January 31, 2025 • 36 mins
Time for a Friday Flight- our little sampling of the week’s financial news and what it means for your personal finances. There are a lot of headlines out there, but we boil them down to specific takeaways that will allow you to kick off the weekend informed and help you to get ahead with your money. In this episode we explain some relevant and helpful stories like: credit card relegation, cheap Chinese AI, portfolio flipping, lab-grown savings, free tax filing, reporting side hustle income, tax refund points, digital shoplifting, outpacing inflation, minimum payment purgatory, the future of electric vehicles, reasonable EV leases, and Subaru security slips.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel Matt.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Today we're talking cheap Chinese AI, free tax filing, and
out pacing inflation.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
It's hard for you to say cheap Chinese AI. When
do you immediately think of like food. Let's just run
on grab some cheap Chinese food. No, we are going
to talk about Nvidia.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
They're still not doing great.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Let's talk about kung pou chicken instead. Which is that
your go to kunk pau? A little bit of sesame chicken?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Oh? I like this sesame chicken tip.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Okay, so there's a place nearby where it's a Chinese place,
but you get like a dry crispy beef. I think,
is what the what it's called on the menu? Oh
my goodness, so good. Skip over the low main noodles
and everything else on the menudus and forget the orange
glazed general sALS, the be beef and the tingle that
you get on the lips with the oh so good.
If only this sort of food podcast it's been for
(01:06):
ever since Kate and I've been there. But we need
to add that back to our date night list.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah, okay, so we got a lot to get to,
but real quick, Matt, I just wanted to mention something
personal note, And we talk about this. Sometimes people will
ask us about canceling a credit card, Hey, does it
make sense? Is going to negatively impact my credit score
too much? And our thoughts are often, Hey, try not
to cancel it if you can avoid it. I mean,
if you don't have need for a great credit score
(01:32):
in the near future, who cares. You can probably cancel it,
no big deal, a little rebound.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
But if not, just stick the card in the drawer
and just don't spend all.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
But if it's got an annual fee, then the you
don't want it cost in you the stakes are higher, right,
And so I actually recently canceled or didn't cancel. I
downgraded my AMX Blue Cash Preferred card to the no fee.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Six percent groceries.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, because I wasn't getting enough value out of it,
because you know why, I do most of my grocery
shopping at Costco.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Now, spending all your money Costco is more expensive, you know.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
But I'm doing the insta card hack that I told
you about, and it's same.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
So you're spending way more money.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
No, I'm spending the exact same amount of money and
actually probably less because fewer impulse.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Purchases at Costco tracker spending. Get it all together, we'll
look get it up at the end of the year.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Okay, if you want, I'll let you know how it shakes.
Cos's expensive.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
I mean, compare it to all the at least you're
not spending at least because the threshold, I'm pretty sure
it's like three hundred bucks. If you're spending three hundred
bucks at all D or Legal or something like that,
you know you're not even spending that much at Legal
every month. No, I'm not to be honest because I
think because it's a like one hundred dollars or ninety
five dollars annual fee and the additional three so you
get three percent cash back with your everyday card, then
(02:43):
you're paying nothing with an annual fees on that card,
but paying that basically one hundred bucks gets you that
additional three percent cash back, So you got it. There's
a threshold, and I'm pretty sure it's.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Like three hundred.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I'm just not hitting it right, fifty just not hitting it.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
So I was like, it's time.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
And we spend that much in like one visit when
we go to the lot of people.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Well, and we just.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
I mean, we also do spend less at at Costco,
which brings up an interesting point because it's limited to
there's a there's an annual cap, and I'm pretty sure
it's that five hundred dollars. It's a six thousand dollars limit,
because it's like, hey, you can earn six percent I
know on the Blue Cash preferred card up to six
six thousand dollars, but beyond that you only earn one percent.
(03:26):
And I just realized, I don't think I've ever tracked
our spending from the standpoint.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
I know we've got over that.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yes, I bet we have, because I know that we've
always at least spent three hundred dollars at Aldi or
in you know, legal and other random spots at Kroger Republics.
But man, I bet there's a good chance we've actually
gone over that where we're only earning one percent on
every charge. Who knows, maybe maybe by the time we
hit like October or something like that. I've never tracked
You got to pivot. I have never tracked my spending
(03:52):
from the standpoint of how much or how many annual
dollars have I put on this preferred card, and I'm
about to add a new cell to on my spread.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
But now, yeah, you might have to get a little
more granular with it, which sounds like something you'd be into.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I love this kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Then I'll tell Kate beyond a certain point, that's when
we switched to the City Double Cash card, at least.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Get two percent.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yeah, And so I just word of the wise out there.
If there's a card that you have an annual fee
on that you're not getting enough value out out of.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
You could cancel, or you could just reach out.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
I mean I literally did a quick chat on the
American Express website and I was like, can you downgrade
me to the you know, blue cash that doesn't have
the annual fee. They're like, sure, we'll send it out.
So it took like almost no time, going to save
me ninety five bucks a year. If you're not taking
advantage of what they're offering, there's no sense in pain
for him, is right?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
All right, Let's get to the Friday flight sampling the
stories we found interesting this week.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Matt.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Let's start with the big one. It happened on Monday,
sent the stock market into a tizzy. Do you know
what we're going to talk about right now, of course I.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Do, okay.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
So the deep Seek AI, the Chinese AI system that
impacted text tech stocks to a significant degree. In Nvidia,
which has been the high flying stock of the last
couple of years, shed six hundred billion dollars of value
in one day, which I think was the largest dollar
amountain drop for any stock in history at any point
(05:09):
in history, which makes sense, right, all because of this
Chinese app, this upstart app called deep Seek, which hit
the app store, the Apple app store. And so deep
Seak is a Chinese artificial intelligence company and it created
what some are calling a superior AI product that it's
at least as good, if not better than many of
(05:30):
the American made artificial intelligence products currently on the market.
But the big news is that they were able to
do it at least apparently for a fraction of the cost,
for like six million bucks, using a whole lot less
of those super fancy, incredibly expensive chips that a company
like Nvidia would make, which is why it impacted them.
And then Mark Andreessen, who's you know, big time tech
(05:51):
nerd founder of many startups, he called it AI's Sputnik
moment Matten. I wasn't alive back then when Sputnik launched,
but it's the space when you read about US history.
That was a big moment in US history, essentially propelling
US towards greater heights and towards beating the Russians into space.
And since we live in a globally connected world, that
(06:12):
impacts American artificial intelligence and tech companies. But as the
news I think has been digested, this is actually maybe
not as bad as it initially seemed. It could be
actually good news for a whole lot of tech companies
because it means they're going to be able to get
more bang for their buck on AI spending that got
incredibly expensive really fast. And this what this made me
(06:34):
think of was Moore's law, which is essentially the fact
that chips that the silicon chips, they get twice as
good roughly every two years. And actually that's happening at
a faster rate than what Moore's.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Law would state. Right now.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
I believe that increased efficiency reduces energy needs for artificial intelligence,
which has been a problem. Something's been talked about quite
a lot, how much energy artificial intelligence is siphoning, and
it should lower the cost meaningfully. So I think ultimately
this is probably a good thing, and American companies, they're
not going to be left in the dust for long.
(07:10):
I guess some people might be wondering, oh, man, should
this change how I invest I saw the stock market,
you know, just get slammed on Monday, and I get
maybe that impulse. But our answer, as always is no.
But it is why you should have a diversified portfolio.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Absolutely, this is why you do not invest in single companies.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
And it makes me.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Think about the burgeoning narrative about stocks overall, like the
wide stock market being overvalued, and that might be true,
particularly in certain segments.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Of the tech sector.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
But even if stocks in general and some particular ones
are overvalued, there's not much that you can do besides
just continuing to invest. We still like dollar cost averaging
because honestly, what's the alternative investors? I will say, who
are let's say, getting closer to needing their money. If
you are getting closer to your retirement years and they
are you're a little more in the wealth preservation stage
(07:59):
of your life, I think it might be worth considering
a more conservative approach. For instance, Vanguard, they're suggesting these days,
the forty sixty balance instead of the often touted sixty
forty allocated portfolio, so more of a forty percent exposure
to stocks sixty percent bonds. And this is largely because
of their view that stocks come with a higher volatility.
(08:21):
But don't let these stock market stories, these blips, the
ever shifting narratives change your approach.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
And you mentioned the.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
How Deep Sea the Chinese company was able to do
it more efficiently. There's like investigations now as to whether
or not they're actually cribbon open AIS. No, it's a
little bit essentially. I think they're calling it distillation, where
it's like, wait a minute, this other large language model
owned by the Chinese was actually learning from open ai
(08:50):
Chat GBT essentially makes it without doing all the hard work.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Which makes sense, I mean does join Astarn in The
Wall Street Journal had a really funny article basically Light
and Chat Cheep and Sam Altman on Fire about that, say, hey,
you basically stole all this information from creators across the internet.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Sam Altman would say, well, I'm doing the hard work though,
of creating the actual large language language model, whereas Deep
See they're just I almost think of it as like
almost like a white label, you know, like you buy
products and it's like, Okay, you just slap the label
on there, and all of a sudden, it's a new product.
It's like no, no, no, no, the other companies still actually did
the hard work of the initial lift. I guess all
I know.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Is there's a lot of creators out there who didn't
give any permission sand to crib their writings the things
that they've created, and yet they got taken anyway. So
maybe a little bit of karmic justice. But Matt, it's
not just artificial intelligence that space being upended by change.
Diamonds that you dig out of the earth are also
being upstaged by lab grown diamonds. This is something we've
(09:48):
talked about in the past, but this sea change is
accelerating more quickly. Natural diamond prices have gone down in
price by eight percent recently, largely because lab grown diamonds
are becoming more pop and cheaper. Lab grown diamond prices
have actually plummeted by seventy five percent. So wow, it's
no wonder that people are saying, yeah, I'll choose that
(10:09):
option instead. If you're like proposing to your sweetheart or something,
like that, right, they're essentially equal stones. Like the naked
eye can't really perceive a difference between lab grown diamonds
and diamonds that are dug up out of the ground.
And so you know, brides and grooms they're taking notice,
and now more than half of engagement rings are being
(10:30):
sold with lab grown diamonds. You can you can, for real,
I like it, same size, same look, everything, you can
save eighty percent and the naked eye can't detect any difference.
I'm all for this kind of shakeup. Yeah, maybe we
should propose our wives again, Matt, start buying them some blinge.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
What do you think?
Speaker 3 (10:46):
There's a part of me that tempted, Like what I
wish was that this would have been available to us
when we're younger. Yeah, but like there's a part of
me that gets excited, Like when I think about it
for a minute, I get like pretty stoked. I'm like,
oh sweet, I could buy a Kate just some serious blaze,
and it sounds fun for like a second, but then
I'm like, well, why would I want to do that?
And I immediately talk myself out of it, Like I
don't think she.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Don't really care about that. They don't eat.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
No, they don't, and they'd rather get a bunch of others.
She loves her old ring, even if it was just
like pennies. It's just like, well, why do I want
to wear like this giant, gaudy piece of jewelry? And
oftentimes I think it comes down to what other people think,
And dude, we don't care what anybody.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Thinks, espureing to project anything.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
I don't even wear my I feel bad because the
ring that those ladies are hitting on you is it's
like a family heirloom kind of ring and it means
a lot. And I actually stopped wearing it when I
started lifting more often because I didn't want to damage it.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
You were the silicone I hate those. I'm not really yeah,
not comfortable.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
It doesn't bother me, but it's cool to see and
I'd be curious to know too. If any how, the
money listeners have gone the lab so and maybe they
were debating going with a real diamond dug out of
the ground and then they were like.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Wait a second, no man, no, I'm just gonna save
a ton of much to the synthetic.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
That's huge. Yeah, let us know how it went. By
the way I don't care.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
But dude, for all the folks out there who are
single or thinking about proposing, oh one percent, a game
changer for them.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
And I think I read something about now the status
symbol is brown diamonds. I don't know how hard those
are to come by, but I guess maybe you can't
manufacture interesting brown diamonds in the same way. So that's
how you're now letting people know I've got the real thing,
and I spend a lot more money for it, so.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Instead of calling it blinging, they call it blung.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Humans will always find a way to try to show
their status externally. Let's talk about taxes. As of Monday,
you can start filing your taxes.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Hooray.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I know everyone's so excited for tax season.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
It's so much fun.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
And there are some ways that you can file for free.
You don't have to pay a dime to fire or taxes,
which is really the way it should be. And the
IRS's direct file system is up and running for the
second year in a row and is now available in
twenty five states. There actually are some rumors that the
current administration might try to do away with this direct filesystem.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
We will see.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
And there are income limitations by the way, filing direct
file through the IRS if it's available in your state.
Single folks can't make more than two hundred thousand bucks.
Married folks can't make more than two fifty. Sorry, Matt,
you're out because I know I'm out.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
You're loaded, not because of that, because of how complicated
are are.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Oh that's yeah, that's true too. It's about the real estate. Man.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Well, we haven't used it ourselves, not because we're making millions.
But we haven't heard any ringing endorsements either from anyone.
I haven't heard anyone say this was so great, But
I guess still free is free, and I think it's
worth pointing out math that there are other free options
as well. Turbo tax has a free option for people
with basic tax situations, and they're available to people who
(13:36):
file on the Turbo tax app before February eighteenth. Apparently
that's their deadline for some reason. But if you do
file before then, it's legit free this year. And the
cash app still the best free tax software that we're
aware of, with zero hoops to jump through, free, federal,
free state. So I don't know why that doesn't get
more pressed. But Cash app taxes everyone should know about that.
(13:57):
Pretty solid.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Yeah, I will say today is the deadline for so
I got to send out some ten ninety nine out
so the folks who help us here with the podcast yea.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
And on the website.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Today's January thirty, first, last last day to make that happen. Hey,
wait to the last minute. But going back to what
I what I mentioned though, as far as the complexity
of your tax situation, I think it's worth highlighting that
because I think for some folks free filing it might
be a cheap move, not a frugal move, and it's
worth paying up. If you have a more complicated cadd scenario,
(14:27):
it would be worth it to do that. The savings
that a seasoned tax professional would be able to find
for you, that's actually the frugal move. Yeah, if you're prioritizing,
I don't want to pay that person four or five
hundred bucks to do something I could do myself or
I could use the inexpensive software for But then you're
not getting all the tax credits or deductions that are
available to Yeah, and keeping up with all those forms
(14:47):
is potentially that's true.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
That's true.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
I wanted to mention so ten ninety nine k's. Don't
forget those. They might start showing up in your mailbox
if you use stub hub, eBay, or Etsy regularly for
some for some side hustle income, you might be getting
a ten ninety nine K. Five thousand dollars in sales
is the threshold for this past year for your twenty
twenty four taxes, and basically millions of Americans who have
(15:12):
never received a ten ninety nine K will be getting
one this year. You were already supposed to report this income,
but honestly, many folks don't do that.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
It's kind of like you remember when the advent of
the Internet and you could buy stuff on Amazon, you
didn't have to pay sales tax.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Oh I think that golden era.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
There's like a period of time but you were supposed
to self report, but nobody did. Oh really, I don't
remember that, just like voluntary sales tax paid.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Yeah. Wow.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
So we bring this up because even more folks are
going to get these forms next year and even more
the following year in twenty twenty six as the reporting
thresholds drop for ten ninety nine K income. And one
more wrench to throw in the gears is crypto sales.
If you are a regular trader of the cryptocurrencies, don't
(15:59):
forget too out for capital gains taxes. I think this
is more something that folks were dealing with back in
twenty twenty twenty one, when there's a little more cash
sloshing around and still a lot of cash quote unquote
investing in crypto. Yeah, there is cash.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
You saw the Trump coin, the Millennia coin, you saw bitcoin.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
When folks file their twenty five taxes, they're only going
to be reporting losses when it.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Comes to those coins. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Let's talk about tax refunds for just a second, Matt.
Friend of the show, Michelle Singletary, she just wrote in
the Washington Post about why she really dislikes tax refunds,
and I think you and I we mostly agree with
her on this. You get a tax refund because you
have too much money withheld, and essentially you're giving the
government an interest free loan. Some folks, though, use this
(16:46):
methodology as like a forced method of savings. I think
it's important to think about what that refund money could
have done for you throughout the year instead of getting
in a one lump sum right the following year. So
if you had, let's say, not gotten a big tax refund,
you could have had more money in every single paycheck,
putting it into a Higeld savings account or into the
stock market in twenty twenty four. What if you'd been
(17:08):
doing that the whole time you've been dollar cost averaging,
throwing more money into the market instead of waiting essentially
fourteen fifteen months to get that money back in a
lump sum. You could have been more optimized, more efficient.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
But I think the.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Reason too, Matt, that I said maybe I mostly agree
with Michelle here but not all the way is because
you could have also done stupid stuff with that money.
That's true, and for some people who aren't as buttoned
up like this really is one of the best opportunities
that comes along to jumpstart a financial goal that you have,
Like the average tax refund's like thirty one hundred bucks,
(17:41):
and it's like a little launch pad for yeah, for
saving up that E fund, per paying off a big
debt that you've got that you are working towards getting
rid of. And so yeah, I get the interest free
loan thing, but I also think that if this is
the best way for you to disallow yourself from you know,
just frittering money away getting that big tax refund. If
(18:03):
it is like this chance to do something big and great,
if you use that as an opportunity to do something epic,
to kind of supercharge where you're going with your money,
I think that's fine too.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Yeah, And I thought what you're going to complain about
was the fact that you're only talking if you're talking
about a tax return of three thousand dollars well earning
four percent, you're only talking about one hundred and twenty
bucks in interest. So from a financial standpoint, yes, it's
not optimized. And I'm not saying that one twenty is
nothing that could pay for your annual membership on your
AMEX catch Preferred that you discovered. But it's also not
(18:34):
the end of the world to miss out on that
as well. But Joe, we got more to get to
during our Friday Flight today, our roundup of the headlines
and how they impact your personal finances. We'll get to
electric vehicles and more.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Right after this, we're back with.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
The Friday Flight Continue. Now it's time to get to
the ludicrous line of the week. This one comes from
Axios and the headline reads, why the rich love digital shoplifting.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Oh not digital shopping, digital shop lifting, stealing stuff.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
You ever stole anything, Matt when you were like a
kid or anything. Yeah, I got in trouble. Okay.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
I remember like those stands in the middle of the mall.
I stole something from there one time. About you, I
feel really bad about it. Still, like a necklace like
with like a shark tooth on it or something like that.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Oh so you were older? Is that this sounds like
middle school jowl?
Speaker 1 (19:27):
It was. I was probably like eleven.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Yeah, I remember when I was younger. So the things
like going to a hardware store, like there's like little nuts,
you know, like bolts and nuts, not like peanuts or cashews,
like random pieces of metal and debris on the ground.
And I used to always pick those up. But I
always saw those as like like floor fines, you know,
like because it's like they sweep them up and throw
(19:50):
them in the track, and I guess if it's like
big enough, they're like, oh well, this one's worth a
little bit more. But yeah, you know, what's the statute
of limitations on? I don't know your thievery.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
You think they're gonna come out. You're the one that
got the especially that's true, the shark necklace.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Or whatever that maybe it was like the puka shells
whatever that we used to wear. I was going to
try to say that, but I could remember the word shell.
I feel bad, but I still do. Okay, So let's
talk about the story, Matt. Uh, because for real, shoplifting
used to be going into a physical store, literally nabbing
something off the shelf and trying to get out without
being noticed and depending on how big it was sticking
in your jacket or whatever. Literally, my high school principal
(20:25):
got arrested for what stealing I thought. I want to
say it was a rotisserie chicken from uh yeah, from
a grocery store.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Is this while you were in high school? It was
after posts post high school. But things went downhill after
you left. They did, they did.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
They needed you around to uphold the honesty and morality
of the high school.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
I think we've already established my shortcomings to here, Matt.
But Uh, the theft has become a bigger problem in
recent years for retailers, and it harms our bottom line.
Some retailers in certain cities have literally shut down because
of theft problems, and Matty, think about the drug stores,
Walgreens and CBS and everything is essentially being put behind
(21:02):
lock and key because of crime problem.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
They're shutting down so many stores because theft, because what's
it called shrinkage is such a problem. I hope folks
doesn't hear us making light of this, like this is a.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Serious I'll send a nice word for something that's like
a terrible problem, like just literally people stealing. But folks
have found that it's more possible to steal from online retailers,
and they're taking advantage of that ability. Basically, they're claiming
that the package was stolen, never got delivered, and they're
hoping that the company will give them a refund, or
if that doesn't work out, the file a chargeback with
(21:31):
their credit card company for a legitimate purchase that they
made a product that they got to keep. The goods
were actually delivered. Yeah, but they're saying telling the credit
card company that it wasn't, so they're lying. They're hoping
to get their money back for something that they actually
wanted to purchase. That's obviously unethical and it's yeah, rich
folks too. I think they said what folks making one
(21:52):
hundred k plus that was they're twice as likely to
take this route.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
And I'll push back a little bit on that because
I think to advocate for the rich folks who are
making more than one hundred k, Like when you make more,
you tend to order more online, and I think that
has a lot to do with it as well. There's
a higher frequency of online ordering, online purchasing. It's not
like I dove into their data collection procedures, but I
think there's got to be something there too, like when
(22:16):
you are making you know, if you're just getting by,
you're not making a whole lot of online orders, you're
not paying for prime shipping, You're going in person to
where it's the most affordable.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Like to Ald.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Do you think there's something about the impersonal nature of
online shopping that makes people feel like a little more.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Not having to look someone in the face. Yeah, I
think that. I think that probably makes a lot of
folks feel like it's less of a crime. But I
would disagree, you know, like you might be able to
get away with doing that, but that doesn't necessarily that
does not make it right. And actually in the articles,
some folks even categorize their theft as what they call
consumer advocacy.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Which is pretty ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
I think you'd have to believe that, like all businesses
are evil in order to take that stance. I think
they're thinking, Oh, it's like a faceless crime, you know,
like I'm not taking from the small business that i'd
like to frequent in my local community. This is this
is from bezos and they include this in their shrinkage numbers.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Yeah, but it's not. This is totally theft.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
It's unethical, and I think a lot of it probably, dude,
I think it also has to do with laziness. I
think there are a lot of folks and they are
doing the easy thing by ordering online. They get the thing,
they don't totally love it, and they kind of want
to send it back.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
They don't want to have to.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Pay for it, and so they say, oh, you know
that thing you sent me, I didn't really like it,
but it never showed up, and hoping to get it
for free, essentially because they don't want to have to
package it back up and say drop it off at
the Whole Foods or to get to the UPS store. Ugh,
that's so not online shopping and waste time to go
in person. And so I think so much of it
(23:45):
comes down to laziness as well. You're probably right, Matt.
Many Americans have a pessimistic view of how their savings
are performing right now. There's a survey from wallet hub
that found that sixty five percent of Americans said they
did not think that their savings was out pacing inflation. Basically, Hey,
my savings sucks and inflation is rocking me, and I
(24:05):
feel like I'm falling further and further behind. I think
this is a couple of things. One, it might be
a bit of an emotional response. Right well, you might
feel like, well, I'm certainly not outpacing the price increase
of eggs at the grocery store, which you're not, baby,
and flu has driven egg price.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
So I was talking to somebody the other day, Matt.
They were trying to buy the fancy eggs, a dozen,
a dozen eggs of whatever, the premium fancy eggs or
guess how much he told me they cost.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
It's a banana, Michael, what's the cost?
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Seventeen dollars? What I was like, where are you buying
your eggs? This was in California specifically, but I was
shocked to think that. I was like, these protect your
eggs like you protect your gold bars. I guess that's
insane to pay that much for eggs, but yes, eggs
have gotten more expensive, so I get maybe that kind
of emotional response, But I think the other reality is
that this is accurate for a whole bunch of people,
(24:53):
but it doesn't have to be. So if you look
at the actual rate of inflation, what banks are paying,
our favorite banks are paying is above and beyond the
rate of inflation, so you actually are outpacing inflation with
savings if you're with one of our favorite online banks.
Inflation does not have to kick your butt if you
don't want it to. So like your returns, they're not
going to be astronomical. That's not the goal of savings.
(25:14):
But your money isn't going to be subject to the
ever eroding reality of inflation either. So it's interesting that
that two thirds of people think that inflation's kicking their butt.
The truth is, for most of them, it doesn't have to.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
It's more of an emotional response the fact that you
do see those higher price tags when you do go
to their grocery store, so it feels like it's eating
into your savings and how much you're spending every single
month and honestly, higher interest rates. They have been great
for savers over the past few years, but it has
been bad for folks with floating rate debt. Let's talk
about helocks here, because you know they look great a
(25:47):
few years ago. Well, they've created a stressful financial burden.
It's almost it's like a time bomb that folks are
now experiencing. When people took it out with a three
and a half percent rate and now it's eight percent,
much higher, like, oh, this sucks anyone with credit card debt,
and the problem has only gotten.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Worse as well.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Roughly half of folks have recurring credit card debt, and
a record one and ten are out there only paying
the minimum balance.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Figures from nerd.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Wallet show that with average credit card balances at ten thousand,
five hundred and sixty three dollars, it would take twenty
two years and it would cost you eighteen thousand dollars
in interest when just paying the minimum, which is incredibly sobering. Basically,
if you don't want to be in credit card debt
for the rest of your life, you have got to
come up with a plan and stick to it. If
(26:30):
you are only paying the minimum if you're carrying a balance,
you are doing credit cards wrong. And I will say
something that stood out to me. I was looking at
the chart of the revolving the revolving balance that Americans
are holding per quarter, and it's in start contrast to
where it was like four years ago or so. And
so if you only look at that period of time,
you think, oh my gosh, what is going on here
(26:51):
in America? But if you look at the chart more carefully,
if you zoom out a little bit, a little bit
of a silver lining, I guess is what this is
going to be right here, the little silver lining news
part of the credit card debt that's out there, it's
we're actually on track to where things were going pre pan.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Right. So if you look back, and let's.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Be honest, the statusquo back then wasn't great. It wasn't
great either, but I guess it's not. It has accelerated
incredibly fast over the past three to four years. But
if you zoom out even further and you look at
where things were in twenty nineteen, and if you were
to say to somebody, hey, where do you think revolving
balances are going to be in twenty twenty five, they'd
be like, yep, around six hundred billion, and that's where
we are now.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
It's just if you erased all the data that we.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Have between twenty nineteen and today, you honestly wouldn't see
much difference in the average balance. But like you said,
it feel less stark. Yes, it feels it kind of
feels like a hair on fire kind of moment right now,
But I do. I honestly think things are going to
level out. But just kind of getting back on that,
just to think typical American track.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Ten percent of people and granted what there was a
I think it was the Card Act many many years
ago that required credit card companies to essentially put in
black and white on your statement how long it would
take you to pay off your debt if you were
to just pay the minimum payment. So it shouldn't come
as a surprise to anybody who has a credit card
and actually looks at their statement just how long it's
going to take and how how much of an uphill
(28:05):
battle it's going to be if you if you continue
to pay just the minimums. It is one of the
worst things you can do for your finances is to
have credit card debt and to just pay the minimum
every single month. But I would hope that once you
kind of hear that you're going to be in debt
for multiple decades, that you will take, you know, significant
action to try to pay off that debt more quickly,
(28:27):
whether it's like bare bones budget, whether it is going
to undebt dot it, and whether maybe money management International
is where you need to turn if you're up to
your eyeballs and you don't feel like you can get
out on your own. I feel like that would be
a piece of data that would be helpful for folks.
Just like when you sign a thirty year mortgage, they
tell you, Okay, this is the total interest amount that
you're gonna pay over the course of the loan, and
it's just this like jaw dropping staggering number. But like
(28:47):
in that case, this is for an asset that's going
to appreciate.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
The exact opposite is the.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Case when it comes to a credit card thirty years
to pay that much an interest to indeed.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
So last week, the future of evs begin to look
at more uncertain Joel President Trump, he froze funding that
was allocated for charging infrastructure via a new executive order.
I don't know if you heard there's an executive order,
an e O or two that was signed. Yeah, I
think he ran out of the sharpie stride out, Matt.
I will say, this is not a shock, And to
(29:17):
be fair, a lot of money had been allocated to
boosting the charging infrastructure.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
With very little to show for it.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
So little, in fact, that the average cost of the
new EV's at the federal government was able.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
To charge stations.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Yeah what I say, new EV's not actually EV's actual
charging stations. Yeah, so seven point five billion dollars was
how much cash was set aside? And how many charges
did we make? Seven eight, eight? Okay, eight chargers? You
know here on the show, when we talk about going
to the grocery store, we like to break it down
to the cost per units. All right, this is an
easy one, folks, One billion dollars per charging station. Come on,
(29:54):
this is insane. So how this actual executive order shakes
out in reality is going to be hard to decipher.
But that EO specifically outlines the administration's desire to not
give electric vehicles a leg up with federal subsidies. And
that means that, you know, if Trump has his brothers
the federal tax credit for buying an EV. It may
not be long for this world. This won't necessarily crush
(30:18):
EV sales, I think, but it will slow them. And
it's definitely going to force EV manufacturers to figure out
the economics essentially of producing evs that actually turn a profit,
as opposed accounting on the government to sort of underwrite
this new industry. Yeah, I think some predictions of so
new industry, I guess at this point. Yeah, EV sales
would drop roughly twenty percent if the federal EV tax
(30:39):
credit went away. But when you when you look at
some of the EV specific companies, many of them lose
money with every EV they sell, even with the federal
tax credit currently in existence.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
So if that's gone, I.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Mean, it feels like what it. Tesla seems like they're
the only electric vehicle manufacturer that makes a profit when
they sell electric vehicles. I still love evs, and I
do think the future, Yeah, it's just that they're going
to the future is coming more solely now.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
And they're I think, well or efficient EV manufacturing. It
might be actually coming faster. It just depends, I mean,
it just depends on how you're looking at it.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Right, Well, we typically frowned on the idea of leasing
a car, but there are occasional exceptions to that rule.
And that's especially true right now in the electric vehicle
space because cheap EV leases abound. At least for the
time being. We'll see how the you know, federal tax
credit that could impact this, but this means that leasing
an EV can actually make financial sense at least, you know,
(31:33):
in this case, because of the way the tax credit
impacts the lease amount versus monthly payments. And so Volkswagen,
for instance, I saw this on their website. Mat they're
offering the ID four I want to say, for one
thousand dollars down and one hundred and forty nine dollars
a month in some markets.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
You brought us up a couple of weeks ago, and
you're like kind of borderline even considering it.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
I was totally thinking about it. Yeah, and this is
something that Emily and I talked about, and I'm like,
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Maybe, but we just how long is that actur are
going to be?
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Exactly do I sell the old Accura and just like
you know, roll with an EV for twenty four months?
Speaker 3 (32:05):
The numbers actually make sense when you consider some of
the benefit that these dealerships are experiencing because of the
tax credit. Yeah, and it starts getting a lot more
financially palatable to consumers.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
The other thing, too, is with you know, rapid progression
in EV technology, you're also not buying when I don't know,
maybe in a couple of years that that EV feels
pretty antiquated, kind of like when I bought my Niece
on Leaf and it was like, oh man, in like
just a few years time, it felt like a piece
of junk compared to everything else that had been put
out on.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
There, Like I could barely drive the costco going back.
Now people are.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Telling use niece on leaves that have like forty miles
worth of range. It's like a glorified golf cart.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Yeah, it's crazy. It's pretty pathetic. But I would just
encourage people to run the numbers. It's still worth maybe
considering leasing MeV, especially as this EV technology changes quickly,
But I don't know, holding onto your old ride might
still make the most sense. I think that's probably where
I'm gonna land, Matt.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
Plus, I just don't don't want to go through like
all the hoops to get another card.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
I like my super old, accurate. There's nothing wrong with
that man.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Yeah, So probably for most folks that makes sense, a
lot of sense, But for others they might want to
consider it.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
I will say, so, we had the electricians at our
house this past week and I had them install a
two forty outlet in the garage. Preparing for the future.
Sounds like something to an EV owner would do. Ye
specifically for Kate for her electric kiln. But also one
of the reasons we made sure to stick in the
garage is for the ability to future proof our ability
to perhaps.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Charge an EV in the future. You never know.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
But while we love EV's, that being said, you might
want to stick with your old gas powered car. And
this is for a few reasons. One because it's cheaper
even with the potential gas savings factored in having a
car that you already own, something that has already depreciated.
But on top of that, newer cars, especially I would
say newer evs, they're doing more snooping, similar to like
(33:53):
your favorite search engine, your car, it knows a lot
about you. There is a CNN article in they detail
just how much information and modern cars that they can.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Pull about your habits.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
It's pretty scary, and we talked about how some car
makers have not just been collecting that data but also
selling it. It's even to insurance companies. Buried there in
the fine print the car Wired. They just had a
story about how a Subaru security flaw, how it allowed
hackers to remotely unlock and start your vehicle. They could
also see your last twelve months of location history, and
(34:25):
I'm pretty sure the dealership still can see where it is.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
That you've traveled to.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
So it's just another reason to Joel be happy with
your twenty thirteen Honda Odyssey and your oh what is
it five Accura Mdx's nothing wrong with that, man. Yeah,
if you got an updoor getting snooped on old Hana Civic,
whatever it is that you're driving, maybe that sort of
privacy desire for privacy desire at least not to have
(34:49):
these be able to think about that. How connected some
of these vehicles are. Matt always connect and it's cool
in one way the Tesla can send updates over the Internet,
But then the flip side of that is, if there
is a the security flaw, hackers can break in and
who knows, Like, I don't know, man, it is the
future of fully connected automobiles all the time. It is
a little worrisome, at least from my personal there's.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
A trade off.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
I think there's a trade off, right because like if
you are driving a Rivian or a Tesla, like you're
receiving this technological benefits of also your car knowing exactly
where you are, right. But I think the thing that
gets me the most are the kind of fancier gas
powered cars where like there isn't much additional benefit that
you're receiving. It's sort of like there's not like, let's
be honest, there's is Was there some sort of revolution
(35:33):
between like a twenty twelve Ton Odyssey versus like the
newest Ton Odyssey.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Not really, But there's a whole.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
Lot more spying going on, And to me, that's where
the biggest breakdown takes place where you're not receiving any benefit.
Because like there's benefits of being to having cookies that
are tracking your movement on the internet, right, It's like, oh, okay,
now you can serve me up an ad of something
I already actually was interested in. Sweet, But when it
feels like there's no upside, that bothers me even more.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
That's disappointing. All right, that's going to do it.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Though.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
For this episode, Matt, we'll link to some of the
stories we mentioned in the show notes up on our
website at howtomoney dot com, as well as some of
the resources we've talked about in this episode. All right, man,
until next time, best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,
Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel Matt.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Today we're talking cheap Chinese AI, free tax filing, and
out pacing inflation.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
It's hard for you to say cheap Chinese AI. When
do you immediately think of like food. Let's just run
on grab some cheap Chinese food. No, we are going
to talk about Nvidia.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
They're still not doing great.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Let's talk about kung pou chicken instead. Which is that
your go to kunk pau? A little bit of sesame chicken?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Oh? I like this sesame chicken tip.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Okay, so there's a place nearby where it's a Chinese place,
but you get like a dry crispy beef. I think,
is what the what it's called on the menu? Oh
my goodness, so good. Skip over the low main noodles
and everything else on the menudus and forget the orange
glazed general sALS, the be beef and the tingle that
you get on the lips with the oh so good.
If only this sort of food podcast it's been for
(01:06):
ever since Kate and I've been there. But we need
to add that back to our date night list.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah, okay, so we got a lot to get to,
but real quick, Matt, I just wanted to mention something
personal note, And we talk about this. Sometimes people will
ask us about canceling a credit card, Hey, does it
make sense? Is going to negatively impact my credit score
too much? And our thoughts are often, Hey, try not
to cancel it if you can avoid it. I mean,
if you don't have need for a great credit score
(01:32):
in the near future, who cares. You can probably cancel it,
no big deal, a little rebound.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
But if not, just stick the card in the drawer
and just don't spend all.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
But if it's got an annual fee, then the you
don't want it cost in you the stakes are higher, right,
And so I actually recently canceled or didn't cancel. I
downgraded my AMX Blue Cash Preferred card to the no fee.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Six percent groceries.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, because I wasn't getting enough value out of it,
because you know why, I do most of my grocery
shopping at Costco.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Now, spending all your money Costco is more expensive, you know.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
But I'm doing the insta card hack that I told
you about, and it's same.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
So you're spending way more money.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
No, I'm spending the exact same amount of money and
actually probably less because fewer impulse.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Purchases at Costco tracker spending. Get it all together, we'll
look get it up at the end of the year.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Okay, if you want, I'll let you know how it shakes.
Cos's expensive.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
I mean, compare it to all the at least you're
not spending at least because the threshold, I'm pretty sure
it's like three hundred bucks. If you're spending three hundred
bucks at all D or Legal or something like that,
you know you're not even spending that much at Legal
every month. No, I'm not to be honest because I
think because it's a like one hundred dollars or ninety
five dollars annual fee and the additional three so you
get three percent cash back with your everyday card, then
(02:43):
you're paying nothing with an annual fees on that card,
but paying that basically one hundred bucks gets you that
additional three percent cash back, So you got it. There's
a threshold, and I'm pretty sure it's.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Like three hundred.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I'm just not hitting it right, fifty just not hitting it.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
So I was like, it's time.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
And we spend that much in like one visit when
we go to the lot of people.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Well, and we just.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
I mean, we also do spend less at at Costco,
which brings up an interesting point because it's limited to
there's a there's an annual cap, and I'm pretty sure
it's that five hundred dollars. It's a six thousand dollars limit,
because it's like, hey, you can earn six percent I
know on the Blue Cash preferred card up to six
six thousand dollars, but beyond that you only earn one percent.
(03:26):
And I just realized, I don't think I've ever tracked
our spending from the standpoint.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
I know we've got over that.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yes, I bet we have, because I know that we've
always at least spent three hundred dollars at Aldi or
in you know, legal and other random spots at Kroger Republics.
But man, I bet there's a good chance we've actually
gone over that where we're only earning one percent on
every charge. Who knows, maybe maybe by the time we
hit like October or something like that. I've never tracked
You got to pivot. I have never tracked my spending
(03:52):
from the standpoint of how much or how many annual
dollars have I put on this preferred card, and I'm
about to add a new cell to on my spread.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
But now, yeah, you might have to get a little
more granular with it, which sounds like something you'd be into.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I love this kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Then I'll tell Kate beyond a certain point, that's when
we switched to the City Double Cash card, at least.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Get two percent.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yeah, And so I just word of the wise out there.
If there's a card that you have an annual fee
on that you're not getting enough value out out of.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
You could cancel, or you could just reach out.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
I mean I literally did a quick chat on the
American Express website and I was like, can you downgrade
me to the you know, blue cash that doesn't have
the annual fee. They're like, sure, we'll send it out.
So it took like almost no time, going to save
me ninety five bucks a year. If you're not taking
advantage of what they're offering, there's no sense in pain
for him, is right?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
All right, Let's get to the Friday flight sampling the
stories we found interesting this week.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Matt.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Let's start with the big one. It happened on Monday,
sent the stock market into a tizzy. Do you know
what we're going to talk about right now, of course I.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Do, okay.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
So the deep Seek AI, the Chinese AI system that
impacted text tech stocks to a significant degree. In Nvidia,
which has been the high flying stock of the last
couple of years, shed six hundred billion dollars of value
in one day, which I think was the largest dollar
amountain drop for any stock in history at any point
(05:09):
in history, which makes sense, right, all because of this
Chinese app, this upstart app called deep Seek, which hit
the app store, the Apple app store. And so deep
Seak is a Chinese artificial intelligence company and it created
what some are calling a superior AI product that it's
at least as good, if not better than many of
(05:30):
the American made artificial intelligence products currently on the market.
But the big news is that they were able to
do it at least apparently for a fraction of the cost,
for like six million bucks, using a whole lot less
of those super fancy, incredibly expensive chips that a company
like Nvidia would make, which is why it impacted them.
And then Mark Andreessen, who's you know, big time tech
(05:51):
nerd founder of many startups, he called it AI's Sputnik
moment Matten. I wasn't alive back then when Sputnik launched,
but it's the space when you read about US history.
That was a big moment in US history, essentially propelling
US towards greater heights and towards beating the Russians into space.
And since we live in a globally connected world, that
(06:12):
impacts American artificial intelligence and tech companies. But as the
news I think has been digested, this is actually maybe
not as bad as it initially seemed. It could be
actually good news for a whole lot of tech companies
because it means they're going to be able to get
more bang for their buck on AI spending that got
incredibly expensive really fast. And this what this made me
(06:34):
think of was Moore's law, which is essentially the fact
that chips that the silicon chips, they get twice as
good roughly every two years. And actually that's happening at
a faster rate than what Moore's.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Law would state. Right now.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
I believe that increased efficiency reduces energy needs for artificial intelligence,
which has been a problem. Something's been talked about quite
a lot, how much energy artificial intelligence is siphoning, and
it should lower the cost meaningfully. So I think ultimately
this is probably a good thing, and American companies, they're
not going to be left in the dust for long.
(07:10):
I guess some people might be wondering, oh, man, should
this change how I invest I saw the stock market,
you know, just get slammed on Monday, and I get
maybe that impulse. But our answer, as always is no.
But it is why you should have a diversified portfolio.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Absolutely, this is why you do not invest in single companies.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
And it makes me.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Think about the burgeoning narrative about stocks overall, like the
wide stock market being overvalued, and that might be true,
particularly in certain segments.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Of the tech sector.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
But even if stocks in general and some particular ones
are overvalued, there's not much that you can do besides
just continuing to invest. We still like dollar cost averaging
because honestly, what's the alternative investors? I will say, who
are let's say, getting closer to needing their money. If
you are getting closer to your retirement years and they
are you're a little more in the wealth preservation stage
(07:59):
of your life, I think it might be worth considering
a more conservative approach. For instance, Vanguard, they're suggesting these days,
the forty sixty balance instead of the often touted sixty
forty allocated portfolio, so more of a forty percent exposure
to stocks sixty percent bonds. And this is largely because
of their view that stocks come with a higher volatility.
(08:21):
But don't let these stock market stories, these blips, the
ever shifting narratives change your approach.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
And you mentioned the.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
How Deep Sea the Chinese company was able to do
it more efficiently. There's like investigations now as to whether
or not they're actually cribbon open AIS. No, it's a
little bit essentially. I think they're calling it distillation, where
it's like, wait a minute, this other large language model
owned by the Chinese was actually learning from open ai
(08:50):
Chat GBT essentially makes it without doing all the hard work.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Which makes sense, I mean does join Astarn in The
Wall Street Journal had a really funny article basically Light
and Chat Cheep and Sam Altman on Fire about that, say, hey,
you basically stole all this information from creators across the internet.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Sam Altman would say, well, I'm doing the hard work though,
of creating the actual large language language model, whereas Deep
See they're just I almost think of it as like
almost like a white label, you know, like you buy
products and it's like, Okay, you just slap the label
on there, and all of a sudden, it's a new product.
It's like no, no, no, no, the other companies still actually did
the hard work of the initial lift. I guess all
I know.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Is there's a lot of creators out there who didn't
give any permission sand to crib their writings the things
that they've created, and yet they got taken anyway. So
maybe a little bit of karmic justice. But Matt, it's
not just artificial intelligence that space being upended by change.
Diamonds that you dig out of the earth are also
being upstaged by lab grown diamonds. This is something we've
(09:48):
talked about in the past, but this sea change is
accelerating more quickly. Natural diamond prices have gone down in
price by eight percent recently, largely because lab grown diamonds
are becoming more pop and cheaper. Lab grown diamond prices
have actually plummeted by seventy five percent. So wow, it's
no wonder that people are saying, yeah, I'll choose that
(10:09):
option instead. If you're like proposing to your sweetheart or something,
like that, right, they're essentially equal stones. Like the naked
eye can't really perceive a difference between lab grown diamonds
and diamonds that are dug up out of the ground.
And so you know, brides and grooms they're taking notice,
and now more than half of engagement rings are being
(10:30):
sold with lab grown diamonds. You can you can, for real,
I like it, same size, same look, everything, you can
save eighty percent and the naked eye can't detect any difference.
I'm all for this kind of shakeup. Yeah, maybe we
should propose our wives again, Matt, start buying them some blinge.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
What do you think?
Speaker 3 (10:46):
There's a part of me that tempted, Like what I
wish was that this would have been available to us
when we're younger. Yeah, but like there's a part of
me that gets excited, Like when I think about it
for a minute, I get like pretty stoked. I'm like,
oh sweet, I could buy a Kate just some serious blaze,
and it sounds fun for like a second, but then
I'm like, well, why would I want to do that?
And I immediately talk myself out of it, Like I
don't think she.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Don't really care about that. They don't eat.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
No, they don't, and they'd rather get a bunch of others.
She loves her old ring, even if it was just
like pennies. It's just like, well, why do I want
to wear like this giant, gaudy piece of jewelry? And
oftentimes I think it comes down to what other people think,
And dude, we don't care what anybody.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Thinks, espureing to project anything.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
I don't even wear my I feel bad because the
ring that those ladies are hitting on you is it's
like a family heirloom kind of ring and it means
a lot. And I actually stopped wearing it when I
started lifting more often because I didn't want to damage it.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
You were the silicone I hate those. I'm not really yeah,
not comfortable.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
It doesn't bother me, but it's cool to see and
I'd be curious to know too. If any how, the
money listeners have gone the lab so and maybe they
were debating going with a real diamond dug out of
the ground and then they were like.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Wait a second, no man, no, I'm just gonna save
a ton of much to the synthetic.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
That's huge. Yeah, let us know how it went. By
the way I don't care.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
But dude, for all the folks out there who are
single or thinking about proposing, oh one percent, a game
changer for them.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
And I think I read something about now the status
symbol is brown diamonds. I don't know how hard those
are to come by, but I guess maybe you can't
manufacture interesting brown diamonds in the same way. So that's
how you're now letting people know I've got the real thing,
and I spend a lot more money for it, so.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Instead of calling it blinging, they call it blung.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Humans will always find a way to try to show
their status externally. Let's talk about taxes. As of Monday,
you can start filing your taxes.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Hooray.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I know everyone's so excited for tax season.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
It's so much fun.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
And there are some ways that you can file for free.
You don't have to pay a dime to fire or taxes,
which is really the way it should be. And the
IRS's direct file system is up and running for the
second year in a row and is now available in
twenty five states. There actually are some rumors that the
current administration might try to do away with this direct filesystem.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
We will see.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
And there are income limitations by the way, filing direct
file through the IRS if it's available in your state.
Single folks can't make more than two hundred thousand bucks.
Married folks can't make more than two fifty. Sorry, Matt,
you're out because I know I'm out.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
You're loaded, not because of that, because of how complicated
are are.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Oh that's yeah, that's true too. It's about the real estate. Man.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Well, we haven't used it ourselves, not because we're making millions.
But we haven't heard any ringing endorsements either from anyone.
I haven't heard anyone say this was so great, But
I guess still free is free, and I think it's
worth pointing out math that there are other free options
as well. Turbo tax has a free option for people
with basic tax situations, and they're available to people who
(13:36):
file on the Turbo tax app before February eighteenth. Apparently
that's their deadline for some reason. But if you do
file before then, it's legit free this year. And the
cash app still the best free tax software that we're
aware of, with zero hoops to jump through, free, federal,
free state. So I don't know why that doesn't get
more pressed. But Cash app taxes everyone should know about that.
(13:57):
Pretty solid.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Yeah, I will say today is the deadline for so
I got to send out some ten ninety nine out
so the folks who help us here with the podcast yea.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
And on the website.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Today's January thirty, first, last last day to make that happen. Hey,
wait to the last minute. But going back to what
I what I mentioned though, as far as the complexity
of your tax situation, I think it's worth highlighting that
because I think for some folks free filing it might
be a cheap move, not a frugal move, and it's
worth paying up. If you have a more complicated cadd scenario,
(14:27):
it would be worth it to do that. The savings
that a seasoned tax professional would be able to find
for you, that's actually the frugal move. Yeah, if you're prioritizing,
I don't want to pay that person four or five
hundred bucks to do something I could do myself or
I could use the inexpensive software for But then you're
not getting all the tax credits or deductions that are
available to Yeah, and keeping up with all those forms
(14:47):
is potentially that's true.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
That's true.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
I wanted to mention so ten ninety nine k's. Don't
forget those. They might start showing up in your mailbox
if you use stub hub, eBay, or Etsy regularly for
some for some side hustle income, you might be getting
a ten ninety nine K. Five thousand dollars in sales
is the threshold for this past year for your twenty
twenty four taxes, and basically millions of Americans who have
(15:12):
never received a ten ninety nine K will be getting
one this year. You were already supposed to report this income,
but honestly, many folks don't do that.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
It's kind of like you remember when the advent of
the Internet and you could buy stuff on Amazon, you
didn't have to pay sales tax.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Oh I think that golden era.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
There's like a period of time but you were supposed
to self report, but nobody did. Oh really, I don't
remember that, just like voluntary sales tax paid.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Yeah. Wow.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
So we bring this up because even more folks are
going to get these forms next year and even more
the following year in twenty twenty six as the reporting
thresholds drop for ten ninety nine K income. And one
more wrench to throw in the gears is crypto sales.
If you are a regular trader of the cryptocurrencies, don't
(15:59):
forget too out for capital gains taxes. I think this
is more something that folks were dealing with back in
twenty twenty twenty one, when there's a little more cash
sloshing around and still a lot of cash quote unquote
investing in crypto. Yeah, there is cash.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
You saw the Trump coin, the Millennia coin, you saw bitcoin.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
When folks file their twenty five taxes, they're only going
to be reporting losses when it.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Comes to those coins. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Let's talk about tax refunds for just a second, Matt.
Friend of the show, Michelle Singletary, she just wrote in
the Washington Post about why she really dislikes tax refunds,
and I think you and I we mostly agree with
her on this. You get a tax refund because you
have too much money withheld, and essentially you're giving the
government an interest free loan. Some folks, though, use this
(16:46):
methodology as like a forced method of savings. I think
it's important to think about what that refund money could
have done for you throughout the year instead of getting
in a one lump sum right the following year. So
if you had, let's say, not gotten a big tax refund,
you could have had more money in every single paycheck,
putting it into a Higeld savings account or into the
stock market in twenty twenty four. What if you'd been
(17:08):
doing that the whole time you've been dollar cost averaging,
throwing more money into the market instead of waiting essentially
fourteen fifteen months to get that money back in a
lump sum. You could have been more optimized, more efficient.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
But I think the.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Reason too, Matt, that I said maybe I mostly agree
with Michelle here but not all the way is because
you could have also done stupid stuff with that money.
That's true, and for some people who aren't as buttoned
up like this really is one of the best opportunities
that comes along to jumpstart a financial goal that you have,
Like the average tax refund's like thirty one hundred bucks,
(17:41):
and it's like a little launch pad for yeah, for
saving up that E fund, per paying off a big
debt that you've got that you are working towards getting
rid of. And so yeah, I get the interest free
loan thing, but I also think that if this is
the best way for you to disallow yourself from you know,
just frittering money away getting that big tax refund. If
(18:03):
it is like this chance to do something big and great,
if you use that as an opportunity to do something epic,
to kind of supercharge where you're going with your money,
I think that's fine too.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Yeah, And I thought what you're going to complain about
was the fact that you're only talking if you're talking
about a tax return of three thousand dollars well earning
four percent, you're only talking about one hundred and twenty
bucks in interest. So from a financial standpoint, yes, it's
not optimized. And I'm not saying that one twenty is
nothing that could pay for your annual membership on your
AMEX catch Preferred that you discovered. But it's also not
(18:34):
the end of the world to miss out on that
as well. But Joe, we got more to get to
during our Friday Flight today, our roundup of the headlines
and how they impact your personal finances. We'll get to
electric vehicles and more.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Right after this, we're back with.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
The Friday Flight Continue. Now it's time to get to
the ludicrous line of the week. This one comes from
Axios and the headline reads, why the rich love digital shoplifting.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Oh not digital shopping, digital shop lifting, stealing stuff.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
You ever stole anything, Matt when you were like a
kid or anything. Yeah, I got in trouble. Okay.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
I remember like those stands in the middle of the mall.
I stole something from there one time. About you, I
feel really bad about it. Still, like a necklace like
with like a shark tooth on it or something like that.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Oh so you were older? Is that this sounds like
middle school jowl?
Speaker 1 (19:27):
It was. I was probably like eleven.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Yeah, I remember when I was younger. So the things
like going to a hardware store, like there's like little nuts,
you know, like bolts and nuts, not like peanuts or cashews,
like random pieces of metal and debris on the ground.
And I used to always pick those up. But I
always saw those as like like floor fines, you know,
like because it's like they sweep them up and throw
(19:50):
them in the track, and I guess if it's like
big enough, they're like, oh well, this one's worth a
little bit more. But yeah, you know, what's the statute
of limitations on? I don't know your thievery.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
You think they're gonna come out. You're the one that
got the especially that's true, the shark necklace.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Or whatever that maybe it was like the puka shells
whatever that we used to wear. I was going to
try to say that, but I could remember the word shell.
I feel bad, but I still do. Okay, So let's
talk about the story, Matt. Uh, because for real, shoplifting
used to be going into a physical store, literally nabbing
something off the shelf and trying to get out without
being noticed and depending on how big it was sticking
in your jacket or whatever. Literally, my high school principal
(20:25):
got arrested for what stealing I thought. I want to
say it was a rotisserie chicken from uh yeah, from
a grocery store.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Is this while you were in high school? It was
after posts post high school. But things went downhill after
you left. They did, they did.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
They needed you around to uphold the honesty and morality
of the high school.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
I think we've already established my shortcomings to here, Matt.
But Uh, the theft has become a bigger problem in
recent years for retailers, and it harms our bottom line.
Some retailers in certain cities have literally shut down because
of theft problems, and Matty, think about the drug stores,
Walgreens and CBS and everything is essentially being put behind
(21:02):
lock and key because of crime problem.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
They're shutting down so many stores because theft, because what's
it called shrinkage is such a problem. I hope folks
doesn't hear us making light of this, like this is a.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Serious I'll send a nice word for something that's like
a terrible problem, like just literally people stealing. But folks
have found that it's more possible to steal from online retailers,
and they're taking advantage of that ability. Basically, they're claiming
that the package was stolen, never got delivered, and they're
hoping that the company will give them a refund, or
if that doesn't work out, the file a chargeback with
(21:31):
their credit card company for a legitimate purchase that they
made a product that they got to keep. The goods
were actually delivered. Yeah, but they're saying telling the credit
card company that it wasn't, so they're lying. They're hoping
to get their money back for something that they actually
wanted to purchase. That's obviously unethical and it's yeah, rich
folks too. I think they said what folks making one
(21:52):
hundred k plus that was they're twice as likely to
take this route.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
And I'll push back a little bit on that because
I think to advocate for the rich folks who are
making more than one hundred k, Like when you make more,
you tend to order more online, and I think that
has a lot to do with it as well. There's
a higher frequency of online ordering, online purchasing. It's not
like I dove into their data collection procedures, but I
think there's got to be something there too, like when
(22:16):
you are making you know, if you're just getting by,
you're not making a whole lot of online orders, you're
not paying for prime shipping, You're going in person to
where it's the most affordable.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Like to Ald.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Do you think there's something about the impersonal nature of
online shopping that makes people feel like a little more.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Not having to look someone in the face. Yeah, I
think that. I think that probably makes a lot of
folks feel like it's less of a crime. But I
would disagree, you know, like you might be able to
get away with doing that, but that doesn't necessarily that
does not make it right. And actually in the articles,
some folks even categorize their theft as what they call
consumer advocacy.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Which is pretty ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
I think you'd have to believe that, like all businesses
are evil in order to take that stance. I think
they're thinking, Oh, it's like a faceless crime, you know,
like I'm not taking from the small business that i'd
like to frequent in my local community. This is this
is from bezos and they include this in their shrinkage numbers.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Yeah, but it's not. This is totally theft.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
It's unethical, and I think a lot of it probably, dude,
I think it also has to do with laziness. I
think there are a lot of folks and they are
doing the easy thing by ordering online. They get the thing,
they don't totally love it, and they kind of want
to send it back.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
They don't want to have to.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Pay for it, and so they say, oh, you know
that thing you sent me, I didn't really like it,
but it never showed up, and hoping to get it
for free, essentially because they don't want to have to
package it back up and say drop it off at
the Whole Foods or to get to the UPS store. Ugh,
that's so not online shopping and waste time to go
in person. And so I think so much of it
(23:45):
comes down to laziness as well. You're probably right, Matt.
Many Americans have a pessimistic view of how their savings
are performing right now. There's a survey from wallet hub
that found that sixty five percent of Americans said they
did not think that their savings was out pacing inflation. Basically, Hey,
my savings sucks and inflation is rocking me, and I
(24:05):
feel like I'm falling further and further behind. I think
this is a couple of things. One, it might be
a bit of an emotional response. Right well, you might
feel like, well, I'm certainly not outpacing the price increase
of eggs at the grocery store, which you're not, baby,
and flu has driven egg price.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
So I was talking to somebody the other day, Matt.
They were trying to buy the fancy eggs, a dozen,
a dozen eggs of whatever, the premium fancy eggs or
guess how much he told me they cost.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
It's a banana, Michael, what's the cost?
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Seventeen dollars? What I was like, where are you buying
your eggs? This was in California specifically, but I was
shocked to think that. I was like, these protect your
eggs like you protect your gold bars. I guess that's
insane to pay that much for eggs, but yes, eggs
have gotten more expensive, so I get maybe that kind
of emotional response, But I think the other reality is
that this is accurate for a whole bunch of people,
(24:53):
but it doesn't have to be. So if you look
at the actual rate of inflation, what banks are paying,
our favorite banks are paying is above and beyond the
rate of inflation, so you actually are outpacing inflation with
savings if you're with one of our favorite online banks.
Inflation does not have to kick your butt if you
don't want it to. So like your returns, they're not
going to be astronomical. That's not the goal of savings.
(25:14):
But your money isn't going to be subject to the
ever eroding reality of inflation either. So it's interesting that
that two thirds of people think that inflation's kicking their butt.
The truth is, for most of them, it doesn't have to.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
It's more of an emotional response the fact that you
do see those higher price tags when you do go
to their grocery store, so it feels like it's eating
into your savings and how much you're spending every single
month and honestly, higher interest rates. They have been great
for savers over the past few years, but it has
been bad for folks with floating rate debt. Let's talk
about helocks here, because you know they look great a
(25:47):
few years ago. Well, they've created a stressful financial burden.
It's almost it's like a time bomb that folks are
now experiencing. When people took it out with a three
and a half percent rate and now it's eight percent,
much higher, like, oh, this sucks anyone with credit card debt,
and the problem has only gotten.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Worse as well.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Roughly half of folks have recurring credit card debt, and
a record one and ten are out there only paying
the minimum balance.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Figures from nerd.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Wallet show that with average credit card balances at ten thousand,
five hundred and sixty three dollars, it would take twenty
two years and it would cost you eighteen thousand dollars
in interest when just paying the minimum, which is incredibly sobering. Basically,
if you don't want to be in credit card debt
for the rest of your life, you have got to
come up with a plan and stick to it. If
(26:30):
you are only paying the minimum if you're carrying a balance,
you are doing credit cards wrong. And I will say
something that stood out to me. I was looking at
the chart of the revolving the revolving balance that Americans
are holding per quarter, and it's in start contrast to
where it was like four years ago or so. And
so if you only look at that period of time,
you think, oh my gosh, what is going on here
(26:51):
in America? But if you look at the chart more carefully,
if you zoom out a little bit, a little bit
of a silver lining, I guess is what this is
going to be right here, the little silver lining news
part of the credit card debt that's out there, it's
we're actually on track to where things were going pre pan.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Right. So if you look back, and let's.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Be honest, the statusquo back then wasn't great. It wasn't
great either, but I guess it's not. It has accelerated
incredibly fast over the past three to four years. But
if you zoom out even further and you look at
where things were in twenty nineteen, and if you were
to say to somebody, hey, where do you think revolving
balances are going to be in twenty twenty five, they'd
be like, yep, around six hundred billion, and that's where
we are now.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
It's just if you erased all the data that we.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Have between twenty nineteen and today, you honestly wouldn't see
much difference in the average balance. But like you said,
it feel less stark. Yes, it feels it kind of
feels like a hair on fire kind of moment right now,
But I do. I honestly think things are going to
level out. But just kind of getting back on that,
just to think typical American track.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Ten percent of people and granted what there was a
I think it was the Card Act many many years
ago that required credit card companies to essentially put in
black and white on your statement how long it would
take you to pay off your debt if you were
to just pay the minimum payment. So it shouldn't come
as a surprise to anybody who has a credit card
and actually looks at their statement just how long it's
going to take and how how much of an uphill
(28:05):
battle it's going to be if you if you continue
to pay just the minimums. It is one of the
worst things you can do for your finances is to
have credit card debt and to just pay the minimum
every single month. But I would hope that once you
kind of hear that you're going to be in debt
for multiple decades, that you will take, you know, significant
action to try to pay off that debt more quickly,
(28:27):
whether it's like bare bones budget, whether it is going
to undebt dot it, and whether maybe money management International
is where you need to turn if you're up to
your eyeballs and you don't feel like you can get
out on your own. I feel like that would be
a piece of data that would be helpful for folks.
Just like when you sign a thirty year mortgage, they
tell you, Okay, this is the total interest amount that
you're gonna pay over the course of the loan, and
it's just this like jaw dropping staggering number. But like
(28:47):
in that case, this is for an asset that's going
to appreciate.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
The exact opposite is the.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Case when it comes to a credit card thirty years
to pay that much an interest to indeed.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
So last week, the future of evs begin to look
at more uncertain Joel President Trump, he froze funding that
was allocated for charging infrastructure via a new executive order.
I don't know if you heard there's an executive order,
an e O or two that was signed. Yeah, I
think he ran out of the sharpie stride out, Matt.
I will say, this is not a shock, And to
(29:17):
be fair, a lot of money had been allocated to
boosting the charging infrastructure.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
With very little to show for it.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
So little, in fact, that the average cost of the
new EV's at the federal government was able.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
To charge stations.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Yeah what I say, new EV's not actually EV's actual
charging stations. Yeah, so seven point five billion dollars was
how much cash was set aside? And how many charges
did we make? Seven eight, eight? Okay, eight chargers? You
know here on the show, when we talk about going
to the grocery store, we like to break it down
to the cost per units. All right, this is an
easy one, folks, One billion dollars per charging station. Come on,
(29:54):
this is insane. So how this actual executive order shakes
out in reality is going to be hard to decipher.
But that EO specifically outlines the administration's desire to not
give electric vehicles a leg up with federal subsidies. And
that means that, you know, if Trump has his brothers
the federal tax credit for buying an EV. It may
not be long for this world. This won't necessarily crush
(30:18):
EV sales, I think, but it will slow them. And
it's definitely going to force EV manufacturers to figure out
the economics essentially of producing evs that actually turn a profit,
as opposed accounting on the government to sort of underwrite
this new industry. Yeah, I think some predictions of so
new industry, I guess at this point. Yeah, EV sales
would drop roughly twenty percent if the federal EV tax
(30:39):
credit went away. But when you when you look at
some of the EV specific companies, many of them lose
money with every EV they sell, even with the federal
tax credit currently in existence.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
So if that's gone, I.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Mean, it feels like what it. Tesla seems like they're
the only electric vehicle manufacturer that makes a profit when
they sell electric vehicles. I still love evs, and I
do think the future, Yeah, it's just that they're going
to the future is coming more solely now.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
And they're I think, well or efficient EV manufacturing. It
might be actually coming faster. It just depends, I mean,
it just depends on how you're looking at it.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Right, Well, we typically frowned on the idea of leasing
a car, but there are occasional exceptions to that rule.
And that's especially true right now in the electric vehicle
space because cheap EV leases abound. At least for the
time being. We'll see how the you know, federal tax
credit that could impact this, but this means that leasing
an EV can actually make financial sense at least, you know,
(31:33):
in this case, because of the way the tax credit
impacts the lease amount versus monthly payments. And so Volkswagen,
for instance, I saw this on their website. Mat they're
offering the ID four I want to say, for one
thousand dollars down and one hundred and forty nine dollars
a month in some markets.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
You brought us up a couple of weeks ago, and
you're like kind of borderline even considering it.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
I was totally thinking about it. Yeah, and this is
something that Emily and I talked about, and I'm like,
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Maybe, but we just how long is that actur are
going to be?
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Exactly do I sell the old Accura and just like
you know, roll with an EV for twenty four months?
Speaker 3 (32:05):
The numbers actually make sense when you consider some of
the benefit that these dealerships are experiencing because of the
tax credit. Yeah, and it starts getting a lot more
financially palatable to consumers.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
The other thing, too, is with you know, rapid progression
in EV technology, you're also not buying when I don't know,
maybe in a couple of years that that EV feels
pretty antiquated, kind of like when I bought my Niece
on Leaf and it was like, oh man, in like
just a few years time, it felt like a piece
of junk compared to everything else that had been put
out on.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
There, Like I could barely drive the costco going back.
Now people are.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Telling use niece on leaves that have like forty miles
worth of range. It's like a glorified golf cart.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Yeah, it's crazy. It's pretty pathetic. But I would just
encourage people to run the numbers. It's still worth maybe
considering leasing MeV, especially as this EV technology changes quickly,
But I don't know, holding onto your old ride might
still make the most sense. I think that's probably where
I'm gonna land, Matt.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
Plus, I just don't don't want to go through like
all the hoops to get another card.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
I like my super old, accurate. There's nothing wrong with
that man.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Yeah, So probably for most folks that makes sense, a
lot of sense, But for others they might want to
consider it.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
I will say, so, we had the electricians at our
house this past week and I had them install a
two forty outlet in the garage. Preparing for the future.
Sounds like something to an EV owner would do. Ye
specifically for Kate for her electric kiln. But also one
of the reasons we made sure to stick in the
garage is for the ability to future proof our ability
to perhaps.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Charge an EV in the future. You never know.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
But while we love EV's, that being said, you might
want to stick with your old gas powered car. And
this is for a few reasons. One because it's cheaper
even with the potential gas savings factored in having a
car that you already own, something that has already depreciated.
But on top of that, newer cars, especially I would
say newer evs, they're doing more snooping, similar to like
(33:53):
your favorite search engine, your car, it knows a lot
about you. There is a CNN article in they detail
just how much information and modern cars that they can.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Pull about your habits.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
It's pretty scary, and we talked about how some car
makers have not just been collecting that data but also
selling it. It's even to insurance companies. Buried there in
the fine print the car Wired. They just had a
story about how a Subaru security flaw, how it allowed
hackers to remotely unlock and start your vehicle. They could
also see your last twelve months of location history, and
(34:25):
I'm pretty sure the dealership still can see where it is.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
That you've traveled to.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
So it's just another reason to Joel be happy with
your twenty thirteen Honda Odyssey and your oh what is
it five Accura Mdx's nothing wrong with that, man. Yeah,
if you got an updoor getting snooped on old Hana Civic,
whatever it is that you're driving, maybe that sort of
privacy desire for privacy desire at least not to have
(34:49):
these be able to think about that. How connected some
of these vehicles are. Matt always connect and it's cool
in one way the Tesla can send updates over the Internet,
But then the flip side of that is, if there
is a the security flaw, hackers can break in and
who knows, Like, I don't know, man, it is the
future of fully connected automobiles all the time. It is
a little worrisome, at least from my personal there's.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
A trade off.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
I think there's a trade off, right because like if
you are driving a Rivian or a Tesla, like you're
receiving this technological benefits of also your car knowing exactly
where you are, right. But I think the thing that
gets me the most are the kind of fancier gas
powered cars where like there isn't much additional benefit that
you're receiving. It's sort of like there's not like, let's
be honest, there's is Was there some sort of revolution
(35:33):
between like a twenty twelve Ton Odyssey versus like the
newest Ton Odyssey.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Not really, But there's a whole.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
Lot more spying going on, And to me, that's where
the biggest breakdown takes place where you're not receiving any benefit.
Because like there's benefits of being to having cookies that
are tracking your movement on the internet, right, It's like, oh, okay,
now you can serve me up an ad of something
I already actually was interested in. Sweet, But when it
feels like there's no upside, that bothers me even more.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
That's disappointing. All right, that's going to do it.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Though.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
For this episode, Matt, we'll link to some of the
stories we mentioned in the show notes up on our
website at howtomoney dot com, as well as some of
the resources we've talked about in this episode. All right, man,
until next time, best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,
Hosts And Creators
Joel Larsgaard
Matthew Altmix
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