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

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Speaker 1: and today we're discussing paying less at the pump, fatter paychecks,

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Speaker 1: and flocking to fire. That's right, man, this is our

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Speaker 1: Friday flight when we are going to cover some of

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Speaker 1: the different news stories that we came across the sweet

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Speaker 1: and how it's going to impact our money. It's always

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Speaker 1: important to make sure that the things we talked about,

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Speaker 1: I mean, everything we talked about we wanted to be relevant.

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Speaker 1: But I feel like with the Friday episodes we get

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Speaker 1: to be at least a little more timely, less evergreen. Right.

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Speaker 1: That's that's the entire point exactly. Yeah, touch on the

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Speaker 1: stuff that happened this week. And there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: significant happenings right now, Matt, including obviously we're gonna get

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Speaker 1: to gas prices being top of mind for so many people,

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Speaker 1: and um, yeah, how you can particularly fight back in

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Speaker 1: your own personal life, Well just buy a Tesla instead

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Speaker 1: of thing where I'm sure that a lot of you

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Speaker 1: are thinking about it right now. We we can also, though,

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Speaker 1: use this time to make basically not not necessarily a correction,

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Speaker 1: but we we did want to clarify an answer to

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Speaker 1: this week's Ask How the Money episode on Monday, we

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Speaker 1: totally missed this outlier event that that likely caused some

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Speaker 1: of the tax issues that listener Amy that she's facing.

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Speaker 1: And so basically, Vanguard they increased their offerings to institutional investors,

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Speaker 1: which is a good thing, right, the more options they have,

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Speaker 1: that's great. But then there's this ripple effects that change

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Speaker 1: that Vanguard instituted. It created this massive exit last year

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Speaker 1: of those big corporate investors out of traditional target date

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Speaker 1: mutual funds, which in turn wrecked tax havoc for folks

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Speaker 1: who still had those funds uh, and specifically who had

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Speaker 1: them in taxable brokerage accounts. Jason's wife, he actually wrote

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Speaker 1: about this in the Wall Street Journal, uh, and he

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Speaker 1: put it like this, as big clients left their sales,

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Speaker 1: cause the funds to offload some holdings, triggering capital gains

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Speaker 1: which could be distributed only to the dwindling group of

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Speaker 1: investors who stuck around. Some had made the mistake of

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Speaker 1: owning these funds and taxable accounts, and that is looking back,

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Speaker 1: I think that's exactly what happened to you, to Amy,

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Speaker 1: And so yeah, basically one of our favorite investing companies Vanguard.

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Speaker 1: They did a pretty huge disservice to a lot of

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Speaker 1: individual investors, and you know, it may not have been intentional,

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Speaker 1: but it's still left a very select number of individual

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Speaker 1: investors with it. But the big tax burden, which is

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Speaker 1: a pretty big deal yep. And Vanguard has not given

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Speaker 1: good responses, I'll be honest from their PR team, It's

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Speaker 1: kind of like, yeah, it is what it is. This

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Speaker 1: happened sometimes, and that is no comfort to anyone who

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Speaker 1: has a target date fund, one of these Vanguard target

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Speaker 1: date funds inside of a brokerage account who got hit

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Speaker 1: with a tax bill that was completely unexpected. So Amy

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Speaker 1: just wanted to let you know, if you're if you're

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Speaker 1: listening to the Friday Fight, that this is, in all

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Speaker 1: likelihood what happened to you. And I'm really sorry that

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Speaker 1: it did. And Matt, you and I were not gonna

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Speaker 1: hate on Vanguard UM altogether for this or cast them

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Speaker 1: out from companies that we recommend. We still like them

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Speaker 1: a lot. We still like them a lot, and we

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Speaker 1: also still really like target date funds. But while we

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Speaker 1: like these funds inside of retirement accounts, it does happen

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Speaker 1: that these rare or freak changes could present you with

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Speaker 1: a tax bill, and so yeah, we would say it's

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Speaker 1: it's not the best idea to own them in a

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Speaker 1: taxable brokerage account necessarily, it's it's still better than having

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Speaker 1: your money parked in a checking account earning virtually nothing

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Speaker 1: while inflation is on its hair. Of course, right, the

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Speaker 1: top concern is still to make sure that your money

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Speaker 1: is invested, but the targeted fund inside of a taxable

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Speaker 1: brokerage account is not quite as optimized. It's not the

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Speaker 1: most tax efficient route to go, and in extreme outlier

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Speaker 1: events like this, it could actually really bite people in

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Speaker 1: the butt. Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, this event basically highlighted that

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Speaker 1: fact before. Like it's kind of a it's more of

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Speaker 1: a minor thing. It's it's more about optimization. But this

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Speaker 1: event made it clear that like, oh wow, no, like

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Speaker 1: there could be some bigger, more serious ramifications. And so

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Speaker 1: that's just something that we want to keep in mind.

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Speaker 1: Uh Joala's let's do talk about gas prices. Biden, he

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Speaker 1: banned imports of Russian oil on Tuesday, which is an

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Speaker 1: important move to to hurt Putin and Russia's war efforts.

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Speaker 1: And you know, even though the US is energy independent,

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Speaker 1: like Basically, we produce all the natural gas and oil

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Speaker 1: that we need right here on our own soil. Worldwide

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Speaker 1: oil price increases still affect the price that we pay

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Speaker 1: here at home. Prices at the gas pump, they were

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Speaker 1: already on the rise, and the pain is it's likely

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Speaker 1: going to continue for a while. It's hard to know

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Speaker 1: how long that's going to be though, but there might

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Speaker 1: also be some temporary relief on the way. Some governors,

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Speaker 1: including ours here in Georgia, UH they're looking to suspend

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Speaker 1: the state gas tax for the time being, which it's

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Speaker 1: a great political move, but it also helps for individual

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Speaker 1: budgets as well, and our state folks could save up

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Speaker 1: to thirty cents a gallon, which is that's welcome relief

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Speaker 1: for all of those who are still, you know, having

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Speaker 1: to commute to work. Also, Georgia State Senator Raphael Warnock

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Speaker 1: he introduced legislation to eliminate the federal gas tax temporarily

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Speaker 1: as well, and that you know, has the potential to

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Speaker 1: save drivers nationally about eighteen since the gallon. So it's

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Speaker 1: not clear what the outcome is going to be, but

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Speaker 1: we'll make sure to keep folks posted if any of

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Speaker 1: this actually passes yeah, for sure, and you'd also noticed

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Speaker 1: that price drop really quickly, right if if the gas

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Speaker 1: tax suspensions come to fruition, Because right now it kind

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Speaker 1: of feels like mad Have you ever seen the I'm

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Speaker 1: sure you've seen the national debt um? Like when you

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Speaker 1: go to one of those websites, are you see how

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Speaker 1: quickly it scrolls the one in New York? It feels

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Speaker 1: like that's exactly what's happening right now at the gas

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Speaker 1: pumple As you drive by, it's like continues to claim, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean they're they're climbing. Gas prices are climbing. It's

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Speaker 1: feels like it's like ten cents a day, Like you

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Speaker 1: look back over their morning, noon, tonight, and the price

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Speaker 1: has climbed up. And so you don't even need to

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Speaker 1: read the recent Triple A report on gas prices to

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Speaker 1: know that they've gone looney tunes um in just a

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Speaker 1: matter of a few weeks. And so the national average

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Speaker 1: price per gallon as of Thursday morning, it was four

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Speaker 1: dollars and one as of right now. That's what it is.

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Speaker 1: I hate to say that because you're listening to some

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Speaker 1: Friday morning and it could be four dollars. I mean

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Speaker 1: it has been increasing about ten since the day, so

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Speaker 1: literally I would not be surprised if tomorrow if it's

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Speaker 1: closer to like four or forty. So it's shocking, and

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Speaker 1: I feel like just how quickly UM prices are escalating

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Speaker 1: is just as jarring as the overall price. It kind

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Speaker 1: of makes me wish I had not sold my niece

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Speaker 1: on leaf. Having an electric car right now is obviously

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Speaker 1: helpful in the face of high GASH prices. I don't

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Speaker 1: I don't think that means that the Leaf would be

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Speaker 1: getting all the love, Oh my gosh, all right, all

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Speaker 1: the kids, everybody, we're all packing in. But but here's

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Speaker 1: the thing. You know, we've seen videos of cars lined

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Speaker 1: up in crazy lines just to fill up for cheaper

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Speaker 1: gas at Costco, and I get trying to save money

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Speaker 1: on gas. It's helpful to check the gas, but the

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Speaker 1: app to find, especially an environment where prices are rising rapidly,

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Speaker 1: to find you know where the cheapest price is near you,

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Speaker 1: or to make you know strategic trips in your car

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Speaker 1: so that you're not going out for one off errands. UM.

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Speaker 1: Combining trips is a good way to save on gas,

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Speaker 1: but it's also important to remember what your time is worth,

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Speaker 1: and so yeah, burning gas while you're idling in a

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Speaker 1: long line isn't necessarily a recipe for saving money for

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Speaker 1: most folks. It's really easy to get hyper focused because

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Speaker 1: what else in our lives do we see The price

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Speaker 1: were constantly advertised as much as gas prices, Right, you

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Speaker 1: drive past a dozen gas stations on the way to

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Speaker 1: work or four gas stations on the way to your

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Speaker 1: friend's house, and so it's kind of this top of

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Speaker 1: mind thing you can see from the interstate as you're

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Speaker 1: driving by, and they got like giant towers, you know,

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Speaker 1: with the numbers on the exactly. So um, and I

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Speaker 1: get that it obviously has a major impact on everybody's budget,

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Speaker 1: and it's one of those things that you want to

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Speaker 1: pay attention to. And you do want to curb your

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Speaker 1: consumption whenever possible. You do want to ride your bike

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Speaker 1: more right, you do want to hop in your car

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Speaker 1: less overall. Um, But you also don't necessarily want to

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Speaker 1: wait in a twenty minute line just to save twenty

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Speaker 1: cents a gallon. Yeah, I do think it's important to

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Speaker 1: keep in mind, like you said, sol, like how much

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Speaker 1: your time is worth, because you don't want to spend

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Speaker 1: an inordinate amount of time searching for the lowest gas prices.

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Speaker 1: But I do feel like that's slightly less true given

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Speaker 1: the current state of things, right because so literally I

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Speaker 1: this morning, I checked the gas Buddy app and they've

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Speaker 1: got the spread. Uh. You know, you can look at

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Speaker 1: gas prices and see what the difference is between the

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Speaker 1: cheapest gas and the most expensive gas. Bigger than ever before.

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Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, it is over a dollar right now.

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Speaker 1: And so that means if you go to the right

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Speaker 1: gas station, you could potentially, I mean I could spend

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Speaker 1: save over twenty bucks by going to the right gas station.

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Speaker 1: You just have to weigh that with the other costs,

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Speaker 1: the amount of time it's going to take you. By

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Speaker 1: all means, try to get that affordable gas, but make

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Speaker 1: sure that you go like maybe during like off peaked

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Speaker 1: times in order to avoid these longlines. And the other

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Speaker 1: thing too, if you still have to drive. Getting a

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Speaker 1: new credit card to pay for gas that makes even

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Speaker 1: more since these days, um as, just the amount that

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Speaker 1: we're spending on gas becomes a bigger line item in

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Speaker 1: our budgets. Uh. And so we wanted to share a

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Speaker 1: few of our favorite cards, specifically if you are a

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Speaker 1: Costco or Sam's Club member, those credit cards offer some

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Speaker 1: of the best rewards four and five percent respectively cash

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Speaker 1: back at the pump. Most other cards with solid returns,

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Speaker 1: they come with an annual fee, except for the City

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Speaker 1: Custom Cash Card. With this card, you can get a

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Speaker 1: sign up bonus of two hundred bucks plus five percent

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Speaker 1: back on the category that you spend the most in.

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Speaker 1: And so if you're able to use this card only

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Speaker 1: for gas, you're gonna be able to get that five

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Speaker 1: percent you know back with no annual fee. So we'll

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Speaker 1: make sure to link to some of our our favorite

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Speaker 1: gas credit cards in the show notes. Um, even if

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Speaker 1: you already, like let's say you have the Blue Cash

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Speaker 1: Preferred card because maybe you spend a ton another grocery store,

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Speaker 1: well it does have an annual fee of nine bucks.

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Speaker 1: But even that card, you get three percent back at

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Speaker 1: the pump and there's no there's no cap on that

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Speaker 1: as well. And so we just basically we want you

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Speaker 1: to be as we are all spending more at the pump,

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Speaker 1: we want to make sure that you are receiving more

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Speaker 1: than just the piddally standard one and a half percent.

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Speaker 1: Make sure that you're at least getting three, if not

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Speaker 1: four or five percent, that's right. Yeah, make sure just

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Speaker 1: paying with the right card, if you're paying with a

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Speaker 1: card at the pump, is going to make a difference,

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Speaker 1: and it's gonna at least um lessen the blow of

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Speaker 1: these high gas prices. Every little bit helps me exactly.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, again, we'll link to those cards in the

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Speaker 1: show notes. You can check them out. And Matt, I

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Speaker 1: like that hack on the City Custom Cash card because

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Speaker 1: I think what City wants you to do is to

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Speaker 1: do all you're spending with that that card. You get

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Speaker 1: one percent on everything, but five percent in one category.

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Speaker 1: But if you use it only for one category, only

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Speaker 1: for the gas purchases, it's like that's the top category exactly.

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Speaker 1: That's my default, the top category, and you get five

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Speaker 1: percent back on it. Let's talk about taxes for a second,

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Speaker 1: because yeah, I don't know. I'd be curious to know

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Speaker 1: what percentage of how the money listeners have filed their

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Speaker 1: taxes already at this point, I still have not. You

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Speaker 1: have not. I did you. I just did. Congratulations sir

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Speaker 1: for adulting. I haven't paid yet, though, Okay, I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: wait until the very I owed this year and so

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Speaker 1: I'm actually I'm not happy about that, So I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: wait until the very last minute, uh to pay that. Okay, Well, um,

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Speaker 1: good luck with that, and thank you. And for folks

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Speaker 1: who have not filed their taxes yet, like me, um,

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Speaker 1: you've you've just got another month or so to do that.

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Speaker 1: April eighteenth, of course US tax day this year. And

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Speaker 1: you know, we we had actually a listener report back, Matt.

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Speaker 1: We asked for reviews of the cash App tax Experience,

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Speaker 1: and our listener gave it a three out of five.

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Speaker 1: Make it sound like a new ride at the Islands

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Speaker 1: of Adventure or something like that, the tax app experience.

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Speaker 1: I believe that service overall gets really high ratings, but

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Speaker 1: our listener only gave it this three out of five.

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Speaker 1: She mentioned that she had some complicating factors for her

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Speaker 1: own personal return, including multiple hs A s, and she

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Speaker 1: mentioned how, you know, it probably would be a much

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Speaker 1: smoother experience for other people with simpler returns, which I

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Speaker 1: think she's probably right exactly. And so yeah, just a

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Speaker 1: reminder that if you have a civil return, you know,

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Speaker 1: we still think that going that route with the cash

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Speaker 1: ap tax or to the I r S Free File

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Speaker 1: site is a smart way to go, and if your

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Speaker 1: taxes are more complicated, you might want to hire a pro.

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Speaker 1: This is something we think is worth spending money on

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Speaker 1: if your taxes aren't simple. And in fact, on Monday,

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Speaker 1: we'll have a tax pro on the show who does

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Speaker 1: a really good job cutting through the jargon of tax talk.

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Speaker 1: And I think sometimes that's the problem when you bring

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Speaker 1: somebody on to give an explanation about taxes and how

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Speaker 1: to save money on taxes, there are a lot of

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Speaker 1: pointy headed explanations that are hard to digest. But um, yeah,

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Speaker 1: Shannon Weinstein is coming on and I'm looking forward to

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Speaker 1: to having her on because her advice is like so

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Speaker 1: helpful and easy to understand. That's right. And by the way,

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Speaker 1: if you have already filed your taxes but you haven't

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Speaker 1: seen your refund come in yet, maybe you're getting a

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Speaker 1: little bit nervous. Uh. The I R S they have

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Speaker 1: this portal set up where you can check the status

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Speaker 1: of your refund, and so we'll make sure to link

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Speaker 1: to that in our show notes. Maybe I'll set up

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Speaker 1: my own portal where it's just like, nope, you can't

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Speaker 1: getting your money your money at I r S. But

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Speaker 1: We've got more stories we're gonna get to right after

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Speaker 1: the break, including one that is going to have an

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Speaker 1: impact on how much money Joel, that our family is

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Speaker 1: spending at the grocery store. We'll get to that and

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Speaker 1: others right after this. I like your teas before the

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Speaker 1: breakmoun I'm curious to hear about your family and your

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Speaker 1: grocery store budget because you have always had a notoriously

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Speaker 1: uber frugal budget when it comes to food. Okay, so

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Speaker 1: that that's shifting another another teaser. It's not as frugal

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Speaker 1: as it used to be. Oh, we used we used

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Speaker 1: to be one dollar per person per meal. I know

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Speaker 1: that always strikes at the people. People have reached out

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Speaker 1: many times and they're like, how is that physically humanly possible? Man,

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Speaker 1: she is a genius in the kitchen. But that is

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Speaker 1: no longer the case, and I'll explain why. All right, Well,

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Speaker 1: we'll get to that in a second, but first let's

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Speaker 1: get to our ludicrous headline of the week. And this

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Speaker 1: one is a new study from Lending Club, and it

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Speaker 1: was titled forty percent of Americans with annual incomes over

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Speaker 1: a hundred thousand dollars live paycheck to paycheck. When I

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Speaker 1: read that, kind of my internal wo bow meter went

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Speaker 1: off and I was like, oh, my gosh, you gotta

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Speaker 1: be kidding me. Almost half of folks, as it turns out,

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Speaker 1: with a six figure income, say that they live paycheck

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Speaker 1: to paycheck now, Matt, And obviously, a hundred thousand dollars

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Speaker 1: in a place like San Francisco or New York looks

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Speaker 1: very different than bringing home that same salary. And let's

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Speaker 1: say Tusco Loosa, Alabama, or or even in Atlanta, Georgia,

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Speaker 1: where we live. And at the same time, the record

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Speaker 1: setting inflation numbers are impacting how we all feel about

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Speaker 1: our finances and legitimately how far a hundred thousand dollars goes.

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Speaker 1: It's it's changing really quickly. But still I would say

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Speaker 1: it's concerning that this many folks are are living on

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Speaker 1: a razor's edge financially. Who have this sort of income,

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Speaker 1: you know, they're they're one paycheck away from financial ruin

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Speaker 1: or or at least from relying on their credit card

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Speaker 1: as a crutch to pay for any sort of unexpected

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Speaker 1: expense that might pop up. And so yeah, we would

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Speaker 1: just say, if you fall into this category, it's time

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Speaker 1: to make a plan to slash your monthly expenses and

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Speaker 1: to build up your savings, to start preparing for a

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Speaker 1: rainy day now, and even if it doesn't come right,

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Speaker 1: even if that rainy day holds off, the peace of

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Speaker 1: mind that you'll have knowing that you're prepared is priceless.

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Speaker 1: And so think, yeah, it's it's disheartening to think that

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Speaker 1: somebody with the six six figures that this many people

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Speaker 1: who make this kind of income need that next paycheck

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Speaker 1: in order to pay for rent. And I think that

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Speaker 1: needs to change. I think some of that is education,

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Speaker 1: some of that is encouragement, but to me, that's a

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Speaker 1: big red flag. That's a huge problem. And regardless of

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Speaker 1: how much you make right, I think we like. What

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Speaker 1: we're trying to push back on here is the fact

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Speaker 1: that we are oftentimes just accepting of the fact that,

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Speaker 1: like everything just costs more. And while that's true, we

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Speaker 1: have a lot more control over our spending in our

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Speaker 1: finances than we think. On the other side of the spectrum, Couplinger,

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Speaker 1: they actually released a piece about the Fire movement, and

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Speaker 1: of course this is the group of folks pursuing financial

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Speaker 1: independence at a rapid pace so that they can retire early.

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Speaker 1: And there's a lot of folks who thought that the

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Speaker 1: pandemic that it might derail the fire movement or kill

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Speaker 1: it completely. Yeah, but the act actually the opposite. It's

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Speaker 1: been true with a great resignation. There's been a lot

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Speaker 1: of people reprioritizing their lives, oftentimes in pretty significant ways,

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Speaker 1: and the fire moving like it has found new converts,

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Speaker 1: which we think is great because because basically, you know,

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Speaker 1: fire it does have some flaws, but when you compare

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Speaker 1: it to the folks who are living paycheck to paycheck,

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Speaker 1: like you just mentioned it is this is a far

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Speaker 1: better alternative as opposed to you know, barely skating by

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Speaker 1: and as Mr money Mustache as he put it in

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Speaker 1: that article, Uh, fire is all about quote prioritizing happiness, health,

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Speaker 1: family and friends, hard work, connection with nature in a

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Speaker 1: certain amount of simplicity instead of just focusing on getting rich. Dude,

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Speaker 1: we could not agree more. And I still credit Mr

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Speaker 1: money Mustache with some of like some of his early

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Speaker 1: writings were pivotal in our lives, Like there was a

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Speaker 1: certain amount of kind of like countercultural nous to us anyway,

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Speaker 1: specifically and how it came to how we consume things.

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Speaker 1: But man, Mr money Mustache was just able to put

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Speaker 1: into words what it is that we were feeling. Uh.

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Speaker 1: He's not for everybody, I'll definitely say that. But if

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Speaker 1: you're looking for somebody to just not how to speak

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Speaker 1: into your life and kind of shake up the routine,

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Speaker 1: if you feel like you're on this track that can't

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Speaker 1: get off of, we would recommend checking out his writing SMSR.

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Speaker 1: Money must And he has kind of an abrasive style

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Speaker 1: and some of us that's why he's not for everybody,

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Speaker 1: right and and so yeah, some of the things that

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Speaker 1: he writes are challenging, their counterintuitive and so but I

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Speaker 1: think you're right, Matt. For folks who go in with

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Speaker 1: that mindset of like I want my life to be

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Speaker 1: shaking up. Maybe you have been in this position where

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Speaker 1: you are living the paycheck to paycheck even though your

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Speaker 1: salary is good, and you're like, I know there's a

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Speaker 1: better way. Well, somebody like Mr money must Ash can like, um,

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Speaker 1: I don't know, open your eyes really quickly and help

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Speaker 1: you to shift your priorities in short order. Um. But

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Speaker 1: let's talk about another thing that another story we saw

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Speaker 1: this week well is that childcare costs have been rising rapidly,

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Speaker 1: and anyone with kids knows that just life in general

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Speaker 1: has gotten more expensive lately. Inflation at the grocery store,

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Speaker 1: for one, has you know, raised the costs of feeding

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Speaker 1: your kids. Um, same with diapers, like diaper prices going up,

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Speaker 1: but um, it's made childcare a good bit more expensive too.

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Speaker 1: So it just kind of feels like if you've got kids,

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Speaker 1: you're getting hit on every front. Find actually at the

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Speaker 1: same time, and the average cost of childcare has now

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Speaker 1: hit five figures annually, exceeding ten thousand dollars for the

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Speaker 1: first time, and so crazy, it's hard to believe. But

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Speaker 1: that's for those people who are earning you know, six

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Speaker 1: figures un k like they're spending uh, you know of

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Speaker 1: that is going towards childcare exactly. And so part of

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Speaker 1: the problem is that we've got a real shortage of

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Speaker 1: childcare workers in the US these days. And as any

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Speaker 1: economists will tell you, when the supply is low and

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Speaker 1: the demand is high, prices are going to climb. And

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Speaker 1: we are seeing that reality play out in front of

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Speaker 1: our very eyes right now. Um. And then just on

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Speaker 1: another note, map when we're talking about babysitting, a new

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Speaker 1: report from Urban Sitter reports on how much more babysitting

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Speaker 1: is costing parents these days too, So just trying to

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Speaker 1: get a night out has gotten more expensive at the

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Speaker 1: same time, and you know, the average hourly rate for

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Speaker 1: babysitters went up eleven percent nationally in the past year,

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Speaker 1: outpacing inflation, which has been just under eight percent. And

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Speaker 1: so the national average is now more than twenty dollars

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Speaker 1: an hour to pay for babysitting. And so, yeah, if

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Speaker 1: you work in the child care sector, just know that

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Speaker 1: you're in high demand and that can and should have

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Speaker 1: an impact on how you approach different gigs. Make sure

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Speaker 1: that you're getting paid what you're worth. But as a parent, Matt,

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Speaker 1: the flip side is is tough to swallow. Yeah, that's right,

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Speaker 1: but it's still important as parents for us to figure

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Speaker 1: out ways to get out with our partners without breaking

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Speaker 1: the bank. And you know, hiring a babysitter can cost

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Speaker 1: just as much or even more than whatever you're planning

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Speaker 1: to do that night. Uh, so you've got to be

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Speaker 1: a little more judicious about when and how it is

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Speaker 1: that you book a center And some tips that we

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Speaker 1: would recommend. First, first of all, you know, try date

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Speaker 1: night swaps. This is something that Joel, you and I

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Speaker 1: do with you and Emily literally every Wednesday night. This

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Speaker 1: week was y'all's week. So I went over to your

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Speaker 1: house after you'll put the kids down, you went out

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Speaker 1: and I sat there make sure they didn't burn the

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Speaker 1: place down. Super easy. But that nets both families free babysitting.

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Speaker 1: Every other week is next week, it will be our week.

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Speaker 1: But talk to a couple of friends and see if

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Speaker 1: any of them are interested in doing something like that.

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Speaker 1: Sure many of them are like, yes, please, I would

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Speaker 1: like to get out and I would like to save money.

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Speaker 1: It's just about scheduling it, because I think that's the problem,

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Speaker 1: right is oftentimes like when when I've told other friends

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Speaker 1: about this, they're like, oh my gosh, that sounds great,

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Speaker 1: But then when it comes to actually putting it into practice,

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Speaker 1: they don't put it on the calendar and so and

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Speaker 1: so you literally have to prioritize it. And for us,

429
00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:17,360
Speaker 1: that's been the fact that it's literally every week, uh sentenced, sentenced,

430
00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:19,520
Speaker 1: and it just repeats every single week, like there's no question.

431
00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:21,639
Speaker 1: We don't have to have a conversation about it. It

432
00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:24,199
Speaker 1: just happens. And another thing that you can ask yourself

433
00:20:24,359 --> 00:20:28,560
Speaker 1: is how much experience are you looking for in a babysitter.

434
00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:31,920
Speaker 1: Because we've got a friend who's a teacher, and we

435
00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:33,959
Speaker 1: like to have her when there's gonna be times when

436
00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:36,119
Speaker 1: all the kids are active and when they're awake. She

437
00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:39,120
Speaker 1: is awesome with the kids, but oftentimes we'll turn into

438
00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:41,959
Speaker 1: like a teenager in the neighborhood. When you know, all

439
00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:44,760
Speaker 1: the kids are down, there's not as much expertise needed,

440
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:47,280
Speaker 1: and that's definitely a way to save some additional money.

441
00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:50,280
Speaker 1: Another thing too, I'm thinking is just think back, you know,

442
00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:53,840
Speaker 1: about two years ago when the pandemic hit, everything lockdown.

443
00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:56,320
Speaker 1: You couldn't go out to eat right like, there were

444
00:20:56,359 --> 00:20:59,639
Speaker 1: no longer date nights happening. And it took us a

445
00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:01,800
Speaker 1: little bit to figure this out, but we realized, oh

446
00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:04,280
Speaker 1: my gosh, uh you know, kid and I realized we

447
00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:07,000
Speaker 1: weren't connecting, we weren't having that regular date night in

448
00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:09,199
Speaker 1: our lives, and we had to intentionally start doing that

449
00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:11,480
Speaker 1: at home. That's something that you can easily do at

450
00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:13,640
Speaker 1: home now, even though you have the option to go out,

451
00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:16,080
Speaker 1: just like pour a nice you know, for us, we're

452
00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:18,040
Speaker 1: pulling out a really nice beer or you know, a

453
00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:20,760
Speaker 1: bottle of wine, But just connecting and talking about the

454
00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:23,320
Speaker 1: things that matter is just an important way to still

455
00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:25,280
Speaker 1: connect with your partner without having to go out and

456
00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:26,920
Speaker 1: spend a ton of money. Yeah, and I know it's

457
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:28,800
Speaker 1: tough to do sometimes after a long day and you

458
00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:31,199
Speaker 1: finally got the kids to bed and um, and and

459
00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:34,280
Speaker 1: not going to a completely different space and having someone

460
00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:36,240
Speaker 1: else prepare that meal for you or whatever it is.

461
00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:39,240
Speaker 1: But prioritizing that is is important even with the reality

462
00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:41,480
Speaker 1: that everything costs more of these days, including the price

463
00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:43,359
Speaker 1: of the meal and the price of the babysitting. But

464
00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:45,640
Speaker 1: we think you can get creative and and still find

465
00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:49,879
Speaker 1: a way to enjoy each other and enjoy awesome things.

466
00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:52,440
Speaker 1: You know, kids should not prevent you from being able

467
00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:55,159
Speaker 1: to do that. Um so, uh, Matt, Let's let's keep

468
00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:57,879
Speaker 1: talking about jobs for a second. You know, babysitters obviously

469
00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:01,120
Speaker 1: getting paid more. Anybody in the childcare profession understandably getting

470
00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:05,160
Speaker 1: paid more. Right now, I'm okay with it. But Target

471
00:22:05,359 --> 00:22:07,840
Speaker 1: is an interesting company right now in the world of

472
00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:10,000
Speaker 1: pay raises, and I feel like they've actually been at

473
00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:13,960
Speaker 1: the forefront of providing wage increases to their employees, and

474
00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:16,920
Speaker 1: they've been Basically, they've been raising wages in a big

475
00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:19,800
Speaker 1: way in recent years, and the starting minimum wage for

476
00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:22,840
Speaker 1: Target employees is now going to range from fifteen dollars

477
00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:26,679
Speaker 1: to twenty four dollars an hour, depending on location and

478
00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:30,040
Speaker 1: position that you're being hired for. It's amazing to think

479
00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:32,120
Speaker 1: that people can be getting paid upper teams or low

480
00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:35,119
Speaker 1: twenty dollars an hour at the very beginning as a

481
00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:37,600
Speaker 1: Target employee, and I would say that's good news for

482
00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:41,679
Speaker 1: folks seeking employment in an industry where people have traditionally

483
00:22:41,680 --> 00:22:45,000
Speaker 1: been underpaid. And one of the benefits of what Target

484
00:22:45,119 --> 00:22:47,280
Speaker 1: is doing is that it's not going to impact just

485
00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:52,200
Speaker 1: Target employees right These pay raises have significant downstream effects.

486
00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:54,960
Speaker 1: For instance, studies have shown that in cities where Amazon

487
00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:57,560
Speaker 1: is paying a fifteen an hour as a minimum wage,

488
00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:00,000
Speaker 1: other employers have had to raise the wages they pay

489
00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:03,400
Speaker 1: in order to compete for those workers. And so, for example,

490
00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:06,320
Speaker 1: wages in leisure and hospitality jobs they're up an average

491
00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:09,920
Speaker 1: of fourteen percent year over year. This rising tide is

492
00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:12,720
Speaker 1: lifting wages for entry level jobs across the board. So

493
00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:14,840
Speaker 1: I love what Target is doing. I love the impact

494
00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:17,360
Speaker 1: that it's having on jobs overall because if you know

495
00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:19,680
Speaker 1: that you can quit where you're working, where you can

496
00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:21,640
Speaker 1: pay twelve dollars an hour, and you can march down

497
00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:24,480
Speaker 1: the streets target and get paid at the very least

498
00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:26,640
Speaker 1: fifteen dollars an hour. There's a good chance you're gonna

499
00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:29,320
Speaker 1: do that, and it forces these other employers to basically

500
00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:31,879
Speaker 1: offer something similar, uh, to be if they want to

501
00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:34,399
Speaker 1: retain any level of talent, if they want to retain

502
00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:37,280
Speaker 1: anybody that's doing a good job, they're gonna have to

503
00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:40,080
Speaker 1: pay up in order to keep those talented folks. That's right.

504
00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:42,000
Speaker 1: A lot of the stories we are talking about today

505
00:23:42,040 --> 00:23:45,320
Speaker 1: involved higher prices, higher wages. Not all prices are going up, man,

506
00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:47,439
Speaker 1: I've got a quick, quick one here. For us, one

507
00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:50,879
Speaker 1: of our splurges this year, it's been getting organic food

508
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:53,439
Speaker 1: a little more regularly. So this is how we have

509
00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:55,760
Speaker 1: seen our grocery budget, you know, take up from that

510
00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:59,320
Speaker 1: one dollar per person per meal uh formula, and as

511
00:23:59,359 --> 00:24:01,560
Speaker 1: we've done that, it's added a decent chunk, you know,

512
00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:04,760
Speaker 1: to our once incredibly low food budget. But it's something

513
00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:08,159
Speaker 1: that we've deemed a priority at this point. Well fortunately

514
00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:10,480
Speaker 1: for us as well as for anyone else out there

515
00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:13,480
Speaker 1: trying to make a similar switch. The price gap between

516
00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:17,760
Speaker 1: organic and non organic items is getting smaller. The price

517
00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:20,040
Speaker 1: difference it used to be a lot wider at almost

518
00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:23,480
Speaker 1: uh this is less than a year ago, and it

519
00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:27,240
Speaker 1: is narrowed now to under pent. Now, some of the

520
00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:30,760
Speaker 1: more price conscious grocery stores like Walmart, Kroger, and of

521
00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:35,040
Speaker 1: course Aldi, they have all prioritized getting more organics into

522
00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:37,919
Speaker 1: the protoce iles onto the shells. That has had a

523
00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:40,639
Speaker 1: major impact on how much organic items costs the end

524
00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:43,960
Speaker 1: consumer like me, But even if you're like Joel, maybe

525
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:46,400
Speaker 1: you don't care. Even still, it's not a bad idea

526
00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:49,359
Speaker 1: to take another look at the price of organics on

527
00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:51,239
Speaker 1: items that you typically like to buy it because they

528
00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:53,600
Speaker 1: are more affordable than they used to be. Okay, all right,

529
00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:55,720
Speaker 1: maybe I will take another look. But I guess I

530
00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,200
Speaker 1: want to know from you what led to your family

531
00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:01,720
Speaker 1: making this switch, because yeah, you have kind of paid

532
00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:06,280
Speaker 1: such close attention to your food budget over the years.

533
00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:08,399
Speaker 1: Well man, food has always been like a priority in

534
00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:10,520
Speaker 1: our house, and so we finally thought that it was

535
00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:13,159
Speaker 1: time to spend maybe a little bit more on our

536
00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:15,560
Speaker 1: money if that meant that we had produce and and

537
00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:18,480
Speaker 1: other goods that didn't necessarily have, you know, we're bathed

538
00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:21,320
Speaker 1: and pesticides, because I want to make sure I take

539
00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:23,280
Speaker 1: her my long term health and the health of my family,

540
00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:25,520
Speaker 1: even though that means I don't, you know, maybe take

541
00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:31,280
Speaker 1: them to the health, don't visit the dentisty. We're super crunchy,

542
00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:33,760
Speaker 1: like like we are, you know, like back in the

543
00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:35,560
Speaker 1: day would have been the family who's like out in

544
00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:37,960
Speaker 1: the woods somewhere, um, living off of the land, that

545
00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:41,320
Speaker 1: kind of thing. All right, well, I appreciate your your

546
00:25:41,359 --> 00:25:44,440
Speaker 1: move to basically put your dollars where your priorities are

547
00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:47,720
Speaker 1: and buying organics makes sense. Unfortunately for you, it's become

548
00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:51,040
Speaker 1: less expensive, at least relatively than it than it was

549
00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:52,920
Speaker 1: even just a year ago. And I think it is

550
00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:55,880
Speaker 1: good for to see more organic items on the shelf,

551
00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:58,360
Speaker 1: to see them proliferate, and it is leading like you've

552
00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:02,040
Speaker 1: just talked about two lower costs everyone that prioritizes that. Yeah, man,

553
00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:05,320
Speaker 1: organics are becoming a little more affordable, a little more attainable,

554
00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:08,080
Speaker 1: I think for a lot more folks. But that's gonna

555
00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:09,879
Speaker 1: be it. Man. For this episode, we'll make sure to

556
00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:12,520
Speaker 1: link to all of the different stories that we referenced

557
00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:14,679
Speaker 1: during this episode up on our show notes at how

558
00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:17,120
Speaker 1: to money dot com. Uh, you can look forward to

559
00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:19,040
Speaker 1: the interview that we've got lined up for you on Monday.

560
00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:22,240
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about taxes and dude, that's gonna be it.

561
00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:25,560
Speaker 1: So until next time, best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,