1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,560 Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel, I'm Matt, and 2 00:00:02,640 --> 00:00:24,920 Speaker 1: today we're doing our year end review. You know what, buddy, 3 00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: So this is our Friday flight, and typically we cover 4 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 1: the headlines that we've come across this past week that 5 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:33,080 Speaker 1: we felt were most important to talk about. And with 6 00:00:33,159 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: us being the last Friday, not only of the week, 7 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:37,720 Speaker 1: but of the entire year, how you're gonna say of 8 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:38,920 Speaker 1: all time? And I was like, what do you know 9 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:41,400 Speaker 1: that I don't know? The world is coming to now? 10 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: We we did feel that it was on the street 11 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 1: corner of this this past week of preaching that to everyone, 12 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:48,199 Speaker 1: we wanted to cover the best, the most important kind 13 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:51,160 Speaker 1: of like the overarching stories that impacted us the most 14 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:54,080 Speaker 1: from this past year. And so we're not just talking 15 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 1: about the headlines from this week. We're talking about the 16 00:00:56,160 --> 00:01:01,280 Speaker 1: headlines of twenty two was in resting year. There was 17 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:03,720 Speaker 1: a lot that happened, and so I think it's good 18 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: for us to like reflect. We see that every single year, though, 19 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 1: you know, but but I feel I feel like this 20 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:11,120 Speaker 1: year was particularly it was different. It was listening and 21 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:14,000 Speaker 1: especially hopefully it calms down. It deviated a lot from 22 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:16,039 Speaker 1: what we're happening in recent years in a whole bunch 23 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 1: of different ways, and there was a whole lot of 24 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:19,560 Speaker 1: news to follow, Like I feel like our Friday flights, 25 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:22,520 Speaker 1: like we're it's only gotten more interesting. Yeah, I think 26 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:24,960 Speaker 1: like every single week it felt like there was something 27 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:27,280 Speaker 1: important to tell the audience. And so hope we're not 28 00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:30,280 Speaker 1: just doing these for our health, right, Uh, we're doing 29 00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:33,759 Speaker 1: it for your financial health though, right exactly, And so yeah, 30 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:37,440 Speaker 1: we uh, we'll continue Friday flights obviously going on every 31 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:39,480 Speaker 1: Friday next year, but this we were like, let's do 32 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 1: one where we're just reflecting on the insanity that was 33 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: and the big takeaways really that we had from this year. 34 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 1: But but seriously, ever since we started the Friday flight 35 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:50,040 Speaker 1: with at the beginning of twenty like, it's only gotten 36 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:54,360 Speaker 1: like Nutty year and NUTI Year. Hopefully no additional pandemics 37 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:57,080 Speaker 1: in our future, but the news has definitely been worth 38 00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 1: covering for sure. Before we get to our year in review, though, 39 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:02,720 Speaker 1: I just wanted to quickly mentioned listener Nathan he sent 40 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:05,760 Speaker 1: us an email last month and who hadn't gotten around 41 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:07,760 Speaker 1: to talking about it yet, but he mentioned this a 42 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:10,400 Speaker 1: couple of cool tools, one called simple log In, another 43 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:13,760 Speaker 1: called and on Addie, and these tools can help you 44 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 1: create email aliases in order to protect your privacy online, 45 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:20,920 Speaker 1: making it harder for different companies to track you and 46 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:22,960 Speaker 1: stuff like that. So I thought this was interesting. Man, 47 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:25,560 Speaker 1: it's not something that's really thought about a whole what's 48 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:27,160 Speaker 1: the tracking aspect of it? I didn't look into it. 49 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:29,960 Speaker 1: So so it sounds like basically like if they have 50 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:32,680 Speaker 1: your direct email address, there's ways in which they know 51 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:35,320 Speaker 1: have more information about you. But if you're creating alias 52 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:38,440 Speaker 1: email addresses that are like it's it's harder for them 53 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:41,440 Speaker 1: to pinpoint who you are as a person, and they 54 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:43,839 Speaker 1: know less about you if you do that where they're 55 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:46,680 Speaker 1: creating that dossier on you. I'm not an expert. Nathan 56 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:48,920 Speaker 1: writes a blog about this stuff. He's the security so 57 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:51,119 Speaker 1: I will link to his blog post in the show notes. 58 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:53,119 Speaker 1: And there's certain folks I think who are less comfortable 59 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:56,639 Speaker 1: putting their email address out there. Personally, I'm not one 60 00:02:56,639 --> 00:02:58,679 Speaker 1: of those guys. Like any time there's a like a 61 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 1: lot of times there's a side up. It's like hey 62 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:03,360 Speaker 1: give us your email, you get this free letting United flag, 63 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:06,239 Speaker 1: or hey give us your email and you get a 64 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:07,920 Speaker 1: chance to spind the wheel and maybe you'll win a 65 00:03:07,919 --> 00:03:10,280 Speaker 1: free beer. I'm all about that kind of stuff. Yeah, 66 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:12,639 Speaker 1: I get it. I've got zero fee. That's a trade off. 67 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:15,760 Speaker 1: Work my email everybody, it's all mixed at gmail dot com. 68 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:17,960 Speaker 1: If you want to hit me up, go for it. 69 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:19,800 Speaker 1: You're going to life flock route here, you're just announcing 70 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:24,480 Speaker 1: it to everybody and the Joel's social security is let's 71 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:27,239 Speaker 1: do that and we'll pause right there. I also don't 72 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:29,520 Speaker 1: know your social security by heart. Well yeah, if you're 73 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:31,840 Speaker 1: into that though. In online privacy something that matters to 74 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 1: you at then email aliases I think are an interesting 75 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:37,480 Speaker 1: tool to be able to protect your privacy online and 76 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:41,760 Speaker 1: kind of create individual email addresses without literally creating one 77 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:44,560 Speaker 1: every single time. You don't want to give a marketer 78 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 1: or a company your your specific email and some of 79 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:50,240 Speaker 1: your specific information. But that being said, if your email 80 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:52,680 Speaker 1: is getting oh there, I mean I would just suggest 81 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 1: to ruthlessly unsubscribed to stuff for sure. I feel like 82 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: I've been doing a lot more that here towards the 83 00:03:57,880 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 1: end of the year, because you know, when you start 84 00:03:59,880 --> 00:04:02,560 Speaker 1: the and you look and you've got like thirty new emails, 85 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:04,880 Speaker 1: and I don't really want to look at two thirds 86 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:06,960 Speaker 1: of them. Two thirds of them are trash, their trash, 87 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:08,920 Speaker 1: and that's what that's when I'm like, Okay, a lot 88 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:10,720 Speaker 1: of times I just hit the lead because that's the power, 89 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:13,320 Speaker 1: that's the fast mover. I just bam bam, bam, bam bam. 90 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:16,320 Speaker 1: He just keep coming later exactly, so I just take 91 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:19,520 Speaker 1: the slightly longer route and actually unsubscribed. But Joe, yeah, Like, 92 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:21,240 Speaker 1: like you said, it's been a challenging year for a 93 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:25,000 Speaker 1: lot of folks, at least from a money perspective. The 94 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:29,120 Speaker 1: roaring economy of one has led to what feels essentially 95 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:32,839 Speaker 1: like a slowdown this year here in two. But whether 96 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:35,320 Speaker 1: or not we are in a recession, I think that 97 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:37,240 Speaker 1: kind of depends on your definition. It's hard to say. 98 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised to see if very soon they're like, hey, 99 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:44,240 Speaker 1: we're in a recession, and we have been for whenever 100 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:46,280 Speaker 1: the data came out, like maybe six months ago, I 101 00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:48,680 Speaker 1: guess is when the data came out. It's hard to say, 102 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:52,320 Speaker 1: but we have seen double digit losses in the stock market. 103 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:55,320 Speaker 1: We've seen a labor market cool off, We've seen the 104 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 1: housing market essentially grind to a halt because I mean 105 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:02,280 Speaker 1: multiple things, right, combination of of high prices, rising interest rates. 106 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:04,560 Speaker 1: But as we learned from many of the How to 107 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:06,800 Speaker 1: Money listener wins that we shared a few weeks ago 108 00:05:06,839 --> 00:05:10,279 Speaker 1: on our Wednesday episode, despite headwinds, a lot of folks 109 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:12,440 Speaker 1: out there have crushed it this year and they've been 110 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:15,680 Speaker 1: able to just make accelerated progress towards their financial goal. 111 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:17,480 Speaker 1: By the way, we got like double the amount of 112 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:20,360 Speaker 1: submissions we were able to use. Sadly, like we would 113 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:21,760 Speaker 1: love to share them all, but we were even just 114 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:24,279 Speaker 1: get email from people after the fact saying hey, I 115 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:26,240 Speaker 1: missed it, but let me share with you. And the 116 00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: amount of progress that some of our listeners were able 117 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:30,280 Speaker 1: to make was astounding, which, by the way, we love 118 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:37,320 Speaker 1: because it's one thing Gmail dot com or I don't 119 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:41,680 Speaker 1: want to say years, that's what it is. Uh. But 120 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:45,120 Speaker 1: just the macro environment that we're in, Uh, it can 121 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 1: certainly help or hurt your personal progress. But there's still 122 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:50,400 Speaker 1: a lot that we can do to change and advance 123 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,479 Speaker 1: our own goals. In spite of what is happening in 124 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:55,680 Speaker 1: the economy all around us as a whole, there are 125 00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:59,440 Speaker 1: things that we can do as individuals that is really encouraging, 126 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:00,920 Speaker 1: but we still do you want to make sure that 127 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:02,920 Speaker 1: we cover some of the biggest stories that we came 128 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:04,920 Speaker 1: across from this past year. Yeah, I mean, like some 129 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:07,400 Speaker 1: people ask us from time to time, like, well, what's 130 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:10,120 Speaker 1: the impetus behind the Friday flight? Why do you do it? 131 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:13,839 Speaker 1: Because your advice doesn't necessarily change a whole lot based 132 00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:15,599 Speaker 1: on what's happening. I mean sometimes it's like as interest 133 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:18,599 Speaker 1: rates go up, it changes the dynamics, let's say, of 134 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:20,520 Speaker 1: whether or not you should buy a house, Like there 135 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:22,440 Speaker 1: are things that happen on a micro scale that do 136 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:27,320 Speaker 1: impact our micro actions, but like our our general advice 137 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:30,400 Speaker 1: on so many things doesn't change. It doesn't move with 138 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 1: the whims of the market, right, and so we get 139 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:36,200 Speaker 1: slightly here and there. For sure, there are ways usually 140 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 1: if some of these trends continue that it can have 141 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:42,160 Speaker 1: a longer lasting impact. But it's opposed to the headline 142 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:43,559 Speaker 1: I know the week, but I like that you noted 143 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:46,600 Speaker 1: that people may made significant progress no matter what's going on. 144 00:06:46,839 --> 00:06:48,640 Speaker 1: It's like, we're gonna talking about a bunch of things 145 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:51,839 Speaker 1: that went on this year, but no matter what is 146 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 1: happening in our economy, there are ways for you to 147 00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:57,760 Speaker 1: not just survive but thrive in almost any environment really 148 00:06:57,800 --> 00:06:59,440 Speaker 1: that comes our way. And so let's talk about the 149 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:02,480 Speaker 1: big stories of this year, Matt. Inflation and interest rate rises. 150 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:05,120 Speaker 1: They were I would say, basically the top two stories 151 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:08,120 Speaker 1: tied together and tied at the connected at the hip. 152 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:12,120 Speaker 1: So let's discuss those for a minute. Because fraternal twins, yeah, exactly, 153 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:15,080 Speaker 1: and uh, it's not identical, not exactly the saying, but man, 154 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:19,800 Speaker 1: they sure do look similar. Yeah, they same family, exactly 155 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:23,000 Speaker 1: a lot in common. Well, inflation is something that we've 156 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: all felt acutely this year, and it's a big story, 157 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 1: largely because we haven't experienced inflation like this in something 158 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:32,720 Speaker 1: like forty years, right, So it's for most of us 159 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:35,520 Speaker 1: who are under the age of forty, which is all 160 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:38,480 Speaker 1: of us except for you now, Matt, who just turned forty. Right. Uh, 161 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:42,800 Speaker 1: we haven't experienced this. You were fresh out of the 162 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:45,480 Speaker 1: womb in diapers, Matt when you experienced this last And 163 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:47,880 Speaker 1: although inflation is starting to ease up a little, it's 164 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:50,720 Speaker 1: gonna be a while before it's back where Fed officials wanted, 165 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:54,240 Speaker 1: back to that like annual two percent sort of range. Um, 166 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:56,240 Speaker 1: we don't know exactly how long it's gonna take. But 167 00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:59,200 Speaker 1: that's where we're trying to get back to. But car prices, 168 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:01,840 Speaker 1: energy prices, food prices, all those things shot through the 169 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:04,800 Speaker 1: roof in a shock to our wallets, and depending on 170 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:06,840 Speaker 1: what our consumption looked like, it impacted us all in 171 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 1: different ways. Right, if you're replacing a car, you probably 172 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:12,880 Speaker 1: paid more than you would otherwise. And if you were 173 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:15,080 Speaker 1: downsizing your fleet, you made out like a bandit because 174 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:17,239 Speaker 1: you sold a car that you bought for ten thousand 175 00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:21,880 Speaker 1: dollars for hundred, because you took advantage of inflation in 176 00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:24,520 Speaker 1: the car market. But in an effort to combat these 177 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:27,040 Speaker 1: rising prices, the FED of course, has been using the 178 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:29,560 Speaker 1: only instruments at its disposal really, or one of the 179 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:32,760 Speaker 1: two instruments that has its disposal. It's been making money 180 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:35,679 Speaker 1: more expensive by raising interest rates. And it's just fairly 181 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:38,280 Speaker 1: blunt tool that seems to be doing the job. But 182 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:40,160 Speaker 1: this is a story that's going to continue to be 183 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:43,160 Speaker 1: a big one in three but hopefully for all our sakes, 184 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:45,040 Speaker 1: it's not going to be quite as headlined word of 185 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:47,400 Speaker 1: the as it's bent. That's right, Yeah, speaking of food prices, 186 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:51,160 Speaker 1: I was literally recent just yesterday at Aldi purchasing some 187 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:54,480 Speaker 1: eggs and was shocked to see, of course, aldi because 188 00:08:54,480 --> 00:08:57,000 Speaker 1: they are the most affordable. But dude, I think it 189 00:08:57,040 --> 00:08:59,760 Speaker 1: was still earlier this year, Yes, earlier this year, and 190 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:04,040 Speaker 1: these are something close. I remember to take prices close 191 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:06,320 Speaker 1: to be being close to a dollar, and they were 192 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:10,040 Speaker 1: almost five bucks. I could not believe for a dozen 193 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:13,240 Speaker 1: regular eggs. Do like, this wasn't the organics, this, This 194 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:16,040 Speaker 1: wasn't chickens that that are just like walking around laying eggs, 195 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:18,160 Speaker 1: you know, like these are chickens that are like caged up, 196 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:23,600 Speaker 1: like the regular eggs that got massages. Everybody, No, no, yeah, exactly. 197 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:25,600 Speaker 1: Uh so, yeah, I think a lot of folks have 198 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 1: been experiencing some of those inflated prices at the grocery store. 199 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:31,800 Speaker 1: But gas prices that they've been up in the stratosphere 200 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:34,320 Speaker 1: as well, and then they actually crater back down near 201 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:36,360 Speaker 1: to where they were at the start of this year. 202 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:38,360 Speaker 1: Well that's good news for folks who drive a ton. 203 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:42,080 Speaker 1: And those prices were partly impacted by raging inflation, sure, 204 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:45,240 Speaker 1: but also because of the war that's happening in Ukraine 205 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:48,880 Speaker 1: that Russia is perpetrating. But right now gas prices are 206 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:52,280 Speaker 1: south of three dollars a gallon in much of the country, 207 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:55,760 Speaker 1: which is awesome. Uh. Definitely here in the state of Georgia, 208 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:57,559 Speaker 1: I think we've got some of the lowest gas prices, 209 00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:00,160 Speaker 1: but the national average is getting closer to crossing that 210 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:04,000 Speaker 1: point as well, that three dollar threshold. But that being said, uh, 211 00:10:04,559 --> 00:10:07,680 Speaker 1: gas prices, they definitely have a real impact on our budgets. 212 00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:10,280 Speaker 1: We need to keep in mind that oftentimes we we 213 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:14,080 Speaker 1: tend to overestimate how much we're spending on gas, even 214 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:17,040 Speaker 1: when prices are north of five dollars a gallon. And 215 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:19,240 Speaker 1: a reason for that is because this is literally a 216 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:21,680 Speaker 1: price that we see everywhere we go, Like you drive 217 00:10:21,679 --> 00:10:23,760 Speaker 1: down the road and it's plastered, you know, on the 218 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:27,079 Speaker 1: side of the signs, like a giant font tiny billboard 219 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:30,400 Speaker 1: on every street exactly. Yeah, and so we feel the 220 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:33,199 Speaker 1: pain more intensively. Uh. And so the tip that we 221 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:36,520 Speaker 1: would recommend for folks is we want you to perhaps 222 00:10:36,520 --> 00:10:39,160 Speaker 1: focus a little bit less on gas prices and instead 223 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:41,680 Speaker 1: we want you to focus more on your overall cost 224 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:46,199 Speaker 1: of transportation, including the depreciation hit that you're taking each 225 00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:47,959 Speaker 1: and every year on the car that you own. We 226 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:51,040 Speaker 1: want you to focus on not just what it is 227 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:53,199 Speaker 1: that it costs you to fill up at the pump, 228 00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:54,839 Speaker 1: but how much you're paying for that car, whether or 229 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:59,400 Speaker 1: not you're buying new or used in particular, cost of maintenance, 230 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:02,360 Speaker 1: things like that, but definitely the the appreciation that you 231 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:05,240 Speaker 1: hit that you assume as well. Yeah, if you are 232 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:09,560 Speaker 1: driving a O six Toyota Corolla and you opted to 233 00:11:09,559 --> 00:11:11,760 Speaker 1: sell it for five thousand dollars and upgrade to a 234 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:14,400 Speaker 1: Tesla because gas prices were out of this world, but 235 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:18,120 Speaker 1: you only drive seven thousand miles a year, that was shortsighted, right, Like, 236 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:19,640 Speaker 1: that's not the kind of movie wants you to make. 237 00:11:19,679 --> 00:11:21,640 Speaker 1: And holding onto that Corolla is gonna be much better 238 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:24,880 Speaker 1: for your finances overall. And so gas prices, they are 239 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:26,800 Speaker 1: a story of this year, but they're also one we 240 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:28,920 Speaker 1: want you to ignore more than you pay attention to. 241 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:32,280 Speaker 1: And hopefully, hopefully for all our sakes, gas prices remain 242 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:34,320 Speaker 1: low right and remain near where they are right now, 243 00:11:34,559 --> 00:11:37,480 Speaker 1: but staring inflation, I would say had one bright spot, Matt. 244 00:11:37,559 --> 00:11:40,440 Speaker 1: And if you're playing how the money drinking game this year, 245 00:11:40,559 --> 00:11:43,240 Speaker 1: when you're listening to Friday flights, you probably we let's 246 00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:44,560 Speaker 1: say you had to take a shot every time we 247 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:46,960 Speaker 1: mentioned I bonds, you probably have too much to drink 248 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:49,360 Speaker 1: a couple of times at least this year, because starting 249 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:52,040 Speaker 1: at the very beginning of yeah, I bonds became a 250 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:55,319 Speaker 1: significant story, one that we kept talking about as inflation 251 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:58,880 Speaker 1: was roaring. It's one of those things where you can 252 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:01,160 Speaker 1: make out like a bandit I putting some of your 253 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:03,719 Speaker 1: savings at least into I bonds And by the way, 254 00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:05,520 Speaker 1: don't play drinking games when you listen to our show. 255 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:08,160 Speaker 1: Come on. But but even the savings rates rose, ibans 256 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:11,280 Speaker 1: were basically the best refuge for savers as rates were 257 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:13,880 Speaker 1: close to ten percent. Now they're closer to seven percent. 258 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:17,760 Speaker 1: But uh, there's there's still a smart medium term savings 259 00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:20,440 Speaker 1: vehicle for lots of folks and runaway inflation. Of course 260 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:23,400 Speaker 1: it's a bad thing, but that silver lining has been 261 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:26,440 Speaker 1: kind of the nice run up in options for savers 262 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:28,800 Speaker 1: who had few to no options for a lot of 263 00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:31,840 Speaker 1: years and then they got a rainy they fund in 264 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:34,320 Speaker 1: the savings account. Half a percent was about the best 265 00:12:34,320 --> 00:12:37,000 Speaker 1: you could expect to get. But now we're talking about 266 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:41,040 Speaker 1: four percent or even more on some of these savings vehicles, 267 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:43,480 Speaker 1: which is just really good to see. So on the 268 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:45,719 Speaker 1: flip side. Rates on credit cards have been going up 269 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:48,680 Speaker 1: that is likely to continue. So pay off that debt quickly, 270 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:51,679 Speaker 1: very short lived silver lining jewel. Yeah, but at least 271 00:12:51,679 --> 00:12:55,520 Speaker 1: there was something to Yeah, inflation mostly bad and rates 272 00:12:55,559 --> 00:12:57,960 Speaker 1: going up mostly bad for a lot of things, but 273 00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:00,559 Speaker 1: there are some bright spots alongside of it. Sure. And 274 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:03,320 Speaker 1: in addition to the higher interest rates we've seen our 275 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:05,680 Speaker 1: credit cards, we've seen higher mortgage rates as well, right, 276 00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:07,040 Speaker 1: I mean we kind of touched on that there at 277 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:10,800 Speaker 1: the beginning about higher mortgage interest rates, quickly rising price 278 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:13,120 Speaker 1: of houses. Unfortunately, that has left a lot of folks 279 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:15,679 Speaker 1: who have been hunting for a place, you know, with 280 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:19,160 Speaker 1: the housing market just with the inability to purchase a home. 281 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:21,160 Speaker 1: And so for for those folks, yeah, we would recommend 282 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:23,440 Speaker 1: to hang in there, continue to stock that money away 283 00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:26,800 Speaker 1: in saving his account. And even though overall the housing 284 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:28,920 Speaker 1: market it's it's in a tight spot, it's not in 285 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:31,000 Speaker 1: a good good position right now, but even still there 286 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:34,480 Speaker 1: is the ability to find a deal on an individual level. Yes, 287 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:37,960 Speaker 1: mortgage rates are high, Yes, the prices of homes have skyrocketed, um, 288 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:40,000 Speaker 1: but keep your eyes open, right like, look for those 289 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:43,320 Speaker 1: for sale, those fisbos look, ask around, talk to your neighbors. 290 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:46,120 Speaker 1: There is still the ability to to find a deal 291 00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:49,200 Speaker 1: wherever it is that you live. Overall, market trends don't 292 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:51,520 Speaker 1: look good on a personal level. That doesn't mean that 293 00:13:51,679 --> 00:13:54,000 Speaker 1: you can't find a deal. I think you definitely can. 294 00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:58,160 Speaker 1: Let's keep moving. Let's talk about cryptocurrencies, Joel. So essentially 295 00:13:58,200 --> 00:13:59,680 Speaker 1: everyone's calling what we're in right now it's one of 296 00:13:59,679 --> 00:14:02,600 Speaker 1: like the Doe winter, And I'll say it's right now. 297 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:06,280 Speaker 1: It's got more crypto symperia, it's like the tundra. It's 298 00:14:06,280 --> 00:14:09,840 Speaker 1: got more like Narnia like elements, right like this crypto dip. 299 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:13,200 Speaker 1: It certainly feels more like an internal winter where Christmas 300 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:15,760 Speaker 1: it never comes more than it, you know, does a 301 00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:19,520 Speaker 1: short seasonal about of cold weather. Uh. Even before actually 302 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:22,400 Speaker 1: we knew about Sam Bankman freed, before we knew about 303 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:25,760 Speaker 1: the ft X fraud insanity, we asked a friend of 304 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:29,320 Speaker 1: the show, crypto expert Stacy Marie Ishmael. Uh. We talked 305 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:32,560 Speaker 1: with her back in episode three. But we're curious as 306 00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:36,080 Speaker 1: to whether or not crypto was going extinct, and that 307 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:39,640 Speaker 1: was a difficult question to answer. But it's certainly feels 308 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:42,000 Speaker 1: like crypto was in the right place at the right 309 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:45,200 Speaker 1: time to take advantage of just the massive influx of 310 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:48,600 Speaker 1: cash in people's pockets while they were simultaneously forced to 311 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:51,160 Speaker 1: stay home. Right, It's like, hey, normally you're used to 312 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:53,920 Speaker 1: spending your money in all of these different kinds of ways. Also, 313 00:14:54,080 --> 00:14:56,040 Speaker 1: you're only used to receiving this much money. We're gonna 314 00:14:56,080 --> 00:14:58,640 Speaker 1: give you this much more money. And then crypto was 315 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:01,120 Speaker 1: able to slide into those d m and said, hey, 316 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:05,600 Speaker 1: put your money towards me. Certainly fueled a rise in speculation. Gosh. Yeah, 317 00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:08,160 Speaker 1: So you know, we don't know if the block chains 318 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:10,880 Speaker 1: ever gonna make a difference in our day to day Um, 319 00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:13,240 Speaker 1: will any of these cryptoc poins, will they have a 320 00:15:13,320 --> 00:15:16,160 Speaker 1: use case scenario? We are not sure of the future 321 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:19,920 Speaker 1: of that. But two has has taught us anything. It's 322 00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:23,560 Speaker 1: just really it's honestly reinforced our belief that's speculating in 323 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:27,200 Speaker 1: unregulated markets, that it can have devastating effects on your 324 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:30,160 Speaker 1: personal finances. Yeah, and some folks at the farm, right, 325 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:33,240 Speaker 1: they've they've got vast amounts of their investable assets on 326 00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:36,640 Speaker 1: this new form of currency, largely because they saw the 327 00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:39,560 Speaker 1: trend and they wanted to follow the trend. They too 328 00:15:39,720 --> 00:15:42,480 Speaker 1: wanted to make money overnight or quickly, right, and that 329 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:45,480 Speaker 1: was ill advised. But as assets prices were staring, they 330 00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:47,480 Speaker 1: just they wanted to get on the gravy train, and 331 00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:49,080 Speaker 1: they wanted to make sure they weren't left on the 332 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:51,880 Speaker 1: sidelines while all their friends were getting rich. They bought 333 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:54,280 Speaker 1: into even some of the hype of high profile athletes 334 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:58,160 Speaker 1: and actors touting crypto on Super Bowl ads and Instagram 335 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:01,640 Speaker 1: ads like the Justin Bieber's of This World and the 336 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:04,040 Speaker 1: Kim Kardashians, not to mention that Tom Brady's. I mean, 337 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:07,800 Speaker 1: like lots of influential people. All the celebrities were getting 338 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:09,960 Speaker 1: n f T s and they had laser eyes in 339 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:12,280 Speaker 1: their Twitter profiles, and so it just made sense that 340 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:15,000 Speaker 1: we got in on the boom as well. Right at 341 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:17,960 Speaker 1: stadiums being named after crypto training platforms. There was so 342 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:22,000 Speaker 1: much like legitimacy being given to a lot of these 343 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:25,280 Speaker 1: companies as they associated with high profile people and made 344 00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:27,120 Speaker 1: some of these bigger deals. It felt like it had 345 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:30,040 Speaker 1: gone mainstream. Yeah, I mean, it basically did, right, I mean, 346 00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:32,280 Speaker 1: not only was it in our popular culture, but then 347 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:35,520 Speaker 1: the fact that institutional investors were also I mean and 348 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:37,520 Speaker 1: I think that's only increased this year, and so it's 349 00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:40,880 Speaker 1: not that in that sense there's not still a whole 350 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:43,080 Speaker 1: lot of attention being given to it, but there was 351 00:16:43,080 --> 00:16:45,760 Speaker 1: certainly way too much of that going on in previous years, 352 00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:48,240 Speaker 1: and we've seen that correction. I mean, I wish we 353 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:50,120 Speaker 1: were we had gone back and actually pulled some clips 354 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:52,160 Speaker 1: from what you and I had said this year about crypto. 355 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:54,520 Speaker 1: We talked about how we invested a very very small 356 00:16:54,560 --> 00:16:59,120 Speaker 1: amount of our personal assets in crypto, very small amount, 357 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:02,120 Speaker 1: and that was what we have. That's always what we've 358 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:04,680 Speaker 1: said when it comes to single stocks and crypto investing. Matt, 359 00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:07,440 Speaker 1: now you you invested. We both invested enough to where 360 00:17:07,680 --> 00:17:09,320 Speaker 1: if we lost it all a bitcoin went to zero, 361 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:12,639 Speaker 1: we wouldn't hear like it has. There's no material impact. 362 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:15,000 Speaker 1: I don't like losing money, right right, That's not that's 363 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:17,080 Speaker 1: not what we want, and that's what we told everyone. 364 00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:19,159 Speaker 1: We didn't bet the far throughout, although there were a 365 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:22,359 Speaker 1: lot of people saying this is the future, getting on 366 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:25,240 Speaker 1: the ground floor, and a lot of people obviously harmed 367 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:27,480 Speaker 1: this year in the crypto space, and so what is 368 00:17:27,560 --> 00:17:30,360 Speaker 1: the what is going to hold for crypto? I don't 369 00:17:30,359 --> 00:17:32,320 Speaker 1: know I don't have any predictions, but I did think 370 00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:35,080 Speaker 1: it was interesting. And new survey showed that only eight 371 00:17:35,119 --> 00:17:37,959 Speaker 1: percent of Americans have a positive view of cryptocurrencies. Now 372 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:40,280 Speaker 1: that seems about right, yeah, and I get it. I 373 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:42,200 Speaker 1: mean I think I'm surprised it's even that high. But 374 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:45,480 Speaker 1: even if you're still keen on what the cryptocurrency space 375 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:47,640 Speaker 1: is going to be able to do moving forward, keep 376 00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:51,000 Speaker 1: your exposure small. It's nothing if not volatile. And so 377 00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:53,040 Speaker 1: even if you believe in it, like do the boring 378 00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:56,280 Speaker 1: stuff first, don't go too hard in an unproven space, right, 379 00:17:56,359 --> 00:18:00,520 Speaker 1: continue to eat your fruits and vegetables and meat whatever 380 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:02,840 Speaker 1: the USDA recommends. Now, I feel like they always changed 381 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:04,440 Speaker 1: it up. Like a bread, I think that still recommend 382 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:06,760 Speaker 1: a lot of bread every few years is still surprising 383 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:09,240 Speaker 1: to me. Uh. But I mean not only in the 384 00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:12,960 Speaker 1: crypto market, but we've seen massive downturn in just the 385 00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:15,280 Speaker 1: regular stock market as well. And I think that's worth 386 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:18,200 Speaker 1: mentioning because like, I mean, we we saw a significant 387 00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:20,760 Speaker 1: dip back in when the pandemic hit, but that was 388 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:22,359 Speaker 1: just a flash in the pan, like literally a few 389 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:25,119 Speaker 1: months later, we're back to normal. Uh. And so like 390 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:27,720 Speaker 1: if you erase that, which I kind of do in 391 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:30,159 Speaker 1: my mind, Like, we haven't seen a bear market like this, 392 00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:33,359 Speaker 1: like I mean, earlier this this year in October, we 393 00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:35,800 Speaker 1: were down something like and so this is the first 394 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:39,119 Speaker 1: seriously down market that a lot of folks, a lot 395 00:18:39,119 --> 00:18:41,240 Speaker 1: of our listeners have ever experienced. We haven't had something 396 00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:43,480 Speaker 1: like this since two thousand and nine. And I think 397 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:46,520 Speaker 1: a lot of individuals feel a little bit nervous because 398 00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:48,840 Speaker 1: they're they're they're for the first time, they're realizing that, 399 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:50,720 Speaker 1: wait a minute, it doesn't always go up into the 400 00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:53,440 Speaker 1: right and so we don't want you to get freaked 401 00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:55,560 Speaker 1: up about this. We want you to continue investing like 402 00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:58,240 Speaker 1: you always have. You will be wealthier in the future 403 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:01,320 Speaker 1: as long as you continue to invest now. Buying now 404 00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:03,879 Speaker 1: still a good thing, actually a better thing than it 405 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:06,720 Speaker 1: was in January, right right, all right, Matt, there's more 406 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:09,000 Speaker 1: stories that we got to get to in our year 407 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:11,560 Speaker 1: end review. We're talking about the job market, student loans, 408 00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:13,720 Speaker 1: and kind of a few other things that we thought 409 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:17,240 Speaker 1: really defined two as a year, at least from a 410 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:30,440 Speaker 1: personal finance perspective. We'll get to those right after this. Alright, man, 411 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:32,240 Speaker 1: we are back from the break. We're talking about the 412 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:35,600 Speaker 1: biggest overarching stories from this year. And normally when we 413 00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:37,840 Speaker 1: come back from the break, we do the ludicrous headline 414 00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:40,000 Speaker 1: of the week, but really pretty much everything we're talking 415 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:42,880 Speaker 1: about today is it's not a specific headline that's stupid, 416 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:45,560 Speaker 1: but they are pretty big stories that have had a 417 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:50,040 Speaker 1: fairly significant impact on the financial sector and then in 418 00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:52,800 Speaker 1: turn our personal finances. But let's talk about sort of 419 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:56,000 Speaker 1: the job market mania that we've seen this year, because 420 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:57,800 Speaker 1: I feel like like two words kind of defined the 421 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:01,160 Speaker 1: job market, Uh, worker leverage. I was thinking about saying 422 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:04,800 Speaker 1: great resignation. Yeah, but that was last year, right, I 423 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:07,040 Speaker 1: guess that technically kind of continued into this year. But 424 00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:08,840 Speaker 1: the first half of the year, I mean, we saw 425 00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:11,119 Speaker 1: something close to the hottest job market that we have 426 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:14,040 Speaker 1: ever seen in recent memory. Um, like the help wanted 427 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:17,000 Speaker 1: signs they were everywhere right, like uh, sign up bonuses. 428 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:20,320 Speaker 1: They were also all the rage like truck drivers, fast 429 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:23,160 Speaker 1: food workers. They were seeing those in abundance. I thinks 430 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 1: a thousand bucks if you will sign up to flip 431 00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:28,080 Speaker 1: burgers at Wendy's and agree to stick around for three months, 432 00:20:28,119 --> 00:20:30,119 Speaker 1: and it kind of stuff. Interviewers were just getting stood up, 433 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:31,960 Speaker 1: left and right, I think it was earlier this year 434 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:34,119 Speaker 1: that Katena run a road trip and right off of 435 00:20:34,119 --> 00:20:36,240 Speaker 1: the exits there is you know, you see the giant 436 00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:37,920 Speaker 1: Starbucks sign. I was like, I need some coffee and 437 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:40,440 Speaker 1: make sure I stay alert. And it was totally during 438 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:42,479 Speaker 1: normal business hours and they were closed and they had 439 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:44,160 Speaker 1: a sign on there and it says it just said, 440 00:20:44,359 --> 00:20:46,720 Speaker 1: we do not have enough staff to stay open. It 441 00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:48,719 Speaker 1: was a crazy time to try to get a coffee 442 00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:51,840 Speaker 1: or some fast food earlier this year. But many of 443 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:54,800 Speaker 1: our listeners took advantage of this robust job market to 444 00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:58,479 Speaker 1: grow their income in a meaningful way. We shared stats 445 00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:01,399 Speaker 1: about how much more ob jumpers were making than folks 446 00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:03,960 Speaker 1: who stayed put where they were. And you know, depending 447 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:06,240 Speaker 1: on which study you believe, like the average jobs which 448 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:09,320 Speaker 1: are made between ten to fifteen percent more than they 449 00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:12,040 Speaker 1: did in their previous position. But there's a I guess 450 00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:14,040 Speaker 1: the downside to this, right because on the flip side, 451 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:17,520 Speaker 1: because of inflation, the majority of folks who did stay 452 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:19,959 Speaker 1: put at their at their jobs this past year, they 453 00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:23,919 Speaker 1: actually made less money on in an inflation adjusted scale 454 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:26,560 Speaker 1: because inflation, like we talked about before the break, was 455 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:27,920 Speaker 1: so high this year. Yeah, for sure he had. The 456 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:30,320 Speaker 1: phenomenon was like he was more pronounced than it usually 457 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:33,240 Speaker 1: is thanks to the massive number of for higher signs 458 00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:34,560 Speaker 1: that were that were out there in the lack of 459 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:36,920 Speaker 1: workers to fill those roles. But even as the labor 460 00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:39,359 Speaker 1: market normalizes, this is still going to be a smart 461 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:41,840 Speaker 1: move for lots of folks who want a better position 462 00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:44,520 Speaker 1: with higher pay moving forward. Right, you you might not 463 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:47,680 Speaker 1: want to make this an annual tradition, Right, You don't 464 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:50,240 Speaker 1: necessarily want to like, uh, get every nine months or 465 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:51,800 Speaker 1: ten months, like stack your resume out there and try 466 00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:53,960 Speaker 1: to get a different job. That can, we would say, 467 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:56,760 Speaker 1: over time harm your resume and therefore your ability to 468 00:21:56,840 --> 00:21:59,639 Speaker 1: keep jumping around for a raise. But moving jobs to 469 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:01,600 Speaker 1: make more money every two to three years, it can 470 00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:03,760 Speaker 1: be a key way to increase your income over time. 471 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:05,800 Speaker 1: A lot of people found that out this year. Some 472 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:07,480 Speaker 1: of our listeners man have talked about being able to 473 00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:12,359 Speaker 1: make more by opting to go somewhere else. Right, what 474 00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:13,920 Speaker 1: of our what of our listeners got like a hundred 475 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:17,920 Speaker 1: thousand dollar pay raise? Yeah, I mean, like it's it's 476 00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:20,400 Speaker 1: for real. It's a it's a way to use your 477 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:23,280 Speaker 1: skills and find somebody else wants you more than your 478 00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:25,360 Speaker 1: current employeer lots of times. And by the way, it's 479 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:27,200 Speaker 1: not all about money. That's not worth saying either, because 480 00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:29,320 Speaker 1: if you love what you do and who you work with, 481 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:31,800 Speaker 1: it's more than okay to stay put. It just means 482 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:33,159 Speaker 1: that you'll have a little more work to do when 483 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:36,720 Speaker 1: it comes to negotiating that raise in the house. It's 484 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:38,600 Speaker 1: it's not as easy, right, it's not as much of 485 00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:40,840 Speaker 1: a slam dunk. But if you can figure out what 486 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:42,959 Speaker 1: your value is in the marketplace and then help your 487 00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:47,840 Speaker 1: employer understand that through data or through even another job offer, 488 00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:50,920 Speaker 1: a competitive job offer, that can allow you to stay 489 00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:53,320 Speaker 1: put but get the money that you deserve. Also, it's 490 00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:56,880 Speaker 1: one of the ways that hopefully pay transparency will continue 491 00:22:56,880 --> 00:23:01,320 Speaker 1: to empower and allow employees the ability to negotiate those 492 00:23:01,359 --> 00:23:04,080 Speaker 1: higher salaries. And that was like a smaller story this year, 493 00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:05,840 Speaker 1: but that was anna story pay transparency law is going 494 00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:07,720 Speaker 1: into effect, and how smaller story because of the pay 495 00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:10,320 Speaker 1: ranges that were then put out there, ass Like here's 496 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:12,480 Speaker 1: a specific because there were a lot of big stories 497 00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:15,000 Speaker 1: exactly like you're you're you're right, Like that's another thing 498 00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:18,959 Speaker 1: that can hopefully will over time help employees, help everyday 499 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:21,359 Speaker 1: Americans be able to make more money because they're about 500 00:23:21,359 --> 00:23:26,400 Speaker 1: to see publicized salary ranges giving them, yeah, more options 501 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:28,919 Speaker 1: when it comes to negotiating totally. Let's talk about student loans, 502 00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:32,600 Speaker 1: the lack of student loans, I should say, of those 503 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:36,360 Speaker 1: payments and then the forgiveness yo yo. That has been 504 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:38,240 Speaker 1: a top story as well this year. That has had 505 00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:41,880 Speaker 1: massive impacts on a big chunk of our listening audience. 506 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:45,200 Speaker 1: Not having to make those payments for for what's coming 507 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:47,280 Speaker 1: up on, like we're getting close to three years now, 508 00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:50,320 Speaker 1: that was a welcome respite for many and a lot 509 00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:52,760 Speaker 1: of folks have been able to use this downtime just 510 00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:56,440 Speaker 1: to accomplish some of the other more significant financial goals 511 00:23:56,440 --> 00:23:59,400 Speaker 1: that they might have right where they're able to accelerate 512 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:01,800 Speaker 1: their progress and a big way. And you know, we 513 00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:04,320 Speaker 1: thought that these student loans were gonna resume in January, 514 00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:08,359 Speaker 1: but nope, it's not gonna happen because of the President's 515 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:12,199 Speaker 1: student loan forgiveness declaration that it's it's faced quite a 516 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:15,040 Speaker 1: few legal hurdles, uh, and he's he's opted to extend 517 00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:18,040 Speaker 1: that payment restart date until there's just some more firm 518 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:21,280 Speaker 1: information on the forgiveness front, which is now set to 519 00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:24,399 Speaker 1: be heard by the Supreme Court in the spring, and 520 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:27,520 Speaker 1: we'll see what happens. It's really anyone's guess as to 521 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:29,639 Speaker 1: what the outcome of that case will be. And like 522 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:31,520 Speaker 1: we've talked about in the past, it would not be 523 00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:34,760 Speaker 1: a bad idea to practice your payments. Maybe that's just 524 00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:37,640 Speaker 1: taking that payment amount, setting it aside in a little 525 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:40,520 Speaker 1: bucket off to the side, a sinking fund or a 526 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:43,000 Speaker 1: savings bucket in your savings account, but just starting to 527 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:47,320 Speaker 1: get used to that dollar amounts coming out of your 528 00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:49,879 Speaker 1: monthly budget could be extremely helpful. And like, yeah, just 529 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:52,120 Speaker 1: think about sending it aside now. It will be less 530 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:55,639 Speaker 1: painful once that finally payment does finally start to resume, 531 00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:56,919 Speaker 1: which we don't know when that's going to be. That 532 00:24:56,920 --> 00:24:59,720 Speaker 1: could be July, that could be August, and I mean, 533 00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:01,800 Speaker 1: we we don't know yet, but we'll keep you, we'll 534 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:03,359 Speaker 1: keep you up to speed on that. But and then 535 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:05,440 Speaker 1: you'll have the practice of having done that, And also 536 00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:07,640 Speaker 1: you'll have a chunk on sitting there that you can 537 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:10,680 Speaker 1: put towards a down payment or lump some payment towards 538 00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:12,400 Speaker 1: those student loans. If that's if that's a better idea 539 00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:13,399 Speaker 1: for you, if you want to pay you down your 540 00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:15,960 Speaker 1: debt more quickly. And student loans record, they've been this 541 00:25:16,119 --> 00:25:19,520 Speaker 1: major topic of conversation thanks to these legal political battles 542 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:21,960 Speaker 1: with massive stakes for tens of millions of folks, and 543 00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:24,000 Speaker 1: that it's been kind of frustrating to watch Matt in 544 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:25,880 Speaker 1: a lot of ways because the way this was done 545 00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:28,399 Speaker 1: was kind of more like politically expedient as opposed to 546 00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:30,560 Speaker 1: going through the proper channels in order to make sure 547 00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:32,520 Speaker 1: that it that it's stuck, and it's left a lot 548 00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:35,480 Speaker 1: of people in limbo, but the real herkey jerky Yes, 549 00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:37,040 Speaker 1: and this is going to be continue to be a 550 00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:39,720 Speaker 1: major story in I think if you know you're in 551 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:42,040 Speaker 1: wrap up at the inter of next year, we're still 552 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:44,000 Speaker 1: going to be talking about students in a big way. 553 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:46,000 Speaker 1: I wish it weren't the case, right. I'm a bit 554 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:48,439 Speaker 1: tired of the whiplash, as I'm sure many of our 555 00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:51,439 Speaker 1: listeners are, but hopefully we'll have a firm resolution. I'm 556 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:55,600 Speaker 1: sitting in the passenger sea while Joel's those are good days, 557 00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:58,480 Speaker 1: Those are good days. Uh yeah. I sawed out many times, 558 00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:01,320 Speaker 1: even on busy streets, which a little frightening, but that's 559 00:26:01,359 --> 00:26:05,320 Speaker 1: writing installing out on a steep hill. It's not late, well, 560 00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:07,800 Speaker 1: I think another man. Another major story, and one that 561 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:10,280 Speaker 1: we covered a fair amount this this year on the show, 562 00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:13,080 Speaker 1: was the rise of buy now, pay later, Like I 563 00:26:13,119 --> 00:26:14,639 Speaker 1: feel like we talked about a lot about that in 564 00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:19,160 Speaker 1: our Friday Flight segments as well, Like, think about Amazon 565 00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:22,200 Speaker 1: adopting it as a payment method on their site, and 566 00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:25,399 Speaker 1: I think acquiring a stake in one of those companies 567 00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:29,720 Speaker 1: as well. We've just seen a proliferation of people after pay, 568 00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:33,040 Speaker 1: people being able to buy stuff in installments over time 569 00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:35,520 Speaker 1: as opposed to having to fork over all that money 570 00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:37,760 Speaker 1: at once, and so like, yeah, you can pay for 571 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:41,200 Speaker 1: virtually anything an easy monthly installments at this point, whether 572 00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:45,280 Speaker 1: it's a pair of shoes or a hat, I mean, Tomagachi, 573 00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:47,320 Speaker 1: I don't know, Like whatever, whatever it is, you're buying 574 00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:50,159 Speaker 1: some toys for your kids. And we are, as you 575 00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:52,600 Speaker 1: likely know, not big fans really of these buy now, 576 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:55,119 Speaker 1: pay later companies. It looked like for a second that 577 00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:58,520 Speaker 1: we were going to see them start reporting the transactions 578 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:01,199 Speaker 1: of their customers to credit bureaus, which kind of got 579 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:03,640 Speaker 1: us excited for a second about a low cost way 580 00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:05,720 Speaker 1: for folks with bad credit scores to be able to 581 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:08,720 Speaker 1: improve their credit scores in a pretty simple, easy way. 582 00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:11,560 Speaker 1: But last that's not really happening in a meaningful way. 583 00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:13,800 Speaker 1: And so by now pay later, we would say, remains 584 00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:16,640 Speaker 1: a method of payment that we'd rather see you avoid. Yeah, 585 00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:19,560 Speaker 1: I mean, there's not necessarily anything nefarious about by now 586 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:21,440 Speaker 1: pay later from it, like from an interest rate or 587 00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:24,320 Speaker 1: from a feed perspective. They're not as bad as painting 588 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:26,320 Speaker 1: loans or something like that, right right, Yeah, So if 589 00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:28,600 Speaker 1: you pay your installments off in full and on time, 590 00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:31,080 Speaker 1: you like, you basically just pay the same amount as 591 00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:34,080 Speaker 1: you otherwise would have. And so why has this been 592 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:36,640 Speaker 1: a topic that we've dedicated so much energy too, Well, 593 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:38,879 Speaker 1: it's because that by now pay later is creating a 594 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:42,920 Speaker 1: psychological effect that's driving folks to buy more than the 595 00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:46,080 Speaker 1: otherwise would which is putting them in, you know, an 596 00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:50,040 Speaker 1: uncomfortable financial position. The average cart size of a binow 597 00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:53,200 Speaker 1: pay later order it's quite a bit bigger than it 598 00:27:53,359 --> 00:27:56,080 Speaker 1: is for other orders, which leads us to believe that 599 00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:58,840 Speaker 1: this payment method is fueling consumption. This is one of 600 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:00,959 Speaker 1: the selling points of these I Now pay Later companies 601 00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:04,679 Speaker 1: to allow these different retailers to let them be an 602 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:07,440 Speaker 1: option as consumers are checking out, and so it sounds 603 00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:09,640 Speaker 1: nice to buy something over time instead of all at once, 604 00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:13,080 Speaker 1: but way too many folks have found that the ability 605 00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:17,080 Speaker 1: to pay in convenient installments has just contributed to more 606 00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:20,680 Speaker 1: stuff and less than ideal savings on hand. And so 607 00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:22,959 Speaker 1: you might hear us say that and think, well, how 608 00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:25,480 Speaker 1: is this any different though, than than credit cards, because 609 00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:29,560 Speaker 1: if you're essentially using this payment method instead of using cash, 610 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:31,399 Speaker 1: and I think what we'd say is that you are 611 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:33,320 Speaker 1: missing out on a lot of the different credit card 612 00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:36,840 Speaker 1: benefits that these companies offer you by using your credit card, right, 613 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:40,840 Speaker 1: like purchase protection UH, sign up bonuses, UH, just ongoing 614 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:44,520 Speaker 1: cash back. And obviously NPL is offering none of those incentives, 615 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:47,640 Speaker 1: none of that stuff exactly. And so obviously we don't 616 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:49,920 Speaker 1: want you to use a credit card if you don't 617 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:52,240 Speaker 1: have that cash on hand to immediately pay it off 618 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:54,160 Speaker 1: at the very least by the end of the month. 619 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:56,160 Speaker 1: But that's one of the reasons that we're such big 620 00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:58,200 Speaker 1: fans of of using credit cards. And then on top 621 00:28:58,200 --> 00:28:59,360 Speaker 1: of that too, I guess if you think about it 622 00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:02,160 Speaker 1: this way, when you use a singular credit card, or 623 00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:05,000 Speaker 1: maybe even two credit cards. It's a lot easier to 624 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:08,280 Speaker 1: manage those cards and look in those two spending summaries, right, 625 00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:10,640 Speaker 1: or you look at your statement and it's you're able 626 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:14,000 Speaker 1: to manage it fairly easily, whereas with a binal pay later. 627 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:16,160 Speaker 1: Essentially it's like each one of those purchases is like 628 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:18,600 Speaker 1: its own credit card, and so you know, and so 629 00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:21,160 Speaker 1: like it becomes easier to let it run amuck and 630 00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:23,200 Speaker 1: cause you to spend more than you are planning on, 631 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:25,480 Speaker 1: And so I get. I get that credit cards have 632 00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:27,320 Speaker 1: some of that ability as well. That's one of the 633 00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:30,360 Speaker 1: things that people criticize credit cards over right, is that 634 00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:34,960 Speaker 1: it causes people to think less about the money they're spending, 635 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:38,560 Speaker 1: whereas it feels more difficult apart from the cash that 636 00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:41,080 Speaker 1: you have in your pocket, or at least that's historically 637 00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:43,040 Speaker 1: been the case, like we've talked about recently, I would 638 00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:45,840 Speaker 1: be interested to see some new studies to see whether 639 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:47,480 Speaker 1: or not that's still the case, because I do think 640 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:50,840 Speaker 1: young people have a different attachment to cash than twenty 641 00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:53,520 Speaker 1: years ago than people twenty years ago. But yeah, we 642 00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:55,760 Speaker 1: think credit cards are a very different method, a very 643 00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:57,960 Speaker 1: different way of spending, and there's more ways to be 644 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:00,400 Speaker 1: discipline in your credit card spending, and there's more ways 645 00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:02,400 Speaker 1: to rep rewards from it as well. And totally by 646 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:04,880 Speaker 1: the way, something else that was new this year on 647 00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:07,200 Speaker 1: the How the Money front is the credit card tool 648 00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:09,000 Speaker 1: that we just launched. You can find that at how 649 00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:11,200 Speaker 1: the Money dot com slash credit Cards. If you're looking 650 00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:13,920 Speaker 1: for a better credit card, if you're looking to maximize 651 00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:16,000 Speaker 1: the rewards that you get based on the spending that 652 00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:18,120 Speaker 1: you do. That's right, It's much better than going to 653 00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:19,560 Speaker 1: the B n p L route. But let's offer a 654 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:21,640 Speaker 1: few takeaways, Matt from this year. We covered kind of 655 00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:24,400 Speaker 1: some of the big stories that we felt like we're 656 00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:27,400 Speaker 1: integral to, kind of what happened in our country, in 657 00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:30,320 Speaker 1: the world over this over this past year, inflation run 658 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:32,760 Speaker 1: them buck crazy job market leading to lots of people 659 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:35,240 Speaker 1: being able to crush it. But um yeah, let's offer 660 00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:38,040 Speaker 1: a few just takeaways that we learned from this year 661 00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:40,200 Speaker 1: or or things that have at least been driven home 662 00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:42,360 Speaker 1: a little more deeply. The first thing that sticks out 663 00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:45,880 Speaker 1: in my mind is the need for humility. There are 664 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:48,800 Speaker 1: always it's always in short supply. Yes, yes, there's not 665 00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:50,720 Speaker 1: not a lot of that, especially in this space, is 666 00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:53,400 Speaker 1: in in the financial space, there's a lot of predictions. 667 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:54,840 Speaker 1: There's a lot of hubris. There's a lot of telling 668 00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:56,360 Speaker 1: people this is what's going to happen or this is 669 00:30:56,400 --> 00:30:59,440 Speaker 1: how you should act. And I guess like talking heads 670 00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:02,120 Speaker 1: gotta talk like that's their job and that's what they 671 00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:05,000 Speaker 1: get paid for, and so they have to make blustery 672 00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:08,720 Speaker 1: predictions into the TV screen that we are you know, 673 00:31:08,840 --> 00:31:11,600 Speaker 1: that's seven or whatever. And so as Matt and I 674 00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:14,840 Speaker 1: give advice moving forward, like that's the goal of ours 675 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:18,080 Speaker 1: is too, is to offer effective personal finance advice that 676 00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:20,560 Speaker 1: you can implement into your life without being too dogmatic. 677 00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:23,800 Speaker 1: That's right, man. Another encouragement we want to provide folks 678 00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:27,480 Speaker 1: is to accept uncertainty. We make plans, God laughs, That's 679 00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:30,440 Speaker 1: the how the saying goes. And so we say that 680 00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:32,800 Speaker 1: because it's not that we shouldn't make plans, right, but 681 00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:35,400 Speaker 1: we think that holding our plans a little more loosely 682 00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:39,120 Speaker 1: that that is wise. It's darn near impossible to predict 683 00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:42,760 Speaker 1: these macro events, the things that we could not have foreseen, 684 00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:46,720 Speaker 1: like pandemics and wars. Even polls for likely political outcomes 685 00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:49,600 Speaker 1: are often oftentimes dismally wrong, like the red wave to 686 00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:52,800 Speaker 1: the red trenchle right exactly. Yeah, And going back to 687 00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:55,200 Speaker 1: the financial markets, the stock market, it's a lot easier 688 00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:58,840 Speaker 1: to predict across decades than it is over over specific months. 689 00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:01,320 Speaker 1: Makes me think of like we had Alison Schreeger on 690 00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:03,000 Speaker 1: the show earlier this year. Front of the show, she 691 00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:07,880 Speaker 1: calls them uh known unknowns. I think Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary 692 00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:11,600 Speaker 1: of Defense, he also said this uh popularity. I think 693 00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:13,800 Speaker 1: she kind of got up from him more recently on 694 00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:16,200 Speaker 1: my mind though, from Schreeger. But the more comfortable that 695 00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:19,000 Speaker 1: we can become not knowing the future and then worrying 696 00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:21,960 Speaker 1: less about it in general, I think the more successful 697 00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:25,360 Speaker 1: that we're likely to be, the less anxiety written to. Sure, Yeah, 698 00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:28,520 Speaker 1: we want to encourage folks to focus on like their 699 00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:32,920 Speaker 1: locus of control or also known as your sphere of influence, right, Like, 700 00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:35,520 Speaker 1: we certainly want to pay attention to the news, and 701 00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:37,440 Speaker 1: that's the entire point of our Friday flights is to 702 00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:40,440 Speaker 1: be able to interpret that news and to determine how 703 00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:42,640 Speaker 1: it is that it's going to affect us as individuals. 704 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:45,360 Speaker 1: But we want the vast majority of our effort in 705 00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:47,200 Speaker 1: our time and our energy to be focused on the 706 00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:49,840 Speaker 1: things that we have direct impact over as opposed to 707 00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:52,920 Speaker 1: the things that we have virtually no control over. Yeah, 708 00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:55,239 Speaker 1: so all right, last last big takeaway I would say 709 00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:57,720 Speaker 1: from this year that we had was to be flexible. 710 00:32:57,960 --> 00:32:59,440 Speaker 1: And we just did a whole episode on this Matt 711 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:03,800 Speaker 1: episode because we still we feel so uh strongly the 712 00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:07,200 Speaker 1: people incorporate more flexibility into their financial lives and into 713 00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:10,280 Speaker 1: their personal lives because there is more uncertainty. Exactly, it 714 00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:12,960 Speaker 1: pays to be flexible, for sure, and the greater levels 715 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:15,560 Speaker 1: levels of flexibility that you can attain from a personal 716 00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:19,200 Speaker 1: and financial perspective will allow you to weather whatever storms 717 00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:21,440 Speaker 1: come along right with like I said, less anxiety, you 718 00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:24,400 Speaker 1: might even you might be able to take unpredictable events 719 00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:29,240 Speaker 1: and turn them into something glorious, like turning lemons into lemonade. 720 00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:31,920 Speaker 1: Like our friend who took her stimulus money to launch 721 00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:34,440 Speaker 1: an online business that eventually allowed her to quit her 722 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:37,680 Speaker 1: day job. That's one of those unexpected uh sums of 723 00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:40,240 Speaker 1: money to land in your lap, and then you turn 724 00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:43,120 Speaker 1: turn that into something meaningful. Other people they bought crypto 725 00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:45,760 Speaker 1: and more take out, right, And so I think if 726 00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:47,840 Speaker 1: you're flexible, they probably wish they would have bought more 727 00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:49,840 Speaker 1: Chinese food. But the hand that stuck it in that 728 00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:52,920 Speaker 1: one stupid coin. Right. But if you're flexible and opportunistic 729 00:33:53,080 --> 00:33:55,320 Speaker 1: in that way, opportunities are going to come along, but 730 00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:56,560 Speaker 1: you have to be able to pounce and you have 731 00:33:56,640 --> 00:34:00,360 Speaker 1: to have the flexibility to take advantage of what comes along. 732 00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:03,120 Speaker 1: So stay flexible, be on the lookout for opportunity, and 733 00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:05,640 Speaker 1: you're more likely to find it. So yeah, be humble, 734 00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:08,839 Speaker 1: except uncertainty, be flexible. Those are three main takeaways from 735 00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:10,759 Speaker 1: this year. That's right. And there's a good reason too 736 00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:13,080 Speaker 1: why we're not making big predictions for next year because 737 00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:15,200 Speaker 1: for the most part they don't really matter. It matters 738 00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:18,000 Speaker 1: less like what happens, what actions are taken against you, 739 00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:20,200 Speaker 1: and it matters more I think on how it is 740 00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:23,600 Speaker 1: that you respond to those actions. And again, so we 741 00:34:23,719 --> 00:34:25,840 Speaker 1: just want to make sure that you are seeing yourself 742 00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:28,680 Speaker 1: as the one behind the wheel of your life. There 743 00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:30,839 Speaker 1: are changes, there are actions that you can take as 744 00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:33,640 Speaker 1: an individual regardless of what it is that's going on 745 00:34:33,760 --> 00:34:37,000 Speaker 1: around us. And hopefully, as we are going into an 746 00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:39,239 Speaker 1: uncertain year, who the heck knows what's going to happen, 747 00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:42,080 Speaker 1: that that is a note of encouragement for you. And 748 00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:44,279 Speaker 1: there are still ways that we're gonna be able to 749 00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:47,120 Speaker 1: I think, take the headlines, take the financial news, make 750 00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:49,640 Speaker 1: tweaks to our personal finance live so that we can 751 00:34:49,680 --> 00:34:51,839 Speaker 1: make more progress over time, Like so you can take 752 00:34:51,920 --> 00:34:54,000 Speaker 1: advantage of something like I bonds in the face of 753 00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:57,439 Speaker 1: roaring inflation, so that you can something we talked about 754 00:34:57,480 --> 00:35:00,480 Speaker 1: in twenty Yeah, all sorts of little tweaks that you 755 00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:02,600 Speaker 1: can make along the way. It's important to to keep 756 00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:05,319 Speaker 1: growing in your personal finance knowledge. That is what Matt 757 00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:06,719 Speaker 1: and I that's what we're here to do. We're here 758 00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:08,719 Speaker 1: to to serve you and to offer you the best 759 00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:11,160 Speaker 1: information that we have so that we can all continue 760 00:35:11,200 --> 00:35:13,760 Speaker 1: to make progress when it comes to our money decisions. 761 00:35:13,960 --> 00:35:16,160 Speaker 1: And we look forward to delivering more of that money 762 00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:21,280 Speaker 1: saving info moving into next year and three. Baby Monday 763 00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:23,320 Speaker 1: is gonna be a really fun episode with one of 764 00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:26,480 Speaker 1: our favorite economists actually, who has a lot of wisdom 765 00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:29,880 Speaker 1: when it comes to how to make your goals actually 766 00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:33,200 Speaker 1: more sticky so you can accomplish the things you're trying 767 00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:35,320 Speaker 1: to accomplish. So we hope to see back here on 768 00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:38,120 Speaker 1: Monday for that interview episode that's right man, So we 769 00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:40,880 Speaker 1: wish everyone out there a happy new year. In Joel, 770 00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:43,839 Speaker 1: that's gonna be it, buddy, Until next time, best friends out, 771 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:45,200 Speaker 1: best friends out,