Speaker 1: Is it okay to have a car payment and how
Speaker 1: to avoid and not alone.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity and life. Here your hosts Jen
Speaker 2: and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and today we are replaying an
Speaker 1: episode that was very popular several years ago and that
Speaker 1: we think is super important because Jill and I, while
Speaker 1: we both paid off a lot of debt, we then
Speaker 1: both acquired car payments for different reasons and we still
Speaker 1: have those. I think it's been two years since this
Speaker 1: episode aired and we are still same. Everything we said
Speaker 1: aged well and we still believe it.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean this was a pretty pivotal episode for
Speaker 3: me because in the past, and you'll hear this me
Speaker 3: say this, but I've always bought used for cash and
Speaker 3: the world changed and my perspective needed to change. And
Speaker 3: I think that's what happens to us as we move
Speaker 3: through life, not holding so rigidly to certain ideas about money,
Speaker 3: specifically debt, giving ourselves permission to understand the financial choices
Speaker 3: that we're making so that we can feel good about
Speaker 3: them and make them guilt free because we believe debt
Speaker 3: is neutral, and this is one of those episodes that's
Speaker 3: going to underscore.
Speaker 1: That for you. And as tariffs loom, we are not
Speaker 1: sure how they'll take effect. If they'll take effect one
Speaker 1: of the industries, they would possibly impact our cars, and
Speaker 1: so I think it's very start now to learn about
Speaker 1: what you will need going into your next car purchase,
Speaker 1: if you're going to be taking out alone, which ninety
Speaker 1: nine percent of people will and honestly should.
Speaker 3: Okay, But first, this episode is brought to you by
Speaker 3: Jenn's birthday.
Speaker 1: Woo woo, woo woo. Today is my birthday, not the
Speaker 1: day we're recording this, but the day the sairs.
Speaker 4: Happy birthday, Jennifer.
Speaker 3: So she's older, she's wiser, she's more beautiful, and she's
Speaker 3: more sure of herself. That's right, folks. Confidence comes with
Speaker 3: age and really just generally not caring that much what
Speaker 3: other people think about you.
Speaker 1: So there's one thing they say about me, it's that
Speaker 1: I don't care.
Speaker 3: Welcome to almost forty, Like how good the chapters are
Speaker 3: in the book, she wrote, She's so confident and sure
Speaker 3: of herself about that. By what you Love without going broke,
Speaker 3: we both wrote it, but she loves what she wrote
Speaker 3: and I must have been.
Speaker 4: They are good.
Speaker 1: They're good chapters.
Speaker 3: If you want to see for yourself and help Jenni
Speaker 3: Ford her life and till her next birthday, get your
Speaker 3: copy at buy what youlovebook dot com.
Speaker 4: This is so true, Jen.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, Yeah, I am confident. I am very confident
Speaker 1: in the chapters I wrote in the book, and buying
Speaker 1: it will help me afford to live another year. Yea,
Speaker 1: this is so This is the best gift that you
Speaker 1: can give me, is getting I mean getting our our
Speaker 1: spending planner for yourself or getting a copy of Buy
Speaker 1: What you Love without going broke. It supports me on
Speaker 1: my birthday and helps you achieve your goals in your life.
Speaker 1: And really that's the best gift for me, is you
Speaker 1: achieving your goals. But that doesn't pay my bills.
Speaker 4: And just yeah, and just supporting Jen and her goals.
Speaker 1: Yeah, support me and my goals of I don't know,
Speaker 1: they change every year. Sleeping to the night, sleeping through
Speaker 1: the night. I woke up four times last night. Oh no,
Speaker 1: two for the dog and two for now. It's too
Speaker 1: much a five year old, it's too much Okay, but
Speaker 1: let's get into what this episode's really about. I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1: It's about transportation. So we have a couple other episodes
Speaker 1: that you really should queue up to listen to after
Speaker 1: this one. The first is a recent episode. You just
Speaker 1: have to go back, like twenty episodes or something that's
Speaker 1: ridiculous or math. It's fifteen. I'm so sorry. Uh commuting
Speaker 1: with an e bike in any weather with Kevin Hak.
Speaker 1: This was not a widely downloaded episode for obvious reasons.
Speaker 1: It's not saving money on groceries. I think everyone should
Speaker 1: listen to it, though. I think everyone should listen to
Speaker 1: this episode because moving away from a car could be
Speaker 1: will save you more money than getting a better rate
Speaker 1: on a car loan. It's let us tickle your brain
Speaker 1: with that episode. You know that episode.
Speaker 4: I not think it's for you, but just let yourself
Speaker 4: be tickled.
Speaker 1: Yes, it'll save you more money than anything we say
Speaker 1: on this epist episode will so let that be enticing
Speaker 1: for you, and then also save money on your next
Speaker 1: car purchase with the car Chick. That was episode two
Speaker 1: thirty three. But you can just search the Car Chick
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends and that episode should come up a lot
Speaker 1: of car buying tips. It's post COVID, so the car
Speaker 1: tips are still really relevant.
Speaker 3: Okay, let's get into this one. So this first article
Speaker 3: comes from bank Rate and is titled what to Know
Speaker 3: about Auto Loan Debt, And I just even appreciate the
Speaker 3: title because it is not making a good or bad
Speaker 3: statement about auto loan debt, which is a great place
Speaker 3: to start to just remove the shame from it. What
Speaker 3: is a good decision for one person may not be
Speaker 3: a great decision for another, and so we just want
Speaker 3: all the information to make the best decisions for ourselves.
Speaker 3: What this article goes through, and we will go through
Speaker 3: it with you all, is when an auto alone is
Speaker 3: not a great idea, and when an auto alone might
Speaker 3: be a good idea. So kind of looking at it
Speaker 3: from both sides. So first off, when an auto alone
Speaker 3: is a bad idea is if you can't afford the car.
Speaker 1: Yes, And this isn't just like we don't imagine that
Speaker 1: most of our listeners are going out there and looking
Speaker 1: at the Tesla's and the BMW's and the Cadillacs. We
Speaker 1: know that's probably not you if you're listening to this show,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't mean even if you're looking at the Toyotas,
Speaker 1: the Hondas, it doesn't mean that you can afford every
Speaker 1: single one. And this is specifically for new cars. There's
Speaker 1: been a lot of like recently. So one of the
Speaker 1: changes was is for a time, used cars were about
Speaker 1: the same price as new cars, and so everyone was like,
Speaker 1: just by new, just by new, just by new. It's
Speaker 1: not that case anymore. And people are still saying that
Speaker 1: because Jill and I both have bought cars from dealers.
Speaker 1: I just bought one last month, Jill Yours was just
Speaker 1: like a year ago. So we have heard all of
Speaker 1: these things, and you're still going to be paying that.
Speaker 1: It's back to where you're going to be paying that
Speaker 1: that instant depreciation when you drive it off the lot
Speaker 1: and it loses two grand.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think there can be people who get caught up
Speaker 3: and only looking at the monthly payment versus the overall
Speaker 3: sticker price of a car, and I think that can
Speaker 3: push us outside of our budget if we're only looking
Speaker 3: at the monthly payment versus the overall costs. And reality
Speaker 3: is is if the if it has a high sticker price,
Speaker 3: you're going to be paying even more than that. If
Speaker 3: you're taking out a loan for and what you're going
Speaker 3: to pay an interest potentially how long you end up
Speaker 3: paying off that loan. So first look at the overall
Speaker 3: cost and if it causes.
Speaker 4: Just like a deep sinking pit in.
Speaker 3: Your stomach, I mean really all cars probably will do that.
Speaker 3: But if you absolutely know this is not going to
Speaker 3: be a car that is within my lifestyle way of
Speaker 3: affording things, then don't go with that one. Don't allow
Speaker 3: the monthly payment to push you into a car that
Speaker 3: you wouldn't otherwise choose. But then from there, yes, make
Speaker 3: sure that the monthly payment is something that you can afford.
Speaker 1: And so Experience says that the average monthly payment, which
Speaker 1: is Experience is the credit bureau that a lot of
Speaker 1: car dealerships will use, so they know they know what
Speaker 1: everybody's car payment is, and for new cars it's around
Speaker 1: seven hundred and for used cars it's about five twenty five.
Speaker 1: And actually asked when we bought our car, what is
Speaker 1: the average that people finance, and he said it was
Speaker 1: about seven hundred. Wow, so this is.
Speaker 3: A lot like that is inching close to rent. I
Speaker 3: mean obviously rent is way more than that, but like that,
Speaker 3: this then potentially could be your second biggest expense in
Speaker 3: what might have used to be the third or fourth
Speaker 3: biggest expense for people.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's where we are. That's yeah, it's definitely
Speaker 1: the climate that we are in right now. So we
Speaker 1: don't want to say it can be like it was
Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen. But you don't have to relegate yourself
Speaker 1: to that seven hundred dollars payment just because that's what's average.
Speaker 1: You also don't want to just take out a clunker.
Speaker 1: I see a lot of people kind of saying the opposite,
Speaker 1: to just buy a quote unquote clunker, which don't really
Speaker 1: exist anymore since the Cash for Clunkers program started what
Speaker 1: like decades ago. And then you know, so you don't
Speaker 1: go into debt, but that's also not a wise decision
Speaker 1: for most people.
Speaker 3: Well, you also want to consider the other costs of
Speaker 3: owning the vehicle. How much are you going to be
Speaker 3: paying in gas, monthly insurance, registration renewals if you live
Speaker 3: in a state that requires emissions an inspection, that's on
Speaker 3: top of your monthly auto loan payment. So that is
Speaker 3: huge to be keeping in mind when you're making decisions
Speaker 3: and signing papers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you need to be looking at the total
Speaker 1: cost of the car, not just the monthly The next
Speaker 1: is it's not a good idea if the interest rate
Speaker 1: is too high. The interest rates for auto loans, they
Speaker 1: used to be so reasonable, so reasonable, and now they're
Speaker 1: quite high. So we would typically say that any loan
Speaker 1: under five percent, you don't have to like set your
Speaker 1: pants on fire paying off because you can get more
Speaker 1: in the stock market. That's general wisdom. And it is
Speaker 1: hard to get that now, even with excellent even with
Speaker 1: an excellent credit score of eight hundred, you cannot get
Speaker 1: less than a five percent interest rate on a loan.
Speaker 1: I know this. I know that. So it has shifted
Speaker 1: a bit, so the interest rates are much higher than
Speaker 1: they used to be. But so this has become a
Speaker 1: kind of loan where you do want to focus on
Speaker 1: paying it off fairly quickly.
Speaker 3: It is.
Speaker 1: It will be probably a priority, even over some student loans.
Speaker 1: If you're paying off debt and you have to get
Speaker 1: a car loan, you may have to pause other loan
Speaker 1: payoffs to focus on this one. But it doesn't Again,
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean you have to put everything on hold
Speaker 1: and stash cash to pay cash for a car. It
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that either. Yeah, it just means that it
Speaker 1: will shift some things for you. But one of the
Speaker 1: ways you can lower that interest rate is to lower
Speaker 1: the number of months. So like, the three shortest terms
Speaker 1: tend to be about the same interest rates, so you
Speaker 1: don't have to take the shortest, but taking a shorter
Speaker 1: term and putting more down, so pausing other savings goals
Speaker 1: to stack up some cash to put as much down
Speaker 1: as possible.
Speaker 3: Yeah. The final reason that they state for why an
Speaker 3: auto loan might be a bad idea or when it's
Speaker 3: not the best option is if you're going to be
Speaker 3: stuck with a long term loan. So, like Jen's saying,
Speaker 3: often car loan terms are between thirty six to eighty
Speaker 3: four months. That eighty four months obviously being way longer,
Speaker 3: which some might opt for because it makes the monthly
Speaker 3: payments more affordable, But the catch is you're paying far
Speaker 3: more in interest and the higher extending Yeah, you're extending
Speaker 3: the life of that loan. So that's another thing to
Speaker 3: keep in mind. As much as you can minimize the
Speaker 3: length of the loan getting the best interest rate possible,
Speaker 3: these are the things that are going to help make
Speaker 3: an auto loan be a better, more wise decision, and
Speaker 3: just things to be wary of when in the car
Speaker 3: buying situation circumstance.
Speaker 1: Really, if you can't afford the payment at forty eight
Speaker 1: months or less, then you need to be looking at
Speaker 1: a less expensive car. So forty eight months is four years.
Speaker 1: We all want to say, oh, I'm going to keep
Speaker 1: this car from drive it into the ground. You don't
Speaker 1: know that. You really can't plan to do it, plan
Speaker 1: to keep it for five years. If you keep it longer,
Speaker 1: then that is a financial gain. That is a financial success.
Speaker 1: But if you keep it for less because of an accident,
Speaker 1: or because your family grows, or you move somewhere I
Speaker 1: don't know, then it is not not that much of
Speaker 1: a financial loss. So really you need to be able
Speaker 1: to afford everything at for thirty six or forty eight months.
Speaker 1: So when to get an auto loan? So if you
Speaker 1: want to build more credit, one of the parts there
Speaker 1: are several parts of a credit score, and one of
Speaker 1: them is credit diversity and an auto loan. If you
Speaker 1: just have like a credit card and student loan, your
Speaker 1: experience won't say you're very diverse. But if you add
Speaker 1: a mortgage and an auto loan. Then it says you've
Speaker 1: got a diverse credit history, it's not a big part
Speaker 1: of your credit score. So I don't one hundred percent
Speaker 1: agree it says it accounts for thirty five percent of
Speaker 1: your credit score. Sorry, no, it's saying on time payments
Speaker 1: account for thirty five percent. Like that's way more. On
Speaker 1: time payments are what's going to improve your credit score,
Speaker 1: no matter what they are. So I would say, do
Speaker 1: not take out an auto loan for the credit portion
Speaker 1: of it. Take it out because you want to have
Speaker 1: that money allocated for something else, and it is more
Speaker 1: financially beneficial for you to take out more of a
Speaker 1: loan than it is to use your cash for that. Now,
Speaker 1: if you're using your if you take out a loan,
Speaker 1: so you have more cash every month to buy lattes
Speaker 1: and shoes, and those aren't your highest priority things. That's
Speaker 1: not the reason to get out a car loan. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't do it for the credit reasons.
Speaker 3: The next reason that an auto loan could be a
Speaker 3: decent idea or a way to make an auto loan
Speaker 3: more advantageous for us the purchaser is when we're putting
Speaker 3: down a hefty down payment. They reference that it's not
Speaker 3: going to be a great idea to use up deplete
Speaker 3: all of your savings, especially if it's not a true emergency,
Speaker 3: just to circumvent monthly car payments or interest rates. You're
Speaker 3: better off just making a hefty down payment, putting a
Speaker 3: significant amount down on the car to reduce the amount
Speaker 3: of the auto loan that you need to take out,
Speaker 3: and then being able to keep some of that cash
Speaker 3: on hand for the other unexpected emergencies. This is one
Speaker 3: of the things that I was saying was so difficult
Speaker 3: for me to kind of overcome in my mind when
Speaker 3: I realized the car buying situation is different than it
Speaker 3: had been for the majority of my life. I am
Speaker 3: so accustomed to paying cash in someone's backyard for their
Speaker 3: used vehicle, just kind of a private sale person to person.
Speaker 3: We found it on Facebook marketplace, and we could walk
Speaker 3: away with a car between six to twelve thousand dollars
Speaker 3: and that was a reasonable amount to pay in cash.
Speaker 3: Those days are over, and this hurts to.
Speaker 1: Say, unless you're unless you're okay getting a car that's
Speaker 1: like ten plus years old, like that would be very Yeah.
Speaker 3: It's even still though the amount of money that you
Speaker 3: still have to pay versus what it's actually worth and
Speaker 3: how long that car is going to last you. So
Speaker 3: then it was okay, but am I willing to pay
Speaker 3: now thirty thousand dollars even for a pre owned vehicle?
Speaker 3: And then it started to face the reality that that's
Speaker 3: not a great idea to do. If I have thirty
Speaker 3: thousand dollars of you, assuming we are not independently wealthy.
Speaker 3: If you've got stacks on stacks, then sure, fine, do
Speaker 3: whatever you want with thirty k. That probably feels like
Speaker 3: chump change. But for someone like me who makes a
Speaker 3: very average salary household income, if I have thirty thousand
Speaker 3: dollars stacked away, that's not going to be the best
Speaker 3: use of that just to avoid a monthly car payment.
Speaker 3: So I really had to reorient myself. Similar with our renovations,
Speaker 3: like there comes a point where it makes sense to
Speaker 3: cash flow, and then there comes a point where it
Speaker 3: makes sense to borrow money. This is just like my
Speaker 3: realization and hot take, especially when it comes to investing
Speaker 3: and saving for retirement, our money can go further, especially
Speaker 3: for US medium income earners, we need more time to
Speaker 3: save for retirement versus shoving all of our money away.
Speaker 3: There's definitely emotional decisions at play here too, and you're
Speaker 3: going to need to make your own decisions for what's
Speaker 3: going to make sense for you. But this was the
Speaker 3: big thing for us. Of Okay, it's just not even
Speaker 3: if we had it, this would not be a great
Speaker 3: idea to put all of that money towards a new vehicle.
Speaker 3: But the workaround for us, just like this article is suggesting,
Speaker 3: was putting a decent amount of cash down so that
Speaker 3: the amount of the loan that we had to take
Speaker 3: out was significantly less.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I totally agree it is. It is a different
Speaker 1: landscape and it is not as bad as what it
Speaker 1: was a year and a half ago. So we have
Speaker 1: to get out of that too. That like kind of
Speaker 1: despair that you know, we're just going to have to
Speaker 1: spend thirty forty grand on a car. That's just what
Speaker 1: it's going to cost. No, because I was just in
Speaker 1: there last month and got a three year old minivan
Speaker 1: like great stuff for twenty five So it is a choice. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: did I have have to get the kind of car
Speaker 1: I want? Could I got into Sedan for less? Yes?
Speaker 1: But also I wanted the doors that open automatically with
Speaker 1: a button, you know.
Speaker 3: So.
Speaker 1: There it is. This is a super personal decision.
Speaker 3: Yeah that I think we have to weigh all of
Speaker 3: our other life circumstances up against what is the reason
Speaker 3: for purchasing a new car, What do the rest of
Speaker 3: your finances look like? What are your other big goals
Speaker 3: to do with your money in the next few years? Like,
Speaker 3: all of the answers to those questions are going to
Speaker 3: shift it for each person. You know. For us, we
Speaker 3: were in an emergency situation. We had one vehicle, that
Speaker 3: vehicle's breaks went out, like what to do now? So
Speaker 3: and for others it might be, well, yeah, I don't
Speaker 3: love the landscape, and I could wait another one to
Speaker 3: two years and stash up even more cash for this
Speaker 3: to pay down, you know whatever the auto loan might be,
Speaker 3: So lots of different directions we could go. I think
Speaker 3: the biggest thing I want to highlight with this is
Speaker 3: being aware of these pros and cons that this article
Speaker 3: is highlighting when it's not a great idea, when it
Speaker 3: could be a great idea on how we can make
Speaker 3: the most of that situation.
Speaker 1: Yeah. The last thing on this list on when to
Speaker 1: get alone is when there's a deal on financing, and
Speaker 1: that's mostly for new cars. So I'm not gonna, I
Speaker 1: never will probably recommend a new car for anybody, and
Speaker 1: that's just personal. There's some people that a new car
Speaker 1: is a high value for them and they will pay that.
Speaker 1: And so if that is you, then finding deals on financing,
Speaker 1: especially at the end of the year. They have some
Speaker 1: good deals that that could be useful to you. But
Speaker 1: I would say the best thing on this list is
Speaker 1: when you have the cash reserves but you need them
Speaker 1: for something else besides putting them all into a car,
Speaker 1: especially if I mean in this kind in this I
Speaker 1: don't I hate saying like in this economy, but it's
Speaker 1: a good It's a better idea to have your money
Speaker 1: in your bank and have a car payment than have
Speaker 1: all your money tied into a car and like no
Speaker 1: money in savings except for your you know, two to
Speaker 1: five grand in an emergency fund. That's that's not a
Speaker 1: smart move. So to think that's the best reason to
Speaker 1: get an auto loan. And so yeah, now we're going
Speaker 1: to head into our second article. Yes, so this next
Speaker 1: one is how to avoid taking on too much car
Speaker 1: loan debt. And I don't know if you could have
Speaker 1: inferred it from the first article. But both Jill and
Speaker 1: I have auto loans. We'll let the cats out of
Speaker 1: the bag open. We're starting the lightning round early. We
Speaker 1: both have them. So that does not mean that we
Speaker 1: love debt contrary to popular belief.
Speaker 3: Or that we're telling you to get an auto loan.
Speaker 3: If you can find a work around, go for it.
Speaker 3: But we also want to help create permission for this
Speaker 3: because it's different times.
Speaker 4: Friends.
Speaker 1: Yes, and this just might.
Speaker 3: Be the reality of what needs to happen. If we're
Speaker 3: not living in a city where we can take public transportation, or.
Speaker 1: Or you're in your early twenties and you can afford
Speaker 1: that fifteen year old sedan and that's good for you,
Speaker 1: then that's great. When you are at different stages of
Speaker 1: your life, different things become priorities and you follow those.
Speaker 1: So what's right for me may not be right for you.
Speaker 1: But just because one person says something is gospel doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that it is. You've got to take with a
Speaker 1: grain of salt where it's coming from. And so we
Speaker 1: don't want to do that. We really want to just
Speaker 1: talk about ways to get creative no matter what situation
Speaker 1: you're in.
Speaker 3: So This article comes from Finder and they say how
Speaker 3: to avoid car loan debt, or most of it really
Speaker 3: is like how to not take on too much car
Speaker 3: loan debt. They also talk about how to pay off
Speaker 3: your loan faster, what some of the benefits of a
Speaker 3: car loan can be, what to watch out for. So
Speaker 3: it's definitely chock full of some helpful things. I would
Speaker 3: recommend checking it out if you are currently in this process.
Speaker 3: We're just going to go over some of the bigger
Speaker 3: highlights of it. The first thing that stood out to
Speaker 3: me under the category of how to avoid too much
Speaker 3: debt is to do your research, so knowing the type
Speaker 3: of vehicle that you want, and then spending a decent
Speaker 3: amount of time on the Internet and in talking with
Speaker 3: people to compare specs and pricing. Of course, the internet's
Speaker 3: going to give you the most information as far as
Speaker 3: what to expect with pricing. What is that same year
Speaker 3: with that type of vehicle, with all the different specs,
Speaker 3: the type of engine that it has, all of those things,
Speaker 3: and what can I expect for pricing. Like you'd be
Speaker 3: surprised if you haven't done this recently, how much it
Speaker 3: can vary from dealer to dealer what they are selling
Speaker 3: that same type of vehicle for. So that's just some
Speaker 3: basic information that can help you to avoid getting hosed
Speaker 3: on some of the pricing, to have a really good
Speaker 3: idea for what can I expect to pay what would
Speaker 3: be a reasonable amount of money for this type of car?
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I would say pay specific attention to fees.
Speaker 1: So I used True Car and I was able to
Speaker 1: inquire about pricing on cars and then get a breakdown
Speaker 1: of car fees, you know, dealer fees, et cetera. And
Speaker 1: there are some dealers and I'm going to get more
Speaker 1: into this in the lightning round to do you worry,
Speaker 1: I have a story. So there are some dealers that
Speaker 1: will just charge their dealer fee and it's a thousand
Speaker 1: bucks and you can't get away from that. That is,
Speaker 1: that's something All other fees are negotiable, and if they
Speaker 1: won't negotiate them with you, you can go to another dealer
Speaker 1: with more transparent pricing. And you should, yeah, because there
Speaker 1: are enough dealers out there today that have caught on
Speaker 1: and are just charging their transparent price plus their dealer fee,
Speaker 1: and they're being open about it. There are enough of
Speaker 1: those dealers where you can go buy from them. You
Speaker 1: don't have to be subject to these dealers that are
Speaker 1: still charging like fifteen different like fees that mark the price.
Speaker 3: And if time is on your side, I would recommend
Speaker 3: taking a couple of weekends to shop around, to test drive,
Speaker 3: to research, to compare, and not just making impulsive massive
Speaker 3: car decision.
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely So. The next one on this list is
Speaker 1: that I will talk about is to compare your financing options.
Speaker 1: So it behooves you to get pre approved for an
Speaker 1: auto loan before you go in. You don't have to
Speaker 1: have the car. I would say, take whatever your budget
Speaker 1: is and add ten grand to it and just get
Speaker 1: pre approved for that. Not saying that you should expect
Speaker 1: to pay ten grand over budget. I'm just saying, like,
Speaker 1: get pre approved for it. Because the credit unions will
Speaker 1: be offering the best terms for a car. So if
Speaker 1: you're not a member of a credit union, now is
Speaker 1: the time to join one, And I would I would
Speaker 1: call the dealers that have cars that you're interested and
Speaker 1: ask them what credit union they have like a direct
Speaker 1: relationship with. So when we went in, we were actually
Speaker 1: lucky enough that the credit union that we use regularly
Speaker 1: is the credit union that these dealers had. The two
Speaker 1: dealers that we checked out had a direct relationship with,
Speaker 1: so we were able to I was already a member,
Speaker 1: we were able to do the financing right in there.
Speaker 1: I got preapproved through the credit union, but it was
Speaker 1: easier just to take out that same credit union loan
Speaker 1: with the dealer. It's the same loan. It's just I
Speaker 1: didn't have to get a check from the credit union
Speaker 1: and bring it in sort of things. But they honored
Speaker 1: the rate that I got, and they actually honored the
Speaker 1: new car rate that I was approved for, yeah, instead
Speaker 1: of the used car rate. Used car rates are usually higher.
Speaker 1: So that was really really great.
Speaker 4: Oh that's cool.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So definitely do your research about credit unions. Become
Speaker 1: a member at your local one, the one that has
Speaker 1: the best rates currently on used cars, and they will
Speaker 1: typically when you go in there, even if it's not
Speaker 1: the same credit union or the same bank, they will
Speaker 1: honor the interest rate on that term with any other thing,
Speaker 1: because they want your business and they want to do
Speaker 1: the financing in house. They want to get it done
Speaker 1: right then and there, so they're going to honor whatever
Speaker 1: you've been preapproved for. Yeah.
Speaker 3: The other way obviously to avoid taking on too much
Speaker 3: debt with a car is considering the less expensive car
Speaker 3: option or used cars.
Speaker 4: Just like Jen already.
Speaker 3: Said, we will recommend used, certified, pre owned, whatever you
Speaker 3: want to call it, where you're not immediately experiencing the
Speaker 3: impact of it depreciating when you buy brand new and
Speaker 3: drive it off the lot and it lose is ten
Speaker 3: thousand dollars worth of value. You don't need that, but
Speaker 3: of course make your own decisions. But if you're wanting
Speaker 3: to look at how can I reduce this cost as
Speaker 3: much as possible the vehicle without all the bells and whistles,
Speaker 3: the vehicle that's been used, and you can find some
Speaker 3: great ones. It doesn't mean that you're buying a super
Speaker 3: old car. There's plenty of people out there who lease
Speaker 3: vehicles for a couple of years, hardly put any miles
Speaker 3: on it, and suddenly it's a pre owned car that
Speaker 3: feels brand new to you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. So the other ones on here kind of
Speaker 1: reiterate what we were talking about. So avoid spending more
Speaker 1: than you can afford. This one says avoid loan terms
Speaker 1: that exceed five years. I go with four because I'm
Speaker 1: more conservative. Usually the three and four year terms are
Speaker 1: going to have the same interest rate, so double check it. Though.
Speaker 1: If you can get a lower interest rate with a
Speaker 1: thirty six, you want to go with that one, even
Speaker 1: though it's a higher monthly payment. But if they're the same,
Speaker 1: you need to at least be able to afford the
Speaker 1: four year one. Yeah, and sometimes even when we were
Speaker 1: in there, three, four and five were the same. It
Speaker 1: was when you went above five that the interest rate increased.
Speaker 3: And if you do happen to need to take on
Speaker 3: a loan that does have a little bit higher of
Speaker 3: an interest rate, then paying off the loan faster is
Speaker 3: still an option for you. Even if you signed paperwork
Speaker 3: for a four to seven year loan, that doesn't mean
Speaker 3: that you can't pay it off sooner as you come
Speaker 3: across the room and your budget to be able to
Speaker 3: do that. Of course, making that sizeable down payment is
Speaker 3: going to really help. Looking at when you can make
Speaker 3: lump some extra payments to it. Even tacking on a
Speaker 3: little bit each month or breaking your monthly payment down
Speaker 3: into two times a month can also help to pay
Speaker 3: down the principle of the loan. Even looking at refinancing
Speaker 3: once you're in a different place can be a really
Speaker 3: great idea to see. Okay, if interest rates are shifting,
Speaker 3: then it could be worth your while to refinance for
Speaker 3: a lower interest rate.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Credit unions can also refinance auto loans to get
Speaker 1: that rate down. So maybe you're making payments for a
Speaker 1: year and your credit increases, maybe fingers crossed, maybe rates decrease.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 1: So if the stars aligned and you're able to refinance,
Speaker 1: then definitely try to do that. But I think you
Speaker 1: are going to get the most bang for your savings
Speaker 1: buck by going with a car that you can afford
Speaker 1: the three or four year payment. So just basically getting
Speaker 1: a less expensive car. Is that going to take more
Speaker 1: time to find? Yes? Are they out there? Absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 1: It does not have to be be flexible, like don't
Speaker 1: you don't have to get like a Junker to be flexible.
Speaker 1: That is something that I learned because really for me,
Speaker 1: when we were shopping it, for me, it was like
Speaker 1: top of the line, and for Travis it was bottom
Speaker 1: of the line, and we really had to come together
Speaker 1: find that radical We really had to find that radical middle,
Speaker 1: and it ended up in an affordable vehicle that had
Speaker 1: ninety five percent of what I wanted. And I'm very
Speaker 1: very happy with that.
Speaker 3: With the loan, do you know what has one hundred
Speaker 3: and twenty percent of what I want? And I'm happy
Speaker 3: with all the time, always and forever.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. It would finance till the day I
Speaker 1: die if I needed to, but would never have to
Speaker 1: the Bell of the week.
Speaker 2: That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 2: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 2: is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your
Speaker 2: car died, and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 2: that bill anymore. Beck Bill Buffalo Bills, Bill Claion, this
Speaker 2: is the bill of the week.
Speaker 5: Hi, Jen and Jel. This is Amanda calling from New
Speaker 5: Brunswick on the East coast of Canada, and I just
Speaker 5: pressed submit on my final bill for my Capital one MasterCard.
Speaker 5: I paid off over seventy five hundred dollars in six
Speaker 5: months and today it's the beginning of January twenty twenty three,
Speaker 5: and I did it. I'm so excited. Thank you for
Speaker 5: all of your health and I have just changed my life.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Bye, oh yeay, Amanda. Congratulations that
Speaker 1: seventy five hundred in six months. That is insane. That
Speaker 1: credit card debt is the debt to get out of there.
Speaker 1: That's the debt to get out like.
Speaker 4: Your pants are on fire.
Speaker 1: That's over one thousand dollars that you hang.
Speaker 3: Through at this credit card debt. And well done, Amanda,
Speaker 3: and I'm glad that you chose to celebrate with us
Speaker 3: in the.
Speaker 4: Bill of the week.
Speaker 1: Yes, I love it. I love it so so much.
Speaker 3: Thanks Amanda from New Brunswick. If you all listening, happen
Speaker 3: to be another Canadian listener, you know you're just from
Speaker 3: the United States, want or any other country. Oh, we
Speaker 3: love it. We love it when you call from all
Speaker 3: over the world or outer space. That'd be fun. If
Speaker 3: you happen to pay off debt or lower a bill,
Speaker 3: or you're happy about a bill that you paid, or
Speaker 3: you know me.
Speaker 1: Your name is Bill.
Speaker 3: Visit Frugal friendspodcast dot com, slash Bill, leave us your bill.
Speaker 4: We're here for it and for you. And now it's
Speaker 4: time for light rap.
Speaker 1: You know we got to four star review the other
Speaker 1: day because our intro music is corny.
Speaker 4: Yay, I know that makes me happy.
Speaker 1: I'm pleased by it. I've never had a bigger compliment
Speaker 1: in my life.
Speaker 3: No, yeah, I think they probably just meant to an
Speaker 3: acts are Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: I know it was an accident, but thank you to
Speaker 1: the pre lip for the corn. We like corn. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, so we're gonna oh, this one is so juicy.
Speaker 1: You've been waiting for this, and I talked about this
Speaker 1: story on an after show on a previous episode. But
Speaker 1: you all are.
Speaker 3: Ready your golden tip for a first time car buyer, Jen,
Speaker 3: give it to us.
Speaker 1: We will at juice. Okay, corn juice? Yes, all right,
Speaker 1: that's weird. Okay, So my tip for a first this okay,
Speaker 1: I'm not even it's not even first time. It's for
Speaker 1: everyone in this climate right now. To recognize sunk cost bias,
Speaker 1: say more so. Sunk cost bias or sunk cost fallacy
Speaker 1: is common in frugality. It's or even in personal finance. Whereas,
Speaker 1: because I have sunk time or effort into this, I
Speaker 1: will not give it up, even if by the law
Speaker 1: of diminishing returns, it is no longer returning what I
Speaker 1: am putting into it. It is valuing the time spent
Speaker 1: or the energy or effort spent more than the actual outcome.
Speaker 4: Give us an example.
Speaker 1: So I bought a car recently, and I really wanted
Speaker 1: this one van that was at this one dealership, but
Speaker 1: I didn't want to just go to that dealership. I
Speaker 1: wanted to test something out. So I found another van
Speaker 1: that was very comparable at a dealership closer, and I
Speaker 1: just went in to test drive and get the experience
Speaker 1: before I went into this other one. So I went in,
Speaker 1: test drove it, did this all by myself too, and
Speaker 1: and then left. And that was I gained the experience.
Speaker 1: I got their deal and that's what I thought. You know, okay, cool,
Speaker 1: this is this is the experience. Now I know. And
Speaker 1: next day I go to the dealership with the car
Speaker 1: I really want. And mind you, these cars, these vans
Speaker 1: that I test drove, were the same exact price online.
Speaker 1: They were both twenty five k I think there was
Speaker 1: maybe a five dollars difference between the one was like
Speaker 1: twenty four nine nine and the other one was twenty
Speaker 1: four nine nine five. Yes, so four dollars, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 1: So I went to the dealership with the one that
Speaker 1: I really wanted. And the difference between these car these
Speaker 1: bands was the one that I tested of the first
Speaker 1: day was a few years older but had like less
Speaker 1: than half of the miles. Oh okay, so this one. So,
Speaker 1: this one that I really wanted. It had more miles,
Speaker 1: but it was newer, and it had the luxury like package.
Speaker 1: It had the leather, it had all the features.
Speaker 4: You know, more miles but more interesting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but leather leva. So but this is the one
Speaker 1: I really wanted. So I go in test drive and
Speaker 1: then I sit down at the negotiating table and I'm
Speaker 1: ready for this because I've listened to the episode with
Speaker 1: the car check, and I've written the e books on negotiation.
Speaker 1: I know how you are prepared.
Speaker 4: Your sleeves are rolled up, and they don't know what's coming.
Speaker 1: They absolutely don't know what's coming for them because they
Speaker 1: they put all of these fees. So when I was
Speaker 1: talking about hidden fees and fee transparency, while the first
Speaker 1: dealership was like this is the price, and this is
Speaker 1: our dealer fee, and this is this is it, this
Speaker 1: is it, and I was like, yeah, one thousand dollars
Speaker 1: dealer fee, that's standard this place. And then I had
Speaker 1: my trade in that they gave me the value for
Speaker 1: this place had a reconditioning fee, which was basically me
Speaker 1: paying for them to get the car ready to sell,
Speaker 1: which I thought was ridiculous. And I called it superfluous,
Speaker 1: and they hated me for that where they kept using it.
Speaker 4: I was like, they wanted to give you a for star.
Speaker 1: The manager was like, I would describe as ancillary, and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh no, it's superfluous. I was like,
Speaker 1: I know words. And so they had that fee, and
Speaker 1: then they had my trade in value, but on the sale,
Speaker 1: like the deal sheet, they took off two thousand dollars
Speaker 1: from it because the car was over eighty thousand miles.
Speaker 1: So instead of just giving me a fair and transparent
Speaker 1: value of my car, they were trying to deceive me
Speaker 1: by giving me one, by making me think I was
Speaker 1: getting more from my car, but actually I was getting less.
Speaker 1: And then they had another like bonus that canceled out
Speaker 1: a fee, and another but so they had another fee,
Speaker 1: but then they gave me a bonus to cancel that out,
Speaker 1: and so it was just so murky to where by
Speaker 1: the end of it, I spent an hour and a
Speaker 1: half to negotiating with this dealer for this van that
Speaker 1: I really wanted, and the whole package came out to
Speaker 1: four thousand dollars more than what I was going to
Speaker 1: pay for the other van that I had seen the
Speaker 1: day before without no negotiating, right, and so I was
Speaker 1: very close to signing the papers for that van, very
Speaker 1: for the more expensive van. When Travis and I looked
Speaker 1: at each other and we were like, what are we doing?
Speaker 1: I realized that I had let the sunk cost bias
Speaker 1: the time that I had spent negotiating, the time that
Speaker 1: I had spent desiring and thinking about this car. I
Speaker 1: had let that sunk cost bias almost lead me to
Speaker 1: paying four thousand dollars more yeah than an almost identical.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and you're not alone in that.
Speaker 1: No, But that one decision two. I mean, we had
Speaker 1: like signed the deal and I was about to give
Speaker 1: them my social Security number I think I had, but
Speaker 1: we hadn't signed any papers to like buy the car yet.
Speaker 1: We just you know, signed off that the deal was final.
Speaker 1: We got up, we.
Speaker 4: Left, thankfully. You had the excuse like we got to
Speaker 4: go pick up our case.
Speaker 1: I did. We did use that, I mean, we did
Speaker 1: have that excuse we had to go pick up kai.
Speaker 1: But that decision as uncomfortable it was as it was,
Speaker 1: and I felt bad for wasting their time, Yeah, which
Speaker 1: is so silly. I felt bad, but it saved me
Speaker 1: four thousand dollars.
Speaker 3: Oh, this is such a thing to keep in mind
Speaker 3: with any purchase, any big purchase, whether a home purchase,
Speaker 3: an investment purchase, or renovation purchase, car purchase, Like we
Speaker 3: can find ourselves kind of paying more or buying something
Speaker 3: we don't even want because of that sunk cost bias
Speaker 3: that can come upon us. I think it's helpful in
Speaker 3: listening to your experience, even thinking about having an additional
Speaker 3: person there, like the fact that you had Travis to
Speaker 3: also look to and say, wait a second, like just
Speaker 3: that checkpoint, so you can kind of alert each other
Speaker 3: to Oh, I think this is happening. I think this
Speaker 3: is happening.
Speaker 4: What about this?
Speaker 3: What about that, whether that's a spouse or a friend
Speaker 3: or a parent, somebody else with you, because we can
Speaker 3: get sideswiped by some cost bias or just people, yeah,
Speaker 3: dealerships or the seller kind of pulling one over on
Speaker 3: you or talking you into additional packages that you don't need.
Speaker 4: Like there's just the decision fatigue factor too.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And it's worth buying a friend dinner if you
Speaker 1: don't have a partner who's very money conscious, somebody who
Speaker 1: is a third party who you respect their financial savvy
Speaker 1: bringing them with you and just buying them a really
Speaker 1: nice steak dinner when it's all done.
Speaker 3: That could I mean, that could almost be even better
Speaker 3: than bringing a spouse because they're not emotionally invested, so
Speaker 3: like they may not even feel as bad to like
Speaker 3: question the deal, well.
Speaker 4: What about this cost? What about that cost? Because they're
Speaker 4: not the ones purchasing the vehicles, it's no skin.
Speaker 1: Off their back. And this can be overlooked when we
Speaker 1: are jumping straight into financing a car and getting an
Speaker 1: auto loan, because four thousand over four years, broken up
Speaker 1: into twelve payments is not a lot. But we want
Speaker 1: to look at the total cost to own. That's what
Speaker 1: we said upfront, and that's what's going to make the
Speaker 1: biggest difference when you are focusing on the total cost
Speaker 1: to own, not the monthly payment, and that's going to
Speaker 1: save you the most. That is, and we may not
Speaker 1: be able to pay the full amount, or may not
Speaker 1: want to pay the full amount, maybe want to put
Speaker 1: that money into other places, but you can still save
Speaker 1: a lot on your car and your auto loan by
Speaker 1: looking at that full price. Because that's I calculated six
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty six Lattes that I don't have to
Speaker 1: feel bad about turning down.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I have alleviated over six hundred decisions from
Speaker 1: my life by making the right decision one time.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: The tip that I would give to people purchasing a
Speaker 3: car first time or otherwise, definitely by used. We've talked
Speaker 3: about that already, And definitely do your research, not just
Speaker 3: oh what's the pricing across the board, but your research
Speaker 3: on the cars in as unbiased way as possible. So
Speaker 3: rather than searching just for example, like is a two
Speaker 3: thousand and six Subaru Forest or reliable, you're gonna get
Speaker 3: the answer like that's a You're gonna get the answer
Speaker 3: that you want on the internet. You can't get the
Speaker 3: answer that you are anywhere. And so, of course, if
Speaker 3: that's the way you're asking it, people are gonna be like, yes,
Speaker 3: I love my Super Forester, it's so great. But if
Speaker 3: you ask, what are the issues with a two thousand
Speaker 3: and six Subaru Forest or any vehicle. I'm just using
Speaker 3: my personal experience as an example. She had a really
Speaker 3: bad experience with the DF super Forster. Yes I did
Speaker 3: spoiler alert.
Speaker 1: Then you are.
Speaker 3: Going to get the answers from the people who and
Speaker 3: as you see themes of what is the issue that
Speaker 3: that car had? Am I willing to take on the
Speaker 3: repair costs for whatever those issues might be. And also
Speaker 3: recognize that you need to do your research on the
Speaker 3: specific type of car that you're looking for, not just
Speaker 3: the make and model, but the year as well, because
Speaker 3: there could be a make and model of a vehicle
Speaker 3: that across the board is really decent, but that particular
Speaker 3: year twenty eighteen is the year that XYZ went on
Speaker 3: the car, and it could be why you're finding such
Speaker 3: a great deal on that year of that car is
Speaker 3: because it's experiencing that issue. So do very specific type
Speaker 3: of research. And I think one of the things that
Speaker 3: I see people who are not super knowledgeable on vehicles do, again,
Speaker 3: whether first time car buyers or otherwise, is just like
Speaker 3: identifying a car that they think that they like and
Speaker 3: like going with that, rather than doing research on what
Speaker 3: are the best vehicles on the road, what are the
Speaker 3: most reliable makes and models of vehicles? And asking friends
Speaker 3: like chances are each one of us has someone within
Speaker 3: our circle who is more of a car expert than
Speaker 3: we are and ask them, hey, what do you think?
Speaker 3: What do you know about this type of vehicle, So picking,
Speaker 3: you know, asking people within your community as well as
Speaker 3: doing your own research rather than just getting your mindset
Speaker 3: on one particular car, because it really could be that
Speaker 3: there's a lot of issues that come up with that
Speaker 3: vehicle or it might not be the best for you
Speaker 3: for xyz reasons and just when in doubt by a Toyota.
Speaker 1: Yeah, unless it's a twenty nineteen rev for but so
Speaker 1: and if you take one thing away from this episode,
Speaker 1: let it be this. Start it carcomplaints dot com so
Speaker 1: you don't have to worry about your googling skills. Start
Speaker 1: at car coomplaints dot com. It compiles user generated complaints
Speaker 1: on the site and then also the National Highway Transportation
Speaker 1: Safety that the complaints there as well, and it will
Speaker 1: tell you make and model, which of the years have
Speaker 1: the most complaints, what the complaints are, which of the
Speaker 1: years have the least complaints. And you want to take
Speaker 1: the newer years with a grain of salt because they
Speaker 1: have fewer years to be able to accumulate. But if
Speaker 1: you're like me and you're looking back and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I wonder, what's uh one of my twenty sixteen Hyundai
Speaker 1: Tucson is compared to all the other Hyundai Tucsons and
Speaker 1: finding that it's one of the five worst cars like
Speaker 1: that year and that model, one of the five worst
Speaker 1: cars Hyundai has ever produced.
Speaker 3: And you won't know that unless you purchase the car
Speaker 3: or you do your research ahead of time. Much better
Speaker 3: do your research than to find out the hard way
Speaker 3: carcomplaints dot Com.
Speaker 1: They don't pay us to say that, but they have
Speaker 1: paid me so many times over from the money I've saved.
Speaker 1: Thank you guys so much for listening. And I hope
Speaker 1: that this helped you if you are on the fence
Speaker 1: of buying in cash versus getting an auto loan. I
Speaker 1: hope it helped you save money potentially on that auto
Speaker 1: loan if you were already set and just looking for tips.
Speaker 1: And again I want to reiterate episode four ninety four
Speaker 1: ninety four commuting with an e bike with Kevin ha
Speaker 1: and then episode two thirty three saving money on your
Speaker 1: next car purchase with the Car Check. Those are the
Speaker 1: two episodes to listen to next. So thank you so much.
Speaker 1: If you've read our book by What You Love Without
Speaker 1: Going Broke, which we mentioned at the top of the episode,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. We would love it if you
Speaker 1: could leave review on Amazon. That would be so helpful,
Speaker 1: Like this one from CC The Financial Book for the
Speaker 1: Rest of Us five stars. This book gives real world,
Speaker 1: real life advice for the lay person to make the
Speaker 1: most of their money. The suggestions are realistic and don't
Speaker 1: make you feel like you're missing out financially. Their advice
Speaker 1: allows you to both save towards goals and indulge on
Speaker 1: what you like within reason. There's great balance here. I'm
Speaker 1: more than just put your money here or there. This
Speaker 1: is about changing how you think about money and spending
Speaker 1: and saving on what's important to you. I highly recommend
Speaker 1: both the book and listening to the Frugal Friends podcast.
Speaker 1: Thank you for the shout out for the podcast too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks Ceci, and thank you all so much for
Speaker 3: listening to this show. If you enjoyed this podcast, please
Speaker 3: also take just a short minute and leave us a
Speaker 3: rating and review. If you've read the book, please also
Speaker 3: leave us a rating and review. There all of it
Speaker 3: helps us. Yes, and also again, it's Jen's birthday, so
Speaker 3: show her some love one way or another. Okay, here's
Speaker 3: the ways you can show Jen some love for her
Speaker 3: birthday and if you can leave a rating and review
Speaker 3: on the podcast, you can leave by your Apple for
Speaker 3: the book Amazon, you can buy the book buy what
Speaker 3: you loovebook dot com. You can follow us on social
Speaker 3: media Frugal Friends podcast or at weekly money Move because
Speaker 3: we have another Instagram account. We're giving you money Move
Speaker 3: every Monday. You can sign up for the friend letter
Speaker 3: Frugal Friends Podcast.
Speaker 4: Okay, options, I've just got to have the options. They
Speaker 4: got to know what you're doing.
Speaker 1: Whatever you do, if you post it and tag Modern Frugality,
Speaker 1: which is my Instagram, I'll send you a virtual hug
Speaker 1: is what I'll do. It's one of those hug emojis.
Speaker 3: You gotta remember, this is what you promised them, Jenu.
Speaker 1: You can remind me. Just be like if I don't
Speaker 1: send it to you, be like, where's my hug? Amo
Speaker 1: g Yeah, and then I'll remember.
Speaker 4: Okay.
Speaker 1: Bye. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.
Speaker 3: Birthday Plans. You had told me a while ago what
Speaker 3: you want to be doing.
Speaker 1: I hope that I do make it happen. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of time between now and then a few weeks.
Speaker 1: It is just a few weeks.
Speaker 3: Isn't it until you cross over into being closer to No, wait,
Speaker 3: have we already?
Speaker 4: How old are we? Jill?
Speaker 1: Wait, Jill and I are the same age right now?
Speaker 4: Are we thirty six? Or are we thirty four?
Speaker 1: Thirty five?
Speaker 4: Okay?
Speaker 1: And I thought, okay, yeah, turning thirty six crossing over
Speaker 1: being Yes, so I was turning crossover on my birthday
Speaker 1: being closer to forty than to thirty. You'll spend several
Speaker 1: months telling me I'm old, old, and how you are
Speaker 1: a young vibrant.
Speaker 4: Souls and then bring chicken.
Speaker 1: And then in August you will be thirty six as well.
Speaker 4: Let me live in my bliss.
Speaker 1: Well yeah, three months, three months, three months of bliss, pure,
Speaker 1: I will be closer to thirty than to forty, or
Speaker 1: at least right on the edge.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I want to get my girlfriends together, no kids
Speaker 1: on a Saturday mid morning and go to a coffee
Speaker 1: shop and either play games or do crafts. I want to,
Speaker 1: I really want to do crafts. Like where do you
Speaker 1: want to get together at a coffee shop? I haven't
Speaker 1: decided which one, so the TPT and yeah, I just
Speaker 1: want to. I just want to have like a morning
Speaker 1: with ladies without kids. Where we all can get away
Speaker 1: from our kids like it is a refuge for all
Speaker 1: of us. You're still invited, even though you have no
Speaker 1: one to get.
Speaker 4: Wait for me. I can leave all my worries and
Speaker 4: troubles behind.
Speaker 1: You can leave all your worries and troubles behind. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: and I will leave my children, who are all of
Speaker 1: my worries and troubles, but that I love greatly.
Speaker 4: Cannot wait for that. That sounds so exciting.
Speaker 3: What a good idea and good good inspiration for other
Speaker 3: people who.
Speaker 4: Are still here listening.
Speaker 1: Because I am tired at night and I don't want
Speaker 1: to go out at night, That's what I don't want
Speaker 1: to do that because the sun goes down and I'm
Speaker 1: in bed. Mornings are Yeah, we're that for you now.
Speaker 1: I'm about six thirty am every morning, six fifteen this morning.
Speaker 4: That's before the sun too, I know. Yeah, so okay, yeah,
Speaker 4: that's who I am. Thirty six. Happy birthday, Jem.
Speaker 1: Thanks