Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and
Speaker 1: Matt and today we're discussing reopening the economy and getting refunds.
Speaker 1: All right, Joel Friday. Episode. That means it's time to
Speaker 1: talk about the coronavirus how it has to do with
Speaker 1: our personal finances. It's currently week six of the of
Speaker 1: the lockdown, at least for most of the country. I
Speaker 1: think while some places are starting to ease restrictions, some
Speaker 1: some states, you know, some governors have opened up certain
Speaker 1: sectors of the economy, and that's something that we're gonna
Speaker 1: address and kind of talk about on the show today too.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about that, We're gonna talk about being
Speaker 1: watched by your employer when you're working from home, as
Speaker 1: well as getting refunds. So let's let's kind of dive
Speaker 1: into it because we actually have a lot to talk about.
Speaker 1: No personal banter. Well, let's get to Yeah, let's get
Speaker 1: to the good news first, Mac, That's what we like
Speaker 1: to cover on these the good news. Yeah, and there
Speaker 1: are some good things, some good stories floating around, even
Speaker 1: at a time of great distress for a lot of people.
Speaker 1: And so I think for you know, how we're going
Speaker 1: through this mentally, it's good to be able to focus
Speaker 1: on some of the some of the positive things that
Speaker 1: are happening around us. And one thing that we were
Speaker 1: notified of by a local listener, Rebecca wrote into us
Speaker 1: and she mentioned that our episode about how to use
Speaker 1: your stimulus check that came out last week, that really
Speaker 1: helped her a lot to ease some of her guilt. Actually,
Speaker 1: the moral conversation that we had about how to use
Speaker 1: that stimulus money, how you should think about it, it
Speaker 1: was really helpful in in her being able to actually
Speaker 1: feel okay saving a portion of it. But she also
Speaker 1: mentioned in her email Matt, this local nonprofit called Bloom
Speaker 1: to a Room and it just got started because of
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen. And there's this young fella, young local Atlantic guy,
Speaker 1: Braxton Chadwick. He's a high school senior and he is
Speaker 1: looking for donations to brighten the lives of seniors suffering
Speaker 1: from COVID. He's getting flowers into rooms around the Atlanta area. Man,
Speaker 1: I had to make a donation when I read that
Speaker 1: story when I went to his website. It's really cool
Speaker 1: to see young people in particular doing incredible things in
Speaker 1: this time. And Braxton is one of those young people
Speaker 1: doing something really great, some flowers to brighten the days
Speaker 1: of seniors who are suffering right now. And the reason
Speaker 1: we're sharing this story is so Rebecca she mentioned that
Speaker 1: she had a little bit of guilt for from receiving
Speaker 1: her stimulus money, right and so we had talked some
Speaker 1: about ways that we can give that money away, and
Speaker 1: so I think stories like this will help us. Hopefully
Speaker 1: it will encourage folks out there to kind of pay
Speaker 1: it forward essentially, if you feel at tinge of guilt
Speaker 1: because you maybe maybe you are in a fantastic spot financially,
Speaker 1: and if so, then then paying it forward and find
Speaker 1: ways to contribute to you know, the needs of others
Speaker 1: and looking for those different opportunities to to give your money.
Speaker 1: That's a great use of your stimulus money. But Joel, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm with you when I heard about that story. You know,
Speaker 1: he's a high school senior, and so I think it's
Speaker 1: just an amazing mission that he has started, essentially, And
Speaker 1: so Rebecca, you know, she had gotten in touch with us.
Speaker 1: She let us know about bloom to a Room. She
Speaker 1: even emailed him Braxton to inquire if her aunt's senior
Speaker 1: living facility was on his list, and he said that
Speaker 1: it wasn't, but he ended up putting it on his
Speaker 1: list and delivered flowers to that facility the very next day.
Speaker 1: She said that she didn't get flowers personally, but that
Speaker 1: she sure felt like she did, so major props to
Speaker 1: Braxton for brightening people's days, you know, with these flowers
Speaker 1: and doing something that I think a typical senior in
Speaker 1: high school wouldn't be doing, you know, like this is
Speaker 1: a typical high school senior behavior, but it's definitely something
Speaker 1: that he's doing. And major props to him for that. Yeah, completely.
Speaker 1: And Matt on another note on the good news front
Speaker 1: and talking about paying it forward, well, an anonymous donor
Speaker 1: paid the water bill of four thousand residents of a
Speaker 1: small Indiana town. The total donation was over two thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: Those kind of stories are so fun to read, right
Speaker 1: because a donation like that has an immediate impact on
Speaker 1: all the families of that town, but in particular a
Speaker 1: family that is struggling that's maybe gone through a job
Speaker 1: loss or has been furloughed and hasn't seen a stimulus
Speaker 1: check come into their bank account yet, or their waiting
Speaker 1: on an unemployment claim. That's one major financial victory right there,
Speaker 1: having your water bill taken care of for a month.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I don't know who this person is. They're anonymous,
Speaker 1: but I love reading stories like that too, well, a
Speaker 1: non anonymous donor. So in Atlanta, Tyler Perry, he's you know,
Speaker 1: like the film producer. I just call him Media. Those
Speaker 1: are some of the movies that he makes. But he uh,
Speaker 1: a few weeks ago, he paid for all the groceries
Speaker 1: during Senior Hour and so uh local grocery store around here, Kroger.
Speaker 1: He paid for the groceries on a specific day of
Speaker 1: a bunch of Kroger's across Atlanta, as well as some
Speaker 1: Win Dixies I think in Louisiana, which is where he's from.
Speaker 1: But yeah, another super cool way that folks are kind
Speaker 1: of stepping up and helping others in need. By the way,
Speaker 1: can he shop during Senior Hour if he's dressed as media? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: I think he totally kid Atlanta's Angel. That was I
Speaker 1: think what the cashiers were supposed to tell the seniors
Speaker 1: when they said, oh no, your bills covered. So I
Speaker 1: thought that was pretty cool. Also, there's this luxury hotel
Speaker 1: that's hosting COVID patients at this hotel. It's for fancy
Speaker 1: in Barcelona, right in Spain. It normally has rooms at
Speaker 1: four hundred fifty dollars a night's but the owner decided
Speaker 1: to open up their rooms for those affected by COVID nineteen.
Speaker 1: Most of their guests are those with miles symptoms, but
Speaker 1: again also those who are more vulnerable, the elderly, some
Speaker 1: who are pregnant. It's interesting about that story is the
Speaker 1: owner she was a little worried that she was going
Speaker 1: to get a little bit of pushback from her current customers,
Speaker 1: from you know, her previous customers that typically come to
Speaker 1: her hotel, but in fact she saw the opposite. A
Speaker 1: lot of regulars who do stay at the hotel reached
Speaker 1: out when they heard that she was doing this to
Speaker 1: let her know that like, hey, I'm not gonna be
Speaker 1: traveling to Barcelona in time soon for obvious reasons, but
Speaker 1: as soon as possible, I'm going to make sure that
Speaker 1: I book some travel and I'm going to make sure
Speaker 1: to stay at your hotel. Because they wanted to voice
Speaker 1: their support for how she's taking care of others. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a really cool story, man. I I found that
Speaker 1: one to be really neat and hotels at this particular
Speaker 1: point in time, Yeah, they're not seeing much foot traffic,
Speaker 1: and so the hotel owners who are being generous with
Speaker 1: those rooms and taking care of patients, that's huge, Matt.
Speaker 1: There was another listener email that we got this week
Speaker 1: that thought it was important to share. It was from
Speaker 1: Tristan and Liz, a really young couple from Massachusetts, and
Speaker 1: they said they started listening last year when they were
Speaker 1: twenty three and twenty five, and Liz was in three
Speaker 1: thousand dollars worth the credit card debt, ninety thod dollars
Speaker 1: with the student loans, and thirty thousand of that was
Speaker 1: a private student loan at eleven percent interest. And Tristan
Speaker 1: told us that he budgeted and worked more overtime at
Speaker 1: his job as an e m T when they were
Speaker 1: short on money. He said, neither of us had an
Speaker 1: emergency fund, neither of us budgeting a single dollar. Now
Speaker 1: both of us used mint to budget. We know where
Speaker 1: every dollar goes, and we're realizing how much money was
Speaker 1: slipping through the cracks. Tristan says, I opened up a
Speaker 1: wrath for oh K at work, and I'm taking advantage
Speaker 1: of my company match. Liz obliterated her credit card debt
Speaker 1: last summer, bought a used car in cash, and refinanced
Speaker 1: that thirty thousand dollars of private loans to a four
Speaker 1: percent interest rate. They both have emergency funds in high
Speaker 1: interest rate accounts too, with three months worth of expenses
Speaker 1: on hand, and they just finished saving up those emergency
Speaker 1: funds when the COVID pandemic occurred and Liz lost her job,
Speaker 1: and Triston said, thanks to this money, she can take
Speaker 1: her time looking for a job and live stress free
Speaker 1: for months. And if we hadn't been taken the advice
Speaker 1: from the podcast, then they wouldn't have been in this position.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I love hearing reports like that from listeners
Speaker 1: who have been able to take the advice that we
Speaker 1: give on the show. They've taken action on it. And
Speaker 1: for for Liz and Tristan, they've really only been taking
Speaker 1: action for a year, but they've made a lot of
Speaker 1: progress in one year. I think sometimes it can be
Speaker 1: daunting to hear all the things we talk about, and
Speaker 1: it feels like those far off projections of healthy retirement
Speaker 1: and paying off debt, they seem so far away, But
Speaker 1: you have to put one ft in front of the other.
Speaker 1: And that's what Tristan Liz did. And look at what's
Speaker 1: possible in just a year's worth of time, and how
Speaker 1: much safety and security that provides during an even unforeseen
Speaker 1: economic downturn. Yeah. Man, what an awesome email. So a
Speaker 1: huge thanks to to Liz and Tristan for sending that
Speaker 1: note our way. And I think for the rest of
Speaker 1: our listeners out there who are thinking, like, what do
Speaker 1: I do now that we are in this situation? Um?
Speaker 1: And I still think that changes can be made even now,
Speaker 1: even during the great lockdown, right, a lot of us
Speaker 1: have received and stimulus money, and I think if you
Speaker 1: don't have an emergency fund, put that money towards an
Speaker 1: emergency fund, right, Like we've talked before. How two thousand
Speaker 1: and sixty seven dollars, How that's a great baseline. And
Speaker 1: guess what twelve und bucks that gets you half of
Speaker 1: the way there. So obviously most folks financial situations look
Speaker 1: a lot different today than it did two months ago.
Speaker 1: But we want to encourage you, if you're listening, to
Speaker 1: take those small steps today and to start making those
Speaker 1: those small changes in your lives. Until one final quick
Speaker 1: piece of good news we wanted to share is that
Speaker 1: the credit reporting agencies, Experience, Equifax, and trains Union, they
Speaker 1: are all offering free credit reports every single week for
Speaker 1: the next year if you go to annual credit report
Speaker 1: dot com. So it used to be to where you
Speaker 1: only had access to a free report by one of
Speaker 1: those three bureaus once a year, but now you get
Speaker 1: it fifty two times a year. And we're all about
Speaker 1: keeping in the track of your score. That is free
Speaker 1: via a lot of different websites, and you can do
Speaker 1: that whenever you want. You can check in on your
Speaker 1: credit score. It's updated monthly, but check in on your report. Yeah,
Speaker 1: usually only available to people once you hear Now it's
Speaker 1: open to you every single week. You can really stay
Speaker 1: up to speed on what's going on with your credit
Speaker 1: and in particular with people going through difficult financial times,
Speaker 1: there's a higher potential of credit damage and so yeah,
Speaker 1: staying on top of that is really important. Nice alright, Well,
Speaker 1: so one other thing we wanted to discuss before the
Speaker 1: break is how some states are starting to make their
Speaker 1: own determinations on their reopening timeline. Our governor here in
Speaker 1: Georgia actually made the controversial decision uh and today. The
Speaker 1: Governor's order will allow places like Gems, bowling alleys, nail
Speaker 1: and hair salons, and massage therapists to reopen for business.
Speaker 1: On top of that, restaurants will be allowed to open
Speaker 1: on Monday if they comply with social distancing and sanitary measures.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know what, I think it's pretty stinking
Speaker 1: ironic that Georgia is saying that these businesses can reopen
Speaker 1: when the state as a whole hasn't met the guidelines
Speaker 1: that was handed down from the White House on a
Speaker 1: federal level. Yeah, it's certainly weird to hear that that
Speaker 1: these businesses can reopen right now when it doesn't seem
Speaker 1: like from the health professional side of things that almost
Speaker 1: anybody is advocating for that. But I think the biggest
Speaker 1: stand up to me, and that was bowling Alleys. Really,
Speaker 1: they're they're an essential business that we should be reopening
Speaker 1: right now. And I guess maybe maybe on the lanes
Speaker 1: you can stay six ft away from people, Yeah, you
Speaker 1: can maintain some social distance at a bowling alley, but like,
Speaker 1: how are you supposed to do that at a hair
Speaker 1: salon or or nail salon? Right? Yeah? Yeah, And so
Speaker 1: I think it does that this question of the reopening
Speaker 1: of the economy, well, it has a few layers to it.
Speaker 1: One is the economic considerations. Right, it prompts the question
Speaker 1: how should we view our economy reopening? And I think
Speaker 1: the answer is that it's complicated. Our lives as a
Speaker 1: whole are going to be very different for the foreseeable future.
Speaker 1: Like we talked about last week, Matt, that even as
Speaker 1: these businesses begin to reopen, as governors do open the doors,
Speaker 1: and the great lockdown kind of subsides, Well, just because
Speaker 1: states can reopen some sectors, should they be reopening those
Speaker 1: sectors of the economy. And just because the state says
Speaker 1: that we can, well should we be links so as individuals.
Speaker 1: And I think we've heard from local restaurants, from local
Speaker 1: businesses pretty loud and clear that at least the ones
Speaker 1: that I follow on social media and the ones that
Speaker 1: the people that we're friends with, is that they're unlikely
Speaker 1: to open even though they're being told that they can.
Speaker 1: But I will say that these are tough questions and
Speaker 1: the government edicts that have forced people to stay in
Speaker 1: their home and shutter their business, well, in many cases,
Speaker 1: the government has promised to help them to keep food
Speaker 1: on the table, and that help has not materialized. The
Speaker 1: stimulus checks have been at least somewhat delayed, the p
Speaker 1: PP funding and the E I d L funding for
Speaker 1: for small businesses in need ran out in no time flat,
Speaker 1: And so those people are are understandably frustrated that they
Speaker 1: have been told to shut their business and they have
Speaker 1: not been compensated in any sort of way from the government.
Speaker 1: So I understand that first frustration, and I think that's
Speaker 1: why we're seeing some protests around the country, uh, surrounding
Speaker 1: these political decisions to to keep enforcing a lockdown. But
Speaker 1: that doesn't mean it's the best course of action, right
Speaker 1: and and for all of us as a whole. We
Speaker 1: have to be thinking on this greater level that continuing
Speaker 1: to shelter in place for at least a foreseeable future
Speaker 1: actually is going to help us all health wise and
Speaker 1: economically in the long run. But I understand the frustration
Speaker 1: from both sides. It's it's a really tough conundrum that
Speaker 1: we're in. Yeah, I totally agreement. I think we can
Speaker 1: easily see how it's not the best decision when it
Speaker 1: comes to our health. And like you said that, like
Speaker 1: the long term implications and let's play Devil's advocate a
Speaker 1: little bit here too, write and like, aside from the
Speaker 1: economic and personal finance factors, individuals are going to have
Speaker 1: different levels of risk that they are comfortable with. Right,
Speaker 1: There are always trade offs in life. Right. We make
Speaker 1: decisions every single day that affect not only our health
Speaker 1: but the health of those around us. So take cars
Speaker 1: as a quick example, like driving more and walking less,
Speaker 1: like that leads to increased heart disease. We know that,
Speaker 1: you know, driving more leads to more carbon dioxide in
Speaker 1: our atmosphere. And then not to mention the deaths that
Speaker 1: are directly attributed to automobile accidents right easily over desks
Speaker 1: every single year for almost the past one years. Yet
Speaker 1: we all continue to drive because we're comfortable with that risk.
Speaker 1: So I mentioned this, you know, to point out that
Speaker 1: this is not an easy question to answer, and our
Speaker 1: goal shouldn't be to vilify those who we disagree with,
Speaker 1: whether the topic is our health or if it's money related.
Speaker 1: So much of what we talk about on this show
Speaker 1: it comes down to us on a personal and individual level.
Speaker 1: And like, that's why we call it personal finance. Right,
Speaker 1: it has to do with us as individuals. However, we
Speaker 1: just need to remember, though, to base our actions on
Speaker 1: fact and science. Right, Like, we all know it's important
Speaker 1: to continue to slow the spread of the virus to
Speaker 1: buy scientists and doctors more time. So we need to
Speaker 1: make sure that we're doing our part. Just because the
Speaker 1: governor said that certain businesses can open doesn't necessarily mean
Speaker 1: that those businesses should And just because some businesses will
Speaker 1: open their doors doesn't mean that we have to take
Speaker 1: part in that. It comes down to us as individuals
Speaker 1: and man, you know, like unfortunately, I think certain individuals
Speaker 1: they'll see headlines that say, oh, the all these stores
Speaker 1: are open, and they're going to see that as a
Speaker 1: sign that everything is safe. And unfortunately that's not the case.
Speaker 1: We know that's not the case, but sadly that the
Speaker 1: message that it sends, yeah, it certainly does, and I
Speaker 1: hate that some people are going to get the wrong
Speaker 1: message from this. So I would say, as as your
Speaker 1: local economy starts to reopen slowly, no matter what timeline
Speaker 1: that's on, whether you live in a state that is
Speaker 1: reopening swiftly starting today or you live in a state
Speaker 1: that that's taking greater precautions, I would say wear a mask,
Speaker 1: don't take unnecessary risks, and if you're a business owner,
Speaker 1: make sure you're looking after your your workers. And so
Speaker 1: even if you know you really want to reopen your business,
Speaker 1: but you don't feel it safe or you can't take
Speaker 1: proper social distancing precautions to be able to to ensure
Speaker 1: the safety of your your workers and your your customers,
Speaker 1: then then I would say hold off if that's in
Speaker 1: the best interests of everyone's health. And also, don't look
Speaker 1: to politicians as having the right answer on the best
Speaker 1: behavior that you should be taking to keep yourself in
Speaker 1: your family safe. So, yeah, Matt, I think the reopening
Speaker 1: of the economy, it's kind of a hot button issue
Speaker 1: right now, but we felt the need away and especially
Speaker 1: as some of these local economies are starting to reopen
Speaker 1: like now. But all right, we got some more things
Speaker 1: to get to, including being watched while working from home,
Speaker 1: giving refunds. That's become a tricky thing for consumers in
Speaker 1: this COVID nineteen world. We'll get to some of those
Speaker 1: things right after the break, right Joel, back from the break,
Speaker 1: and before we get to working from home and getting
Speaker 1: some refunds from different companies, it's got to mention how
Speaker 1: there's gonna be more money for small businesses p PP
Speaker 1: funding or the paycheck Protection program that ran out last
Speaker 1: week because the original bill man it just did not
Speaker 1: allocate nearly enough money. It seemed obvious that, you know,
Speaker 1: lawmakers essentially kind of knew that maybe when the bill
Speaker 1: was crafted. And in addition to that, like some big
Speaker 1: American corporations actually took money that was intended for more
Speaker 1: these small businesses. Shake Shack, they're one of these large
Speaker 1: companies that took a lot of money that was available
Speaker 1: to them through PPP. But at least in their case,
Speaker 1: they returned the ten million dollars that they took after
Speaker 1: receiving criticism. And some would argue that they do contribute
Speaker 1: to their economy local lee, but the fact that this
Speaker 1: is a giant corporation, they have funding and resources that's
Speaker 1: available to them, that's you know, true small businesses could
Speaker 1: only dream of having access to. Yeah, they did the
Speaker 1: right thing by returning that money. And I think, you know,
Speaker 1: hopefully some of these other larger corporations that should not
Speaker 1: have taken PPP money will be returning there's as well.
Speaker 1: So lawmakers are passing this bill, this FO four billion
Speaker 1: dollar package, and a large portion of that will be
Speaker 1: earmarked for the unbanked, to minorities in rural areas, into
Speaker 1: lots of mom and pop stores that don't have good
Speaker 1: banking connections and need to help. That's really what was missing,
Speaker 1: Matt from the first iteration, where a lot of those
Speaker 1: people were left on the sidelines while these bigger companies
Speaker 1: snatched up all the money. So if you are a
Speaker 1: small business that has applied but was denied access to
Speaker 1: one of these p p P loans, will stay in
Speaker 1: touch with your banker if you have one. But but
Speaker 1: some of these small businesses, Matt, they don't even have
Speaker 1: a relationship with a bank. So we would mention too
Speaker 1: that PayPal and fintech small business lender Cabbage k A
Speaker 1: B B a g E are both offering p p
Speaker 1: P loans to people online, and they're offering you the
Speaker 1: ability to apply online and they're taking applications now. They've
Speaker 1: left applications open even while there was no PPP funding
Speaker 1: in anticipation that there would be more. So, yeah, those
Speaker 1: are two good places to to go to consider to
Speaker 1: apply for that money if you're having trouble getting a
Speaker 1: banker at at a big bank, or even at a
Speaker 1: smaller local bank or credit unions even respond to your emails,
Speaker 1: and so let's talk about getting refunds to add insult
Speaker 1: to injury. For many big companies are being stingy with
Speaker 1: refunds in situations where events or services were canceled. Ticket Master,
Speaker 1: you know, they do not have the most consumer friendly
Speaker 1: policies in normal times. I know I haven't heard that,
Speaker 1: and they weren't too keen to offer refunds even in
Speaker 1: the face of a pandemic. But they have changed their
Speaker 1: tune and now you know, they've made it sound like
Speaker 1: that they were always planning to get refunds for these
Speaker 1: shows that were going to be rescheduled. Sure you are right,
Speaker 1: I'm sure taket Master, right, Yeah, I'm glad that they
Speaker 1: have said that even a rescheduled show was available for
Speaker 1: a refund. But yeah, for at the beginning, they were like, no,
Speaker 1: what are you talking about. We just moved the date.
Speaker 1: And that's a big issue, especially if you've got hundreds
Speaker 1: of dollars tied up in tickets that you purchased. Ticketmaster
Speaker 1: finally doing the right thing. Many reports to have shown
Speaker 1: that airlines are attempting to offer travel credits instead of
Speaker 1: refunds at the same time, And and Consumer Reports has
Speaker 1: a petition that you can sign, because that's a big
Speaker 1: problem right now, and that is even more money tied
Speaker 1: up than concert tickets. Typically, if you've got travel booked
Speaker 1: to a foreign country or even just domestically, you could
Speaker 1: have hundreds and hundreds or thousands of dollars tied up
Speaker 1: in airline tickets and the airline just wants to offer
Speaker 1: you a credit for a future flight. Uh, And that
Speaker 1: just isn't fair. So we would encourage you to sign
Speaker 1: that petition. We've linked to it in the show notes.
Speaker 1: And especially with the federal funds that these airlines are receiving,
Speaker 1: that it's not okay for them to be only issuing vouchers.
Speaker 1: It may seem mad to see that they're receiving billions
Speaker 1: in money from the federal government and that they're not
Speaker 1: offering refunds to consumers unless you beg and plead. So
Speaker 1: that's not cool, and I hope they start to change
Speaker 1: their tune quickly too. I think there are some even
Speaker 1: some class action paw suits being filed against a lot
Speaker 1: of the major airlines, And yeah, I hope they do
Speaker 1: the right thing. Let's go discuss too being watched while
Speaker 1: working from home. First of all, it's great that so
Speaker 1: many companies are able to maintain business as usual right
Speaker 1: the ability for employees to work remotely. This has been
Speaker 1: a growing trend that we've seen over the years, but
Speaker 1: the recent pandemic like that has only accelerated that. But
Speaker 1: the issue now, though, is that the employers who weren't
Speaker 1: already set up in a position to manage their staff,
Speaker 1: they are all scrambling to make sure that productivity continues.
Speaker 1: Workplace in computer monitoring is the solution oftentimes in many
Speaker 1: of these cases, and naturally, this software allows employers and
Speaker 1: managers the ability to see what their staff is up to,
Speaker 1: and one company says that increase for their software has
Speaker 1: tripled since the middle of March, and of their two
Speaker 1: thousand existing customers, about a third of them have requested
Speaker 1: additional licenses so they can track more users. So this
Speaker 1: is important for individuals to know matt who are working
Speaker 1: from home that there's a good chance that their employer
Speaker 1: is maybe taking screenshots of what they're up to, potentially
Speaker 1: even every ten minutes. So if you you have found
Speaker 1: yourself recently working from home. You might not know that
Speaker 1: your employer has the ability to even check in on
Speaker 1: what you're doing, but that's something that you definitely have
Speaker 1: to be aware of. And with that though, some employees
Speaker 1: might have some privacy concerns obviously, but I think this
Speaker 1: type of monitoring it seems like a necessary step in
Speaker 1: order for companies to continue to function while everyone continues
Speaker 1: to work from home. We focused an entire episode on
Speaker 1: working from home episode one at two because it can
Speaker 1: be a really difficult transition for folks to instantly switch
Speaker 1: gears right from I'm at home watching Netflix, some Mu
Speaker 1: Jamie's or taking care of the kids too, I'm at
Speaker 1: home working on a social media campaign or debugging this
Speaker 1: database for a client, and so having some hard data
Speaker 1: and numbers to see how everyone is doing like this
Speaker 1: is really important. And I think this is also to
Speaker 1: not just for employers, but it's for employees as well.
Speaker 1: You know, to have hard, quantifiable numbers to kind of
Speaker 1: measure your productivity against, that's really important. So Joe, an
Speaker 1: example where I see this playing out in my own
Speaker 1: life is when like when I go for runs, I
Speaker 1: tracked my runs with this app, and not only do
Speaker 1: I just run to stay healthy, but like I want
Speaker 1: to see how I'm doing. So with this app that's
Speaker 1: running in the background, I'm able to see my my
Speaker 1: own progress. I think that only allows us to become
Speaker 1: better at whatever we're doing if there is some sort
Speaker 1: of feedback, right, And so a lot of these reports,
Speaker 1: employees have just as much access to these reports as
Speaker 1: their employers do. Yeah, I think that's a huge part
Speaker 1: of it, is the transparency and the whole thing, because
Speaker 1: if you're being monitored without your knowledge, that's when it
Speaker 1: becomes a little shady. And Yeah, at the same time, right,
Speaker 1: we talked about in that episode that you're gonna have
Speaker 1: to have open conversations with your boss, especially during this
Speaker 1: time because a lot of people their screen might be
Speaker 1: stuck in the same place for twenty minutes because they
Speaker 1: have to deal with helping facilitate a child learning. And
Speaker 1: so it's important to know that if you are being
Speaker 1: tracked from home to to have that conversation with your
Speaker 1: boss about what they're likely expectations can be. And these
Speaker 1: privacy concerns I think are going to come down to
Speaker 1: specific companies and who are using the software, how they're
Speaker 1: handling it, and and make sure that if you do
Speaker 1: have questions, that you ask your employer about it, because
Speaker 1: it can be free. Hey, I know I would be
Speaker 1: a little freaked out at least knowing that I was
Speaker 1: potentially being spied on or my or they were taking
Speaker 1: screenshots of my screen every ten minutes, which some of
Speaker 1: these softwares do. So yeah, it's just something for people
Speaker 1: to to be aware of. Yeah, it'll be a little
Speaker 1: freaky if you see your person move across the screen
Speaker 1: on its own doing stuff you're not telling it to do.
Speaker 1: I mean, well, we had a quick listener question here
Speaker 1: about getting the I r S your information in order
Speaker 1: to get that stimulus money hid Matt and chillsc sins
Speaker 1: Emma from Ohio. I discovered your podcast last year and
Speaker 1: have really been enjoying all of the great information about
Speaker 1: finances and craft beer that you've been sharing with us listeners.
Speaker 1: I'm calling because on your most recent episode, one of
Speaker 1: you mentioned that when you went to the I r
Speaker 1: S website to check your stimulus check status, you got
Speaker 1: a message saying they couldn't determine your eligibility at this time.
Speaker 1: I've gotten the same message. I've filed my taxes on
Speaker 1: April fourteen, and I've owed money for the last two years,
Speaker 1: so they probably don't have my direct deposit information on file.
Speaker 1: Are you in the same boat? Do you know how
Speaker 1: I might be able to get my direct deposit information
Speaker 1: to the I R S. I've heard that paper checks
Speaker 1: may not arrive until September, and I'd really like to
Speaker 1: get that money as soon as possible so I can
Speaker 1: buy some index funds while the stock market is still down.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I'm a great question, Yeah, Matt. A
Speaker 1: lot of questions still surround the stimulus payments, how people
Speaker 1: are receiving them, and there are definitely some hang ups
Speaker 1: for people in different situations and um and yeah, so
Speaker 1: the I r S will resolve those over time, but
Speaker 1: some people are not seeing their money in a timely
Speaker 1: manner and I hate seeing that. I personally mentioned yeah
Speaker 1: last week, how I got that message when I logged
Speaker 1: in that it couldn't tell me basically whether or not
Speaker 1: I was receiving one, whether I was eligible or not.
Speaker 1: And then I logged back in on Sunday to check
Speaker 1: my status and it said that I would receive my
Speaker 1: funds on Wednesday, and then I did, which was great.
Speaker 1: So some concrete info was helpful, but sadly that's not
Speaker 1: what a lot of people are getting when they turned
Speaker 1: to ir S dot of And Yeah, so if you
Speaker 1: have gotten that message in the past, Emma, I would
Speaker 1: say go back because that blanket message was given to everyone,
Speaker 1: regardless of whether they did have your information on file,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna process even just too soon as five
Speaker 1: days later. So yeah, I would say go back to
Speaker 1: the i r S website, make sure you check again,
Speaker 1: enter in your information to see if they've updated your status.
Speaker 1: That's the first step to take in the NEMA. For
Speaker 1: for those who did file, including yourself, but you did
Speaker 1: not include your direct deposit information, we would recommend for
Speaker 1: them to to use the page get my payment that
Speaker 1: is hosted by the i r S to provide their
Speaker 1: banking information to get their economic impact payment immediately. If
Speaker 1: you owed money in twenty nineteen, then the i r
Speaker 1: S they just don't have your direct deposit information and
Speaker 1: you must take the step to avoid having a check
Speaker 1: sent out, which you know we've mentioned before will likely
Speaker 1: take months to receive, just like you mentioned, might be
Speaker 1: September before you get your hands on that money. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it sounds like they're trying to to send five million
Speaker 1: checks a week, and they're starting with people with the
Speaker 1: lowest adjusted gross income. So the people that are in
Speaker 1: the most need are going to get those checks the soonest,
Speaker 1: which is good. But other people who do have you know,
Speaker 1: higher a g I s are potentially gonna wait two
Speaker 1: to three months to see that check in in their mailbox.
Speaker 1: There's also a tool for people who haven't filed a
Speaker 1: tax return recently but are eligible for the stimulus payment.
Speaker 1: Will link to that in the show notes as well.
Speaker 1: I love, also, Emma that you're planning to do some
Speaker 1: investing with this money. If you have solid savings and
Speaker 1: a stable job, investing that money is a great way
Speaker 1: to use it. And at the same time, Matt, I
Speaker 1: don't necessarily think Emma has to worry about missing out
Speaker 1: on a bear market or missing out on the stock
Speaker 1: market being down, because I do think the economic implications
Speaker 1: of what we're going through, there's there's a good chance
Speaker 1: they last for a while longer. You know. It's not
Speaker 1: something that I hope for, you know, I hope for
Speaker 1: a quick economic recovery, but that remains to be seen.
Speaker 1: And so even if you get your check two or
Speaker 1: three months from now, and if you're investing for the
Speaker 1: long haul, you know, whether you invested a month earlier
Speaker 1: or a month later, that's not going to have a
Speaker 1: massive difference on the overall amount you'll have, you know,
Speaker 1: when you hit retirement age. Yeah, So, like we mentioned,
Speaker 1: we will put some links in our show notes to
Speaker 1: some of those different tools and some of those pages
Speaker 1: hosted by the i R s there so that you
Speaker 1: can make sure you get your money as quickly as possible. So, Joel,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be it for this Friday episode. We just
Speaker 1: mentioned the site how you can find some information there,
Speaker 1: but you can also go to our site in order
Speaker 1: to leave us some feedback. If you go to how
Speaker 1: do money dot com forward slash do Better. If you
Speaker 1: have some some feedback for us, if there's some ways
Speaker 1: that you think we can do a better job on
Speaker 1: the show and providing helpful information, then please let us know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Matt and I we read every single one of those emails.
Speaker 1: We take it seriously. We want to provide a show
Speaker 1: that's helpful, informative and fun at the same time. That's
Speaker 1: our goal every single week. So Matt, until next time,
Speaker 1: Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,