Let’s kick off the week with some fresh listener questions we have lined up for you! And don't just stand on the sidelines- if you have a question you’d like us to answer, toss your voice memo our way. It only takes about 90 seconds to record and you can find a step by step guide over at HowToMoney.com/ask . Regardless of how random or bizarre you might think it is, we want to hear it!
1 - What target date fund should I go with if I’d like to retire early?
2 - Frugal or cheap: pouncing on an incorrectly priced item at the store?
3 - Do I prioritize my HSA if I don’t receive a state tax deduction?
4 - My homeowners insurance says I need to cut back trees and paint the house… should I push back?!
Want more How To Money in your life? Here are some additional ways to get ahead with your personal finances:
- Knowing your ‘money gear’ is a crucial part of your personal finance journey. Start here.
- Sign up for the weekly HTM newsletter. It’s fun, free, & practical.
- Join a thriving community of fellow money in the HTM Facebook group.
- Find the best credit card for you with our new credit card tool!
- Massively reduce your cell phone bill each month by switching to a discount provider like Mint Mobile.
During this episode we enjoyed a Black Quad by Real Ale Brewing! And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money!
Best friends out!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to How to Money. I'm Joel, I'm Matt. Today
we're answering your listener questions. Happy Monday, everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Not only Happy Monday, Joel, but happy first had a
money episode of the Glorious Month of June. It's a
good one. Actually, I just look at the calendar. Happy
fortieth birthday to our buddy Lee. You say fortieth, he's
much older than that.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I'm forty eighth, forty one.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah, I said fortieth.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
You're much older than forty Lee.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
But he's older than us, that's for sure. Now this
is our ask how to Money episode, Joel. We've got
some great topics to get to a listener. She's asking
about retiring early, and it seems like in her case,
target dight phones, they might be coming up a little short.
We'll talk about how that's the case. We're gonna take
a fugular cheat pertaining to do personal hygiene. We're gonna
(01:03):
should I shower often. Yes, we're gonna talk about saving
money in the bathroom, but we're gonna keep it clean.
We're gonna be talking about a listener who's being forced
to paint her house. Joel, you're not gonna believe the
last thing that her insurance company said to her, oh
little clickbaity style like it. Yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
So you mentioned something about retiring early, and it's interesting.
There's this new company out there that that launched a
couple of different ETFs exchange traded funds so that you
can invest specifically for for firefolks. Right, so this is
intended to cater to people who want to retire early.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Joel, why do you hate fire ETFs? Okay, tell us
tell the people.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Well, what's fascinating is that when you if you've been
inside of or listened to or read anything by people
in the fire movement, well, go ahead and to find
fire financial independence, retire early. So it's typically people who
want to work for twelve fifteen years and they want
to save and invest a whole bunch of what they're
making so that they can quit work much earlier than
the average.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Person, even twenty or twenty five years, because even though
working career that was twenty five years would be shorter
than the traditional will retire at fifty nine and a
half or age six or sixty five, probably able to
retire in your forties at that point. Right.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
So, but but it's so fascinating because most of the
people in that community would subscribe to kind of our
basic investing philosophy, whether it's through real estate or whether
it's through low cost index funds. But this new company
that offers their own fire specific ETFs, Like, what fire
person is going to be interested in this because they
have Here's here's the rub. The expense ratios are kind
(02:41):
of ridiculous in these funds. There you go, So we
talk about how the clincher. That's the clincher. We talk
about how important low cost is when we're investing in
the Expense ratios on these couple of fire funds that
were just launched are zero point sixty seven percent and
point eight nine percent, almost a full percentage every single
year being taken out. It's really expensive. Yeah, I like
(03:03):
when we're when our favorite funds are a fraction of that,
they're like literally zero, or they're like three, or they
are yeah point zero two point zero three. So who's
gonna get behind twenty twenty five x so ridiculous expenses.
I think most of the fire crowd is going to
see through that. So I think it's just kind of fascinating.
This company launched catering to this crowd who is there's
(03:25):
very much they're very aware of what they're paying in fees.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
They should be very attuned to it. And I don't
think there's any way that this is going to take off.
I was trying to think through like an illustration of
like how can we drive this point home for folks,
And the actual branding from the site kind of gave
me the some inspiration, right because the branding of it,
it's like a young couple and they're like in their van.
They're on this road trip like trip of a lifetime.
(03:47):
You know, they're sitting on top of it. They're gazing
up the stars. Very much kind of geared that way,
which made me think of sort of the online instagram
worthy like posts that you see and so imagine, all right,
so here we go, this is there's gona be a
little bit of social commentary here in this illustration too.
And let's imagine you're young, you're beautiful, You're getting ready.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
To go on a vacation.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I don't even have to imagine that. Please. A lot
of times you feel the need to document your trip
in a ridiculous sort of way, like you are setting
up the perfect shots everything it's it's got to be
picture perfect, man, it's got to the aesthetic, it's got
to be on point.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
You didn't post on Instagram, did it even Did you
actually even take that road trip?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Did you take that vacation? Did you take that Did
you go to the same resort that they filmed the
latest White Lotus exactly? Like that's literally what people are doing.
And but what happens when you are so obsessed with
the the perception of this beautiful trip, if you are
so obsessed with like you can't even eat your meal,
like and you see sometimes you'll see I don't know
(04:49):
if you see folks. I've seen folks out like at
nicer restaurants and like, you can't even they haven't even
touched the food because it's got to be like, oh,
I got to set it up just right and make
sure the lighting's right and all this. What does that
do to the actual vacation or to the actual meal.
It sucks all the fun, It sucks all the joy
out of it. And you're not really actually having a vacation,
you're not taking the trip. You're almost somehow almost even
(05:12):
turns into work, right, And so the very thing that
you think you need to do in order to have
a fulfilling vacation. It's like the thing that undermines the
entire thing. That's how I see these funds. They're touting
these funds as like, oh, this is the ticket man, Like,
this is how you're gonna be able to sit on
top of that VDA Westphalia with your significant other watching
(05:32):
the stars. This is how you're gonna have the cool
leather strap backpack walking down the road with the desert
stretching out before you.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
And for that, oh, how'd you take that picture?
Speaker 2 (05:41):
By the way, Oh, we set up a tripod, right,
all that kind of stuff. Hopefully this is a helpful
way for folks to think about some of these funds.
It's something that is completely not necessary to the actual
goal of being able to retire early. If that's something
that you want to do.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Let's get to a listener question about investing. But first
we'll mention the beer we're having on the show. This
is called Black Quad. It's by Real Ale Brewing. We'll
give our thoughts on this one at the end of
the episode, and if you have a money question, we
want to hear it. Go to how tomoney dot com.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Slash.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Ask for the simple instructions to basically record your question
for us, send it over via email. Super simple, take
you a few minutes, and hopefully we can take it
next week on the show, Matt, let's get to a
question from a listener. She's asking about investing in target
date funds. She's got kind of a nuanced question on this.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Hi, Matt Joel, this is Brie from Illinois. I have
a question about my four oh one K I currently
have it invested in a target date fund where it
says I'm going to retire when I'm sixty four, but
my current goals are to retire when I'm fifty five
and probably work part time after I retire. I'm wondering
if I should switch my investments over to a target
(06:51):
date fund of retiring one i'm fifty five, or if
I should just keep it where it is. And if
I'm switching it, should I look at the market conditions
and kind of time it according to that I have
a Fidelity account and I'm thirty six years old. I
really appreciate your feedback.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Thanks all right, Bri, Thank you so much for sending
your voice memo in and man target date funds. Let's
talk about them, because they can be an excellent choice,
especially if you are with one of the low cost providers.
Fidelity specifically, they are one of those low cost providers
sort of here and I'll explain why, because they offer
two different kinds of target date funds, one that is
(07:33):
actively managed and it actually comes with a much higher
expense ratio, and then another that is passive and is
index space.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
It's easy to get tripped up when you're looking at
those Fidelity target date funds, Matt, because they both named
incredibly aim similarly.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Simply.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
I just wish they would change the branding on those
so that people could understand the difference. But you actually
have to click through and look at the expense ratio
so you know you're looking at the right one.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
And it's I guess I don't want to completely throw
Fidelity under the butt. The the actively managed fund, it
like if you're a Browsinger site and perusing it is
under like the actively managed section, but the actual name
of the fund they are both called Freedom like whatever,
like let's Freedom thirty five whatever, But the one that
charges a much lower rate has Freedom let's say Freedom
(08:17):
Index twenty thirty five or whatever as opposed to just
freedom twenty thirty five. Make sure you choose the index,
the one with the index, because that the actively managed
comes with that. I mean I think it's around a
half a percent higher expense at least that's associated with that.
So this is something like ten x higher expenses.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Significant difference, yea. So keeping it out for that, Let's
talk about target day funds in general. And the point
really with the target date fund is, I don't know
matter if you remember those infomercials the Ron po Peel
rotissary cooker where he's like, set it and forget it,
and then he would yell that out and the crowd
would yell it back at him.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
I watched a lot of infomercials when I was.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
A kid, classic infomercial. I love the crowd participation. Yes,
so good. So that's what a target date fund is
for most people. Is like literally a simple choice and
then you never have to rethink it the rest of
your life, and it will automatically you know, your dollar
cost averaging into that one fund for life, and then
the holdings inside of that fund will change over time.
(09:18):
I think what I love about this, and maybe it's
because my brain power is already lacking in some ways.
But what you have to bring to.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
The experiencing cognitive decline come on, it's coming.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
But like the brain power you have to bring to
this decision is minimal, which we're all for. We talk
about simplicity, like as long as the choice is simple
and you understand why you're making the simple choice, that
can be the best move for you. Like you don't
have to overcomplicate things. All you gotta do is toss
cash in regularly, and hey, over the years, you'll see
compounding returns. The only real negative thing though, that I
(09:51):
would have to say about target date funds is to
watch out for those high expenses, right because the Fidelity
funds that's one example of that. But then also when
you're talking about with other non low cost brokerage firms,
the expense ratios on target date funds can be egregious
and also just one of the things they could be
too conservative actually for younger investors. So Bree, just note
(10:12):
that one hundred percent stock portfolio is likely to outperform
a target date fund over decades. Yes, so even if
we're just talking about a target date fund that's way
off in the future, like twenty sixty or twenty sixty
five exactly that that is less conservative right by nature,
because you've got many decades until you reach retirement. Those
are still more conservative than an all stock portfolio in
(10:36):
something like a total stock market or an SP five
hundred in next fund totally and Bri is in her thirties.
For younger investors, they are not aggressive enough. You want
that volatility and like even because not just because volatility
is fun, but because it leads to better it.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Leads to higher turns. Yeah, because you're exposing yourself to
that volatility. And even if you are looking at a
target date fund with bond exposure of like that's minimal,
something like nine to fifth teen percent, that is still
too bond heavy, at least in my personal opinion. And yes,
that tends to smooth out the ride when that market
volatility is high, but it also reduces those returns over time.
(11:12):
So for instance, vou vanguards s and P five hund
etf it has returned over ninety percent over the past
five years, while Vanguard's twenty sixty five fund has returned
sixty percent over.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
That same time. So given a significant difference in a
given month or two. You might be talking about negligible differences.
But once you overtime time horizon, like you're saying even
just five years, which in breeze time horizon like that's
still not a whole lot of time, the gap can
grow significantly. It compounds. And Matt I Summer, the first
person who told me about investing basically praise target date
(11:49):
fund funds to the max, and so I was like, okay,
all right, target date funds must be the way to go.
And then I started doing my research and I listened
to more people, and I ended up switching out of
target ding fight into like total stock market type fund
index funds.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
One.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
The costs are a little bit lower, but that wasn't
the real reason.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
It was.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Hey, I think, especially given my age, I'm just too
conservative right now. Even though it feels like I don't
know the gap is maybe it's not significant, But in reality,
over the last ten years, I've done a whole lot
better by being invested in those index funds than I
have by being invested in a target date fund. If
I'd kept it the same, my net worth would be smaller.
So I think over the long haul, breeze more stock
(12:30):
exposure is good, and you've got time on your side
to endure drawbacks without batting an eye. If you were
let's say fifty six, it'd be a different conversation. Let's
talk about let's get to the heart of breeze question though, Matt,
which target date fund is right for her? And you
might think that the answer is straightforward and for most folks,
I would say it probably is. You're picking the target
(12:50):
date fund that has the date closest to when you're
likely to retire, because not long after you retire, you're
drawing down on those funds. But I'd also say this,
it's not just about when you're planning on quitting. It's
actually more about when you think you're going to need
the money you've been saving up, Like when or are
you going to actually tap those funds? So just because
you quit your job, well, I don't know, you might
(13:13):
have other sources of income. Just like Brie said, She's like, Hey,
I'm going to probably be working part time. Let's say
you're a real estate investor. Well, yeah, are you actually
going to need to tap those funds, Brie? When you
quit your main full time job or because you still
have income, are you going to be able to keep
investing even after you retire quote unquote from full time work.
So my guess is you're still going to prioritize investing
(13:36):
and growing those dollars at least to some degree. And
if so, I would likely go with something further off,
like the twenty sixty five target date fund, so that
you're you are investing more aggressively because you're not actually
going to be withdrawing those funds immediately upon retirement. We're
thinking about more your draw down timeline than like you're
(13:59):
I'm retiring for full time work date.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Totally, and realize too, that what we're actually recommending here
is for you to do the opposite of what it
is that you're asking, because you are currently set up
to retire at age I think you said sixty five,
but you're instead thinking about retiring at age fifty five.
And so what you're asking was that so she's like
thirty six, so she's thinking about retiring in age fifty five,
so twenty years from now. So what you're considering moving
(14:23):
too is a twenty forty five fund, And so it
sounds like you're currently in a twenty fifty five fund
and you're like Okay, should I move it to a
twenty forty five fund, But what we are actually recommending
is for you to definitely not do that, but to
actually do the opposite, not to go from a twenty
fifty five to a twenty forty five, but to go
from a twenty fifty five fund to a twenty sixty
five fund, something that is or something that does have
(14:45):
a longer runway in order for you to have that
exposure to the stocks, which is going to lead to
higher returns for you. So that's I think that's the
most important thing here is Like naturally you think, oh
I'm going to retire early, there I need to be
looking at a fund.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
That is targeted for that date.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
But especially given your case, the fact that you're talking
about this only being a partial retirement, you don't necessarily
you have that flexibility to not tap those funds and
for you to essentially weather any ups or downs in
the current market.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
And I do think that desire to retire early Matt,
actually means you should probably be even more aggressive right
now because it means you're investing for an even longer
time horizon from a draw down perspective. So instead of
a traditional like twenty five year retirement. So you retire
sixty five and you need that money until you're ninety,
(15:39):
Well you might be talking really about a forty year
retirement here.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
So I think the.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Goal to grow your nest egg, well, it's even more
important in these years when you're farther away from needing
that money totally.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Yeah, So, like as we're talking about risks, it's not
something that you want to completely take off the table.
You still want stock exposure in retireronment, and in a
target date fund you'll have roughly fifty percent stock exposure
once you hit that retirement date. Anyway, interestingly enough, the
twenty fifty five and the twenty sixty five target date
funds they actually look really similar right now if you
if you compare their portfolio allocations almost the exact same.
(16:16):
But that being said, I think the twenty fifty five
fund will get conservative more quickly in the coming years.
So I think this is a case of horseshoes. You're
not going to nail it exactly, but I do think
a twenty sixty five fund will get you closer to
where you want to go, and if you do want
to make any changes, I think looking to more stock
(16:38):
heavy options over the next decade is probably the move
that I would make. You asked about timing the market,
I wouldn't necessarily worry about that. I would just continue
to dollar cost average into the market. If you are uncomfortable.
This is within a retirement account, so you're not going
to get taxed for you to sell. And so, but
that being said, if you're uncomfortable selling and moving in
(16:59):
a different direction, maybe just future contributions, put those towards
the twenty sixty five or even a twenty seventy fund,
and then over time you got a little bit of both,
and that can allow you to feel more comfortable with
the decisions you're making.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Matt's in a twenty one to fifty fund. So it's
like when the aliens come to earth, Like, what's crazy.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
It's like, you say twenty seventy and that sounds insane,
it does. It really sounds so far, Well sound crazy
to say that out loud, but like that's dude, We're
going to be like in our like golden retirement years
at that point for sure. Okay, I have a question
for you.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Some people, Matt, think that Okay, if you're investing in
a target date fund, you shouldn't have exposure to any
other fund besides that. I actually kind of disagree, and
I think maybe another option for Bree here is to say,
you know what, I'm going to keep half in a
target date fund and then the other half in a
low cost index fund, having exposure to both, and essentially
(17:50):
on purpose choosing to have more specific us dock exposure
in addition to the target day fund. That you can
balance that over time.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
And that's kind of.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Paul Merriment approach. I was gonna say, that's kind of
what Paul Merriman, who's been on the show, talks about.
But I feel like when you hear any financial planner
who talks, they're like, no target it's either one target
day fund or you choose another path, like you don't
do both. But I actually disagree, and I think you
can do both, and I think it can make sense.
All right, Matt, we got more questions to get to,
including one about which retirement account makes the most sense.
(18:23):
But there's some state specific tax rules that might make
one retirement account we love look really bad. We'll talk
about that and more right for.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
This, right, buddy, we are back from the break and
we will get to that question regarding the prioritization of
different retirement accounts, but we now have a question from
a listener who he's in a shopping conundrum and he wants.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
To know what you would have done in his situation.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
Hey, Matt Joel, this is Nate from Texas and I
had a frugal or cheap moment pop into my life
the other day that I thought you guys might have
some fun discussing. So I was due to buy more
shaving raisers, and typically I buy the twelve pack, which
is the largest size they offered, because you know, Bolk
prices lowest cpu and those usually cost just under forty
five dollars. While I was looking around, I noticed there
was another twelve pack of the very same brand, but
(19:16):
a slightly different model, in a spot marked for twenty dollars.
And at the time, I thought to myself, there's no
way that's right. Plus it's not my usual model. I'll
just go for the devil, I know. And it was
only after I got home that I realized I almost
certainly could have gotten the twenty dollars ones and gotten
the store to honor the price even if it was wrong,
and it probably would have been the exact same experience
(19:37):
for me shaving. So had the thought occurred to me
and I did that, do you guys think it would
have been frugal or cheap? On the one hand, you
could argue it was frugal, they made a mistake and
I was simply seizing the opportunity to save a few
bucks on a ridiculously expensive but necessary purchase. On the
other hand, I could see the argument that it was
cheap since I knew that it was kind of ripping
off the company and someone had obviously made a mistake,
(19:59):
although again you could argue that after I did that,
the manager probably would have sent someone to correct the price.
So I'm curious what you guys think the right answer
would have been in that situation.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Thanks for all you do, man.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
I always love a good frugler. Cheap Nate's got some
shopping regirts. It's like I should have done it.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
I should have done it. Can't live your life looking
in the rear of your mirror. But we will offer
some advice here. I one, I gotta say, I love
that Nate is buying in bulk here of course. Yeah,
so when you buy more razors, when you buy like
the three pack or something like that, You're you're definitely
overpaying per razor. Well that's all they sell it Aldi,
So that's uh a three pa that's all I think. Okay,
but I will say, and we should get to that.
(20:35):
Are you still using the Aldi razors right now?
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (20:38):
The Likura brand.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
It sounds French.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, it doesn't feel French.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Are they Are they inferior the Okay? They I don't
know if I'm going to recommend those razors to Okay,
to folks like, it's.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Not your honesty, because you you say all good things
about all the typically I was trying them out.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
And it's not that I can't get a close shave.
I feel like when I shave with I'm able to
get a nice, you know, close shave or whatever. But
it's I've noticed that I've been nicking myself more often.
So I don't know if that's because the quality of
the blades aren't as high as before that.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
I had Harry's you know, the Harry's razors or.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Whatever, and I'd been using those razors for like a
couple of years, and I'd never cut myself to those
better with those, Okay.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
So it seems very clear.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
I don't know if it's the fact that the harries
theer's like five blades or something like that versus three blades.
I don't know what's up with the Aldie brand. But
that being said, I don't know if I can recommend
the Aldie ones. It's good to know.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Yeah, okay, so I do think I'll do it buying
more at a time typically, even if you're buying the
NAHB brand, that I'll help you save a little bit.
But I think also it's where you buy matters, right,
So if you're buying in bulk at Costco versus maybe
another store, you could save more buying your Costco. It
might be more than a twelve pack. I think sometimes
they sell like twenty and thirty packs of razors, so
maybe you're set for like razors for the rest of
(21:53):
your life many years. Yes, I think too. Despite your
run in with these Aldie blades and them not being
the best personally, I'm I'm often willing to try and
experiment with a cheaper make or model on stuff, yep,
just to see if it holds up or if it's
good enough, and then you know what, Luckily.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Everyone can learn from my mistake and avoid the Licura
brand from all at.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Least with Aldi though, right, they've got the double guarantee,
so you can take it back to the store and
be like, hey, this wasn't great. Yeah, well so if
there's a return policy, that's pretty generous.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
So that raises a whole other aspect of Nate's question,
which I personally think he's overthinking it, okay, like he
seem and I don't know if like my has my
virtue expired?
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Joel? Like, do I need to be more? Did it
ever exist? It's a better question, do my ethics need
to tune up? I see a deal?
Speaker 2 (22:38):
So if I see something marked like that on the
shelf and I'm pouncing like I am one saying oh yeah, nope,
I mean it's a no brainer, even though it might
be a different model. It sounds like he was like, Okay, well,
it's just not something that I've used before. Not necessarily
that it's an inferior model, it's just something that was different.
But he seemed to think that he didn't want to
take advantage of a mistake.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Perhaps I'm katally taking advantage of mistakes. So here's so
it makes me think of our conversation not too long
ago with Scott Kuyes, who runs Going which was formerly
called Scott's Chief Flights, and Scott's all about helping people
get the best airfare deals possible, and we specifically talked
about mistake fares, and we asked whether people are getting fired.
Right if one of those mistake fares goes out and
(23:22):
people get that like four hundred and eighty dollars round
trip ticket to Tokyo or something like that, is someone
getting fired because they pressed the wrong button?
Speaker 2 (23:30):
He said, no, typically not. I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
But those mistake fars are they're often short lived, but
they're the best deals out there.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
I don't know if that's the confidence that Nate's looking for, Like,
I don't think they're getting fired, but maybe they're getting fired. Well.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
I think just because someone made a mistake doesn't mean
you don't book the deal. It's fair game, right, And
Scott's obviously telling all his followers, Hey, there's this great
deal out there. I think it's different maybe if this
was a placement issue, because that could be if it
was just like literally on the wrong spot on the shelf,
that could have been an employee or that could have
been a shopper putting the thing back in the wrong place.
(24:03):
And then you're like, but it was behind the twenty
dollars sign, but that's obviously that was clearly reserved for
another item, a different razor. I will say this though,
you know, because it's a slightly different model, it could
just be something that didn't work in the marketplace.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
They tried it out.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
They threw it against the wall to see university, That's
what I think, and they're saying, okay, now we're discounting
it heavily to get rid of it there. And there
are whole businesses built around this model to sell things
at a discount that just didn't work. There's big lots, right,
there's I've been getting ads lately, Matt for this, this
website that sells discount snacks because guess.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
What, maybe it was.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Because maybe they were the chips or the oatmeal bites
or whatever it is, or or the Dave Chan noodles,
the two versions that that people was at Dave Chan
what's what's his name? The h Yeah, So like it's
like the two kinds that nobody wanted that are sold
at half price and normally you wouldn't able to get
them cheap. And this is just the kind of thing
(25:01):
that happens in the marketplace all the time. It's like,
this was a failed product, We'll sell it for cheaper
over here. It's like I used to be willing to
pay for the chili crisp, but these are the chili chunks.
So I don't know if that's honestly, it's exactly like that,
Like they're like, well, we'll test this product out, it
doesn't work, and then they have to sell it to
a discounter.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
These are the chili chewies. That's right. No, I totally agree.
I thin because like maybe it's just a color. Maybe
they're like, oh, guys, you know what, we thought that
the blood red razor handle with the blood red razor head,
we thought.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
That that would sell like hotcakes.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Sounds cool, And it turns out that dudes don't like
looking at an aggressively red razor when they're looking for
a smooth, cool shave in the morning. Maybe the market
doesn't like the tied eye raisor see a little too wacky,
I would losers. I guess we're gonna have to mark
it down just to get it off the shelves. Yeah, yeah,
I totally agree. I think there are all sorts of
different reasons like that that would lead up manufacturer to
(25:52):
drop the price in order to you know, move that product.
What if it was the you know, the lotion strips
on the heads of the razor. Yeah, if they're like, oh,
we want to try out.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Some new sense, it's like a hot dog flip.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
They're like, what is this, Like.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
I'm at the carnival or the fair. Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
I don't like these razors. And Nate could have been
all over this deal. He could have also had a
face Nathan. He'd impressed a lot, a little.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Combo with Nathan's hot Dogs, little Joey Chestnut representation on
the an incredible crossover. Although no, they're not friends anymore,
Joey Chestnut and Nathan's hot Dogs. He yeah, he like
walked out of the most recent sponsorship.
Speaker 5 (26:30):
You.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
No, he didn't compete at the most recent one.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
They wouldn't let him.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
I don't think because he's he was sponsored by a
veggie hot dog or.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Something like that.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
I don't get into the free competition drama.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Joel.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
All right, well, I think one other tip here for
for Nate. Yeah, one I think if it's if that's
the price that's reflected, like take advantage of the deal
and sometimes even stock up because it's likely just something
that wasn't as appealing to most people, and you're willing
to zig what others are zagging or literally just paying
full pressure to the razor they're used to. I would
(27:02):
also say this, don't forget about what makes a razor
last longer and really the biggest thing that you have
under your control. I mean, it's it's gonna dole over
time in some ways because you're shaving your face with it.
But if you dry it off afterever use that can
extend the life of the blade. And so the truth
is water makes the blade deteriorate. So even if you
(27:23):
buy the nicer blades, taking care of them, dry them off.
Some people Matt even use like a blow dryer to
dry the blade off, like ten seconds of a blow dryer.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
That sounds like a cheap move right there. How much
electricity are you using? Yeah, I don't know, just kinda
dry it off on the towel, Yeah, dry it off towel.
You're wearing a T shirt right when you're shaving, Like
you're not wearing your fancy clothes, at least not me.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Wipe it on the towel. It's on your ways unless
you're James Bond shaving in a tuxiedo. Just just yeah,
give it a little quick try, because that's gonna give
you more time, more shaves with each razor that you use.
So I've even seen some folks say method they get
nine plus months out of a razor. I was meeting
with my Harry's really were.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
You getting nine plus? Well, that's when we talked about this,
like last year, a couple of years ago. That's when
I realized, Well, and here's the thing. Though, I never
was nicking myself, so I was never bleeding, so I
didn't think that they were that they were dull. But
I realized after the fact, Like once I finally moved
to the new razorhead, I was like, oh, this is
what it feels like when the razor actually cuts the
hair as opposed to like pull them all out, which
is which is what was happening. There's a whole lot
(28:21):
less hair tugging going on as I was shaving. So
but I literally, I mean, I don't shave. I wasn't
shaving a ton back then, but the ability to stretch
a razor. You know, when you're shaving like once or
twice a week, you can really make it last long.
I almost never. I've got the little electric shaver and
electric shaving. Okay, so years ago. Something I'm considering. My
next experiment is going to be going straight razor. Oh yeah,
(28:43):
remember that. A listener reached out after we talked because
I talked about using Kate's old razors.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
In the shower, and those straight razors are crazy cheap there.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
So literally, I don't know if the prices are still
the same, but it's like you could get a hundred
of these like German ra obviously razor sharp single that
you put in a you gotta buy the handle.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
But it's like one hundred of them for like five bucks.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
So what is that like five cents a razor versus
like what's Nate paying like three dollars or like a
couple of bucks for you know, for for his razors
the Aldie brain you're looking at seventy five cents roughly
per rais, but it's five cents per raser. I mean
that's a heck of a y. If you try it out,
please report, of course. Man let's show fodder right there.
(29:26):
And the other option, I want that that first class,
you know, high end, high end shade. True story.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
The other option is for Nate just to grow a
sick beard. So oh yeah, think about that. So you
can always do that old ripway rip Van Winklin, no doubt, Matt.
Let's get to another question. This one is specifically about
the order of operations for retirement accounts.
Speaker 5 (29:46):
Hey, Matt, Angel, this is Caid from North Carolina. I
really appreciated your your thoughts on my wife's pension payout
plan that I asked a few months ago. I do
have I have some more questions now that I have
received the job offer. After I will graduate from my program,
(30:06):
I will be making one hundred and thirty thousand dollars
a year in California and wanted some thoughts on how
to best prioritize my retirement contributions. So when I put
in five percent to my company's four oh one K,
they will put in a ten percent match for a
(30:28):
total of fifteen percent of my gross income. But following that,
if I've aske us to both a health savings account
as well as a roth IRA, how would you prioritize
contributions to one over the other. I know that contributions
to an HSA in California are still a subject to
(30:49):
California state tax, so that kind of hinders the overall
tax tax savings that are normally found within the HSA.
We likely can't max both mine and my wife's wrath
I rays and my HSA at least right away. So
would you suggest only maxing our wrath I rays, or
(31:13):
maxing HSA and then doing contributions to what we are
comfortable with to our wraths? Thank you. I really appreciate
the show Best Friends out well, Caid.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
First off, I'm gonna say congrats on that sweet new.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Gig you got. And you know what I'm going to
say is that I appreciate your transparency kind of sharing
with listeners out there. It helps them to be like,
oh wait a minute, Okay, maybe it makes them, you know,
they got something to shoot for, or it maybe it
makes them think.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Okay, if Caid's doing this, I can do this too.
I don't know. I appreciate that the transparency. That's a
great salary man, even in California as well. I mean,
it should be noted in California. You should give it.
I always think about still solid athletes who sign up
to play for the California teams, and there feels a
lot less in actuality. Is a lot less like after taxation,
(32:04):
because if you're in the highest tax bracket in California,
was it thirteen fourteen percent additional being taken out? That's
a lot signed to playing Florida instead you get to
keep all them.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
But on top of that, he's got that company match,
Like that whole structure is incredible. Right to be able
to get fifteen percent of your salary in your workplace
retirement account when you are only contributing five percent.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Man, I love that. Like you're like, all right, I'll
show up with one third, you show up with the
other two thirds. We'll call it fifteen make it.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
I like a bandit. I mean, that's actually not done,
because I think you've got the ability to go above
and beyond KDE. But regardless, the fact that your employer
is so generously stepping up to the plate like that,
that's great. I think that's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Yeah, And that's a far cry from what most employers
do most to a fifty percent match. Whatever you put
in up to six percent. So if you put in six,
they put in three. That's a total in nine and
that's not bad some people. Some employers are even more generous.
It's like, if you put in six, output in six,
and then you're at twelve. But this one, if you
put in five, will put ten. That's pretty glorious. That's awesome. Yeah,
(33:02):
so you're already at that fifteen percent savings rate that
we like to see, but we also love that you
want to go further, and it's something that we would encourage,
especially since the bulk of those contributions are coming from
your employer. We want kid to get used to the
physical reality of saving and investing fifteen percent of your
(33:23):
own money. You're in and year out, and that's partly
because any match is gravy on top. The truth is
that match can change at any time. I've heard from
many listeners who have had their match pulled back or eliminated,
especially when economic times get a little trying. That's one
of the first things Matt that employers often do is
(33:44):
is they say, you know that match that we offered, Yeah,
we're gonna have to posit for now. And sometimes that
pause turns into an elimination of the match that they offer.
That can be demoralizing for workers, and it can also
impact how quickly you're able to grow your net worth
as well. So I guess I just don't want you
to get so used to that that you're like, I'm
just and it sounds like you're not. But I'm kicking
(34:04):
in five percent. I'm overall saving fifteen I can be
happy with that. Well, if that pulls back in any way,
form or fashion, then you're gonna feel the pain of
having to increase. So I like the idea of saving
and investing a minimum of fifteen percent aside from what
your employer's doing totally.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
But K's question Wroth or the HSA, The answer is
almost always going to be the HSA, of course, because
of the triple tax advantage nature of it. In fact,
there's a quasi quadruple tax advantage because you're not paying
payroll tax, that Faika tax that's on that and so
investing inside of an HSA, and this is of course
available to you because you are enrolled on a high
(34:40):
deductible healthcare plan. But by investing those dollars that can
help you to grow wealth that will never be taxed
in ways that no other account offers.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
It's it's truly a unicorn. But you got to use
it properly.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
You got to invest those dollars for decades to allow
for those compounding returns. And if you do that, according
to the numbers, like when you crunch the numbers, the
HSA is the superior vehicle. Even with the fact that,
like you mentioned that California that they have some ridiculous
HSA rules that effectively limit the benefit.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
It's still good, right. This doesn't mean that the HSA
is a no go, just not as good.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
It's yeah, exactly, it's not quite as advantageous as investing
within an.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
HSA and basically every other state. And you said basically
every other state. That's because there's literally one other state
that does what California does, and that's New Jersey.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
And so these two states, which.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Is shaped like California, but on the other side of
the country, and they both of these states have compiled
conspired against their citizens. Shrink it down right, a much
smaller version and in a way to basically say, ah, yeah,
the federal government says that these accounts are going to
be incredibly tax advantageous and so do forty eight other states.
But we're going to be the two loan holdouts who
(35:50):
treat you like an idiot when you.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Invest in an HSA.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
So I do not love the fact that these states
do not offer the same tax benefit that almost everybody
else does. Not only do you have to pay income
tax on the money you contribute, you're also going to
owe state tax on the growth of the money you
experience in those accounts. But should that impact what you
do kid the answers. Maybe because the HSA, like Matt
(36:16):
alluded to, it's still better from an overall tax perspective,
even with those inferior tax rules in the state where
you're living. But those accounts are starting to look a
bit more similar. And the roth IRA, well, it has
more flexibility, right, It allows you to spend for other
reasons beyond just health expenses. The HSA, that's how you
(36:36):
get the tax treatment is because it's basically constrained for
that kind of spending in particular. Well, one thing that
would factor into my thinking here though, is are you
planning to be in California forever? Because if you're likely
going to move to another state in the future, you're
going to be able to avoid future state taxes on
HSA withdrawals, making it more compelling. So, yes, you're earning
(36:57):
and investing in an HSA while in California, but if
you're taking the money out in another state down the road,
well you're not then gonna be subject to the California
tax laws that are again antagonistic to HSA.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
So so it'll only be a thorn in your side
for that period of time while you're there.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
I want to say Kate said he was in north
North Carolina right now. So if he's like, Hey, all
my families in North Carolina, I'm in California. That's where
I'm gonna I'm gonna love this job, but like twenty years,
ten years down the line, we think we're gonna move back, Well,
then I would say that that that puts another check
mark in the HSA because you're not going to be
subject to the worst parts of California's tax law.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
I missed the when it comes to HSA, I missed
the North Carolina part. If that's what he mentioned. What
if he was moving from New Jersey to California and
he's like, oh, I think I'm gonna move back home
at some pointed again, and some of it like if
you look at the numbers, yes, like the most like
financially optimized thing to do here is to go with
the HSA.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
But it also comes down to.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
What you like if it's worth if that, if the
hassle is worth it to you as an individual, for you,
if thinking through like this personal admin side of your life,
if that lights you up. If the job that you're
accepting in California is like, you know, a financial management
or something like that, then you're probably going to be
all over the numbers. And this is great because not
only do you have to track the expenses in order
to redeem that's not the proper term, but I don't know,
(38:20):
effectively to redeem your HSA dollars for retirement by keeping
up with your medical expenses, like everybody has to do that.
But in addition to that, you have to I mean,
so you mentioned that the income from those investments are
taxed on a state level. That's something you have to
keep up with yourself. It's taxes regular income, and so
that's just a it's just another I don't know, it
feels like a hassle for something that sure you may
(38:42):
not be taking full advantage of and so if that
if thinking through all of that kind of bums you out,
then you can't go wrong with a roth IRA. Keep
it simple. You've got all the flexibility in the world.
You never have to worry about keeping up with records
and medical expenses. It's just something to think about the
fact that you really do. It is treated. It is
taxed like a brokerage account there in the state of California.
(39:05):
But in addition to these retirement goals, I think I
want you to have the goal of maxing out with rathrays.
That's great, the HSA going for that. I think that
the fifteen percent into your four O and K this
is all awesome, But don't forget about medium term goals
that you have as well. I'm not sure if you
are hoping to buy a home or not, but if
that is a high priority, just make sure you start
(39:26):
saving and investing for that goal or other goals you
might have. You know, if you're looking to buy a home,
that is going to be a little more difficult in California.
It's certainly not going to be the absolute best way
to build your net worth, but you know that's also
not the end goal. For most of us when we're
looking at purchasing a home. Yeah, we love all the
retirement accounts out there. I love how they can reliably
(39:47):
help you to reach financial independence. But just make sure
that you are not only looking to the long term
case like you are. On top of things. You mentioned
your wife's pension question from a few months ago. Y'all
are on it when it comes to you're saving for
old kaid an old kid's wife. But when it comes
to just don't forget about some of these near term
goals and realizing that you get you know, cash savings, liquidity,
(40:09):
it's important to not overlook that as well.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
CAD in five years will be stoked that they've been
you know, they've saved multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars,
probably already for future retirement. But then what if you
want to make some moves in the here and now
is exactly don't forget about that, all right, man, We've
got more to get to on this episode, including one
about being dropped by an insurance company. What do you
(40:32):
do when you get that dreaded letter in the mail?
We'll talk about that and more right after this. All right, buddy,
we are back from the break.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
It is now time for the Facebook question of the week,
which is from Catherine, and she wrote, ugh do you
like you like my uh? I love that she stuck
that in there. Yeah, frustration coming out.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
When you read that?
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Do you see or do you hear?
Speaker 5 (40:59):
Ugh?
Speaker 4 (40:59):
No?
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Here?
Speaker 1 (41:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Yeah, the former the actual it's it's the frustration for
sure coming out in type well in particular with this one,
she wrote, my insurance company is gonna drop me unless
I complete these things by June seventh. Remove yard debris,
cut back vegetation, paint the home all when color, and
cut the tree branches back from the detached structures. That's
all fair, But the paint. Wtf do they care that
(41:24):
my house is all when color? Is there any point
in trying to fight it?
Speaker 1 (41:28):
Joel? What you think? Should she fight it? Do you
do you try to fight the man matt ever or yeah?
I think sometimes you do? Ohyah, sometimes you do. I
can be hard headed. You probably try to fight the
man against like veteran thinks ways to more craftily deal
with this, and it's maybe that's what I want to suggest.
Maybe is some maybe craftier ways to deal with this
instead of ease into it. Catherine instead of letting your
(41:50):
frustration get the best of you and just being like,
screw you, why are you making me do this? Like
there are ways, I think to get around this and
to stay insured without a complete deletely ruining your life.
So the truth is insurance companies are sending out more
of these notices these days. We talked about that actually
with our friend Lisa from Consumer Reports not too long
(42:11):
Lisa gil yeah, and she was talking about how in
her tiny home, y that's right, that's right gravel.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
Which is the pea gravel. She was addicted to the
pea gravel.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
Just the with insurance rates going up around the country
and insurers are being a little more cognizant about who
they're insuring and what the properties look like. And then
on top of that, technology is making easier for insurance
companies to kind of check in and see what's going on. Right,
They're using drones, they're doing flyovers, they're taking images in
an attempt to make sure they're not taking on undue risk.
(42:42):
My neighbor Matt just told me the other day, Hey,
my roof is more than ten years old, and now
my insurance company is saying they don't want to insure
me anymore. This is becoming Actually, roofs should last for
twenty to thirty plus years. And the fact that insurance
companies are just getting a little more antsy and squirrely
about offering insurance when everything's not kind of perfect. So
(43:06):
it sucks for those of you out there listening. You
haven't received a letter, you might in the future. I
remember getting one like these two metworks like trim back
those branches.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
Hey, what's I had this? Well, it's the weirdest thing.
It's hard to even described. I had like a driveway
where there was like a drop off. Do you remember
that at my at my first house, it was a hazard. Yeah,
it was a hazard, and so I had to put
up like a cement block in there so that the
car couldn't go rolling off it. It sounds weird and
it was.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
But like, so I get why the insurance company's basically saying, hey,
someone could fly off this parking pad. I forgot about
that and injure themselves. Oh, you would have told your
car if your car would have run into that.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
Yes, So it's good for them to be a stop.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
I know. In many ways it does make sense to
insurance companies are saying, I don't know, you might need
to do something for you to still be insurable, but
I think it can be scary. It can feel like
you got to cancel your Saturday plan is to get
your house back in ship shape or something like that,
or be left without insurance, which comes with cascading consequences. Yeah,
one of which is force place insurance. The lender says, oh,
you're not insured anymore, We'll find that insurance for you.
(44:06):
But then the insurance costs a heck of a lot
more than what you were paying. And so yeah, I
think I know Catherine's frustrated by this, but this should
move up her priority list. But also I also just
don't think it should freak her out.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
And I think this makes me think these are the
kind of times you want to have an actual agent,
like somebody you can call, someone you can reach out to,
because that would be incredibly helpful because then and I'm
assuming that there is a way for you to upload
pictures and whatnot, but just someone to talk to where
you can send them some updated pictures. Let's say, when
you make those first repairs, right, like, you've cut back
(44:37):
some of that vegetation, you trim some of those tree
branches that might be enough to satisfy them, you know,
like you send those along and you're like, hey, I'm
getting quotes for the painting, and then see what they say.
You know, it's more kind of like a there's more
of a gray area as opposed to provide proof that
all of these points have been addressed.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
I think this is more of a negotiation. I think, yeah, exactly.
Then it is a hard timeline, like it done or
you're out.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
Yeah, start those talks, getting the started, communicating directly. I
think this is the right way to handle this, and
it could obviously, I mean I think it could buy
you more time.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
As well if costs to have some.
Speaker 2 (45:12):
Of these repairs made, If that's an issue, I think
just starting the conversation while simultaneously financially preparing for that
and maybe even yourself.
Speaker 1 (45:19):
Yeah, take a Saturday, borrow.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
Some tools from a neighbor, like work on getting things
cleaned up, because buy some beer for your friends, having
all hands on that party to get rid of some
of the excess vegetation. Because in the end, I do
think that this is something you're going to have to address.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
Yeah, And I think Catherine might be thinking, oh, you
know what, maybe maybe this is the perfect time to
shop around for insurance. And the truth is maybe almost
every year is the right time to shop for insurance. Like,
you should probably be shopping regularly regardless, that's a good
thing to do. Yes, get quotes elsewhere. Sure, but going
with another insurance company likely isn't going to save you
from this repairless because they will probably do a drive
(45:54):
by or a drone buy of sorts too. They will
require similar fixes in all likelihood, so that might not
save your bacon on this one. And while we get
the shock right, these things should really be taken care
of proactively. And I also get the frustration with the
house color thing.
Speaker 2 (46:10):
Matt. She's like, I don't care, dude, that is multiple tones.
I think this is insane. Like this, this is where
I would be pushing back. I would be asking some
serious questions. I have zero understanding how that the color
of your house is going to impact the liability that
better insurance. I bet they have some data somewhere. I
bet that how, But like, how would the color of
(46:30):
a house, or the fact that that it's painted two tone.
It's like, okay, it's dark green and light green. I
don't know in HOA. I understand in HOA saying oh, sorry,
according to the covenant that you signed, and to be
a part of this neighborhood or part of this community,
it has to be one.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
Of these five shades. I get that.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
I even understand speaking of different shades, like if it's
in a historic district, if there's some board that's just like,
oh no, we've only we've identified the Sherwin Williams Historic
Registry colors or some you know, something like that. It
makes no sense in my mind why the color of
a house increases or decreases the liability and the potential
for the insurance company to fork out repairs on that house. Yeah,
(47:07):
like that makes no sense to me.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
I get that, And I think that's of all the
things that are on that list, that's the one that
Catherine's the most insane, more of an ability to push
back on, especially given how expensive that can be. She's like, hey,
what if I do this, this and this and maybe
explains the house called this, or an agent comes in
like you were talking about, explains why insurance companies they
don't typically have like an artistic side to them. They're
more man Yeah, so so but maybe you can explain
(47:31):
that to them and buy more time on that one.
But it comes out of like money as opposed to
like art, right, Like art is subjective as opposed to
insurance is objective. It's all about the numbers.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
And that's where like if they can prove that, like
this color is so offensive that this house is more
likely to be vandalized, Okay, then there's like some I
don't know, there's a case to be made there, and
maybe they have that data. Maybe maybe, but like I
don't know, man, it seems like it's in yeah, infringing
up like what was just like Soviet Union, like like Stalin,
(48:01):
like it does feel a little un American down and
saying that she's got to paint her house.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
I think that I'd be curious to know which insurance
company this is and why they're cracking down specifically on
house color.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
We need Catherine to to post a picture of her
actual house. Yeah, maybe when she posted a picture it's.
Speaker 1 (48:13):
Like, oh, it's that color that's racist.
Speaker 2 (48:17):
I'm not at all saying that that's the case, Catherine,
But maybe there's like a mural or something like that,
and it's distracting for I don't know, like I was
thinking about what could be so offensive, and then I
actually thought of some things that could be very offensive
to certain folks. For sure, I guess like if it
was graffitied or something like that. Maybe.
Speaker 1 (48:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:33):
But buddy, let's get back to the beer that you
and I enjoyed today, which was a Black Quad, which
is a not surprisingly a quadrupel.
Speaker 1 (48:42):
That's why I say quadruple.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
This is a beer by Real Ale Brewing Company out
of oh But this is was this the last one
from Texas's right, well, one of the ones she got.
Speaker 1 (48:51):
From Texas Lancle Texas. Uncle, Yeah, yeah, would you think that's.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
How gringo would say it?
Speaker 1 (48:55):
Blanco?
Speaker 2 (48:56):
It's dark, that's how they build it.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
So they're spot on there, and it's got some some
raisin dark fruit vibes going on. It's it's I will say,
it's not the most complex and interesting quad I've had,
kind of very basic in one note, it's it's solid.
But I love a good quad and this one let
me down a little bit. But honestly, based on I
know you're not supposed to judge book by its cover, Matt,
but sometimes I do judge beers based on the gan art.
(49:22):
Do you not like the clip art. It's a little
kind of vibes, little subpar So I wasn't. I did
not have the highest of expectations going into this, and
so I guess I would say my expectations were met.
Speaker 2 (49:31):
I really try not to judge a book by its covers,
So I went into this thinking all right. Actually, when
you said what the style of beer were drinking, I
was like, oh, you know what, I'm totally in the
mood for a quad. But this one drank a little harsh,
like it almost had like some metallic sort of flavors
going on. So there just wasn't a whole lot of
nuance going on. You caught it one note. I'm willing
(49:51):
to give it two notes. You know, it's got height
and length, it just doesn't have the depth. It's two dimensional.
It's not it doesn't have that three dimensional sort of
aspect that you get out of some of the better
quads or some of you know, out of some of
the better stouts. That's like ooh, oh yeah, I can
taste the sweet notes and the dark, better roasty notes.
Oh that it also has the spicy notes as well.
That's the that's the depth obviously those are typically Mexican stouts. Specifically,
(50:16):
we're talking about Westbrook's Mexican Cake, which is a fit.
Speaker 5 (50:19):
You know.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
That's one of those few beers on one of those agains.
That's one of the few beers we've had had on
the show multiple times. I think we've had it like
two or three times for a good reason, in at
different different years, because every time they brew it it's
slightly different. It should tell you something about the beer
we're drinking. The fact that we're talking about another beer
that we've had off in the past, lusting after the
beers of your but it's still fun to try something
new and of course share a beer with you, my friend,
(50:42):
no doubt.
Speaker 1 (50:42):
All right, that's going to do it for this one.
We'll put links to some of the resources we mentioned
up on the website at howtomoney dot com. There's a
bunch of other money saving information up there too. If
you are just you know, trying to figure out, hey,
where are the money gears at click start here at
the on the top of the homepage, or there's a
re sources page as well. If you're looking for things
that we mentioned frequently on the show and sign up
(51:04):
for the newsletter. While you're there too, you won't be
disappointed Matt until next time. Best friends out, Best Friends Out,
Welcome to How to Money. I'm Joel, I'm Matt. Today
we're answering your listener questions. Happy Monday, everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Not only Happy Monday, Joel, but happy first had a
money episode of the Glorious Month of June. It's a
good one. Actually, I just look at the calendar. Happy
fortieth birthday to our buddy Lee. You say fortieth, he's
much older than that.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I'm forty eighth, forty one.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah, I said fortieth.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
You're much older than forty Lee.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
But he's older than us, that's for sure. Now this
is our ask how to Money episode, Joel. We've got
some great topics to get to a listener. She's asking
about retiring early, and it seems like in her case,
target dight phones, they might be coming up a little short.
We'll talk about how that's the case. We're gonna take
a fugular cheat pertaining to do personal hygiene. We're gonna
(01:03):
should I shower often. Yes, we're gonna talk about saving
money in the bathroom, but we're gonna keep it clean.
We're gonna be talking about a listener who's being forced
to paint her house. Joel, you're not gonna believe the
last thing that her insurance company said to her, oh
little clickbaity style like it. Yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
So you mentioned something about retiring early, and it's interesting.
There's this new company out there that that launched a
couple of different ETFs exchange traded funds so that you
can invest specifically for for firefolks. Right, so this is
intended to cater to people who want to retire early.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Joel, why do you hate fire ETFs? Okay, tell us
tell the people.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Well, what's fascinating is that when you if you've been
inside of or listened to or read anything by people
in the fire movement, well, go ahead and to find
fire financial independence, retire early. So it's typically people who
want to work for twelve fifteen years and they want
to save and invest a whole bunch of what they're
making so that they can quit work much earlier than
the average.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Person, even twenty or twenty five years, because even though
working career that was twenty five years would be shorter
than the traditional will retire at fifty nine and a
half or age six or sixty five, probably able to
retire in your forties at that point. Right.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
So, but but it's so fascinating because most of the
people in that community would subscribe to kind of our
basic investing philosophy, whether it's through real estate or whether
it's through low cost index funds. But this new company
that offers their own fire specific ETFs, Like, what fire
person is going to be interested in this because they
have Here's here's the rub. The expense ratios are kind
(02:41):
of ridiculous in these funds. There you go, So we
talk about how the clincher. That's the clincher. We talk
about how important low cost is when we're investing in
the Expense ratios on these couple of fire funds that
were just launched are zero point sixty seven percent and
point eight nine percent, almost a full percentage every single
year being taken out. It's really expensive. Yeah, I like
(03:03):
when we're when our favorite funds are a fraction of that,
they're like literally zero, or they're like three, or they
are yeah point zero two point zero three. So who's
gonna get behind twenty twenty five x so ridiculous expenses.
I think most of the fire crowd is going to
see through that. So I think it's just kind of fascinating.
This company launched catering to this crowd who is there's
(03:25):
very much they're very aware of what they're paying in fees.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
They should be very attuned to it. And I don't
think there's any way that this is going to take off.
I was trying to think through like an illustration of
like how can we drive this point home for folks,
And the actual branding from the site kind of gave
me the some inspiration, right because the branding of it,
it's like a young couple and they're like in their van.
They're on this road trip like trip of a lifetime.
(03:47):
You know, they're sitting on top of it. They're gazing
up the stars. Very much kind of geared that way,
which made me think of sort of the online instagram
worthy like posts that you see and so imagine, all right,
so here we go, this is there's gona be a
little bit of social commentary here in this illustration too.
And let's imagine you're young, you're beautiful, You're getting ready.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
To go on a vacation.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I don't even have to imagine that. Please. A lot
of times you feel the need to document your trip
in a ridiculous sort of way, like you are setting
up the perfect shots everything it's it's got to be
picture perfect, man, it's got to the aesthetic, it's got
to be on point.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
You didn't post on Instagram, did it even Did you
actually even take that road trip?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Did you take that vacation? Did you take that Did
you go to the same resort that they filmed the
latest White Lotus exactly? Like that's literally what people are doing.
And but what happens when you are so obsessed with
the the perception of this beautiful trip, if you are
so obsessed with like you can't even eat your meal,
like and you see sometimes you'll see I don't know
(04:49):
if you see folks. I've seen folks out like at
nicer restaurants and like, you can't even they haven't even
touched the food because it's got to be like, oh,
I got to set it up just right and make
sure the lighting's right and all this. What does that
do to the actual vacation or to the actual meal.
It sucks all the fun, It sucks all the joy
out of it. And you're not really actually having a vacation,
you're not taking the trip. You're almost somehow almost even
(05:12):
turns into work, right, And so the very thing that
you think you need to do in order to have
a fulfilling vacation. It's like the thing that undermines the
entire thing. That's how I see these funds. They're touting
these funds as like, oh, this is the ticket man, Like,
this is how you're gonna be able to sit on
top of that VDA Westphalia with your significant other watching
(05:32):
the stars. This is how you're gonna have the cool
leather strap backpack walking down the road with the desert
stretching out before you.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
And for that, oh, how'd you take that picture?
Speaker 2 (05:41):
By the way, Oh, we set up a tripod, right,
all that kind of stuff. Hopefully this is a helpful
way for folks to think about some of these funds.
It's something that is completely not necessary to the actual
goal of being able to retire early. If that's something
that you want to do.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Let's get to a listener question about investing. But first
we'll mention the beer we're having on the show. This
is called Black Quad. It's by Real Ale Brewing. We'll
give our thoughts on this one at the end of
the episode, and if you have a money question, we
want to hear it. Go to how tomoney dot com.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Slash.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Ask for the simple instructions to basically record your question
for us, send it over via email. Super simple, take
you a few minutes, and hopefully we can take it
next week on the show, Matt, let's get to a
question from a listener. She's asking about investing in target
date funds. She's got kind of a nuanced question on this.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Hi, Matt Joel, this is Brie from Illinois. I have
a question about my four oh one K I currently
have it invested in a target date fund where it
says I'm going to retire when I'm sixty four, but
my current goals are to retire when I'm fifty five
and probably work part time after I retire. I'm wondering
if I should switch my investments over to a target
(06:51):
date fund of retiring one i'm fifty five, or if
I should just keep it where it is. And if
I'm switching it, should I look at the market conditions
and kind of time it according to that I have
a Fidelity account and I'm thirty six years old. I
really appreciate your feedback.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Thanks all right, Bri, Thank you so much for sending
your voice memo in and man target date funds. Let's
talk about them, because they can be an excellent choice,
especially if you are with one of the low cost providers.
Fidelity specifically, they are one of those low cost providers
sort of here and I'll explain why, because they offer
two different kinds of target date funds, one that is
(07:33):
actively managed and it actually comes with a much higher
expense ratio, and then another that is passive and is
index space.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
It's easy to get tripped up when you're looking at
those Fidelity target date funds, Matt, because they both named
incredibly aim similarly.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Simply.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
I just wish they would change the branding on those
so that people could understand the difference. But you actually
have to click through and look at the expense ratio
so you know you're looking at the right one.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
And it's I guess I don't want to completely throw
Fidelity under the butt. The the actively managed fund, it
like if you're a Browsinger site and perusing it is
under like the actively managed section, but the actual name
of the fund they are both called Freedom like whatever,
like let's Freedom thirty five whatever, But the one that
charges a much lower rate has Freedom let's say Freedom
(08:17):
Index twenty thirty five or whatever as opposed to just
freedom twenty thirty five. Make sure you choose the index,
the one with the index, because that the actively managed
comes with that. I mean I think it's around a
half a percent higher expense at least that's associated with that.
So this is something like ten x higher expenses.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Significant difference, yea. So keeping it out for that, Let's
talk about target day funds in general. And the point
really with the target date fund is, I don't know
matter if you remember those infomercials the Ron po Peel
rotissary cooker where he's like, set it and forget it,
and then he would yell that out and the crowd
would yell it back at him.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
I watched a lot of infomercials when I was.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
A kid, classic infomercial. I love the crowd participation. Yes,
so good. So that's what a target date fund is
for most people. Is like literally a simple choice and
then you never have to rethink it the rest of
your life, and it will automatically you know, your dollar
cost averaging into that one fund for life, and then
the holdings inside of that fund will change over time.
(09:18):
I think what I love about this, and maybe it's
because my brain power is already lacking in some ways.
But what you have to bring to.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
The experiencing cognitive decline come on, it's coming.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
But like the brain power you have to bring to
this decision is minimal, which we're all for. We talk
about simplicity, like as long as the choice is simple
and you understand why you're making the simple choice, that
can be the best move for you. Like you don't
have to overcomplicate things. All you gotta do is toss
cash in regularly, and hey, over the years, you'll see
compounding returns. The only real negative thing though, that I
(09:51):
would have to say about target date funds is to
watch out for those high expenses, right because the Fidelity
funds that's one example of that. But then also when
you're talking about with other non low cost brokerage firms,
the expense ratios on target date funds can be egregious
and also just one of the things they could be
too conservative actually for younger investors. So Bree, just note
(10:12):
that one hundred percent stock portfolio is likely to outperform
a target date fund over decades. Yes, so even if
we're just talking about a target date fund that's way
off in the future, like twenty sixty or twenty sixty
five exactly that that is less conservative right by nature,
because you've got many decades until you reach retirement. Those
are still more conservative than an all stock portfolio in
(10:36):
something like a total stock market or an SP five
hundred in next fund totally and Bri is in her thirties.
For younger investors, they are not aggressive enough. You want
that volatility and like even because not just because volatility
is fun, but because it leads to better it.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Leads to higher turns. Yeah, because you're exposing yourself to
that volatility. And even if you are looking at a
target date fund with bond exposure of like that's minimal,
something like nine to fifth teen percent, that is still
too bond heavy, at least in my personal opinion. And yes,
that tends to smooth out the ride when that market
volatility is high, but it also reduces those returns over time.
(11:12):
So for instance, vou vanguards s and P five hund
etf it has returned over ninety percent over the past
five years, while Vanguard's twenty sixty five fund has returned
sixty percent over.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
That same time. So given a significant difference in a
given month or two. You might be talking about negligible differences.
But once you overtime time horizon, like you're saying even
just five years, which in breeze time horizon like that's
still not a whole lot of time, the gap can
grow significantly. It compounds. And Matt I Summer, the first
person who told me about investing basically praise target date
(11:49):
fund funds to the max, and so I was like, okay,
all right, target date funds must be the way to go.
And then I started doing my research and I listened
to more people, and I ended up switching out of
target ding fight into like total stock market type fund
index funds.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
One.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
The costs are a little bit lower, but that wasn't
the real reason.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
It was.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Hey, I think, especially given my age, I'm just too
conservative right now. Even though it feels like I don't
know the gap is maybe it's not significant, But in reality,
over the last ten years, I've done a whole lot
better by being invested in those index funds than I
have by being invested in a target date fund. If
I'd kept it the same, my net worth would be smaller.
So I think over the long haul, breeze more stock
(12:30):
exposure is good, and you've got time on your side
to endure drawbacks without batting an eye. If you were
let's say fifty six, it'd be a different conversation. Let's
talk about let's get to the heart of breeze question though, Matt,
which target date fund is right for her? And you
might think that the answer is straightforward and for most folks,
I would say it probably is. You're picking the target
(12:50):
date fund that has the date closest to when you're
likely to retire, because not long after you retire, you're
drawing down on those funds. But I'd also say this,
it's not just about when you're planning on quitting. It's
actually more about when you think you're going to need
the money you've been saving up, Like when or are
you going to actually tap those funds? So just because
you quit your job, well, I don't know, you might
(13:13):
have other sources of income. Just like Brie said, She's like, Hey,
I'm going to probably be working part time. Let's say
you're a real estate investor. Well, yeah, are you actually
going to need to tap those funds, Brie? When you
quit your main full time job or because you still
have income, are you going to be able to keep
investing even after you retire quote unquote from full time work.
So my guess is you're still going to prioritize investing
(13:36):
and growing those dollars at least to some degree. And
if so, I would likely go with something further off,
like the twenty sixty five target date fund, so that
you're you are investing more aggressively because you're not actually
going to be withdrawing those funds immediately upon retirement. We're
thinking about more your draw down timeline than like you're
(13:59):
I'm retiring for full time work date.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Totally, and realize too, that what we're actually recommending here
is for you to do the opposite of what it
is that you're asking, because you are currently set up
to retire at age I think you said sixty five,
but you're instead thinking about retiring at age fifty five.
And so what you're asking was that so she's like
thirty six, so she's thinking about retiring in age fifty five,
so twenty years from now. So what you're considering moving
(14:23):
too is a twenty forty five fund, And so it
sounds like you're currently in a twenty fifty five fund
and you're like Okay, should I move it to a
twenty forty five fund, But what we are actually recommending
is for you to definitely not do that, but to
actually do the opposite, not to go from a twenty
fifty five to a twenty forty five, but to go
from a twenty fifty five fund to a twenty sixty
five fund, something that is or something that does have
(14:45):
a longer runway in order for you to have that
exposure to the stocks, which is going to lead to
higher returns for you. So that's I think that's the
most important thing here is Like naturally you think, oh
I'm going to retire early, there I need to be
looking at a fund.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
That is targeted for that date.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
But especially given your case, the fact that you're talking
about this only being a partial retirement, you don't necessarily
you have that flexibility to not tap those funds and
for you to essentially weather any ups or downs in
the current market.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
And I do think that desire to retire early Matt,
actually means you should probably be even more aggressive right
now because it means you're investing for an even longer
time horizon from a draw down perspective. So instead of
a traditional like twenty five year retirement. So you retire
sixty five and you need that money until you're ninety,
(15:39):
Well you might be talking really about a forty year
retirement here.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
So I think the.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Goal to grow your nest egg, well, it's even more
important in these years when you're farther away from needing
that money totally.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Yeah, So, like as we're talking about risks, it's not
something that you want to completely take off the table.
You still want stock exposure in retireronment, and in a
target date fund you'll have roughly fifty percent stock exposure
once you hit that retirement date. Anyway, interestingly enough, the
twenty fifty five and the twenty sixty five target date
funds they actually look really similar right now if you
if you compare their portfolio allocations almost the exact same.
(16:16):
But that being said, I think the twenty fifty five
fund will get conservative more quickly in the coming years.
So I think this is a case of horseshoes. You're
not going to nail it exactly, but I do think
a twenty sixty five fund will get you closer to
where you want to go, and if you do want
to make any changes, I think looking to more stock
(16:38):
heavy options over the next decade is probably the move
that I would make. You asked about timing the market,
I wouldn't necessarily worry about that. I would just continue
to dollar cost average into the market. If you are uncomfortable.
This is within a retirement account, so you're not going
to get taxed for you to sell. And so, but
that being said, if you're uncomfortable selling and moving in
(16:59):
a different direction, maybe just future contributions, put those towards
the twenty sixty five or even a twenty seventy fund,
and then over time you got a little bit of both,
and that can allow you to feel more comfortable with
the decisions you're making.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Matt's in a twenty one to fifty fund. So it's
like when the aliens come to earth, Like, what's crazy.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
It's like, you say twenty seventy and that sounds insane,
it does. It really sounds so far, Well sound crazy
to say that out loud, but like that's dude, We're
going to be like in our like golden retirement years
at that point for sure. Okay, I have a question
for you.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Some people, Matt, think that Okay, if you're investing in
a target date fund, you shouldn't have exposure to any
other fund besides that. I actually kind of disagree, and
I think maybe another option for Bree here is to say,
you know what, I'm going to keep half in a
target date fund and then the other half in a
low cost index fund, having exposure to both, and essentially
(17:50):
on purpose choosing to have more specific us dock exposure
in addition to the target day fund. That you can
balance that over time.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
And that's kind of.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Paul Merriment approach. I was gonna say, that's kind of
what Paul Merriman, who's been on the show, talks about.
But I feel like when you hear any financial planner
who talks, they're like, no target it's either one target
day fund or you choose another path, like you don't
do both. But I actually disagree, and I think you
can do both, and I think it can make sense.
All right, Matt, we got more questions to get to,
including one about which retirement account makes the most sense.
(18:23):
But there's some state specific tax rules that might make
one retirement account we love look really bad. We'll talk
about that and more right for.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
This, right, buddy, we are back from the break and
we will get to that question regarding the prioritization of
different retirement accounts, but we now have a question from
a listener who he's in a shopping conundrum and he wants.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
To know what you would have done in his situation.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
Hey, Matt Joel, this is Nate from Texas and I
had a frugal or cheap moment pop into my life
the other day that I thought you guys might have
some fun discussing. So I was due to buy more
shaving raisers, and typically I buy the twelve pack, which
is the largest size they offered, because you know, Bolk
prices lowest cpu and those usually cost just under forty
five dollars. While I was looking around, I noticed there
was another twelve pack of the very same brand, but
(19:16):
a slightly different model, in a spot marked for twenty dollars.
And at the time, I thought to myself, there's no
way that's right. Plus it's not my usual model. I'll
just go for the devil, I know. And it was
only after I got home that I realized I almost
certainly could have gotten the twenty dollars ones and gotten
the store to honor the price even if it was wrong,
and it probably would have been the exact same experience
(19:37):
for me shaving. So had the thought occurred to me
and I did that, do you guys think it would
have been frugal or cheap? On the one hand, you
could argue it was frugal, they made a mistake and
I was simply seizing the opportunity to save a few
bucks on a ridiculously expensive but necessary purchase. On the
other hand, I could see the argument that it was
cheap since I knew that it was kind of ripping
off the company and someone had obviously made a mistake,
(19:59):
although again you could argue that after I did that,
the manager probably would have sent someone to correct the price.
So I'm curious what you guys think the right answer
would have been in that situation.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Thanks for all you do, man.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
I always love a good frugler. Cheap Nate's got some
shopping regirts. It's like I should have done it.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
I should have done it. Can't live your life looking
in the rear of your mirror. But we will offer
some advice here. I one, I gotta say, I love
that Nate is buying in bulk here of course. Yeah,
so when you buy more razors, when you buy like
the three pack or something like that, You're you're definitely
overpaying per razor. Well that's all they sell it Aldi,
So that's uh a three pa that's all I think. Okay,
but I will say, and we should get to that.
(20:35):
Are you still using the Aldi razors right now?
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (20:38):
The Likura brand.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
It sounds French.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, it doesn't feel French.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Are they Are they inferior the Okay? They I don't
know if I'm going to recommend those razors to Okay,
to folks like, it's.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Not your honesty, because you you say all good things
about all the typically I was trying them out.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
And it's not that I can't get a close shave.
I feel like when I shave with I'm able to
get a nice, you know, close shave or whatever. But
it's I've noticed that I've been nicking myself more often.
So I don't know if that's because the quality of
the blades aren't as high as before that.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
I had Harry's you know, the Harry's razors or.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Whatever, and I'd been using those razors for like a
couple of years, and I'd never cut myself to those
better with those, Okay.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
So it seems very clear.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
I don't know if it's the fact that the harries
theer's like five blades or something like that versus three blades.
I don't know what's up with the Aldie brand. But
that being said, I don't know if I can recommend
the Aldie ones. It's good to know.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Yeah, okay, so I do think I'll do it buying
more at a time typically, even if you're buying the
NAHB brand, that I'll help you save a little bit.
But I think also it's where you buy matters, right,
So if you're buying in bulk at Costco versus maybe
another store, you could save more buying your Costco. It
might be more than a twelve pack. I think sometimes
they sell like twenty and thirty packs of razors, so
maybe you're set for like razors for the rest of
(21:53):
your life many years. Yes, I think too. Despite your
run in with these Aldie blades and them not being
the best personally, I'm I'm often willing to try and
experiment with a cheaper make or model on stuff, yep,
just to see if it holds up or if it's
good enough, and then you know what, Luckily.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Everyone can learn from my mistake and avoid the Licura
brand from all at.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Least with Aldi though, right, they've got the double guarantee,
so you can take it back to the store and
be like, hey, this wasn't great. Yeah, well so if
there's a return policy, that's pretty generous.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
So that raises a whole other aspect of Nate's question,
which I personally think he's overthinking it, okay, like he
seem and I don't know if like my has my
virtue expired?
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Joel? Like, do I need to be more? Did it
ever exist? It's a better question, do my ethics need
to tune up? I see a deal?
Speaker 2 (22:38):
So if I see something marked like that on the
shelf and I'm pouncing like I am one saying oh yeah, nope,
I mean it's a no brainer, even though it might
be a different model. It sounds like he was like, Okay, well,
it's just not something that I've used before. Not necessarily
that it's an inferior model, it's just something that was different.
But he seemed to think that he didn't want to
take advantage of a mistake.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Perhaps I'm katally taking advantage of mistakes. So here's so
it makes me think of our conversation not too long
ago with Scott Kuyes, who runs Going which was formerly
called Scott's Chief Flights, and Scott's all about helping people
get the best airfare deals possible, and we specifically talked
about mistake fares, and we asked whether people are getting fired.
Right if one of those mistake fares goes out and
(23:22):
people get that like four hundred and eighty dollars round
trip ticket to Tokyo or something like that, is someone
getting fired because they pressed the wrong button?
Speaker 2 (23:30):
He said, no, typically not. I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
But those mistake fars are they're often short lived, but
they're the best deals out there.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
I don't know if that's the confidence that Nate's looking for, Like,
I don't think they're getting fired, but maybe they're getting fired. Well.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
I think just because someone made a mistake doesn't mean
you don't book the deal. It's fair game, right, And
Scott's obviously telling all his followers, Hey, there's this great
deal out there. I think it's different maybe if this
was a placement issue, because that could be if it
was just like literally on the wrong spot on the shelf,
that could have been an employee or that could have
been a shopper putting the thing back in the wrong place.
(24:03):
And then you're like, but it was behind the twenty
dollars sign, but that's obviously that was clearly reserved for
another item, a different razor. I will say this though,
you know, because it's a slightly different model, it could
just be something that didn't work in the marketplace.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
They tried it out.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
They threw it against the wall to see university, That's
what I think, and they're saying, okay, now we're discounting
it heavily to get rid of it there. And there
are whole businesses built around this model to sell things
at a discount that just didn't work. There's big lots, right,
there's I've been getting ads lately, Matt for this, this
website that sells discount snacks because guess.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
What, maybe it was.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Because maybe they were the chips or the oatmeal bites
or whatever it is, or or the Dave Chan noodles,
the two versions that that people was at Dave Chan
what's what's his name? The h Yeah, So like it's
like the two kinds that nobody wanted that are sold
at half price and normally you wouldn't able to get
them cheap. And this is just the kind of thing
(25:01):
that happens in the marketplace all the time. It's like,
this was a failed product, We'll sell it for cheaper
over here. It's like I used to be willing to
pay for the chili crisp, but these are the chili chunks.
So I don't know if that's honestly, it's exactly like that,
Like they're like, well, we'll test this product out, it
doesn't work, and then they have to sell it to
a discounter.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
These are the chili chewies. That's right. No, I totally agree.
I thin because like maybe it's just a color. Maybe
they're like, oh, guys, you know what, we thought that
the blood red razor handle with the blood red razor head,
we thought.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
That that would sell like hotcakes.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Sounds cool, And it turns out that dudes don't like
looking at an aggressively red razor when they're looking for
a smooth, cool shave in the morning. Maybe the market
doesn't like the tied eye raisor see a little too wacky,
I would losers. I guess we're gonna have to mark
it down just to get it off the shelves. Yeah, yeah,
I totally agree. I think there are all sorts of
different reasons like that that would lead up manufacturer to
(25:52):
drop the price in order to you know, move that product.
What if it was the you know, the lotion strips
on the heads of the razor. Yeah, if they're like, oh,
we want to try out.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Some new sense, it's like a hot dog flip.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
They're like, what is this, Like.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
I'm at the carnival or the fair. Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
I don't like these razors. And Nate could have been
all over this deal. He could have also had a
face Nathan. He'd impressed a lot, a little.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Combo with Nathan's hot Dogs, little Joey Chestnut representation on
the an incredible crossover. Although no, they're not friends anymore,
Joey Chestnut and Nathan's hot Dogs. He yeah, he like
walked out of the most recent sponsorship.
Speaker 5 (26:30):
You.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
No, he didn't compete at the most recent one.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
They wouldn't let him.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
I don't think because he's he was sponsored by a
veggie hot dog or.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Something like that.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
I don't get into the free competition drama.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Joel.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
All right, well, I think one other tip here for
for Nate. Yeah, one I think if it's if that's
the price that's reflected, like take advantage of the deal
and sometimes even stock up because it's likely just something
that wasn't as appealing to most people, and you're willing
to zig what others are zagging or literally just paying
full pressure to the razor they're used to. I would
(27:02):
also say this, don't forget about what makes a razor
last longer and really the biggest thing that you have
under your control. I mean, it's it's gonna dole over
time in some ways because you're shaving your face with it.
But if you dry it off afterever use that can
extend the life of the blade. And so the truth
is water makes the blade deteriorate. So even if you
(27:23):
buy the nicer blades, taking care of them, dry them off.
Some people Matt even use like a blow dryer to
dry the blade off, like ten seconds of a blow dryer.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
That sounds like a cheap move right there. How much
electricity are you using? Yeah, I don't know, just kinda
dry it off on the towel, Yeah, dry it off towel.
You're wearing a T shirt right when you're shaving, Like
you're not wearing your fancy clothes, at least not me.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Wipe it on the towel. It's on your ways unless
you're James Bond shaving in a tuxiedo. Just just yeah,
give it a little quick try, because that's gonna give
you more time, more shaves with each razor that you use.
So I've even seen some folks say method they get
nine plus months out of a razor. I was meeting
with my Harry's really were.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
You getting nine plus? Well, that's when we talked about this,
like last year, a couple of years ago. That's when
I realized, Well, and here's the thing. Though, I never
was nicking myself, so I was never bleeding, so I
didn't think that they were that they were dull. But
I realized after the fact, Like once I finally moved
to the new razorhead, I was like, oh, this is
what it feels like when the razor actually cuts the
hair as opposed to like pull them all out, which
is which is what was happening. There's a whole lot
(28:21):
less hair tugging going on as I was shaving. So
but I literally, I mean, I don't shave. I wasn't
shaving a ton back then, but the ability to stretch
a razor. You know, when you're shaving like once or
twice a week, you can really make it last long.
I almost never. I've got the little electric shaver and
electric shaving. Okay, so years ago. Something I'm considering. My
next experiment is going to be going straight razor. Oh yeah,
(28:43):
remember that. A listener reached out after we talked because
I talked about using Kate's old razors.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
In the shower, and those straight razors are crazy cheap there.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
So literally, I don't know if the prices are still
the same, but it's like you could get a hundred
of these like German ra obviously razor sharp single that
you put in a you gotta buy the handle.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
But it's like one hundred of them for like five bucks.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
So what is that like five cents a razor versus
like what's Nate paying like three dollars or like a
couple of bucks for you know, for for his razors
the Aldie brain you're looking at seventy five cents roughly
per rais, but it's five cents per raser. I mean
that's a heck of a y. If you try it out,
please report, of course. Man let's show fodder right there.
(29:26):
And the other option, I want that that first class,
you know, high end, high end shade. True story.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
The other option is for Nate just to grow a
sick beard. So oh yeah, think about that. So you
can always do that old ripway rip Van Winklin, no doubt, Matt.
Let's get to another question. This one is specifically about
the order of operations for retirement accounts.
Speaker 5 (29:46):
Hey, Matt, Angel, this is Caid from North Carolina. I
really appreciated your your thoughts on my wife's pension payout
plan that I asked a few months ago. I do
have I have some more questions now that I have
received the job offer. After I will graduate from my program,
(30:06):
I will be making one hundred and thirty thousand dollars
a year in California and wanted some thoughts on how
to best prioritize my retirement contributions. So when I put
in five percent to my company's four oh one K,
they will put in a ten percent match for a
(30:28):
total of fifteen percent of my gross income. But following that,
if I've aske us to both a health savings account
as well as a roth IRA, how would you prioritize
contributions to one over the other. I know that contributions
to an HSA in California are still a subject to
(30:49):
California state tax, so that kind of hinders the overall
tax tax savings that are normally found within the HSA.
We likely can't max both mine and my wife's wrath
I rays and my HSA at least right away. So
would you suggest only maxing our wrath I rays, or
(31:13):
maxing HSA and then doing contributions to what we are
comfortable with to our wraths? Thank you. I really appreciate
the show Best Friends out well, Caid.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
First off, I'm gonna say congrats on that sweet new.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Gig you got. And you know what I'm going to
say is that I appreciate your transparency kind of sharing
with listeners out there. It helps them to be like,
oh wait a minute, Okay, maybe it makes them, you know,
they got something to shoot for, or it maybe it
makes them think.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Okay, if Caid's doing this, I can do this too.
I don't know. I appreciate that the transparency. That's a
great salary man, even in California as well. I mean,
it should be noted in California. You should give it.
I always think about still solid athletes who sign up
to play for the California teams, and there feels a
lot less in actuality. Is a lot less like after taxation,
(32:04):
because if you're in the highest tax bracket in California,
was it thirteen fourteen percent additional being taken out? That's
a lot signed to playing Florida instead you get to
keep all them.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
But on top of that, he's got that company match,
Like that whole structure is incredible. Right to be able
to get fifteen percent of your salary in your workplace
retirement account when you are only contributing five percent.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Man, I love that. Like you're like, all right, I'll
show up with one third, you show up with the
other two thirds. We'll call it fifteen make it.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
I like a bandit. I mean, that's actually not done,
because I think you've got the ability to go above
and beyond KDE. But regardless, the fact that your employer
is so generously stepping up to the plate like that,
that's great. I think that's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Yeah, And that's a far cry from what most employers
do most to a fifty percent match. Whatever you put
in up to six percent. So if you put in six,
they put in three. That's a total in nine and
that's not bad some people. Some employers are even more generous.
It's like, if you put in six, output in six,
and then you're at twelve. But this one, if you
put in five, will put ten. That's pretty glorious. That's awesome. Yeah,
(33:02):
so you're already at that fifteen percent savings rate that
we like to see, but we also love that you
want to go further, and it's something that we would encourage,
especially since the bulk of those contributions are coming from
your employer. We want kid to get used to the
physical reality of saving and investing fifteen percent of your
(33:23):
own money. You're in and year out, and that's partly
because any match is gravy on top. The truth is
that match can change at any time. I've heard from
many listeners who have had their match pulled back or eliminated,
especially when economic times get a little trying. That's one
of the first things Matt that employers often do is
(33:44):
is they say, you know that match that we offered, Yeah,
we're gonna have to posit for now. And sometimes that
pause turns into an elimination of the match that they offer.
That can be demoralizing for workers, and it can also
impact how quickly you're able to grow your net worth
as well. So I guess I just don't want you
to get so used to that that you're like, I'm
just and it sounds like you're not. But I'm kicking
(34:04):
in five percent. I'm overall saving fifteen I can be
happy with that. Well, if that pulls back in any way,
form or fashion, then you're gonna feel the pain of
having to increase. So I like the idea of saving
and investing a minimum of fifteen percent aside from what
your employer's doing totally.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
But K's question Wroth or the HSA, The answer is
almost always going to be the HSA, of course, because
of the triple tax advantage nature of it. In fact,
there's a quasi quadruple tax advantage because you're not paying
payroll tax, that Faika tax that's on that and so
investing inside of an HSA, and this is of course
available to you because you are enrolled on a high
(34:40):
deductible healthcare plan. But by investing those dollars that can
help you to grow wealth that will never be taxed
in ways that no other account offers.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
It's it's truly a unicorn. But you got to use
it properly.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
You got to invest those dollars for decades to allow
for those compounding returns. And if you do that, according
to the numbers, like when you crunch the numbers, the
HSA is the superior vehicle. Even with the fact that,
like you mentioned that California that they have some ridiculous
HSA rules that effectively limit the benefit.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
It's still good, right. This doesn't mean that the HSA
is a no go, just not as good.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
It's yeah, exactly, it's not quite as advantageous as investing
within an.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
HSA and basically every other state. And you said basically
every other state. That's because there's literally one other state
that does what California does, and that's New Jersey.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
And so these two states, which.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Is shaped like California, but on the other side of
the country, and they both of these states have compiled
conspired against their citizens. Shrink it down right, a much
smaller version and in a way to basically say, ah, yeah,
the federal government says that these accounts are going to
be incredibly tax advantageous and so do forty eight other states.
But we're going to be the two loan holdouts who
(35:50):
treat you like an idiot when you.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Invest in an HSA.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
So I do not love the fact that these states
do not offer the same tax benefit that almost everybody
else does. Not only do you have to pay income
tax on the money you contribute, you're also going to
owe state tax on the growth of the money you
experience in those accounts. But should that impact what you
do kid the answers. Maybe because the HSA, like Matt
(36:16):
alluded to, it's still better from an overall tax perspective,
even with those inferior tax rules in the state where
you're living. But those accounts are starting to look a
bit more similar. And the roth IRA, well, it has
more flexibility, right, It allows you to spend for other
reasons beyond just health expenses. The HSA, that's how you
(36:36):
get the tax treatment is because it's basically constrained for
that kind of spending in particular. Well, one thing that
would factor into my thinking here though, is are you
planning to be in California forever? Because if you're likely
going to move to another state in the future, you're
going to be able to avoid future state taxes on
HSA withdrawals, making it more compelling. So, yes, you're earning
(36:57):
and investing in an HSA while in California, but if
you're taking the money out in another state down the road,
well you're not then gonna be subject to the California
tax laws that are again antagonistic to HSA.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
So so it'll only be a thorn in your side
for that period of time while you're there.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
I want to say Kate said he was in north
North Carolina right now. So if he's like, Hey, all
my families in North Carolina, I'm in California. That's where
I'm gonna I'm gonna love this job, but like twenty years,
ten years down the line, we think we're gonna move back, Well,
then I would say that that that puts another check
mark in the HSA because you're not going to be
subject to the worst parts of California's tax law.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
I missed the when it comes to HSA, I missed
the North Carolina part. If that's what he mentioned. What
if he was moving from New Jersey to California and
he's like, oh, I think I'm gonna move back home
at some pointed again, and some of it like if
you look at the numbers, yes, like the most like
financially optimized thing to do here is to go with
the HSA.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
But it also comes down to.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
What you like if it's worth if that, if the
hassle is worth it to you as an individual, for you,
if thinking through like this personal admin side of your life,
if that lights you up. If the job that you're
accepting in California is like, you know, a financial management
or something like that, then you're probably going to be
all over the numbers. And this is great because not
only do you have to track the expenses in order
to redeem that's not the proper term, but I don't know,
(38:20):
effectively to redeem your HSA dollars for retirement by keeping
up with your medical expenses, like everybody has to do that.
But in addition to that, you have to I mean,
so you mentioned that the income from those investments are
taxed on a state level. That's something you have to
keep up with yourself. It's taxes regular income, and so
that's just a it's just another I don't know, it
feels like a hassle for something that sure you may
(38:42):
not be taking full advantage of and so if that
if thinking through all of that kind of bums you out,
then you can't go wrong with a roth IRA. Keep
it simple. You've got all the flexibility in the world.
You never have to worry about keeping up with records
and medical expenses. It's just something to think about the
fact that you really do. It is treated. It is
taxed like a brokerage account there in the state of California.
(39:05):
But in addition to these retirement goals, I think I
want you to have the goal of maxing out with rathrays.
That's great, the HSA going for that. I think that
the fifteen percent into your four O and K this
is all awesome, But don't forget about medium term goals
that you have as well. I'm not sure if you
are hoping to buy a home or not, but if
that is a high priority, just make sure you start
(39:26):
saving and investing for that goal or other goals you
might have. You know, if you're looking to buy a home,
that is going to be a little more difficult in California.
It's certainly not going to be the absolute best way
to build your net worth, but you know that's also
not the end goal. For most of us when we're
looking at purchasing a home. Yeah, we love all the
retirement accounts out there. I love how they can reliably
(39:47):
help you to reach financial independence. But just make sure
that you are not only looking to the long term
case like you are. On top of things. You mentioned
your wife's pension question from a few months ago. Y'all
are on it when it comes to you're saving for
old kaid an old kid's wife. But when it comes
to just don't forget about some of these near term
goals and realizing that you get you know, cash savings, liquidity,
(40:09):
it's important to not overlook that as well.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
CAD in five years will be stoked that they've been
you know, they've saved multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars,
probably already for future retirement. But then what if you
want to make some moves in the here and now
is exactly don't forget about that, all right, man, We've
got more to get to on this episode, including one
about being dropped by an insurance company. What do you
(40:32):
do when you get that dreaded letter in the mail?
We'll talk about that and more right after this. All right, buddy,
we are back from the break.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
It is now time for the Facebook question of the week,
which is from Catherine, and she wrote, ugh do you
like you like my uh? I love that she stuck
that in there. Yeah, frustration coming out.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
When you read that?
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Do you see or do you hear?
Speaker 5 (40:59):
Ugh?
Speaker 4 (40:59):
No?
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Here?
Speaker 1 (41:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Yeah, the former the actual it's it's the frustration for
sure coming out in type well in particular with this one,
she wrote, my insurance company is gonna drop me unless
I complete these things by June seventh. Remove yard debris,
cut back vegetation, paint the home all when color, and
cut the tree branches back from the detached structures. That's
all fair, But the paint. Wtf do they care that
(41:24):
my house is all when color? Is there any point
in trying to fight it?
Speaker 1 (41:28):
Joel? What you think? Should she fight it? Do you
do you try to fight the man matt ever or yeah?
I think sometimes you do? Ohyah, sometimes you do. I
can be hard headed. You probably try to fight the
man against like veteran thinks ways to more craftily deal
with this, and it's maybe that's what I want to suggest.
Maybe is some maybe craftier ways to deal with this
instead of ease into it. Catherine instead of letting your
(41:50):
frustration get the best of you and just being like,
screw you, why are you making me do this? Like
there are ways, I think to get around this and
to stay insured without a complete deletely ruining your life.
So the truth is insurance companies are sending out more
of these notices these days. We talked about that actually
with our friend Lisa from Consumer Reports not too long
(42:11):
Lisa gil yeah, and she was talking about how in
her tiny home, y that's right, that's right gravel.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
Which is the pea gravel. She was addicted to the
pea gravel.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
Just the with insurance rates going up around the country
and insurers are being a little more cognizant about who
they're insuring and what the properties look like. And then
on top of that, technology is making easier for insurance
companies to kind of check in and see what's going on. Right,
They're using drones, they're doing flyovers, they're taking images in
an attempt to make sure they're not taking on undue risk.
(42:42):
My neighbor Matt just told me the other day, Hey,
my roof is more than ten years old, and now
my insurance company is saying they don't want to insure
me anymore. This is becoming Actually, roofs should last for
twenty to thirty plus years. And the fact that insurance
companies are just getting a little more antsy and squirrely
about offering insurance when everything's not kind of perfect. So
(43:06):
it sucks for those of you out there listening. You
haven't received a letter, you might in the future. I
remember getting one like these two metworks like trim back
those branches.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
Hey, what's I had this? Well, it's the weirdest thing.
It's hard to even described. I had like a driveway
where there was like a drop off. Do you remember
that at my at my first house, it was a hazard. Yeah,
it was a hazard, and so I had to put
up like a cement block in there so that the
car couldn't go rolling off it. It sounds weird and
it was.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
But like, so I get why the insurance company's basically saying, hey,
someone could fly off this parking pad. I forgot about
that and injure themselves. Oh, you would have told your
car if your car would have run into that.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
Yes, So it's good for them to be a stop.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
I know. In many ways it does make sense to
insurance companies are saying, I don't know, you might need
to do something for you to still be insurable, but
I think it can be scary. It can feel like
you got to cancel your Saturday plan is to get
your house back in ship shape or something like that,
or be left without insurance, which comes with cascading consequences. Yeah,
one of which is force place insurance. The lender says, oh,
you're not insured anymore, We'll find that insurance for you.
(44:06):
But then the insurance costs a heck of a lot
more than what you were paying. And so yeah, I
think I know Catherine's frustrated by this, but this should
move up her priority list. But also I also just
don't think it should freak her out.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
And I think this makes me think these are the
kind of times you want to have an actual agent,
like somebody you can call, someone you can reach out to,
because that would be incredibly helpful because then and I'm
assuming that there is a way for you to upload
pictures and whatnot, but just someone to talk to where
you can send them some updated pictures. Let's say, when
you make those first repairs, right, like, you've cut back
(44:37):
some of that vegetation, you trim some of those tree
branches that might be enough to satisfy them, you know,
like you send those along and you're like, hey, I'm
getting quotes for the painting, and then see what they say.
You know, it's more kind of like a there's more
of a gray area as opposed to provide proof that
all of these points have been addressed.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
I think this is more of a negotiation. I think, yeah, exactly.
Then it is a hard timeline, like it done or
you're out.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
Yeah, start those talks, getting the started, communicating directly. I
think this is the right way to handle this, and
it could obviously, I mean I think it could buy
you more time.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
As well if costs to have some.
Speaker 2 (45:12):
Of these repairs made, If that's an issue, I think
just starting the conversation while simultaneously financially preparing for that
and maybe even yourself.
Speaker 1 (45:19):
Yeah, take a Saturday, borrow.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
Some tools from a neighbor, like work on getting things
cleaned up, because buy some beer for your friends, having
all hands on that party to get rid of some
of the excess vegetation. Because in the end, I do
think that this is something you're going to have to address.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
Yeah, And I think Catherine might be thinking, oh, you
know what, maybe maybe this is the perfect time to
shop around for insurance. And the truth is maybe almost
every year is the right time to shop for insurance. Like,
you should probably be shopping regularly regardless, that's a good
thing to do. Yes, get quotes elsewhere. Sure, but going
with another insurance company likely isn't going to save you
from this repairless because they will probably do a drive
(45:54):
by or a drone buy of sorts too. They will
require similar fixes in all likelihood, so that might not
save your bacon on this one. And while we get
the shock right, these things should really be taken care
of proactively. And I also get the frustration with the
house color thing.
Speaker 2 (46:10):
Matt. She's like, I don't care, dude, that is multiple tones.
I think this is insane. Like this, this is where
I would be pushing back. I would be asking some
serious questions. I have zero understanding how that the color
of your house is going to impact the liability that
better insurance. I bet they have some data somewhere. I
bet that how, But like, how would the color of
(46:30):
a house, or the fact that that it's painted two tone.
It's like, okay, it's dark green and light green. I
don't know in HOA. I understand in HOA saying oh, sorry,
according to the covenant that you signed, and to be
a part of this neighborhood or part of this community,
it has to be one.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
Of these five shades. I get that.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
I even understand speaking of different shades, like if it's
in a historic district, if there's some board that's just like,
oh no, we've only we've identified the Sherwin Williams Historic
Registry colors or some you know, something like that. It
makes no sense in my mind why the color of
a house increases or decreases the liability and the potential
for the insurance company to fork out repairs on that house. Yeah,
(47:07):
like that makes no sense to me.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
I get that, And I think that's of all the
things that are on that list, that's the one that
Catherine's the most insane, more of an ability to push
back on, especially given how expensive that can be. She's like, hey,
what if I do this, this and this and maybe
explains the house called this, or an agent comes in
like you were talking about, explains why insurance companies they
don't typically have like an artistic side to them. They're
more man Yeah, so so but maybe you can explain
(47:31):
that to them and buy more time on that one.
But it comes out of like money as opposed to
like art, right, Like art is subjective as opposed to
insurance is objective. It's all about the numbers.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
And that's where like if they can prove that, like
this color is so offensive that this house is more
likely to be vandalized, Okay, then there's like some I
don't know, there's a case to be made there, and
maybe they have that data. Maybe maybe, but like I
don't know, man, it seems like it's in yeah, infringing
up like what was just like Soviet Union, like like Stalin,
(48:01):
like it does feel a little un American down and
saying that she's got to paint her house.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
I think that I'd be curious to know which insurance
company this is and why they're cracking down specifically on
house color.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
We need Catherine to to post a picture of her
actual house. Yeah, maybe when she posted a picture it's.
Speaker 1 (48:13):
Like, oh, it's that color that's racist.
Speaker 2 (48:17):
I'm not at all saying that that's the case, Catherine,
But maybe there's like a mural or something like that,
and it's distracting for I don't know, like I was
thinking about what could be so offensive, and then I
actually thought of some things that could be very offensive
to certain folks. For sure, I guess like if it
was graffitied or something like that. Maybe.
Speaker 1 (48:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:33):
But buddy, let's get back to the beer that you
and I enjoyed today, which was a Black Quad, which
is a not surprisingly a quadrupel.
Speaker 1 (48:42):
That's why I say quadruple.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
This is a beer by Real Ale Brewing Company out
of oh But this is was this the last one
from Texas's right, well, one of the ones she got.
Speaker 1 (48:51):
From Texas Lancle Texas. Uncle, Yeah, yeah, would you think that's.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
How gringo would say it?
Speaker 1 (48:55):
Blanco?
Speaker 2 (48:56):
It's dark, that's how they build it.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
So they're spot on there, and it's got some some
raisin dark fruit vibes going on. It's it's I will say,
it's not the most complex and interesting quad I've had,
kind of very basic in one note, it's it's solid.
But I love a good quad and this one let
me down a little bit. But honestly, based on I
know you're not supposed to judge book by its cover, Matt,
but sometimes I do judge beers based on the gan art.
(49:22):
Do you not like the clip art. It's a little
kind of vibes, little subpar So I wasn't. I did
not have the highest of expectations going into this, and
so I guess I would say my expectations were met.
Speaker 2 (49:31):
I really try not to judge a book by its covers,
So I went into this thinking all right. Actually, when
you said what the style of beer were drinking, I
was like, oh, you know what, I'm totally in the
mood for a quad. But this one drank a little harsh,
like it almost had like some metallic sort of flavors
going on. So there just wasn't a whole lot of
nuance going on. You caught it one note. I'm willing
(49:51):
to give it two notes. You know, it's got height
and length, it just doesn't have the depth. It's two dimensional.
It's not it doesn't have that three dimensional sort of
aspect that you get out of some of the better
quads or some of you know, out of some of
the better stouts. That's like ooh, oh yeah, I can
taste the sweet notes and the dark, better roasty notes.
Oh that it also has the spicy notes as well.
That's the that's the depth obviously those are typically Mexican stouts. Specifically,
(50:16):
we're talking about Westbrook's Mexican Cake, which is a fit.
Speaker 5 (50:19):
You know.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
That's one of those few beers on one of those agains.
That's one of the few beers we've had had on
the show multiple times. I think we've had it like
two or three times for a good reason, in at
different different years, because every time they brew it it's
slightly different. It should tell you something about the beer
we're drinking. The fact that we're talking about another beer
that we've had off in the past, lusting after the
beers of your but it's still fun to try something
new and of course share a beer with you, my friend,
(50:42):
no doubt.
Speaker 1 (50:42):
All right, that's going to do it for this one.
We'll put links to some of the resources we mentioned
up on the website at howtomoney dot com. There's a
bunch of other money saving information up there too. If
you are just you know, trying to figure out, hey,
where are the money gears at click start here at
the on the top of the homepage, or there's a
re sources page as well. If you're looking for things
that we mentioned frequently on the show and sign up
(51:04):
for the newsletter. While you're there too, you won't be
disappointed Matt until next time. Best friends out, Best Friends Out,
Hosts And Creators
Joel Larsgaard
Matthew Altmix
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.