Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and Matt,
Speaker 1: and today we're discussing getting paid on demand, sneaky internet
Speaker 1: bill increases, and cheap drugs. That's right, Joel. This is
Speaker 1: our Friday Flat episode where we cover some different headlines
Speaker 1: that we came across this week, some different stories in
Speaker 1: the news, and specifically we're gonna talk about how they
Speaker 1: pertain to our personal finances. But before we get to that,
Speaker 1: last weekend, you spent some time on the road, right
Speaker 1: you and visited some family last week's right. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: we all actually met up. We stayed at a cabin
Speaker 1: together for one night. They're just outside of Knoxville, outside
Speaker 1: of Dollywood, which is actually where we went. Roads and
Speaker 1: roller coasters. Very nice, good time. And you're explained to me, like,
Speaker 1: in my mind, I pictured Dollywood being sort of like this,
Speaker 1: like uh, like a fake basically, it's got elements of that,
Speaker 1: but it's more six Flags then. Yeah, exactly, you're saying,
Speaker 1: there's like actual roller coasters. There're some really good ones. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Well that means that Dollywood is kind of like bumped
Speaker 1: up slightly in my book, But then again, it's been
Speaker 1: like decades since I've even been to six Flags Worth
Speaker 1: a visit. I want to say it's a little expensive though,
Speaker 1: so but yeah, it's a fun trip and it's you know,
Speaker 1: pretty right there in the foothills of the Smokies. But
Speaker 1: you've got family right there as well. Right, good time
Speaker 1: meeting up, no doubt. So, but I wanted to mention, Yeah,
Speaker 1: the the second night we ended up staying in a
Speaker 1: hotel is my first time staying in a hotel since
Speaker 1: the pandemic began, and it was great. It was a
Speaker 1: totally fine experience. But then I read this story about
Speaker 1: how Hilton hotels are going to stop doing daily housekeeping,
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh, that that's interesting. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: you're you're so used to while you're away during the day, Um,
Speaker 1: not in your room, someone comes in, makes your bed,
Speaker 1: tidies up, you know, cleans the bathroom, and then you
Speaker 1: come back and you're like, oh, it's all fresh and tidy.
Speaker 1: But yeah, apparently this is kind of something that's going away.
Speaker 1: Housekeeping costs a decent bit and people don't necessarily appreciate
Speaker 1: it to the extent that you would expect, and so yeah,
Speaker 1: I was wondering, what's your take if you could pay
Speaker 1: less to stay in a hotel but not receive the
Speaker 1: daily housekeeping, would you do it? Oh? Yeah, Well, if
Speaker 1: I could opt out of that and that actually meant
Speaker 1: that I was saving money, I would have one hundred
Speaker 1: percent do it. Because here's the thing. I'm one of
Speaker 1: those people who isn't used to uh room service coming
Speaker 1: in and you know, putting fresh towels up, and you
Speaker 1: don't have that at your house. Just well that's the thing.
Speaker 1: Like I don't go and stay in hotels all that often,
Speaker 1: and so honestly, literally, anytime I go to a hotel
Speaker 1: for me, it feels weird for you know, doing it
Speaker 1: for you because I mean at home, I mean we
Speaker 1: kind of clean up like once a week or every
Speaker 1: couple of weeks like that, and so I just don't
Speaker 1: feel the need for there to be cleaning up like
Speaker 1: that that has to happen every single day, right, Like
Speaker 1: that's not how often I clean my bathroom at home,
Speaker 1: and so I'm not expecting that when I'm staying in
Speaker 1: a hotel. I guess I do a pretty good job
Speaker 1: just like not destroying the place when I go and
Speaker 1: stay at a hotel. But like, yeah, I take my towels.
Speaker 1: I hang them up so they dry. It's not like
Speaker 1: I need a brand new, you know, freshly laundered towel,
Speaker 1: because mine just like watted up in a wet ball
Speaker 1: in the corner. Like, who does that? I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't do that at home. Who lives like that? Well,
Speaker 1: I mean obviously people live like that because they're used
Speaker 1: to doing that in a hotel. But but that's just
Speaker 1: not how I roll. Uh. And honestly, the privacy aspect
Speaker 1: of it too, you know, like you're staying into your space. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like I've I've got all my stuff kind of out
Speaker 1: and especially to like any to be honest, they don't
Speaker 1: want your stuff, man, nobody maybe somebody else's stuff and
Speaker 1: that you like maybe like a laptop or camera and
Speaker 1: so I don't know, not my phone. I will say. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it is is a good feeling to come back and
Speaker 1: your room is tidy, but it's also an awkward feeling.
Speaker 1: I agree. And if it meant that I could save
Speaker 1: money by you know, avoiding having someone coming to clean
Speaker 1: the room, if it meant that my room costs less,
Speaker 1: I would be all about that. Yeah, And I'm for
Speaker 1: it anyway because of the privacy yeah, yeah, I just
Speaker 1: don't want somebody like I don't know in my space.
Speaker 1: So I don't know, especially if like all the kids
Speaker 1: stuff is out as well, it's just like, well you
Speaker 1: just just leave it there. We know where everything is
Speaker 1: and we'll take care of it later. But well, it'll
Speaker 1: be interesting to see if that's something that catches on.
Speaker 1: And if you know, some hotels make that like a
Speaker 1: calling card saying hey, come stay here. It costs less
Speaker 1: money because yeah, we don't offer this perk or this perk.
Speaker 1: And sometimes it's all about the proliferation of perks and
Speaker 1: I'm like, no, no, give me a fewer perks if
Speaker 1: it means that I get to pay less money for it, exactly.
Speaker 1: That's like a difference between flight flying Delta versus flying
Speaker 1: Southwest or Frontier. Right, It's like, well, I don't care
Speaker 1: to have free check bags because I don't want to
Speaker 1: check a bag. That's not how I'm going to fly exactly.
Speaker 1: So if there are tears and and different rates that
Speaker 1: you can pay based on what you're willing to receive
Speaker 1: from that, I am one for that, dude. I think
Speaker 1: that's great. Agreed. Yeah, I'm totally willing to do the
Speaker 1: backpack on my shoulders, and if it means that I
Speaker 1: can spend less on the ticket and then also avoid
Speaker 1: some sort of check bag fee like I'm in. Kind
Speaker 1: of comes down to the money he has. It always
Speaker 1: does us here on how the money. Yep, ye, alright,
Speaker 1: let's keep getting on, Matt. Let's let's get to the
Speaker 1: Friday flight. In the sampling of stories which on interesting
Speaker 1: this week, I want to say to um, congrats on
Speaker 1: your purchase of that Super Mario game, the unwrapped one
Speaker 1: one point five six million that I didn't know you
Speaker 1: had that kind of money, so ridiculous for the best
Speaker 1: investment you've ever made. Well, here's the thing. It was
Speaker 1: the Super Mario sixty four, right, it was that cartridge.
Speaker 1: And it's not like that was like the first one
Speaker 1: they ever made or anything. It was just one that
Speaker 1: hadn't been opened, and so it was extremely ridiculous. People
Speaker 1: have too much money. But I mean, if there ever
Speaker 1: was a game that were to fetch that much money,
Speaker 1: that game was like groundbreaking to you, Like the ability
Speaker 1: to explore three D worlds, it was amazing, that's true. No,
Speaker 1: it was you've seen the lesson thralled about it. Well,
Speaker 1: I don't really play video games. I don't know now,
Speaker 1: but back in the day, I mean as a kid,
Speaker 1: I never acting my mind blown even had a Nintendo
Speaker 1: sixty four, which I feel like it was probably the
Speaker 1: best game system. Was the best I always had, like
Speaker 1: the Second Genesis, which was which was fine. So it
Speaker 1: was great. It wasn't as good. It wasn't as good,
Speaker 1: all right. Well, yeah, and uh man, it's important for
Speaker 1: us to mention to the child tax credit updates. Yeah,
Speaker 1: thirty five plus million people yesterday should have gotten money
Speaker 1: in their account. So yeah, check your bank accountancy if
Speaker 1: that direct deposit showed up for you as it did
Speaker 1: for Matt and I. Um, future deposits are going to
Speaker 1: happen on the fifteenth day of the month. The payments
Speaker 1: are between two and or fifty and three per kid,
Speaker 1: depending on the age of your kid, if you're eligible
Speaker 1: for the expanded child tax credits. So basically, the fifteenth
Speaker 1: is like everybody who has kids, it's like the new
Speaker 1: favorite day of the month. The rest of the year,
Speaker 1: it's like pay day, and you know you're gonna get
Speaker 1: that little what feels like a little bonus there on
Speaker 1: the fifteen. Yeah, but but you know, we want to mention,
Speaker 1: don't forget to have a plan for this money, especially
Speaker 1: as people are finally starting to receive it, preferably using
Speaker 1: it to accelerate debt payoff if you're in that position,
Speaker 1: or to stabilize your savings if you're in that position,
Speaker 1: or you know, even allowing you to invest a little
Speaker 1: bit more and maybe even into a plan for your
Speaker 1: child if you're already doing a great job investing in
Speaker 1: your own retirement accounts. And yeah, if your funds for
Speaker 1: some reason didn't show up, head to the I r
Speaker 1: S Child Tax Credit Update portal for some details. Will
Speaker 1: link to that in the show notes. Some folks, but
Speaker 1: not a large percentage, are going to be sent a
Speaker 1: check that's going to take a little bit longer to arrive.
Speaker 1: But it's just important to note that that money should
Speaker 1: be in your account right now, at least the first
Speaker 1: installment of it, exactly. Yeah. So on the on the
Speaker 1: note of getting payments earlier than usual, many employees no
Speaker 1: longer want to wait the standard two weeks for money
Speaker 1: that they've earned, and employers they are responding to those once.
Speaker 1: I guess they're not demands, they're just once picketing you know,
Speaker 1: give me my money now. I want to get paid
Speaker 1: right now. But some companies are starting to offer pay
Speaker 1: on demand systems, and the biggest payroll services like Gusto
Speaker 1: Paychecks are saying that the number of businesses offering access
Speaker 1: to these daily pay services has doubled, and the number
Speaker 1: of workers who are accessing their pay early has also doubled.
Speaker 1: It's done the same thing, not surprisingly Walmart they started
Speaker 1: doing this back in seventeen. The big ride sharing companies
Speaker 1: they followed suit. Now there are lots of other companies
Speaker 1: who are doing the same. This is of course a
Speaker 1: major benefit to those who are living paycheck to paycheck.
Speaker 1: Those folks are the most financially vulnerable and not having
Speaker 1: the pay that they're earning from their job the day
Speaker 1: that they make it, it might mean that they would
Speaker 1: take on riskier measures to to make their ends meet,
Speaker 1: like I'm thinking about, like payday loans or like tidle loans.
Speaker 1: Those are two of the worst by far, are the
Speaker 1: worst products in existence. And so while it might seem
Speaker 1: that these are that this is helpful, right, the benefits
Speaker 1: may not extend as much as they might appear. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I think that's because delayed gratification is one of
Speaker 1: the essential building blocks of personal finances. Something we talked
Speaker 1: about on the show, right that saving for your future
Speaker 1: is essentially doing just that. It's prioritizing future you over
Speaker 1: current you. Um. And waiting two weeks to get your
Speaker 1: paycheck was often one of the ways that we learned
Speaker 1: that lessons, one of the very small ways that you
Speaker 1: would learn that looks exactly. It was like, okay, cool,
Speaker 1: We'll have to wait for the money that I've earned
Speaker 1: for a couple of weeks, and it was forced delayed
Speaker 1: gratification helping us I think maybe in other ways to
Speaker 1: prioritize that in our own lives. Uh. And so, yeah,
Speaker 1: some employers are making early access to their pay e park,
Speaker 1: but other employers are actually passing on the feet to
Speaker 1: their employees for that quote unquote benefit. Right, So early
Speaker 1: access to your pay might actually cost you a little
Speaker 1: bit of that pay um. So yeah, make sure you
Speaker 1: know that before we start grabbing your pay early. On
Speaker 1: one hand, it is nice that employers are making it
Speaker 1: easier for employees to avoid just some of the awful
Speaker 1: methods of getting their hands on cash to pay for
Speaker 1: rent and groceries. Matt, like you mentioned, But on the
Speaker 1: other hand, it's crucial for us all to be saving something,
Speaker 1: to build up enough in our reserves. Starting with the
Speaker 1: number that you and I always talk about, two four
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty seven dollars, it's uh that that is
Speaker 1: the amount that it's going to take for most people
Speaker 1: to be able to weather most financial storms have come
Speaker 1: along without needing to find that money elsewhere, and it
Speaker 1: just makes me think mad. There's this like video of
Speaker 1: this guy on YouTube that I gotta say, is like
Speaker 1: really incredible. Well, we'll link to it in the show notes.
Speaker 1: But Diamond Dallas Page, former wrestler, has this yoga program
Speaker 1: and there have been some some people that have done this.
Speaker 1: Who takes from a former w w One of my
Speaker 1: friends did and he said it was Yeah. He said
Speaker 1: it was awesome. It's a wonderful system. Gott to check it.
Speaker 1: I like yoga, go to the free parents yoga associated
Speaker 1: with the school. Let's go to Yeah, so it's you know, yoga,
Speaker 1: a bunch of moms really the only guy there. But
Speaker 1: literally there's this really cool video about this one guy
Speaker 1: who started doing d DP yoga, which is what it's called,
Speaker 1: and he lost a hundred and ninety eight pounds in
Speaker 1: one year. He was four hundred and seventy five pounds
Speaker 1: to begin with. And it just made me think, like,
Speaker 1: when it comes to saving up the two thousand, four
Speaker 1: hundred and sixties seven dollars, it might seem on its
Speaker 1: face for some people that that's gonna be really hard
Speaker 1: or maybe insurmountable. The idea of losing two hundred pounds
Speaker 1: in a year is, you know, at least in its outset,
Speaker 1: seems like it's not gonna be able to happen. It
Speaker 1: seems like it's a goal that can't be accomplished. But
Speaker 1: he just worked at it every single day, um, and
Speaker 1: it was just impressive to see his results. And I
Speaker 1: feel like for anybody out there who says, well, that's
Speaker 1: not possible, I need this product in order to solve
Speaker 1: my financial situation. I mean, I don't know that that
Speaker 1: video was an inspiration, and I think to a lot
Speaker 1: of people, and yeah to me too, Yeah, well, because
Speaker 1: I guaranteed that he didn't lose nearly two hundred pounds
Speaker 1: by like eating fat free triscuits or something, right, he
Speaker 1: was actually doing the work. He was addressing the underlying
Speaker 1: issues of the problem. He wasn't just like going with
Speaker 1: a simple fix, right, no minor tweaks exactly. And I
Speaker 1: feel like that's the biggest problem with these like pay
Speaker 1: on demand services, is that they are only it's just
Speaker 1: a band aid, it's a temporary fix on something, and
Speaker 1: the underlying issues aren't being addressed. And until you address
Speaker 1: those those real problems, uh, this is something that's going
Speaker 1: to persist. And so I like, this is why I
Speaker 1: feel that sometimes these you know, these pay on demand
Speaker 1: services might actually do more harm than good because it
Speaker 1: might just enable the behavior that has led them there
Speaker 1: in the first place. Right. And then what happens once
Speaker 1: you've got your pay the day you get paid and
Speaker 1: which still don't have Now you're on that time schedule,
Speaker 1: you're still living paycheck to pycheck or now you're living
Speaker 1: like week to week or day to day. If you're
Speaker 1: if you're getting paid daily, right, you're not addressing the
Speaker 1: underlying issue, which is doing the hard work of saving
Speaker 1: a little bit more and having that margin in your life.
Speaker 1: I gotta check out this video though, because I want
Speaker 1: to see uh Diamond Dallas page as a yoga instructor. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but okay, so while we're talking about health here, man,
Speaker 1: let's move on and talk about cheap drugs. Everyone wants
Speaker 1: to spend a little bit less money on their drugs, right,
Speaker 1: not much worse than over priced drugs. We're talking about
Speaker 1: prescription drugs. Of course, there's been a a major spotlight
Speaker 1: shown on the rising prices of some important drugs recently,
Speaker 1: and many of the like the most substantial increases have
Speaker 1: come on on what are called like these designer drugs
Speaker 1: that aren't used by most folks. Right, they're not used
Speaker 1: by the masses, but if you happen to to get
Speaker 1: a more obscure illness, the drugs to help you could
Speaker 1: cost a fortune. However, one drug that isn't a designer drug,
Speaker 1: but it's one that millions of people across the country
Speaker 1: need and use regularly is insulin, and those prices have
Speaker 1: skyrocketed in recent years. Some folks have even taken to
Speaker 1: driving across the border to buy their insulin over in
Speaker 1: Canada because the costs have become prohibitive here in the US.
Speaker 1: But thanks to Walmart, cheap insulin is is actually now
Speaker 1: a thing again. Yeah, that was really exciting us for
Speaker 1: really good to see. And yet starting this month, Walmart
Speaker 1: is going to be selling their insulin for about seventy
Speaker 1: three dollars a vial, that is actually substantially more affordable. Yeah,
Speaker 1: then the three, which is what the big three pharmaceutical
Speaker 1: companies charge, right, And so it's ridiculous because they used
Speaker 1: to charge a reasonable price of forty dollars back when
Speaker 1: they introduced their form of insulin in the year two thousand.
Speaker 1: That was not that long ago, twenty years ago, right,
Speaker 1: it was crazy, like substantially cheaper. So yeah, the the
Speaker 1: increase is eight which is just kind of hard to fathom, right, Um,
Speaker 1: And according to the Mayo Clinic, insulin in the U
Speaker 1: s has cost ten times more than what it costs
Speaker 1: in other countries. So yeah, while Walmart gets a lot
Speaker 1: of flak, I think, um and in some ways maybe deserved. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm really glad to see them disrupt these massive price
Speaker 1: increases by the major pharmaceutical companies because this is a
Speaker 1: drug that people need and many currently can't afford. So yeah,
Speaker 1: they're just seeing the price drop that much. Um, Walmart's
Speaker 1: gonna have a big influence on a whole lot of
Speaker 1: people's lives with this, absolutely, Yeah. And it's not like
Speaker 1: this is some crappy version of the drug as well,
Speaker 1: Like they have partnered with Nova Nora disc, who is
Speaker 1: one of the major three pharmaceutical companies, right, and so
Speaker 1: it's not like this is some inferior insulin. This is
Speaker 1: the good stuff. This is like the rapid acting stuff
Speaker 1: that people have come to expect that like you know,
Speaker 1: it doesn't take hours to to actually start working, takes
Speaker 1: like fifteen minutes. And so just the fact that they've
Speaker 1: been able to partner with one of the pharmaceuticals is
Speaker 1: just I think, I don't know, just a little telling
Speaker 1: of the fact that those three companies have essentially cornered
Speaker 1: the insulin market and been price gouging over the past
Speaker 1: twenty years. And Walmart has been at the forefront of
Speaker 1: lord prescription drug prices for years now, starting with their
Speaker 1: four dollar generic drug list back in the day. Still
Speaker 1: remember when they first initially launched that, and it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is a big deal, huge deal van Uh And
Speaker 1: then you know, since then others quickly followed. But since
Speaker 1: we're talking about prescription medicines, good r X, they announced
Speaker 1: this deal with door dash uh similar to a deal
Speaker 1: that was created for USA A members. Do Dash workers
Speaker 1: also known as dashers. Uh. They now have access to
Speaker 1: good our X Gold, which gives them access to substantially
Speaker 1: discounted prescription drug prices. But that being said, you don't
Speaker 1: need to be a door dash worker or a dasher
Speaker 1: or a USA member in order to pay less for
Speaker 1: your prescription drugs on the rag, using good or X
Speaker 1: is totally free. You don't have to pay anything. But
Speaker 1: if you or someone in your family takes a lot
Speaker 1: of medications, uh, then you know consider paying and joining
Speaker 1: the Goal program because that could end up saving you
Speaker 1: a ton of money. But even just the regular non
Speaker 1: subscription good x is an incredible money saving tool that
Speaker 1: we would totally recommend, and we'll make sure to link
Speaker 1: to them in our show notes, no doubt. All Right, well,
Speaker 1: we got more to get to, Matt, including why your
Speaker 1: cup of coffee every morning it's gonna cost just a
Speaker 1: little bit more. We'll get to that and some other
Speaker 1: stories right after this break. All right, we are back
Speaker 1: and it's time to get to some more headlines we
Speaker 1: found inter seeing this week. The Fronday flight, plus that
Speaker 1: expensive coffee story that you mentioned, Joel and I am
Speaker 1: literally drinking a cup of coffee right now. So I
Speaker 1: am very interested and fearful. I think, well, yeah, but
Speaker 1: first before we get to that, Matt, we gotta get
Speaker 1: to the ludicrous headline of the week. Care you go,
Speaker 1: You hit it right on the head. Someone on Twitter
Speaker 1: requested that we actually go false set out. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: actually are. You came through on the clutch, you know,
Speaker 1: I try to deliver. I want to make people happy.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, this one is how internet and TV
Speaker 1: providers get away with jacking up your bill. This comes
Speaker 1: from the Washington Post, and uh yeah, the writer of
Speaker 1: this article describes something that all of us have dealt
Speaker 1: with at one point or another, signing up for internet
Speaker 1: and getting a bill for way more than we bargained
Speaker 1: for and way more than we were promised on the
Speaker 1: phone or you know, online through a chat right bait
Speaker 1: and switched tactics exactly. And Matt, it actually just happened
Speaker 1: to me, Like all we did was moved to a
Speaker 1: new house. And so yeah, we're literally just moving service,
Speaker 1: which means we should keep the same rate because we
Speaker 1: had our current rate lock through October, but our next
Speaker 1: bill was ten dollars more. A little sneakiness right there, right,
Speaker 1: So I had to reach out change service feed no,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't even that, Like it was like, no,
Speaker 1: now your new rates forty bucks And I was like, wait, no,
Speaker 1: it wasn't no, not at all. So I reached out
Speaker 1: to Twitter, like we recommend to a lot of people
Speaker 1: to do that. Sometimes you get the best customer service
Speaker 1: that way. And then I had to hop back on
Speaker 1: the phone with one of those social media specialists because
Speaker 1: they can't resolve it fully through Twitter, which is silly,
Speaker 1: but yeah, uh they finally were able to get my
Speaker 1: bill back to normal. But most of the country has
Speaker 1: only two options for home internet service, right, so it's
Speaker 1: not like this is a vibrant, competitive marketplace and you
Speaker 1: can leave this crumby sneaky company for you know, one
Speaker 1: of many others. Like that's just not how the system
Speaker 1: works in the United States. Sadly so, this lack of competition,
Speaker 1: it's led to opaque pricing and frustrating customer service for
Speaker 1: many many people, uh myself included, but all of us
Speaker 1: at one time or another. It seems like if you
Speaker 1: have a home internet you have at some point been
Speaker 1: screwed over by the Comcast, the A, T and T
Speaker 1: S or the Cox Campel companies of this world. YEA. Honestly,
Speaker 1: if you have just like even a couple options that
Speaker 1: you can choose between, you're at an advantage, you know,
Speaker 1: because there's a lot of markets where there's only one
Speaker 1: provider and they don't really have much choice, you know,
Speaker 1: you can't kind of hop back and forth like that.
Speaker 1: But even still, like when it's a doopoly, it's like
Speaker 1: there's still not much choice and they kind of work
Speaker 1: together to keep prices high. Yeah, sort of like you did,
Speaker 1: kind of getting on the phone with him, dealing with
Speaker 1: these different customer service representatives with the internet companies, that
Speaker 1: takes a lot of a lot of patients kind of
Speaker 1: have to get zen with it or maybe put your
Speaker 1: head in like a monk like state where you're not
Speaker 1: gonna let the stress get the best of you, man,
Speaker 1: because if you start yelling, it unhealthy anything. But here's
Speaker 1: an interesting stats of Americans say that internet is as
Speaker 1: important as electricity or water coursing through your veins. And
Speaker 1: I made uplast. Yeah you still need your blood. You
Speaker 1: could live without internet, But that was according to a
Speaker 1: survey by and some reports. It feels like maybe it's
Speaker 1: a bit over the top, certainly will will take water
Speaker 1: over home internet access every day of the week. Water
Speaker 1: water is a little more important. But since home internet
Speaker 1: is probably the the equivalent of oxygen to too many
Speaker 1: folks these days, let's quickly talk about how you can
Speaker 1: pay less for internet. So first of all, you've gotta
Speaker 1: be willing to go through the song and the dance
Speaker 1: of canceling your service. Not unlike what you did, Joel,
Speaker 1: This will get you the customer retention department, which is
Speaker 1: the the only department that has leeway to offer you
Speaker 1: better terms. So if you're you're pleased, maybe fall on
Speaker 1: deaf ears, then you're probably gonna need to switch to
Speaker 1: the only other provider where you live for a new
Speaker 1: customer deal. And again that's assuming that you have access
Speaker 1: to a second company. And also keep in mind that
Speaker 1: switching back and forth on the RAG is sometimes the
Speaker 1: only way to save if you have options. You know,
Speaker 1: when you're being loyal to Comcast or or to a
Speaker 1: T and T or two Cox, that's just gonna be
Speaker 1: a recipe for consistently paying too much. I think loyalty
Speaker 1: is a good thing, Matt, being loyal to your friends,
Speaker 1: to your family, but to company where you're getting Internet
Speaker 1: from yeah or your insurance providers, was what I was
Speaker 1: gonna say. As well, Sure your car insurance rates tend
Speaker 1: to go up, they don't go down. They don't reward
Speaker 1: you for being a longtime customer exactly. Also, I think
Speaker 1: another way to save money on your Internet is question
Speaker 1: whether you need the fastest speeds or not. Right, Like,
Speaker 1: you could save more by downgrading the service that you get.
Speaker 1: If you're currently like signed up for like the four
Speaker 1: d meg service, well maybe you can switch to fifty
Speaker 1: or a hundred meg service, which is maybe plenty fast
Speaker 1: enough for how you use the Internet. I think sometimes
Speaker 1: people frown on that, but it's like, I don't know, man,
Speaker 1: We're we're rolling with the fifty meg service and we're
Speaker 1: paying thirty dollars a month, and it works plenty fine
Speaker 1: for the streaming that we do and the ways that
Speaker 1: we use it. But exactly, it might not work perfectly
Speaker 1: for every family, especially if you're working a lot from home,
Speaker 1: but it's worth considering. Also, get your wireless router out
Speaker 1: of the cabinet, get it up high and out in
Speaker 1: the open placement matters of a great deal so that
Speaker 1: you can actually get what you're paying for. And if
Speaker 1: you're still having issues with it not being fast enough,
Speaker 1: connect directly to your or modem with the the ethernet
Speaker 1: cord right Like, we did this during virtual school and
Speaker 1: it made a big difference. It made the speeds consistently
Speaker 1: faster um and hopefully in the future this isn't gonna
Speaker 1: be as much of an issue as five G connectivity
Speaker 1: brings us more options and more competitors into the space,
Speaker 1: like T Mobile already offers five G at home, so
Speaker 1: that's worth considering if that's offered where you live. But
Speaker 1: you gotta fight back against the high prices in the
Speaker 1: annoying fees, and it's not easy, right because they come
Speaker 1: standard in the industry. I know it's a huge pain
Speaker 1: point for a lot of people, but it's one of
Speaker 1: those things where we gotta kind of stand up for
Speaker 1: ourselves and waste of time communicating back and forth in
Speaker 1: order to get the price that's right. Yeah, And I
Speaker 1: want to kind of circle back for a second, because
Speaker 1: you talked about making sure that you're wireless router is
Speaker 1: in the proper place. People don't think about that right
Speaker 1: like they like they truly do. Stick them in like
Speaker 1: a close cabinet and they're wondering why their internet sucks.
Speaker 1: It's like, well, well the single has to go through
Speaker 1: the wall or you know, through a cabinet, it's not
Speaker 1: going to work as well. And oftentimes folks or if
Speaker 1: it's in the front left corner of the house and
Speaker 1: you're mostly in the back rear, and it's like put
Speaker 1: it somewhere central. But folks want who take this seemingly
Speaker 1: easy path and just throw more money at it, and
Speaker 1: they think, oh, well we need the higher service router
Speaker 1: now that cost four and maybe like maybe you do right,
Speaker 1: but first make sure that you've got your router place
Speaker 1: somewhere where you can experience like essentially the proper flow
Speaker 1: of WiFi around your house. It doesn't come down to
Speaker 1: just you know, pumping more speed behind it if it
Speaker 1: can't get through you know, the walls. Especially, man, we
Speaker 1: live in an old neighborhood and the old houses like
Speaker 1: the walls, but not made of drywall. They're made of
Speaker 1: like rock, like the old plaster walls. It's essentially like
Speaker 1: concrete so hard. Yeah, it's a lot different than the
Speaker 1: newer construction. So especially if you live in an older home,
Speaker 1: this is something to consider. Uh, Joel, you know, while
Speaker 1: we're talking about like technology here, let's talk about another
Speaker 1: expensive tech item smartphones. Uh see that they had this
Speaker 1: article on the two year upgrade cycle this week and
Speaker 1: they said that it's essentially obsolete, and we couldn't agree more.
Speaker 1: It's like this was basically a function of the old
Speaker 1: two year contracts that used to to be standard with
Speaker 1: a different major wireless carriers. I'm so thankful that the
Speaker 1: two year contract thing is gone. It's actually like I
Speaker 1: feel like it's almost coming back because the phones are
Speaker 1: getting more expensive. We talked about that not too long. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's true. It's like they're trying to lure us back
Speaker 1: into that system, but that is not a good system
Speaker 1: for us if we want to pay and you don't
Speaker 1: have to participate with it, right, Like, I'm still rocking
Speaker 1: the original iPhone sc that was released over five years ago,
Speaker 1: and so while upgrading every two years it never made
Speaker 1: financial sense, it's certainly made some sense from it, like
Speaker 1: a tech improvement standpoint. Uh, phone cameras and the screens
Speaker 1: and the battery life have all gotten much much better.
Speaker 1: I don't know how much longer I'm gonna last with
Speaker 1: my old phone. Yeah, Yeah, the difference between an iPhone
Speaker 1: four and iPhone five is much bigger than the difference
Speaker 1: between the iPhone eleven and twelve, or what the twelve
Speaker 1: and the thirteen is going to be when it comes
Speaker 1: out or whatever. That increases in technology are incremental, whereas
Speaker 1: phones we're changing a lot back in the range. The
Speaker 1: marketing makes it seem like you need that new phone,
Speaker 1: but the upgrades are just so minor that is best
Speaker 1: to stick with what you already got for a little
Speaker 1: bit longer. That's how you're gonna be able to save
Speaker 1: the most money. Yeah, let's normalize longer upgrade cycles, maybe
Speaker 1: maybe four to five year upgrade cycles. Right, Just holding
Speaker 1: onto that phone longer is going to be a big
Speaker 1: monetary savings and you're not really losing out on all
Speaker 1: that much. Yeah, it shouldn't be just to where when
Speaker 1: you start approaching that two year window that you think
Speaker 1: it's automatically time to get a new phone, Like it's
Speaker 1: almost been programmed into our minds that that's the case.
Speaker 1: But hopefully when you step back and look at it,
Speaker 1: you realize that it is not necessary. Yeah. I think
Speaker 1: I think the older phone it should be more like
Speaker 1: a badge of honor for us, for the people. Right,
Speaker 1: That's that's what we're trying to do at least because
Speaker 1: and not only are you saving money, but you're you're
Speaker 1: preventing waste, right because the US is the world's second
Speaker 1: largest contributor to the ways we talk, nearly seven million
Speaker 1: tons of discarded electronics, you know, from our home every
Speaker 1: single year. So yeah, forget about the size of the
Speaker 1: match or the slightly sharper camera. Doing away with the
Speaker 1: standard to year smartphone ownership timeline altogether is a boon
Speaker 1: for your bottom line. Is good in a whole lot
Speaker 1: of other ways. To write, phones are just not changing
Speaker 1: enough to justified the expense that cell phone manufacturers continue
Speaker 1: to try to get us to shell out that money
Speaker 1: for um. So yeah, we completely agree with seeing that
Speaker 1: hold onto that phone a little bit longer. And if
Speaker 1: you're like itching to get something new, um, maybe like
Speaker 1: get yourself a cute little case or something or something
Speaker 1: like that that makes your your old phone feel a
Speaker 1: little newer, show it to love, get you with that
Speaker 1: fresh pop socket to keep you from dropping that thing.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about inflation. It continues to rise at least
Speaker 1: for the time being, and use car prices are a
Speaker 1: huge reason for that. According to the White House Council
Speaker 1: of Economic Advisors, of the month over month increase has
Speaker 1: to do with either car sales or a car or
Speaker 1: auto parts in car rentals. And so just because we're
Speaker 1: seeing inflation figures at their highest level since two thousand eight,
Speaker 1: you know, just before the Great Recession, that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that we should be overly concerned with it. It seems
Speaker 1: as if the rise in inflation is leveling off a
Speaker 1: little bit here, but we'll just have to actually wait
Speaker 1: and see until July's report comes out next month before
Speaker 1: we know what the future holds. I think in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways, it's good to see that so much
Speaker 1: of that headline number really stems from one section of
Speaker 1: our economy, and as that supply chain begins to get corrected, um,
Speaker 1: we're going to see the overall rate of inflation decline.
Speaker 1: So right now, if you're trying to buy a car,
Speaker 1: obviously not a good time you're experiencing record levels of inflation.
Speaker 1: But for the rest of US, UH inflation is a concern,
Speaker 1: but it's not nearly as big of a deal I
Speaker 1: think as it's been made out to be by some people.
Speaker 1: But one sad headline map this week came from the
Speaker 1: Wall Street Journal, and it was bad news for coffee draink. Yes,
Speaker 1: this is it. So coffee prices are going up due
Speaker 1: to poor harvests and increased demand. I guess people are,
Speaker 1: you know, taking back three cups of coffee instead of
Speaker 1: to on ourges these days? And I will say, the
Speaker 1: price of coffee does impact all of us. So I
Speaker 1: guess what's the answer to saving there? Well, drinking coffee
Speaker 1: at home is a big one. The cost difference between
Speaker 1: buying a cup of coffee while you're out and making
Speaker 1: it at home is incredible, Like it's substantial, because what
Speaker 1: was the average cup of coffee cost when you make
Speaker 1: it at home? Something along the line of if I
Speaker 1: had a guess, yeah, it depends on how nice your
Speaker 1: beans are. But yeah, drinking less coffee out. And I'll
Speaker 1: add to you can drink less coffee at home, you know,
Speaker 1: even though you're spending what like a quarter or something
Speaker 1: like that on a nice cup of coffee at home.
Speaker 1: I think you can reduce your consumption of coffee at
Speaker 1: home by drinking it at more strategic points in the day.
Speaker 1: We've talked about this before. Do you drink you something
Speaker 1: it's like noon, right, yeah, Well so if you can
Speaker 1: just even delay your morning coffee by a couple of hours.
Speaker 1: The the idea is that cortisol, your cortisol ofvel spike
Speaker 1: first thing in the morning. So that's what makes you
Speaker 1: feel alert. Um too much quartisol, like, that's what makes
Speaker 1: you feel anxious and stressed out, But that's what makes
Speaker 1: you feel alert. And by drinking coffee first thing, like
Speaker 1: right when you wake up, like most people do, it
Speaker 1: actually kind of dampens that natural effect of that cortisol.
Speaker 1: And so you you're supposed to wait a couple of
Speaker 1: hours until it starts to taper off a little bit,
Speaker 1: and then you get to pick it right back up
Speaker 1: with that first morning cup of coffee. Alright, I personally
Speaker 1: I like my coffee right after lunch. And I guess, well,
Speaker 1: I wonder what would any buddy with rising coffee prices
Speaker 1: consider quitting coffee altogether? I think anybody out there who
Speaker 1: drinks coffee is like, ultimately, that seems kind of crazy.
Speaker 1: No way, Yeah, I'm not gonna happen. Although, but there
Speaker 1: was an interesting article by Michael Pollen, who the Food writer.
Speaker 1: Recently he had an article in the Guardian and he
Speaker 1: quit caffeine for three months and he said that his
Speaker 1: productivity declined quite a bit. He was like, um, lit
Speaker 1: a little more quicker to get frustrated or angry. And yeah,
Speaker 1: he said that most of us are basically dependent on
Speaker 1: caffeine these days just to make it to our baseline
Speaker 1: of productivity. I think there's some truth to that. Um,
Speaker 1: But yeah, all of us are gonna have to get
Speaker 1: ready to pay a little more for our little daily
Speaker 1: addiction here maybe in the coming weeks and months. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this might be a way that we all as consumers
Speaker 1: see inflation start to affect our bank accounts just a
Speaker 1: little bit, because it's gonna come on. It's not like
Speaker 1: coffee costs all that much. It's not a huge part
Speaker 1: of our budget. But yeah, something to be aware of exactly. Well,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be it for this episode of our Friday Flights.
Speaker 1: Have links to the different stories that we mentioned, as
Speaker 1: well as any other resources that we mentioned during this
Speaker 1: episode up on our website at how to Money dot com.
Speaker 1: We'll have those show notes there for you. We hope
Speaker 1: everyone has a great weekend and look forward to an
Speaker 1: interview this coming Monday with Ken Honda. We're gonna talk
Speaker 1: all about happiness and money. Ken has a unique approach
Speaker 1: to how it is that we think about money and
Speaker 1: we look forward to sharing that episode with you here
Speaker 1: on Monday. Joel, that's going to be it for today
Speaker 1: until next time. Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,