway for Comico Love's new book, My Money, 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:46.959 My Way. It came this past week, so a few 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:49.159 days ago. Congrats to our friend of the show, Comico 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:53.080 Love for her book release and L hoyt T, Perry 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:57.360 Raoul in Georgia, J F. Hadson, and Scotty d. Y'all 0:00:57.400 --> 0:00:59.600 all one a copy of Comico's new book. Will make 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:01.760 sure we get the is out to you, um really soon. Yeah, 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:03.720 we will reach out to you. Get your mailing address. 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:06.280 And we had a lot of folks who rated us 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:09.000 on Spotify, which I will say is the easiest way 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:11.600 right now to enter a giveaway like this. I mean 0:01:11.640 --> 0:01:13.200 literally all you have to do is click because they 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:16.199 don't let you leave a review yet, um, but who knows, 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:18.200 maybe someday they will. That's also why we didn't have 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:20.520 a bunch of weird names to read because with the 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:23.160 Spotify like, there isn't an actual screen name or anything 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:25.920 like that. It's literally their name as folks are emailing us. 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:28.960 So we shorten those names to protect your privacy a 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:31.000 little bit. There we go, Well, Matt, let's not mentioned 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:33.240 it is? It is that the Chinese New Year just 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:37.320 having February one? Right, did you celebrate? No? But I 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:40.640 actually was in China ten years ago when Chinese New 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:43.120 Year was happening, and it was so much fun. I 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:45.559 was gonna say that's probably probably the coolest thing you've 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:48.000 ever experienced abroad. It was a party and a half. 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:50.559 And people also, when you're six ft six in China, 0:01:50.560 --> 0:01:52.520 they look at you like you're some sort of like 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:54.440 did you have to pay for any drink? Any meal? 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:58.280 I did, But they want to take pictures, which I 0:01:58.320 --> 0:01:59.880 was playing your cards right. It's more than happy to 0:01:59.920 --> 0:02:03.240 have blage like a bunch of random pictures with tall, 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:06.640 skinny Norwegian dude. A lot of folks over there now 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:08.960 have you know, pictures on their mantle with me on them, 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:11.680 which I appreciate, but like one sign, this basketball player 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:14.640 came and came to our town except for not but 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:18.080 I just thought it was interesting. The the phrase it 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:20.920 gets used with Chinese New Year is I hope you 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:25.040 get rich and specifically hope you get rich, you get rich? Yeah, no, 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:27.160 I I hope you get rich. Okay, I just hope 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:29.239 you get rich and um, yeah, I don't know. Do 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:31.959 you know Ronnie Chang the comedian, Yes, okay, was he 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:34.080 on The Daily Show back in the day, back in 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:35.880 the day, But but have you seen his He's got 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:38.680 a stand up special from a few years ago on Netflix. Okay, 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:41.799 I highly recommend it. It's got some language, so warning 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:43.519 out there for everyone. He doesn't keep it as clean 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:45.519 as we do here on the show, But dude, it 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:48.120 is so funny. He talks about how Asians in general, 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:52.120 how they love money and it's the stereotype and it's 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:54.880 hilarious because it's true. And I can say that being 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:58.079 half Asian myself. I shared my my money origin stories. 0:02:58.120 --> 0:02:59.640 But just even like I think about when Kate and 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:02.400 I got Arid, all of our American family and friends, 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:05.040 they bring you a gift like you do, like you're 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:06.800 supposed to do here in the States. But all of 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:09.520 Mom's friends who were invited to the wedding, cold hard cash. 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:12.760 They showed up with envelopes full of cash or you know, 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:15.200 checks that they had cut. It is just a part 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:17.480 of the culture. And so he was just pointing out, how, 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:19.640 you know, over there in China, they don't say Happy 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:22.840 New Year. It's literally hope you get rich. Well, I 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:24.840 think it's funny because what I would change it to 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:27.799 is hope you build wealth. Is how, because you know, 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:29.320 it's kind of the how the money way. Yeah, we 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:31.080 view rich and wealth as kind of ten diferent things, 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:33.160 and rich is usually this like I hope you stumble 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:35.400 upon money really quickly, or make some sort of speculative 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:36.800 bit that pays off in a hurry. Hope you win 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:39.880 the lottery exactly build wealth. It's like I hope you, 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:42.680 like I started to, you know, continue to make progress 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:45.920 on those goals and continue to uh, you know, grow 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:47.600 your net worth for for years to come. It's the 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:50.800 more wholesome, like well rounded approach to getting rich. Maybe 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:53.440 I don't want to hate on the slogan, but okay, 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:56.320 I hope you get rich. Happy Chinese New Year to everyone, 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:58.240 and um Matt, let's let's move on. Let's to the 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:01.800 Friday flight, the quick sample of stories we found interesting 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:04.440 this week and how they pertain to your personal finances. 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:09.040 And the FCC, Uh, the Federal Communication Commission just voted 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:13.160 to proceed with a proposal of Internet nutrition labels. It's 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:16.240 what they're being called and makes me want to eat 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:20.120 my modem. But so, if you're not sure maybe why 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:23.520 you're paying so much for internet service, or you maybe 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:26.120 find comparing different planes to be a near impossible task, 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:30.240 because yeah, each each uh internet service provider kind of 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:32.720 has a different way of explaining what they offer. Well, 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:36.080 standardized labels might be coming along to help soon, and 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:39.240 these labels would include the price, data speeds, whether there 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:41.880 are data caps or not. And you know, it's not 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:43.920 like most of us have this abundance of choices when 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:46.560 it comes to home internet service. But hopefully this proposal 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:49.440 gets adopted and we start seeing those labels, because it's 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:51.560 gonna help make it easier for us to compare kind 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:54.520 of uh, side by side apples to apples what we're 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:57.200 being offered. That's right, Yeah, And this is just a reminder, 0:04:57.240 --> 0:04:59.960 you know, while we're talking about internet labels, to revisit 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:01.760 it how much it is that you're paying for service. 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:03.600 You know, as Joel said, like, there really is a 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:06.200 lack of competition in the space. But even still, that 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:08.480 doesn't mean that you can't save money. And so we 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:11.280 would recommend that you pick up your phone call your 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:13.960 existing company to see if they're offering any specials for 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:17.479 any current customers. UH. If you do have some competition 0:05:17.560 --> 0:05:19.640 in the area, look out for mailers where they are 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:22.440 offering a special rate because oftentimes some of the big 0:05:22.440 --> 0:05:25.479 companies out there will match that. Uh. And specifically the 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:29.080 social media teams for these different cable and internet companies, 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:32.279 they often have even more leeway to offer you a 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:34.080 better rate. You know, if if you were to do that, 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:36.640 you might be able to save bucks every single month, 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:39.200 which doesn't sound all that much, but over the course 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:41.440 of a year, that adds up to real savings. You know, 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:43.200 just think about how much craft beer, Joel, you could 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:46.599 buy with an extra three sixty bucks. That's exactly how 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:48.520 I think that's a pretty big hall because yeah, when 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:50.400 I'm like it's just ten bucks, I'm like, wait a second, 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:54.680 how much? How much? Yeah, when it comes to beer 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:57.640 or whatever your craft beer equivalent, and then it motivates me. 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:00.800 But yeah, I actually just did that anything and now 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:04.080 I've got three hundred meg service fiber service for forty 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:06.680 bucks a month. Forty bucks forty bucks a month. Not 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:08.960 too time for me to make that call, then yes, 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:11.200 it is after they take my momenticine. Um, So all right, 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:14.040 speaking of getting a discount, when ego shopping is a 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:16.720 huge part of how much you're going to pay, right 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:20.240 there are seasonal sales that happen, and so of course, 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:23.040 in certain times of year you're gonna save money on 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:25.240 a grill, and then other times of year when grilling 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:27.800 is not so popular, you're you're not going to be 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:30.000 able to score as big of a discount. For instance, 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:33.279 TVs are often the cheapest on Black Friday, and right 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:35.599 now as we're approaching the Super Bowl, there's like the 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:37.880 two times of year when it's best to be shopping 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:40.839 for television if you're in the market. And Consumer Reports 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:43.800 actually had an article about the items that get discounted 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:49.400 the most in February, so just a heads up, but smartphones, mattresses, tablets, 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:54.200 space heaters, printers, and cameras are all more heavily discounted 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:57.720 right now than at other times of year. You're also 0:06:57.760 --> 0:06:59.839 a bound to see some great deals on winter clothing. 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:02.200 There's still a decent chunk of winter left, and so 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:04.800 if you're gonna wear those items for the rest of 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:06.680 this season and then for years to come, it might 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:09.600 make sense to pounce while the getting is good. But yeah, 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:13.560 the shopping seasonally based on when things are are cheaper 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:15.760 is just a smart strategy. That's right. If you're like 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:18.360 us and we're the same shirt for like ten plus years, 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:21.960 get that thing on sale, especially, dude, I mean, shirts 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:23.680 are gonna end up costing more money. I mean we're 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:26.600 talking about inflation. Go ahead and score those clothes now, 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:30.080 locking the low prices. Seriously. Another way to save money 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:33.080 is to not get food delivered to your house. This 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:35.400 is something that we've that we've talked about a good 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:37.920 deal how it can cost you more. Right, if you 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:40.600 use Uber eats, scrub Hub or Postmates to pick up 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:42.320 your food bring it to your you know, straight to 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:44.640 your door, it can make your favorite restaurant and food 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:49.240 cost thirty more. And with the current labor shortage, that 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:52.880 increase actually might even start getting even steeper. So here's 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:57.920 an interesting solution, Domino. As everybody knows Domino's Pizza, they're 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:00.560 trying something new. They are paying their customers to pick 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.080 up their own food. If you order online and you 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:06.240 choose carry out, you'll get a three dollar credit to 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:09.520 spend on your next pizza. Dude, so cool. I love 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:11.800 the strategy. I love this insensive that they're dangling in 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:14.160 front of people. They are attempting to encourage folks to 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:16.200 take the actions that they want to see. Uh and 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:18.240 so yeah, if you want cheaper pizza, pick it up 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:20.720 yourself instead. Yeah, And I think just that's just a 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:23.440 generally a good principle. I have even ordered things on 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:26.640 Grubhub before, but because like a discount code or something 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:28.880 like that, and then I go pick it up myself. Anyway, 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:31.320 I don't get the delivery just because it does add 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:34.640 so much money to the overall price. And I guess 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:37.080 because of where we live, like I'm usually a mile 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:39.160 or two away from the place I'm ordering from that far, 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:41.200 I don't mind jumping out picking it up myself. And 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:42.720 I think, um, yeah, that is one of those things 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:45.480 where if you've maybe just gotten too used to paying 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:47.920 for someone to bring your food to your door. Um 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:50.320 rethink that given a try picking up your own food again, 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:52.520 see how it goes, because you could save a lot 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:56.280 of money. That's right. So our our local favorite pizza place, Glide, 0:08:56.280 --> 0:08:59.320 do they even offer, like, can grub hub pick up 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:01.400 the pizza from there for you? I don't, I don't 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:03.600 even know. We like, we always get it ourselves because 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:05.600 you know, we do pizza. Movie. But my guest is, 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:08.360 you know, a pizza there costs twenty eight dollars, but 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:14.520 it's this big giant Yeah, probably it's like the size 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:17.559 of to human bodies. Um. Well, and and it is, 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:21.160 it's just super delicious pizza. But yeah, my guess is 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:23.360 to deliver that to our house is twenty something bucks. 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:28.199 Uh so that's just prohibitive, like picking up yourself. Yeah. Well, 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:30.199 and and since we're talking about fast food, Matt, we've 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:33.840 got to mention that inflation is hitting the beloved value 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:35.560 many of these days. You know, even though you and 0:09:35.559 --> 0:09:38.200 I were not big consumers of fast food ourselves, I 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:40.319 will I will admit this weekend our family did eat 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:42.920 at Wendy's because we had some coupons. Well, that's where 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:44.640 you go if you want to get that beef patty 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:47.840 that's never been frozen. It's right, So that's not a 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:49.800 normal occurrence for us. But it was a fun little 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:52.360 treat the kids liked. But um yeah, prices of the 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:56.360 cheapest and least nutritious foods amongst us are on the rise. 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:59.760 And Little Caesar's, speaking of pizza, just announced recently that 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:02.840 they're charging five dollars and fifty cents instead of just 0:10:02.880 --> 0:10:05.000 the flat five dollars for the hot ready A right, 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:07.880 was that what it's called hot and ready pepperoni pizza? 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:11.160 And then burger hing McDonald's and Denny's and and other 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:13.959 restaurants are all raising prices on some of the items 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:17.199 on their on their cheapest value menu because if the 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:19.800 told that, inflation is taking on their bottom line. So 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:22.680 if you're one of those people and you frequent fast 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:25.040 food chains a lot, just now that the value menu 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:26.920 is not going to provide as much value in the 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:29.520 near future, and you're gonna be paying more for those 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:32.439 hamburgers or chicken nuggets, like whatever does you get that's 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:34.120 gonna be the theme for the year? Man, how much 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:36.400 more is this costing me? I will say, if McDonald's 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:38.959 chicken nuggets were healthy for you. I would eat them 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:41.720 on the reg gross. Dude, so good, How are you serious? 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:46.520 I can't handle that. I will say Checkers Checkers French 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:50.319 fries like the Super Season fries. They're also incredibly expensive, 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:52.679 but they're worth it. Those are something I will go 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:55.760 out of my way for, But not the chicken nuggets McDonald's. 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:58.160 All right, So we we've talked about how banks, how 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:01.760 they're starting to slash and even innate overdraft fees. We 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:04.280 mentioned ally they were the first major bank to scrap 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:07.120 them all together last year, Capital One. They followed suit 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:09.960 Bank of America. They actually recently trimmed there's even though 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:12.319 they didn't do away with it completely. Now, I was 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:14.160 so surprised, like everybody else is like starting to do 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:15.679 away with them, and you're like, we're gonna turn them 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:18.959 back there they suck. But but ally they are now 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:22.760 going even further and they're introducing something called cover draft, 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:27.000 which is it's basically overdraft protection with zero fees. That's 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:30.080 a pretty sweet feature because I've always hated the idea 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:32.960 of overdraft even being a thing. Right. It's it's crazy 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:34.920 that the banks would say, Okay, so you don't have 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:36.920 enough money to the bank to actually make this purchase. 0:11:37.240 --> 0:11:39.320 But we're gonna make it happen anyway. It's just gonna 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:41.480 cost you like an extra fifty bucks total and fees. 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:45.480 Did you like profit line, Oh my gosh, don't do that, Like, 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:47.480 just deny the charge, don't let it go through, don't 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:50.000 charge me. It's pernicious. It's just a way for them 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:52.240 to extract more money out of us. I was trying 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:54.440 to like think through some different examples, and it kind 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:55.880 of makes me think of like at a hotel, Right, 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:57.760 you've got the little mini fridge, and you know everything 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:00.960 in their costs costs extra time. But imagine this scenario. 0:12:01.040 --> 0:12:03.440 Imagine you're sitting there, you're eating some spicy chicken wings 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:05.360 and you're like, oh my gosh, like my mouth was 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:07.000 on fire. I need I need some water. And you're like, 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:08.640 all right, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna grab the 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:11.040 water out of the mini fridge. Except that instead of 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:13.320 them charging you money, it's as if the way that 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:16.360 you receive that that nice, fancy water is like somehow 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:20.080 your spicy chicken got spicier, Like it just adds fuel 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:22.040 to the fire. And so in this way, if you 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:24.040 don't have money to spend and then they're like, oh, 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:25.559 we're gonna allow you to make that purchase, but we're 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:27.280 gonna charge you even more. I hate that. It's just 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:30.199 kind of like this, you know, this evil cycle. It's 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:33.240 like whatever, the opposite of a virtuous cyclist. But again, 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:36.560 because allies offering this cover draft uh and it's totally free, 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:38.600 I am all for that. Yeah. Well, we like their services. 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:40.400 Anyway they're offering is like that. That is just one 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:42.719 of the best online banks you could be business. I've 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:45.040 been with them now for like seven eight years. There 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:46.719 are other great ones, but ally is definitely one of 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:48.839 the best. Yip. Alright, Matt, We've got more stories to 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:52.160 get to, including one about something that's almost as ridiculous 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:54.000 as over draft fees. We're gonna get to that in 0:12:54.000 --> 0:13:05.800 the ludicrous headline of the week right after this. All right, man, 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:07.600 we are back to the break. This is our Friday 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:09.520 flight and we are covering some of the different stories 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:12.000 we came across this week. And it's time now for 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:14.560 the ludicrous headline of the week. Uh. And this one 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:17.560 comes from the Wall Street Journal and it reads, congrats 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:22.000 you've won a higher electric bill. Uh. That headline caught 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:24.040 my attention on Gotta Read this one. This one was 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:27.079 by James Handley. He wrote about just something that's happening 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:30.960 to folks in the city of Yonkers, New York. Residents. 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:33.640 They're getting mailers telling them that the city is migrating 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:39.920 to renewable energy. Yeah, it sounds great. I like electric vehicles. 0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:43.000 I like solar power. There's actually a solar farm by 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:45.640 Georgia Power south of town that we often drive by, 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:47.360 you know, on the way to the beach sometimes and 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:50.480 we're like, I, it's marvel at it's super cool. It's cool. 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:52.559 Almost makes it feel like you're kind of like back 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:55.800 in your skate Scandinavian home or you're like, look at 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:58.560 how this renewable energy. But here's the thing. There's a catch. 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:01.480 You know, the mailers that folk were receiving and it 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:04.360 wasn't all that easy to find, And it turns out 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:07.600 that if residents don't opt out of this transition to 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:10.360 renewable energy, their monthly bills we're going to increase by 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:14.719 nine I would be totally piste if that was me. Yeah, 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:16.880 that that is rough. That like, literally, hey, next month, 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:19.760 we're gonna jack up your electricity bill by almost twenty 0:14:20.440 --> 0:14:22.160 if you don't opt out. I hate that you have 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:24.400 to actually take an action. It's not that you can 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:27.000 opt in and pay more if you so choose because 0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:29.800 you care that much about renewals. It's the opposite, and 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:32.640 they hit it, which is crazy, and this could potentially 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:36.359 cost folks hundreds of dollars or more in electricity bills 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:39.800 every single year. And so yeah, the lesson here, I 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:41.720 think is to read the fine print. While you and 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:44.800 I'm at were all about the proliferation of alternative sources 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:48.120 of energy and exploring wind energy and solar energy, sol 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:51.000 solar energy continues to get better and better, and the 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:53.480 cost continue to go down further and further, and it's 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:55.960 gonna become more a part of how we get energy 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:58.040 in this country, which we think is good. But pulling 0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:01.360 the wool over people's eyes in a mailer that most 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:03.680 people are going to quickly throw in the waste basket, 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:06.160 assuming that it is trash like, that's just an awful 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:08.200 way to go about it. And so yeah, just to 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:10.520 the city of Yonkers, New York, do better. Yeah, it's 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:12.360 always important for folks to know and to have the 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:14.880 option to decide what they want to pay for do. 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:18.720 Let's talk about media, because the democratization of media, it 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:21.760 has become an interesting phenomenon to watch. It wasn't that 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:24.200 long ago Americans, they used to get all of their news, 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:26.520 all of their information from, you know, like the three 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:29.560 main channels, like Walt Walter Cronkite. He was the voice 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:32.960 that everyone trusted. Uh. Then after that cable came along, 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:35.800 they gave us a bunch more options, not only for news, 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:40.080 but for entertainment as well. But the information environment now 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:42.680 makes cable like looks like a joke. Basically, it's it's 0:15:42.680 --> 0:15:46.640 been crazy to watch. But many podcasters, YouTube creators, TikTok influencers, 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:48.680 they all have more viewers and they hold a lot 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:51.760 more sway than even the legacy media companies. But the 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.200 thing is that also comes with some trade offs. In 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:56.040 one of those is figuring out who you can trust 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:59.480 to give you that information that's not gonna lead you astray. Uh. 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:01.440 The ecount of this, they actually had a great article 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:05.720 about the proliferation of personal finance advice on TikTok uh 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:08.200 and it turns out that nearly twenty percent of young 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:12.400 folks turned there for financial advice. Is that an awesome thing. Well, 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:14.600 you know, we wouldn't say it's necessarily awesome, but maybe 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:16.760 it's not the worst thing ever as well. Yeah, yeah, 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:19.280 I think the democratization of media, like you said, has 0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:21.440 had trade offs where it's like, man, you can get 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:25.040 some of the most interesting, curated content that kind of 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:27.080 fits you like a glove, as opposed to having three 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:29.880 choices and picking, you know, the one that you like 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:34.200 kind of the best exactly. And so it shocked me 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:36.560 though that this many people are turning to to TikTok 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:39.480 for financial advice. I guess to a certain degree. Um, 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:41.640 I guess. You know, we've got a lot of influencer 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:44.680 friends in the space who are using that actually for good. 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:46.920 They are doing good work on TikTok and they are 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:50.920 putting helpful information out into that space. And but here's 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:52.480 the thing. You know, some while some of these new 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:56.320 media creators they're smart, they're earnest, um, they're reaching people 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:58.240 where they're hanging out, which I think is a good thing. 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:01.560 They're giving helpful advice. But at the same time, we 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:03.840 would say that you need to be careful who you 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:07.239 trust to give you information. Don't take every piece of 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:10.359 money advice you here on social media to heart, because 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:13.280 there are a lot of bad pieces of information out 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:15.879 there too, and that's in part because of some folks. 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:19.040 Well they might mean well, but they don't have necessarily 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:21.640 the depth of knowledge to broadcast advice to the whole 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:23.960 world and kind of give you a thorough understanding of 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:26.280 a topic. And I don't know that TikTok is built 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:29.600 for thorough understandings of a topic anyway. Right. Um, On 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:32.639 top of that, there's been this proliferation of scams on 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:35.440 social media. That's according to a new report from the 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:39.520 FTC from the Federal Trade Commission, so reported losses from 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:43.520 social media scams in the year they were eighteen times 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:46.640 what they were in seventeen. That's a massive jump in 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:49.960 just four years. So, yeah, we just wanted to put 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:52.000 this warning out there. It's totally fine if you're on 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:54.040 TikTok and you like the dance videos and if you 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:56.080 find the right people to follow on there, you can 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:59.040 get some helpful money advice for how you live. But 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:02.160 there are also are people out there who aren't worth following, 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:04.520 and you know what, they might even lead you astray, 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:07.800 They might even scam you out of money. That's right, Yeah, 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:09.640 so kind of along those lines, let's talk about giving 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:13.359 money away. Let's talk about philanthropy, not to scam artists, 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:17.320 nonprofit organizations that you want to support. Uh. And you know, 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:19.639 we're also seeing headlines too that aren't just detailing the 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:22.840 millions that are being donated from like the world's richest folks. 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:25.679 Although I saw that Melinda French Gates, she's slowing her 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:27.240 role a little bit. She's not gonna be giving away 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:30.440 like all of her money, you know, definitely billions and billions, 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:32.440 but maybe not all of her billions. Gonna keep a 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:34.159 couple of bill in the nest, the nest egg and 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:37.240 you know, in her allies, heavy's accountably. Yeah. I was 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:39.119 gonna make a joke about another bill not paying in 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:42.800 the nest anymore. Let's not go there. Uh. But there's 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:44.679