March 20, 2020 • 26 mins
The economy and its effect on our personal finances continues to change due to the coronavirus, so our shorter Friday episodes are here to stay! Our goal is to provide you with timely and relevant information you need to be aware of so you can be in control of your money. In this episode we cover how to manage decreased or non-existent income along with bills that need to be paid, whether now is a good time to invest in stocks, and what you need to know about unemployment benefits.
And as we ramp up the podcast with this additional Friday episode, we could really use your help to spread the word- let friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. While you may not catch up with friends and family in person these days, it would really help out the show if you could share the podcast with others. Help us to spread the word to get more people doing smart things with their money in these difficult times!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and Matt,
and today we're discussed saying coronavirus, economic woes, job insecurity,
and staying afloat. Yeah, Jil, First of all, these Friday
(00:29):
Episodes are here to stay. Man. You know, we released
our first Friday episode last week. We thought that was
just gonna be a one time thing. But with just
the constantly changing nature of the coronavirus and the effect
it's having on our money, we we feel it's important
for us to kind of stay abreast and make sure
that our listeners know what's going on as well. Yeah,
there's a lot changing in the economy, there's a lot
changing in kind of the way we all think about
(00:52):
our money right now, our personal finances. And so, because
you know, normally Mondays and Wednesdays, the topics that we
cover are you know a little more eternally applicable. The
the things that we're going to discuss in the Friday
episodes are about the things that are happening on the
ground right now and the way that those things affect
our lives. And so, yeah, I'm glad to be able
to continue creating these Friday episodes and for the foreseeable future. Man,
(01:14):
I see that happening, and we'll continue covering relevant, timely
information for people and how the broader economic news is
going to personally impact now, Yeah, I mean timely. That's
a great way for us to describe these Friday episodes.
And here's the thing with us ramping up the podcast
some right, Like, we're sort of at a crossroads where
we are taking we're going down a more serious path
of podcasting, right, And so with that we can really
(01:36):
use help from you, our listeners out there, if you
have found value and what we're able to bring to y'all,
especially these Friday episodes, we would ask for you just
to let your friends know, let your family know about
these episodes. Specifically, we want folks as they're the quarantine
sitting at home, right, we want folks to know, you know,
what these changes that are happening to our economy, how
they are impacting us as individuals, so that we can
(01:58):
make informed decisions. Yeah, and a lot of the stuff
that we're gonna cover today in the show really is
going to help people, I think, think through an assess
what's going on in the economy for their individual situations.
People who are affected in all sorts of different ways,
or people who don't really even feel all that affected
right now, people who are still going to work even
though it doesn't feel like it's normal anymore, right because work,
Even if you're still working in and hopefully most people,
(02:20):
most of our listeners are able to still work at
least in some capacity, it just doesn't feel the same
right now, because every business is going through at least
some sort of growing pains in this time. Maybe you're
a nurse or a doctor and you're working a heck
of a lot more because of what's happening with the coronavirus.
Or maybe you own a small business, a restaurant, and
you've been forced to close for the time being. Yeah,
(02:41):
and this isn't some passing fad, right like, this is
something that that's seriously affecting many of us, and it's
gonna be around for a while. The CDC has let
us know that the next eight weeks of our lives,
at a minimum, will be heavy on quarantine. It's hard
for an extrovert like me, Matt, it's true, but of
course it's gonna be much harder for just other gig
workers out there, small business nerds, freelancers and parents as well.
(03:02):
In fact analytics from Moody's they say that up to
fifty percent of American jobs are going to be at
risk during this this difficult time that we're in. And
you know, that doesn't mean half of all Americans will
be without work, but it is telling. I saw something
recently as well that showed that the number of Google
searches for unemployment insurance has like shot through the roof,
right as folks are trying to figure out, you know,
what options they have. And so we're gonna do our
(03:24):
best to bring you all the information that's gonna help
you during this time, you know, with all this hardship
and uncertainty that's in the air. Um, if you do
have any questions or information to share with the How
the Money community, please feel free to send them our away.
And also it's probably important to uh, first all think
that people that are out there doing a wonderful job
to help keep our society functioning as normal as possible.
(03:45):
You know, maybe in particular we can salute the grocery
store workers as those grocery stores are getting slammed. You know,
you're seeing tons of products and food and just everything
cycle through there. I'm sure they're seeing a lot of
folks come in and scream at them. So which is
I hope not. I'm I'm giving them an extra thank you?
Are you really? Oh? Yeah, I mean I'm not. I'm
not the one doing the screaming. I hope not. But
there's a lot of screamers out there. Yeah, I mean,
(04:06):
especially with the extra hours they're working, the added intensity
of their job right now. By the way, Kroger has
basically said, we're hiring like right now, coming the door.
So if you, you know, are someone who isn't able
to work right now and you need some sort of pay,
a grocery store is the perfect place to go look
for for work right now. Yeah. Well, and certainly we
want to thank all the doctors and nurses out there
as well, like folks are on the front line scientists. Yeah.
(04:28):
My next for neighbor Austin, he's an infectious disease doctor
and so like we should have him on the on
the podcast at some point. Oh man, it might get
way way too deep. Any time I talked to him,
it's very informative. He keeps me posted with all the
latest news. But it's also there's things he knows, like
too much sharing off, it's almost too much information because
it's not quite verified yet. But this is what they suspect,
(04:49):
and so it's good for it to pass through not
just doctors, but the news organizations because if it was
up to him to disseminate information, it might scare some folks.
We wouldn't. I'll just be locking her how this would
be under our beds exactly. But but seriously, just all
the folks who are out there, I mean literally risking
their lives to to make sure that this is going
to come to a quick end. You know, we appreciate
all of you folks out there completely, all right, Matt, Yeah,
(05:11):
let's quickly talk about kind of how we've been dealing
with the quarantine. And for me, I've been going to
work as normal, just in a workplace where there's almost
nobody there, just essential personnel allowed. But when you're creating
a live radio show, you you have to be there,
and uh, the show must go on, especially because right
now so many people are turning to to radio and
(05:33):
podcasts for help, for advice, for understanding of what's actually happening. Um,
but I think to like, for us, we've been walking
and riding our bikes in the neighborhood a whole lot more.
That has been kind of kind of fun for us
to be able to as a family just enjoy some
some time outside as there's a nice personal upside to that, right. Yeah,
And I feel like I've seen more of my neighbors
(05:54):
out I mean from a distance, of course, but talking
from you know, ten feet away, as we attempt to,
you know, make sense of maintained relationship and make sense
of what's actually kind of going on around us. Yeah,
I still haven't gotten used to the tin foot rule.
I'm with you, like we've been going out obviously, we've
met each other up at the church parking lot just
up the street from us, where the kids are riding
around their bikes. And it's still weird to make sure
(06:17):
that you're keeping yourself in check, right because if you
want to walk up closer, because normally we talked, we
stand closer when you talk to somebody, But shaking somebody's
hand when you first meet him. Like I've met people
and I can't shake their hands. It's so weird, but
it's it's quickly becoming the norm I know for us.
We've actually we've been spending a lot of time outside
in the garden as well. It's been a nice season
to spend with our family in the yard and not
(06:38):
going to the zoo or to the museums things like
that as well. And so, yeah, I'm with you, it's
been rewarding in that sense since I work from home. Honestly,
not a lot has changed in our personal lives, but
certainly the limits of human interaction in the social changes
have limited what we've been able to do. Yeah, well,
I think, you know, with no sports going on and
kind of people's changes to their routine in their lives, potentially,
(07:02):
you know, not commuting, not spending a whole lot of
time in the car that you normally would have been,
there is more time for family and to hang out
and maybe to learn a new skill too. So I
wanted to just encourage people that during this time we'll
do a little more reading, maybe pick up a new skill,
or get decent at cooking because the restaurant, many of
the restaurants that we that we love are closed right now,
and so this is a perfect time to do more
(07:22):
cooking at home. And by the way, Matt, a week
from Monday, we've got an episode with our friend Beth
from Budget Bites, and she has a lot of great
tips for how people can cook on the cheap at home,
and I think that would be really helpful maybe as
you're trying to hone your cooking skills in a time
where you're forced to be in your kitchen more. And
for those with kids right now, I mean, I know
it's tough to balance work, teaching them and and having
(07:42):
a little fun too, especially if your kids, you know,
are trying to get school work done and you're trying
to work at the same time. That's a tough balance
to strike. So I know that that some people have
been looking to to homeschool bloggers as a way to
kind of help hone your skills and help your kids
kind of find some direction in this time. But I
know it's not easy. Best of luck is you kind
of can to need to to find this balance in
your own family life. Yeah, Kate and Emily have both
(08:03):
in touch and they are totally taking advantage of those
different resources that are out there. Um, Kate's been checking
out the Kennedy Center and Scholastic as well. They've been
some amazing resources where they have just different artists where
they're teaching kids how to doodle, uh, draw, just just
learn all sorts of things. It's pretty awesome seeing some
of these different organizations kind of banded together because they
know that there is a need for folks uh to
(08:25):
educate their kids while trying to make it fun as well.
And and we're starting to see just a lot of
the different places that offer memberships right like museums and zoos,
they're starting to up their online offerings because folks are
not able to go in person, and they're stepping up
and filling that need. Yeah, all right, man, let's get
to how we can help people figure out what it
looks like to stay afloat in kind of the new
(08:46):
coronavirus economy that's affecting so many people. It's important to
think about how you're gonna handle your bills during this time,
especially if you'll still be without a paycheck or your
check is gonna be slimmer because of the coronavirus. Maybe
your hours got cut back. But there there was a
three in our Facebook group where people detailed exactly how
the virus is affecting their ability to work and their income,
from bartenders and restaurant workers to wedding photographers, massage therapist,
(09:09):
dog walkers, educators, etcetera. People are having a hard time
with either a whole or partial loss of income. So
my heart goes out to the people that are experiencing
difficulty right now and are getting paid every two weeks
like they expect, or their paycheck is smaller. Yeah, I mean,
and well, you mentioned wedding photographers. A colleague a friend
of mine. He posted how like his next five weddings
have been either canceled or postponed and made my associate photographers.
(09:31):
She even shared how the next seven gigs that she
had lined up are are going to be falling through.
And so for freelancers in particular that don't count on
that regular check but instead kind of get a lot
of their payment clumped together during busier times of the year,
those individuals are definitely going to be seeing more of
a hit. You know. To to have one event or
one wedding postponed or canceled, it kind of sucks for
(09:53):
that month, But to have all of them for the
next couple of months, you know, fall out like that,
that's just that's gonna be completely catastrophic. So on that note,
we have some information and thoughts that we hope will
be of some help to those different individuals. Yeah, on
the income from MATT, I think social distancing. It's not
just the norm, but it's the law in some states
and cities that are banning large group gatherings. And so
with that in mind, it's becoming harder than ever for
(10:14):
for so many of us to be able to do
our jobs and to be able to earn any sort
of income. Even so, if you're in that boat, then
we would challenge you to see if there's a way
that you can potentially transform your job into an opportunity
to teach and guide others in whatever it is that
you know the most about. So, like we talked about
bartenders just a second ago, well maybe they could start
a YouTube channel that teaches folks how to make cocktails,
(10:36):
or a photographer could offer photography classes. Teachers can put
together a curriculum that addresses a need potentially, and you
know there's the website teachers pay teachers dot com, which
is this great place for teachers to be able to
make extra money by selling lesson plans. And then there
might even be stay at home parents right now looking
for those resources, willing to pay. So we know these
are hard times for you, but it just might be
(10:58):
that necessity is the mother of invention. As you're trying
to figure out how you can make some sort of
extra income right now, the easiest way to think about
it is to use those skills you have and find
another avenue to be able to profit from them. Um.
And I know it's easier said than none, but it
is something that is important to start thinking about right now.
I would say it makes me think that we might
(11:20):
be like right at the beginning of just this online revolution.
And I'm not I'm not talking about the internet because
that's been around, but but folks looking to online classes
even more than they have in the past. You know,
Like during this downtime, Eavy has been taking piano lessons
quote unquote piano lessons through this YouTube channel online and
she completely loves It's something that we've never considered before,
(11:40):
but with all this time at home, it's like, Okay,
let's this is something we've kind of been meaning to do,
Like how can we do that at home without a
piano teachers sitting right there next to you, you know,
breathing into your face. Okay, So we touched there on income,
Let's talk about our expenses a little bit. UH. One
of the things that we need to make sure that
we're doing, in particular, if our income is low or slimmer,
is to triage on the bills and expense front. Food
(12:03):
and shelter are going to be number one, no matter
how badly you want to pay extra it towards your debts.
Now is a great time to have cash on hand
to pay for the essentials. You might think that your
job or maybe your industry will be untouchable, but we
don't know the extent, uh, and the far reaching impact
that the coronavirus will have on our economy. I think
even the impact that it's had up to now, I
(12:24):
would say that had you told all of us maybe
thirty days ago that this is going to be the
state that we're in, we would have laughed, like there's
no way that we would have thought that this would
have actually been the case. And so there's a reason
that you've been saving up money in an emergency fund,
and so now is when it comes in handy. But
we know that not everybody is in that boat. So
if you don't have an emergency fund, now is it's
going to be the time to start cutting back on
(12:44):
some of that non essential spending. Ya listen to our
recent budgets episode if you didn't get a chance to
check it out. Coming up with a budget that works
for you, and in finding ways to look at every
line on him and see what you can cut or
what you can reduce is crucial right now. It's also
important to know about the government relief actually being taken,
and also to know your rights, and these things are
moving target and Matt and I will continue to kind
of cover these on our Friday episodes. But the Governor
(13:07):
of California signed an executive order on Monday night halting
foreclosures and utility shut offs, and other utility companies are
following suit around the country. So if you're unable to
pay your utility bills at least for the next month,
your utilities won't be shut off, and likely that will
continue for even longer. Also, you won't be charged interest
on most federal student loans during this time. No action
(13:27):
is even needed on your part for that. You can
also put your loans in forbearance. Let's say your income
stalled out and the balance won't grow thanks to this
interest holiday. But we would say, if you can pay,
you should still pay because more of your money than
is going towards principle in that case, as your student
loans aren't on the clock accruing more interest right now. Yeah,
which is super sweet, right, Like, you can keep your
payment at the exact same amounts that you're used to,
(13:49):
but instead of some of that going towards interest, it's
all going to the principle you're getting rid of really
amazing much faster. Yeah, but that is not the case
with private lenders or banks, by the way, that's a
different ball game. This is only dealing with federal student loans. Yeah,
And the I r S has pushed back when your
taxes are going to be due this year, So if
you owe any money to the government this year, you'll
(14:09):
have an extra ninety days to make that payment, so
you'll have until July fifteen. This is a great benefit
to be able to hang onto that cash for the
time being in case you need it in an emergency.
And of course, Matt, there's the bill that was just
passed for paid sick leave, free coronavirus testing, and expanded
unemployment benefits. Yeah, this is the bill that the President
(14:31):
just signed We'll make sure to keep you posted as
more of those details emerge. Yeah, and Matton, just a
little bit, We're gonna get to a listener question about
on unemployment benefits, and we'll address that a little bit
more in just a second. Also, I think it's important
to note that our our listeners and and consumers in
general need to be more proactive right now. Call your
private student loan lender and or your bank, your mortgage
holder if you won't be able to pay your mortgage,
(14:53):
or you're having a specific issue because of the impact
of the coronavirus on your life and your circumstances. If
you're not able to pay your credit hard bill like
you normally would, call your credit card company and ask
for an interest holiday, ask them not to charge you
any late fees during this time. And credit card companies
and banks should be and sound like they are working
with individuals, although nothing has been done at a government level,
(15:15):
and nothing has actually been mandated at this point. Yeah,
So it's really up to you to advocate for yourself
and to make those phone calls. So notifying that company
now before things get out of control for you, is
is helpful. Right, you want to get out on the
front side of this. And so it's important to mention
that Fannie May and Freddie Mac they have halted foreclosures
for sixty days, and President Trump has ordered HUD to
(15:35):
suspend evictions and foreclosures through the end of April. This
doesn't apply to all mortgage holders, but others will likely
follow suit in this time. Uh. If you aren't automatically
included in this provision, it's important to be proactive with
your mortgage provider to discuss your options in the event
that you can't pay your mortgage in full on April
(15:56):
one or whenever your mortgage payment is due. So, yeah,
I get that ball rolling. Be proactive. If you don't ask,
you're not going to get and waiting just makes these
things so much harder, that's right, man. And so we're
gonna take a few listener questions. We got some via
Facebook and our Facebook group. We've got one as a
voice memo that we're gonna tackle. And we're also gonna
highlight some of the different cool things that some businesses
are doing to take care of their customers as well
(16:18):
as their employees. And we're gonna get to all of
that right after the break, all right, mat we're back
from the break, and yeah, we're gonna get to some
listener questions in just a second. But before we get
to that, let's highlight just a couple of things that
companies are doing right now that it feels like they're
(16:39):
treating customers well. And I feel like that should be
highlighted because those are the kind of companies we should
be doing business. Absolutely, we should support them and we
should highlight it. One company this near and dear to
our heart, Mit and Mobile while they're offering free unlimited
data for for a full month no matter what plan
you're on, which is cool. Comcast and T Mobile are
doing similar things and they're not going to charge users
extra if they use more data than to plan allows. Yeah,
(17:00):
it's really cool to see these communication companies are realizing
the importance of communication when we can't interact with each
other in person. Uh. I think it would be a
completely terrible thing to do if they throttled everything and really,
oh no, no no, no, you have to charge more. I'm
glad that's not the world we live in. Yeah, me too,
mean too. Yeah Yeah, And and Darden Restaurants, by the way,
offering all of its employees paid sickly. Starbucks is offering
(17:22):
catash free pay for employees. For some employees, there's the
potential to get paid for twenty six weeks away from work.
Walmart has responded with an emergency paid leave policy for
all its workers. So it's great to see the bigger
companies that actually, you know, have cash resources to be
able to aid their workers, that they're actually using them
to do so, totally dude. Unfortunately, though, a lot of
businesses don't have the kind of reserves like these larger
(17:44):
companies and corporations have, right, I know that many small
businesses across America are doing all that they can to
help their workers through this time as well, and so,
you know, I think it's on us to be doing
all that we can to support the small businesses we love.
I know restaurants specifically are one of the hardest hit
industries these days. It's really difficult to stay outfloat when
(18:04):
you can't at all do the very thing that you
are meant to do, right, which is surf food. Get
gather people together, surf food, make them happy, fill their tummies.
And so with that in mind, reach out to some
of your local restaurants and see if they are offering
gift certificates. I know a lot of restaurants in our neighborhood,
Jole and in our part of town are doing that.
We've reached out to two of our favorite restaurants and
have already purchased gift certificates, ones in the mail. I'm
(18:26):
gonna make sure I kind of wipe that down once
that one shows up. The other one is digital, but
we want to make sure that these businesses are still
going to be there once all of this clears. So
that's just a small way that if all of us
kind of pitch in, we can help these restaurants get
through it. Yeah, we got take out last night from
one of our favorite restaurants, and it's just sad to
walk in there because it's normally slammed every night of
the week. Walking the front door, nobody there except for
(18:49):
a few, you know, the people cooking the food and
the people like bringing it in a bag to you.
But I was glad to be able to do that.
And I'm glad as someone who who has job security
and a fully funded emergency fund to be able to
use some of my money to support those businesses. Another uh,
not a small business, but Facebook announced on Tuesday that
that they're giving a hundred million dollars in grants to
(19:09):
help small businesses too, and this is gonna be in
grant form, so you can apply in the coming weeks
through Facebook. But that was really cool to see this
company that just has more money than the books in
cash and that they're going to be using some of
that to help small businesses out too, Because of course
we know that you know that the airlines are getting
(19:30):
a huge chunk of money from the government, and there's
money to help some of the other bigger industries in
in some of the government spending bills. But yeah, it
is the main street businesses. It's the ones that are
near and dear to our hearts that we venture into
all the time that are having the hardest time. So
anything like this goes a long way from a company
like Facebook. It's it's really cool to see. On that note,
if your job is on hiatus or if your small
(19:52):
business is essentially shut down right now, Joel, you mentioned
Kroger earlier in the episode, Look to your local Kroger.
We're talking about Amazon right now. They are hiring uh
hundred thousand people, I'm pretty sure nation wide, So It
may not necessarily be your dream job, but if you're
looking for a way to to to get through this, right,
if you're looking for a job, if you're looking for
a salary, then this might be a solution for you.
Or again, you know, or Joel, you talked about taking
(20:13):
what you do your profession, but taking it online. Think
of some of those ways that you can take that
knowledge and that experience to those who are looking for it. Yeah,
all right, let's get some listener questions and and the
theme I saw the most in our Facebook group over
the past week since last week's episode was a lot
of people asking about buying individual stocks. A good bit
of the threats are specifically about should I buy this,
(20:34):
should I buy that? And I feel like it's important
for us to address this because you and I were
not a opposed to people buying individual stocks, but we
would say that for almost everyone, buying individual stocks is
a speculative move, and it's best to only take a
really small portion of your overall investments to be used
in some sort of speculatory manner, and we would say
(20:54):
less than five percent of your overall investment should be
used in that way. So if you're talking about using
a good bit of the money that you have invested
for the long term, invested for retirement, and making speculatory
calls on specific companies right now by investing in their stock.
We would say that's a bad move. And Matt just
the other day on CNBC, Jim Kramer, who is touted
(21:15):
as this investment grew and I'm sure he knows more
than me, but I will say I completely disagree with him.
He said specifically to forget index funds by shares and
companies we can't live without. I have to say I
disagree with his sentiment. He basically said that when you
have owned index funds, you own the winners and the losers,
and that that's a bad thing. But I was like, no,
that's that's the exact best thing. That's why we own
(21:36):
index funds, so we're not the big losers by owning,
you know, the majority stake in the companies that do
have a big loss or that do go bankrupt in
a time of crisis like this. So can your retirement
risk holding just those losers. No, it can't. And that's
why we're such fans of broad based indexing, taking the
overall market return and continuing to buy the overall American
(21:57):
economy right now on sale, keeping that go stock investing
to a minimum for sure index funds in a bear
market and a bowl market. Yeah, all the way. Katie
in the Facebook group, she had a question as well.
She was asking about unemployment options for short term job loss.
We touched on this earlier in the show. But the
benefits have extended to those who have lost their job
temporarily due to the coronavirus. So please apply for unemployment
(22:19):
benefits if you're in a situation that requires it, but
you do need to make sure that you qualify, and
that depends on your specific state. So you can search
your state government's site or your Department of Labor site
to find that information out. Joelson's we own our own business, right,
We're in touch with the Department of Labor just like
any other business. At the State of Georgia, they sent
an email out just recently saying that they're going to
(22:40):
be adopting that emergency rule that's going to apply to
the temporary job loss due to the coronavirus. So it
just depends on your specific state. Yeah, all right, And Matt,
we had an audio question sending this week from from Karen,
let's play that one. Now. Good morning. My name is Karen,
and I have a small business here in Flugerville, Texas,
and I pay my employees pretty well, but they are
hourly employees and it's a seasonal business, and so I
(23:04):
not too infrequently will get new employees that don't have
a bank account, and um, usually we would just go
down to the local bank, or they'll go somewhere instead
of a bank account, and we can do direct deposit.
But now with the COVID nineteen, I was thinking about
online banking and wondering if there are some good options
for online checking accounts. I know you've talked a couple
(23:26):
of times about online high interest savings accounts. So I
did a Google search and I found a few. There's
like a Capital one and City and Simple and a
few others that are online checking accounts, and they seem
to be higher interest rate and they seem to be
f D I c ensured. But I just wondered if
you had any opinions on which of those are are
good so that I can give my new employees without
(23:49):
bank accounts a couple of options for online bank accounts.
Thanks for your help, Hey, Karen, that is a great question,
and some of those options you mentioned are fantastic. We
would recommend that folks prior ties the combination of customer
service fees, and of course you want to make sure
that you're looking at the interest rate. You mentioned Simple,
that's a great option. Actually open account with Simple years
(24:09):
years ago, like right when they first opened, because they
had a cool name. I was like Simple, and I
remember that they mailed out their little check card, the
little A C M card, like on a little piece
of cardboard. Uh, and You're like, this is your new
Simple wallet And I thought that was super cool. It
was like really minimal. They're they're a thoughtful bank. I
really like. Yeah, I like their approach. Yeah, and I
think recently they they've always had prioritized low fees, but
(24:31):
recently they actually what they're paying on on save mus
accounts and they're actually up there with everybody else now. Yeah,
so Simples are great, a great choice. Nice, but you know,
obviously we also love see I t discover ally all
these companies that you mentioned. Um, there are so many
good online banks, and they're likely more popular than ever
these days. Generally speaking, online banks are where we would
(24:51):
recommend for folks to go for the majority of their
day to day banking needs. Yeah, Karen, you're gonna do
a great service to your employees by helping set them
up on the path to doing business with a bank
that prioritizes customer care and all those other things we mentioned.
And uh, yeah, so you're a good employer for in
many respects, and good luck with your small business in
in these times. And the coronavirus news feels endless right
(25:13):
now in our universal situation is starting to seem like
it might drag on for a while at worldwide collaboration
of governments is essential to keep the spread of the
virus to a minimum, and then government intervention to to
prop up the economy so so things don't go completely
Haywire and Matt, more of that news is going to
trickle in. You and I on Friday's are going to
continue this theme of helping people in this time, pointing
(25:36):
them to the resources that are available and help each
other cope right with with kind of the this new
reality that we're faced with. Yeah, we'll continue our evergreen,
timeless content on Mondays and Wednesdays, but then on the
Friday episodes, you can certainly see some of that up
to date timely information. Yeah, that's it's going to be
it for this episode. Everybody, have a great weekend and
until next time. Best Friends Out, Budding best friends out,
Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and Matt,
and today we're discussed saying coronavirus, economic woes, job insecurity,
and staying afloat. Yeah, Jil, First of all, these Friday
(00:29):
Episodes are here to stay. Man. You know, we released
our first Friday episode last week. We thought that was
just gonna be a one time thing. But with just
the constantly changing nature of the coronavirus and the effect
it's having on our money, we we feel it's important
for us to kind of stay abreast and make sure
that our listeners know what's going on as well. Yeah,
there's a lot changing in the economy, there's a lot
changing in kind of the way we all think about
(00:52):
our money right now, our personal finances. And so, because
you know, normally Mondays and Wednesdays, the topics that we
cover are you know a little more eternally applicable. The
the things that we're going to discuss in the Friday
episodes are about the things that are happening on the
ground right now and the way that those things affect
our lives. And so, yeah, I'm glad to be able
to continue creating these Friday episodes and for the foreseeable future. Man,
(01:14):
I see that happening, and we'll continue covering relevant, timely
information for people and how the broader economic news is
going to personally impact now, Yeah, I mean timely. That's
a great way for us to describe these Friday episodes.
And here's the thing with us ramping up the podcast
some right, Like, we're sort of at a crossroads where
we are taking we're going down a more serious path
of podcasting, right, And so with that we can really
(01:36):
use help from you, our listeners out there, if you
have found value and what we're able to bring to y'all,
especially these Friday episodes, we would ask for you just
to let your friends know, let your family know about
these episodes. Specifically, we want folks as they're the quarantine
sitting at home, right, we want folks to know, you know,
what these changes that are happening to our economy, how
they are impacting us as individuals, so that we can
(01:58):
make informed decisions. Yeah, and a lot of the stuff
that we're gonna cover today in the show really is
going to help people, I think, think through an assess
what's going on in the economy for their individual situations.
People who are affected in all sorts of different ways,
or people who don't really even feel all that affected
right now, people who are still going to work even
though it doesn't feel like it's normal anymore, right because work,
Even if you're still working in and hopefully most people,
(02:20):
most of our listeners are able to still work at
least in some capacity, it just doesn't feel the same
right now, because every business is going through at least
some sort of growing pains in this time. Maybe you're
a nurse or a doctor and you're working a heck
of a lot more because of what's happening with the coronavirus.
Or maybe you own a small business, a restaurant, and
you've been forced to close for the time being. Yeah,
(02:41):
and this isn't some passing fad, right like, this is
something that that's seriously affecting many of us, and it's
gonna be around for a while. The CDC has let
us know that the next eight weeks of our lives,
at a minimum, will be heavy on quarantine. It's hard
for an extrovert like me, Matt, it's true, but of
course it's gonna be much harder for just other gig
workers out there, small business nerds, freelancers and parents as well.
(03:02):
In fact analytics from Moody's they say that up to
fifty percent of American jobs are going to be at
risk during this this difficult time that we're in. And
you know, that doesn't mean half of all Americans will
be without work, but it is telling. I saw something
recently as well that showed that the number of Google
searches for unemployment insurance has like shot through the roof,
right as folks are trying to figure out, you know,
what options they have. And so we're gonna do our
(03:24):
best to bring you all the information that's gonna help
you during this time, you know, with all this hardship
and uncertainty that's in the air. Um, if you do
have any questions or information to share with the How
the Money community, please feel free to send them our away.
And also it's probably important to uh, first all think
that people that are out there doing a wonderful job
to help keep our society functioning as normal as possible.
(03:45):
You know, maybe in particular we can salute the grocery
store workers as those grocery stores are getting slammed. You know,
you're seeing tons of products and food and just everything
cycle through there. I'm sure they're seeing a lot of
folks come in and scream at them. So which is
I hope not. I'm I'm giving them an extra thank you?
Are you really? Oh? Yeah, I mean I'm not. I'm
not the one doing the screaming. I hope not. But
there's a lot of screamers out there. Yeah, I mean,
(04:06):
especially with the extra hours they're working, the added intensity
of their job right now. By the way, Kroger has
basically said, we're hiring like right now, coming the door.
So if you, you know, are someone who isn't able
to work right now and you need some sort of pay,
a grocery store is the perfect place to go look
for for work right now. Yeah. Well, and certainly we
want to thank all the doctors and nurses out there
as well, like folks are on the front line scientists. Yeah.
(04:28):
My next for neighbor Austin, he's an infectious disease doctor
and so like we should have him on the on
the podcast at some point. Oh man, it might get
way way too deep. Any time I talked to him,
it's very informative. He keeps me posted with all the
latest news. But it's also there's things he knows, like
too much sharing off, it's almost too much information because
it's not quite verified yet. But this is what they suspect,
(04:49):
and so it's good for it to pass through not
just doctors, but the news organizations because if it was
up to him to disseminate information, it might scare some folks.
We wouldn't. I'll just be locking her how this would
be under our beds exactly. But but seriously, just all
the folks who are out there, I mean literally risking
their lives to to make sure that this is going
to come to a quick end. You know, we appreciate
all of you folks out there completely, all right, Matt, Yeah,
(05:11):
let's quickly talk about kind of how we've been dealing
with the quarantine. And for me, I've been going to
work as normal, just in a workplace where there's almost
nobody there, just essential personnel allowed. But when you're creating
a live radio show, you you have to be there,
and uh, the show must go on, especially because right
now so many people are turning to to radio and
(05:33):
podcasts for help, for advice, for understanding of what's actually happening. Um,
but I think to like, for us, we've been walking
and riding our bikes in the neighborhood a whole lot more.
That has been kind of kind of fun for us
to be able to as a family just enjoy some
some time outside as there's a nice personal upside to that, right. Yeah,
And I feel like I've seen more of my neighbors
(05:54):
out I mean from a distance, of course, but talking
from you know, ten feet away, as we attempt to,
you know, make sense of maintained relationship and make sense
of what's actually kind of going on around us. Yeah,
I still haven't gotten used to the tin foot rule.
I'm with you, like we've been going out obviously, we've
met each other up at the church parking lot just
up the street from us, where the kids are riding
around their bikes. And it's still weird to make sure
(06:17):
that you're keeping yourself in check, right because if you
want to walk up closer, because normally we talked, we
stand closer when you talk to somebody, But shaking somebody's
hand when you first meet him. Like I've met people
and I can't shake their hands. It's so weird, but
it's it's quickly becoming the norm I know for us.
We've actually we've been spending a lot of time outside
in the garden as well. It's been a nice season
to spend with our family in the yard and not
(06:38):
going to the zoo or to the museums things like
that as well. And so, yeah, I'm with you, it's
been rewarding in that sense since I work from home. Honestly,
not a lot has changed in our personal lives, but
certainly the limits of human interaction in the social changes
have limited what we've been able to do. Yeah, well,
I think, you know, with no sports going on and
kind of people's changes to their routine in their lives, potentially,
(07:02):
you know, not commuting, not spending a whole lot of
time in the car that you normally would have been,
there is more time for family and to hang out
and maybe to learn a new skill too. So I
wanted to just encourage people that during this time we'll
do a little more reading, maybe pick up a new skill,
or get decent at cooking because the restaurant, many of
the restaurants that we that we love are closed right now,
and so this is a perfect time to do more
(07:22):
cooking at home. And by the way, Matt, a week
from Monday, we've got an episode with our friend Beth
from Budget Bites, and she has a lot of great
tips for how people can cook on the cheap at home,
and I think that would be really helpful maybe as
you're trying to hone your cooking skills in a time
where you're forced to be in your kitchen more. And
for those with kids right now, I mean, I know
it's tough to balance work, teaching them and and having
(07:42):
a little fun too, especially if your kids, you know,
are trying to get school work done and you're trying
to work at the same time. That's a tough balance
to strike. So I know that that some people have
been looking to to homeschool bloggers as a way to
kind of help hone your skills and help your kids
kind of find some direction in this time. But I
know it's not easy. Best of luck is you kind
of can to need to to find this balance in
your own family life. Yeah, Kate and Emily have both
(08:03):
in touch and they are totally taking advantage of those
different resources that are out there. Um, Kate's been checking
out the Kennedy Center and Scholastic as well. They've been
some amazing resources where they have just different artists where
they're teaching kids how to doodle, uh, draw, just just
learn all sorts of things. It's pretty awesome seeing some
of these different organizations kind of banded together because they
know that there is a need for folks uh to
(08:25):
educate their kids while trying to make it fun as well.
And and we're starting to see just a lot of
the different places that offer memberships right like museums and zoos,
they're starting to up their online offerings because folks are
not able to go in person, and they're stepping up
and filling that need. Yeah, all right, man, let's get
to how we can help people figure out what it
looks like to stay afloat in kind of the new
(08:46):
coronavirus economy that's affecting so many people. It's important to
think about how you're gonna handle your bills during this time,
especially if you'll still be without a paycheck or your
check is gonna be slimmer because of the coronavirus. Maybe
your hours got cut back. But there there was a
three in our Facebook group where people detailed exactly how
the virus is affecting their ability to work and their income,
from bartenders and restaurant workers to wedding photographers, massage therapist,
(09:09):
dog walkers, educators, etcetera. People are having a hard time
with either a whole or partial loss of income. So
my heart goes out to the people that are experiencing
difficulty right now and are getting paid every two weeks
like they expect, or their paycheck is smaller. Yeah, I mean,
and well, you mentioned wedding photographers. A colleague a friend
of mine. He posted how like his next five weddings
have been either canceled or postponed and made my associate photographers.
(09:31):
She even shared how the next seven gigs that she
had lined up are are going to be falling through.
And so for freelancers in particular that don't count on
that regular check but instead kind of get a lot
of their payment clumped together during busier times of the year,
those individuals are definitely going to be seeing more of
a hit. You know. To to have one event or
one wedding postponed or canceled, it kind of sucks for
(09:53):
that month, But to have all of them for the
next couple of months, you know, fall out like that,
that's just that's gonna be completely catastrophic. So on that note,
we have some information and thoughts that we hope will
be of some help to those different individuals. Yeah, on
the income from MATT, I think social distancing. It's not
just the norm, but it's the law in some states
and cities that are banning large group gatherings. And so
with that in mind, it's becoming harder than ever for
(10:14):
for so many of us to be able to do
our jobs and to be able to earn any sort
of income. Even so, if you're in that boat, then
we would challenge you to see if there's a way
that you can potentially transform your job into an opportunity
to teach and guide others in whatever it is that
you know the most about. So, like we talked about
bartenders just a second ago, well maybe they could start
a YouTube channel that teaches folks how to make cocktails,
(10:36):
or a photographer could offer photography classes. Teachers can put
together a curriculum that addresses a need potentially, and you
know there's the website teachers pay teachers dot com, which
is this great place for teachers to be able to
make extra money by selling lesson plans. And then there
might even be stay at home parents right now looking
for those resources, willing to pay. So we know these
are hard times for you, but it just might be
(10:58):
that necessity is the mother of invention. As you're trying
to figure out how you can make some sort of
extra income right now, the easiest way to think about
it is to use those skills you have and find
another avenue to be able to profit from them. Um.
And I know it's easier said than none, but it
is something that is important to start thinking about right now.
I would say it makes me think that we might
(11:20):
be like right at the beginning of just this online revolution.
And I'm not I'm not talking about the internet because
that's been around, but but folks looking to online classes
even more than they have in the past. You know,
Like during this downtime, Eavy has been taking piano lessons
quote unquote piano lessons through this YouTube channel online and
she completely loves It's something that we've never considered before,
(11:40):
but with all this time at home, it's like, Okay,
let's this is something we've kind of been meaning to do,
Like how can we do that at home without a
piano teachers sitting right there next to you, you know,
breathing into your face. Okay, So we touched there on income,
Let's talk about our expenses a little bit. UH. One
of the things that we need to make sure that
we're doing, in particular, if our income is low or slimmer,
is to triage on the bills and expense front. Food
(12:03):
and shelter are going to be number one, no matter
how badly you want to pay extra it towards your debts.
Now is a great time to have cash on hand
to pay for the essentials. You might think that your
job or maybe your industry will be untouchable, but we
don't know the extent, uh, and the far reaching impact
that the coronavirus will have on our economy. I think
even the impact that it's had up to now, I
(12:24):
would say that had you told all of us maybe
thirty days ago that this is going to be the
state that we're in, we would have laughed, like there's
no way that we would have thought that this would
have actually been the case. And so there's a reason
that you've been saving up money in an emergency fund,
and so now is when it comes in handy. But
we know that not everybody is in that boat. So
if you don't have an emergency fund, now is it's
going to be the time to start cutting back on
(12:44):
some of that non essential spending. Ya listen to our
recent budgets episode if you didn't get a chance to
check it out. Coming up with a budget that works
for you, and in finding ways to look at every
line on him and see what you can cut or
what you can reduce is crucial right now. It's also
important to know about the government relief actually being taken,
and also to know your rights, and these things are
moving target and Matt and I will continue to kind
of cover these on our Friday episodes. But the Governor
(13:07):
of California signed an executive order on Monday night halting
foreclosures and utility shut offs, and other utility companies are
following suit around the country. So if you're unable to
pay your utility bills at least for the next month,
your utilities won't be shut off, and likely that will
continue for even longer. Also, you won't be charged interest
on most federal student loans during this time. No action
(13:27):
is even needed on your part for that. You can
also put your loans in forbearance. Let's say your income
stalled out and the balance won't grow thanks to this
interest holiday. But we would say, if you can pay,
you should still pay because more of your money than
is going towards principle in that case, as your student
loans aren't on the clock accruing more interest right now. Yeah,
which is super sweet, right, Like, you can keep your
payment at the exact same amounts that you're used to,
(13:49):
but instead of some of that going towards interest, it's
all going to the principle you're getting rid of really
amazing much faster. Yeah, but that is not the case
with private lenders or banks, by the way, that's a
different ball game. This is only dealing with federal student loans. Yeah,
And the I r S has pushed back when your
taxes are going to be due this year, So if
you owe any money to the government this year, you'll
(14:09):
have an extra ninety days to make that payment, so
you'll have until July fifteen. This is a great benefit
to be able to hang onto that cash for the
time being in case you need it in an emergency.
And of course, Matt, there's the bill that was just
passed for paid sick leave, free coronavirus testing, and expanded
unemployment benefits. Yeah, this is the bill that the President
(14:31):
just signed We'll make sure to keep you posted as
more of those details emerge. Yeah, and Matton, just a
little bit, We're gonna get to a listener question about
on unemployment benefits, and we'll address that a little bit
more in just a second. Also, I think it's important
to note that our our listeners and and consumers in
general need to be more proactive right now. Call your
private student loan lender and or your bank, your mortgage
holder if you won't be able to pay your mortgage,
(14:53):
or you're having a specific issue because of the impact
of the coronavirus on your life and your circumstances. If
you're not able to pay your credit hard bill like
you normally would, call your credit card company and ask
for an interest holiday, ask them not to charge you
any late fees during this time. And credit card companies
and banks should be and sound like they are working
with individuals, although nothing has been done at a government level,
(15:15):
and nothing has actually been mandated at this point. Yeah,
So it's really up to you to advocate for yourself
and to make those phone calls. So notifying that company
now before things get out of control for you, is
is helpful. Right, you want to get out on the
front side of this. And so it's important to mention
that Fannie May and Freddie Mac they have halted foreclosures
for sixty days, and President Trump has ordered HUD to
(15:35):
suspend evictions and foreclosures through the end of April. This
doesn't apply to all mortgage holders, but others will likely
follow suit in this time. Uh. If you aren't automatically
included in this provision, it's important to be proactive with
your mortgage provider to discuss your options in the event
that you can't pay your mortgage in full on April
(15:56):
one or whenever your mortgage payment is due. So, yeah,
I get that ball rolling. Be proactive. If you don't ask,
you're not going to get and waiting just makes these
things so much harder, that's right, man. And so we're
gonna take a few listener questions. We got some via
Facebook and our Facebook group. We've got one as a
voice memo that we're gonna tackle. And we're also gonna
highlight some of the different cool things that some businesses
are doing to take care of their customers as well
(16:18):
as their employees. And we're gonna get to all of
that right after the break, all right, mat we're back
from the break, and yeah, we're gonna get to some
listener questions in just a second. But before we get
to that, let's highlight just a couple of things that
companies are doing right now that it feels like they're
(16:39):
treating customers well. And I feel like that should be
highlighted because those are the kind of companies we should
be doing business. Absolutely, we should support them and we
should highlight it. One company this near and dear to
our heart, Mit and Mobile while they're offering free unlimited
data for for a full month no matter what plan
you're on, which is cool. Comcast and T Mobile are
doing similar things and they're not going to charge users
extra if they use more data than to plan allows. Yeah,
(17:00):
it's really cool to see these communication companies are realizing
the importance of communication when we can't interact with each
other in person. Uh. I think it would be a
completely terrible thing to do if they throttled everything and really,
oh no, no no, no, you have to charge more. I'm
glad that's not the world we live in. Yeah, me too,
mean too. Yeah Yeah, And and Darden Restaurants, by the way,
offering all of its employees paid sickly. Starbucks is offering
(17:22):
catash free pay for employees. For some employees, there's the
potential to get paid for twenty six weeks away from work.
Walmart has responded with an emergency paid leave policy for
all its workers. So it's great to see the bigger
companies that actually, you know, have cash resources to be
able to aid their workers, that they're actually using them
to do so, totally dude. Unfortunately, though, a lot of
businesses don't have the kind of reserves like these larger
(17:44):
companies and corporations have, right, I know that many small
businesses across America are doing all that they can to
help their workers through this time as well, and so,
you know, I think it's on us to be doing
all that we can to support the small businesses we love.
I know restaurants specifically are one of the hardest hit
industries these days. It's really difficult to stay outfloat when
(18:04):
you can't at all do the very thing that you
are meant to do, right, which is surf food. Get
gather people together, surf food, make them happy, fill their tummies.
And so with that in mind, reach out to some
of your local restaurants and see if they are offering
gift certificates. I know a lot of restaurants in our neighborhood,
Jole and in our part of town are doing that.
We've reached out to two of our favorite restaurants and
have already purchased gift certificates, ones in the mail. I'm
(18:26):
gonna make sure I kind of wipe that down once
that one shows up. The other one is digital, but
we want to make sure that these businesses are still
going to be there once all of this clears. So
that's just a small way that if all of us
kind of pitch in, we can help these restaurants get
through it. Yeah, we got take out last night from
one of our favorite restaurants, and it's just sad to
walk in there because it's normally slammed every night of
the week. Walking the front door, nobody there except for
(18:49):
a few, you know, the people cooking the food and
the people like bringing it in a bag to you.
But I was glad to be able to do that.
And I'm glad as someone who who has job security
and a fully funded emergency fund to be able to
use some of my money to support those businesses. Another uh,
not a small business, but Facebook announced on Tuesday that
that they're giving a hundred million dollars in grants to
(19:09):
help small businesses too, and this is gonna be in
grant form, so you can apply in the coming weeks
through Facebook. But that was really cool to see this
company that just has more money than the books in
cash and that they're going to be using some of
that to help small businesses out too, Because of course
we know that you know that the airlines are getting
(19:30):
a huge chunk of money from the government, and there's
money to help some of the other bigger industries in
in some of the government spending bills. But yeah, it
is the main street businesses. It's the ones that are
near and dear to our hearts that we venture into
all the time that are having the hardest time. So
anything like this goes a long way from a company
like Facebook. It's it's really cool to see. On that note,
if your job is on hiatus or if your small
(19:52):
business is essentially shut down right now, Joel, you mentioned
Kroger earlier in the episode, Look to your local Kroger.
We're talking about Amazon right now. They are hiring uh
hundred thousand people, I'm pretty sure nation wide, So It
may not necessarily be your dream job, but if you're
looking for a way to to to get through this, right,
if you're looking for a job, if you're looking for
a salary, then this might be a solution for you.
Or again, you know, or Joel, you talked about taking
(20:13):
what you do your profession, but taking it online. Think
of some of those ways that you can take that
knowledge and that experience to those who are looking for it. Yeah,
all right, let's get some listener questions and and the
theme I saw the most in our Facebook group over
the past week since last week's episode was a lot
of people asking about buying individual stocks. A good bit
of the threats are specifically about should I buy this,
(20:34):
should I buy that? And I feel like it's important
for us to address this because you and I were
not a opposed to people buying individual stocks, but we
would say that for almost everyone, buying individual stocks is
a speculative move, and it's best to only take a
really small portion of your overall investments to be used
in some sort of speculatory manner, and we would say
(20:54):
less than five percent of your overall investment should be
used in that way. So if you're talking about using
a good bit of the money that you have invested
for the long term, invested for retirement, and making speculatory
calls on specific companies right now by investing in their stock.
We would say that's a bad move. And Matt just
the other day on CNBC, Jim Kramer, who is touted
(21:15):
as this investment grew and I'm sure he knows more
than me, but I will say I completely disagree with him.
He said specifically to forget index funds by shares and
companies we can't live without. I have to say I
disagree with his sentiment. He basically said that when you
have owned index funds, you own the winners and the losers,
and that that's a bad thing. But I was like, no,
that's that's the exact best thing. That's why we own
(21:36):
index funds, so we're not the big losers by owning,
you know, the majority stake in the companies that do
have a big loss or that do go bankrupt in
a time of crisis like this. So can your retirement
risk holding just those losers. No, it can't. And that's
why we're such fans of broad based indexing, taking the
overall market return and continuing to buy the overall American
(21:57):
economy right now on sale, keeping that go stock investing
to a minimum for sure index funds in a bear
market and a bowl market. Yeah, all the way. Katie
in the Facebook group, she had a question as well.
She was asking about unemployment options for short term job loss.
We touched on this earlier in the show. But the
benefits have extended to those who have lost their job
temporarily due to the coronavirus. So please apply for unemployment
(22:19):
benefits if you're in a situation that requires it, but
you do need to make sure that you qualify, and
that depends on your specific state. So you can search
your state government's site or your Department of Labor site
to find that information out. Joelson's we own our own business, right,
We're in touch with the Department of Labor just like
any other business. At the State of Georgia, they sent
an email out just recently saying that they're going to
(22:40):
be adopting that emergency rule that's going to apply to
the temporary job loss due to the coronavirus. So it
just depends on your specific state. Yeah, all right, And Matt,
we had an audio question sending this week from from Karen,
let's play that one. Now. Good morning. My name is Karen,
and I have a small business here in Flugerville, Texas,
and I pay my employees pretty well, but they are
hourly employees and it's a seasonal business, and so I
(23:04):
not too infrequently will get new employees that don't have
a bank account, and um, usually we would just go
down to the local bank, or they'll go somewhere instead
of a bank account, and we can do direct deposit.
But now with the COVID nineteen, I was thinking about
online banking and wondering if there are some good options
for online checking accounts. I know you've talked a couple
(23:26):
of times about online high interest savings accounts. So I
did a Google search and I found a few. There's
like a Capital one and City and Simple and a
few others that are online checking accounts, and they seem
to be higher interest rate and they seem to be
f D I c ensured. But I just wondered if
you had any opinions on which of those are are
good so that I can give my new employees without
(23:49):
bank accounts a couple of options for online bank accounts.
Thanks for your help, Hey, Karen, that is a great question,
and some of those options you mentioned are fantastic. We
would recommend that folks prior ties the combination of customer
service fees, and of course you want to make sure
that you're looking at the interest rate. You mentioned Simple,
that's a great option. Actually open account with Simple years
(24:09):
years ago, like right when they first opened, because they
had a cool name. I was like Simple, and I
remember that they mailed out their little check card, the
little A C M card, like on a little piece
of cardboard. Uh, and You're like, this is your new
Simple wallet And I thought that was super cool. It
was like really minimal. They're they're a thoughtful bank. I
really like. Yeah, I like their approach. Yeah, and I
think recently they they've always had prioritized low fees, but
(24:31):
recently they actually what they're paying on on save mus
accounts and they're actually up there with everybody else now. Yeah,
so Simples are great, a great choice. Nice, but you know,
obviously we also love see I t discover ally all
these companies that you mentioned. Um, there are so many
good online banks, and they're likely more popular than ever
these days. Generally speaking, online banks are where we would
(24:51):
recommend for folks to go for the majority of their
day to day banking needs. Yeah, Karen, you're gonna do
a great service to your employees by helping set them
up on the path to doing business with a bank
that prioritizes customer care and all those other things we mentioned.
And uh, yeah, so you're a good employer for in
many respects, and good luck with your small business in
in these times. And the coronavirus news feels endless right
(25:13):
now in our universal situation is starting to seem like
it might drag on for a while at worldwide collaboration
of governments is essential to keep the spread of the
virus to a minimum, and then government intervention to to
prop up the economy so so things don't go completely
Haywire and Matt, more of that news is going to
trickle in. You and I on Friday's are going to
continue this theme of helping people in this time, pointing
(25:36):
them to the resources that are available and help each
other cope right with with kind of the this new
reality that we're faced with. Yeah, we'll continue our evergreen,
timeless content on Mondays and Wednesdays, but then on the
Friday episodes, you can certainly see some of that up
to date timely information. Yeah, that's it's going to be
it for this episode. Everybody, have a great weekend and
until next time. Best Friends Out, Budding best friends out,
Hosts And Creators
Joel Larsgaard
Matthew Altmix
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