WEBVTT - Friday Flight - Life w/o Amazon, New Data Saying Roths Stink, & Taking a Sabbatical #303 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.000 Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and Matt's. 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:06.880 Today we're discussing life without Amazon, new data that says 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:30.680 that Roth's stink and taking as sabbatical. Joel, is life 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:34.199 without Amazon actually possible? We'll find out in this episode. Yeah, yeah, 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:35.520 we'll get to that a little bit later on, man, 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:38.080 but you know, before we launch into the personal finance 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:40.879 stories that could affect our money during today's episode. Man, 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:44.240 what a week we have had right earlier this Wednesday, Dude, 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:46.960 I thought one was going to be nothing but rainbows 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:50.280 and unicorns. But you know, regardless of where you fall 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:53.159 on the political spectrum, I think we can all agree 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:55.920 that the rioting that took place on Wednesday in our 0:00:56.000 --> 0:00:59.000 nation's capital, Dude, it was shameful, and I really hope 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:01.280 that nothing like that ever happen in our our country again. 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:05.640 It was a sad day for America's democracy and how 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:07.800 it is that we governed. But man, I just really 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:11.080 hope that we truly have brighter days ahead of us. Yeah, Man, 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:14.400 me too. I agree, And I think what makes our country, 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:17.040 what makes the United States of America such an excellent place, 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:21.360 it's not individual people, it's not singular leaders that that 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:24.360 make America a wonderful place to live. It's truly is 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:26.959 like the rule of law and the respect for our institutions. 0:01:27.319 --> 0:01:29.600 And you know, we are a money podcast, Matt, We're 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:31.640 not a political podcast, so let's not be labor the point. 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:34.160 But it is just such an important part of of 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:38.160 the system, including our economic system. And I hope too 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:40.200 that what happened on Wednesday is a turning point in 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:42.800 the discourse that's happening in this country, which really has 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:44.160 just kind of like led to the fanning of the 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:46.720 flames and the dangerous actions that happened this week. So 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:49.280 we just wanted to mention that to our listeners and 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:51.960 just kind of come together in solidarity. I know, you know, 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:53.720 most of our listeners feel the same way as us 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:56.920 and and and they think that those actions were out 0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:59.559 of control, out of line um where it was terrible 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:02.480 to watch and just a sad day in the history 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:04.800 of our country. For sure. YEA, hopefully we will have 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:08.800 nothing but rainbows and butterflies. Uh had actually two thousand 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:11.280 dollars that actually might be happening here coming up. We 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:13.320 don't know for sure, but obviously we'll keep folks posted 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:15.520 on that. But speaking of that steamulus checks, Man, did 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:17.600 you get your stimulus money from from last week? I did. 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:21.919 I finally saw deposited in my account. Almost seventy of 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:25.160 Americans have received their their money, but dude, many others 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:28.840 haven't because of a glitch in the matrix or maybe 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:30.679 it was an I r S screw up one of 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:33.959 the two. If you are eligible for a stimulus payment 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:36.200 but you haven't received it yet, check out the I 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:39.120 r S Get my Payment tool again. It's actually up now. 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:41.800 Last Friday, it wasn't up yet. Uh. And if it 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:45.120 shows you a message saying status number two not available, 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:48.680 then you won't be receiving your payments until you claim 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:52.120 that credit when you file your tax return. So just 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:54.480 a point there. Apparently this affected a lot of people 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:58.240 who filed with one of the major tax prep services. Yeah, 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:00.320 a few of them. Yeah, something to do with the 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:02.720 way they process your return and how they open up 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:05.200 a separate account in order to take their cut. And 0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:08.000 because that account is now defunct, Um, you're gonna have 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:11.400 to wait until filing your taxes to claim your refund, 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:13.760 which stinks, But it's just important to be aware of. 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:15.560 At the same time, all right, Matt, let's talk about 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:18.000 investing for a minute. A question on many of our 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:20.480 listeners minds. I feel like some of the ask HTM 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:22.440 questions on the show revolver on this is like, do 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:25.280 I do I want to pay taxes now or later um? 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:27.760 And obviously many of us would prefer the hs A 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:31.639 route and avoiding taxes altogether when we're saving investing for 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:34.040 the future. But when it comes down to choosing a 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:36.720 traditional ira or or a roth ira, that's essentially the 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:39.200 question you're asking, Do I want to pay taxes um 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:42.560 now in and invest in in a roth ira or 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:44.880 do I want to pay taxes when I'm withdrawing my 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:48.600 funds in retirement and invest in a traditional ira instead. Well, 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:52.480 there's new data from Boston College and it essentially says 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:56.480 that saving in a traditional ira is better than investing 0:03:56.480 --> 0:03:58.800 in a wrath uh. They're finding show that the vast 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:01.440 majority of folks and retire are paying an effective tax 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:04.640 rate of zero percent. So according to that data, that 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:07.080 means that the vast majority of folks should take the 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:09.920 tax break now and invest in a traditional hire a 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:13.320 while you're effective tax rate is much higher, and then 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:16.240 pay taxes on your retire mode draws weight on the 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:19.960 road when your tax burden is virtually non existent. But Matt, 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:22.880 you and I would say, not so fast, Boston College. 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:25.320 It's not that easy, right. Uh. You know, if you've 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:27.040 listened to the show for a while, you'll notice that 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:29.359 we are big fans of the rath i Ra. So 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:32.040 what gives right, Well, first of all, one of the 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:35.080 aspects of roth Ira is that we think is fantastic 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:38.720 is the ability that you have to withdraw contributions from 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:41.160 that account without paying any fees or penalties. For a 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:43.960 lot of folks, that gives a tremendous amount of flexibility 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:47.560 and peace of mind. Right Knowing that they essentially have 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:50.560 an extra pad of funds to access on top of 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:52.719 the emergency fund is sort of like a second emergency 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:54.960 phone almost. This is something that I've even done before. 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:58.040 I've I've withdrawn some contributions before to a roth Ira 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:00.560 to invest in a real estate deal. So it's just 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:02.840 nice knowing that you have that extra stash, you have 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:05.279 that cash there as an option. Yeah, and again, you know, 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:07.120 we hope people would throw out the arras and they're 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:09.359 not tapping them willy nilly. But but again, it's a 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:12.480 great backup to the backup. And uh yeah, another question 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:14.320 you want to ask yourself is are you planning to 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:17.440 be like the majority of Americans in that study. You know, 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:19.680 we all know that pensions, you know, they're they're not 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:22.440 really hanging around very much for people in corporate America. 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:24.920 If you work at a job that still has offers 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:27.359 you a pension, thank you, lucky stars, because it's getting 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:31.760 rarer and rare. And the median household surveyed in that study, well, 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:33.880 they had a total of about a hundred and eighties 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:36.120 six thousand dollars in retirement funds that they are going 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:38.040 to be drawing down. Well, when you do the math, 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:40.960 that's most likely not going to be enough money for 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:44.039 most people. Some of our nerdier listeners may have already 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:46.120 done the math for themselves already, Matt, and they're probably 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:49.360 shooting for somewhere in the million dollar plus range UH 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:52.720 to have in their investment accounts when they eventually retire. 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:56.000 You know, we're definitely planning you and I UH in 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:58.840 our families on having more than a hundred eighties six 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:01.560 thousand dollars when we retire, that's for sure. And so 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:05.240 I think to um. When we're talking about listeners that 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:09.000 are attentive to their money and invest really well of 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:10.880 our long period of time, who are going to have 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:13.760 bigger stockpiles to draw from, it means that you're going 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:16.080 to be in a higher tax bracket than most of 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:18.279 your peers. And and that's another check mark in favor 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:20.960 of the Rath I ray as opposed to the traditional Yeah, 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:22.360 I mean that kind of leads us to another reason 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:23.840 why we like the RATH right when you know, when 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:26.479 you're withdrawing more money out of your retirement account because 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:29.080 you saved more, like your nest egg has grown over 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:31.360 the years, and you're gonna want to avoid paying taxes 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:34.520 on those withdrawals or you know, or distributions. And the 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:36.800 thing is, this study is based on our current income 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:39.520 tax rates, which are really low right now, and you know, 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:41.840 they were significantly lowered in large part due to the 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:45.280 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which is set to expire 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:49.240 after and so there's a really good chance of taxes 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:52.360 going up after that point. So that's just another reason 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:55.479 why it makes sense to pay the taxes now while 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:58.600 they are historically low. It's definitely worth kind of taking 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:01.040 the burden hand than possible lead to in the bush. Yeah, 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:03.279 so we'll post a link to some of that that 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:05.600 data from Boston College. You can make your own decision, 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:07.559 But we kind of wanted to to play a little 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:09.920 point counterpoint to that because there are a lot of 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:12.560 good reasons why Matt and I are believers in the 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:15.080 roth Ira as opposed to the traditional Ira in a 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:18.440 lot of circumstances, and that doesn't necessarily hold true for everyone, Matt. 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:21.320 You know, we we've talked about other circumstances where people 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:23.960 might want to consider a traditional ira. It can get 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:27.040 really nuanced, but as a whole, we do like the 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:29.400 rath and it has a lot of perks like the 0:07:29.400 --> 0:07:31.520 ones we just mentioned. All right, let's talk about life 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:34.560 without Amazon. Is it even possible, Matt? That's a question 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:36.240 I think a lot of people have, and especially don't 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:38.800 think it's possible for us. We are one of those 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:42.280 households that is. I wouldn't say reliance on Amazon because 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:44.840 I think we could change our ways, but dang, we 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:47.640 sure to use them a lot. And you're you're not alone. 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:49.200 I mean, there's a lot of people in that boat 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:52.640 that are have gotten just habitually used to using Amazon. 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:55.440 On the reg for little things here and there, um 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:57.920 or more big things too. And the New York Times 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:00.280 that recently had an article that offered some insight and 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:03.679 just made me think about how big Amazon has gotten 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:06.680 and how many industries and they have gotten into. And 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:08.920 you know, you'd have to stop listening a certain podcast 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:11.600 even now to avoid doing business with Amazon, because they 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:15.280 just bought podcast company Wondering. They also own Ring the 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:19.200 Doorbell and camera company Twitch, not to mention all the 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:22.080 countless sites and apps that use Amazon web services. I 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:23.920 guess you'd have to see who does the hosting on 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:29.000 this website source exactly. But but at least some people 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:31.320 are trying. What they want to do is to avoid 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:35.480 doing business with with Amazon altogether. And I understand their concerns, 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:37.760 I'll say, um, But in Canada, a site called not 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:39.800 Amazon has sprung to life in order to bring more 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:43.520 business and also awareness to small local businesses. It's not 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:47.480 Amazon dot c A because it's a Canadian site, right exactly. 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:49.280 You know, man, I wish that there was a better 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:51.760 resource just for all cities, right you know, like there 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:54.240 aren't and there isn't an easy way to locate your 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:57.319 local businesses if you're shopping online, you know, I've I've 0:08:57.360 --> 0:08:59.640 looked at locally dot com before, which is a pretty 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:02.280 good that kind of sources individual cities and goods that 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:04.520 you can potentially get there within your city, but it's 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:08.000 not necessarily focusing on independent businesses. And honestly, it's just 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:10.960 not the best solution that we have yet. It's not 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:13.400 the real true answer, but hopefully there will be one, 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:15.400 you know, fairly soon. But man, you know, when it 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:17.240 comes to your money to what's really important is that 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:22.080 you're not mindlessly making purchases on platforms like Amazon, but 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:25.480 that you're also considering alternatives. You know, so hop over 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:28.319 to different sites like hop over to eBay to consider 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:30.640 buying used and men. Here's the thing is that, like 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:33.840 everything that's on eBay isn't necessarily used. Like sometimes they 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:36.040 are items that were maybe at floor models or items 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:38.319 that were returned. It's not just old stuff that somebody 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:41.120 found out good will and are flipping within their ebase. 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:44.079 But there are a lot of individuals and small businesses 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:46.720 that do most of their business or a lot of 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:48.439 their business through sites like e Bay. So when you 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:51.920 shop at eBay, obviously eBay is a bigger tech company, 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:54.079 but there's a lot of people that are making their 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:55.960 living through that site. And in the end, like, I 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:58.360 just want people to be better at searching for goods, 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:00.120 you know, and instead of just going to Amazon, or 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:02.560 instead of just going to Walmart UH and searching for 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:04.760 your item and ordering it. Like, I want folks to 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:07.120 become professionals at hopping over to like two or three 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:09.800 different sites quickly searching and then finding the best deal. 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:11.680 That way, they know that they're not over paying for 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:14.199 goods to where the wheels have been greased and it's 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:17.000 completely frictionless and they can buy things without even hardly 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:19.320 thinking about them. We don't want the ability for us 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:23.120 to spend money to become automatic. Yeah, and Amazon has 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:26.200 made it almost that easy to to be automatic. And 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:28.280 that's what we want to avoid ourselves and for our 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:30.680 listeners to avoid. And at the same time, too, we 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:33.160 we want to recognize that at times it makes sense 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:36.560 to pay more to shop locally, to support UH the 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:39.600 businesses that matter to your community, the friends of yours 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:42.440 that have started a business, or just your neighbors that 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:44.719 own a business. And just because you can get it 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:47.680 cheaper in some other place doesn't always mean that that's 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:49.600 the best course of action, right, that's right, all right, 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:51.640 But we got more to get to on this episode, Matt, 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:54.080 including some of the interesting stuff that we didn't get 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:56.000 to last week that's in the relief bill, And there 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:58.839 was a story about dirty deck collection tactics on the rise. 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:11.280 We'll get to and more right after this break. Alright, 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:12.520 we're back from the break, and we'll get to that 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:15.000 dirty debt collector's story here in a minute. But let's 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:16.920 go ahead and talk about a few other things that 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:19.960 made it into the five thousand page relief bill that 0:11:20.040 --> 0:11:22.200 was passed at the end of last year. Which have 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:24.760 you been saying that a lot lately last year? I 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:28.400 haven't showered since last year. That's nothing. Our girls keep 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:30.840 on the l man, Alright, Our girls were saying that 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:34.840 earlier this week. They thought it was so funny. Um. 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:36.640 But Man, One of the things that was included in 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:39.080 the bill were was one that had to do with 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:42.960 flexible spending accounts. In recent episodes, we advised you towards 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:46.360 uh spending all of your unused fs A money on 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:49.160 eligible items, because at that point in time, we were 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:51.880 entering a sort of use it or Lose it scenario. 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:54.040 You know, we were recommending folks to maybe you restock 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:55.880 their first aid kit, load up on sunscreen for the 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:58.280 summer because everybody is probably going to be going to 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:00.320 the beach, right, I mean, like vaccines will be out 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:02.480 by then. Dude, it's gonna be crazy. There's gonna be 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:05.880 a sunscreen shortage embarkment party in the USA. Seriously. But 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:08.600 that use it or lose it scenario is no longer 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:11.720 the case. Congress is now allowing f s A money 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:14.360 to be carried over from last year to this year 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:18.320 without penalty, and has instituted a twelve month grace period 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:21.839 for unused money in healthcare independent f s A s 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:25.319 And so that's great news for people that were unable 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:28.280 to use those funds because of changes COVID made to 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:31.839 your health and you know your childcare needs. The bad news, though, 0:12:31.920 --> 0:12:35.079 is that this is an employer option to offer this. Uh, 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:37.800 it's not mandatory, and so hopefully yours is keen to 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:40.760 to help their employees. But if you don't hear any 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:44.160 communication from HR soon, uh, and you've got F s 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:46.120 A money that you don't want to lose, make sure 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:49.280 that you are being proactive and reach out to them yourself. Yeah, 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:51.920 and I think you can light a fire in the 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:54.440 HR department, not a literal one, but like the one 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:57.240 that gets the ball rolling to uh to so that 0:12:57.280 --> 0:12:59.559 they fill out the paperwork so that you are eligible 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:02.640 to all that money over, uh Matt. Another random thing 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:06.120 that made it into the relief bill was a crackdown 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:09.160 on illegal streaming, and um, I think you know. The 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:10.680 first time I read that, I was like, oh man, 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:13.680 they're gonna arrest so many people in this country and 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:16.040 butt them behind bars for up to ten years. Apparently 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:17.679 because that was. One of the elements that made it 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:21.240 into the bill was harsher prison sentences for illegal streaming. 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:23.320 But I read a little deeper to find out what 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:26.960 the deal was. Fortunately, it's not harsher jail sentences for 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:30.920 individuals who accidentally or even on purpose stream pirate content. 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:33.560 But but it's really about the spammy companies you see 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:36.360 on the internet offering you access to thousands of channels 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:38.160 for eight dollars a month. You know, I'm sure we've 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:40.680 all seen a website like that or had a friend 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:42.719 who asked us like, should I sign up for this 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:45.600 streaming services? So cheap and it gives me everything Well, 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:47.600 the reason it's so cheap and it gives you everything 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:51.000 is because it's a pirate service. It's illegal, and we 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:52.680 we should not know. We should not be signing up 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:55.520 for those services. And now the folks running those companies 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:58.080 could get cracked down on UM. I think that's a 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:01.000 great thing personally. That totally reminds me of all of 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:02.920 MP three dot com. Did you ever use that site 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:04.960 back in college? Now? I remember using like lime wire 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:07.360 and stuff like that, though, So the thing with all 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:09.320 of MP three dot com is it was a Russian 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:13.040 site and you were literally paying for for music and 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:14.760 you could make you know, you could download albums, and 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:16.760 it was something. It was crazy cheap. I forget how 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:18.760 much it was, but I think it was just kind 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:20.440 of more there. Like the fact that you're paying for 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:22.440 it just kind of got you off the hook from 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:27.200 from a guilt standpoint, right, like something pays for the 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:29.840 entire album, Like I'm not like completely just pulling it 0:14:29.880 --> 0:14:32.200 off a torrent, you know, but but really you were 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:35.720 only enriching people who were stealing that stuff. Unfortunately, it 0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:40.280 probably went straight to putin. So uh, dude, speaking of streaming, Uh, 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:43.640 we're getting inundated with streaming services. I bet you know 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:46.520 some of our listeners out there are subscribed to maybe 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:49.720 a few too many, potentially even seeing your monthly viewing 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:52.760 bills arrivaling what your old school cababilities to be. You know, 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:55.880 we are all about peering down to curb your monthly costs. 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:59.800 But there's another phenomena when it comes to streaming and 0:14:59.840 --> 0:15:02.280 I it is finding something you actually want to watch. 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:05.920 All the platforms you use, I mean, you can find anything, 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:08.720 but like it's really difficult to to kind of go 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:10.920 into each one of the different services kind of find 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:13.200 not a specific show or movie, but just you know, 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:16.600 it's hard to browse. And that's something that that real good. Uh, 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:19.120 this new startup, that's something that they're doing. I gotta saying. 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:21.560 We've all been there on a Friday night with a partner, spouse, 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:23.480 or a friend trying to watch something and we're like, 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:24.560 what do you want to watch? What do you want 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:26.320 to watch? I don't know. Let's scroll through here and 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:28.680 see and you can scroll for twenty minutes and be 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:30.280 like yeah, I mean there's like three things that we 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:32.320 kind of want to watch, but um, yeah, and so 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:34.960 hopefully real good what we're talking about here is gonna 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:37.160 help that out because basically, what they're trying to do 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:40.040 is allow you to log into all of your streaming 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:43.440 accounts at the same time on its own platform to 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:45.800 find what you want to watch with more ease. And 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:47.840 that should make it easier to find stuff you actually 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:50.320 want to watch, um and and that you have access 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:53.120 to allowing you to to get that content. And it 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:55.640 also makes it so much easier to see the content 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:58.320 that's out there that free streaming providers are offering to 0:15:58.400 --> 0:15:59.960 Matt because you know, we've talked about this on the show. 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:04.080 There are like over a hundred free stream yeah Roku 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:07.480 channel exactly, and I think IMDb has a channel too, 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:09.760 and some of them are at supported. But there's all 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:13.320 sorts of potentially great content that you can watch for free, 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:16.240 but you gotta like individually logged into those channels and 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:18.080 see what they've got access to it, and a lot 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:19.480 of us are going to do that. But if you 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:22.080 sign up for real good log in, you can easily 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:25.720 see all those free offerings in one place, which is 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:27.680 just gonna make it a little bit simpler and easier. 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:29.640 On movie night, Yeah, I was reading up on it 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:31.000 man and and one of the things that I feel 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:34.800 like one of the problems they solve is the clunky interfaces, 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:36.840 like the user interface. Anytime you sit down to your TV, 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:38.600 like you're just pushing an arrow. And even when you 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:40.240 go to search something like maybe you can do the 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:42.880 voice thing if you have like a fancier platform that 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:44.880 you use, but you're kind of punching it in, you're 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:48.040 kind of going on the keyboard. It is so outdated. 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:50.000 And one of the great things about Real Good is 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:52.280 you can download the app, search it on your phone, 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:54.120 which is super easy because you're either doing voice to 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:56.320 texts or swipe text anyway, right, and then it pulls 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:57.880 it up there and in particularly if you have a 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:00.000 Roku device, you can just hit play from your phone 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:01.640 and once you found that thing, and it'll play it 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:04.960 automatically on the service that you already have loaded on 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:07.880 your TV. There you go. That is really cool because honestly, 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:11.320 navigating the different platforms that you know, the different smart 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:14.640 TV options, like with a little remote with a clicker, dude, 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:16.800 that is the worst. It's good to me, that's the 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:19.960 worst part of streaming. And in my mind, if you're 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:23.240 able to solve that problem, I'm totally gonna check them out. Yeah, 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:24.840 I'll start using my phone to find what I want 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:26.679 to just gonna go a lot quicker and then just 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:29.679 like shooting on up to my TV exactly. I like it. Alright, 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:32.000 So all right, let's talk about dirty debt collectors. Matt. 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:35.280 There's something interesting happening right now that could be trashing 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:38.199 your credit score. Uh, and it's called debt parking. It's 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:41.399 taken on this interesting terminology some debt collectors out there 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:45.040 who lack proper morals there Um, dirty human beings are 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:48.159 are putting debts that you don't know onto your credit report, 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:50.199 which sounds like a terrible thing to do, and it 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:51.920 is a terrible thing to do. Towards the end of 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:55.440 the last year, the FTC took action against a specific 0:17:55.440 --> 0:17:58.240 debt collection firm in Missouri that ended up stealing over 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:02.000 twenty four million dollars from consumers through this practice. And 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:04.680 I think part of what makes it so devious. It's 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:07.040 not just the posting of the fake debts to your account, 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:09.080 which in and of itself is terrible, but the fact 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:11.679 that they aren't sending any notification your way when they 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:14.080 do this, and so that means that most people are 0:18:14.119 --> 0:18:17.479 finding out about this fake debt when they're applying for credit. 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:19.760 Like let's say they're applying for a mortgage because they're 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:22.000 buying a home, and then it turns out that their 0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:25.800 credit score stinks because of this terrible scam that these 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:28.800 debt collectors are running. And basically they're hoping that because 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:30.399 you're in such a bind, you're gonna pay off the 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:32.960