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Speaker 1: Welcome to Head of Money. I'm Joel Matt.

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Speaker 2: Today we're talking debt defaults, VIP investments, and regretful retirees.

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Speaker 1: That's right, buddy, this is our Friday flight.

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Speaker 3: Well, we're going to cover the most pertinent headlines, the

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Speaker 3: personal finance stories that you need to pay attention to

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Speaker 3: and how it's going to impact your money. That's what

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Speaker 3: we're doing.

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Speaker 1: Today, but before every Friday, That's true.

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Speaker 3: Before we get to that, though, I think you had

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Speaker 3: a word to say specifically about China. You're all about

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Speaker 3: the Chinese terrorists. Right, I've been to China. We covered that,

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Speaker 3: We covered that on Monday. Right enough enough. Yeah, we're

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Speaker 3: actually taking a nice tariff break today, tariffresh but which

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Speaker 3: feels refreshing.

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Speaker 1: It does feel good.

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Speaker 2: But after that episode aired on Monday, we had multiple

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Speaker 2: listeners email in about it. But listener ed in particular

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Speaker 2: he I just appreciated his email because he spent a

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Speaker 2: good bit of time in some of these factory towns

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Speaker 2: in China and he was essentially saying, Hey, one of

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Speaker 2: the reasons we can't compete with the price of Chinese goods,

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Speaker 2: and it's kind of something that you and I touched

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Speaker 2: on and this is why he wrote that email. The

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Speaker 2: bid factory and the dormitories essentially on the premise of

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Speaker 2: that electric carmaker in China, and they've made a lot

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Speaker 2: more progress on their vehicles because of the fact that

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Speaker 2: they don't have as much And I don't know if

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Speaker 2: I can say the respect for human life is That's

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Speaker 2: kind of what Ed was getting at, was the way

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Speaker 2: they treat workers in China is far inferior to the

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Speaker 2: protections that we have for workers here in the United States.

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Speaker 3: The US is a we're not perfect, right, Like that's

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Speaker 3: the thing, Like we've got our own skeletons in our closet,

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Speaker 3: like in fact.

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Speaker 1: We fought a civil war because of the.

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Speaker 3: Truly crimes against humanity that we've that we partook in ourselves.

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Speaker 3: But there's a big difference too, I guess between that

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Speaker 3: like well, I don't know one hundred and fifty two

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Speaker 3: hundred years ago or so versus I guess it being

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Speaker 3: something that is going on now. And it's tough though,

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Speaker 3: because like what do you it's tough to untangle our

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Speaker 3: own spending from Chinese goods, Like that's what's just what

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Speaker 3: it feels, just like such a knot that is going

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Speaker 3: to be so difficult to untie and.

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Speaker 1: Accordion not yeah yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 2: So I just appreciate AD's email, and I think it

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Speaker 2: does shine a light on just the vast differences that

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Speaker 2: we have as countries and how we think about the

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Speaker 2: people who man the factories, people who produce the goods,

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Speaker 2: and the freedom that we allow people in the United States,

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Speaker 2: which produces some of the best results for a lot

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Speaker 2: of companies, but it also means that we can't compete,

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Speaker 2: I guess, especially on the lower end of this manufacturing spectrum.

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Speaker 3: At least not from not until we get our robotics

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Speaker 3: in place. But then who's making the robotics. I know,

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Speaker 3: you need robots to make the robots first, So we

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Speaker 3: got to get that initial round of like, you know what,

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Speaker 3: we're going to do this for America. We got to

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Speaker 3: build a factory that's going to make all the robots

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Speaker 3: that's going to then make everything else.

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Speaker 2: Definitely companies working on that. I know Elon's working on it.

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Speaker 2: There are other companies like working to make robots that

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Speaker 2: do all sorts of things.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, which is cool.

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Speaker 2: Can we make and create factories that compete with the

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Speaker 2: factories in China that mass produce goods, I mean, and

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Speaker 2: just the size and scope of some of those factories

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Speaker 2: and the level of technology that they've implemented. I don't know,

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Speaker 2: like we'll see that remains to be seen.

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Speaker 1: That's true. All right.

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Speaker 2: Let's talk about some really important news happening right now, Matt.

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Speaker 2: Let's talk about student loan debt collection, which it was

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Speaker 2: announced this week essentially that hey, the federal government, the

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Speaker 2: Department of Education, is going to start collecting on student

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Speaker 2: loans that aren't being paid on. And Linda McMahon, the

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Speaker 2: Secretary of Education, she wrote an op ed this week

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Speaker 2: in the Wall Street Journal. She basically explained the need

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Speaker 2: to collect on loans if payments aren't being made. And

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Speaker 2: this is I would say, from have the last administration

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Speaker 2: handled student loans?

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Speaker 3: Sure, the attempts or they weren't handling it, Yeah, punding

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Speaker 3: it down the road. We're going to ignore that these

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Speaker 3: exist for everybody.

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Speaker 2: Then the attempts at forgiveness that didn't come to pass,

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Speaker 2: And the Secretary of Education basically said, the drop dead

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Speaker 2: date to start making payments is May fifth, right, So

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Speaker 2: that's just around the corner. And so if you don't

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Speaker 2: if you're not able to make those payments, you're going

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Speaker 2: to see a meaningful drop in your credit score. A

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Speaker 2: lot of folks already have. And then the most extreme cases,

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Speaker 2: she highlighted that some people could have their wages garnished,

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Speaker 2: and they could even have starting next year in all

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Speaker 2: likelihood they're tax refunds taken back if they haven't been

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Speaker 2: paying on their student loans. So I think this is

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Speaker 2: a call to not put your head in the sand.

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Speaker 2: If you have student loans and you're like, what do

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Speaker 2: I owe? Am I current? Am I paying right now?

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Speaker 2: Log into your account, check out the loan simulator on

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Speaker 2: the Education Department's website, and then I think something like

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Speaker 2: forty percent of borrowers are current on payments right now, Matt.

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Speaker 2: So there's just a lot of people, well probably a

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Speaker 2: lot of people listening to this podcast right now, that

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Speaker 2: haven't been paying, partly also because they're not sure if

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Speaker 2: they're supposed to. So just this could turn into into

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Speaker 2: a messy situation for millions and millions of folks. It

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Speaker 2: could have wider impacts on the economy too.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, I.

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Speaker 3: Would say to how Money listeners, it's more like eighty

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Speaker 3: percent of them are probably current, Like we hold a

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Speaker 3: higher standard here at How to Money, don't we kill?

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Speaker 3: And we're actually going to have a student loan expert

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Speaker 3: on the show next week, so stay tuned for that.

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Speaker 3: But while we're talking about debt, dude, it is not

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Speaker 3: just student loans.

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Speaker 1: While at HUB, they reported that credit card debt is

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Speaker 1: up as.

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Speaker 3: Well, and so are delinquencies. Defaults were up thirty four

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Speaker 3: percent year over year from twenty twenty three to twenty

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Speaker 3: twenty four, and inflation and rising interest rates have been

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Speaker 3: a double way and me causing more folks to rely

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Speaker 3: on their credit cards in order to get by. And then,

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Speaker 3: of course what happens They find themselves with a balance

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Speaker 3: that is growing, they have a payment that's too much

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Speaker 3: to handle.

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Speaker 1: And this isn't just younger folks as well.

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Speaker 3: Over half of folks who are aged fifty to sixty four,

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Speaker 3: so that subset, they have a recurring credit card balance

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Speaker 3: as well.

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Speaker 2: I mean, it seems like this always seems like something that, oh,

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Speaker 2: it's a young people's thing.

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Speaker 3: You don't have enough they have and they haven't learned

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Speaker 3: how to handabsack or yeah, the cards.

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Speaker 1: That was shocking to me. It's no longer the case.

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Speaker 2: The people in their fifties and early sixties still have

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Speaker 2: this problem with credit cards.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, they've got these recurring balances and many are gonna

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Speaker 3: end up paying more in interest than their overall actual

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Speaker 3: balance and the overall actual charges that they put on

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Speaker 3: that card. It's a compounding you're doubling down on these

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Speaker 3: poor decisions.

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Speaker 1: Essentially.

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Speaker 3: It makes me think back to an early episode, like

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Speaker 3: way back in the day that we did I'm assuming

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Speaker 3: we did it on debt, but we're talking about interest

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Speaker 3: rates and how I pictured an escalator and it's just like, Okay,

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Speaker 3: you can ride these interest rates up by receiving interest payments,

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Speaker 3: by having your money at a Hygeld savings account for instance,

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Speaker 3: and so those interest rates you can just stand there

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Speaker 3: on that step. Man, it'll take you up to that

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Speaker 3: next level, or if you can supercharge it by you

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Speaker 3: putting forth a little bit of effort as well. So

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Speaker 3: that's the guy that's walking up the sater and you

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Speaker 3: know what, they're going to get there real quick. But

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Speaker 3: if you're trying to get to that next level and

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Speaker 3: the escalator is coming down, well you take that first step.

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Speaker 3: What happens boom, right, you're right back down to ground level,

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Speaker 3: and so you have to work so much harder to

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Speaker 3: escape in this case that.

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Speaker 1: Credit card balance. Yes, so just yeah, just keep that

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Speaker 1: in mind. It is nefarious.

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Speaker 2: And I think a lot of people assume, ah, a

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Speaker 2: little bit, it's not that bad. But truly, even just

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Speaker 2: you know, a few thousand dollars in credit card debt

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Speaker 2: and paying the minimum, like, what that does to your

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Speaker 2: finances every month. It's a big deal. And so I

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Speaker 2: think it's crucial to come up with the plan. If

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Speaker 2: you're one of these folks who does have credit card debt,

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Speaker 2: you're hanging on too. We have resources on how to

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Speaker 2: money dot com to help, and if you or someone

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Speaker 2: you know is like overwhelmed by credit card debt, there

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Speaker 2: are organizations, nonprofit organizations that can help you out. Money

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Speaker 2: Management International and the National Foundation for Credit Counseling are

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Speaker 2: two places you should at least consider going to low

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Speaker 2: cost or free help and the places that you hear

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Speaker 2: advertise the for profit places, be careful before you reach

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Speaker 2: out to those folks. They will often take a lump

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Speaker 2: sum of money and they might not might or might

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Speaker 2: not be able to help you out oftentimes not let's

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Speaker 2: add just a little bit more bad debt news here,

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Speaker 2: real quick, Matt. One in five car buyers are now opting,

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Speaker 2: as it turns out, for eighty four month loans when

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Speaker 2: they buy a new car. So this is new stats

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Speaker 2: from Edmunds.

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Speaker 1: Hate this.

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Speaker 2: It gets two hates, yeah and double hate, and it's

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Speaker 2: it's because it's the only way they can afford the

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Speaker 2: car they want. They're saying, well, hey, well the rising

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Speaker 2: cost of cars, interest rates going up to that's impacted

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Speaker 2: how much I can afford and how much I can

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Speaker 2: take take out the loan that I can take out

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Speaker 2: on this car. And so if you go to the

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Speaker 2: eighty four month loan, that's seven years, so it's going

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Speaker 2: to take the pay off that car. And I think

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Speaker 2: what it reveals is that we as Americans have become

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Speaker 2: payment buyers, like fully all the way buy now, pay later,

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Speaker 2: And then when we think about what happens with credit

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Speaker 2: card loans, it's all about how much can I afford

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Speaker 2: right now this month, instead of thinking about our wealth

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Speaker 2: building strategy from a more long term perspective. But this trend,

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Speaker 2: it's got cascading consequences. None of what you're good, yeah,

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Speaker 2: because we want people to pay cash for us whenever possible.

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Speaker 2: And we also realize that some people find themselves in

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Speaker 2: a bind and they can't write even if they're looking

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Speaker 2: for a cheaper used car. Hey, it's not possible. I've

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Speaker 2: got to find some way to borrow some money. And

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Speaker 2: I think forty eight month loans are the max amount

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Speaker 2: you should consider.

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Speaker 1: Longer loans.

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Speaker 2: They just mask affordability problems, they don't actually solve them, and.

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Speaker 3: Truly at that point, So one of the key things

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Speaker 3: you said is that people aren't able to afford the

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Speaker 3: car that they want. Like, if you're in a position

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Speaker 3: where you are it, Yeah, in fact, you are in

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Speaker 3: a pinch. You don't have the cash on hand to

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Speaker 3: be able to purchase a used vehicle. Like you need

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Speaker 3: to look at the vehicle that you need to get

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Speaker 3: you from point A to point B to get you

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Speaker 3: to your job, if that's what you need for to

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Speaker 3: take the kids to school, whatever it is that you

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Speaker 3: need to for, as opposed to thinking about how.

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Speaker 2: This car is going to make me feel the wants

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Speaker 2: it doesn't really. And I was talking to someone just

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Speaker 2: the other day, Matt, and they owe something seventeen thousand

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Speaker 2: dollars on their car, and he was talking about, Oh,

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Speaker 2: there's this great deal on this this other truck, and

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Speaker 2: it's like it's way it's priced way lower than it

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Speaker 2: should be. Man, what a deal fifty something thousand dollars.

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Speaker 2: But if I trade this in, gosh, then think I'm

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Speaker 2: gonna think about how much I'm gonna owe and of

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Speaker 2: course so much money, dude, Like I try my best

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Speaker 2: to help to hold your tongue, but.

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Speaker 1: Also how much advice do you want on that? Do

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Speaker 1: you know what I do every day?

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Speaker 2: That's the kind of thing that people find themselves in.

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Speaker 2: We see more negative equity loans and stuff like that too.

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Speaker 2: And yeah, when you trade in a car that you

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Speaker 2: owe money on and you roll that into the new loan,

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Speaker 2: not only are those terms gonna be worse, the payment's

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Speaker 2: going to be higher. Like how long are you going

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Speaker 2: to be underwater in that car? And what happens if

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Speaker 2: there's some sort of emergency in your life. What we've

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Speaker 2: done with financing vehicles is preposterous in this country, and

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Speaker 2: so many people their finances are suffering largely because of

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Speaker 2: this exactly that I'm taking on more debt that I

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Speaker 2: need to for vehicles, and there's not enough money for

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Speaker 2: the other important necessities.

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Speaker 3: These are the folks who are still on the escalator

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Speaker 3: and they're not they're not stopping at ground level. It's

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Speaker 3: like taking them down into the basement with a boiler

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Speaker 3: and that's not where you want to be.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, but dude, let's shift gears.

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Speaker 3: Let's talk about investing because the market has been on

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Speaker 3: pins and needles in recent months. You know, whether it's

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Speaker 3: the whether it's the word. Yeah, all right, I thought

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Speaker 3: we were going to avoid the terrorists. But that's why

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Speaker 3: I said the T word. I just didn't want to

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Speaker 3: say it all. Whether we're talking about terrorists, we're talking

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Speaker 3: about truth, social posts, perhaps about firing JR. Own Pal

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Speaker 3: and then him Trump saying that's the.

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Speaker 1: Other tea word. I guess true, be like, oh no,

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Speaker 1: I'm actually not going to.

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Speaker 3: Fire him because of that. The market is reacting to

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Speaker 3: this instability, to this uncertainty, and some have made changes

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Speaker 3: and uh, unfortunately they've panic sold again.

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Speaker 1: We hold a very high standard here. A hout of money.

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Speaker 3: I don't think that's something that anybody in the how

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Speaker 3: to money community has done. But as we're talking about

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Speaker 3: investing here, we want folks to know that it looks

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Speaker 3: like pretty soon you're gonna have access to even more

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Speaker 3: investment choices in your four oh one K, including private equity,

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Speaker 3: which you're thinking, all right, here's the ticket, this is

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Speaker 3: how i'm this is what's going to get me to

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Speaker 3: that next level. Forget the escalator. This is like an

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Speaker 3: elevator that's going to shoot me straight to the top.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 3: It sounds awesome, You're getting access to these rare VIP

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Speaker 3: investments that only rich folks currently enjoy, but when you

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Speaker 3: in fact dig a little deeper, it's not.

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Speaker 1: All that great.

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Speaker 3: There aren't many private equity ETFs, and then the ones

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Speaker 3: that actually do exist, they come with really high fees,

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Speaker 3: and like the real truly wealthy folks out there who

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Speaker 3: are investing with private equity, they're not taking the ETF

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Speaker 3: route here. They're often for like real private equity that

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Speaker 3: most folks can access unless they're a credited investor. Morning

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Speaker 3: Star will link to this article, but they summed it

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Speaker 3: up pretty perfectly. At the moment, these ETFs look like

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Speaker 3: a distraction, which I completely agree with Man transparencies, low

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Speaker 3: fees are high, and the benefits up here very questionable.

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Speaker 3: This is very good advice from the good folks over

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Speaker 3: at Morning Stars.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you're just gonna hear people telling you about how man,

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Speaker 2: how cool is it that you can now invest in

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Speaker 2: stuff that you you weren't able to before. Look at

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Speaker 2: the finally the investments of the rich available to you

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Speaker 2: as a normy.

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Speaker 3: But doesn't sound like good water cooler talk as well.

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Speaker 3: They're like, you know, I'm thinking, I'm I'm gonna switch

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Speaker 3: over and do a little bit of private equity. You know,

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Speaker 3: I'm gonna dabble on that a little bit. Don't do it, yep.

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Speaker 2: One question mat that's come up more recently on the

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Speaker 2: show and from listeners is is what if you're at

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Speaker 2: the point where you need to tap investments and the

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Speaker 2: market is down That that's a question I think on

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Speaker 2: the mind of a lot of retirees, parents with five

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Speaker 2: twenty nine plans, right, they've got money in there that

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Speaker 2: they need to use in the near future. That I

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Speaker 2: think we took a question for one of those folks

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Speaker 2: on Monday. A couple of things here. One, make sure

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Speaker 2: you change your asset allocation as you get closer to

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Speaker 2: needing the money that you have been saving and investing

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Speaker 2: four years and potentially decades. One hundred percent stocks being

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Speaker 2: all the way in on an S and P five

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Speaker 2: hundred fund when you're a month from retirement, right or

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Speaker 2: if you have a high school senior, that's just too risky.

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Speaker 2: It's totally fine for people who are in the wealth

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Speaker 2: building phase of their lives and they're like a long

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Speaker 2: way off from needing to tap those funds. But if

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Speaker 2: you're like, hey, pres sure I'm need those soon and

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Speaker 2: you're taking on too much risk, well, just know that

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Speaker 2: can come back to bite you. And for some people

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Speaker 2: it has also know this drawing down funds at the

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Speaker 2: absolute peak of the market every single time, that would

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Speaker 2: be awesome, but it's also it's also a pipe tream.

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Speaker 2: You want to have enough flexibility, You want to have

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Speaker 2: enough cash on your side where you can avoid taking

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Speaker 2: out huge chunks during a significant bear market. But it's

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Speaker 2: also important to keep in mind that you can't time

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Speaker 2: your withdrawals perfectly. And I think the stock market's down

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Speaker 2: something like six percent from its all time highs, And

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Speaker 2: you also have to keep the bigger picture in mind.

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Speaker 2: Remember how far those dollars, how much those dollars have grown,

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Speaker 2: how far, how far they've come. Working behind the scenes

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Speaker 2: on your behalf, and we assume it's Matt. We feel

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Speaker 2: a lot is more keenly than we fill win. So

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Speaker 2: six percent draw down, even if there's been a massive

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Speaker 2: run up in the market over the past like fifteen years, overall, well,

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Speaker 2: we feel about six percent blip downwards a heck of

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Speaker 2: a lot more than we feel the positives of the

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Speaker 2: wealth we've been able to build. The recent dip not ideal,

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Speaker 2: but if you've been investing for years or for decades,

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Speaker 2: you've grown those dollars meaningfully. Still, you've got to remember that,

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Speaker 2: and you've just got to know what your risk tolerance.

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Speaker 2: And hopefully this recent bout of market volatility has helped

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Speaker 2: inform people of what their risk tolerance can and should

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Speaker 2: be moving forward.

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Speaker 1: That is true.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not much comfort I think for folks who

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Speaker 3: have to have access to that money now, But for

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Speaker 3: folks who you know, they are a few years off

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Speaker 3: what you said a word you said a flexibility, and

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Speaker 3: so much of it I think comes down to flexibility.

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Speaker 3: And you're not only from an income standpoint, because I

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Speaker 3: think that's one big part of it.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 3: It's just like, Okay, do I have the ability to

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Speaker 3: perhaps generate some additional income to be able to pay

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Speaker 3: for whatever you're looking to pull those investments out for.

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Speaker 3: In the case of I'm thinking about five twenty nine,

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Speaker 3: is it's like, well, we're planning to count on that,

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Speaker 3: but okay, in the future or next year, next couple

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Speaker 3: of years, do you think you have the ability to

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Speaker 3: perhaps cash flow more of that as opposed to pull

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Speaker 3: those investments out. So that's a certain amount of flexibility.

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Speaker 1: But then the ability to.

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Speaker 3: Adjust how much you're spending is on you know, that's

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Speaker 3: the other side of the equation, Right, So is there

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Speaker 3: a gap year that's taking place. Again, we're talking about

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Speaker 3: college here, but from a retirement standpoint, what does retirement

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Speaker 3: spending look like? If that's something that there is a

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Speaker 3: little bit more flexibility on, that is one way to

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Speaker 3: go to You got to find that balance between de

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Speaker 3: risking and avoiding the sequence of returns risk, Right, That's

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Speaker 3: what we're talking about here with the fact that the

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Speaker 3: stock market goes up three out of four years, and

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Speaker 3: so there's also the stark reality of that there is

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Speaker 3: a higher likelihood of seeing a positive return than a

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Speaker 3: negative return. So it often does come down to your

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Speaker 3: how comfortable you are are with risk.

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Speaker 2: And yeah, that flexibility even for someone who's saying, oh,

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Speaker 2: I was planning on retiring next year, Well, it might

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Speaker 2: not be ideal, but you might be able to work

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Speaker 2: another year or two longer to make sure that you've

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Speaker 2: got enough money stocked up and that you're not retiring

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Speaker 2: into the teeth of a downturn.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you also said you mentioned how the recent dip

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Speaker 3: hasn't been ideal. I feel like that there's a lot

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Speaker 3: of confusion too around that, because in large part that

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Speaker 3: has to do with the fact that people have different

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Speaker 3: definitions of what buy the dip means. Because if you

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Speaker 3: are somebody who isn't investing and people start talking about

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Speaker 3: buying the dip, and you're like, you know, essentially what

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Speaker 3: you're doing is timing the market. But there's a big

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Speaker 3: difference between that and regularly investing in the market and saying,

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Speaker 3: you know, I've got some extra cash on hand, I've

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Speaker 3: got a fully stocked emergency fund. Let's go ahead and

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Speaker 3: pour some of that money into some investments that I

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Speaker 3: would have eventually purchased. It reduces the emergency fund there

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Speaker 3: a little bit. But like that's smart, that's savvy, Like

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Speaker 3: that's taking advantage of a set. Don't deplete it, but

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Speaker 3: don't deplete it. No, absolutely not. But that's like when

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Speaker 3: we see a sale at the grocery store. It's no different. Literally,

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Speaker 3: I did this yesterday. Coffee was on sale, and what

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Speaker 3: did I do? I bought a few extra pounds of it,

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Speaker 3: and I pulled some of that consumption forward. Word and

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Speaker 3: in the same way, I think it's fine to take

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Speaker 3: advantage of the dip in prices, pull some of that

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Speaker 3: consumption forward, pull some of that investing forward. But the

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Speaker 3: problem I think is is when that buy the dip

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Speaker 3: mentality derails what you would normally consume or what you

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Speaker 3: would normally when you keep cash on the sidelines and

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Speaker 3: you're waiting for the dip and take. What happens When

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Speaker 3: that's the case, you're missing out on gains along the way. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: Or if you're attracted to investments that you otherwise would

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Speaker 3: not be attracted to, could you see something plummet and

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Speaker 3: you're like, ooh, maybe instead of voo oh, it's time

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Speaker 3: to buy a bit more Tesla because their their stocks

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Speaker 3: in the tank, and that's Is that a part of

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Speaker 3: your overall investing plan?

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Speaker 1: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: If so, then okay, maybe consider that, but otherwise I

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Speaker 3: think the distraction element of it is I think the

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Speaker 3: worst part.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so I think like timing the market with

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Speaker 2: new contributions, that's not our favorite. Like if you are

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Speaker 2: trying to hold onto cash to buy the dip, well,

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Speaker 2: you probably should have just been investing regularly along the way.

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Speaker 2: I think there is one kind of sort of market

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Speaker 2: timing exception possibility, and that is when we're talking about

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Speaker 2: Roth conversions. And so if you've been a big investor

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Speaker 2: in like traditional tax advantage accounts, and you've built up

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Speaker 2: a big nest egg of traditional four oh and k

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Speaker 2: traditional IRA asss, we'll think about that potential future tax bill.

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Speaker 2: And if you're worried about how much tax you might

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Speaker 2: be paying down the road because you have socked away,

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Speaker 2: you know, hundreds and hundreds and hundred thousands of dollars

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Speaker 2: or millions or more of dollars, think about doing strategic

438
00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:32,159
Speaker 2: Wroth conversions. But you don't want to just start converting

439
00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:33,800
Speaker 2: one of the market drops. You want to consider your

440
00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:37,600
Speaker 2: current tax rate, your potential future tax rate, potential future

441
00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:41,640
Speaker 2: income drops, because that could also make Wroth conversions make

442
00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:44,040
Speaker 2: sense for you. And there are calculators out there, Matt

443
00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:46,399
Speaker 2: that I was like search around the internet for this week.

444
00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:49,320
Speaker 2: Fidelity has a great one. Bolden is a website that

445
00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:50,360
Speaker 2: has another will link to those.

446
00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:51,919
Speaker 1: Oh that's a new one. I haven't used them.

447
00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:53,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've heard of them before. We links to those

448
00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:55,640
Speaker 2: in the shows. They're really good. And when you look

449
00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:58,520
Speaker 2: at how much money you could potentially save by doing

450
00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:00,760
Speaker 2: Roth conversions, there's a lot to take in consideration. You

451
00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:02,879
Speaker 2: don't want to just willy nilly markets down. Let me

452
00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:05,240
Speaker 2: go do some Roth conversions. There's a lot of data,

453
00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:07,199
Speaker 2: like I said, you have to take into consideration, but

454
00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:11,480
Speaker 2: it could dramatically reduce overall, like the overall amount of

455
00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:13,560
Speaker 2: taxes that you pay if you do it properly and

456
00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:16,280
Speaker 2: if you're smart about when and how you do those.

457
00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:18,280
Speaker 2: But all right, we've got more to get to, including

458
00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:22,280
Speaker 2: we're gonna talk about time shares and just how rotten

459
00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:24,639
Speaker 2: those timeshare presentations can be. You've actually been to one,

460
00:20:24,680 --> 00:20:26,600
Speaker 2: right I have. All right, let's talk about that and

461
00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:28,840
Speaker 2: get your story I'll share. Okay, we'll get to that

462
00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:29,840
Speaker 2: and more right after this.

463
00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:41,280
Speaker 3: We've got more Friday flight goodness to get to today.

464
00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:43,840
Speaker 3: And of course now it is time for the ludicrous

465
00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:46,840
Speaker 3: headline of the week. This one is from the Globe

466
00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:49,720
Speaker 3: and Mail. In the headline reads, they worked hard to

467
00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:54,320
Speaker 3: retire early, now they're dealing with regrets. And this article

468
00:20:54,400 --> 00:21:00,240
Speaker 3: profiles the quintessential early fire adherents, specifically up in Canada,

469
00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:03,360
Speaker 3: who worked as hard as they possibly could in order

470
00:21:03,359 --> 00:21:04,920
Speaker 3: to be done with work forever.

471
00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:07,200
Speaker 1: And then of course they just realized.

472
00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:08,960
Speaker 3: It was a giant mistake and that they wish they

473
00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:12,240
Speaker 3: wouldn't have done that. They expressed similar regrets of actually

474
00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:15,120
Speaker 3: working too hard where they were missing out on hobbies

475
00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:17,760
Speaker 3: and relationships along the way. And then, of course what

476
00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:21,960
Speaker 3: happens they encounter a serious amount of boredom after abandoning

477
00:21:22,119 --> 00:21:24,040
Speaker 3: the work world altogether, Like.

478
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:25,800
Speaker 2: Where are my friends at Dude? Thought we were gonna

479
00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:27,240
Speaker 2: hang out. Oh wait, they're still working.

480
00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:30,920
Speaker 3: It's amazing how much structure and intellectual stimulation work can

481
00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:33,960
Speaker 3: provide us. It's just incredibly ironic how the thing that

482
00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:39,240
Speaker 3: allowed anybody who has retired early so working hard, oftentimes

483
00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:42,360
Speaker 3: working a lot, or earning a fat paycheck, that those things,

484
00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:44,840
Speaker 3: oftentimes are the things that are keeping you from being

485
00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:47,520
Speaker 3: able to develop the other aspects of life that make

486
00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:50,240
Speaker 3: life truly. I don't want to say worth living, but

487
00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:53,439
Speaker 3: that just rounded out and you remove this one element.

488
00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:55,719
Speaker 3: So not only, of course, are you missing out on

489
00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:59,000
Speaker 3: oh man, I'm not getting an income anymore, but also,

490
00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:02,040
Speaker 3: oh man, all my friends are still in there makes

491
00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:04,600
Speaker 3: me think of Severance, which you haven't watched, Still haven't kay,

492
00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:07,760
Speaker 3: And I actually recently finished season two.

493
00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:08,720
Speaker 1: I'm a fan.

494
00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:11,640
Speaker 3: Some folks aren't happy with how it ended. I also

495
00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:14,119
Speaker 3: can't wait to see where it goes next. I'm a

496
00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:16,800
Speaker 3: huge fan. But I'm mentioning this because we have to

497
00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:19,760
Speaker 3: be so incredibly intentional and proactive when it comes to

498
00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,800
Speaker 3: fostering and cultivating and growing the other aspects of life

499
00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:27,480
Speaker 3: that we can oftentimes just completely forget about, like I'm

500
00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:33,440
Speaker 3: talking about physical health, intellectual stimulation, relationships specifically was highlighted

501
00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:36,600
Speaker 3: in this article. The ability to grow these areas of

502
00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:40,440
Speaker 3: our lives in ways that require that just think in iota,

503
00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:44,200
Speaker 3: honestly of thought. And unfortunately, that's just a touch more

504
00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:46,320
Speaker 3: than what most folks are doing. And of course there's

505
00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:48,640
Speaker 3: folks wo are finding a whole lot of yeah, sadness,

506
00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:50,240
Speaker 3: regret they're going back to work when they don't need

507
00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:51,000
Speaker 3: to need the money.

508
00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:53,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, big chunks, something like sixty percent of those people.

509
00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:55,160
Speaker 3: Because it provides some of the some of the structure,

510
00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:56,200
Speaker 3: which is fascinating.

511
00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:58,480
Speaker 2: We've seen that in our own lives of friendships with

512
00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:02,800
Speaker 2: people in the fire space, and yeah, it's there's some

513
00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:06,879
Speaker 2: like the first month you're just recovering from burnout essentially

514
00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:09,000
Speaker 2: from the job you had, and then after that you

515
00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:10,639
Speaker 2: start twiddling your thumbs. You're like, what am I going

516
00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:12,640
Speaker 2: to do? And maybe you pick up a project or two,

517
00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:14,680
Speaker 2: But there's so much time in the day then, and

518
00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:17,080
Speaker 2: you don't have the people around you that you want

519
00:23:17,119 --> 00:23:19,440
Speaker 2: to spend that you want to spend that time with

520
00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:23,240
Speaker 2: so often and many of them have gone back to

521
00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:27,240
Speaker 2: get jobs. Sometimes it's some nice gig work and stuff

522
00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:29,119
Speaker 2: like that, which has been interesting to watch. So I

523
00:23:29,119 --> 00:23:31,520
Speaker 2: don't know, maybe instead of fire we should think about

524
00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:34,520
Speaker 2: working longer, like not retiring at age forty and working

525
00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:38,800
Speaker 2: fewer hours now. And interestingly enough, Gallup found that that's

526
00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:41,200
Speaker 2: been a real trend actually over the past five years

527
00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:44,280
Speaker 2: that full time employees have been reducing the number of

528
00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:47,679
Speaker 2: hours they work on average, and this is basically a

529
00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:51,560
Speaker 2: post COVID trend where young workers they've limited work hours

530
00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:54,679
Speaker 2: even more, they've reduced the number of hours that they

531
00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:58,119
Speaker 2: work by about two hours a week, which, when you

532
00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:00,600
Speaker 2: think about it, I mean that's that's a decent chunk

533
00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:03,359
Speaker 2: of like what six percent off of your work week

534
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:05,760
Speaker 2: every week. That's kind of a big deal. And as

535
00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:07,600
Speaker 2: Gallup put it, they said, over a year, that's the

536
00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:10,240
Speaker 2: equivalent of older employees taking an extra week off of

537
00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:13,200
Speaker 2: work and younger employees taking essentially an extra two weeks

538
00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:15,800
Speaker 2: off of work. Every single one of us has different goals,

539
00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:17,920
Speaker 2: and Matt and I aren't going to prescribe your goals

540
00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:20,359
Speaker 2: or the exact way to get them, because that's for

541
00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:23,040
Speaker 2: you to figure out. But yeah, while some of our

542
00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:25,840
Speaker 2: fire friends are really enjoying themselves, some of them aren't.

543
00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:28,440
Speaker 2: And we want you to think twice before you need

544
00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:31,560
Speaker 2: jerk jump up to like a seventy percent savings rate

545
00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:33,760
Speaker 2: or something like that, so you can quit work before

546
00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:36,480
Speaker 2: everyone else that you know and decide whether or not

547
00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:38,159
Speaker 2: that's the life you want, or if maybe a more

548
00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:41,200
Speaker 2: sustainable way is to reduce the amount of time that

549
00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:43,400
Speaker 2: you're putting toward work in the here now. I kind

550
00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:45,159
Speaker 2: of like this trend, Matt, where people are saying I'm

551
00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:46,680
Speaker 2: going to claw back some of my life now. I'm

552
00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:49,440
Speaker 2: not waiting till this verbial future retirement date.

553
00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:51,639
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, I mean none of us are promised that future.

554
00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:53,760
Speaker 3: I think that's one of the biggest things, right I'm

555
00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:57,400
Speaker 3: actually I'm still thinking about the Canadians, the Canadian fire adherents,

556
00:24:57,440 --> 00:24:59,320
Speaker 3: and how much of that do you think has to

557
00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:01,520
Speaker 3: do with the fact that they're in Canada, Like it's

558
00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:04,280
Speaker 3: colder up there, it's further north, there's less sunshine, and

559
00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:07,399
Speaker 3: so it's like truly the work day, like it's maybe

560
00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:08,919
Speaker 3: like the highlight.

561
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:09,159
Speaker 1: It's.

562
00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:14,720
Speaker 3: It's actually like spend time outdoors where there's all the

563
00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:16,119
Speaker 3: Canadian listeners out there.

564
00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:17,280
Speaker 1: Are going to send you all their hate. Man.

565
00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:19,600
Speaker 3: Well, even within the US, like I do wonder if

566
00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:21,160
Speaker 3: it's less of a problem in the US, because even

567
00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:23,080
Speaker 3: within the United States, folks are where are they moving.

568
00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:24,840
Speaker 3: They're moving to the sun Belt. They're moving to the

569
00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:28,000
Speaker 3: Southern States because they want to be in an environment

570
00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:30,399
Speaker 3: that's just more comfortable. And if you have to go

571
00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:34,000
Speaker 3: on a like a big vacation in order to experience

572
00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:36,640
Speaker 3: warm temperatures, there's a big difference between that and being

573
00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:39,200
Speaker 3: able to step outside going for a walk around like

574
00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:41,760
Speaker 3: the neighborhood or visiting the park, right, Like, that's way

575
00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:43,919
Speaker 3: more affordable. That's something that you can do on a

576
00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:47,959
Speaker 3: sustainable basis versus saying, all right, we gotta you know,

577
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:51,000
Speaker 3: step out of the tundrum. Yeah, yeah, I know all

578
00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:55,320
Speaker 3: of Canada isn't frozen. No, I think like frozen desert.

579
00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:55,960
Speaker 2: Alberta for sure.

580
00:25:56,119 --> 00:25:57,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, but there's a lot of a lot of fantastic

581
00:25:57,920 --> 00:25:59,960
Speaker 3: there's a lot of Canada that's frozen and very cold, yes,

582
00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:01,920
Speaker 3: but there's also a lot of fantastic cities that are

583
00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:05,679
Speaker 3: basically the United States. Just the thought I had. But

584
00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:10,359
Speaker 3: one of the alternatives to like going crazy making massive

585
00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:12,960
Speaker 3: sacrifices in the here and now in order to be

586
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:16,920
Speaker 3: able to retire early could look like taking what folks

587
00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:19,800
Speaker 3: are calling many retirements. This is actually something we've talked

588
00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:22,439
Speaker 3: about on the show a couple times, actually in the

589
00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:26,879
Speaker 3: more recent podcast episode History. But the New York Times

590
00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:29,440
Speaker 3: they just highlighted folks who have been jumping on this trend,

591
00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:33,240
Speaker 3: the mini retirement trend. And so instead of retirement being

592
00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:35,880
Speaker 3: this all or nothing sort of thing, a better goal

593
00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:39,080
Speaker 3: could be just taking some work breaks, like take a

594
00:26:39,119 --> 00:26:41,760
Speaker 3: month off, take a two or three months off. You

595
00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:43,719
Speaker 3: certainly plan for it, but you don't have to have

596
00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:47,080
Speaker 3: millions of dollars saved in order to pull this off.

597
00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:50,840
Speaker 3: You can use that time to travel. Certainly not mandatory though,

598
00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:53,040
Speaker 3: especially if you don't have the savings in order to

599
00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:54,800
Speaker 3: pull this off, it could just look like, you know,

600
00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:56,280
Speaker 3: taking an extended break.

601
00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:58,639
Speaker 2: Is a Katie North that we talked with recently, and

602
00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:00,280
Speaker 2: I thought she had a lot of good yes for

603
00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:02,199
Speaker 2: what it could look like to play a sabbatical and

604
00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:04,640
Speaker 2: to talk about kind of what goals you might be

605
00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:06,680
Speaker 2: seeking to achieve during that time.

606
00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:09,679
Speaker 3: Like yeah, yeah, and so yeah, whether or not you

607
00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:13,280
Speaker 3: kind of prescribe or subscribe to what Joel mentioned, which

608
00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:15,520
Speaker 3: is like, all right, finding a way to sort of

609
00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:18,680
Speaker 3: build a more sustainable lifestyle where you're still working, or

610
00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:20,719
Speaker 3: if you're looking for something where you're like, you know what,

611
00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:23,119
Speaker 3: I just need a bigger break. I think both of

612
00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:27,560
Speaker 3: these could be healthier alternatives too, jacking up that savings

613
00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:29,560
Speaker 3: right to extreme levels, so where you're planning to kick

614
00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:33,360
Speaker 3: work to the curb altogether, because man work provides ultimately

615
00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:34,280
Speaker 3: a lot of fulfillment.

616
00:27:34,359 --> 00:27:37,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, let's talk about travel and let's specifically

617
00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:38,600
Speaker 2: talk about timeshares.

618
00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:38,880
Speaker 1: Matt.

619
00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:43,199
Speaker 2: I saw an article this week about the writer basically said, hey,

620
00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:45,199
Speaker 2: I use a timeshare to get a discount of vacation.

621
00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:48,800
Speaker 2: The writer was able to score three nights in Vegas

622
00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:50,840
Speaker 2: for one hundred and fifty bucks, and then they snagged

623
00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:52,359
Speaker 2: like a bunch of Hilton points on top of it,

624
00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:54,359
Speaker 2: which was probably going to give them nice four or

625
00:27:54,359 --> 00:27:56,600
Speaker 2: five free hotel nights or something like that. Here's the

626
00:27:56,600 --> 00:28:00,320
Speaker 2: big reveal. I wrote that article just kidding. She did

627
00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:03,320
Speaker 2: something very similar in the past. And so the catch,

628
00:28:03,359 --> 00:28:05,800
Speaker 2: of course is that you have to attend a mandatory

629
00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:10,040
Speaker 2: timeshare presentation or your charge for the full price of

630
00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:15,120
Speaker 2: the stay. And so the author correctly outlines just how

631
00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:17,800
Speaker 2: costly a timeshare can be, which I appreciate in the article.

632
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,520
Speaker 2: And then the ongoing fees they go up every single year.

633
00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:23,640
Speaker 2: And she didn't really talk about this much. But when

634
00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:26,040
Speaker 2: you think about the sales tactics that are often using

635
00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:29,239
Speaker 2: these timeshare presentations, they can be pretty intense, a lot

636
00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:32,199
Speaker 2: of pressure, man, and you might go from one salesperson

637
00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:35,560
Speaker 2: to another, being kind of shoved around from room to room,

638
00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:38,080
Speaker 2: kind of like hot lights. Under the hot lights or

639
00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:40,320
Speaker 2: something like that, like sign on the dotted line. Here's

640
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:42,000
Speaker 2: how it greated is, here's the discount we're going to

641
00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:42,520
Speaker 2: offer you today.

642
00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:44,680
Speaker 1: We employ the whole good cod back got oh for sure.

643
00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:47,720
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I've got kids too. Let's trying to identify

644
00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:49,600
Speaker 2: with you, get down on your level. There are all

645
00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:51,840
Speaker 2: sorts of things that happen in a timeshare presentation that

646
00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:53,400
Speaker 2: could get you to sign on the dotted line when

647
00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:56,000
Speaker 2: you shouldn't. And so yeah, I don't know. I guess

648
00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:58,560
Speaker 2: I'm curious to hear your take. She was pretty thrilled

649
00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:01,360
Speaker 2: because she got to go on Vegas vacation saved for like,

650
00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:02,440
Speaker 2: you know, nine hundred.

651
00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:02,720
Speaker 1: Bucks or something.

652
00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:05,400
Speaker 3: Also, when I did it as well, Man, this it's

653
00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:07,800
Speaker 3: been years since we did this, but I attended one

654
00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:11,040
Speaker 3: of these during spring break in college. Actually I just

655
00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:14,320
Speaker 3: graduated college and I went on spring break with Kate

656
00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:14,920
Speaker 3: and her friends.

657
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:16,440
Speaker 1: So it was a lot of fun. And as we're

658
00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:17,160
Speaker 1: checking into.

659
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:19,120
Speaker 3: The hotel, they're like, hey, by the way, if you

660
00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:21,440
Speaker 3: attend this timeshare presentation, you know, I don't even know

661
00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:23,160
Speaker 3: if they called it a timeshare presentation. I felt like

662
00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:24,760
Speaker 3: we were completely package.

663
00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:27,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel like they weren't very clear as to

664
00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:29,160
Speaker 1: what it was all week. That word is so tainted.

665
00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:31,640
Speaker 3: Now they will try, but even at that point in time,

666
00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:34,040
Speaker 3: I don't know if we would have even known either way.

667
00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:35,520
Speaker 1: All we knew was that we sit through this.

668
00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:38,360
Speaker 3: Meeting, we get free breakfast, including Momoss by the way,

669
00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:39,360
Speaker 3: which was a huge perk.

670
00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:41,680
Speaker 1: We're like, oh, that sounds nice, fancy.

671
00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:43,240
Speaker 3: I didn't realize the spring break was gonna be so

672
00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:46,120
Speaker 3: nice as well as we each were.

673
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:48,760
Speaker 1: Going to receive a one hundred dollar visa check card

674
00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:49,200
Speaker 1: or whatever.

675
00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:51,960
Speaker 3: And dude, I don't know if it was because we

676
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:54,080
Speaker 3: didn't have the money to spend, but we sat through

677
00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:56,720
Speaker 3: chatted with the lady. Actually, I do remember she turned

678
00:29:56,720 --> 00:29:58,920
Speaker 3: to us and said, y'all aren't going to sign anything

679
00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:00,760
Speaker 3: and get one of those are You? Were like, no,

680
00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:04,200
Speaker 3: we don't have the money to do that, and she

681
00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:06,640
Speaker 3: was like, well, you'd never know. Some kids were in here,

682
00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:08,720
Speaker 3: and we were kids at the time basically, but some

683
00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:11,880
Speaker 3: folks were in here last week and one of them

684
00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:14,640
Speaker 3: busted out an Amex black card, and at that point

685
00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:16,360
Speaker 3: in time, I didn't even know what an Amex black card.

686
00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:19,040
Speaker 3: I was like, oh, okay, sounds nice, but like it's

687
00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:21,880
Speaker 3: like an invite only sort of fancy card. They were

688
00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:24,680
Speaker 3: rolling in the money is basically what she was pointing to. Okay,

689
00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:26,240
Speaker 3: but it didn't take her long to realize that we

690
00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:28,640
Speaker 3: were not rolling. Would you do that same thing now?

691
00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:31,200
Speaker 3: It depends on how long, Right, you gotta know how

692
00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:33,280
Speaker 3: to value your time, Yeah, exactly. It depends on how

693
00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:36,240
Speaker 3: good the perk is. Because one hundred dollars gift card

694
00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:38,320
Speaker 3: to spend an hour and a half your time.

695
00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:39,840
Speaker 1: Like, I don't think I do that today.

696
00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:42,320
Speaker 2: When you're twenty two, you're like, all right, huge deal

697
00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:44,960
Speaker 2: you Bucks is a huge deal. Yeah, that allowed us

698
00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:46,800
Speaker 2: to she made a lot more. She's gonna get a

699
00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:48,600
Speaker 2: bunch of free nights. Oh hotel stays on top of

700
00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:51,640
Speaker 2: that vacation. But you also just have to realize and

701
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:55,440
Speaker 2: understand maybe how susceptible you might be to the hard sale,

702
00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:58,560
Speaker 2: because those timeshare presentations are not for the faint of heart.

703
00:30:58,560 --> 00:30:59,440
Speaker 1: Got to be able to say no.

704
00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:01,880
Speaker 2: Talk to someone else recently who said, man, they tried

705
00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:04,720
Speaker 2: to like bar the door on my way out, and

706
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:08,160
Speaker 2: like it can get truly that sort of vicious in

707
00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:10,520
Speaker 2: a timeshare presentation. So I have not been to one.

708
00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:12,040
Speaker 2: It makes me want to do one, just so I

709
00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:13,400
Speaker 2: can talk about it here on the show, and just

710
00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:14,720
Speaker 2: so I can have had that experience.

711
00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:16,640
Speaker 1: Gosh, what was it? Was it last year? A couple

712
00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:17,040
Speaker 1: of years ago.

713
00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:19,760
Speaker 3: There's a steak dinner that was being presented for something,

714
00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:22,000
Speaker 3: and you and I we thought about actually going because.

715
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,320
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and honestly it was a stay or the

716
00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:26,720
Speaker 2: insider pitch, but also is a.

717
00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:28,640
Speaker 3: A like a pretty good steakhouse, and so we're just like,

718
00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:30,520
Speaker 3: why not? Then we could talk about it on the show,

719
00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:32,840
Speaker 3: But again it came down to us not We're like,

720
00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:34,520
Speaker 3: dang it, I don't want to drive all the way

721
00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:37,160
Speaker 3: in town that through the present day.

722
00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:40,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, on Thursday night, exactly. Yeah, Okay, let's talk about

723
00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:43,760
Speaker 2: hotels too. Booking a hotel can be kind of crazy

724
00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:46,200
Speaker 2: these days. There's all these third party sites, some of

725
00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:48,120
Speaker 2: what you've heard of, some of what you haven't, and

726
00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:51,840
Speaker 2: then prices can vary meaningfully, mostly because of extra fees

727
00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:54,280
Speaker 2: that are added from site to site, and it's tough

728
00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:57,520
Speaker 2: to know which ones are legit and if they're even

729
00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:01,200
Speaker 2: gonna save you money. Copycat hotel sites in particular are

730
00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:04,080
Speaker 2: ripping people off. This is according to an article from

731
00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:06,200
Speaker 2: the Wall Street Journal, and so even if they're showing

732
00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:08,760
Speaker 2: up in Google results, I think some people assume, Matt

733
00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:11,280
Speaker 2: that oh, if I google this hotel and a range

734
00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:14,480
Speaker 2: of dates, that whatever sites they feed me, they're probably

735
00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:16,400
Speaker 2: gonna be fine, Like I can book through here, and

736
00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:17,600
Speaker 2: I'm going to get a better deal.

737
00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:19,320
Speaker 1: Especially if it's a well designed site, you know.

738
00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:23,560
Speaker 3: I think that's sometimes where folks are getting making not

739
00:32:23,600 --> 00:32:25,560
Speaker 3: making the best decision as well, because it's like, oh, man,

740
00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:27,760
Speaker 3: this actually looks I've been to the real web the

741
00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:30,320
Speaker 3: or the actual hotels website, but this looks even better.

742
00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:32,400
Speaker 1: So certainly I'm going to get a better deal over here.

743
00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:35,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, but no, Alas it's not true. And the fees

744
00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:38,920
Speaker 2: are typically ridiculous. When you like what looks like a

745
00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:41,760
Speaker 2: better price initially, well, when you click all the way

746
00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:44,080
Speaker 2: through and you see the price after fees, you're going

747
00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:46,840
Speaker 2: to pay way too much. And most of these sites

748
00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:49,760
Speaker 2: are non refundable, like the rooms are non refundable on

749
00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:52,280
Speaker 2: those sites. So you make the booking and there's nothing

750
00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:54,880
Speaker 2: you can do about it. There's no recourse. I would say,

751
00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:57,320
Speaker 2: check the check the r L of the site that

752
00:32:57,360 --> 00:32:59,200
Speaker 2: you're looking at. When you're going to book a hotel

753
00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:02,320
Speaker 2: and just be careful where you book and.

754
00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:02,800
Speaker 1: What seemed like.

755
00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:05,280
Speaker 2: I think you can still get a better deal on

756
00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:08,280
Speaker 2: hotels through hot wire and price line, but the deals

757
00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:10,440
Speaker 2: aren't as good as they used to be. Like ten

758
00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:13,560
Speaker 2: years ago, those sites were incredible and like the savings

759
00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:15,840
Speaker 2: you could get were ridiculous. But the hotel chains have

760
00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:20,240
Speaker 2: caught on and they are often offering great deals directly

761
00:33:20,240 --> 00:33:22,520
Speaker 2: to consumers when you book through their website. They're also

762
00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:26,239
Speaker 2: you might be able to get that refundable room in

763
00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:28,280
Speaker 2: case you're not sure about where you want to stay

764
00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:30,200
Speaker 2: and you want still the ability to shop around. Have

765
00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:33,280
Speaker 2: that bird in the hand, but just watch out where

766
00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:37,280
Speaker 2: you're booking and compare prices on multiple different sites, including

767
00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:40,080
Speaker 2: the hotel's website before you just like click book.

768
00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:40,880
Speaker 1: That's right, man.

769
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:44,440
Speaker 3: So speaking of travel, make sure your driver's license is

770
00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:47,600
Speaker 3: real ID compliant or you're not going to be able

771
00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:51,000
Speaker 3: to get on the airplane next time you are traveling

772
00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:53,320
Speaker 3: somewhere for a trip. This is, by the way, starting

773
00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:56,400
Speaker 3: a lot of deadlines. So May fifth for the student

774
00:33:56,440 --> 00:34:00,200
Speaker 3: loan being student loans being resumed. May seventh is the

775
00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:03,680
Speaker 3: deadline that's the cutoff for the real ID. And this

776
00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:07,000
Speaker 3: is yet another requirement that's been punted for years, but

777
00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:09,200
Speaker 3: it appears that this time they're actually sticking with it.

778
00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:12,400
Speaker 2: I swear it's been like five years. Yeah, I think

779
00:34:12,480 --> 00:34:12,680
Speaker 2: on this.

780
00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:13,160
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.

781
00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:16,520
Speaker 3: Apparently one in five folks traveling right now has not

782
00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:18,759
Speaker 3: updated their ID, which isn't good. That's gonna be a

783
00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:21,279
Speaker 3: lot of folks stranded at the airport leaving to you know,

784
00:34:21,719 --> 00:34:25,280
Speaker 3: snarls in the security line. Perhaps if you have updated

785
00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:29,560
Speaker 3: your license in recent years, you are likely ID real

786
00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:32,200
Speaker 3: ID compliant. But the way you can tell is there's

787
00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:35,240
Speaker 3: the little star up in the upper right hand corner.

788
00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:37,799
Speaker 3: That's the easiest way to know. Actually, most states have

789
00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:41,040
Speaker 3: the star. California they've got the awesome Grizzly bear.

790
00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:42,440
Speaker 1: The star in the bear. Yeah yeah.

791
00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:46,120
Speaker 3: And there's actually a couple, I think Maine and Michigan

792
00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:48,759
Speaker 3: they've got like the star within the outline of the state,

793
00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:50,160
Speaker 3: which also looks cool.

794
00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:51,880
Speaker 1: But not as cool as the Grizzly.

795
00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:54,520
Speaker 3: But if you haven't upgraded, make sure that you booked

796
00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:58,600
Speaker 3: that DMV appointment as soon as possible. But you do,

797
00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:01,880
Speaker 3: there's another option though. Let's you're like, well, shoot, my flight,

798
00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:04,360
Speaker 3: I'm leaving this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

799
00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:06,520
Speaker 2: You'll be fine because this is not until May seventh.

800
00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:09,000
Speaker 3: But let's say, let's just say you can't get that

801
00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:12,000
Speaker 3: that appointment made in time show with your passport, because

802
00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:14,120
Speaker 3: you can you are able to get on with your

803
00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:15,920
Speaker 3: a valid, unexpired passport.

804
00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:16,200
Speaker 1: Yeah.

805
00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:19,800
Speaker 2: So the real idea is essentially trying to make the

806
00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:24,120
Speaker 2: state id's federally compliant. And it's been a whole process.

807
00:35:24,160 --> 00:35:26,839
Speaker 2: But I think probably a lot of our listeners when

808
00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:28,680
Speaker 2: they've updated their license, like I swear, I've had mine

809
00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:30,920
Speaker 2: for a long, long long time now, but if you

810
00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:33,239
Speaker 2: haven't updated it, probably need to go do that so

811
00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:35,319
Speaker 2: you can actually get on a plane. All right, Matt,

812
00:35:35,360 --> 00:35:37,680
Speaker 2: that's going to do it for this episode. We'll put

813
00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:39,080
Speaker 2: links in the show notes to some of the stuff

814
00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:41,960
Speaker 2: we mentioned, and let's do a newsletter referral shout out

815
00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:45,120
Speaker 2: to one m One. Thanks for one. Thanks for referring

816
00:35:45,120 --> 00:35:47,040
Speaker 2: the head of Money newsletter to your friends and family,

817
00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:48,960
Speaker 2: so one, all of your closest to quaintance.

818
00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:52,280
Speaker 3: He is flying through the ranks. He got the immediate

819
00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:55,760
Speaker 3: referral here. We bought him a beer recently as well,

820
00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:56,719
Speaker 3: so one.

821
00:35:56,680 --> 00:35:58,520
Speaker 1: We appreciate you and you.

822
00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:00,800
Speaker 2: If you refer to the had of Money years letter to

823
00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:03,640
Speaker 2: your friends and family, we'll mention your name here on

824
00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:06,719
Speaker 2: the podcast and maybe even buy your beer too if

825
00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:08,799
Speaker 2: you refer enough folks. That's right, so you can find

826
00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:11,000
Speaker 2: that at how tomoney dot com slash newsletter.

827
00:36:11,160 --> 00:36:11,359
Speaker 1: Matt.

828
00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:13,080
Speaker 2: That's gonna do it for this one. Until next time,

829
00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:15,399
Speaker 2: Best friends Out, Best Friends Out,