Ask HTM - Cashback vs Travel Points, Letting a Brokerage Cook, and the Right Way to buy a First Home #952 - How to Money

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Hat of Money. I'm Joel, I'm Matt, and
today we're answering your listener questions.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
That's right, buddy, Happy Monday to everyone. We're excited to
get to some listener questions today, including a listener who's
trying to figure out whether he should be going with
a cash back credit card as opposed to a credit
card that offers points. He's going to figure out what's
best for him. Another listener is asking what they should
be doing about a brokerage account. Turns out it might
be sticking around for a little bit longer than they

(00:45):
were expecting. And we're going to discuss the best way
to buy your first piece of real estate, your first home.
Turns out there's a good way of doing it, Joel,
but there's also a better way of doing it that
we're going to get see. You know, you're going to
suggest my real estate in the metaverse right, just to
buy a portion of the moon? Which do they still
sell different stars? And I think there's some sort of

(01:05):
register out there that where you can literally lay claim
to stars that might be true portions of the moon. Yeah,
I would not recommend that. It's interesting.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
I haven't heard like anything about the metaverse recently, or
people want to spend time there or snatch up real estate.
I'm wondering if the people who.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Are so hot in twenty twenty one, yeah, Facebook changed. Yeah,
they're named a meta.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
Because which Facebook has done. They're all in quite nice.
I mean, but I don't know that the metaverse is
pan out like they hoped. And I wonder if the
early adopters buying real estate and the metaverse have you know,
lost their shirt, the roverbial shirt.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
I how did that ever sound like a good idea?
I'm not totally sure. Like looking back now, it seems
like it's like, would you like to buy this virtual
piece of property in the game called Sims? It just
seems like such a fake, made up pipe dream.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Kind of like video games were trying to be in
real life and the mixture just didn't quite so weird.
Maybe it well someday. I don't know, Matt real quick,
before we get to listener questions. My buddy Scott I
ranted him the other day on a walk around the
neighborhood and he was like, oh man, I listened to
your interview with the guys from car Edge Ray and
Zach Father son duo talking about how to buy a

(02:10):
car effectively. And one of the pieces of advice that
those two awesome dudes gave was to fly elsewhere around
the country, to scour online to see if you can
find a better price than which you have available locally.
And I think most people, when they're buying a car,
myself included, for so many years, you just kind of,
I don't know, look on auto Trader, look on Craigslist, Facebook,

(02:32):
those kinds of places to say, well, what is being
sold nearby where I live that I could that I
could grab, that makes sense for my family and my budget. Well,
the truth is there's a much bigger marketplace than the
one within thirty mile radius of where you live. Yeah,
And so my buddy Scott heard that and he was like,
you know what, I'm gonna take that, and I'm actually.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Gonna do it. Did he really? And he did. So
he flew I want to say he flew down to Houston.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
I don't remember exactly where he went, but halfway across
the kind of far maybe it was a I forget
how far the drive. Maybe it was like a twelve
fifteen hour drive back to his house from there.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
But he saved. I want to say he saved like
three or four grand.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
Buying this car. Elsewhere, he dropped a couple hundred bucks
on a plane ticket. He said it was definitely worth
U time.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Oh yeah, Okay, So that's the question I guess is
you got to kind of weigh the pros and the
cons because I'm a lot of money though it is
a lot of money, and it depends on whether or
not you're in like the stage of life where you've
got more cash on hand or do you have more
time on hand? And yeah, there might be a ton
of folks who are like, oh, well, I'm the kind
of guy that drives across town to get gas that's
three cents less per gallon, So I'm definitely gonna buy

(03:39):
a vehicle that costs three thousand dollars less. But did
he get it inspected while he was over there? Because
one of the things we always talk about is when
you buy a used car you have in whether or
not we're talking local or abroad in other states, but
make sure that you get that thing looked at right sure,
because and that's one of the difficulties that I would
foresee is saying, hey, I've got a mechanic here in

(03:59):
town that I trust that I go to all the time.
But the ability to find a mechanic who is going
to give you the time of day to be able
to say, yeah, I can fit that in in this
sort of narrow window of time. Otherwise, with you like
timing belt, or like some other really expensive thing or
system that needs to be addressed, it could really eat
into any of the savings that you have. Good points.

(04:21):
That's a good point, because you do.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
We want people when they're buying a used car to
get an inspected so they know what they're buying.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
A home inspection. Yeah, Like I mean literally, I would,
even especially if you're looking at a different city, expect
to pay somebody, not just because if it's your local
mechanic maybe they would look it over because you've got
a not a reputation a relationship with them. But if
you're somewhere else, man, I think you could definitely expect
to pay some money to make sure that that you're
not getting something that's going to end up costing you

(04:46):
more down the road. Yeah, you don't want to save
three grand and then get a lemon and pay that
out and repair bills over the next thing, and then
I had to drave across the southeast, so boring. Yeah,
but I think for some people, I love the idea
that excuse for a road trip, especially if it's not
too too far away. I had another friend who did
that maybe a few years back before that was before
this episode came about. So she was just even smarter.

(05:07):
But she flew down to Florida to buy a minivan.
And yeah, so just a word of the wise reminder
of people, Rachel, Yeah, yeah, yeah, and so it ended
up working out great for her. It worked out great. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
So, and the amount of money you can save if
you're willing to jump through a couple hoops and maybe
cast your net a little bit wider totally.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Can be significant. Totally. It's it's definitely worth considering because
I think for a lot of folks, buying a car
it's not something that you do often, right, It's a
rare event, and so because of that, you're not as
familiar with the process, and it's even rare, or it's
even weirder to say, oh, I want to fly somewhere
to then do this thing that I also never do.
And so I guess I'm pointing out the fact that
there's this mental roadblock, this mental hurdle to get past.

(05:46):
But once you get past that, and if you can
saw some of the small, well not small, but I
guess very solvable problems, then yeah, like you said, it
could be a great way to say for sure, I
like it.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
All right, let's mention the beer we're having on this episode.
This is which I also like, is a big foot
to barley wine style.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Ale. It's not a barley wine. They say barley wine style,
barley white ish. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
So this is by Sierra Nevada, one of the og
craft breweries in the US. We'll give our thoughts on
this one at the end of the episode.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
But if they're like, hmm, this didn't quite turn out
like we thought it would. This sort of tastes like
a barleywine though barley white ish. Yeslywhitne style. Completely accidental,
but it's been one of their best sellers for like
three decades and now was just keep it keep it going, man,
all right, Let's and Matt. If for folks out there
who are listening and they're like, I've got a question
for Matt and Joel, we'd love to hear from you.
Just got a how to money dot com slash ask

(06:34):
for the simple directions on how to record a voice
memo and send it over to us. But it's pretty
simple basically, I just outline what you do, record a
voice memo, send it.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
Over to last and on over yeap. Hopefully we'll take
it next week on the show, Matt. Let's take a
question now about credit cards and how to know which
one might be most appropriate for you.

Speaker 3 (06:52):
Hey guys, it's awestin from Alabama. I have a question
that I've been trying to figure out on my own,
but I've been unable to come to a clearance to
stick answer on. I have a two percent cash back
credit card with no annual fee. We use it and
like it with no problems. Many travel cards offer two
x miles for every dollar spent. What is the difference
between these two kinds of rewards the two percent cash

(07:13):
back and two x miles or is there one? I
know some of the travel cards with more rewards like
airport lounge access and free check bags will come with
an annual fee. My family doesn't travel a ton, which
is why I haven't pursued a travel card up to
this point. But if we were to travel more as
our kids get older, I may want to venture pun
intended into travel cards. I should add that we pay

(07:35):
our balances off in full and on time every month
and have never carried a balance on credit cards.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Thanks, well, now we got a venture pun thrown in there.
Nicely done, Austin, great dad, jobs of the ILK that
I would tell.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
So I want to address something that Austin mentioned, the
two percent cash back cards. I think everyone should basically
have one of those in their wallet, in their credit
card arsenal. Even if you implement a travel credit card
as well, there are times when you're just not going
to get as much of return using the cards, just
in your day to day spending where by default you
should always be getting two percent, like one percent No, no, no,

(08:09):
that was so nineteen ninety eight. Or I think of
as like the floor, it's the basement. Yeah, it's the minimum.

Speaker 1 (08:16):
Don't never get less than that on rewards for when
when you buy stuff with a credit card.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah, there's no need to. And if you are getting
into travel, absolutely consider some of these travel cards that
like we're going to get into but at a minimum,
by default have a two percent card and specifically the
So I've never actually had this card, but don't you
have the Fidelity I have the Fidelity two percent card
and it deposited, deposits it into your Fidelity account. That's right.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
I've had that account that credit card for that's that's
I think that's the first credit card ever got, So
I've had that card for a long time.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
We look at you. Yeah, very loyalty. That seems like
a very goody two shoes sort of answered. It's like,
my first credit card was the Fidelity Investment, but then
the other one is the City double Cash where you
earn two percent no matter what. Right. Solid. And I
think it's also.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
Important to mention here Mathot that not everyone or listeners
don't need to have dozens of cards, right. They don't
need just a slew of credit cards in their arsenal,
especially if they're not into optimizing their credit card game
all the way, which a lot of people aren't. Some
people don't want to play the game to that degree.
They're not like our buddy Chris Hutchins, who goes so

(09:21):
hard with credit cards, and I think it's awesome and
I love hearing how he does it, and I love
kind of divulging that information to our listeners who are
interested in going crazy with credit cards, because it's amazing
how much you can accomplish. I was literally texting with
him the other day, and we should talk about this
on the show at some point. But he bought tons
of gift cards at a discount to resell, and the

(09:43):
whole goal for him was to do just a mass
ridiculous amounts of points. So he's playing the game, and
he's playing harder than almost anybody I know, frugal.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
Or cheap joal to go to those links. It depends
what you're into, man, But like especially when if you
love it, if you find satisfaction and life fulfillment, I
guess from doing that, then more power to use.

Speaker 1 (10:02):
For him, it's going to mean a lot of free travel,
but it's also going to mean content for his podcast,
so maybe he's doing it for the pod.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
That's right, that's right.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
So how valuable are travel rewards. Let's get to the
heart of Austin's question and does two X points Let's say,
which you're going to hear on the commercials some of
those travel cards, does that equal two percent cash back?
It's kind of a scorely thing. But the quick answer
is not necessarily, points are typically worth one cent, so

(10:31):
two X points and two percent cash back are roughly
equivalent in value. But how much more or less valuable
those travel miles are than the cash back rewards that
you're going to get revolves around how well you know
and play the system. For instance, accumulating points with a
two X travel card and then transferring them to a
hotel partner so you can pay less for your stay.

(10:51):
That increases the value of those points, and it could
allow those points to be worth far more than a
two percent cash back card can get you essentially more
than two cents on the dollar. But if you use
those points unwisely or you attempt to turn those travel
points into cash, you're losing out and you would have
been better off using a two percent card. So part
of it is just kind of knowing the system and

(11:12):
using it in the way to its fullest extent.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
Totally. Yeah, miles can be more rewarding, especially for folks
who like to travel, who have the ability to be
super flexible as well in how it is that they
travel when they book, and the signup bonuses because of that,
I guess, because like the credit card companies are offering
they're dangling like a fat or juicier carrot, but it's
harder to catch, right, But if you do catch it,
the uh in particular, the signum bonuses for this travel

(11:36):
cards are vastly superior.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
Yeah, the cash back cards, the sign up bonus typically
non existent. They're pretty meager or paltry, right, yeah, yeah,
And so they.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
Offer an outsized advantage for folks out there who are optimizing.
By the way, Chris Hussion's episode we talked to episode
eight ninety nine where we actually dove into some of
that you got to know yourself, But some of the
best cash back cars out there come with bigger perks
in certain spending categories, and that actually it tends to
be a little bit easier to optimize. So, for instance,

(12:06):
you can get five percent cash back eating out if
you use the Chase Custom cash card like I do.
So it's literally a credit card I keep on my
person and often in which a lot of times, a
lot of cards I don't keep on my person. But
that's one card because and I go out for date nights,
they bring you the check, they take it off. You know,
it's not like I'm standing there at the register like
you not Europe, Matt, Yeah, exactly. They don't bring you

(12:27):
the terminal to the whatever to the table. Why don't
we do that? But that's a car to keep it
on my person because when it comes to paying for
our date nights, I use that card one hundred percent
of the time. Five percent cash back or even like
a six percent cash back at grocery stores with the
AMEX Blue Cash Preferred card. That's another one that I
love and we take full advantage of. Uh, you know

(12:49):
that's one that you you downgrade you a little bit. Yeah,
he just shopped at Costco too. You don't like that
that annual fee. Well, speaking of Costco, what is it?
Five percent cash back on gas at Costco and then
four percent at other gas stations. And so I mentioned
this because there are ways to get a higher percentage
of cash back. And you're thinking, whoa, that's like, that's
got to be at least four x five x six

(13:10):
x miles. Well, yeah, but there are caps, there are limits,
and it's only within you know, narrow spending windows.

Speaker 1 (13:17):
So and the thing is too, there's typically no annual
fees except for on that MX Blue Cash Preferred. No
hoops to jump through premium six percent, Yeah, pay a
little bit. I think you just there's less due diligence required, right,
So you could cash back to optimize just a few categories,
used to two percent card for everything else, and you
do quite well for yourself. It's it's sort of.

Speaker 2 (13:34):
Like a set and forget it sort of mentality. And
if that's what you're looking for, Austin, if you're looking
to kind of figure out the system and then always
know that, okay for going out to eat, I use
this card. For groceries, I use this card, and then
to the ability to never have to think about it again.
That's what's so great about these cash back cards as
opposed to the points game. If it's like having to
keep up with the news, it's always ever evolving and changing.

(13:56):
Hopefully not as quickly as the news has been in
recent cycles, but it is something that you have to
keep up with a little bit more because of the
fact that the credit card companies are looking to keep
you on your toes and they're trying to like out
maneuver you, essentially because if they're changing the rules a
little bit, it's tougher to know what it is that
you should be doing with us.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
Yeah, I think that's one of the pros of cash back, right.
It's easy to redeem travel awards less so right, so
you might have to go through the credit card company's
booking portal, or if you want the best deal, you
might have to transfer them to one of the partners.
And it can obviously be done, but there are just
steps involved, and some people just don't want to figure
out the proprietary system of Chase or Capital One or

(14:36):
something like that, right, And the other potential problem with
travel rewards is that they can diminish in value over
time if you don't use them. This is inflation, particularly,
it's points flation, and so, hey, you get these points
and you're like, all right, eighty thousand points. Well, if
you don't use them for a year or two, those

(14:56):
eighty thousand points instead of buying you like two plane tickets,
might get you a plane ticket and a half or
something like that, And so you just have to be
wary of that as well. On the cash back front,
you can typically sign into the back end of your
account and choose automatic redemptions, right, so that you're quickly
getting the benefit you signed up for. That money isn't
necessarily sitting there for a long period of time, getting

(15:16):
eaten away by inflation, and so I don't know. I
think there are a lot of folks, Matt, who let
their eyes get as big as saucers whin accruing rewards,
but they fail to use them in a timely manner,
and then when they do use them, they're not great
at optimizing that that spend of points, and it just
devalues your purchase. And so maybe for a lot of people,
not for everyone, that's for sure. Some people optimize this

(15:37):
quite well, but for a lot of people who go
into the travel points game, I think maybe they're not
doing it as well as they thought they were going to,
and so they're not quite getting the benefit that they.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
Thought they were exactly. They thought they had that big
juicy carrot within their grass, but then it gets yanked up.
And I also like the sort of picture that you
painted about the points getting devalued and how the flights
don't get you quite as far, and I like the
audition that carry it out further. Yeah, I like the
idea of a narroline saying or I kind of don't
like it, obviously, but it's kind of funny to think Hey,
you're wanting to go to California. Sorry, your points didn't

(16:08):
quite get you there. Looks like you're in South Dakota.
You got to get out in Nevada. No, no shade
thrown at Novada or anything like that. But Austin also
mentioned some of the secondary benefits of travel cards, which
is pretty cool because if you are king to travel more,
you know, there's a nice sign up bonus, and you're
also interested in deal hunting to use those points, then
those secondary benefits it really might push you over the

(16:30):
edge to get and to start regularly using a travel
card like Capital Ones Venture Card, which is a great one.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is also a great travel card,
and both do both of those have primary and the
primary I.

Speaker 1 (16:45):
Think so yeah, which is one of the biggest perks
for that. My Fidel Whinit card actually comes with that too.
Oh yeah, little throwback to the old two percenter.

Speaker 2 (16:52):
If you do offer a travel card, though Austin, the
best ones, in our opinion, are typically not brand specific.
You know, it's not like airline and Airlines or a
Delta cart specifically except for Southwest, because with Southwest you
get that companion pass and you get those unlimited flights
within that the rest of that year and then the
entire following year as well.

Speaker 1 (17:13):
Is hard to beat that we had a listener email
us at the end of last year.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
I want to say, Matt, oh, how many flights did
he take? Something like twenty two flights? How many? And
then they flew to Hawaii like two three times? Yeah,
multiple times working the system. I don't think that Austin
is in that situation because it sounds like he's got
young kids, but he's looking ahead. And it comes down
I think to what you said this earlier. What game
you're willing to pay? Because it is a game, even

(17:38):
the credit card cash back system, like that's still a game.
But are you willing to take it to the next
level and play the points game, the travel rewards game.
That's a whole another game that's a more complicated game.
It makes me think about like back in the day
when we had more bandwidth and more time, Joel, when
we sat down to play a game, what would we play.
We'd played like Settlers of Catan, Puerto Rico, Wingspan, like

(17:59):
these games that have it takes like ten minutes to
set these games up. Now it's like King Nomino because
it takes like fift what do we do. It's like, hey,
adult swim time for Mario Kart. Why get out of here, kids,
and we'll you know, we'll play like one Grand Prix
just to show the kids who's boss. But like, that's
all we have capacity for. And so that's where we
are these days when it comes to gaming, and in
a similar way with credit cards, you have to recognize

(18:22):
what you have capacity for when it comes to the
how you're going to optimize your credit.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
I think that's a really good point, the agent stage
where you're at in life, because at least for you
and I right now with a bunch of young kids,
we're not traveling quite as much, although that's starting to change,
so maybe we're going to start getting back into the
the travel points game with a little more fervor as
we kind of start to expand our travel horizons. But
for a bunch of years there, it was like, no way,
we're gonna take the show on the road.

Speaker 2 (18:47):
I literally did not have these single travel card because
we weren't. I didn't go out, I didn't leave the
country for over a decade. Yeah, man, Like when we
because we're having kids, and I'm just like, all right,
I'm just gonna kind of resign myself to the fact
that I don't travel an I.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
Think there's a certain amount of yourself. My dink little sister.
Can you know who I'm texting her? She's always in
a place that I didn't realize that you're on another trip. Okay,
I just assume she's not home ever.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
Literally, her and her husband like once a quarter they're
abroad somewhere, right, No, it's like once a month or
really not abroad, but there's somewhere that's not here. Okay, yeah,
even still, that's pretty fun. It's a lot. It's a lot,
and that's great cool for them.

Speaker 1 (19:22):
So it makes a lot more sense for a couple
like that to prioritize points and less for our family.
Totally think about where you're at and how hard you
want to go after getting those superior, potentially superior awards.
I think that all plays into which is gonna make
the most sense for you, Austin and for everyone else
out there are Matt, we got more to get to,

(19:43):
including we're going to talk about the credit bureaus and
how you go about getting your credit score. One listener
got a little confused about where to go. Got to
let us straight. We'll talk about that and more right
after this.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
All right, Joel, we are back from the break. Let's
now hear from a listener who took a lump sum
and invested it, but he's trying to figure out what
to do next.

Speaker 4 (20:10):
Hello, this is David in California, longtime listener. Thank you
Joel and Matt for all the episodes. A few years back,
my wife and I were fortunate to receive a lump
sum of money that we put into a joint brokerage account,
investing in an S and P five hundred EFT. We
were planning on letting it grow a few years and

(20:32):
then taking some out each year to help pay our mortgage.
I'm wondering now if it would be better to stick
with that plan and pay fifteen percent capital gains on
a growth each year when we take money out. The
alternative is to contribute less money into our roth IRA
accounts each year and let the money in the joint

(20:55):
brokerage account grow. Two things seem to make this a
tough choice. Number One, the money in the joint brokerage
account is already post tax dollars number two. If we
retire early, as we are planning, before we claim social Security,
we should be able to deduct most, possibly all of

(21:17):
the money out of our joint brokerage account while in
the zero percent bracket for capital gains. With California taxing
and growth roughly two or three percent at the state level,
I would like to prioritize the WROTH until I am
comfortable that we will have enough money combined with Social
Security in a couple of other sources to fund our

(21:41):
lives age seventy and on. But once we reach that target,
I am thinking of prioritizing maintaining the joint brokerage account
over continuing to fund the WROTH. Is this a crazy idea?
Thank you?

Speaker 2 (21:57):
Oh, Matt.

Speaker 1 (21:58):
I like this question, And first things first, I think
we have to just say that David made a really
good move investing the lump sum that is. That's another
question we get sometimes is like do I dollar cost
average or do I just.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
Eas into the shallow end YEA like one step at
a time, kind of got to get past that one
part where it's extra. Or do I just like dive
dive in head first, yeah?

Speaker 1 (22:18):
Or do I instead of investing it, do I pay
off the debt immediately?

Speaker 4 (22:23):
Where?

Speaker 1 (22:24):
And it seems like David made the right decision because
think about how much better he's done by investing that
money versus paying off the debt. And it's not like
we want debt to linger forever that we're big fans
of debt or anything like that. And we know that
some folks are incredibly debt averse, and I think everyone
kind of has to decide, based on their own individual constitution,

(22:44):
what they should do in a situation like that. But
the truth is, a three percent mortgage, in our estimation,
should be a very low priority for all listeners who
want to build wealth. There's just there just isn't a
great argument for rushing to pay that off ahead of
some of those other financial goals.

Speaker 2 (22:59):
Yeah, that that's true, even if you end up having
to pay capital gains tax. But it sounds like you
are planning on reducing your income to such an extent
that you can tap your brodge account and not owe
any federal.

Speaker 1 (23:10):
Tax at all, which most people don't even realize that's
a possibility.

Speaker 3 (23:13):
No.

Speaker 2 (23:13):
Yeah, So we typically refer to the long term capital
gains tax rate as being fifteen percent, and that is
true for the vast majority of folks. But on one end,
I will say, folks who sell a ton of appreciated
securities are is actually going to pay more than fifteen percent.
They're going to pay twenty percent if you have an
adjusted gross income of over five hundred and eighty three
thousand dollars if you are married filing jointly, And then

(23:36):
others who can keep their total taxable income below ninety
four thousand, again married filing jointly, well, you can pay
a long term capital gain tax rate of zero percent. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
The fifteen percent number gets thrown around so frequently and
less typical most people don't realize that there are two
other potential rates for capital gains.

Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yeah, and you know, going from fifteen to twenty percent
not the end of the world, not ideal, but going
from twenty percent to zero that's pretty huge. And for
smart folks in the fire camp financial independence retire early.
This is a way to maintain access to funds where
you have added flexibility without paying extra tax for that perk. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:15):
Typically when we're talking about avoiding tax, we're talking about
the accounts that you're that you're choosing and the taxable
brokerage account, it offers that additional flexibility, but hey, you're
gonna pay the tax man. That extra pound of flesh
is garnered, Matt from the taxable brokerage account. Unless unless
you are incredibly super duper strategic, like David is trying

(24:36):
to be here, and he mentioned, I.

Speaker 2 (24:39):
Don't even know if you have to be that strategic,
you just have. It's this is a vote in favor
of frugality because if you can get your low income
or lower income both, because you're going to need to both,
which can be natural as you enter into your more
you know, more chill retirement years.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
Yeah, And what makes it difficult to pull this off
typically is if you are earning a meaningful salary and
then you also sell some of your appreciated security, some
of the stocks or ETFs that you've purchased, you're going
to push yourself above that threshold. You're going to pay
the fifteen percent. So you have to be careful about
when you make that sale and what your income is

(25:14):
likely going to be in that given year to kind
of get yourself with blow and into that zero percent
capital gains tax rate threshold. And so normally what we
would tell you, David, as we prioritize the roth Ira.
We love roth IRA's, we'd hate to see you abandon
that account, given how good it is, how flexible it
can be for early retirees too, because of the fact
that you can take those contributions back out at any

(25:36):
point in time in the future. It's just not as
flexible as a brokerage account. And if you really can
jump through those taxable income hoops, it's actually going to
be treated pretty similarly from a tax perspective, which is
kind of crazy. So, in a very rare admission, this
is not widely dispensed advice, I think I think I'm

(25:56):
willing to concede on this one, Matt, that a brokerage
account might slightly add oh yeah, the wroth for them,
So I think reducing wroth contributions in favor of keeping
that money in the tactable brokerage account makes sense to me.

Speaker 4 (26:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:10):
Yeah, Well, and you said something about totally like abandoning
his wroth. It's not like as hardcore as that either,
because he's he's still got the wroth, it's still hanging out.
He's just not necessarily going to be funding it to
the absolute max, which again I think is you know,
it's totally fine because what that means, though, is that
if he feels comfortable enough with the money that he
set aside in his retirement accounts, like, that's what we
call coast fire, and that's you have Essentially, you can

(26:33):
take your foot off the gas a little bit. You
can coast because you can tell that you've kind of, oh,
I'm getting really close to the crest of this hill,
at which point I can let the momentum right and
in this case that's your investments do the vast majority
of the work for you. And it sounds like that
that's close to where David is getting ready to arrive at.
But I think the question really boils down boils down

(26:53):
to is whether or not to diminish roth contributions in
order to accelerate your mortgage debt payoff. In one hand,
it sounded like he was talking about taking some money
out of the brokerage account, like maybe month to month
or year to year, in order to whether or not
he was talking about paying off the mortgage early or
even to support his cost of living, because it almost
sounded like he was saying, well, if we take some

(27:14):
of those investments out, then we can continue to fund
our wroth. Ira. I'm not totally sure if that's what
he was saying, but going back to the beginning, it's
not something that we're big fans of, specifically eliminating eliminating
that mortgage. The dynamics of early mortgage payoff it's changed
significantly given the zero risk ability for many folks out there,
for virtually everyone to earn more in their savings accounts

(27:37):
than they can by paying off a three ish percent
mortgage loan, and the calculations they look different if rates
on savings drop significantly or for folks who have a
mortgage rate that's let's say over five percent, But if
you've got a great mortgage rate, then I think I
obviously just continuing to prioritize those investments. First, your wrath
gets to the point to where you feel like you

(27:58):
have enough in there, let that money within that brokerage
account man, let that continue to ride, because if you
are looking to do a little bit of early retirement
or you are looking to draw some of the funds,
the ability to see your earned income reduced to where
you're not taxed at all in that that's fantastic.

Speaker 1 (28:13):
Yeah, so pay off your mortgage as agreed, unless you
have just a burning desire to see it eradicated more quickly.
But Matt and I just don't feel the need to
spur anyone in that direction totally if you've got a
really low rate, and I think our advice, again, Matt,
is subject to change. If let's say the Fed cut
rates significantly and savers are now experiencing one and a

(28:34):
half to two percent rates again like they did many
years ago, just crummy rates on savings, then yeah, why
would you keep up money locked up in savings that
you could pay down debt that has a higher interest rate.
The calculations change, But given the facts on the ground
and the reality that rates are not likely to come
down significantly anytime soon, I think of a three percent

(28:56):
mortgage as less of a liability than I think some
folks who are getting closer to that retirement age think
of it. It's not like the debt is great, but
it's also not bad debt.

Speaker 2 (29:07):
All right, Let's hear from a listener who is thinking
about purchasing her first home in all the right ways.

Speaker 5 (29:12):
Hi, Matt Angel, this is Sarah from Brooklyn, New York.
My husband and I are exploring the best way to
invest our savings into real estate. While we know we
might not find exactly what we want right now, we're
approaching this potential purchase as both a future rental property
and a stepping stone to buying a larger condo in
three to five years. We currently rent a two bedroom,
two bath apartment with a private garden at fourteen percent

(29:34):
plow market rate. We have enough savings to cover a
twenty percent down payment, closing cost and three months of
expenses for either a one bedroom, one bath unit in
a more desirable location closer to Manhattan, or a two bedroom,
one bath condo in a developing neighborhood further out. Our
ultimate goal is to own a two bedroom, two bath

(29:55):
condo in a great area. We're open to making sacrifices,
whether that means buying in a developing location, downsizing to
a smaller unit, or waiting altogether. For context, We have
no debt. Our combined income is three hundred and eight thousand.
We invest in our four one ks. We both have
credit scores above eight hundred, and our savings is currently

(30:17):
in a high yield account. We truly love your show
and appreciate all the advice you've shared over the years.

Speaker 1 (30:22):
Thank you, Oh, Matt, I love love the analytical approach
to buying real estate, right it can be such an
emotional purchase. But that's like one of the first suggestions
typically when you're going out to buy or to look
at a property is to not get emotionally attached, because
the person who gets emotionally attached to a piece of

(30:42):
real estate, to a particular house, is often going to
lose financial perspective. They might get out over their skis.
And you know, we don't always get what we want
with our first real estate purchase either, or at least
not all that we want. And I do think this
is going to sound weird, but I think settling for
less can be the best financial move that we could
possibly make thinking about the first purchase, Like even if

(31:04):
you're going to live in the home like an investor,
that can help people from a long term ownership perspective.
So I think sometimes people, Matt, they've watched a little
too much HGTV, and so maybe their desires for what
that first home is going to look like actually outstrips
their budget. So I think some realism is important when
we're talking about buying.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
Real estate totally, and even though you might be quote
unquote settling, that doesn't mean you don't have a home
right like, it will provide that initial purchase is going
to give you a roof over your head, but it
will also give you some options because as you live
in it and you pay down that mortgage, the equity
that you're building up, well, it can be used to
aid your down payment for that next house. But that
being said, we'd rather you buy a place that would

(31:43):
make sense as a rental when you're ready for the bigger,
fancier condo. And that means doing the hard work of
saving up another twenty percent down ideally for the next place,
and not rolling that equity over into the to the
new house. But the long term benefit of taking the
you know, it's sort of like a steppingstone approach to
getting the home that you ultimately want. I think it's
going to pay off in a significant way when we're

(32:04):
talking about wealth building. But we do want to challenge you.
It's because it did sound like she had a couple
options laid out before her where it's like, well, we
could kind of go from this house and then we'll
get rid of that one, and then we can get
the dream place, or maybe we'll hang onto it, and
we would absolutely challenge you to hang on to it
if at all possible.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
There's something so powerful about buying something that's that you
can easily afford maintaining a much larger savings rate than
most of your peers would likely be able to have,
so that you can afford the thing you really want
later on down the line, when some of your peers
are like maybe stuck in the first place that they
bought and they don't have the financial freedom. Makes me
think even about like a car purchase, Matt, like holding

(32:42):
on to my five Vacura means when I want to
at some point when the new Rivin R two comes out,
I'm going to be able to afford it, because for
so many years you're going to plumb down cash for
that back I've had this like non existent car payment.
I've paid almost nothing for automobiles, and so then I'll
be able to pay a lot and guess what, I'll
own it free and clear, and I won't have if
any sort of car.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
Payment attached to me. Whereas most people, if they go
for it too early, they got a car payment. That's
no fun. Would you be embarrassed if we had matching
rivians matching car twos? Are you doing it too? No?

Speaker 1 (33:10):
Okay, Well, I don't know if I'm going to either.
I might be too cheap and I might have just
other financial priorities. So we'll see if I actually do
it or not. But I think the good news for
Sarah here is she's already got so much money saved, right,
and her rent is below market level, which is a
meaningful thing in New York City. That's yeah, fourteen percent
below in New York City.

Speaker 2 (33:27):
That's like a unique advantage that they have many hundreds
of them, which tells me that they don't need to
be in any sort of rush, you know, exactly like they
gating this chill. I think, yeah, just keep paying it out.

Speaker 1 (33:36):
I think if they're not interested in becoming a landlord,
and they're wary of the substantial transaction costs that come
with buying and selling real estate, which everyone knows right
that that can be prohibitive, keeping the bird in the
hand of the cheap apartment rent and continuing to save
that might be the even more beneficial move here. There's

(33:56):
just I don't think there's any rush to get into
something if you aren't planning on holding on to it
for more than five years.

Speaker 2 (34:03):
Yeah, she said that they've got a are they currently
into two to one that's got like a private garden,
And I kind of could imagine what that looked like,
but I wasn't totally sure, so I googled it. Uh,
I mean, it's not like she's living in whatever picture
I pulled up that happened to populate Google Images, But
did you pink Sarah's apartment? A private A private garden
apartment in New York City looks like the coolest thing ever. Like,
there's all these pictures of these awesome, these natural spaces

(34:26):
in the back of an apartment. It's in the middle
of a city, but you kind of got like your
own tiny green space, green oasis with like you know,
Japanese maple trees and lush bushes and spot for your
dog to go to the bathroom. I guess as well,
if that's something that you're into. But yeah, like that
coupled with the fact that so you've got this amazing place,
but then also it's, uh, you're getting a lesson market rent. Man,

(34:48):
I'd be hanging out there for as long as I could.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
I think it's another option that should be considered. And
I think it's just important to note that it's it's
a gamble, right, the shorter your ownership timeline is likely
to be. But I think it's also you know, Sarah
sounds like she's keen to get on the property ladder,
and she's willing to stay put a bit longer than
she's planned to if need be. And if that's the case,
you're probably in a position to buy. So this is

(35:10):
a choose you're on a venture book Matt from the
nineteen nineties.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
Totally, Yeah, And I think not counting on appreciation is
important too, like making sure that you are going to
hang on to it for the long term, because it's
just a safer bet from okay, are we I can't
imagine that they would be underwater in that property. But
as we're talking about timing, it's worth thinking through not
just owning that property for like at least five years,
but also living in it for two out of the

(35:35):
past five years. Because let's say they're like, okay, let's
we'll do it. Man, as you will say we will
buy that thing, will hang on to it we'll live
in it. But let's say they try out the whole
landlording thing and they're like, man, this really isn't for us.
You do want to make sure that you have lived
in that thing for at least two of the past
five years, because if you do want to unload the
property you don't want to be a landlord. Well, it

(35:55):
needs to have been a primary residence for you to
avoid any capital gains tax on that property as a couple,
well up to five hundred thousand dollars as married, finally jointly.
So that's something else to keep in mind too, that
this is a great way to learn whether or not
you want to be a landlord without paying through the
nose in taxes for the privilege of learning that lesson.

(36:16):
And one last thought here, Matt.

Speaker 1 (36:18):
It makes me think for some reason of our buddy Carl,
who does live in Flips, And maybe this is a
chance for Sarah to be able to get exactly what
she wants by buying one of the ugliest apartments on
the block and then forcing some appreciation saying, actually I
can get that too, too, kind of closer to the
neighborhood I want as long as I buy like literally
the ugliest one, and then over time I'm making improvements

(36:40):
to that place. So Sarah and her husband are handy. Yeah,
that's what you're saying. Yeah, I mean just a thought,
because in real estate, that's typically how you score a deal.
If you buy the one that's all joyn against and
all that stuff, you're paying somebody else for having a premium.
Having done that work, you're gonna pay the premium. So
at least consider maybe doing some DIY renovations. And Sarah,

(37:02):
the truth is, you're hitting all the metrics, like, you
have a great income, your credit scores are fantastic, you're
still funneling money into retirement accounts, You've already sacrificed a
lot to build up that down payment, and you're willing
to do more. You're also like flexible on exactly where
you end up, although that is something I think more
about too. Right, I would personally rather have a smaller
house than to live in a less walkable location or

(37:24):
someplace that was going to mean a much longer commute.
Not everybody feels that way, but just make sure you've
thought through that as well before you start making offers.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
Although I we'll say we're talking New York City, or
we're talking to Manhattan and a small place versus a
decent sized place up there is a lot different, right
because like if you're talking about extra hundred square feet, yeah, yes,
because like a one to one that you're sharing with
your husband, like that's tight, Like that is not a
whole lot of space. So I get the desire to
have a two to two. It's not like we're telling
you to find like a two two McMansion, which sounds

(37:54):
like an oxymoron. I don't think that actually exists. But
if Sarah had said, hey, we're minimalists, we're not planning
to ever have kids, I think I might say, all right, well,
if you find the place of your dreams and it's
a one to one and it's small, but hey it's
in Manhattan, I might say to go for it. But
what I heard her say was that it's our dream
to own a two to two. It sounds like she's

(38:15):
maybe more of a homebody it wants to have the
additional space. And especially given the fact that she's looking
to she's like looking far off down the road, it
sounded like she was considering getting a nicer place into
here now versus something that's got that's up and coming,
but that is a little bit bigger. I actually might
do the opposite of what you said. I think I
would be willing Joel to go for the place that's
a little more up and coming. You got the space

(38:38):
because you, I don't know, you can't ever add more
space when you're looking at apartments like you are confined
to the square footage that you have, Like you can
make it nicer, but you can't gain more square footage.
And to count on, you know, this is the dangerous part.
To count on some appreciation in the neighborhood and hope
for some to hope for yeah, and just to And
that's something that you can also sort of force into
the neighborhood by just like community events out involved are

(39:00):
you in your neighbors lives, Like inviting them over for
drinks on the porch, like just different things like that
that add to the overall vibe of a building. I
think that's something that you can participate in. But I
think about the first house that Kate and I purchased,
and it was like right on the edge of what
we felt was safe slash something that it's like, Okay,
we see some potential here, but let's go for it.

(39:22):
And for us, we ended up lucking out. Like anything
worse than that. I don't think we would have felt
comfortable from day one, but we said, hey, from day one,
it's probably only going to get better, and it totally did.
And that's it's somewhat speculative, like we're hoping and counting it,
but that's again something that we participated in. We had
friends over, we met folksing you put.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
Roots down, you can see which dominoes are dropping in
the real estate market and you can say, oh, this
is here's the hot neighborhood. Here's the neighborhood. That's two
neighborhoods over from the hot neighborhood, and you can kind
of say, well, it's got good bones over there. People
are starting to do some stuff. The neighborhood's got good bones.
Not the house, but like you see the possible future,
what life could look like, and in some of those
neighborhoods or in some of those buildings, and if you're

(40:04):
hanging onto it for the long haul, there's more upside
potential as well, because you are looking at that property
appreciating more over time versus maybe purchasing it closer to
the top of what the market would support were you
to either sell or rent that property. You get to
like experience the renaissance. You get to be a part
of it, which is kind of cool. Ride the wave
a little bit.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
I don't know. That sounds like a lot of fun. Yeah, yeah,
for sure.

Speaker 1 (40:27):
All right, but Sarah, we hope that's helpful. Best of
luck to you and your real state endeavors.

Speaker 4 (40:32):
Matt.

Speaker 1 (40:32):
We've got more questions to get to, and we'll actually
talk about something I mentioned on the show recently a
listener as a question about my costco Instacart hack. We'll
get to that and more right after this.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
All right, buddy, we're back from the break. It is
now time for the Facebook question of the Week, which
is from Anissa. She writes, I thought you could check
your credit score for free by going directly to the
three sites. I am on Equifax's page and it lists prices.
I don't see anywhere on the site where it says free.
Please show me how to navigate this particular site to
obtain my free score? What am I missing? Oh? What's

(41:12):
the thing, Joel?

Speaker 1 (41:14):
I hate to be the bearer of bad news on
this one, Matt. But in the credit bureaus, they're not
down with off from free scores. I don't know if
you remember this, probably like fifteen years ago, maybe there
was a free credit report or free credit score dot com,
and the credit bureaus were coming up with all these
websites to try to entice you to come directly to

(41:34):
them to get your credit score. We're trying to trick you,
but they were trying to trick you, and so yeah,
maybe it was free for like a week or something
like that, but then they wanted to you to fork
over fifteen twenty bucks a month or something like that
for all these insights into your credit score. This became
a profit center for them, and what they prefer to
do still to this day is to confuse you and
to profit off of you as much as possible. And

(41:56):
at the same time, when it comes to actually providing
you service if there's an issue, they're not going to
do that. So they're never going to, let's say, respond
to complaints about errors that you might have found and
that you've made them aware of. There's still a lot
of reports would suggest somewhere between one and four and
one in five Americans has an error on their credit
report that has not been removed, that has not been

(42:17):
made right. So Anissa, I just say this to begin with,
you're looking in the wrong place. The only reason to
go to the website of an individual bureau is to
freeze or thaw your credit report. Other than that, stay away,
do not go look for your credit score from those guys.

Speaker 2 (42:32):
Totally. Yeah, And you said freeze, which is important because
they have, like all the bureaus have a credit lock feature. Right,
we're not talking about freezing. They offer locking abilities as well,
and they're going to try to charge you for something
that's already available for free. And plus their product is
kind of worse when it comes to the ability to
get in there and to monitor your credit, but their marketing,

(42:53):
it's going to make it sound superior. Well, and of
course they're going to prioritize some of the different plans
that they offer that have credit monitoring and just some
of the other foe services that they offer. But the
cool thing is getting your credit score for free is possible,
and the place to turn is typically just to your
credit card company. Almost everyone listening here they have a
credit card, and the different companies have their own sort

(43:14):
of credit score products. I'm thinking of Capital one. There
is called credit wise. Discover has a free credit score
that updates monthly as well AMX like literally all the
credit cards, and it's one of the best ways these
days to monitor your actual score for free. Typically you're
logging in there anyway. There's no need then to register
your account with Equifax or Experience or whoever or TransUnion

(43:36):
in order to try to get your free score over there.
And if you want to look at your detailed report,
well that can actually be had for free at annual
credit report dot com, which is actually still available for
free weekly. That's something they started offering during the pandemic
when it seems like the world was going to end.
So that is what they've maintained.

Speaker 1 (43:55):
That is the report that's available, not the score of
the score. So if you want the score, you got
to go elsewhere. And you're right, mat the credit card
companies do a great job on that front. I still remember,
do you remember the bank Washington Mutual that was WAMU. Yeah,
that was one of my first bank accounts and they're
still around, right they got the Ostrich No, they're gone.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
The guy with a mustache, No, that's uh, li am
I thinking of that's Liberty's yeah, Liberty Mutual, That's okay,
that's insurance.

Speaker 1 (44:17):
So Washingt Mutual, No, they went. They went bust in
the Great Recession. But when I had part of the
reason I got my bank account with them was because
at the time, it was they were essentially the only
place where you could get your credit score for free
once a month, and I was nerdying into personal finance
as a twenty two year old or something like that,

(44:38):
and so I was like, cool, I'm going to go
with that account. But now the cat's kind of out
of the bag. The credit score is not nearly as
hidden as.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
It used to be.

Speaker 1 (44:45):
All the credit card companies offer something like that, or
most of them. Also, I would say, Anissa, check out
credit Karma. You'll get to see two scores for free.
One is from TransUnion and one is from Equifax. You
mentioned Equifax in your question, so if you want to
see your e qu Fax score, it's a good place
to get it. That gives you a pretty good idea
of where your credit score stands. By being able to
see both of those scores, credit Carmo will try and

(45:07):
sell you a bunch of other financial products, including new
credit cards or maybe even auto loans. Avoid those if
you're not interested, but it's a solid site for digging
into what's going on with your credit score. I like
their credit health section because it can help you see
where you need to improve. So it's not just the score,
but then it's like, hey, here's why your score isn't
as good as you want it to be, and here's
where you can make improvements, Like if you're using too

(45:29):
much of your available credit, or if you're making too
many inquiries or something like that. They will make you
aware of that and so then you can maybe correct
your course so that you can.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
Improve the score. Well, even a lot of the credit
card companies are actually offering that yeah now as well,
And I think if you dig deep enough, the credit
bureaus will they do the same thing. But we're just
gonna not steer you towards them because of the fact
that they oftentimes just do such a terrible job at
the one thing that they're supposed to do a good
job at, And is it because of that. I don't
want to reward them with any other clicks at one
job all. Indeed, let's get to one more. Joel from Courtney.

(46:04):
She said, what's the instacart hack that Joel was talking
about for Costco? Literally just less impulse purchases by using Instacart?
Or is there something else I'm missing Joel? What's the
going to share your Instacart hack?

Speaker 1 (46:15):
I will say this, that's not something I had thought
about that much, the fewer impulse purchases.

Speaker 2 (46:19):
But it's totally true. Oh do we not talk about
that well?

Speaker 1 (46:21):
Because if you go, it's true, it's true how we
did well, maybe we did, but it's something I had
not thought through a lot, Like when you just were
looking for an easy way to get your afse bites.

Speaker 2 (46:29):
Or whatever it is.

Speaker 1 (46:31):
I just like straight up discounts and not having to
go grocery shopping or and having someone else do it
for me if it's not going to cost me an
arm and a leg. And that was my initial aversion
to Instacart, or to buying groceries online. Pay you pay
the premium, you pay more than what you pay in
the store, and then on top of that you got
to pay the tip, the Instacart feel all all that stuff,
and so I was like, no, I'm not into it.

(46:54):
I would rather get my groceries as cheaply as possible.
But Costco sells one hundred dollar INSTACR gift cards for
eighty bucks, which is like a ridiculously sweet discount, so
by my calculations, as that twenty percent it is. And
you can get those gift cards online or in store.
If you get them online, you can only buy two

(47:14):
every two weeks. If you buy them in store, you
can buy two every time you go in. Some people
have said you can buy two, walk out, go back in,
buy two more. I haven't tried that yet, although I'm
sure you can, especially if you go see a different
person at checkout. But I don't even think they would
give you put some.

Speaker 2 (47:29):
Something lesses on it exactly, or a mustache mustash.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
But so what's so great about it, too, is that
you can use Costco's same day service costco dot com
click the same Day and you can buy your groceries there.
The markup, Matt, I haven't done the math exactly, but
I'm pretty sure the markup is somewhere between nine and
eleven percent on most of the groceries. So you're get
in that twenty percent discount you paid the nine to
eleven percent markup then you got to pay the tip

(47:55):
to the chopper on top of that, but you still
come out I would say, even if not a little
bit ahead and you avoided the impulse buys.

Speaker 2 (48:03):
Show me your math, and it's true.

Speaker 1 (48:05):
I'm telling you, man, go look, go look I have.
And then I looked on Reddit to see what other
people are saying, and they were agreeing with me that
it is somewhere in that range. But yeah, so this
is what it's saving me multiple hours a week of
grocery shopping, which is nice. And even if you just
kind of need to make a quick order or something
like that, it's not as frustrating because you know the
pricing and you know you got a discount on that

(48:26):
gift card. So I think for a lot of people
out there who are like I wanted to try Instacart,
but I too am too frugal to go in that direction.
If you like Costco, the instacart hack at Costco makes
a lot of sense, good way.

Speaker 5 (48:36):
To do it.

Speaker 2 (48:37):
Or you can just avoid all the frustration, including the
Costco parking lot, and just go straight to Aldie, because
you are totally going to save more by going to Aldi.
I will say, you're right, the cost. The quality is
higher at Costco, but you also pay for it. That's true,
you know, that's so all that to be said. We're
trying to I'm telling you, man, we're trying to shop
less at Costco because we have seen our grocery budget
creep up when we buy more stuff from Costco as well,

(48:59):
You're not when you buy in bulk, we are tempted
to consume more. You know, when you buy three hundred
rolls of tot paper, I'm just like, oh, it doesn't
matter how much paper I use. We got so much
of it. It's burning a hole in a pocket. Are
you are you wiping extra if you know you've got
like sixty rolls in the in the closet versus six?

Speaker 5 (49:16):
Uh huh?

Speaker 2 (49:16):
Like you treat it a little bit differently, you know,
like there's a psychological component to it. Though, I will say,
have you seen I gotta say so, these are all
the reasons I love Aldi. Have you seen the Aldi commercial?
They've had some good ones lately. Oh oh gosh, d
I can say they're terrible. Oh really, I hate them.
Where the guys like the fig prices, you think that
pineapples on sale and the lady pulls the sticker down.

(49:37):
It's the same price underneath, and it's all like cpo
to I don't know if sen like, oh you think
that discount card is actually getting you something? Joke's on you.
And then it goes to color and they're making a
good point. Yeah, but it's such a lame. It's a
terrible commercial, and so I'm gonna I will knock aldi
for that. That's come on. By the way, do better
pretty sure?

Speaker 1 (49:54):
I just saw Costco stock price go down five percent
with you saying you're shopping at Costco less sore you go,
you move markets, my friend.

Speaker 2 (50:02):
All right, let's get back to the beer that you
and I enjoyed this episode, which is a Bigfoot barley
wine style ale by Sierra Nevada. What do you think.

Speaker 1 (50:10):
I'm glad they said barleywine style because it's not a
barley wine like because it's too happy.

Speaker 2 (50:14):
Yes, it's incredibly bitterly hoppy, and so this happens that
classic it's like a West Coast beast I Pa reminds
me of. It's just multier. It's it's like a multier
narwhal like is that an ipa? No, that's what is
that that's their stout. No Torpedo, I think is what
you're thinking. I'm thinking of Torpedo. It's got the Torpedo
hops going on. I mean, I don't know my hops

(50:37):
like somebody who's really really into craft beer. But the
mouthfeel that I got reminded me so much of that
Sierra Nevada bitterness, or it kind.

Speaker 1 (50:45):
Of tastes in some ways like their their Christmas. I
p a a little bit too that they come out
with celebration every.

Speaker 2 (50:50):
Single ye yes, yeah, all these beers classic Sierra Nevada.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
So this is very much like if you just poor
blind taste tested this one on me, I would not
call it a barley wine. I call it a hopped
up West Coast ipa And I would be like, that's
totally a.

Speaker 2 (51:02):
Serian about it. Yeah, and if how to make like
a dark West Coast ipa or yeah, yeah, it's it
is good, Yeah, I will say I like, I mean,
it's super tasty, it's it's unique, and this beer has
been around for a super duper long time, and so
it's fun to have a bigfoot.

Speaker 1 (51:17):
But it's it's interesting though, if you were expecting barley wine,
that's just not what I get from this, you know,
not nearly as multi but maybe I'm just an idiot,
don't know what I'm talking about, but just as enjoyable.

Speaker 2 (51:26):
Yeah, I'm not gonna hate on it. I'm not totally
sure when the last time actually had a big foot,
And I guess it's one that they do every year
that's a seasonal because it says twenty twenty five, Yeah, bigfoot.

Speaker 1 (51:34):
Well, some people lay these down and sell her them
age they age and come back to them years down
the road.

Speaker 2 (51:38):
We're luckily not that nerdy, but buddy, that's going to
be it for this episode. Listeners can find our show
notes up on the website at how to money dot com.
But we didn't even actually mention the credit card tool
when we're addressing Austin's question about travel cards. So head
over to how to money dot com forward slash credit
card tool and you can sort by the different rewards,
whether or not you want to do cash back what
a missed opportunity, Oh my gosh. You can sort them

(52:01):
by cash back or you're telling them now or travel points.
At least we finally got to it for the foot.
For the few folks who had their hands tied up.
They're doing the dishes or cutting grass or something like that.
But anyway, that's gonna be it buddy for this episode
until next time. Best Friend's Out, Best Friends Out,

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Ask HTM - Cashback vs Travel Points, Letting a Brokerage Cook, and the Right Way to buy a First Home #952

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Joel Larsgaard

Matthew Altmix

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