Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and
Speaker 1: Matt and today we're discussing executive order confusion and traveling again. Yeah, buddy,
Speaker 1: this is our Friday Flight episode where every week we
Speaker 1: talk about the headlines and the news, because we want
Speaker 1: to make sure we are discussing how these different news stories,
Speaker 1: the different changes that are happening in our country, how
Speaker 1: they are affecting our money, our personal finances. And so
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about the two that you mentioned, plus
Speaker 1: a few others, you know, medium size story as well
Speaker 1: as some small ones. You know, they're not all these
Speaker 1: big dramatic stories, but we like to talk about all
Speaker 1: the stuff out there. Yeah, a lot of interesting stuff
Speaker 1: out there this week, And we talked about the stuff
Speaker 1: that we care about, right, because there are some some
Speaker 1: even bigger stories, right, in particular, bigger political stories. There's
Speaker 1: a much right Yeah, vice presidential pick for Joe Biden,
Speaker 1: But we don't talk about that stuff on the show. Yeah,
Speaker 1: less about politics, I mean less about health as well.
Speaker 1: I feel like even when we do talk about COVID,
Speaker 1: it's specific to you know, our money, because that's what
Speaker 1: we talked about here. Man. We are how some money,
Speaker 1: and actually, man on that note, you know, last week
Speaker 1: we were just talking about new cell phones and I
Speaker 1: was kind of bragging a little bit about how great
Speaker 1: my old school iPhone SC is doing. And then of
Speaker 1: course three days later, I was out for a run
Speaker 1: and my phone slipped out of my arm band and cracked.
Speaker 1: Uh the screen like shattered even more, had a little
Speaker 1: crack on it. But now it's it's terrible. You told
Speaker 1: me you had this old school arm arm band and
Speaker 1: you put tape on it to try to keep your phone. Okay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: so this is actually a pretty good frugal or cheap
Speaker 1: cheap move because this arm band, it's from like eight
Speaker 1: nine years ago, like when Kate and I first got
Speaker 1: into running, and it's slowly kind of falling apart a
Speaker 1: little bit, and you know, I was looking at it
Speaker 1: and I put the tape on there a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks ago, but I was like, you know, the phone
Speaker 1: could probably like slide out of there, out of that
Speaker 1: little slot, out of that hole, and so I stuck
Speaker 1: some packing tape on the arm band so that a
Speaker 1: I could still see the screen, but be it would
Speaker 1: hold it together. But you know, you go running and
Speaker 1: you sweat, and the sweat and makes tape not sticky anymore.
Speaker 1: And that's what happened, man. It was I was actually
Speaker 1: not even running. It was after the run, and I
Speaker 1: was walking with it and it slipped out of that
Speaker 1: that spot and cracked. Well I hate that for you.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry that such a sick feeling, you know when
Speaker 1: you yeah, busted screen sucks. And but I saw what
Speaker 1: you did, dude. You pulled out an even older version
Speaker 1: of an iPhone that you currently have hanging around your house. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was gonna go into all these details, but I
Speaker 1: had an older iPhone sc uh that was not as
Speaker 1: good because the battery isn't as good on it. And
Speaker 1: I just backed up my my iPhone to eye cloud
Speaker 1: and then just pulled off the new one. And and
Speaker 1: by knowing you mean the really old one. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: they're really old one, and just restored that back up.
Speaker 1: And so now instead of you know, cutting my finger
Speaker 1: on pieces of glass, now I just had these nice
Speaker 1: aged cracks that are dulled a little bit where they
Speaker 1: don't cut my finger. But yeah, going back to what
Speaker 1: you said, though you mentioned the arm band, it was
Speaker 1: a completely cheap move by you know, throwing the table
Speaker 1: on there. She just bought a new arm being for
Speaker 1: like five bucks to save your phone from like lots
Speaker 1: of dama exactly. But at the same time, I'm not
Speaker 1: necessarily going to get a brand new iPhone right now. Uh.
Speaker 1: And that is not me being cheap. That's just I
Speaker 1: think that's me being a little more frugal because I
Speaker 1: don't really care that much about cell phones. Uh, that is,
Speaker 1: maybe until you get a new one and I see
Speaker 1: how nice and shiny it is and it's got that
Speaker 1: new electronic smell. Well, I'm still holding off on mine,
Speaker 1: even though my current one likes to turn itself off
Speaker 1: like two or three times today. I don't know what's
Speaker 1: going on there. And I gotta think at this point
Speaker 1: in time, listeners are probably not taking our recommendation on
Speaker 1: upgrade cycles for phones because we tend to go a
Speaker 1: little bit longer, especially Gilish things a little bit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I like your ingenuity. I like your willingness to
Speaker 1: work with the old phone. I'm trying to see how
Speaker 1: much longer I can slog it out to. All right, Matt,
Speaker 1: let's get onto the Friday flight. The headlines we found
Speaker 1: interesting this week and what those four executive orders that
Speaker 1: were released on Saturday actually mean for you. But first
Speaker 1: let's get to a couple of others. Matt, we talked
Speaker 1: about bikes, maybe way too much, but not enough. Okay,
Speaker 1: not enough. I agree with you. Bikes are integral man
Speaker 1: bikes and beer, their hugs. They're important. But bike sales
Speaker 1: are actually way up, and we talked about that earlier
Speaker 1: in the pandemic. But bike sales continue to just shoot
Speaker 1: through the roof. And when we're talking about bikes along
Speaker 1: with accessories including helmets and stuff, a billion dollars of
Speaker 1: bike goods were sold in April, which is up sev
Speaker 1: from the previous year. Yeah. Yeah, you and I we
Speaker 1: were certainly part of that spike in demand. You bought
Speaker 1: a bike for yourself. I bought a bike for my
Speaker 1: four year old. Now she's riding on the bikes for
Speaker 1: our kids as well. Yeah, all of this, it's hard
Speaker 1: to believe that this is all recent, but this was
Speaker 1: all this past spring, right. Yeah, everybody's like it's time,
Speaker 1: like let's get out there on the bikes, and more
Speaker 1: and more people are doing it, and it's just kind
Speaker 1: of crazy to see the bike boom that's happening. And
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm seeing all my neighbors around bikes
Speaker 1: more often too. Yeah, it's I'm just happy to see
Speaker 1: so many more people joining us in our favorite money
Speaker 1: saving pastime. Man. You know. And there was a really
Speaker 1: interesting article about the major bike company Trek in Medium.
Speaker 1: Will will link to that in our show notes. But
Speaker 1: they mentioned how it really has been a perfect storm
Speaker 1: for bike sales in so many ways, you know, like
Speaker 1: fear folks want to take public transfer station right, so there,
Speaker 1: that's one thing. Gyms are closed, and so folks are
Speaker 1: looking for a way to kind of get the workout on.
Speaker 1: And then on top of that, like you and I,
Speaker 1: you know, there's parents out there wanting to get their
Speaker 1: kids off of screens and getting them outside. Treks bike
Speaker 1: sales are through the roof, and their CEO even said
Speaker 1: that their their sales could have even been twice what
Speaker 1: they were if they had been able to ramp up
Speaker 1: production in a bigger way. Because the you know, supply
Speaker 1: chains were disrupted in a lot of different components come
Speaker 1: from all different parts of the world. It makes it
Speaker 1: difficult to keep up with this massive spike in demand. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was kind of crazy to read about the supply
Speaker 1: chain and how there's all these different components that they're
Speaker 1: getting from all over the world, you know, mostly in China,
Speaker 1: but then they have to be put together. It can
Speaker 1: take a hundred twenty days to actually build a bike.
Speaker 1: It certainly makes me appreciate the bike manufacturing process a
Speaker 1: little bit more y versus me getting it at home
Speaker 1: and it's ninety put together and just like, oh, I
Speaker 1: gotta get the petals and the handlebars on well too.
Speaker 1: It's just kind of crazy. Apparently their warehouse is completely empty,
Speaker 1: which it must be an eerie feeling because it's this
Speaker 1: enormous space that's typically full of packages of bikes, but
Speaker 1: they've sold through them. Also, good luck to people out
Speaker 1: there who are looking to buy a bike, because it's
Speaker 1: harder to do right now. Speaking of new bikes, Matt, actually,
Speaker 1: when I purchased my bike for the four year old,
Speaker 1: we got it from ari e I, And I actually
Speaker 1: just saw an article in the Wall Street Journal and
Speaker 1: saying that ari I is going to sell their sweet
Speaker 1: new corporate headquarters, which they never even got to use
Speaker 1: due to COVID. They built this beautiful, gorgeous office space
Speaker 1: new headquarters in Washington State and because of shelter in place,
Speaker 1: because of more working from home. Are I realized that
Speaker 1: it didn't make much sense to kind of hold onto
Speaker 1: this new headquarters and that collaboration for their employees doesn't
Speaker 1: require this single location. No matter how beautiful it is.
Speaker 1: The renderings look incredible. I didn't actually see a picture
Speaker 1: of it completed, but it's almost built as a like
Speaker 1: a summer camp for adults. Like they've got like giant
Speaker 1: glass lighting doors, and you know, like rooftop terraces, native
Speaker 1: plants they're incorporated into the design as well. You know,
Speaker 1: I totally understand that things have completely changed, you know
Speaker 1: in companies that they're going to start upending plans to
Speaker 1: build or even get rid of current office space. But
Speaker 1: even still, if I were an ARII corporate employee, I
Speaker 1: would totally be bummed. But this is just another example
Speaker 1: of companies of employers moving to less centralized, you know,
Speaker 1: corporate offices, as we've learned that so much collaboration and
Speaker 1: so much of the work that we do today can
Speaker 1: be done from our individual homes. Yeah, and it sounds
Speaker 1: like ari I is gonna put some of those resources
Speaker 1: instead of into that fancy building that's now on the market.
Speaker 1: They're going to use it to you know, speed up
Speaker 1: other improvements in how they do business, and in particular,
Speaker 1: you know the customer facing stuff with touchless pickup. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I still love our I I love the return policy, man,
Speaker 1: I love just everything about that company. But on that
Speaker 1: note of working from home, Matt, it's no surprise that
Speaker 1: a lot of people's electricity bills are on the rise.
Speaker 1: It's getting super hot out there, and especially here where
Speaker 1: we are in Atlanta, and because a lot of us
Speaker 1: are now in our homes twenty four hours a day,
Speaker 1: our A C units are working overtime, and I know,
Speaker 1: like typically when when we leave the house during the day,
Speaker 1: you know, we set the temperature up a little bit,
Speaker 1: and people probably aren't doing that as much because they're
Speaker 1: in their homes more. The AC units are probably on
Speaker 1: a good bit of the time. And that means our
Speaker 1: electricity bills are going up. And there's not much that
Speaker 1: we can do except for to tell you to bump
Speaker 1: it up a degree or two in order to help
Speaker 1: save you from an outrageous electricity bill. But one thing
Speaker 1: that is important is to change your filters, because it's
Speaker 1: actually the number one reason that a c units breakdown,
Speaker 1: and it's the number one reason that they're inefficient or
Speaker 1: working too hard. So set a reminder or get a
Speaker 1: thermostat that reminds you to change your filters, because if
Speaker 1: you forget, it's totally not good for the bill you
Speaker 1: might receive from an HVACT technician. That's true. Man, Hey,
Speaker 1: I've got a deal of the week. That's what I'm
Speaker 1: gonna call it deal of the week for you bring it.
Speaker 1: That's all. The movie theaters are going to be opening
Speaker 1: next Thursday, specifically, AMC man. They are selling tickets for
Speaker 1: fifteen cents what a ticket? Yeah, to celebrate their you know,
Speaker 1: their hundredth anniversary, that's what they're saying. At least, I'm
Speaker 1: sure it's also to try to like get people back
Speaker 1: into the movie theaters. But they're saying that they're going
Speaker 1: to sell them at nine prices, you knowwy, It's like,
Speaker 1: all right, back in tickets cost fifteen cents, let's sell
Speaker 1: them for a fifteen cents to lessen in inflation right there,
Speaker 1: because movie movie tickets cost a whole lot more than that. Now. Yeah, seriously,
Speaker 1: I appreciate that they're not trying to sell still tickets
Speaker 1: at twenty prices would be like fours, I guess exactly.
Speaker 1: But yeah, they're trying to entice us through the doors,
Speaker 1: hoping that we can't turn down that deal. I feel
Speaker 1: like that's something that you would do, Joel, You're like
Speaker 1: fifteen cent tickets. I gotta be there. If I actually
Speaker 1: went to movies, it would be hard to resist. But
Speaker 1: I've got kids. Man, I haven't been to the movies
Speaker 1: in at least a year. I got it, I guess, yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean the other thing is too, is like the
Speaker 1: health risk, you know, like is it worth it to
Speaker 1: to go to a movie theater and be surrounded by
Speaker 1: by a bunch of folks? Like would you do it?
Speaker 1: What if there was a movie out that you wanted
Speaker 1: to go see and kids weren't an issue, Like would
Speaker 1: you're gonna watch my kids for me? Sure? Yeah, I'll
Speaker 1: get it. So I saw that they're gonna require everyone's
Speaker 1: required a wear masks. The capacity within the auditoriums is
Speaker 1: reduced to like or less, But even still, I'm not
Speaker 1: sure if I would do it. Yeah, that's a good question.
Speaker 1: I'm not a hundred percent sure. Everyone's got different comfortability levels,
Speaker 1: and I think because um, watching a movie is is
Speaker 1: so much more of like a leisurely fun item. I
Speaker 1: probably wouldn't do it, Like going to get a haircut.
Speaker 1: At some point, I gotta get a haircut, right, And
Speaker 1: I guess I could do it myself, right, But could
Speaker 1: you some clippers? Yeah, I mean you do it, but
Speaker 1: I need to get on that train. But I don't mind.
Speaker 1: You know, I've only done it once since some pandemic started.
Speaker 1: But I'd go in there and get my hair cut again.
Speaker 1: But going to see a movie, even a little superfluous, yeah,
Speaker 1: even even at the fifteen cents, I probably would have.
Speaker 1: It's not gonna pull you in. I don't think so.
Speaker 1: I don't think so. Well. The other thing I was
Speaker 1: thinking of, too, is what are they gonna do about
Speaker 1: buying popcorn and and coke? Like concessions? That's good. I
Speaker 1: mean probably can't put food in your mouth, you can't
Speaker 1: drink without taking off your mask. So I'm getting concessions
Speaker 1: have to be shut down. Well I don't think they are.
Speaker 1: That's the thing. They say that masks have to stay
Speaker 1: on except for when you, you know, are drinking, eating
Speaker 1: or drinking. And I can come on, who's gonna sit
Speaker 1: there during a movie watch, you know, pull down the
Speaker 1: mask to throw some popcorn in there and put the
Speaker 1: mask back. No, you're watching the movie, You're you're taking
Speaker 1: the mask off. It's not going back on. It's gonna
Speaker 1: guarantee it. Yeah, that's another reason probably to have wid it,
Speaker 1: even those cheap Yeah. Well that's our personal recommendation, because
Speaker 1: you know, there's a lot of COVID cases here in Atlanta,
Speaker 1: but I know there's a lot of places where it's
Speaker 1: really not a concern. It's like a different world. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's true. Completely depends on where you live. Some places
Speaker 1: it's all there's almost no risk involved, and then where
Speaker 1: we live there's just a lot more risk involved. All right, man,
Speaker 1: let's talk about the executive order. And it's been kind
Speaker 1: of confusing since on Saturday, Trump issued those executive orders
Speaker 1: as Congress was like basically completely unable to strike any
Speaker 1: sort of compromise on a stimulus bill, and one I'm
Speaker 1: a little frustrated with our politicians for their inability to
Speaker 1: to work together. But then those executive orders actually created
Speaker 1: a lot of confusion and people are like, huh, what
Speaker 1: does this mean? And there's obviously a question of legality
Speaker 1: at the same time. But I think a huge part
Speaker 1: of the reason that these executive orders were issued was
Speaker 1: actually to kind of be a goad to spur on
Speaker 1: Congress towards renewing some talks to get them going in
Speaker 1: the right direction so that they can accomplish something meaningful
Speaker 1: for the people that are hurting right now. But even
Speaker 1: after those executive orders were were made, um, we're still
Speaker 1: hearing nothing from from Congress on a future relief bill.
Speaker 1: So it feels like there's something in report, but also
Speaker 1: kind of like nothing to report, right. Yeah, And it's
Speaker 1: worth mentioning to I guess what was included in those orders,
Speaker 1: because they might be indicative of what actually comes to pass.
Speaker 1: And so in those executive orders, federal student loan payments
Speaker 1: and interest were suspended through the rest of the year.
Speaker 1: Federal unemployment benefits they're supposed to continue, but now at
Speaker 1: a lesser per week instead of the six hundred. There
Speaker 1: was also it's kind of this confusing peril tax refral
Speaker 1: thrown in there. And then there was also an eviction
Speaker 1: moratorium included as well in those recent executive orders. But again,
Speaker 1: even though these are orders that he issued, it's a
Speaker 1: little bit confusing because he doesn't necessarily have the power
Speaker 1: to implement these things. Right Congress, they hold the power
Speaker 1: of the purse, and so when it comes to changes
Speaker 1: that require funding, that's something that only Congress has authority over. Yes,
Speaker 1: so we'll certainly keep an eye on on these executive
Speaker 1: orders and whether implementation actually happens on any of these things,
Speaker 1: or hopefully hopefully Congress comes to some sort of uh
Speaker 1: an agreement on the next steps in regards to a
Speaker 1: relief bill so that we can forget this happened altogether,
Speaker 1: these executive orders and we can come up with something
Speaker 1: that's actually gonna deliver money into the right places to
Speaker 1: help the people that are struggling the most right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: although Joel I just saw too that a lot of
Speaker 1: policy experts are saying it could easily be until September
Speaker 1: before an agreement is reached, and so we will, yeah,
Speaker 1: keep our listeners updated and posted, but I'm not necessarily
Speaker 1: going to hold my breath in the meantime. At the
Speaker 1: same time, how do money listeners like as we look
Speaker 1: to see what the government's going to do in regards
Speaker 1: to another stimulus check or more unemployment benefits. At the
Speaker 1: same time, we have to take control of the things
Speaker 1: we can take control of, and this is something that
Speaker 1: will will keep an eye on because we know it
Speaker 1: impacts all of us, um But at the same time,
Speaker 1: we have to do our best with our own personal
Speaker 1: finances in the midst of this craziness exactly. Yeah, these
Speaker 1: stimulus bills aren't everything, and so Joel, We've got more
Speaker 1: to get to, including good news about how Americans are
Speaker 1: approaching debts and more. Right after this break. All right, Matt,
Speaker 1: we're back from the break. You just asked me whether
Speaker 1: I was going to go see a movie in a
Speaker 1: movie theater, and you know, I think it turns out
Speaker 1: probably not, But I did recently getting an airplane. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: you're gonna share that with folks, So yeah, I know
Speaker 1: if you're gonna like spill the beans. Well, so, you know,
Speaker 1: my my family and we traveled to Memphis to see
Speaker 1: some of my wife's family and then they actually hung
Speaker 1: out there for a good bit longer. But I had
Speaker 1: to come home. So I hopped on an airplane, and
Speaker 1: I will say I felt pretty safe. I was wearing
Speaker 1: a mask, everybody else was wearing a mask. The plane
Speaker 1: was maybe full, the airport felt like a ghost town. That. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so probably not something I'm gonna do to hop across
Speaker 1: the pond or something like that, or even to go
Speaker 1: on vacation right now, But I didn't feel terribly unsafe
Speaker 1: getting on an airplane to come home. Yeah. And the
Speaker 1: reason that you mentioned that, man, is that we saw
Speaker 1: that the U. S. State Department has lifted a global
Speaker 1: advisory on international travel that was put into place five
Speaker 1: months ago. And so a question I think a lot
Speaker 1: of folks might be asking themselves is whether or not
Speaker 1: it's safe to travel. So a lot of that comes
Speaker 1: down to, you know, the the individual, but it also
Speaker 1: kind of comes down to where we are allowed or
Speaker 1: able to travel to. Right, most of the countries won't
Speaker 1: let us in their borders because of our hard number
Speaker 1: of new COVID cases. You know, the EU, they've lifted
Speaker 1: travel bands on visitors from fourteen different countries, but the US,
Speaker 1: of course, isn't one of them. So even if you
Speaker 1: felt completely comfortable of flying internationally and you wanted to
Speaker 1: maybe take a little trip take advantage of any deals
Speaker 1: that you may have come across, you may not even
Speaker 1: be able to. Yeah, they won't let you in, So
Speaker 1: don't even bother right, and yet at the same time, Matt,
Speaker 1: I think airplanes, you know, they're not the most dangerous
Speaker 1: place to be. We had a travel expert on a
Speaker 1: couple of months ago and he shed some light on that.
Speaker 1: But a recent study shows that fifty of Americans aren't
Speaker 1: ready to travel on an airplane right now, and even
Speaker 1: fewer are willing to travel internationally even if they could,
Speaker 1: and specifically on any flights of six hours or longer.
Speaker 1: Is how the question was phrased, and that actually kind
Speaker 1: of works out. So if people are okay traveling on
Speaker 1: an airplane hopping to a cool desk nation, well, if
Speaker 1: they want a short flight domestically, that's actually where the
Speaker 1: best deals are right now. Anyway, airlines have like drastically
Speaker 1: cut the amount of flights that they're sending internationally, so
Speaker 1: there's just more activity going on domestically, and there's more
Speaker 1: room to be able to get a deal. So if
Speaker 1: you're in that half that fifty of people who say, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't mind getting on an airplane, especially if I
Speaker 1: can make the trip for a whole lot less money
Speaker 1: than usual, then keep your eyes peeled and search sites
Speaker 1: like Google, dot Com, Slash, flights or sign up for
Speaker 1: a Sitelight Scotch cheap flights so you can find some
Speaker 1: of the cheapest deals. Yeah, man. And something else worth
Speaker 1: noting is that you used to always find the best
Speaker 1: domestic flight deals around one to three months in advance,
Speaker 1: but now, because of the lack of business travelers, there
Speaker 1: have been last minute deals popping up. You know, like
Speaker 1: those used to be the flights that last minute business
Speaker 1: travelers that they would put on their corporate card. They
Speaker 1: didn't care about the price, or I guess you'd say
Speaker 1: that they were priced and sensitive. But because there are
Speaker 1: fewer of those last minute business travelers, some of those
Speaker 1: seats are going for pretty cheap. And so actually, back
Speaker 1: to you, when you were getting that flight from Memphis,
Speaker 1: did you get a pretty good deal? Yeah, I got
Speaker 1: a really good deal Bucks one way, But actually it's
Speaker 1: really good. Yeah. I use some points because I had
Speaker 1: some Southwest points hanging around and Southwest. The great thing
Speaker 1: is too that that's one of the reasons I like
Speaker 1: booking the Southwest is because they offer you the most
Speaker 1: flexibility to change a flight when you want to, and
Speaker 1: they don't charge you outrageous fees to do it, and
Speaker 1: so I knew if the price goes down, I can
Speaker 1: always cancel that flight rebook another one. So you keep
Speaker 1: that in mind too when you're when you're booking a
Speaker 1: flight and matt While while Southwest offers a lot of flexibility,
Speaker 1: other airlines not so much these days, and getting refunds
Speaker 1: in particular is not going well for lots of people.
Speaker 1: Airlines are currently actually holding onto billions of dollars in refunds,
Speaker 1: and they're making it super difficult for anyone to get
Speaker 1: their money back due to no fault of their own,
Speaker 1: as countries have been locked down and flights are being
Speaker 1: canceled through the spring, and the hoops that they're making
Speaker 1: passengers jump through in particular, it's like, it's shameful, man,
Speaker 1: it's terrible, And especially considering that the airlines received just
Speaker 1: this massive amount of money sixty billion dollars as a
Speaker 1: part of the stimulus build this past spring, I feel
Speaker 1: like it's even more of a slap in the face
Speaker 1: to us and to everybody out there who is seeking
Speaker 1: some sort of a refund. And on top of that,
Speaker 1: because passenger refunds for canceled flights are this legal obligation
Speaker 1: that airlines have to their customers, and they're not doing
Speaker 1: it right now. They're just doing everything they can to
Speaker 1: avoid giving refunds to people. Yea. And so if we
Speaker 1: are describing your situation, we'd encourage you not to get
Speaker 1: pushed around by the airline company and continue to demand
Speaker 1: your refund. We'd recommend that you keep a log document
Speaker 1: your efforts as well as you know what the airline
Speaker 1: says that they'll do, but be prepared to spend some
Speaker 1: time fighting for your rights. A Harvard Business Review article
Speaker 1: found that the average American consumer that they spend thirteen
Speaker 1: hours every year stuck on hold trying to resolve problems
Speaker 1: with individual companies. You know, when you're stuck on hold
Speaker 1: for an hour, it feels like thirteen hours. But if
Speaker 1: you're stuck on hold for thirteen hours like dog years, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like what is that in consumer years, because it
Speaker 1: feels like it's already been seventy consumer years or something. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, like getting that run around it's so frustrating.
Speaker 1: But you know, the airlines are banking on the fact
Speaker 1: that individual consumers are going to accept less, you know,
Speaker 1: or even stop fighting for their money altogether. And so
Speaker 1: we want to encourage you to keep up the good
Speaker 1: fight and don't fall for it. Yeah, and it's important
Speaker 1: to know your rights, know what you're fighting for, know
Speaker 1: what they're legally obligated to give you, and that can
Speaker 1: actually help you push through the long hold times or
Speaker 1: the unhelpful customer service representative. And if you're still not
Speaker 1: able to get anywhere with the airline, file complaint with
Speaker 1: the d o T. And there's an easy to fill
Speaker 1: out online form to make your complaint heard with the authorities.
Speaker 1: There's also a really helpful section on the d o
Speaker 1: T s website that discusses your rights as a flyer. So,
Speaker 1: for example, if your flight is changed so that you'll
Speaker 1: arrive at your destination two or more hours after the
Speaker 1: flight you originally booked, you're entitled to a massive reimbursement
Speaker 1: on that one way fair and not just in a
Speaker 1: voucher form, either like in cash or or a check.
Speaker 1: So know your rights, fight for them. And Matt will
Speaker 1: link to both of those sections of the d o
Speaker 1: T website in our show notes. Nice, I would request
Speaker 1: mine and two dollar bills. Those are extra special, they're
Speaker 1: pretty cool. Just don't request it and change right now.
Speaker 1: Remember we talked about the recently. One other story we
Speaker 1: wanted to cover man was that we have seen household
Speaker 1: debt decline for the first time in six years. Over
Speaker 1: the past several months, consumers are paying off their credit
Speaker 1: card debt, and we saw a similar pattern to this
Speaker 1: during the Great Recession a decade ago. It's uh, it's
Speaker 1: really encouraging to see people shoring up their finances in
Speaker 1: the middle of a recession. Of course, economists and financial
Speaker 1: experts are stating that the stimulus measures right, that they
Speaker 1: had a lot to do with that twill one time checks, uh,
Speaker 1: an extra six dollars a week and unemployment for a
Speaker 1: lot of folks. That will do that for you, right,
Speaker 1: But we can't ignore the impact that our own spending
Speaker 1: has on our personal finances. With lockdown orders and an
Speaker 1: ability to to go out and spend money like we
Speaker 1: typically would, Americans had a lot more cash on hand
Speaker 1: to aid in that debt payoff. And so I just
Speaker 1: want to encourage folks as well to realize that we
Speaker 1: have more of an internal locus of control than we think. Right.
Speaker 1: A lot of times we think that like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is what the economy is doing. Oh, you know, my
Speaker 1: employers shut down, But we have way more control over
Speaker 1: our money than we realize. That a lot of it
Speaker 1: has to do with the expenses that we most definitely
Speaker 1: have control over. And it always feels counterintuitive when I
Speaker 1: read something like that, when unemployment has skyrocketed and people
Speaker 1: are going through a hard time, how debt payoff happens
Speaker 1: at a more rapid clip. But it is, and that's
Speaker 1: actually encouraging to me, and it shows me too that
Speaker 1: as things do start to get better, that we we
Speaker 1: should maintain that focus towards paying down that debt because
Speaker 1: we want to be in an even better position when
Speaker 1: the next times of hardship come around, and then also too,
Speaker 1: ma out with a lot of that extra money. Lots
Speaker 1: of people have continued investing as well. Fidelity actually shared
Speaker 1: that they had record breaking contributions to retirement accounts like
Speaker 1: roth iras as Americans have attempted to get their financial
Speaker 1: lives in order. You know, you and I, we obviously
Speaker 1: are all about investing for the long term. But for
Speaker 1: those people that did continue to invest in the downturn,
Speaker 1: I think it's already had a payoff, as the SMP
Speaker 1: five hundred has recovered to pre pandemic highs and it's
Speaker 1: climbed about fifty from a low back in March. It's
Speaker 1: just incredible. Yeah, it's one of those things that none
Speaker 1: of us could have predicted, you know, in in mid
Speaker 1: till late March or or April, that oh, yeah, the
Speaker 1: stock market is going to be back exactly where it was.
Speaker 1: And for the folks that did continue to invest, did
Speaker 1: continue to dollar cost average during the downturn, they're reaping
Speaker 1: the rewards of continuing that discipline. Yeah. In general, you know,
Speaker 1: I think our country could use a complete mindset shift
Speaker 1: and the way we handle money, and maybe this is
Speaker 1: the start, you know, of that shift. Maybe this is
Speaker 1: the start of maybe more folks out there donning their
Speaker 1: cracked iPhones and delaying a new electronics purchase. But it
Speaker 1: is encouraging to see that people are paying off debt
Speaker 1: and also saving and investing more right now. I hope
Speaker 1: you're right too. I hope this is a wake up
Speaker 1: call for all of America. But I know at least
Speaker 1: that our listeners are are taking these things into consideration
Speaker 1: and they're making changes, because we hear about it every
Speaker 1: day in our Facebook group in particular, So that's super encouraging.
Speaker 1: But Joel Man that's gonna be it for this episode, dude.
Speaker 1: Our listeners can find our show notes up on our
Speaker 1: website at how to money dot com. Yeah, and if
Speaker 1: you need support in your money journey and maybe feel
Speaker 1: alone right now, we'll check out our Facebook group that
Speaker 1: I just mentioned. If you go to Facebook dot com,
Speaker 1: just search out of money and you'll find that group
Speaker 1: with thousands and thousands of other people pursuing the same
Speaker 1: thing you are, paying off debt, becoming more financially independent.
Speaker 1: It's just an awesome place to post your money questions
Speaker 1: or or gain some encouragement during these times. That's right,
Speaker 1: all right, buddy. Until next time, Best friends Out, Best
Speaker 1: Friends Out.