Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I'm Matt,
Speaker 1: and today we're talking about why your commute is killing you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm at Today on the show, we're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: the problem with commuting, why it's so bad, and then
Speaker 1: we're gonna provide some answers for how people can get
Speaker 1: some relief and hopefully figure out ways to commute less,
Speaker 1: and then how to take action so that they aren't
Speaker 1: in their cars as much. I thought you love commuting them, man,
Speaker 1: Oh it's my favorite. Well, now that I'm commuting by
Speaker 1: bike mostly, had another great ride today to and from work.
Speaker 1: It was lovely. I feel like you guys are about
Speaker 1: ready to switch it to uh one car. You know,
Speaker 1: I haven't given it some more thought, and I think
Speaker 1: we're getting closer for sure. Although a bunch of episodes
Speaker 1: ago we talked about this app called Rapidfi right wrapping
Speaker 1: your car and you thought it was ridiculous. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: was like episode two or three or something like that.
Speaker 1: And so they started a new campaign in our area.
Speaker 1: And I'm getting my leaf wrapped on Thursday, dog, are
Speaker 1: you really? Yeah? I'm gonna make myself like fifty bucks
Speaker 1: a week. That's two hundred bucks a month. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: two h bucks. But what is it? I mean, what's
Speaker 1: gonna be on your car? I think your Salesforce. I
Speaker 1: don't really know what they do, and I don't really care. Wait,
Speaker 1: that's who are that's who park it works for? Way
Speaker 1: to Go, Parker. You just got on my vehicle. Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh. Okay, I will say that's much better than
Speaker 1: a lifetime daytime TV show or uh. I kind of
Speaker 1: want something less business e and more goofy. I was
Speaker 1: kind of hoping the Honey Booboo thing would work out,
Speaker 1: but because because the Salesforce is gonna seem a little
Speaker 1: too like legit, like you actually work for Salesforce and yeah,
Speaker 1: people are gonna be like, oh, well, how's how's it
Speaker 1: working for Salesforce? I'm like, I don't, I don't know.
Speaker 1: This is just that's the wrong guy exactly, sending for
Speaker 1: the buck. The Honey Boo Boo thing though, and if
Speaker 1: you didn't hear that episode, the potential campaign that I
Speaker 1: was gonna participate in and get my car wrapped four
Speaker 1: was a new Honey Boo Boo Show or Honey Boo
Speaker 1: Boo's Mom's Show or something like that, and I just,
Speaker 1: I mean, I thought that was gonna be hilarious and
Speaker 1: my neighbors would probably Letty Bobo's mom's sister once in
Speaker 1: on the action, right, Yeah, she wants her on show
Speaker 1: now too, And I just thought that would be really funny.
Speaker 1: But sadly it didn't work out, did not quite in time.
Speaker 1: But this one is working out. Legit on Thursday, can
Speaker 1: wrapped on Thursday. She don't care. She don't care, all right,
Speaker 1: Kate would care. Well, you guys have one car and
Speaker 1: she drives that, and so this is the car that
Speaker 1: you know, I might drive it just a little bit,
Speaker 1: even just up and down the street because you have
Speaker 1: to wrap up like ten miles a day in order
Speaker 1: to get the requirement, the full bounty or whatever. Do
Speaker 1: you drink anything this past week? I uh totally broke
Speaker 1: something out of the seller, which I don't do all
Speaker 1: that often. And I've got this, like I call it
Speaker 1: a seller. I got like twelve beers in my pantry
Speaker 1: that so. But I do like to I think, like
Speaker 1: we talked about recently, I like to age some beers
Speaker 1: over time. And I've pulled out one of my loa
Speaker 1: Gunitas high West Ifides oh whoa high West ifies those
Speaker 1: like those way back. Yeah, it's so good. It's like
Speaker 1: coffee stout aged in whiskey barrels, rye whiskey barrels, and
Speaker 1: it it was delicious, aging perfectly so nice. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: if anybody out there, I think we've mentioned this before,
Speaker 1: if you have some sour beers or better aged or
Speaker 1: if you have you know, bourbon barrel aged stouts reporters
Speaker 1: or something like that, those beers are often great to
Speaker 1: hang onto for a couple of years, and the flavor
Speaker 1: changes over time, so it's always fun to go back
Speaker 1: to something like that. Do not age an I p
Speaker 1: a or a palele, No drink those fresh. Those dastes
Speaker 1: terrible with a few months on them. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: asked what you had, man, because I just had my
Speaker 1: first Athena. Yeah, that's such a good beer. After having
Speaker 1: that French Imperial Berlin of Vice, I was like, you
Speaker 1: know what it's it's officially Berlin of Vice season man.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, having that Athena, it's such a good
Speaker 1: summer summer light drinking beer, not like lighting body, but
Speaker 1: it's got that acidity, has got that sour, that tartness,
Speaker 1: that wheat finish and it's it's one of those perfect
Speaker 1: beach beers too, So we're gonna have to bring some
Speaker 1: of that to the beach. Is anything. It's like under
Speaker 1: five percent and light and refreshing and tart like that.
Speaker 1: I mean, I just love that. It's the It's the
Speaker 1: perfect thing to drink. Feet in the sand, you know, waves,
Speaker 1: waves crashing up on the shore and everything after up,
Speaker 1: I cried, Yeah, let's move on to the beer were
Speaker 1: drinking today. And we went from an awesome major brewery
Speaker 1: last week, ale Gash Too, a brewery that I guarantee
Speaker 1: you probably nobody listening to this podcast has ever heard of,
Speaker 1: because we're ultra hip guys. We're drinking something from. It's
Speaker 1: like listening to bands that you've never heard of yet,
Speaker 1: you know, like, yeah, yeah, I totally heard of them.
Speaker 1: I just made that name up. We're drinking something from.
Speaker 1: My friend John is a home brewer, and there are
Speaker 1: a lot of good homebrewers out there, but there's also
Speaker 1: a lot of bad home brewers out there, right, And
Speaker 1: so if I say homebrewer, you might be like, oh,
Speaker 1: it's probably gonna taste like crap, But no, no, no,
Speaker 1: John's legit, man, he might be one of the best
Speaker 1: brewers in the state. Yeah, he just doesn't produce it
Speaker 1: for public consumption, that's right. So he bottles a few
Speaker 1: things and I was fortunate to get one of these,
Speaker 1: and so Matt and I are drinking tonight. It's so
Speaker 1: good John's beer. And his brewery is called Little Cottage
Speaker 1: Brewery and the beer is called a splinter in the mind.
Speaker 1: And I'm really excited about this, Matt, because literally, if
Speaker 1: you asked me what my favorite style of beer was,
Speaker 1: it would be a Flanders Landers Red. Man, this is
Speaker 1: the best. I'm with you, man, this has got it
Speaker 1: all like Flanders Red. It's got like the sour sort
Speaker 1: of heart aspect of it, right, yep, you like that.
Speaker 1: You like that side of it. I love that side
Speaker 1: of it. But then I love the vinegary side. It's
Speaker 1: got this distinct vinegary kind of taste. And so I'm
Speaker 1: really excited to get his take on it and see
Speaker 1: what this tastes like. It's almost like a shrub. I
Speaker 1: don't know if any of you guys out there have
Speaker 1: had like like that cocktail, Like, have you ever ever
Speaker 1: had shrubs? I don't need shrubs, man, It's weird. It's like,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a very it's a high, highly acidic
Speaker 1: sort of cocktail that you kind of age and you
Speaker 1: muddle and you know, you adge into it, making me
Speaker 1: think about Monty Python. Say, is that what we're talking about? Similar? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was like that, all right, but uh but yeah,
Speaker 1: it's similar as a cdity level, which is, yeah, something
Speaker 1: I'm drawn to. But then on top of that, the
Speaker 1: other aspect of it, man, is then they take them
Speaker 1: and they age them either onwood or in barrels, and
Speaker 1: then that just gives it another round of amazing flavor. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And so this one in particular is aged fifteen months
Speaker 1: in a rye whiskey barrel and then another two months
Speaker 1: on tart cherries. Gosh, so it just sounds perfect. So
Speaker 1: juiced to have this thing. Man, it's gonna be so good.
Speaker 1: So I'm pretty pumped. Let's uh, let's pop it now.
Speaker 1: So the pop sound was a little weak on this
Speaker 1: because John did a wax wax the top of the bottle,
Speaker 1: which is kind of a cool look but also sometimes
Speaker 1: makes it a pain in the ask to get to
Speaker 1: the beer. Yeah, we each got one of these cute
Speaker 1: little bottles. Man, They kind of look like mini bombers,
Speaker 1: you know, they're like the they look like the big ones,
Speaker 1: but they're kind of like your own personal pan pizza. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think Lander's red style, right, Yeah, these are I
Speaker 1: think the three seventy five million liter bottles, which are
Speaker 1: really cool looking. When I stop my nose in that glass,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, that smells so good. The size of
Speaker 1: your cheeks just start watering because it's got that My
Speaker 1: mouth knows what's up. It's like we're about the party
Speaker 1: taste buds getting excited. So Flanders right, known for the
Speaker 1: color too. Yeah, it's got a brownish red color to
Speaker 1: that classic Flanders red red lick to it, and it's perfect. Dude,
Speaker 1: How does he do it? So he's known for making
Speaker 1: he makes amazing stouts, and has he ever made one
Speaker 1: of these before as far as you know, as far
Speaker 1: as I know, he hasn't. He's made some good sours,
Speaker 1: But like, crap, this is such a particularise style and
Speaker 1: really difficult to make. I assume it's difficult. You just
Speaker 1: don't see you don't see a lot of people doing it,
Speaker 1: so you you've got to assume that it's somewhat difficult.
Speaker 1: And and and he like seriously nailed this. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: that's like a Barry Bonds home run or Tiger Woods
Speaker 1: sunk putt or something like that. Like that's what this
Speaker 1: tastes like, a little lebron in a glass right here,
Speaker 1: exactly exactly. It's unparalleled. Sorry, if you don't know sports,
Speaker 1: those are sports references. I'm not so good at the sports.
Speaker 1: It starts off with that classic Flanders red aggressiveness, but
Speaker 1: then immediately you can it switches to the cherries. You
Speaker 1: taste that fruit. You totally get the cherries, which is
Speaker 1: so nice, like the sweetness from the cherries and the
Speaker 1: the whiskey barrel. I think kind of keeps it all
Speaker 1: in check that it's not too sweet or too vinegary
Speaker 1: or too tart. And it's like this mellows it all
Speaker 1: out there, and perfectly balanced representation helps it to finish
Speaker 1: a little dryer, like kind of having that wood there.
Speaker 1: I think, like I said, this is my favorite style,
Speaker 1: and I've had some really good representations of it, and
Speaker 1: I've had some really bad ones, and this is like
Speaker 1: up there top two, so good. This might be the
Speaker 1: best beer I've had all year, Like seriously, right now,
Speaker 1: best beer. You want to go ahead and say it,
Speaker 1: because this is freaking amazing, I'll say it. We had
Speaker 1: some great beers on the podcast, some great beers. We
Speaker 1: have a ton of great beers. Yeah. Pretty much every
Speaker 1: week we have a great beer. Yeah exactly, and that
Speaker 1: doesn't fail. And this is probably the best one so far.
Speaker 1: So John, you're the master. Thank you, John. This is fantastic. Man. Cheers.
Speaker 1: All right, man, let's talk about commuting. Why it's killing you.
Speaker 1: Let's do it. Commuting is essentially the opposite of this
Speaker 1: beer that we're drinking. Yeah, white knuckled hell, this is
Speaker 1: like this brings life, that brings you. So let's cover
Speaker 1: the problem first. Yeah. Yeah. So ultimately, one of the
Speaker 1: major problems is that we sit too much in our culture,
Speaker 1: and traditional commuting in your car is by yourself sitting right,
Speaker 1: Yeah exactly. We touched on this recently too in a
Speaker 1: in an episode. I forget which one, but we're talking
Speaker 1: about how you most folks literally you sit in your car,
Speaker 1: you drive to work, you sit all day, you sit
Speaker 1: in a cubicle, and then you just repeat the whole
Speaker 1: thing over again. Can you come home? And then you
Speaker 1: are a lot of times sitting there watching TV or
Speaker 1: you know, eating dinner, sitting on our butts. It's like
Speaker 1: the it's not good for you, and we need to
Speaker 1: get off our butts more in the winter. Man, Like
Speaker 1: when I'm sitting in my home office they're working, I
Speaker 1: can literally feel my body just like slow down and
Speaker 1: rotting away, like it's not able to keep warm. Like
Speaker 1: my body is not able to do the thing that
Speaker 1: it needs to do, which is maintain it's temperature. You
Speaker 1: have to get this huge down jacket because you just
Speaker 1: stop moving and the blood starts slowing down, and it's
Speaker 1: just bad. Yeah, I hate it. One scientist a few
Speaker 1: years back said sitting is the new smoking, and so
Speaker 1: he had done some research on what sitting does to
Speaker 1: your body. And in our culture, with how sedentary we've become,
Speaker 1: like we said, you know, with commuting, sitting at work,
Speaker 1: sitting at home, all the time, we're we're sitting, sitting, sitting,
Speaker 1: and and essentially it's so bad for us. It's the
Speaker 1: one researcher says that it's like smoking, that it's that
Speaker 1: bad for you, and so it's something that we should
Speaker 1: be concerned about. Estimates say that we sit for half
Speaker 1: of our waking hours. And dude, I would even say
Speaker 1: more than that. I mean, literally, if you think about
Speaker 1: the amount of time that people work and the amount
Speaker 1: of time they spend in their car right there, I
Speaker 1: feel like that's over half. And it's not like they
Speaker 1: spend the rest of the day standing up. And we're
Speaker 1: not talking about everyone here, but yeah, maybe you know,
Speaker 1: most people that do sit down when they work, maybe
Speaker 1: they get up to go to the bathroom or to
Speaker 1: grab something off the printer, but probably eighty two percent
Speaker 1: of their you know, in a stat I just made up,
Speaker 1: probably that probably that much of the time is spent
Speaker 1: sitting in front of their computer. Rule exactly. It's well documented. Yeah. Man,
Speaker 1: that's a huge problem. And another thing too is that,
Speaker 1: I mean it's costing us money. So it's it's literally
Speaker 1: taking our health and now it's also taking our money.
Speaker 1: You take into account what your hourly wages, but then
Speaker 1: you actually if you take into account the amount of
Speaker 1: time you spend in the car getting there, I mean,
Speaker 1: you divide that out and you're actually earning, you know,
Speaker 1: a good bit less than you actually think you're making.
Speaker 1: So if you're making but you're commuting forty five minutes,
Speaker 1: each way and sitting in traffic and car costs and
Speaker 1: fuel and all these other things added in. You should
Speaker 1: actually do the math and see what you're real hourly wages.
Speaker 1: It turns out that you're probably making substantially blessed than
Speaker 1: you thought you were with all of the costs that
Speaker 1: are associated with going to work and commuting in a
Speaker 1: big steel box. And so it's really important to factor
Speaker 1: the costs of your commute and car ownership and how
Speaker 1: much time you're wasting into that hourly wage to d
Speaker 1: to get a realistic picture of what you're actually earning
Speaker 1: from your job. Yeah, we recently talked about the legit
Speaker 1: way to own a car. So on top of all this,
Speaker 1: like Joel said, if you are financing, say a brand
Speaker 1: new car, not only is this killing you, but it's
Speaker 1: actually costing you way more money than you even realize.
Speaker 1: I think, on top of the fact that we're sitting
Speaker 1: too much and that's killing us, and that we're actually
Speaker 1: not making as much money as we think because we're
Speaker 1: spending a lot of time in the car as opposed
Speaker 1: to time in the office actually making the money. Right,
Speaker 1: We're spending money on fuel costs and on the actual
Speaker 1: car that gets us there, and the time it takes
Speaker 1: to get to work that we're not actually getting paid.
Speaker 1: So those are a lot of costic have to be
Speaker 1: factored in. But on top of that, I mean, how
Speaker 1: awful is traffic? Right? Yeah? Man? I mean like the stress,
Speaker 1: the stress of sitting in traffic, like what it does
Speaker 1: to you psychologically, doesn't get the endorphins flowing for you,
Speaker 1: and you feel all you feel all jazz once you
Speaker 1: get home and you get all loose and you're like,
Speaker 1: it's just like nothing, just like a night out with
Speaker 1: my lady in traffic, you know, can't be a I
Speaker 1: have home in Atlanta. Traffic Certainly where you live, maybe
Speaker 1: it's not quite as bad as as we have it here,
Speaker 1: but still I guarantee nobody really enjoys driving to and
Speaker 1: from work. Is it time to talk about the solutions? Then? Yeah,
Speaker 1: there are a lot of solutions that are out there
Speaker 1: for people who are, uh, who are taking their car
Speaker 1: to work. And so I think too, you probably know
Speaker 1: some of these basic things, right you. You know that
Speaker 1: you know we're gonna say bike to work, and you
Speaker 1: might say, well that doesn't work for me, but we're
Speaker 1: going to offer a bunch of different solutions, and hopefully
Speaker 1: there's something that you can implement in some way, form
Speaker 1: or fashion to commute less frequently, or to commute in
Speaker 1: a different way, or to change the schedule that you
Speaker 1: have at work. We're gonna come up with a lot
Speaker 1: of options here for you to consider so that you're
Speaker 1: commuting is less bad and hopefully costing you less money. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: Like you said, these aren't things that are revolutionary, right,
Speaker 1: Like the actual things that we're going to suggest, So
Speaker 1: what we're talking about are the alternatives the traditional commuting,
Speaker 1: so either car pooling, public transit, biking, even walking, uh
Speaker 1: and but even working from home as well. Like, these
Speaker 1: aren't things things that, say, you've never heard of, But
Speaker 1: what we're gonna do is specifically to talk about why
Speaker 1: that they're good not only for you obviously, but as
Speaker 1: well for like your employer and even your city and
Speaker 1: the environment as well. Yeah, and and also how you
Speaker 1: can actually implement some of these things in your life.
Speaker 1: And we're not gonna be able to speak to every circumstance, right,
Speaker 1: If you are calling on accounts across town, chances are that,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's not even a commute, that's just what
Speaker 1: you do right, and so that's really hard to cut
Speaker 1: down on your a ups driver and yeah, that's your life.
Speaker 1: The truck's gotta get gotta get around town to drop
Speaker 1: off the packages. There's not much you can change. You
Speaker 1: can listen to this podcast on repeat and that's going
Speaker 1: to help at least, But they're they're only there's only uh,
Speaker 1: certain professions that can actually be helped by this. But
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of people and there's a
Speaker 1: lot of practical takeaways for almost everybody in this. Yeah. Also,
Speaker 1: first let's talk about the benefit to employees. So you
Speaker 1: as workers, I mean it should be obvious. Thing goes
Speaker 1: without saying that employees want to have options, to be
Speaker 1: able to either work from home or at least hopefully
Speaker 1: to have some sort of incentive, like you know, it's
Speaker 1: like some sort of carrot dangled in front of them
Speaker 1: to sort of challenge them to think, oh man, what
Speaker 1: are some other ways that I could get to work,
Speaker 1: you know, while maybe saving money, while enjoying myself more
Speaker 1: and not being nearly as stressed out as I normally am.
Speaker 1: So if you are able to work from home, you
Speaker 1: should take advantage of that and consider asking if you
Speaker 1: can work from home more than you're currently allowed to do.
Speaker 1: It's less stress in your life if you don't have
Speaker 1: to fight traffic, it's less cost less war and terror
Speaker 1: on your car. And the other cool thing is that
Speaker 1: sometimes you're more productive when you're working from home, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: mean there's just so much time that you can essentially
Speaker 1: reclaim and kind of put towards productivity. It gives you
Speaker 1: a little more time to be flexible, maybe stay during
Speaker 1: the day, but basically, yeah, it allows you just to
Speaker 1: get more stuff done, uh, in a shorter amount of time. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And like Matt, for you, when you were able to
Speaker 1: start working from home, you know, you're makeup time got
Speaker 1: cut in half, Like you you didn't have to look
Speaker 1: beautiful for all the people at the office like you stop.
Speaker 1: You know, you started wearing T shirts as opposed to
Speaker 1: these like three piece suits and stuff like that, right yeah,
Speaker 1: and that you had like the pocket watch and ye
Speaker 1: yeah yeah, the monitors take a long time to put on.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying. So that's another great benefit of
Speaker 1: working from home as you can just keep your pjs on, right,
Speaker 1: make a quick breakfast and sit down and get to work. Um,
Speaker 1: there's fewer meetings that you have to tend, fewer interruptions.
Speaker 1: And granted, I'll tell you I enjoy working in office.
Speaker 1: I enjoy working with people, but it's really nice to
Speaker 1: work from home. Sometimes I do feel more productive when
Speaker 1: I am at home, working alone and don't have the
Speaker 1: constant interruption of working in a workplace where surrounded by
Speaker 1: other people. Yeah, and surrounded by just like those constant
Speaker 1: meetings that you kind of get scheduled for. We're just like,
Speaker 1: I don't need to be in this meeting, but I'm
Speaker 1: on the list and I was sent to invite, and
Speaker 1: I'm supposed to be here, I think, but I just
Speaker 1: don't need to be here. I just remember those from
Speaker 1: ten years ago, back when I used to work in
Speaker 1: an agency, and I hated those. Dude, like I've been there,
Speaker 1: done that. Oh my gosh, probably yesterday. That's just the
Speaker 1: kind of thing that just drives me crazy, is you know,
Speaker 1: like when you're just staring inefficiency in the face and
Speaker 1: you're just like, I just want to shoot myself right now.
Speaker 1: Like yeah, and not the worst, not all meetings are bad,
Speaker 1: but you know, and sometimes it's just an impromptu visit
Speaker 1: from a coworker, and those are fun. But there are
Speaker 1: days where it's nice to feel like you're uper productive.
Speaker 1: And I know the days that I feel like that
Speaker 1: are usually either on Fridays when everyone else is working
Speaker 1: from home and I'm in the office, or when I'm
Speaker 1: working from home, I feel like that. So I enjoy
Speaker 1: having the interactional with my coworkers. But those days are
Speaker 1: really nice to have. And in another point, another benefit
Speaker 1: to alternatives to traditional com meeting. I mean we already
Speaker 1: touched on this, but you just save a lot of money.
Speaker 1: You just take a new account how much money you
Speaker 1: put towards gas, towards your car upkeep. You know, if
Speaker 1: you're driving in solo and that's just a lot of
Speaker 1: your monthly budget that you're not gonna have to put
Speaker 1: towards transportation. And not only that, you're gonna see your
Speaker 1: vehicle just last you longer. The value is gonna kind
Speaker 1: of maintain and you're not going to see it depreciate
Speaker 1: nearly as much as if you're driving it every day
Speaker 1: forty five minutes to from work. Yeah. Completely, If you're
Speaker 1: able to take a few thousand miles off your car
Speaker 1: every year, you know, that might be one fewer oil change,
Speaker 1: and it's so easily, especially city driving. To man, that's
Speaker 1: like the worst versus just like hopping on the interstate,
Speaker 1: you know, and that's less gas, so you've got to
Speaker 1: use and that less breaks, less everything, maybe cheaper insurance
Speaker 1: that you can get. If you can get under a
Speaker 1: certain mile cap from your insure, you might be able
Speaker 1: to save you know, a hundred dollars or a hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty dollars every year by driving less. Yes, So
Speaker 1: they're all all these costs that you're not factoring in
Speaker 1: that go into your commute into work every day. So
Speaker 1: it's really important to sit down put those things on
Speaker 1: paper to at least know what you're spending so that
Speaker 1: you can know what to ask if your employer when
Speaker 1: you're looking at alternative commute options. So another benefit, and
Speaker 1: this is specific to working from home, but just being
Speaker 1: able to work from home and have that flexibility to
Speaker 1: kind of do some personal stuff. And I know this
Speaker 1: kind of sounds counter like counterintuitive to like the productivity one,
Speaker 1: but occasionally instead of taking say a half day off
Speaker 1: at work just because yet you know, you have to
Speaker 1: take time to get to somewhere and then pick somebody
Speaker 1: up and all that. If you're already at home, you're
Speaker 1: still able to get a lot done. But then if
Speaker 1: you have a little bit of flexibility to say, go
Speaker 1: do something that you need to do, or like with
Speaker 1: us with having rental properties, it's nice to be able
Speaker 1: to have a little bit of time to kind of
Speaker 1: jump out and go check something out, meet a contractor
Speaker 1: over at a house. Having flexibility is key. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: if you cut the hour and a half commute, the
Speaker 1: time there, the time home. If you're able to cut
Speaker 1: that commute out once once or twice a week, and
Speaker 1: then you can you know, hop into see your dentist
Speaker 1: and that's a quick hour appointment, but you made it
Speaker 1: up because you're not commuting. It's things like that that
Speaker 1: are really nice. Or you know flex days where let's
Speaker 1: say you're able to work a little bit longer on
Speaker 1: another day of the week while you're in the office,
Speaker 1: it might help you avoid traffic two and then give
Speaker 1: you more flexi the next day to work a little
Speaker 1: bit less so you can factor in a doctor's appointment
Speaker 1: and not have to take a full day off of work.
Speaker 1: So if an employer can be flexible, if you can
Speaker 1: work with your employer to add some flexibility to your
Speaker 1: work schedule that can really benefit both of you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's huge, man, I don't know how many we're at
Speaker 1: the age now where we've got friends with kids and
Speaker 1: the kids stuff and stuff is just uh, it's becoming
Speaker 1: a thing, you know, Like we're like our schedules. We're
Speaker 1: starting to plan our years around like the school schedule,
Speaker 1: which is kind of crazy. But more and more we
Speaker 1: hear parents talking about like how those flex days are
Speaker 1: so clutch, being able to kick off a little bit
Speaker 1: early in order to go pick somebody up, or go
Speaker 1: to an event, go to parent teacher conference. I don't know,
Speaker 1: like all these things that we're about to learn firsthand. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so we should talk about too, like the employer
Speaker 1: and how the employers can work on answering this question.
Speaker 1: And if you are not an employer, you're just an
Speaker 1: employee listening. I think this is an important section for
Speaker 1: you too, because it kind of helps you to know
Speaker 1: how to approach your employer when it comes to asking
Speaker 1: some of these questions and trying to increase some of
Speaker 1: the flexibility that's in your schedule so that you can
Speaker 1: cut your commute time and your commute costs. Yeah, this
Speaker 1: is your AMMO, right, because if your employer doesn't really
Speaker 1: see how this is going to affect their bottom line,
Speaker 1: they're not necessarily gonna be for They're gonna think, oh,
Speaker 1: this is just some sort of gimmick. You know, this
Speaker 1: is what all the kids are asking for these days.
Speaker 1: Maybe we'll do it. Maybe not. This is a ploy
Speaker 1: for Jimmy to knock off early and go play some
Speaker 1: disc golf or something like that. By Jimmy you mean Joel,
Speaker 1: I mean myself. You can't just create an avatar for
Speaker 1: yourself and only change the last three letters of your name. Dude,
Speaker 1: he has like all the same hobbies that you do,
Speaker 1: but Jimmy wants to go to this Jimmy wants to
Speaker 1: play some nerdy board games tonight. Um. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: it's important for them to realize how that's gonna affect
Speaker 1: their business. Right. If you work for a smart, successful employer,
Speaker 1: that's what they're going to want to see. That's that
Speaker 1: they want to see how that's going to affect the
Speaker 1: bottom line, the bottom dollar. Yeah. I think ultimately workers
Speaker 1: appreciate flexibility and being treated like adults. And one of
Speaker 1: the biggest things that does for you as an employer
Speaker 1: to treat your employees as adults, like they know how
Speaker 1: to make their own decisions. And part of that comes
Speaker 1: out of the hiring process, right making sure you know
Speaker 1: the people that you're hiring and you trust them to
Speaker 1: do a good job. You trust them not to take
Speaker 1: advantage of the rules. But if you do treat your
Speaker 1: employees with that sort of care and intention, it'll breed loyalty.
Speaker 1: And what's one of the highest costs for employers. It's
Speaker 1: finding new talent and then training that talent and giving
Speaker 1: them a similar into the workplace. It's so much better
Speaker 1: to keep good talent that you have in your workforce.
Speaker 1: And if they feel like they have that autonomy in
Speaker 1: that ability to create a flexible schedule and work hard
Speaker 1: for forty forty hours a week that they're tasked to do,
Speaker 1: but have the freedom to knock off early or start
Speaker 1: work early the next day if they had to leave
Speaker 1: early for a doctor's appointment or to see their kids
Speaker 1: soccer practice, that creates this amazing loyalty that keeps people
Speaker 1: in the company. You create a culture where people want
Speaker 1: to stick around. Yeah. Man. Not only that, but having
Speaker 1: that autonomy, like you said, it kind of gives an
Speaker 1: employee like ownership of the work. And so not only
Speaker 1: do they are they just doing what they're being told
Speaker 1: to do, but they kind of feel like they are invested,
Speaker 1: you know, like this is like their company, this is
Speaker 1: part of who they are. It starts to, like you said,
Speaker 1: like that culture, it starts to kind of seep into
Speaker 1: everything and it and if it's good culture that you
Speaker 1: wanted to seep into everything, it affects everything, and it
Speaker 1: it affects the work, the quality of the work, and
Speaker 1: the creativity. You can't beat it. Yeah, that's sort of
Speaker 1: mentality towards your employees is you're not just a worker.
Speaker 1: B You're a part of what makes this company work. Yeah,
Speaker 1: You're part of the team yep. And and that has
Speaker 1: such an effect on what you're gonna get out of people,
Speaker 1: the mindset that they come into work with. Not that
Speaker 1: I have these tasks I need to accomplish, but I
Speaker 1: have this business in this brand and this culture that
Speaker 1: I want to be a part of and I want
Speaker 1: to build. And so as an employer, you're really really
Speaker 1: smart to think of your employees in this manner and
Speaker 1: treat your employees like adults. To breed that loyalty. I mean,
Speaker 1: really it's kind of self serving, you know if you
Speaker 1: think about it, Like we're saying that these are things
Speaker 1: that are good for the employer, but like, yeah, do
Speaker 1: these things for your employees because it's gonna benefit you,
Speaker 1: like these things, like it all comes back to the employer.
Speaker 1: So and another solid, sort of tangible way that this
Speaker 1: saves and benefits employers too is just space. Uh, there's
Speaker 1: less of a need for obviously cars, right, if you've
Speaker 1: got folks that are car pooling or taking alternative means,
Speaker 1: whether it be public transit, biking, walking, you don't need
Speaker 1: to pay for that extra two levels of the parking
Speaker 1: deck because you're eployees don't need it, And maybe some
Speaker 1: of your employees are riding a segue. I wouldn't recommend that,
Speaker 1: but I wouldn't incentivize that. I'm just kidding. But I
Speaker 1: see more people on these like the bird scooters and
Speaker 1: the segways, and it's fine, but not my preferred method
Speaker 1: of transport. It's it's more for fun. It's like you
Speaker 1: want to go on a tour of the city, Yeah,
Speaker 1: your helmet pop on a segway? Why not? But yeah,
Speaker 1: so actually I have a personal example here of when
Speaker 1: it comes to a fewer parking spaces. So a couple
Speaker 1: of days of the week there have been more people
Speaker 1: working in the building that I work in, in the
Speaker 1: parking garage gets full. And so Mike, I know, right,
Speaker 1: And so my company is considering adding onto the parking
Speaker 1: deck like building more and that just sounds like a
Speaker 1: really big expense, sounds really stupid. And I am literally
Speaker 1: the only person in my building that rides a bike
Speaker 1: to work, and that's fine, but I just I notice
Speaker 1: it that I'm literally the only bike in the parking lot.
Speaker 1: But I know that there are more people that live
Speaker 1: close by that would consider car pulling. And I've said
Speaker 1: before in the show I've car pull with my coworkers sometimes,
Speaker 1: but mostly I bike. And so if my employer would
Speaker 1: offer an incentive instead of adding space to this parking garage,
Speaker 1: which is expensive, it's a lot of concrete, right, It's
Speaker 1: it's this big time thing. Creating small incentives for employees
Speaker 1: to bike or two car pool to work, I think
Speaker 1: would be so much better for not only their bottom line,
Speaker 1: but the company culture as a whole. And I just
Speaker 1: think that there are better solutions to the problem that
Speaker 1: that we're facing in our building in particular and buildings
Speaker 1: around the country where workhorses are fully staffed right now,
Speaker 1: than adding more space or building more on a parking deck. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you gotta think that there's a more elegant solution, right,
Speaker 1: Like like hearing that makes me think of like the
Speaker 1: whole problem of like traffic, and so what do you do, Oh,
Speaker 1: you just make the interstate wider. Let's build more rows.
Speaker 1: So we need, we need wider lanes, we need let's
Speaker 1: take it from a fourteen lane to a sixteen lane.
Speaker 1: That'll do it. Yes, certainly, that will allow there to
Speaker 1: be more space. No, it's a dumb solution, and I
Speaker 1: think it's just such a near sided thought process, you know,
Speaker 1: like let's let's take these drastic steps to create this structure,
Speaker 1: and it's a major undertaking. It's gonna cost, yeah, like
Speaker 1: you said, a lot of money, and it's just, yeah,
Speaker 1: not a great solution, and not even just parking too.
Speaker 1: But I mean we've we've barely talked about actual office space.
Speaker 1: If you have all of your employees, they're under the
Speaker 1: same reef. Certainly there's times when that's called for and
Speaker 1: you need to get together as a team, brainstorm whatever.
Speaker 1: But yeah, if you rarely have all of your employees
Speaker 1: together like that, think about how many fewer offices you
Speaker 1: would actually need to have least in order to house
Speaker 1: your staff. Yeah, I mean think about it logically, using
Speaker 1: a space from eight to five Monday through Friday, and
Speaker 1: that's the only time, but everyone's in at the same time.
Speaker 1: It's just an inefficient use of space. And so you
Speaker 1: could do it better by creating alternating schedules, by allowing
Speaker 1: people to work from home on certain days and alternating
Speaker 1: those things so that people are all together sometimes, but
Speaker 1: that for the majority of the time people have flex
Speaker 1: work schedules. And again, I know this isn't a one
Speaker 1: size fits all solution. This doesn't work for ups drivers
Speaker 1: like we said, or or doctors or nurses or certain
Speaker 1: other things. I mean, we'll talk about some steps that
Speaker 1: hopefully even doctors and nurses can take that they can
Speaker 1: do on their own. And I know that this doesn't
Speaker 1: necessarily work for all employers, but you know what, in
Speaker 1: our economy, with the kind of communication that we can
Speaker 1: have between each other, with email, texting, phone calling, slack,
Speaker 1: there's slack. Yeah, there's all these ways to communicate. We
Speaker 1: don't have to all be in the building at once.
Speaker 1: There's video chat. I mean, it's amazing technology allows us,
Speaker 1: especially for doing things like this. It can really cut
Speaker 1: down the cost for employers. You know, another way that
Speaker 1: employers can cut down costs. No, tell me healthcare. So true,
Speaker 1: it's more of a traditional thing, right, the health care
Speaker 1: model that we have in the States where the employer
Speaker 1: pays for it. But regardless, it's widespread and it's it's
Speaker 1: the model. It's it's it's how it currently is. And
Speaker 1: bottom line, if you have healthier employees, right, if you
Speaker 1: have employees that are biking and walking, they're more physically fit.
Speaker 1: If you have employees who are either car pulling or
Speaker 1: taking public transit, or and even working from home, they're
Speaker 1: less stressed because they're not dealing with the traffic, the
Speaker 1: rush to make sure they're they're on toime. I'm feeling
Speaker 1: like they're battling the other guy and the giant stuv
Speaker 1: one lane over. Too often, stress sort of gets discounted,
Speaker 1: you know, like it's a real health issue, Like it's
Speaker 1: something that affects people. It affects their health, that affects
Speaker 1: how their bodies function. And if you're able to allow
Speaker 1: your employees to take care of their bodies, uh mentally,
Speaker 1: but and physically, you're certainly going to see a decrease
Speaker 1: in the expenses that go towards healthcare and you'll see
Speaker 1: your employees taking fewer sick days. So yeah, that's such
Speaker 1: an outed benefit as well. Your workers will show up
Speaker 1: to work if they bike or walk or something like
Speaker 1: that and a little more jazz. Yeah, they're not going
Speaker 1: to drag in because they just came in on their bike.
Speaker 1: They're gonna be totally pumped. Yeah, that's one of the
Speaker 1: major benefits I've noticed when I started biking in was
Speaker 1: that when I get to work, I was in gear. Man,
Speaker 1: I was ready. You know, you're not like dragging in, like, oh,
Speaker 1: Monday is am? I right? Yeah, let me get that
Speaker 1: cup of coffee and then I'll sit down and start typing.
Speaker 1: And you know, you sit down, you drink like a
Speaker 1: leader of water and then you're like, let's do this.
Speaker 1: Feel like I just drink a can of Surge or
Speaker 1: something like that. You know, I'm ready to go. And
Speaker 1: so I noticed the days I bike in, I'm better,
Speaker 1: I'm better me I'm a better employee, better Jimmy exactly. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's the fewer sick days, and it's the increased energy
Speaker 1: level when you're at work, and on top of that,
Speaker 1: it's that building culture and loyalty. There's all these amazing
Speaker 1: parks for employers if they will only incentivize their employees
Speaker 1: and kind of create buy in on that level. I
Speaker 1: see a lot of benefits for companies that are willing
Speaker 1: to think outside the box and offer incentives to people
Speaker 1: to to commute alternatively. Yeah. Man, I like how you
Speaker 1: said culture again too, because like, if I had a
Speaker 1: company with like a bunch of employees, like that's the
Speaker 1: kind of culture that I would be so excited to
Speaker 1: try to create. I want to have a company where
Speaker 1: the culture of the employees it is about biking and
Speaker 1: like how fast they got there on their bike and
Speaker 1: how fit they are, versus like the car culture of like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, I just got the latest so and so
Speaker 1: late model truck, But you know what, you gotta get
Speaker 1: it for the boat because you've also got that boat
Speaker 1: payment and your truck payment. And I don't worry, I'll
Speaker 1: have it paid off in eight years and citrated in
Speaker 1: before then. And it almos sounds like hip right to say,
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, of course, Matt and jo All they're talking
Speaker 1: about bite culture and how cool that is. Well, like,
Speaker 1: it's not that it's just cooler, it's little. It's legitimately
Speaker 1: better if you want to be healthier and be less stressed.
Speaker 1: I feel like I can objectively say that it is better.
Speaker 1: It's not like hip or cool, it's it's something that
Speaker 1: you will legitimately see a difference in your life and
Speaker 1: and those around you that you interact with when you're
Speaker 1: when you're making decisions that are not only benefiting yourself
Speaker 1: but also the company that you work for. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: just an example of talking about culture, our nation's culture
Speaker 1: and how we approach this stuff, our nation as a whole,
Speaker 1: Like we don't care about this stuff and it's such
Speaker 1: a bummer and we want to change that trend. Let's
Speaker 1: do something about this, Matt, because it's ridiculous. And one
Speaker 1: example of that is the bicycle commuter benefit. It was
Speaker 1: a tax incentive that in this most recent legislation was
Speaker 1: cut by the Senate. And so there used to be
Speaker 1: employers were allowed to for a tax incentive to their
Speaker 1: employees for commuting to work, and it wasn't all that much.
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure it was like twenty bucks a month. Now, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was small, but it was to cover you know,
Speaker 1: a flat tire or a tune up or whatever you
Speaker 1: needed to do to your bike to kind of keep
Speaker 1: it in shape. And I will say this, my employer
Speaker 1: didn't even offer it when it was available, which not cool. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I take that, um but cut by the Senate, And
Speaker 1: that just goes to show that our culture as a
Speaker 1: whole doesn't care about alternative commuting options and isn't invested
Speaker 1: in this. And so let's change that from the top down.
Speaker 1: Let's create a culture in general that says this matters.
Speaker 1: This is good for our bodies, and this is good
Speaker 1: for our lives. Yeah, man, And not only is it
Speaker 1: good for those things too, it's good for like the
Speaker 1: cities that we live in in general. If there are
Speaker 1: less individual cars on the road that are taking single
Speaker 1: individuals from home to work and then back again, the
Speaker 1: city as a whole is just gonna be more livable.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be less congestion, people are gonna feel more
Speaker 1: comfortable walking on the sidewalks, and the city as a
Speaker 1: whole is just gonna be more comfortable and enjoyable place
Speaker 1: to live. And I think when we're in our steel
Speaker 1: boxes on the road with other people in their steel boxes,
Speaker 1: it makes it easier to see each other as not human, right,
Speaker 1: and will flip the bird or ride somebody's tail, whatever
Speaker 1: it takes. But it makes it a really unpleasant way
Speaker 1: to live. If you're on your bike or your feet
Speaker 1: and you see people that you're passing or you have
Speaker 1: a close encounter, you're way more likely to respond kindly
Speaker 1: than you are in a steel box. There's something that
Speaker 1: just cars pit each other against each other. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: it it just the humanizes everybody, yeah, man. And another
Speaker 1: perk is it helps local businesses when employees are working
Speaker 1: at a coffee shops or whatever, and so you save
Speaker 1: money on commuting costs. But then guess what, walk down
Speaker 1: to your local coffee shop and enjoy a cafe ola
Speaker 1: or a latte or something like that. Right, And it
Speaker 1: sounds like you must have recently been to France. I
Speaker 1: just I love getting a coffee at a coffee shop.
Speaker 1: I rarely do it, but man, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 1: I had a uple morning meetings last week at coffee shop,
Speaker 1: and that coffee shop culture is so fun. It's so great.
Speaker 1: I love to drop three bucks and then get to
Speaker 1: work from there. That day was absolute pleasure. And so
Speaker 1: I think, you know, a lot of personal finance people
Speaker 1: would say cut you have it, and while if that's
Speaker 1: something that you're spending too much money on, maybe yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe that's okay. Yeah, but if you're cutting out car
Speaker 1: commuting to work at your coffee shop with the free
Speaker 1: WiFi and uh and and the three dollar coffee, that's awesome.
Speaker 1: I think it's great. And another thing, walking and biking
Speaker 1: means more small business visits and more meeting your neighbors.
Speaker 1: Like we said, you're out of the steel box where
Speaker 1: humans are pitted against each other reacting poorly, and you're
Speaker 1: interacting with the people around you. It's just such a
Speaker 1: more wonderful experience. Yeah, I mean, you imagine you have
Speaker 1: a forty five minute commute, right, so an hour and
Speaker 1: a half say a day that you literally get to
Speaker 1: do nothing that really adds value to your life, maybe
Speaker 1: except for listening to awesome podcasts, uh subscribe, subscribe, But
Speaker 1: just imagine during the middle of the day, you're sitting
Speaker 1: there working and you know, you get out and go
Speaker 1: for a thirty minute walk or something like that, stretch
Speaker 1: out your legs, get the blood flow, and say, heyt
Speaker 1: any neighbors. Yeah, Joe's totally good for the neighborhood. Um,
Speaker 1: and it helps toe when you're working from home, just
Speaker 1: a little petty crimes. You know, we live in the
Speaker 1: city and there's just you know, like the Amazon package
Speaker 1: kind of getting grabbed like that sort of thing is
Speaker 1: kind of happen more and more when half your block
Speaker 1: works from home and they're all the home offices are
Speaker 1: in the front of the house and you're looking out
Speaker 1: on the street like half of our block is those
Speaker 1: guys don't really get away with that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: You're able to keep an eye out and you've got
Speaker 1: each other's back. Yeah, and ultimately it's better for our
Speaker 1: environment as a whole. Cities that are built more around
Speaker 1: bikes and walking paths usually public transit as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: usually have more green space. And yeah, we haven't really
Speaker 1: talked about public transit, but that's another great way. Although
Speaker 1: that can be grueling too, at least you're able to
Speaker 1: read a book or do something productive and thoughtful while
Speaker 1: you're on your commute. Um, it's still good it's just
Speaker 1: a different kind of good. But alternative commute options are
Speaker 1: good for your environment, taking a car off the road
Speaker 1: here and there. And the more we do that, you know,
Speaker 1: it's less pollution in our cities, it's less clogging of
Speaker 1: the freeways and incentivizes more walking paths and green spaces
Speaker 1: in our cities. Yea, and for people to want to
Speaker 1: come and visit, you know again, and then what are
Speaker 1: you doing. You're bringing in tourism. Like if all of
Speaker 1: a sudden your city is fostering this sort of environment,
Speaker 1: this sort of growth. That's better for the local businesses
Speaker 1: and it's local, it's better for like tourism, folks are
Speaker 1: coming in and ultimately that's that's kind of good for you.
Speaker 1: Like how fun is it to have a place where
Speaker 1: you live and that you're proud of where people are
Speaker 1: coming to visit because they're because they say, oh, this
Speaker 1: is such a nice place. So I guess the question
Speaker 1: is when are we creating Matt Joel topia. I think
Speaker 1: that might be what people are saying right now. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: we've talked through the benefits. I guess we can do
Speaker 1: it on some city. Oh did you play some city
Speaker 1: back in the day? Oh man, yeah, some city was
Speaker 1: it was awesome. Man. We had this off this off
Speaker 1: brand version as well, called a train. I never heard
Speaker 1: of it. Yeah, and we out there ever heard of
Speaker 1: a train? Hit me up? It was sort of like
Speaker 1: some city but less options. That was sort of focused
Speaker 1: on me on train. Feel like the trained nerds, I think,
Speaker 1: but simp Steve was the bomb is awesome. It was good.
Speaker 1: And so a lot of this might seem sort of
Speaker 1: fire reaching, right. You might be thinking, oh, well, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is great to say and talk about, but how
Speaker 1: do you actually take the steps necessary in order to
Speaker 1: make this reality? And that's what we want to focus
Speaker 1: on next. Yeah, maybe you can't bend the iron will
Speaker 1: of your employer, but there are things that you can
Speaker 1: do in practicality to make changes in your life. And
Speaker 1: let's first talk about what employers should do. I think
Speaker 1: they should incentivize these things, and things they might need
Speaker 1: to do is offer a safe storage place for bikes,
Speaker 1: and maybe some showers would be nice for really nice
Speaker 1: yeah right, taking a long, long, long commute and you
Speaker 1: don't want to freshen up before work, that'd be a
Speaker 1: great thing to offer. That being said, though, don't worry
Speaker 1: if you were a little bit sweaty. I feel like
Speaker 1: too much emphasis is placed on like everything being perfect.
Speaker 1: You know, obviously, if you've got a sales job and
Speaker 1: you're constantly meeting with clients, yeah, you may not want
Speaker 1: to bike into work that day. But yeah, if you
Speaker 1: biked into work that day, get a little sweaty, keep
Speaker 1: some Diotora and at work maybe like another extra T
Speaker 1: shirt or something like that, it'll be fine. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: was talking to a lady at the park the other
Speaker 1: day and she and her husband both biking to work,
Speaker 1: and they're both lawyers, and so I mean, if you
Speaker 1: think you can't do this, like I feel like that's
Speaker 1: an excuse, right, and you can do this. So for
Speaker 1: those people that makes me so happy, man, Like, those
Speaker 1: are the people we need to meet and spread the
Speaker 1: help spread the gospel of biking in even if you
Speaker 1: have a fancy job. Another thing that employers can do
Speaker 1: is to offer a small amount of extra pay dedicated
Speaker 1: towards bike expenses. And so it's not this huge rays
Speaker 1: that you have to give your employees, but just that
Speaker 1: small amount of money in every paycheck ten dollars towards
Speaker 1: bike expenses, towards tires, and towards those tune ups like
Speaker 1: we talked about. That incentivizes employees to to make it happen.
Speaker 1: That will cut your costs in the long run as
Speaker 1: an employer, and it will create that culture that you're
Speaker 1: looking for. Yeah, and a lot of companies do sometimes
Speaker 1: offer that incentive. And then not necessarily if you biked
Speaker 1: into work, but it's just as long as you didn't
Speaker 1: drive to work. And so I was actually talking to
Speaker 1: my buddy Tyler, and he works for a well known
Speaker 1: company called mail Chimp. But I thought to myself, I
Speaker 1: know that mail chimp's offering some sort of incentive because
Speaker 1: that's just the kind of company they are. They do
Speaker 1: awesome stuff like that. And I checked in with them
Speaker 1: and sure enough, he was getting ninety bucks a month
Speaker 1: a month for not driving into work. That's amazing and
Speaker 1: then awesome. And so you can take that and you
Speaker 1: can put it towards running shoes if you're running in
Speaker 1: every morning, or or bike maintenance or public transit if
Speaker 1: if you need to put some of that money towards
Speaker 1: a leg of your trip where you need to take
Speaker 1: the bus. So I love that and maybe, yeah, I
Speaker 1: thought that was awesome. Man, that's like, that's like chunk
Speaker 1: of money. You know, like you wouldn't have to rapidfire
Speaker 1: your car if if if you work for a company
Speaker 1: that was offering us pretty sweet incentive, right, that's true.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to hear your car wrapped up. It's gonna
Speaker 1: look good. So yeah, I think that that's a really
Speaker 1: cool thing for employers. And you know what, just maybe
Speaker 1: incentivize your employees to take alternative commuting options of the time.
Speaker 1: Even that would cut down on a lot of expenses
Speaker 1: for you as an employer and would incentivize your employees
Speaker 1: to do something different, to get act I and to
Speaker 1: at least look into doing something different with their commute. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So those are steps that an employer could could potentially
Speaker 1: actively do right to make things a little more attractive
Speaker 1: for their employees. The first thing you, as an employee
Speaker 1: could do is just to ask to be able to
Speaker 1: work from home. That's something that may not necessarily be
Speaker 1: in place already. There may not be a program. But
Speaker 1: if there's not a program, I guarantee you're not the
Speaker 1: only one thinking that, like, oh man, this would be
Speaker 1: fantastic for our company. And maybe you're the third person
Speaker 1: to ask your boss that week, and you're the tipping
Speaker 1: point and he or she is like, wow, that's I
Speaker 1: guess a lot of people are into this and I
Speaker 1: didn't know. And so maybe you're the tipping point that
Speaker 1: tips the scales into the company pursuing letting people work
Speaker 1: from home more often. Yeah, this is sort of a
Speaker 1: nod back to a couple episodes ago. We talked about
Speaker 1: asking for a discount, right how it kind of works
Speaker 1: that muscle, and that's an easy thing to ask for.
Speaker 1: You're not asking for a raise, you're just asking for
Speaker 1: more flexibility. Yeah, this might seem ridiculous, but maybe it's
Speaker 1: time to look for a new job. If your employer
Speaker 1: is unwilling to bend, maybe you can find employment closer
Speaker 1: to where you are and with more flexible commute options.
Speaker 1: Especially we're in a hot labor market right now. There
Speaker 1: are plenty of employers looking for skilled workers, and maybe
Speaker 1: it's a time for you to work closer to home
Speaker 1: than commuting becomes a whole lot easier. Yeah, something else
Speaker 1: I thought of too, Man, just you talking about the
Speaker 1: hot labor market continually. The story right now is that
Speaker 1: there isn't wage growth, and so what in another sweet
Speaker 1: way to be able to sort of entice in good talent,
Speaker 1: good employees with these extra benefits. Because employers currently really
Speaker 1: aren't willing to increase wage rates, why not offer these
Speaker 1: sweet incentives, you know, like give employees that the flexibility,
Speaker 1: the options, or even incentivize a little bit here and
Speaker 1: there to be able to attract that talent, attract and
Speaker 1: keep those employees. Are and some of those things involved,
Speaker 1: right your employer saying yes or no. But there are
Speaker 1: some things that you can do without having to consult
Speaker 1: your employer at all to change your commute. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: So the first thing is just consider biking or walking
Speaker 1: to work or even taking public transit. These are things
Speaker 1: that you can really start doing tomorrow morning, and it
Speaker 1: doesn't require I mean, it requires some planning because you
Speaker 1: need to figure out your oute, like how to get there,
Speaker 1: how do I buy, how do I bike there? You
Speaker 1: need to figure out what bus or what train to take.
Speaker 1: But these are things that do not require any permission
Speaker 1: from anybody. You can start doing it now, and it
Speaker 1: is the best way to cut down on costs. If
Speaker 1: you're not commuting every day by yourself in a car,
Speaker 1: you're foregoing all of these expenses that are associated with
Speaker 1: with with a car, and potentially you could even consider
Speaker 1: maybe even going without a car. You know how awesome
Speaker 1: would that be. Yeah, I challenge you to time your commute,
Speaker 1: use Google Maps and actually check out how long would
Speaker 1: it take if I walked? How long would it take
Speaker 1: if I biked? And there was an article recently in
Speaker 1: The New York Times that said people vastly overestimate how
Speaker 1: long would take to walk or bike to work. And
Speaker 1: so you might say that would take me an hour
Speaker 1: and a half to bike to work, but it turns
Speaker 1: out it would only take you an hour, And well,
Speaker 1: how long is you're commute taking you minutes? At least
Speaker 1: do the math. At least do the research and figure
Speaker 1: out how long will biking or walking take you. You You
Speaker 1: might find out it's not as bad as you thought.
Speaker 1: And in the end, you know what, you skip time
Speaker 1: going to the gym because yes, you're getting fit just
Speaker 1: on your commute. Yeah, you're getting fit and saving money
Speaker 1: at the same time when when in car pooling. That's
Speaker 1: another great option to consider. Talk to people in the
Speaker 1: office who might live close to you. If you don't know,
Speaker 1: maybe post something on the company Facebook page or messageboard
Speaker 1: or your neighborhood community group online or something like that too.
Speaker 1: There might be you may not be the same company,
Speaker 1: but you might be going to like the same part
Speaker 1: of town, and you know what, getting from your neighborhood
Speaker 1: to the same midtown or downtown or something like that
Speaker 1: maybe a lot easier than you realize when you're car pooling,
Speaker 1: no doubt. So this could allow you to have one
Speaker 1: less car as a family if you alternate driving with
Speaker 1: your coworker, or maybe even if you're single, allow you
Speaker 1: to have no car at all if you pay for
Speaker 1: the gas for your ride share mate. Yes, so car
Speaker 1: pooling can allow you to cut your car costs, your
Speaker 1: insurance costs, your gas costs, and possibly even allow you
Speaker 1: to have one less car as a family. And at
Speaker 1: the very least, it just keeps you from having to
Speaker 1: sit behind the wheel, you know, save you're alternating, like
Speaker 1: you could just you know, at the very least, not
Speaker 1: have to drive every single day. You can just swap
Speaker 1: take it easy for half of the time. And the
Speaker 1: last thing, a more drastic measure, can you find a
Speaker 1: job closer to where you live, or maybe move closer
Speaker 1: to where you work. I think those are you know,
Speaker 1: bigger things. But let's say your leases up in two months,
Speaker 1: or you just really getting fed up with the commute
Speaker 1: that you're currently in. There are changes that you can make,
Speaker 1: and they're bigger, harder changes to make, but that doesn't
Speaker 1: make them not feasible. So if you have a twenty
Speaker 1: five mile commute each way right now, consider whether you
Speaker 1: can do one of those things, either finding a job
Speaker 1: that's closer to where you currently live or moving closer
Speaker 1: to where you currently work. If you can do that,
Speaker 1: it might even be worth an increased amount of rent
Speaker 1: or uh slightly higher mortgage payment if it changes your lifestyle,
Speaker 1: adds more hours back into your life every day and
Speaker 1: allows you to commute alternatively and cut down on your
Speaker 1: car costs, and you know what, clear your head and
Speaker 1: get more fit at the same time by commuting via
Speaker 1: bike or walking or public ends. It you'd be able
Speaker 1: to pay a little bit more for something that wasn't
Speaker 1: literally killing me every day. Right. Yeah, So much of
Speaker 1: this is costing you money and is hurting your body
Speaker 1: all the sitting that we're doing. But then on top
Speaker 1: of that, it's cramping your lifestyle and it's sucking your
Speaker 1: time and your time is so valuable. I just can't
Speaker 1: imagine commuting every day for that long of a period
Speaker 1: of time. And that's why I think one of the
Speaker 1: important things to do is to kind of write down
Speaker 1: how much this is actually costing you when it comes
Speaker 1: to your car, when it comes to your time. That
Speaker 1: might give you the kick in the pants you need
Speaker 1: to ask your employer for something, or to even make
Speaker 1: a drastic change like moving or finding new employment. All right, Joel,
Speaker 1: back to this lovely delicious beer. I gotta tell you,
Speaker 1: I don't have much else to say. I mean, it's perfect. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it really is good in a blind taste. Ut Like
Speaker 1: if I put this next to some like thirty dollar
Speaker 1: bombers from some of the best sour Flanders red guys
Speaker 1: out there as today making them, I think this one
Speaker 1: would crush man. Now, I know, it's so stink and good.
Speaker 1: And we felt that way about a lot of the
Speaker 1: beers he's made. And uh, and he's made um of
Speaker 1: the best doubts I've ever had in my life. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is like his magnum opus. Yeah, this is like
Speaker 1: his love letter to my heart. I think this beer
Speaker 1: right here, it's it's actually the splinter in my mind.
Speaker 1: That's what it's called. It's again, this is a splinter
Speaker 1: in the mind by Little Cottage Brewery, Little Cottage Brewery,
Speaker 1: and it's an American sour specifically though it's a his
Speaker 1: interpretation of a Flanders red. And I will say, if
Speaker 1: you ever get your hands on this, which you won't,
Speaker 1: you'll never ever get to taste this. But if you did,
Speaker 1: it's delicious and you should pick one up. But you
Speaker 1: never will get to try this beer because it's it's homebrew. Sorry,
Speaker 1: all right, Matt, let's wrap it up. Also, the solution
Speaker 1: to traditional car commuting to work are a number of things,
Speaker 1: but we're looking at We're talking about biking, we're talking
Speaker 1: about walking, public transit, car poling, and working from home.
Speaker 1: So it benefits employees because it's less stressful when you
Speaker 1: don't have to commute in every day, When you don't
Speaker 1: have to drive in every day to work, you're less
Speaker 1: stressed and you're happier. Yeah, Matt, you know, I'm down
Speaker 1: with saving money. And it lowers your transportation costs as well,
Speaker 1: which is huge. Yeah, And having more of that personal flexibility, man,
Speaker 1: that is such a big selling point for millennials and
Speaker 1: for young families as well to have kids that need
Speaker 1: that flexibility. Yeah, and you know what, employers see a
Speaker 1: huge benefit to first off, flexibility and incentives to commute alternatively,
Speaker 1: attract better employees and create ultimately a better culture and
Speaker 1: more loyalty from the employees you currently have and hiring
Speaker 1: and firing that's such a huge cost associated with employees.
Speaker 1: Another way that employers are able to save in general
Speaker 1: when you've got alternative commuting options is you're gonna be
Speaker 1: able to lower the healthcare costs that you spend on
Speaker 1: your employees. And there are other costs that you can
Speaker 1: lower as an employer as well, like money spent on
Speaker 1: parking spaces and workspace. In general, when you offer increased
Speaker 1: flexibility and commuting alternatives and also benefits employees and benefits
Speaker 1: the employer, it also benefits your city as a whole.
Speaker 1: The less individual car traffic that there is, the more livable,
Speaker 1: the more one full of your CD is going to
Speaker 1: be and and ultimately that's what we all want in
Speaker 1: in the place that we live and work. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: what do you do next, Well, you take action, You
Speaker 1: do something. The first thing you can do is to
Speaker 1: ask your boss, ask your employer. If you can work
Speaker 1: from home, maybe it starts off at one day a week,
Speaker 1: but that's at least a good place to start. But
Speaker 1: if you don't have the option to work from home,
Speaker 1: consider some of the alternatives like walking or biking public transit,
Speaker 1: and even if those may not work for you, at
Speaker 1: the very least you can try card pooling. Yeah. And ultimately,
Speaker 1: a lot of this comes down to creating a better
Speaker 1: lifestyle for yourself, not even just saving money and hitting
Speaker 1: the nuclear option like finding a job closer to where
Speaker 1: you live or moving closer to where you work, can
Speaker 1: be the ultimate best solution for fixing your commuting problems. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Because while it might seem like the nuclear option, right,
Speaker 1: it seems like such a huge thing to do. In reality,
Speaker 1: if you're reprioritizing your life and focusing on what's actually important,
Speaker 1: it might be a lot easier for you to shift
Speaker 1: things around. Yeah. And it's way better than an hour
Speaker 1: and a half in a car every day, five days
Speaker 1: a week, just to get back and forth to work. Yeah. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: that's a good word. Hopefully your listeners are able to
Speaker 1: at least take one thing from this. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of options that we presented in a lot of benefits
Speaker 1: and hopefully that gave you, guys some AMMO, some some
Speaker 1: information to be able to say either go to your
Speaker 1: employer with or at least the very least to encourage
Speaker 1: yourself to consider some of these options to the hard task,
Speaker 1: the drudgery of of commuting to work by yourself every
Speaker 1: single day. All right, everyone, thanks for listening, And if
Speaker 1: you are listening in your car right now, thank you
Speaker 1: for listening. You know, Joel, you don't have to be
Speaker 1: driving your car to listen to podcast too. You can
Speaker 1: be on public trains. It right, we're taking a walk
Speaker 1: into your neighborhood. Our home on the web is how
Speaker 1: to money dot com. We'll have show notes up there
Speaker 1: for you. Yeah, if you like what you hear, let
Speaker 1: us know, please review and subscribe anywhere you listen to podcast.
Speaker 1: It really helps us out and helps more people find
Speaker 1: out about the show. So cheers, Matt. Cheers. Best Friends
Speaker 1: Out Man, Best Friends Out.