February 21, 2025 • 34 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: Joel’s portable pop up sauna, cooling housing market, horrible HOAs, federal layoffs, financial resiliency with a Bare Bones Budget, affordable iPhones, the cheapest cell coverage, renting roosters, forsaking fast food, craft beer tariffs, investing to overcome inflation, 401k retirees, and VOO FTW!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to had of Money. I'm Joel, I'm Matt.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Today we're talking about federal layoffs, renting roosters, and vou
for the wind.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
That's right, buddy, this is our Friday flight, and we're
going to talk about the pressing headlines, specifically how they
impact your money. We hope everyone has been staying warm
out there, like Joel has with his brand new pop
up sna. That's right.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, another polar vortex encompassing most of the nation, which
just means it's cold. I can't imagine being in Minnesota,
to be honest with you. I know we have listeners there,
but I've.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Heard folks talking about just how brute well just the
Midwest generally speaking, like temperatures and the negative How do
they deal with it?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
How was it like negative fifty in some parts of the country.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
It's insane, But you haven't had a deal with that. No,
I to talk about how glorious it is to bask
in the wet warmth of your pop up. So I
will say this, I wish it were dry warmth because
this is a steam sauna that I got from Costco.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
They finally got in stock. I think I mentioned I
wanted one, but they didn't have it in stock while
it was on sale, so I had to pay full price.
But then I reached out to Costco on little chat
feature and I was like, you guys are at a
stock when it was on sale, any chance you give
me the sale price and they.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Did so one hundred and twenty bucks.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
So you go for this portable steam sauna that is
currently sitting in my bedroom. I love it and I've
used it literally every night since I've gotten it, and
I love it. It's been it's been really fun. So
it makes you feel nice and toasty in the winter,
but also there's supposed health benefits that my Norwegian ancestors
have experienced that I now get to experience exactly.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
I love it that, like that's eventually I want you
to have a full on, full blown, legit wooden sauna
because of like your it's in your bones, man, it's
in your blood. Right. It's like if I didn't eat kimchi,
you know, like like that'd be weird for me to
not do that, but indeed we do. We encourage the
kids do it. You got to lean into that. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
that's a part of your story. It's funny so Ryan Ski,
(02:11):
that's what I'm gonna call him, but friend of the show.
He emailed and was worried about the humidity levels in
your bedroom because that's where you have it. You don't
have it like in the bathroom with a fan. Al yeah, No,
it's very contained to the pod. The only thing is
like and even if you open it up in the winter,
I think I would welcome again. I would welcome the humidity.
You know, when the temperatures are colder, like, the air
(02:31):
has less of an ability. I think a lot about humidity,
I think more so than the average person. You do.
But the ability to add that moisture back to the
air in the winter, that's great. Yes, in the summer
maybe it might be problematic, and I would move it
to like the garage or something like that.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
We have a sunroom and I'm planning on singing it
in the sunroom. O. The kids toys and accouterments have
gotten a little out of control in there, so I'm
gonna go in there. I'm just kind of purge a
bunch of stuff so that I can put my sona
in there and eventually this.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Is Daddy's health zone. That's right.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I do think eventually I would like to get a
full fledged Could you fit the.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Full on, full size sauna in that sun room as well?
For sure? Could you really make that like your own
little person.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
There's plenty of space in that center Daddy spa for
me and for the kids, like, we can share that
territory as long as they don't encroach on my sauna.
So maybe if I keep using it, keep loving it,
and I want a dry sauna and something that's less
more full fledged. Wy don't you like the wet song Well,
so it doesn't get it doesn't get as hot and
you get super duper wet just because wet sauna. Yeah, yeah,
(03:31):
so I think I would just prefer to dry one.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
But Kayla saying, hey, guys, can we just stop calling it?
She was like, you know, when you get dried mango,
you call it dried mango, but regular mango you just
called mango. We're not calling it wet mango. She's like,
can we stop calling it? The wet son does sound
a little dirty. The wet sauna is the anomaly that,
like a regular sauna is the dry saunas.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Now I'm getting fed ads for different saunas, and apparently
there's a sua somebody has lost so interesting and that
can get up to higher tempts. Obviously, so the team
sign I think max is at like one p fifteen,
but even that it doesn't really get up that hot.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
But the idea though, is that you don't have to
get as hot with a wet saun it because moisture
wetness conducts heat a little more effectively. And it's the
essence of beauty, the essence of witness. I know you're gonna.
I thought you might be. That's all I was thinking
about as you were saying. That was Zoolander, which we're
not totally sure if it holds up. I want to
go back and rewatch. We will see. I think it does.
Let's keep moving there. Let's talk about the real estate
(04:27):
market because it's been calming down as of late. Fewer buyers,
of course equals more listings, longer listing times, and prices
being tremmed back a little bit. We're even seeing some
homes linger so long that they get taken off the
market completely. There's been a sixty four percent increase on
listings that are getting pulled year over year, basically pretty incredible.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
The seller says screw it. If I can't get the
price I want, I'm not.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Going to sell well. And I yeah, and I've said
this before. I think a lot of folks are reconsidering.
They're like, you know what, our home actually isn't not
that bad, and time stamp it. I still think we're
going to see a boom in and renovations because of
the cost of lending has gone up so dramatically. Folks
have been saving up some money and they're just waiting
on the right house to come along. And they're saying, well,
the right house isn't coming along. We've got the cash
(05:12):
on hand. So what do they do, Well, maybe they
move some walls, Maybe they add on a little bit,
make some renovations to allow their house to work a
little bit more for them. I think that that's likely.
But demand is just waning as fewer buyers are willing
to pay these astronomically high asking prices. Housing Wire they
actually suggest that housing prices could actually go down on
average across the US this year in twenty twenty five,
(05:34):
which would be incredibly rare to see something like that,
And of course we don't know if that's going to
come to pass, but there's certainly more price flexibility in
the market right now. I think that's the biggest takeaway.
Buyers just have the ability to ask for discounts or
to ask for repairs that they couldn't have asked for
a couple of years ago, and of course want to
be home buyers. We would recommend that you keep saving up,
(05:56):
keep looking, be patient. Eventually, as interest rates come down
a little bit, I think. I mean, that's the sand
that's being thrown into the gears of the housing market
right it's high interest rates. Folks are unwilling to give
up these nice slow mortgages.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
But all those yeah that they've got all those predictions
about mortgage rates coming down, and hey, guess what date
the rate marry the home. That hasn't proved out to
be true either. And that's why we called it at
the time, Matt. We said, anybody who's telling you that,
take it with a grain of salt, because the truth
is rates might not come down.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
You don't know, this could just be the new normal.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah, three percent rates for the anomaly. I think this
is closer to the new normal. Will they come down
into the five and a half six percent range, I
don't know. Well, that remains to be seen. That would
increase the gears I think of the housing market though
totally kind of creating more matches between buyers and sellers.
Whar is right now, there's not a lot of that.
And we would suggest too to consider buying a home
that doesn't come with an HOA because you and I
(06:51):
we've always kind of been against.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Them defund the ha that's the T shirt.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
I always keep getting fed well and you particularly, I
mean you like to do your own random stuff in
the garden or if you want a hot pink door,
You're gonna do it.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
No one's going to tell you otherwise, exactly, you're your
own man. Well. Autonomy, yeah, independence, freedom.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
On top of being able to choose whatever color door
you like. Hoafees have risen significantly in recent years, and
more new homes are being built inside of HOA communities.
More than two in five homes now come with ties
to a homeowners association and then that attached monthly fee.
The median monthly fee is one hundred and twenty five bucks.
(07:30):
That doesn't sound horrendous, right, especially if it means I
got the tennis courts in the pool. So I don't know,
maybe that's maybe that's worth the expense. Well, I would
also say this, though hoafees could go up significantly at
any time special assessments. This does not take into account
special assessments that could come in that could cost everyone
thousands of dollars who lives in that community map. This
(07:51):
is ros It's typically true for condo communities in particular.
So my mother in law's experienced this. One of my
good friends has experienced this in two different states where
oh yeah, we got to lay it's going to cost
everyone like forty five hundred bucks because we got to
do this to make sure the condo stays up to snuff.
So word to the wise, if you do OPTOBI in
(08:11):
a neighborhood with an HOA, take a look at the
reserve studies. Right, the HOA should have a well funded
account to cover not only routine maintenance, but also to
be prepared for unexpected expenses. If the HOAFE looks artificially low,
they might not be charging enough and you might be
on the hook for a special assessment in the coming
(08:32):
months after making that purchase, and if you haven't planned
ahead for that, it could be kind of jarring.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
That's right, Joel let's talk about jobs in the labor market.
We're seeing more stories about federal workers being laid off.
In addition to that, we're hearing from more listeners who,
you know, they've got questions about their personal finances in
the aftermath of the layoff as well, tough females to
get Yeah, and you know, we're trying, let's try not
to get political, like we try to do here on
the show. We try to stay a bit independent. But
(08:58):
everyone's got different opinion about Doge. I'm guessing the average
person believes there's certainly waste in the government that should
be trimmed. But I think a lot of ugs probably
are thinking that dough is maybe moving a bit too fast,
breaking things with people's livelihoods on the line, and with
zero desired to actually address the major spenders, the big
elephants in the room, like Social Security and medicare How
(09:21):
much do we actually stand to save when we are
making some of these cuts, it feels like we're just
trimming around the edges versus some of these Again, these
larger elephants that need to be addressed, and many federal
employees that actually opted to take that generous buyout that
was that offer to quit earlier this month and get
paid for the next eight months, which again, that's pretty sweet,
pretty generous severance right there.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
If you're like, yeah, I was thinking about retiring anyway,
or actually you thinking about switching careers or something like that,
that could be like the perfect opportunity to say, oh thanks,
peace out.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Totally kind of felt like the move that you would
see some of the better businesses out there that they
would take. Others though, are getting let go with essentially
no warning. And that's particular true for new hires out there,
who are, of course, you know, easier to get rid of.
So the Department of Veterans Affairs, the VA, the CDC,
Department of Education, National Parks even and many more, honestly
(10:12):
in addition to that, are likely going to be in
the sights of DOGE, but they have seen substantial workforce
cuts in our hearts. They go out to you if
you've lost your job, if you are even if you're
kind of, you know, a little fearful that you will,
if you're like, you know what, this isn't typically the
kind of agency or department that gives a whole lot
of love from the GOP. I totally get it. It's
(10:33):
a bummer.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
And if you're a newer employee, there's even more cost
for fear, because, yeah, if you haven't been around as long,
then there's a greater likelihood that you'll be asked. I
don't know, Matt, I've seen some of the park ranger posts.
I don't know if you've seen some of those floating
around social media, and it's just tough to see. Like
some of these park rangers, it's like their dream job,
right and they they're posting pictures of them out in
(10:55):
the wilderness in their uniform and I don't know, I
just have a soft spot for the National park system.
I know you do too, So those love the national parts. Yeah,
so seeing those park rangers lose their dream job, that's
tough to watch. But yeah, if you're a federal employee
with fewer than two years of service, in particular, pay
attention to your emergency fund. This is something that everyone
should do because you just never know what's on the
(11:17):
horizon as an individual, but in particular, if you're a
federal employee right now, I think make sure to have
a bare bones budget prepared and be willing to implement
it if you need to. Also, if you do get
laid off, apply for state unemployment benefits as soon as possible.
And then and I know this tumultuous time, but start
brainstorming about where other potential opportunities might be out there
(11:39):
for you. Don't be afraid to tap your network to
let your contacts know that you're looking for work and
getting laid off. I think Matt it typically we experienced
this when I was a kid in our house. It
takes an emotional, a financial, and a relational toll, and
so it's kind of maybe even hard. It feels like
you got blindsided. How am I going to go out
there and look for work when I'm kind of reeling
from getting laid off. Sure, you know that's a tough
(12:00):
thing to go through, but you know, one of the
main goals of this show isn't just to help you
build wealth. It's to help you be financially resilient, and
that resilience it might be more necessary for some the
hed of money listeners out there in the coming weeks
and months. Totally, if you have a question about that,
By the way, I do send us a question. If
you're going through something right now and you're like, I
don't know how to navigate this particular hurdle in my
(12:21):
life after a job loss or as I'm nervous about
a job loss. Do please send your voice mumble questions
in and we'll hope to take that on upcoming episode.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Yeah, we will do our part. Let's such gears and
talk about consumer electronics stroll because, in an attempt to
revive sluggish sales and to appeal to a different segment
of the market, Apple announced a new iPhone this week,
the sixteen E. This replaces the the iPhone se. I
guess they didn't like called it this so you need
the SE stood for special Edition, did you know that?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Which it doesn't seem all that special.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
If it's like the cheapest thing you have on offer,
it's like, oh, I wasn't looking for like that kind
of special, like that condescending kind of special. I feel
like maybe it was taking more. Especially exactly, it's cheaper
than all of their other models, so that's the good news.
It's got a price point there at five hundred and
ninety nine dollars, it's a full two hundred dollars less
(13:15):
than the regular iPhone sixteen. But sadly it's not as
cheap or I should say, as affordable as the iPhone
SE models that are essentially the predecessor to this new model,
because those they're closer to four hundred dollars. Although you
know this one comes with some upgrades, right, it's got
like it acts, it feels a bit more like Apple's
(13:35):
normal or higher end phones. You're going to have access
to Apple's newest AI intelligence tools, whatever that ends up meaning.
But I think this could still be a great don't
care less about that.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Yeah, it's it's just kind of running away from AI
as actively as possible.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
It seems like such an overhyped rallying cry. I don't know, Like,
I know it's going to change our lives to a
certain extent, but the just I guess I don't like
how it's being sold. Trying to insulate myself from itself.
But either way, this could be a great option for
folks who are looking for an Apple phone, but you're
looking to not necessarily break the bank.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Yeah, I mean, I wish that they offered a substantial
discount and had something more in the reasonably priced camp.
I feel like if you are the kind of person
who wants a solid phone for that's in the you know,
three to four hundred dollars range. You basically have to
go Android or you have to look to a much
older model of iPhone. There's nothing wrong with that. Yeah,
there's nothing wrong with buying used. I read and I
(14:26):
actually were specifically referbed by the way, folks. Yeah, I
don't we don't need to go back to this story.
Don't buy used on eBay because they're sellers out there
who are selling them new in box or that's what
they're saying.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
That they are. But they've like shrink wrapped them after
the fat. Yeah, and they've got aftermarket like different spots
in there, and they're not water sealed, which is how
Kate's got messed up. Yeah, I would much rather buy
oh my gosh, totally would buy a referb from Apple though. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
I was just thinking though, when you look at the
specs of the sixteen, and I am no tech nerd,
I'm no Marcus Brownlee or whatever the guy on YouTube
who does it awesome reviews of the phones, I don't
have his skills, but I would probably look towards an
older model that comes with better features. But just because
it's older doesn't mean it's it's inferior, like the think
about that great phone man iPhone fourteen pro or something
like that. You're gonna get much better cameras, you're gonna
(15:11):
get the mag safe, and you're going to spend a
couple hundred bucks less than even just this going with
this newer iPhone sixteen E. So going back a couple
of models, but going a higher end version might save
you money and get you better.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Spect I mean, like honestly, ever since, like the iPhone
twelve or thirteen models, whenever they like for me, like
the broken screen, like that's the sign of an old,
janky phone, right, and once they move to that nicer
glass like from then on, we've only seen incremental upgrades
to the features and to the lenses of the cameras
and just all of that.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
And of course, like even every new phone, the incremental
changes are, you know, they're almost non existent unless you
are one of the people who's like the opposite of
Matt and I and you're excited about the AI stuff.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Cool, we're not, but more power to you. Yeah, I mean,
I get it. It's because it's not even fair, I think,
to even call them phones, because they're like they are
so much more than that, like we when we use
them all the time. I get spending, all right, you
want to spend a couple hundred dollars more and this
is something you're you're gonna have and use to having
to hold col Like literally, people are on their phones sadly,
(16:12):
I mean constantly, you know, Like you just think about
how many times we reach for our phones, uh while
we're out. So I get the desire to want to
get something that's going to work for you, But I
think they're just our features that.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
May not be necessary. Yeah, the latest and greatest features.
I think the key is always is to pay cash
for a phone that you can't afford. Oh, find a
price point and you're like, all right, I'm willing to
spend that when it's time, and to not get into
not to come to kind of the upgrade cycle madness
that a lot of the phone producers and and even
just the phone companies want us to get into. The
(16:44):
biggest carriers tend to incentivize that, Matt. They're like, oh,
you want to trade in your old phone, great, we'll
make it so easy on you.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
And they charge any phone will give you two hundred
dollars off. Right. My daughter like Hevy actually was asking
me about that. She's like, how does that work? So,
like the marketing points we're getting to her because she
sees these ads and she's like that sounds awesome.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
I know.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Yeah. I was like, she's like, how does that work?
Because I have an old, like a really old phone,
and there's no way that they would give me two
hundred dollars off the like actually they would if you
sign a two year contract and explained how the world works.
It's a good moment barking some.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Or and you know, the whole point is to get
to charge charge you then a higher monthly fee than
what you can get elsewhere. And if you pay and
you're locked in actual asking price for the phone, just
find something you can afford and then pay as little
as possible for cell phone service. That is the magic
equation to save the most money possible. We have a
review of US Mobile on the site because that's what
we've been using for the past what.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Five six months now.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yeah, think it's been awesome and the price point is
incredibly good, and they just keep offering better and better
service too. Having joined up with multiple networks, like you
can kind of choose which network is best for you.
The price point is insanely good. They even have like
an eight dollars a month plan mat if you're kind
of a low to medium user.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
That's sick. Like, I just haven't seen anything better than
that on the months. It sounds perfect for kids. Some
parents out there who are looking to have a device
for the kids when they go out, just to be
able to keep up with them. I think that's that
can be a smart move. Agreed.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
We've got more to get to on the show, including
we'll talk about tariffs and also a couple of landmark
numbers reached in the investing world and what we can
learn from them.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
We'll talk about that and more right after this. All right, buddy,
we are back from the break. It is now signed
for the Ludicrous headline of the Week, which is from
USA Today. Headline reads, can't find eggs? How renting chickens
(18:40):
can provide a solution right in your backyard?
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Yeah, Joel, so I can see a lot of people saying, yeah,
that does sound good.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Slam dunk decisions. Of course, I'm going to do that.
We've touched on it on egg prices recently, I guess
last week or a couple weeks ago. They've been pretty tough
to stomach right now, They've doubled over the past couple
of years, and they aren't showing signs of slowing. Obviously,
the recent run up has because of the AVM bird flu.
But does that mean backyard chickens actually make more sense
these days? Well, probably not if you're renting them, as
(19:09):
USA Today suggests. The company they profiled is called rent
a Chicken. That's literally what it's called. It's amazing, And
you'll pay five hundred dollars for two chickens for six months.
That's pathetic. You do the math here, because you can.
You can expect to get something like a dozen eggs
a week from those chickens, which isn't enough for your family,
know that, no man. And like if you bought a
(19:31):
dozen eggs from the grocery store, even at current prices,
you'd pay only one hundred and thirty dollars for six
months worth of eggs. So yeah, don't it almost feels predatory,
you know, like it kind of makes me mad. It
makes me feel like the places that where you can
like rent rent to buy an appliance, you just don't
suspect that the that the cute, funny chickens that they'd
be taking advantage of you, but in fact they well
(19:53):
it's not the chickens.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Well, I don't think they're taking advantage. I just think
the business model it has to cost them that much
because then they got to take the chickens back, and
maybe they coop too.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
It seems insane, but I would rather people go out
there get their own coop, go to tractor supply or
whatever and get their own chickens from a place like
tractor supply as well, or you can mail order chickens.
I mean it's very different than mail order brides, Matt,
but but get get your own actual chickens. We've had
backyard chickens. They are also frail, I will say that.
(20:21):
So we had a couple of them die. A coyote
picked one off. We also might not be the or
not coyote. Yeah, I guess the coyote. We might not
be the best chicken order teeth Yeah, we miss them
right now. Well, high egg prices, yeah, get your own,
don't rent them.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
The thing is too it's not a slam dunk from
a financial standpoint either, like it is a lifestyle choice
because like, you know what it makes me think of
It makes me think of rental properties. It makes me
think of real estate because folks will hear that you
have chickens and you're like, oh my gosh, you get
free eggs. Oh, it's like a it's like a. I
don't know, it's like sunshine. It's just it happens without fail. No,
it's not quite like you got to feed them, take
care of them. You got to clean the coop, you
(20:56):
gotta get the you know, you gotta go and buy
the heavy sacks of food. You got to make sure
that they're taken care of. If they get egg bound,
you got to make sure that, you know, the egg
doesn't get stay stuck in us part there's all these
other things. It truly is like a part time job.
And they sort of like rental real estate where it's like, yeah,
they got a nice monthly cashul here, but it takes
(21:16):
some work in the same way. Well, it's actually not
as good, like there's much more financial value that's being
accrued with a rental property. But it's again it's a
lifestyle choice. And if you want the absolute freshest of eggs,
then you can't beat it. We had chickens for years
back then. Are way tastier than what you My gosh,
the ability to gather some eggs that morning, make some
(21:38):
omelets or you know, some eggs, that's unbeatable, but it's
not a way to beat inflation.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Agreed, Yeah, are speaking of what we eat, Matt. I
thought this was really interesting story I saw in Fast Company.
The longer you sit in traffic, the more fast food
you're likely to consume. And it kind of makes sense. Actually,
you got that too hour commute. You're like, I might
as want to get a bite while I'm on the road.
So maybe it's not the red dye number eighty two
or whatever it is it's killing us. It's it's our
(22:04):
commutee twenty four something like four. And we suggested this
early on in one of the first episodes of How
to Money. We called it like, your commute is killing you.
And not only are those long commutes bad for you
mentally and physically, they're bad for air quality, and not
only do they waste a big chunk of your day,
but you're also more likely to stop and grab fast
food because of how tortures your commute is. And these
(22:26):
are new results from the Journal of Urban Economics that
found that for every thirty second increase in traffic delay
per mile traveled, there was a one percent increase in
visits to fast food restaurants. So your commute thirty seconder
there's a backup or you're just like, hey, my normal
commute is an hour. Like, the longer your commute is,
the more likely you are to pull off in.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Your additional time. So minute one minute is a two
percent increase, So like a ten minute delay, then you're
twenty percent more likely. Yeah, that adds up pretty quick.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Right, So there's an extra wreck on your way home,
and you're like, all right, I'm guess percent.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
More likely to swing in and get some terrible you know,
for you fast food.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
And it's also expensive, right, So I guess my suggestion is,
if you have a long commute that you can't eradicate,
or there are you know, accidents that happen regularly that
extend the time of your commute, pack some stacks in
your car. Yeah right, My homemade builtong recipe is.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Up in the talked about that last rada.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
That's right, put that on, or like, you know, bring
some pistachios or some I don't know, I.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Don't bring pistachias. What a mess? What's wrong?
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Well, because like get the pre shelled ones that costcos.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Oh yeah, I've still got like flashbacks over the break
we Yeah West, he was in the back and he
was like shell at his pistaschs and there's like shells.
What it's like the most it's the messiest food. I
can't think like a parenting issue. I can't think think
that would be messier than eating pistachios builtong sure, or
like a chewy granola bar, you know, like something that's
but not the nature's valley crumbly one. Yeah, I'm just
(23:51):
trying to minimize the mess in the car, guys. I'm
trying to help all of y'all listeners out.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yeah, you don't want to eat the messy stuff, but
plan to have something on hand, and maybe that will
say if your commute time gets a little longer, trying
to commute less in general is gonna be good for
your life. But if you have to commute your job's
awesome and you live a little bit further away, just
have those snacks on hands so you can avoid the these.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Fries associated it with a longer commute. I totally agree,
and I'm by the way, dude, I'm gonna do the
beltong thing. I'm totally convinced and have some of the
fridge right now if you want to know, well, I'm
not want to make my own because I want to
feed it to the kids because like, so, you know
how much lunches lunches at our school, they're almost like
five dollars a lunch. It's really expensive. And so because
of that, we pack their own lunches, which means we
(24:35):
got fresh fruit, veggies, nuts, pre shelled pistachios. Actually, I
don't care if they make them as a school, but
typically when it comes to the meat that we're including,
it's a highly processed Deli sliced sausage or like pepperoni,
you know, like thick pepperonis or whatever, which man, they're
like pumped full of preservatives and stuff like that, and
I'm like, man, if I can get some big old
(24:57):
cut of meat on sale marinane, it dry that thing
out and build the ability to throw that in there
for them. I'm really I will report back once I
do this, because I want to calculate the difference in
the cost program of protein versus what they're getting out
of the Pepperoni's in a bag that we you know,
where we throw like ten of them in their in
their lunches.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
That's also just a yeah, like a highly superior form
of protest.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
It's higher quality, and I'm hoping that if the price
is close to what we're paying for like low quality stuff,
that it's totally going to be worthy. I agreed.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Let's talk to teriffs for a second, Matt. President Trump
has discussed implementing reciprocal tariffs, basically charging other countries what
they charge us for importing goods. So say, like, wait,
you're charging fifteen percent on imports of this and such thing,
We're just going to do the same thing to you.
We're going to slap it on reciprocally. We're not even
necessarily formulating our own policy. We're just kind of going
(25:49):
with the exact policy that other countries have set for us.
You and I we don't really like tariffs at all.
So we're not fans of a reciprocal tariff policy because
it just means more terroist, and we hope that it
doesn't come to pass. Also, something that we're big fans
of is craft beer, which would get crushed and seems
to be maybe getting crushed by some recent tariffs that
were implemented that industry. It's already in a tough spot.
(26:13):
Craft beer, it's not as popular as it was a
few years back. But steel and aluminum terraffs in particular
would make brewing equipment and beer cans more expensive. Breweries
then are going to pass those costs on to consumers,
and they have to or else they have to find
domestic suppliers.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Craft beer is already not cheap.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Think about that four pack of your favorite ipa, what
it costs now compared to what it costs ten years ago,
And yeah, some of them, it's just quality has gotten better.
Those IPAs have gotten incredible. They're putting more hops into it.
But if the cans and the brewing equipment get more
expensive too, all the hops. Yeah, I mean, those delicious,
hoppy IPAs are going to go from twenty bucks of
four pack to like twenty four to twenty five pretty quick.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
A lot of aluminum, a lot of stainless stel involved
with making beer. It's also important to note that companies,
they don't tend to just take tariffs lying down. They pivot,
they innovate. So like coke, Well, they might trend towards
using even more plastic bottles because of this. And again
it's not that terrists are good. It's not that they're
stimulating growth or anything. But like we talked about with
(27:13):
Noah Smith last week, the economist, businesses will figure out
different ingenious ways to keep the costs down in order
to remain competitive. Eventually that you know this will happen.
So going back to coke, you know, it could mean
let's say, fewer twelve packs of cans, and maybe it
could just mean more six packs of plastic bottles. Maybe
I don't know, maybe even a larger format. Is there
(27:35):
a four leader? Have you ever heard of our two leader?
And three leaders? Even the thing anymore? I remember as
a kid here are I don't think like no, three
leaders will always drink cokes out of you know, in
the two leaders like that was the cheapest price per liquid?
Ounce right, I guess so, But we just don't. We
don't drink a whole lot of soda at our house anyway.
But while we're talking about terraces, they could also make
car insurance more expensive as well. How well, if car
(27:57):
parts go up in price, which let's see car parts
tend to be made of all sorts of metals and
things that are produced in other countries.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Yeah, they're going back and forth across the border constantly.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Repair bills are going to increase in costs as well,
and then insurers are going to have to raise rates
in order to keep up. So this is just just
another small example that terrifts impact everything. Basically, if you're
looking to get prices to come down, I feel like
implementing terifts. They're kind of the antithesis of what it
is that.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
We should be doing one hundred percent. And that brings
up the question, Matt, of how you can maybe hedge
against inflation. So will or won't the tariffs come to
the past in what form and how much? That's anybody's guess.
But the answer to hedging against inflation is actually kind
of simple. It's investing in the stock market. That's already
proven to be true. So in the heart of the
(28:44):
inflation crisis, which is twenty twenty one to twenty twenty two,
prices went up by more than twelve percent, pay rose
by less than nine percent, so almost everyone felt that pinch.
Although that has dynamic has shifted, but asset prices went
up significantly, and so did dividends, out pacing inflation. So
people who had stock market exposure in the heart of inflation,
(29:06):
not that it's gone away completely. The people who kept investing,
they found themselves getting richer even as the purchasing power
of their cash was going down at a faster clip.
That's just another reason that we would say, and it's
Nick Madulie's line, just keep buying, because if you're like, ah, inflation,
how do I make sure I don't get slammed super
hard by it? Well, one, get your money out of
(29:28):
the big banks where they pay point zero one percent
and go with a high old savings account with one
of our favorite banks. But on top of that, make
sure you're investing. You're getting exposure to companies who are
providing goods and services that we all use. Because if
you're investing in those companies, that's a sure fire away
to kind of build your wealth that helps to combat inflation.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Heck yeah, Okay, So while we're talking about investing, most
Americans now have access to a workplace retirement account, and
we've just crossed an important threshold where over fifty percent
of Americans are now using a four to win K
to invest for the future, with more plans automatically enrolling
workers into making contributions. The This is encouraging because the
(30:09):
future retirement reality it's starting to look a bit brighter
for the average person. And plus, there are a slew
of low cost providers out there who are helping small
businesses launch their own four win K plans as well
if you are someone who has started your own business.
So this is all great news, man, because the pivot
uh from pensions to four to win ks, it hasn't
always been easy, but this is great news as more
(30:32):
folks are taking more personal responsibility, like the onus. It
has been on us for a while to be able
to secure a comfortable future, but there was a gap
between the folks who were doing it and the folks
who needed to do it. In that gap, it seems
like that that that gap is closing, which I love
to see it. Agreed. I mean, this is what we've
been talking about here on the show for years now.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Yeah, part of it's that Secure Act changes that kind
of made employers automatically enroll their employees. That's just increasing
the amount of people who are participating, which is great
and most average folks who are saving money for their future.
They've gotten the memo too that index funds are a
great way to go, which is something we've said for
a long time here.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
You don't have to be a genius, and we've been
consistent about these two things. Guys.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Right, you barely have to pay attention. You just have
to kind of do the thing dollar cross average and
chill into index funds. And you know, there are different
index funds out there, Matt, and they are a variety
of ticker symbols for funds that are essentially the exact same.
So I think that can be confusing to people. They're
essentially all mirrors reflecting the same underlying investment options. Now,
(31:34):
Vanguard's vu voo has become the largest ETF in existence.
It just dethroned Spy for that honor, which is interesting
because these both are tracking the same exact index.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
So they kick that spider to the curve man, right,
So I think they just had a branding leg up
like it was one of the earlier on s and
p five hundred ETFs that were out there, and because that,
it gained a lot of markets share initially, but well,
I got of want to give us all the credit,
but we've been waiving the VU flag for oh for
sure quite a while now.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Well, and when you look into the details, like both
of these funds track the S and P, but one
does it at a third of the cost, right, So
VU is the cheaper one.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Why would you pay point zero nine percent when you
could be paying point zero three percent.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
For the literal exact same thing, And they're both those
those cost bases is are much smaller than like with
the average ETF charges, but still like, if you have
the choice and they're doing the same exact thing, I'll
choose the one that costs a third lesson. So yeah,
VU is like a no brainer option for people when
it comes to when people are like what fund should
I invest in? Matt and Joel, that's typically the first
(32:38):
thing at the tip of our tongues for the average
person who's in that wealth building phase of their life.
So congrats to Vanguard and VU. We've loved it for
a long.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Time, for a long long time. And actually so I
logged into my Vanguard account and it's like celebration to
be like, oh, yeah, that's right VU, and we know
what I realized, Like I've always said for years that
I'm like one hundred percent I'll in on VOO aside
from my five percent or less that I like to dabble.
Have you been lying, Crystal, I have been. I forgot that.
I so back in twenty two when the market tanked
a little bit, I harvested some losses and I sold
(33:09):
half of my VU and I bought VTI, which is
Vanguard's total market ETF, which is basically the same thing,
very very similar. I kind of want to get back
over to my first love to VU. What's the expens
rature on BT I has probably got to be the same.
It's the same thing, okay, I mean, and if you
track it, if you look at it, it's literally I mean,
it's the same movement. But it's the total stock market
(33:29):
as opposed to the S and P both are point
zero three percent. But that is a so like you
avoid the wash sale rule gives us a little excuse
to be able to talk about this. And if you
sell something, you can't rebuy the same things. It's got
to be materially different enough so that you don't get
hammered by the I, R S and so to. Where
As if you sold that and bought sp y. You's
this even though it's got a different brand name, it's
(33:53):
under the hood. It's the same thing, and so they
wanted to under the hood be something very different. And
so that's a way to be able to harvest some losses.
If you do have a bunch of you, consider something
like vt I or even vice versa. Next time the
market tanks.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
There you go, all right, love it. That's gonna do it.
For this episode, we hope you all have a fantastic weekend.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Matt.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
I'm so excited about well we get to experience tomorrow night.
I'll leave my phone in my pocket the whole time
while we watch my favorite bluegrass musician of all time,
probably just my favorite musician of all time.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Billy Strings. Baby. It's gonna be good. It's gonna be
good times.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
So but yeah, we hope you all have a great
weekend and hope to see back here on Monday for
a new ask htm episode. Until next time, Best Friends Out,
Best Friends Out.
Welcome to had of Money. I'm Joel, I'm Matt.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Today we're talking about federal layoffs, renting roosters, and vou
for the wind.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
That's right, buddy, this is our Friday flight, and we're
going to talk about the pressing headlines, specifically how they
impact your money. We hope everyone has been staying warm
out there, like Joel has with his brand new pop
up sna. That's right.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, another polar vortex encompassing most of the nation, which
just means it's cold. I can't imagine being in Minnesota,
to be honest with you. I know we have listeners there,
but I've.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Heard folks talking about just how brute well just the
Midwest generally speaking, like temperatures and the negative How do
they deal with it?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
How was it like negative fifty in some parts of the country.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
It's insane, But you haven't had a deal with that. No,
I to talk about how glorious it is to bask
in the wet warmth of your pop up. So I
will say this, I wish it were dry warmth because
this is a steam sauna that I got from Costco.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
They finally got in stock. I think I mentioned I
wanted one, but they didn't have it in stock while
it was on sale, so I had to pay full price.
But then I reached out to Costco on little chat
feature and I was like, you guys are at a
stock when it was on sale, any chance you give
me the sale price and they.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Did so one hundred and twenty bucks.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
So you go for this portable steam sauna that is
currently sitting in my bedroom. I love it and I've
used it literally every night since I've gotten it, and
I love it. It's been it's been really fun. So
it makes you feel nice and toasty in the winter,
but also there's supposed health benefits that my Norwegian ancestors
have experienced that I now get to experience exactly.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
I love it that, like that's eventually I want you
to have a full on, full blown, legit wooden sauna
because of like your it's in your bones, man, it's
in your blood. Right. It's like if I didn't eat kimchi,
you know, like like that'd be weird for me to
not do that, but indeed we do. We encourage the
kids do it. You got to lean into that. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
that's a part of your story. It's funny so Ryan Ski,
(02:11):
that's what I'm gonna call him, but friend of the show.
He emailed and was worried about the humidity levels in
your bedroom because that's where you have it. You don't
have it like in the bathroom with a fan. Al yeah, No,
it's very contained to the pod. The only thing is
like and even if you open it up in the winter,
I think I would welcome again. I would welcome the humidity.
You know, when the temperatures are colder, like, the air
(02:31):
has less of an ability. I think a lot about humidity,
I think more so than the average person. You do.
But the ability to add that moisture back to the
air in the winter, that's great. Yes, in the summer
maybe it might be problematic, and I would move it
to like the garage or something like that.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
We have a sunroom and I'm planning on singing it
in the sunroom. O. The kids toys and accouterments have
gotten a little out of control in there, so I'm
gonna go in there. I'm just kind of purge a
bunch of stuff so that I can put my sona
in there and eventually this.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Is Daddy's health zone. That's right.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I do think eventually I would like to get a
full fledged Could you fit the.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Full on, full size sauna in that sun room as well?
For sure? Could you really make that like your own
little person.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
There's plenty of space in that center Daddy spa for
me and for the kids, like, we can share that
territory as long as they don't encroach on my sauna.
So maybe if I keep using it, keep loving it,
and I want a dry sauna and something that's less
more full fledged. Wy don't you like the wet song Well,
so it doesn't get it doesn't get as hot and
you get super duper wet just because wet sauna. Yeah, yeah,
(03:31):
so I think I would just prefer to dry one.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
But Kayla saying, hey, guys, can we just stop calling it?
She was like, you know, when you get dried mango,
you call it dried mango, but regular mango you just
called mango. We're not calling it wet mango. She's like,
can we stop calling it? The wet son does sound
a little dirty. The wet sauna is the anomaly that,
like a regular sauna is the dry saunas.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Now I'm getting fed ads for different saunas, and apparently
there's a sua somebody has lost so interesting and that
can get up to higher tempts. Obviously, so the team
sign I think max is at like one p fifteen,
but even that it doesn't really get up that hot.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
But the idea though, is that you don't have to
get as hot with a wet saun it because moisture
wetness conducts heat a little more effectively. And it's the
essence of beauty, the essence of witness. I know you're gonna.
I thought you might be. That's all I was thinking
about as you were saying. That was Zoolander, which we're
not totally sure if it holds up. I want to
go back and rewatch. We will see. I think it does.
Let's keep moving there. Let's talk about the real estate
(04:27):
market because it's been calming down as of late. Fewer buyers,
of course equals more listings, longer listing times, and prices
being tremmed back a little bit. We're even seeing some
homes linger so long that they get taken off the
market completely. There's been a sixty four percent increase on
listings that are getting pulled year over year, basically pretty incredible.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
The seller says screw it. If I can't get the
price I want, I'm not.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Going to sell well. And I yeah, and I've said
this before. I think a lot of folks are reconsidering.
They're like, you know what, our home actually isn't not
that bad, and time stamp it. I still think we're
going to see a boom in and renovations because of
the cost of lending has gone up so dramatically. Folks
have been saving up some money and they're just waiting
on the right house to come along. And they're saying, well,
the right house isn't coming along. We've got the cash
(05:12):
on hand. So what do they do, Well, maybe they
move some walls, Maybe they add on a little bit,
make some renovations to allow their house to work a
little bit more for them. I think that that's likely.
But demand is just waning as fewer buyers are willing
to pay these astronomically high asking prices. Housing Wire they
actually suggest that housing prices could actually go down on
average across the US this year in twenty twenty five,
(05:34):
which would be incredibly rare to see something like that,
And of course we don't know if that's going to
come to pass, but there's certainly more price flexibility in
the market right now. I think that's the biggest takeaway.
Buyers just have the ability to ask for discounts or
to ask for repairs that they couldn't have asked for
a couple of years ago, and of course want to
be home buyers. We would recommend that you keep saving up,
(05:56):
keep looking, be patient. Eventually, as interest rates come down
a little bit, I think. I mean, that's the sand
that's being thrown into the gears of the housing market
right it's high interest rates. Folks are unwilling to give
up these nice slow mortgages.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
But all those yeah that they've got all those predictions
about mortgage rates coming down, and hey, guess what date
the rate marry the home. That hasn't proved out to
be true either. And that's why we called it at
the time, Matt. We said, anybody who's telling you that,
take it with a grain of salt, because the truth
is rates might not come down.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
You don't know, this could just be the new normal.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah, three percent rates for the anomaly. I think this
is closer to the new normal. Will they come down
into the five and a half six percent range, I
don't know. Well, that remains to be seen. That would
increase the gears I think of the housing market though
totally kind of creating more matches between buyers and sellers.
Whar is right now, there's not a lot of that.
And we would suggest too to consider buying a home
that doesn't come with an HOA because you and I
(06:51):
we've always kind of been against.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Them defund the ha that's the T shirt.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
I always keep getting fed well and you particularly, I
mean you like to do your own random stuff in
the garden or if you want a hot pink door,
You're gonna do it.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
No one's going to tell you otherwise, exactly, you're your
own man. Well. Autonomy, yeah, independence, freedom.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
On top of being able to choose whatever color door
you like. Hoafees have risen significantly in recent years, and
more new homes are being built inside of HOA communities.
More than two in five homes now come with ties
to a homeowners association and then that attached monthly fee.
The median monthly fee is one hundred and twenty five bucks.
(07:30):
That doesn't sound horrendous, right, especially if it means I
got the tennis courts in the pool. So I don't know,
maybe that's maybe that's worth the expense. Well, I would
also say this, though hoafees could go up significantly at
any time special assessments. This does not take into account
special assessments that could come in that could cost everyone
thousands of dollars who lives in that community map. This
(07:51):
is ros It's typically true for condo communities in particular.
So my mother in law's experienced this. One of my
good friends has experienced this in two different states where
oh yeah, we got to lay it's going to cost
everyone like forty five hundred bucks because we got to
do this to make sure the condo stays up to snuff.
So word to the wise, if you do OPTOBI in
(08:11):
a neighborhood with an HOA, take a look at the
reserve studies. Right, the HOA should have a well funded
account to cover not only routine maintenance, but also to
be prepared for unexpected expenses. If the HOAFE looks artificially low,
they might not be charging enough and you might be
on the hook for a special assessment in the coming
(08:32):
months after making that purchase, and if you haven't planned
ahead for that, it could be kind of jarring.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
That's right, Joel let's talk about jobs in the labor market.
We're seeing more stories about federal workers being laid off.
In addition to that, we're hearing from more listeners who,
you know, they've got questions about their personal finances in
the aftermath of the layoff as well, tough females to
get Yeah, and you know, we're trying, let's try not
to get political, like we try to do here on
the show. We try to stay a bit independent. But
(08:58):
everyone's got different opinion about Doge. I'm guessing the average
person believes there's certainly waste in the government that should
be trimmed. But I think a lot of ugs probably
are thinking that dough is maybe moving a bit too fast,
breaking things with people's livelihoods on the line, and with
zero desired to actually address the major spenders, the big
elephants in the room, like Social Security and medicare How
(09:21):
much do we actually stand to save when we are
making some of these cuts, it feels like we're just
trimming around the edges versus some of these Again, these
larger elephants that need to be addressed, and many federal
employees that actually opted to take that generous buyout that
was that offer to quit earlier this month and get
paid for the next eight months, which again, that's pretty sweet,
pretty generous severance right there.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
If you're like, yeah, I was thinking about retiring anyway,
or actually you thinking about switching careers or something like that,
that could be like the perfect opportunity to say, oh thanks,
peace out.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Totally kind of felt like the move that you would
see some of the better businesses out there that they
would take. Others though, are getting let go with essentially
no warning. And that's particular true for new hires out there,
who are, of course, you know, easier to get rid of.
So the Department of Veterans Affairs, the VA, the CDC,
Department of Education, National Parks even and many more, honestly
(10:12):
in addition to that, are likely going to be in
the sights of DOGE, but they have seen substantial workforce
cuts in our hearts. They go out to you if
you've lost your job, if you are even if you're
kind of, you know, a little fearful that you will,
if you're like, you know what, this isn't typically the
kind of agency or department that gives a whole lot
of love from the GOP. I totally get it. It's
(10:33):
a bummer.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
And if you're a newer employee, there's even more cost
for fear, because, yeah, if you haven't been around as long,
then there's a greater likelihood that you'll be asked. I
don't know, Matt, I've seen some of the park ranger posts.
I don't know if you've seen some of those floating
around social media, and it's just tough to see. Like
some of these park rangers, it's like their dream job,
right and they they're posting pictures of them out in
(10:55):
the wilderness in their uniform and I don't know, I
just have a soft spot for the National park system.
I know you do too, So those love the national parts. Yeah,
so seeing those park rangers lose their dream job, that's
tough to watch. But yeah, if you're a federal employee
with fewer than two years of service, in particular, pay
attention to your emergency fund. This is something that everyone
should do because you just never know what's on the
(11:17):
horizon as an individual, but in particular, if you're a
federal employee right now, I think make sure to have
a bare bones budget prepared and be willing to implement
it if you need to. Also, if you do get
laid off, apply for state unemployment benefits as soon as possible.
And then and I know this tumultuous time, but start
brainstorming about where other potential opportunities might be out there
(11:39):
for you. Don't be afraid to tap your network to
let your contacts know that you're looking for work and
getting laid off. I think Matt it typically we experienced
this when I was a kid in our house. It
takes an emotional, a financial, and a relational toll, and
so it's kind of maybe even hard. It feels like
you got blindsided. How am I going to go out
there and look for work when I'm kind of reeling
from getting laid off. Sure, you know that's a tough
(12:00):
thing to go through, but you know, one of the
main goals of this show isn't just to help you
build wealth. It's to help you be financially resilient, and
that resilience it might be more necessary for some the
hed of money listeners out there in the coming weeks
and months. Totally, if you have a question about that,
By the way, I do send us a question. If
you're going through something right now and you're like, I
don't know how to navigate this particular hurdle in my
(12:21):
life after a job loss or as I'm nervous about
a job loss. Do please send your voice mumble questions
in and we'll hope to take that on upcoming episode.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Yeah, we will do our part. Let's such gears and
talk about consumer electronics stroll because, in an attempt to
revive sluggish sales and to appeal to a different segment
of the market, Apple announced a new iPhone this week,
the sixteen E. This replaces the the iPhone se. I
guess they didn't like called it this so you need
the SE stood for special Edition, did you know that?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Which it doesn't seem all that special.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
If it's like the cheapest thing you have on offer,
it's like, oh, I wasn't looking for like that kind
of special, like that condescending kind of special. I feel
like maybe it was taking more. Especially exactly, it's cheaper
than all of their other models, so that's the good news.
It's got a price point there at five hundred and
ninety nine dollars, it's a full two hundred dollars less
(13:15):
than the regular iPhone sixteen. But sadly it's not as
cheap or I should say, as affordable as the iPhone
SE models that are essentially the predecessor to this new model,
because those they're closer to four hundred dollars. Although you
know this one comes with some upgrades, right, it's got
like it acts, it feels a bit more like Apple's
(13:35):
normal or higher end phones. You're going to have access
to Apple's newest AI intelligence tools, whatever that ends up meaning.
But I think this could still be a great don't
care less about that.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Yeah, it's it's just kind of running away from AI
as actively as possible.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
It seems like such an overhyped rallying cry. I don't know, Like,
I know it's going to change our lives to a
certain extent, but the just I guess I don't like
how it's being sold. Trying to insulate myself from itself.
But either way, this could be a great option for
folks who are looking for an Apple phone, but you're
looking to not necessarily break the bank.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Yeah, I mean, I wish that they offered a substantial
discount and had something more in the reasonably priced camp.
I feel like if you are the kind of person
who wants a solid phone for that's in the you know,
three to four hundred dollars range. You basically have to
go Android or you have to look to a much
older model of iPhone. There's nothing wrong with that. Yeah,
there's nothing wrong with buying used. I read and I
(14:26):
actually were specifically referbed by the way, folks. Yeah, I
don't we don't need to go back to this story.
Don't buy used on eBay because they're sellers out there
who are selling them new in box or that's what
they're saying.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
That they are. But they've like shrink wrapped them after
the fat. Yeah, and they've got aftermarket like different spots
in there, and they're not water sealed, which is how
Kate's got messed up. Yeah, I would much rather buy
oh my gosh, totally would buy a referb from Apple though. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
I was just thinking though, when you look at the
specs of the sixteen, and I am no tech nerd,
I'm no Marcus Brownlee or whatever the guy on YouTube
who does it awesome reviews of the phones, I don't
have his skills, but I would probably look towards an
older model that comes with better features. But just because
it's older doesn't mean it's it's inferior, like the think
about that great phone man iPhone fourteen pro or something
like that. You're gonna get much better cameras, you're gonna
(15:11):
get the mag safe, and you're going to spend a
couple hundred bucks less than even just this going with
this newer iPhone sixteen E. So going back a couple
of models, but going a higher end version might save
you money and get you better.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Spect I mean, like honestly, ever since, like the iPhone
twelve or thirteen models, whenever they like for me, like
the broken screen, like that's the sign of an old,
janky phone, right, and once they move to that nicer
glass like from then on, we've only seen incremental upgrades
to the features and to the lenses of the cameras
and just all of that.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
And of course, like even every new phone, the incremental
changes are, you know, they're almost non existent unless you
are one of the people who's like the opposite of
Matt and I and you're excited about the AI stuff.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Cool, we're not, but more power to you. Yeah, I mean,
I get it. It's because it's not even fair, I think,
to even call them phones, because they're like they are
so much more than that, like we when we use
them all the time. I get spending, all right, you
want to spend a couple hundred dollars more and this
is something you're you're gonna have and use to having
to hold col Like literally, people are on their phones sadly,
(16:12):
I mean constantly, you know, Like you just think about
how many times we reach for our phones, uh while
we're out. So I get the desire to want to
get something that's going to work for you, But I
think they're just our features that.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
May not be necessary. Yeah, the latest and greatest features.
I think the key is always is to pay cash
for a phone that you can't afford. Oh, find a
price point and you're like, all right, I'm willing to
spend that when it's time, and to not get into
not to come to kind of the upgrade cycle madness
that a lot of the phone producers and and even
just the phone companies want us to get into. The
(16:44):
biggest carriers tend to incentivize that, Matt. They're like, oh,
you want to trade in your old phone, great, we'll
make it so easy on you.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
And they charge any phone will give you two hundred
dollars off. Right. My daughter like Hevy actually was asking
me about that. She's like, how does that work? So,
like the marketing points we're getting to her because she
sees these ads and she's like that sounds awesome.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
I know.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Yeah. I was like, she's like, how does that work?
Because I have an old, like a really old phone,
and there's no way that they would give me two
hundred dollars off the like actually they would if you
sign a two year contract and explained how the world works.
It's a good moment barking some.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Or and you know, the whole point is to get
to charge charge you then a higher monthly fee than
what you can get elsewhere. And if you pay and
you're locked in actual asking price for the phone, just
find something you can afford and then pay as little
as possible for cell phone service. That is the magic
equation to save the most money possible. We have a
review of US Mobile on the site because that's what
we've been using for the past what.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Five six months now.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yeah, think it's been awesome and the price point is
incredibly good, and they just keep offering better and better
service too. Having joined up with multiple networks, like you
can kind of choose which network is best for you.
The price point is insanely good. They even have like
an eight dollars a month plan mat if you're kind
of a low to medium user.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
That's sick. Like, I just haven't seen anything better than
that on the months. It sounds perfect for kids. Some
parents out there who are looking to have a device
for the kids when they go out, just to be
able to keep up with them. I think that's that
can be a smart move. Agreed.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
We've got more to get to on the show, including
we'll talk about tariffs and also a couple of landmark
numbers reached in the investing world and what we can
learn from them.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
We'll talk about that and more right after this. All right, buddy,
we are back from the break. It is now signed
for the Ludicrous headline of the Week, which is from
USA Today. Headline reads, can't find eggs? How renting chickens
(18:40):
can provide a solution right in your backyard?
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Yeah, Joel, so I can see a lot of people saying, yeah,
that does sound good.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Slam dunk decisions. Of course, I'm going to do that.
We've touched on it on egg prices recently, I guess
last week or a couple weeks ago. They've been pretty tough
to stomach right now, They've doubled over the past couple
of years, and they aren't showing signs of slowing. Obviously,
the recent run up has because of the AVM bird flu.
But does that mean backyard chickens actually make more sense
these days? Well, probably not if you're renting them, as
(19:09):
USA Today suggests. The company they profiled is called rent
a Chicken. That's literally what it's called. It's amazing, And
you'll pay five hundred dollars for two chickens for six months.
That's pathetic. You do the math here, because you can.
You can expect to get something like a dozen eggs
a week from those chickens, which isn't enough for your family,
know that, no man. And like if you bought a
(19:31):
dozen eggs from the grocery store, even at current prices,
you'd pay only one hundred and thirty dollars for six
months worth of eggs. So yeah, don't it almost feels predatory,
you know, like it kind of makes me mad. It
makes me feel like the places that where you can
like rent rent to buy an appliance, you just don't
suspect that the that the cute, funny chickens that they'd
be taking advantage of you, but in fact they well
(19:53):
it's not the chickens.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Well, I don't think they're taking advantage. I just think
the business model it has to cost them that much
because then they got to take the chickens back, and
maybe they coop too.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
It seems insane, but I would rather people go out
there get their own coop, go to tractor supply or
whatever and get their own chickens from a place like
tractor supply as well, or you can mail order chickens.
I mean it's very different than mail order brides, Matt,
but but get get your own actual chickens. We've had
backyard chickens. They are also frail, I will say that.
(20:21):
So we had a couple of them die. A coyote
picked one off. We also might not be the or
not coyote. Yeah, I guess the coyote. We might not
be the best chicken order teeth Yeah, we miss them
right now. Well, high egg prices, yeah, get your own,
don't rent them.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
The thing is too it's not a slam dunk from
a financial standpoint either, like it is a lifestyle choice
because like, you know what it makes me think of
It makes me think of rental properties. It makes me
think of real estate because folks will hear that you
have chickens and you're like, oh my gosh, you get
free eggs. Oh, it's like a it's like a. I
don't know, it's like sunshine. It's just it happens without fail. No,
it's not quite like you got to feed them, take
care of them. You got to clean the coop, you
(20:56):
gotta get the you know, you gotta go and buy
the heavy sacks of food. You got to make sure
that they're taken care of. If they get egg bound,
you got to make sure that, you know, the egg
doesn't get stay stuck in us part there's all these
other things. It truly is like a part time job.
And they sort of like rental real estate where it's like, yeah,
they got a nice monthly cashul here, but it takes
(21:16):
some work in the same way. Well, it's actually not
as good, like there's much more financial value that's being
accrued with a rental property. But it's again it's a
lifestyle choice. And if you want the absolute freshest of eggs,
then you can't beat it. We had chickens for years
back then. Are way tastier than what you My gosh,
the ability to gather some eggs that morning, make some
(21:38):
omelets or you know, some eggs, that's unbeatable, but it's
not a way to beat inflation.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Agreed, Yeah, are speaking of what we eat, Matt. I
thought this was really interesting story I saw in Fast Company.
The longer you sit in traffic, the more fast food
you're likely to consume. And it kind of makes sense. Actually,
you got that too hour commute. You're like, I might
as want to get a bite while I'm on the road.
So maybe it's not the red dye number eighty two
or whatever it is it's killing us. It's it's our
(22:04):
commutee twenty four something like four. And we suggested this
early on in one of the first episodes of How
to Money. We called it like, your commute is killing you.
And not only are those long commutes bad for you
mentally and physically, they're bad for air quality, and not
only do they waste a big chunk of your day,
but you're also more likely to stop and grab fast
food because of how tortures your commute is. And these
(22:26):
are new results from the Journal of Urban Economics that
found that for every thirty second increase in traffic delay
per mile traveled, there was a one percent increase in
visits to fast food restaurants. So your commute thirty seconder
there's a backup or you're just like, hey, my normal
commute is an hour. Like, the longer your commute is,
the more likely you are to pull off in.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Your additional time. So minute one minute is a two
percent increase, So like a ten minute delay, then you're
twenty percent more likely. Yeah, that adds up pretty quick.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Right, So there's an extra wreck on your way home,
and you're like, all right, I'm guess percent.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
More likely to swing in and get some terrible you know,
for you fast food.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
And it's also expensive, right, So I guess my suggestion is,
if you have a long commute that you can't eradicate,
or there are you know, accidents that happen regularly that
extend the time of your commute, pack some stacks in
your car. Yeah right, My homemade builtong recipe is.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Up in the talked about that last rada.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
That's right, put that on, or like, you know, bring
some pistachios or some I don't know, I.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Don't bring pistachias. What a mess? What's wrong?
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Well, because like get the pre shelled ones that costcos.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Oh yeah, I've still got like flashbacks over the break
we Yeah West, he was in the back and he
was like shell at his pistaschs and there's like shells.
What it's like the most it's the messiest food. I
can't think like a parenting issue. I can't think think
that would be messier than eating pistachios builtong sure, or
like a chewy granola bar, you know, like something that's
but not the nature's valley crumbly one. Yeah, I'm just
(23:51):
trying to minimize the mess in the car, guys. I'm
trying to help all of y'all listeners out.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yeah, you don't want to eat the messy stuff, but
plan to have something on hand, and maybe that will
say if your commute time gets a little longer, trying
to commute less in general is gonna be good for
your life. But if you have to commute your job's
awesome and you live a little bit further away, just
have those snacks on hands so you can avoid the these.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Fries associated it with a longer commute. I totally agree,
and I'm by the way, dude, I'm gonna do the
beltong thing. I'm totally convinced and have some of the
fridge right now if you want to know, well, I'm
not want to make my own because I want to
feed it to the kids because like, so, you know
how much lunches lunches at our school, they're almost like
five dollars a lunch. It's really expensive. And so because
of that, we pack their own lunches, which means we
(24:35):
got fresh fruit, veggies, nuts, pre shelled pistachios. Actually, I
don't care if they make them as a school, but
typically when it comes to the meat that we're including,
it's a highly processed Deli sliced sausage or like pepperoni,
you know, like thick pepperonis or whatever, which man, they're
like pumped full of preservatives and stuff like that, and
I'm like, man, if I can get some big old
(24:57):
cut of meat on sale marinane, it dry that thing
out and build the ability to throw that in there
for them. I'm really I will report back once I
do this, because I want to calculate the difference in
the cost program of protein versus what they're getting out
of the Pepperoni's in a bag that we you know,
where we throw like ten of them in their in
their lunches.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
That's also just a yeah, like a highly superior form
of protest.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
It's higher quality, and I'm hoping that if the price
is close to what we're paying for like low quality stuff,
that it's totally going to be worthy. I agreed.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Let's talk to teriffs for a second, Matt. President Trump
has discussed implementing reciprocal tariffs, basically charging other countries what
they charge us for importing goods. So say, like, wait,
you're charging fifteen percent on imports of this and such thing,
We're just going to do the same thing to you.
We're going to slap it on reciprocally. We're not even
necessarily formulating our own policy. We're just kind of going
(25:49):
with the exact policy that other countries have set for us.
You and I we don't really like tariffs at all.
So we're not fans of a reciprocal tariff policy because
it just means more terroist, and we hope that it
doesn't come to pass. Also, something that we're big fans
of is craft beer, which would get crushed and seems
to be maybe getting crushed by some recent tariffs that
were implemented that industry. It's already in a tough spot.
(26:13):
Craft beer, it's not as popular as it was a
few years back. But steel and aluminum terraffs in particular
would make brewing equipment and beer cans more expensive. Breweries
then are going to pass those costs on to consumers,
and they have to or else they have to find
domestic suppliers.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Craft beer is already not cheap.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Think about that four pack of your favorite ipa, what
it costs now compared to what it costs ten years ago,
And yeah, some of them, it's just quality has gotten better.
Those IPAs have gotten incredible. They're putting more hops into it.
But if the cans and the brewing equipment get more
expensive too, all the hops. Yeah, I mean, those delicious,
hoppy IPAs are going to go from twenty bucks of
four pack to like twenty four to twenty five pretty quick.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
A lot of aluminum, a lot of stainless stel involved
with making beer. It's also important to note that companies,
they don't tend to just take tariffs lying down. They pivot,
they innovate. So like coke, Well, they might trend towards
using even more plastic bottles because of this. And again
it's not that terrists are good. It's not that they're
stimulating growth or anything. But like we talked about with
(27:13):
Noah Smith last week, the economist, businesses will figure out
different ingenious ways to keep the costs down in order
to remain competitive. Eventually that you know this will happen.
So going back to coke, you know, it could mean
let's say, fewer twelve packs of cans, and maybe it
could just mean more six packs of plastic bottles. Maybe
I don't know, maybe even a larger format. Is there
(27:35):
a four leader? Have you ever heard of our two leader?
And three leaders? Even the thing anymore? I remember as
a kid here are I don't think like no, three
leaders will always drink cokes out of you know, in
the two leaders like that was the cheapest price per liquid?
Ounce right, I guess so, But we just don't. We
don't drink a whole lot of soda at our house anyway.
But while we're talking about terraces, they could also make
car insurance more expensive as well. How well, if car
(27:57):
parts go up in price, which let's see car parts
tend to be made of all sorts of metals and
things that are produced in other countries.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Yeah, they're going back and forth across the border constantly.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Repair bills are going to increase in costs as well,
and then insurers are going to have to raise rates
in order to keep up. So this is just just
another small example that terrifts impact everything. Basically, if you're
looking to get prices to come down, I feel like
implementing terifts. They're kind of the antithesis of what it
is that.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
We should be doing one hundred percent. And that brings
up the question, Matt, of how you can maybe hedge
against inflation. So will or won't the tariffs come to
the past in what form and how much? That's anybody's guess.
But the answer to hedging against inflation is actually kind
of simple. It's investing in the stock market. That's already
proven to be true. So in the heart of the
(28:44):
inflation crisis, which is twenty twenty one to twenty twenty two,
prices went up by more than twelve percent, pay rose
by less than nine percent, so almost everyone felt that pinch.
Although that has dynamic has shifted, but asset prices went
up significantly, and so did dividends, out pacing inflation. So
people who had stock market exposure in the heart of inflation,
(29:06):
not that it's gone away completely. The people who kept investing,
they found themselves getting richer even as the purchasing power
of their cash was going down at a faster clip.
That's just another reason that we would say, and it's
Nick Madulie's line, just keep buying, because if you're like, ah, inflation,
how do I make sure I don't get slammed super
hard by it? Well, one, get your money out of
(29:28):
the big banks where they pay point zero one percent
and go with a high old savings account with one
of our favorite banks. But on top of that, make
sure you're investing. You're getting exposure to companies who are
providing goods and services that we all use. Because if
you're investing in those companies, that's a sure fire away
to kind of build your wealth that helps to combat inflation.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Heck yeah, Okay, So while we're talking about investing, most
Americans now have access to a workplace retirement account, and
we've just crossed an important threshold where over fifty percent
of Americans are now using a four to win K
to invest for the future, with more plans automatically enrolling
workers into making contributions. The This is encouraging because the
(30:09):
future retirement reality it's starting to look a bit brighter
for the average person. And plus, there are a slew
of low cost providers out there who are helping small
businesses launch their own four win K plans as well
if you are someone who has started your own business.
So this is all great news, man, because the pivot
uh from pensions to four to win ks, it hasn't
always been easy, but this is great news as more
(30:32):
folks are taking more personal responsibility, like the onus. It
has been on us for a while to be able
to secure a comfortable future, but there was a gap
between the folks who were doing it and the folks
who needed to do it. In that gap, it seems
like that that that gap is closing, which I love
to see it. Agreed. I mean, this is what we've
been talking about here on the show for years now.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Yeah, part of it's that Secure Act changes that kind
of made employers automatically enroll their employees. That's just increasing
the amount of people who are participating, which is great
and most average folks who are saving money for their future.
They've gotten the memo too that index funds are a
great way to go, which is something we've said for
a long time here.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
You don't have to be a genius, and we've been
consistent about these two things. Guys.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Right, you barely have to pay attention. You just have
to kind of do the thing dollar cross average and
chill into index funds. And you know, there are different
index funds out there, Matt, and they are a variety
of ticker symbols for funds that are essentially the exact same.
So I think that can be confusing to people. They're
essentially all mirrors reflecting the same underlying investment options. Now,
(31:34):
Vanguard's vu voo has become the largest ETF in existence.
It just dethroned Spy for that honor, which is interesting
because these both are tracking the same exact index.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
So they kick that spider to the curve man, right,
So I think they just had a branding leg up
like it was one of the earlier on s and
p five hundred ETFs that were out there, and because that,
it gained a lot of markets share initially, but well,
I got of want to give us all the credit,
but we've been waiving the VU flag for oh for
sure quite a while now.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Well, and when you look into the details, like both
of these funds track the S and P, but one
does it at a third of the cost, right, So
VU is the cheaper one.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Why would you pay point zero nine percent when you
could be paying point zero three percent.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
For the literal exact same thing, And they're both those
those cost bases is are much smaller than like with
the average ETF charges, but still like, if you have
the choice and they're doing the same exact thing, I'll
choose the one that costs a third lesson. So yeah,
VU is like a no brainer option for people when
it comes to when people are like what fund should
I invest in? Matt and Joel, that's typically the first
(32:38):
thing at the tip of our tongues for the average
person who's in that wealth building phase of their life.
So congrats to Vanguard and VU. We've loved it for
a long.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Time, for a long long time. And actually so I
logged into my Vanguard account and it's like celebration to
be like, oh, yeah, that's right VU, and we know
what I realized, Like I've always said for years that
I'm like one hundred percent I'll in on VOO aside
from my five percent or less that I like to dabble.
Have you been lying, Crystal, I have been. I forgot that.
I so back in twenty two when the market tanked
a little bit, I harvested some losses and I sold
(33:09):
half of my VU and I bought VTI, which is
Vanguard's total market ETF, which is basically the same thing,
very very similar. I kind of want to get back
over to my first love to VU. What's the expens
rature on BT I has probably got to be the same.
It's the same thing, okay, I mean, and if you
track it, if you look at it, it's literally I mean,
it's the same movement. But it's the total stock market
(33:29):
as opposed to the S and P both are point
zero three percent. But that is a so like you
avoid the wash sale rule gives us a little excuse
to be able to talk about this. And if you
sell something, you can't rebuy the same things. It's got
to be materially different enough so that you don't get
hammered by the I, R S and so to. Where
As if you sold that and bought sp y. You's
this even though it's got a different brand name, it's
(33:53):
under the hood. It's the same thing, and so they
wanted to under the hood be something very different. And
so that's a way to be able to harvest some losses.
If you do have a bunch of you, consider something
like vt I or even vice versa. Next time the
market tanks.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
There you go, all right, love it. That's gonna do it.
For this episode, we hope you all have a fantastic weekend.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Matt.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
I'm so excited about well we get to experience tomorrow night.
I'll leave my phone in my pocket the whole time
while we watch my favorite bluegrass musician of all time,
probably just my favorite musician of all time.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Billy Strings. Baby. It's gonna be good. It's gonna be
good times.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
So but yeah, we hope you all have a great
weekend and hope to see back here on Monday for
a new ask htm episode. Until next time, Best Friends Out,
Best Friends Out.
Hosts And Creators
Joel Larsgaard
Matthew Altmix
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